Underlined Bits

"Despite God’s call to be free and His earnest admonition to resist all efforts to curtail it, there is very little emphasis in Christian circles today on the importance of Christian freedom. Just the opposite seems to be true. Instead of promoting freedom, we stress our rules of conformity. Instead of preaching living by grace, we preach living by performance. Instead of encouraging new believers to be conformed to Christ, we subtly insist that they be conformed to our particular style of Christian culture. Yet, that’s the bottom line effect of most of our emphases in Christian circles today.

For example, many people would react negatively to my quoting only part of Galatians 5:12, “You, my brothers, were called to be free.” Despite the fact that this statement is a complete sentence, they would say, “But that’s not all of the verse. Go on to quote the remainder: ‘But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.’”

The person who reacts this way has made my point. We are much more concerned about someone abusing his freedom than we are about his guarding it. We are more afraid of indulging the sinful nature than we are of falling into legalism. Yet legalism does indulge the sinful nature because it fosters self-righteousness and religious pride. It also diverts us from the real issues of the Christian life by focusing on external and sometimes trivial rules.”

– Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace, pp. 121-122

Summer Flavors and Fragrances

A pile of these were shucked today...

Then grilled...

...and became this...

Fry up lots of this...

Add diced red potatoes, red onion, celery, milk and cream...grilled corn chowder! The fresher the corn, the better and sweeter this dish. YUM!

Serve with home made bread.

I'm typing away with my laptop, sitting propped up on pillows in my bed. These sheets and pillowcases were put back on my bed, fresh from the clothes line, just a couple of hours ago. I promise you, I can smell sunshine. The fragrance is unbelieveable.

Have a blessed weekend, friends! Enjoy summer's fleeting delights.

A Day of Simple Pleasures, Indeed

Today is our son-in-law's birthday...


Carrot cupcakes with cream cheese icing...


...on a great, big platter.


Found him the perfect card...


...and a nice, wooden artist's box.


When the laundry was tossed onto the guest bed, earlier today, I noticed how all the colors pleased me. All the textures were beautiful to my eye. Sounds silly, but I thought to myself, "We all purchase tea towels and wash cloths and towels and sheets and pillowcases. Why not buy these things in all the colors that make us happy?"

That way, there is beauty, even in an unfolded pile of linens. (Pillow added, since it was already on the guest bed, and looked adorable. Guess you can say I "styled" this picture!)

In Love With Antique Ticking

This has been the Summer of Many Projects. A time to create. The cottage is coming together - one finished project, however, begs for another to begin. My living room is next, I believe. The kitchen is nearly done, except for the knobs and drawer pulls. Dining room is finished. The adjacent wall and hallway finally got painted last week, with the most whisper-lovely shade of bluish-gray. Very French. Or Scandinavian. Or something.

Today, I found an antique ticking tablecloth. You must know...I need another tablecloth like I need a hole in my head, but this one called to me. This sort of thing is pricey in the antique shops. Easily a nice ticking antique-vintage tablecloth will set you back $50. That is on a good day. When I saw the price on this beauty, I think I got lightheaded. Extremely reasonable, but with just enough splurge-factor to make it special. That's all I'm sayin'.

It is made of a heavy weight blue and white ticking, complete with fabric slubs, and fading. It even smells old, much to my delight. (Though I am running it through the washing machine and dryer tonight to remedy this...)

It also has upholstery-weight cording at the hem. And it is round! I told you it was calling my name. I could not have dreamed or designed a more perfect thing for my home.



Heavy-weight cording, all around...




falls beautifully, almost to the floor...


Think I'll try layering it with another piece...


Oh....sigh! Love!

The whisper-blue of the hallway only shows up well on the camera against the red of my $6.99 second hand shop Kate Spade purse.

::Big Barney Fife sniff::

Hey...it is only indecent to talk about price when you over pay! I strut my deals. I parade my treasures, because each one has a story of conquest and a pennies-on-the-dollar price.


Blessings to each of you, friends...

When Life Gives You Lemons...

...make lemonade!


PINK lemonade!

So much easier if you have one of these babies...

Ingredients (recipe at the end...)

Don't let the squeezed lemons go to waste. Put the cut side, with some table salt on it, to your copper pots and rub till you are out of breath. I polished all the copper tonight, while the kids and dad played a board game. We are so Waltonesque, no?

As the sun was setting, I caught a glimpse. Oh, the handiwork of God!

Blessings on your evening, friends!

Pink Lemonade Recipe:

6 – lemons
2 – teaspoons grenadine syrup
1/2 to 3/4 – cup sugar
4 – cups water
1 – cup crushed ice


Mixing Instructions

Cut lemons in half and squeeze out the juice. If you have a juicer use it, if not just squeeze your juice into a bowl. Remove the seed from the squeezed lemon juice.

