Thrift Scoring...

Yes, "scoring". There is an art to "thrift storing", I confess. My daughters have it, I am acquiring it.

Today, I so scored.

In generations past, before we stopped caring about how we looked at home, and before there was google (sometimes I just want to say to a girl who obviously googled a book or a topic, and now thinks she can pretend like she knows, "Honey, I knew that before there was google.")...


...back then, the more artistic and soulful a woman was, the prettier she looked while she was cooking dinner...and the less she spent monetarily. Read in "The Tapestry" or "L'Abri" what Edith Schaeffer could do with a second-hand skirt, or a sweater with a moth-hole in it. Or a yard of leather and some furniture tacks.


You can buy stuff, but you can't buy style. You can build a house, but only a wise woman builds a home.


I aspire to be wise. I aspire to live well on less, not because I have to, but because I can. It is noble, and it takes intelligence and heart. At least I know ahead of time what I will be wearing on Sunday. This is saying a lot, since this will be a busy weekend in which I will be working on wedding details, plus hosting a guest speaker in my home, followed by a long day spent at the educational co-op on Monday.


My whole life is in transition, and I want to be well dressed for it. Girlfriend, what we wear tomorrow morning is about the only thing we have any control over. Work it.

Looking good is the best revenge. Besides, it is the only revenge preacher's wives are allowed, and they certainly better not spend too much money doing it, either.

Tell me what you think:



Vintage necklace was a gift from a friend...

I've wanted a sweater dress all winter. Retail price? At least fifty bucks for a nice one. More, if you want it really well made. This one is merino wool, from American Eagle Outfitters, fits like a dream, and cost me $6. The Levi's denim jacket, in brand new condition, also $6. This is what I'm wearing Sunday.


Looking ahead to spring! Brand new, never worn sandals from Ann Taylor. Retail price, $48. My price? $2.

Vintage pink shirt dress - in new condition - $2. I took the shoulder pads out, and it is the cutest thing on. I am so wearing this around the house when the weather gets warm. I will do dishes and mop floors in this.

A sweater wrap dress - my big splurge at $9. It ties in the back, and you can't see it, but the front drape is so designer, and so lovely - slightly asymmetrical. My only puzzle is what color camisole to wear under it.

In the interests of encouraging each other to "reduce, reuse, recycle", I am going to try to make thrift store shopping a regular feature on my blog. (Weekly? Monthly?) It will encourage me to get out there and get the creative juices flowing. What I am really hoping for is a beautiful piece of furniture from which I can create a "before" and "after".

After the wedding.

Oh, The Power of One ~

"How can one family affect anything? One person battling away to put selfish interests aside, to put other people before herself or himself, even for a fraction of time, day by day, how could that help?

. . . One family and the children of that family can do marvelous things to affect the world or devastating things to destroy it."

~Edith Schaeffer, from her incredible book, "What Is a Family?"

Pieces of Beauty...

...in the tapestry of life.


No. In the crazy quilt of life. That is, the crazy quilt that is my life. And I'm in love with it.

Our winter table....

I'm getting good at mix-n-match place settings! This brown transferware is receiving all my love these days...

Junk drawer. Pretty pencils.

My growing apron collection. Yes, I wear them all the time, and very much approve of myself when I do. Please disregard the Don Aslett microfiber sweeper-cloths, though I highly recommend them.

A pile of thrift store purses...I'm a fool for a thrifty purse.

A handmade gift from a niece named Katie...who, I believe, is a budding designer. Look what she makes with a pipe cleaner and a bit of paper!

From a child who I adore, whose name literally means, "Praise!"

Experimenting with wedding motif...

the back corner of my bedroom is piling up with all the Ingredients To A Perfect Vintage Wedding...

Flowers from my Hannah...

My inspiration wall...images that make me happy inside, a chalkboard with the wedding countdown, anything and everything that makes me smile.

Look around your life for bits and pieces of beauty. I venture to say you could snap a hundred pictures!

Random Musings...

I love Sundays, so much. Worship was saturated with God's presence today. Every time of corporate worship has its sweetness, but today was particularly sweet, do you know what I mean? The word of the Lord was fully released to the house, with a minimum of five different prophetic encouragements through various ones, as we all pressed into His grace this morning. Then my father brought the corporate word - a timely exhortation to faith, an exhortation that was fully supported by the previous prophetic words, by the way...without anyone knowing what my dad was going to preach.