Pour lemon juice into a pitcher and add grenadine syrup, sugar and water. Stir vigorously until sugar is completely dissolved. Next add crushed ice and serve immediately.

Oh Yum. Everyone loved it...hope you try it this week!

For Heaven's Sake, Keep Reading!

I'm in heavy preparation mode. I will be speaking at the Master Builder's International Conference, held the first few days of August. If you are going to be in the East Tennessee area that week, feel free to come by the conference - there are no fees for it.

As I have been preparing, I've been finding many other little gems, unrelated to the subject which I am so heavily studying. This, in my opinion, is the beauty AND the bane of a teacher's existence.

So many gems, so little time.

Here is a honking gem for you. Oh, the whack-job ideas we tend to acquire regarding "Christian Perfection"! Please, please don't hear me as pointing a finger at "you", calling "you" a whack job. Only whack jobs are that paranoid.

::cough::

I can't be pointing a finger. When I do, there really are three others pointing right back at me. I'm the whack jobbiest of the whack jobs. I'm the Queen of Whacked. I have been so deep into Christian legalism, as to have spent a short season wearing a head covering - almost twenty years ago, so do give me some credit. I was pathetically young.

We read in Hebrews 6 ~

"Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection..."

Right away, the untaught or unstable squeak, "You see? You see? We are to maa-choo-ah. (mature...) To mature means...you know. We have to...do stuff. We have to do better. We have to be disciplined. Harrumph."

No, no, no. Well, to be fair, yes AND no. Please, just keep reading. For heaven's sake, just keep reading. First of all, the Greek for "perfection", ("going on to perfection") denotes a person. "A consummate-er. A completer." As denoted by just one inflection of a different syllable, in that Greek word. With that one inflection, it can go from "complete" to "a completer". I know. It makes me crazy too. But it could easily denote perfection as in something or Someone that has already finished the job.

In other words, we are to move on from discussing-to-death the principles of Christ, and move on into Christ Himself. And dear one, He is such perfection! You just gotta love Him.

Grow up past principle, and into a Person.

What is it we are to understand, as we mature into this Person of Christ? Just this: all the truths that the author of Hebrews elaborates on next, in this letter to the Hebrews.

And friend, it is alllll about Jesus.

Feel free to read the whole thing, but allow me, for the sake of time and blog space, to illustrate the importance of the "keep reading" principle, and put two verses side by side for you. Then, draw your own conclusion. The first one is the one we just read in Hebrews 6:1. The second is found in Hebrews 9 ~


"Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection..." (Hebrews 6)

Now, for heaven's sake, just keep reading!

"For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified." (Hebrews 9)

I keep trying to tell you that your righteousness is a gift. It does not "grow in you", you grow up into the gift. You, beloved, are more complete than you know.

Underlined Bits

From the book by Dr. Stephen Crosby, Silent Killers of Faith - Overcoming Legalism and Performance Based Religion.

"Nothing stirs religious passions to hatred and murder like preaching a message of freedom to people who think they are already free. Performing religionists do not appreciate being told that God is not impressed with Adamic spritual gymnastics (my note: "aka 'spiritual disciplines' - as important as they can be!") done in the name of Jesus. God will not stand and applaud the somersaults of the Adamic nature trying to please Him. Exposing the deluded confidence of the privileged always gets you stoned. People do not use granite anymore - wagging tongues and feet hustling through the back exit door are the stones of choice..."

"It takes no courage or faith to join something that already seems a success. It takes great faith and stamina to stick with something to make it a success."

"A friend of mine once gave me some advice that, at first blush, seemed a little extreme, but I think actually captured a fundamental reality: "If you are not accused of promoting a casual lifestyle, you are probably not preaching apostolic grace." Folks who emphasize the "high standard" are frequently the most difficult to awaken to the depths of Biblical grace. They are the most likely to accuse those who emphasize grace as having a "low standard". "

Truer words are rarely written. I have always said that you have to look at the depth and body of a pastor's preaching over the course of years, not mere months, to get the full balance of the man. Time has more than proven that no one in Harvest Church is in any danger of being led by a pastor who has quote-unquote "low standards". Nor are they in any danger of being led by a pastor who puts confidence in the flesh of Gentile legalism. This is cause for real rejoicing, in my opinion. My husband, though far less than perfect, has the heart of a spiritual father, and of a shepherd who will not ever leave his post.

Granted, sometimes saints don't have the luxury of getting to know a man over the course of years, but this loss just magnifies the inherent value of continuity in relationships! To get to know a pastor's life and body of teaching over the course of years is the worthy goal - building relationship. To not have that is a deficit, indeed. When we don't have those years with which to discern the leader, this is when we defer to the Biblical concept of authority. When we trust God, when our spiritual leaders exhibit good character, we can trust that all these processes are working themselves out for our good. We can stick and stay for the sake of relationships....that is, when we actually understand the grace of God!

More underlined bits from Dr. Crosby's book next week...