Our church experience, week in and week out, is so very apart from the World of the Mega Church, and I couldn't be gladder...if gladder is a word. I'd rather not have my corporate experience carefully crafted for me and presented to me. How demeaning. I want to participate, and engage the messiness of humanity and real relationships and know the mixed blessing of proximity.



Proximity is a mixed blessing, because when you become truly intimate with someone...be it your mate, a friend, or a pastor...you will see the flaws. Can you even handle it?? It is the price you pay for closeness. In Big Church World, most are spared the blessing of proximity. Most don't know their pastor intimately enough to know his every flaw. Most have not gotten to know each other well enough to get through that season of not even liking them anymore. So it all feels comfortable, and everyone "likes" everyone else.



In my church, pretty much every one of us have persevered in the context of proximity, sacrificing our mini-gods of personal peace and affluence, loving each other enough to weather the season of not liking each other. Makes me smile. It is precisely at the point of proximity, that the men are separated from the boys. It takes maturity to know more than you wanted to know about someone, and decide you still love them and want to fellowship with them.



Speaking of maturity, versus immaturity - what about former UT football coach Lane Kiffen? He comes in, declaring his love for the students, his commitment to the program, and leaves very, very suddenly.

All Tim and I know for sure is that a true leader sticks and stays. The Bible says a false leader ("shepherd") leaves an "organization" suddenly. How a man leaves anything...a job or a church or a relationship or a party...will forever characterize him. Every man will proclaim his own goodness, but a faithful man, who can find?



Last night, my daughter and her husband came over with a custom-made gift for their dad. Oh, the dark humor that bubbles in the genetic stew of this family!

We laughed so loud, and so long.

I hope your Sunday has been blessed with the proximity of God's people, and with the sweetness of His presence. I pray your church has been a laundromat today - that your mind was washed by the water of the Word! I pray you were made clean by the Word spoken; that the spirit of your mind was renewed and refreshed. I pray you were an integral participant in all facets of worship today, instead of a passive consumer of a pre-packaged experience, presented to you...however expertly presented, that is not church life.

Church life is far harder and infinitely better than that.

Haiti On My Heart

There isn't much to post about in the usual way...not this week. Haiti is so heavy on my heart. Please pray for peace in the streets of Port-Au-Prince and surrounding areas. (Well, peace in what used to be called streets, which were not streets as we know them, even before the earthquake. Haiti's infrastructure was terrible before this tragedy.)

All the devastation in Haiti brings into stark significance the efforts of all God's people there. Every soul brought into the kingdom mattered to God. Some who have perished this week, I am certain had just believed the good news of the gospel within the past month or the past year. All who have recently reached out to the nation of Haiti (whether preaching to her lost, or strengthening her indigenous pastors) should be filled with holy fear - their work was not in vain, in the Lord. God knew what was coming.

My husband told me yesterday, with tears in his eyes, that the Scripture keeps coming to him, "Hell hath enlarged itself." There have been many lives lost, who had not yet heard the gospel, or accepted Christ. This too should fill us with a holy fear and urgency.

Tim has been to Haiti many times over the years, and so he carries vivid pictures in his heart of what all this chaos and devastation must feel like over there. The primary prayer need - even over basic necessities right now - is for a supernatural peace to settle over Haiti. This, friends, only God can do. But peace is urgently needed, so that relief supplies can be brought in, in an organized fashion.

May God speak peace to the raging storm. Peace, Haiti....peace, be still.

Ps 34:18 The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a crushed spirit.

This Season of Harvest

Harvest Church has sent many on short term missions trips - too many for me to try and count them all up. And we, along with other Master Builder's churches, support several long term, career missionaries.

But we...Harvest Church...sent out our very first long term missionary this past Sunday. We held a special service Sunday evening, commissioning Jonathan Trentham (lovingly called Jon-O), who is, even as I type, on his way to Kampot, Cambodia to work full time with Lighthouse Ministries orphanage, and their church planting efforts, led by Lewis and Kristin Burke.

Jonathan's parents, Kevin and Angela, drove from North Carolina to proudly join us in sending off their son into the work of the ministry. I admire them so much for their open hearts...open to us, open to Harvest Church, open to sending their son into a sometimes-dangerous place for the sake of the gospel. We enjoyed what little time we were able to grab with them, having heart-to-heart conversation, and establishing a unity of purpose with which I know God is pleased. Jon-O, I hear, comes from missionary stock. His parents have raised a good, good man.

There wasn't a dry eye in the sanctuary this past Sunday evening...we concluded the commissioning service with a party at the Kear home - where it felt like "you couldn't stir 'em with a stick!" Then, bright and early Monday morning, Jonathan said his final goodbye's at McGhee-Tyson airport.

Jon-O, we all will miss you. This is indeed a corporate sending, deeply felt and rejoiced over by each of us. Godspeed, dear one.

(Many thanks to Angela Trentham, Jonathan's sweet mom, for these shots...)

A time of worship - singing "sending songs"...

Our Emily, playing her violin beautifully, as usual...

Pastor Tim, preaching a "sending message"...

A word of wisdom from Kevin, Jonathan's father..."Hands on the plow, son, do not look back, do not be distracted."

Praying sending prayers...

Bittersweet going away party...

That's Jon-O, the tall guy in the black shirt...

Our young missionary...

Kevin and Angela, and their young arrow, released strong and straight and true, into the nations! Congratulations, mom and dad!

My Word for 2010

Many writers of blogs I've begun to follow do not make New Year's resolutions, per se. They prayerfully choose an action word that will characterize their upcoming year - a word that will inspire, remind, and motivate them. One word.

Ann Voskamp's word is "Yes".

Interior designer Heather Bullard's word is "Celebrate".

Jane, over at the ever-delightful "Out of the Crayon Box"...her word is "trust".

My word for 2010...this is the first time I have done this...I must admit, it is so stinkin' fun...

...is create. Oh, such scope for the imagination, in that one perfect word!

Create:

–verb (used with object)

1. to cause to come into being, as something unique that would not naturally evolve or that is not made by ordinary processes.

2. to evolve from one's own thought or imagination, as a work of art or an invention.

3. Theater. to perform (a role) for the first time or in the first production of a play.

4. to make by investing with new rank or by designating; constitute; appoint.

5. to be the cause or occasion of; give rise to: The announcement created confusion.

6. to cause to happen; bring about; arrange, as by intention or design: to create a revolution; to create an opportunity to ask for a raise.

–verb (used without object)

7. to do something creative or constructive.

8. British. to make a fuss.

Synonyms:
originate, invent.

What will your word for this year be? Choose well...it isn't as easy as it seems!

Blogs I've Discovered...

Oh, it is a beautiful world at my fingertips!

Time is of the essence for us all, so we all appreciate a good blog recommendation. There is a blog or two I've removed from my list, and stopped visiting in 2009 - I have not read a word in many months, and likely will never read again. (...and I know I'm not alone in that...I know you "get me", girlfriends...)

Why? Some blogs are boring. Some are intent on pushing an agenda that the writer herself - or himself - doesn't even thoroughly understand. Others try too hard to be profound or positive or inspiring, but instead come across as a little bit whacked or a whole lot insincere. Some are just plain depressing. Lots of talk about raindrops and quietude and wind or livestock and veiled stabs and breathing and deep thoughts and silence, when everyone knows a life lived in community is busy and funny and noisy and messy...and that fact is Genuinely Wonderful (as opposed to Simulated-ly Wonderful).

Ya'll know what I mean, don't you?

For every blog I have stopped reading, I have discovered at least two inspiring replacements. I have found some absolute treasures. I promise, you will find beauty and fun, authenticity and inspiration, without the not-so-hidden negative agenda.

Breath of fresh air, eh?

Enjoy!


















I'll stop here, because on these few blogs, you will find enough fun, thought provoking, grace-or-beauty-filled links to keep you busy for a cozy evening or two.

By the way, be sure to visit the blogs of Harvest Church folks. You'll find some gems! And if you have or know of a blog that celebrates grace, the Christ-life, truth, and beauty, be sure to share the link with me. Who knows - I may love it so much, it becomes part of my routine, too! (You know they say blogs have replaced the "morning paper". We all wake up with our cuppa coffee, and our precious few favorite blogs...)

My love to all of you...

A Few Things That Matter (Sorta...)

Roll-on perfume. Viva La Juicy roll-on perfume. Quick. Inexpensive. Portable. Doesn't leave you in a cloud of cloying scent. Will not bother anyone's allergies, since the application is under your full control. You can literally just touch this to your pulse points, if you wish. (Is there anything...anything worse than cloying, sickly sweet, overpowering perfume?)

Where has this baby been all my life? Love it. It is the answer to one of the biggest fashion blunders I've seen (or rather smelled), which is to wear a bad perfume, or to wear a good perfume badly. Hint: don't wear a scent designed by an old lady. Hey. Faithful are the wounds of a girlfriend.

It is a new year - a great time to edit your closet. There is nothing unspiritual about wearing beautiful clothes. You're going to wear clothes anyway, aren't you? You will be spending a certain amount this year on your wardrobe, whether you shop retail, or like me you often shop resale. Might as well wear something stylish, even at home, when no one sees you but your husband and children. Especially when no one sees you but your husband and children.

While we're on the subject of fashion, I am eyeing a new addition to my stable of boots:

If you are at all familiar with quality boots, these look almost exactly like the classic Frye boots, don't they? I don't know about you, but you will not catch me paying $250 for a pair of the real things. Well. I am about to make your day.

Target carries these knock-offs for $49 and change! Yes, they are real leather. Yes, they are well made. I've checked. Can we say "cute"?

Here is a picture of the real thing:


Can you tell the difference? Neither can I. Give the two hundred dollars I've just saved you to your church's missions fund.

One last word: scarves. Find yourself one or three beautiful scarves to wear in your hair, with your layered long sleeved T's, with your winter coat or leather jacket. By all means, get something colorful. And while you are at it, no matter what you weigh, toss out some of the black stuff in your closet. Just do it. You'll be glad you did.

...says she who is, at this very moment, wearing a black wrap sweater...at least it is over a jewel-toned T...

The Dominion Mandate

"The woman who rules her own spirit is better than she who takes a city." Prov. 25:28

Better. Some things are just better - Old Covenant and New, they are timelessly better. I don't know about you, but I was Created for Conquest, Destined for Dignity, Mandated to Mandate...and in the process, I am being a good steward of the manifold (read: many, many, many varied expressions) of the grace of God.

The greatest land, yet unconquered, is the terrain of the soul...the renewal of the mind...all things being brought into conformity to the nature of God. I've made great strides in the taking back of soul ground in recent years. I've reached that place where the target plot of self-soil was "tightly shut up...none came out, none went in." (Joshua 6:1)

I've even marched seven times around my obstacle/habit/old unrenewed, untransformed thinking/negativity/depression/unforgiveness/fill-in-the-blank. Had it well contained.

But I stopped short of, "Shout..."

...that sound of victory that must come before the walls crumble once and for all time.

Nothing falls without the shout. I can corral and contain, I can circle seven, and even seventy times seven, relishing in my obedient self discipline...and yes, the marching seven times around was part of The Plan.

But at some point, there has to be supernatural grace. My best human effort will not bring the obstacle down. There has to be a Final Falling of the walls of the stronghold. There has to be a shout of faith.

Take dominion, oh my soul!

"Shout! For God Has Given YOU The City!"

What are you to lay seige, circle as many times as it takes, and finally shout over? The restoration of broken relationships? Needed finances? Unhealthy extra weight? Habits of disorganization or ruts of negativity? Stolen joy? Ruling and reigning right where you are makes you a better woman than she who takes a city. Through your God, you CAN do valiantly, because He is the Valiant One! Christ in you...Christ as you...all things subject to His authority, all illegitimate rule under His beautiful feet.

Rockin' The New Year!

I have loved the holidays this year...and I love that they are over. There is something so fresh and shiny and hopeful about the New Year, and 2010 is no exception. This being the first Monday of this fresh decade, I found it fitting to get it going right.


Then, it got itself going right. Shortly after I awoke, it began to snow. Beautiful, delicate flurries that danced first one way, and then another, as the frigid breezes shifted outside my window. No accumulation - just loveliness. My youngest went to his educational cooperative classes, so I had the day to myself to work and plan. I selected an acoustical guitar CD for the Bose and put it on "repeat", creating a tranquil sound palette that blended perfectly with the day's mood and flurried-ambiance.



About half way through, I stood, taking a break and sipping hot coffee and looking out my kitchen window at a dozen sweet songbirds filling the bare branches of my tree. I couldn't have staged a better scene for my thoughts to gather around.


There we were today, Tim and I - just we two. We had been working separately, but together, in the same house all day long. Neither of us idle for a moment, neither of us bored in the least. (He worked from his home office today.) There were not many words exchanged, but not because we are distant. The house was full of a delicious quiet. We were both working on our own Vital Thing, each aware of the other's presence, each content with the other's presence. A full-some sense. A good day.


I thought of all of you, and how to communicate the sweetness of these things...so I did what I usually do. I reached for my point and shoot digital, and began to frame the images and look for the words.

The dining room table became my desk for the day.

My Tim, at his desk.

Our lunch...(oh, if you knew how rare these
quiet afternoons are for us, you'd indulge me
even beyond this! For you, dear reader, are kind...)

I discovered the prettiest 3X5 spiral index cards with

decorative edges, upon which to write out the new

daily schedule...hopefully dividing up all my repeating work into six manageable units. I'll let you know how it goes. Every day has lots of purpose, shall we say?

A ten hour day, basically...and I still haven't gotten to my blog-tech research. I'll do that as soon as I hit...

...publish post.

I Do Aspire

To live content with small means....
To seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion....
To be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich....
To study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly....
To listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart....
To bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never....
In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common...this is to be my symphony.

~written by William Henry Channing, but wholeheartedly embraced by yours truly.

Never has there been so much in my life to love. I have come closer in this season to living the life I've dreamed of, than ever before. Most importantly, the voice of God and the touch of God upon my life grows, "unbidden and unconcious", and radiates great joy into my so-called ordinary day. I find myself wild with joy while parking the car, singing God's praises, my heart full of creative ideas. This is all quite spiritual, yet largely unbidden - the Spirit just shows up, the presence of God manifests to my heart, heaven blows me a kiss, and an ordinary day becomes an encore of the miraculous.

"This is to be my Symphony..."

Creating Reality from Inspiration...

My youngest twin daughter gets married this March. We're in the planning stages. It is the barest of beginnings, but we've officially gone from abstract to concrete. We've looked at photograph after photograph, design after design (oh, the miracle of internet!), inspiration after inspiration...and now, we've actually picked up a few things to get us started.

the Color Story! "Soft metals", i.e. vintage golds, pewters, pops of merlot, the colors of mercury glass and pearls, combined with earthy brown woods and leathers.



A Theme. There isn't a lush profusion of blooms in mid-March, but there are bare branches, and there are birds. Birds hold a special place in the story of the new couple. They sort of fell in love, or more in love, more-or-less, because of a bluebird. Jonathan, and particularly his father, are serious bird watchers.

I can't believe it is January 2nd. Time's-a-wastin'. Daughter number two will be married in 11 short weeks.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Your God is up to a new thing. This means, it is time to change your mind!

When I say the word "repent", many conjure up images of sackcloth and ashes, and I don't discount that. But repentance is simply a change of thinking. You held to one opinion yesterday - and today, you change your mind to match what God's opinion is.

Psalm 55:19 says this: "...Because they do not change, Therefore they do not fear God."

I have known women who draw inaccurate conclusions, and proceed to stamp them in concrete. They refuse to examine a new conclusion. They are inflexible, and looking back, I don't remember a single time - not one - when they ever said a meaningful "I'm sorry" and I cannot recall them ever changing their mind once they'd formed a personal opinion.

Friends, we were born wrong. We are wrong so often, it is downright scary. To be a woman who rarely changes her mind is to be a woman who has no fear of God. That sends shivers down my spine.

Sure, it is unhealthy to be double minded. To put your trust in an unfaithful person ("given to change" the King James puts it) is unwise. But I hope to be found in Him as one who will change her mind quickly and easily. I want a tender heart. I've seen womanly hearts that should be pliable and sensitive be in reality as cold and unbending as old leather. I've been that way myself - and frankly nothing frightens me more.

New Things have inherent in them the seeds of change. Some of us need to yield to a radical change of thinking.Let this New Year be your time to embrace the New that God is always doing.

Random Musings...

Another New Year's Eve.

2009 was a mixture of "the best of times, the worst of times". I'm a better woman for having experienced the extremes. Poised to open the door to 2010, this door is quite beautiful in my imagination. It is barely cracked open, welcoming the future. It is a vintage door with peeling paint, unpretentious, and unlike any door you could find in a design catalog or on the internet or hanging on the front of any McMansion...

...something like this, but my New Year's door is surrounded by urns of the most fragrant flowers, and all this beauty hints as to what lies beyond this door - a fresh, new year. My friend Joe Ewen says, "get ready for the double portion."

Yes, and amen. Goodbye, old...hello, new!

Can't leave 2009 behind without sharing a few more images of Christmas at Our Cottage:

fragrance...great for all of the winter season! (a few slices of orange, some cinnamon sticks, some whole cloves, simmer in water. Done.)

Just a few of our cherished Christmas cards received...need more creative ideas on how to display them next year!

A gift that arrived, via post, from dear friends...

newly-weds and almost-weds, playing a board game Christmas Day...

The beginnings of our Christmas Eve snack table...(see the Red Velvet Cake? I was inordinately proud of it. From scratch, it was!)

The origins of said Red Velvet Cake...

Well. My Tennessee Volunteers have just begun their bowl game, so it is time for me to sign off. Thank you for coming along with me, on a very bumpy but very satisfying 2009 ride. I wish you good health, increased joy, some of what money can buy, and every sort of riches money cannot buy in your 2010.

Let's venture forth and make the very, very most of it, shall we?

I Long to Know My Need More Fully!

"Grace substitutes a full, childlike and delighted acceptance of our need, a joy in total dependence. We become 'jolly beggars'."

C.S. Lewis

...he said, and I quote...

Nothing we have heard at Harvest Church over the course of the entire year of 2009 is new. But a few felt it was somehow new - that Tim made it up himself (accessing that massive stash of sunglasses and Kool-Aid he keeps in his office). This reveals only the fact that the pure gospel has been so little preached in our generation. Most of us have grown up on a spiritual diet of topical this, that, and the other thing; all of it good, none of it the best. And it shows.

Not a bit of the controversy we've experienced is new, either. John Wesley, a die hard proponent of methodical good works and "Christian perfection" (and much of whose thoughts and writing I respect and enjoy) was regarded by many a solid, well educated man of God as being unbalanced and uninformed. "Jolly beggar", Wesley was not. Wesley "scurrilously" (to use an exact word from an original source document - a letter to Wesley himself from a man whom Wesley misrepresented) misunderstood and misrepresented the doctrines of Calvanism and grace. Wesley ended up parting company with several very good men who loved him.

Sad.

The saddest thing is that I can prove to you that Wesley himself was confused, and at times deeply contradicted himself. He owns up to what he himself calls a "conversion" which took place after years of his own human effort to serve Christ. The passion and peace that passes human understanding of a few Moravians stole his heart, and brought him to a better understanding of the true Christian foundation of faith. Wesley in his own words often reveals mistaken ideas of Christian "perfection". Yet he longed, himself, to be what C.S. Lewis later called "...a jolly beggar".
Nevertheless, let no one diminish Wesley's remarkable contribution to the faith! Simply do not read his writing until you have had a firm foundation of the gospel of Christ laid in your life, and you will gain much from him.

I've known these things for years and years - it is to my regret that I didn't teach them sooner. (Yeah...a true disciple takes responsibility for her own actions, or lack thereof.)

Here are a couple of quotes from one of Wesley's contemporaries (and a man who himself had foibles and faults. Hmmmmm. What do you make of that??) ~

"I will venture to assert that not one grain of Arminianism ever attended a saint [with him] into heaven... They may be compared to Paul, when he went from Jerusalem to Damascus, and the grace of God struck him down: he fell a free-willer; but he rose a free-gracer."

"The Pelagian hopes to get to heaven by a moral life and a good use of his natural powers. The Arminian by a jumble of grace and free-will, humus works, and the merits of Christ. The Deist by an interested observance of the social virtues. Thus merit-mongers, of every denomination, agree in making any thing the basis of their hope, rather than that foundation which God's own hand hath laid in Zion. But what saith Scripture? It avers, again and again, that Jesus alone is our hope: to the exclusion of all others, and to the utter annihilation of human deservings."


- Augustus Montague Toplady

Anyone who would part company with a friend, with a brother or sister in Christ, calling them a heretic or a cult or anything long those lines, over these same old issues that Wesley, Toplady, Whitfield, and others argued over...well, that person has not been well taught in church history. The one who does not know history is doomed to repeat its mistakes. It need never be so.

"Grace Always Embraces..."

I truly want to share with you today from the Precious Pen of Ann Voskamp, over at "a holy experience" (see link to the left)

Wednesday, December 30, 2009
When You Can't Figure Out What the Answer Should Be

Snow falls outside the window, whispers.

I lie on her bed, listening to white. In the grey, night changes into a sweater of day and branches of the bare lilac slips on lace.

She cups into me. She's listening too. Her and I, we often lie together in the early and plan.
"Mama?"

"Mmmmm..." I murmur into her nest of curls.

"Mama... today... could I..." she turns and those eyelashes, gold whispers, brush my cheek. Her hands embrace my face and her breath falls warm, desperate.

"Oh, I just know..." Her eyes, dark stars, entreat. "I just know you are going to say No."

In her eyes, I can see mine and I am known for no.

No, you can't and no, that's not a good idea and no, put that away. For no, we aren't going and no, let's not and no, not now. (Oh, sweet child... and to think when they first laid you in my arms, you were all my yeses!)

She can't know of the all the other ones I only speak to myself, about myself, for myself. No, you can't be that -- no, you can't do that -- no good, no chance, no hope. (Oh, to be gentle with self. Grace always embraces...)

Or the ones I try to veil, the ones I shamefully stomp at God? No, I don't want this! No, I'm not doing that! No, don't change this, no, leave that alone, no, don't muck this up, no, no, no! (Oh, but You said yes to me before time began, yes to me in Christ with the arms nailed wide...)

What we speak to others, is what we speak to ourselves, is what we speak to God.

I have wrecked whole decades with that two letter "no" that falls from the end of my tongue, steady drip of a faulty tap. With two-letters of the heavy iron, I've crushed child-dreams... my dreams... God-dreams. What that one word hasn't broken. We walk wounded and I can't think how God bears the scars.

True, it's the mantra of national campaigns, "Just say No." It's what is suggested you learn to say in an effort to simplify your life in the face of constant demands on time: "Learn to say No." Well and good.

But I look straight into her, mirroring straight into me, and I know this is the year: I am done with "no".

The Babe in the manger's but a few days old, He who gave Himself His own name, for He knew, He knew: Emmanuel, "God with Us." The Babe has a name, name that breathes the wonder-hope. But the new year about to birth, it still needs christening.

With the palm of her hand resting on my cheek, it comes to me, what I'll name my new year:

This is the year of Yes.

When 2009 came swaddled in January, I had looked upon it and it named itself like a child often does: The year named itself Communion. My hours, my days, my heart, they needed not more things, more stuff, more consumption. I needed communion. After 365 days, I yearn for more -- not more consumption, but more communion.

And Yes is my 2010 answer to His invitation to come into Communion.

Yes, as in:

"Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure." Luke 10:21

"Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." John 21:16

"For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ." 2 Corinthians 1:20

Yes, let this moment be just as You intend it! Yes, Your will be done not mine! Yes -- You propose, ask for my life and an eternity to love-- and I say Yes!

This is the year of yes, to look in the mirror and say, "Yes, He made you this way and it is very good! Yes, you can try! Yes, be creative! Yes, laugh and yes, give it a whirl, and yes, it's really okay, don't be afraid!"

This is the year of yes, to kneel down and peer into eager faces and say, "Yes, you can, yes, that's an ingenious idea, yes, make that, yes, yes, yes!"

Does No ever really need to be said? Isn't there always something else to say yes to?

Yes, honor, yes, love God with your whole heart, yes, submit to one another, yes, say YES to Love and Christ and Grace, and Now and YES!

Every commanded 'shalt not' ultimately asks us say Yes to God.

Could I try?

I don't tuck a stray curl behind her ear. I hold it. I hold a whisp of curl and she peers into me and I laugh and we rub noses.

Snow falls and I whisper with winter and the good gifts coming down from Father, "Yes! I say Yes!"

She squeezes my face tight. "Really, Mama?"

"Yes, we will find something to say yes to!"

She giggles glee.

We slip out of bed and into a fresh new year.

Into the year of Yes.

Transitional Decorating...

I said I'd post pictures. I got our Christmas decorations put away, and dragged some winter branches home from the house of a neighbor who had to trim back a damaged dogwood tree. I haven't cut paper snowflakes, but I did find some pretty snowflakes half price (50 cents for four of them!), to hang from these beautiful bare branches ~

I am in love with mercury glass lately. I found some mercury glass birds for two dollars each ~



(no, I don't iron my tablecloths. ::sigh:: I should.)

And some mercury glass candles for two dollars each (price tags still on them. I was so excited to share these with you, I didn't take time to take the tags off!) ~

(That's an amaryllis blooming there, in the middle, and a mosiac glass maple leaf tray at the far end...)
This should take me through January and February. I so heart seasonal decorating!

My Reality...

But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts.

1 Thessalonians 2:4