Author Archives: Barbara Harper

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About Barbara Harper

https://barbarah.wordpress.com

The Week In Words

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http://breathoflifeministries.blogspot.com/2010/01/announcing-week-in-words.html Melissa at Breath of Life hosts a weekly carnival called The Week In Words,which involves sharing something from your reading that inspires you, causes you to laugh, cry, or dream, or just resonates with you in some way.

Though I’ve read several things that spoke to me this week, the one I’ve spent the most thought on came from the devotional book I am going through with my youngest son, Quiet Moments with God Devotional Journal For Teens.* In this reading from April 10, an unnamed modern potter is quoted as saying:

Both my hands shaped this pot. And the place where it actually forms is a place of tension between the pressure applied from the outside and the pressure of the hand on the inside. That’s the way my life has been. Sadness and death and misfortune and the love of friends and all the things that happened to me that I didn’t even choose. All of that influenced my life. But, there are things I believe in about myself, my faith in God, and the love of some friends that worked on the inside of me. My life, like this pot, is the result of what happened on the outside and what was going on inside of me. Life, like this pot, comes to be in places of tension.

In all the sermon illustrations and object lessons I have heard and read concerning potters, somehow I have never gotten that point, that when pressure from the outside pushes against God’s sustenance and strength on the inside (if we know Him and are being sustained through His Word and His Holy Spirit), not only does His strength keep us from caving in, but the tension between the two sources of pressure actually forms us.

That point may have been made before, and I’ve experienced it, but I never quite got it in quite that way before, and it has given me much food for thought.

The base verse for that day’s reading was II Corinthians 4:16: “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day,” and the lesson, of course, was on the need to stay in close touch with God and feed on His Word so we have His resources to meet the needs of the day. Another quote I posted years ago was on “conditions for receiving strength” from a Bible study Rosalind Goforth had done, but I’ll just leave the link rather than requoting it here for the sake of space.

As I mentioned, there are multitudes of spiritual object lessons about potters and pottery: God’s ownership of His vessels and His right to form them as he will (Jeremiah 18:1-6, Romans 9:20-21), the need to be yielded to the potter’s hand, the problem a potter has when there is a resistant lump in the clay, or when the clay is not malleable and the potter has to take it off and knead it or take the lumps out or add water or clay to get it to the right texture before trying to rework it. But once when at our church we saw a demonstration of a Christian potter who actually brought his potter’s wheel and “threw” a pot, bringing out all the spiritual lessons, one thing stood out to me then: he brought out the intimacy of it, how the vessel he was working on was almost in his lap, how he was bent over it, arms around it, looking at it from all sides. That picture has stayed with me since then, of a God who is not aloof and insensitive, but rather bent over us, intensely interested and caring, actively and lovingly forming us.

(* Though I don’t want to take away from the precious truth here, I do feel compelled to say I cannot endorse this book completely. I’ll say more when I review it after we get back around to where we started in it, but though there are great nuggets in it, there are also places where the lesson either has nothing to do with the verse it is supposed to be taken from or is grossly misapplied.)

How Deep the Father’s Love

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How deep the Father’s love for us,
How vast beyond all measure,
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure.
How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory.

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers.
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished.
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished.

I will not boast in anything,
No gifts, no power, no wisdom,
But I will boast in Jesus Christ,
His death and resurrection.
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer.
But this I know with all my heart,
His wounds have paid my ransom.

Though I found many copies of these lyrics online and many recorded versions, I can’t seem to find who originally wrote it. This version is from the Steve Pettit Evangelistic Team‘s CD Jesus, My Lord, My God, My All.

What would you do?

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Some months ago I bought two items at Michael’s, a Cricut cartridge that was on sale and a package of little storage jars. I had a 50% off coupon to apply to the jars, because Michael’s coupons always stipulate they can’t be used on Cricut products. If I remember correctly, I think when the clerk first rang up the purchase, it didn’t show the cartridge as being on sale, so I had to show him where it was and that it was on sale. Then when he rang it up again, somehow it didn’t register as a Cricut product, and the computer in the register applied the coupon to it (it always applies to the highest-priced item). I tried to tell the clerk at that point that the coupon should not have applied to the cartridge, but he was very new and did not understand. I didn’t want to hold up the other people waiting, so I left, but my conscience still bothered me. If I did the math right, this netted me $15 in savings more than I should have had, and if it had been a $15 error in their favor, I would certainly have talked to the manager and gotten it straightened out. I felt I was obligated to do the same even if the error was in my favor.

I determined to go back in the next few days, ask to speak to the manager, and explain the situation. Even though in many cases like that the manager will say, “Don’t worry about it” rather than untangle it all, I still feel like at that point I have done everything I could.

But I felt awkward about it all, and with my tendency to procrastinate especially in regard to awkward things, I put it off until I forgot all about it and left the bag in my sewing room.

I rediscovered the bag yesterday just as I had left it. It feels even more awkward now.

What I’d like to do is just send them a check for $15 with a note telling them I was undercharged by that amount. But I don’t know if that would cause them more difficulty, if they’d have a way to ring something up to come out to $15. I could still bring the whole thing in and try to explain it, but it would be even more awkward and they’d be more likely to say to just forget about it. I am thinking, maybe wrongly, that they might be even a little irritated about having to deal with it.

Another solution that came to mind would be not to use the coupons Michael’s publishes nearly every week, paying full price rather than the 40-50% off, until I’ve “paid back” the $15 that way.

What do you think? (Well, besides thinking I am crazy….)

Friday’s Fave Five

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Susanne at Living to Tell the Story hosts a “Friday Fave Five” in which we share our five favorite things from the past week. Click on the button to read more of the details, and you can visit Susanne to see the list of others’ favorites or to join in.

My favorites from the past week or so:

1. Easter! We were out of town and attended a wonderful church service, and then we traveled home, missing our usual Easter festivities. But my son and daughter-in-law surprised us with an Easter dinner and goodies when we got home. I wrote more about it earlier here.

2. Rain. I mentioned yesterday I was hoping it would rain and wash some (actually a lot!) of the pollen away, and it did! Plus the rain cooled things off considerably.

3. Chick-Fil-A chicken biscuits! Had one just this morning.

4. Friends who pray. I had a personal prayer request which I could not make public, but contacted just a few friends about it. Their responses and their faithfulness to pray were such a blessing to me.

5. An impromptu family night. We wanted something a little different for dinner last night, so we went out to a little local Italian place, and called Jason and Mittu to see if they had eaten yet and wanted to come. They came, and they had been planning to return the DVD they had rented of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs after dinner, but they brought it by the house and watched it with us first. Fun times!

Bonus:

I don’t usually go into TV shows much here, but this past week’s episode of Lost was one of my favorites, both because we got a little crack in the door understanding of what might be going on, but especially because the episode centered on Desmond, one of my favorites. And we got to see Daniel again! (Lost fans will understand. 🙂  ) Though I think it is right for the show to be coming to a definite end — dragging it out would kill it — I am really going to miss it when it is done!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Flashback Friday: Birthdays

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Mocha With Linda has begun a new weekly meme called Flashback Friday. She’ll post a question every Thursday, and then Friday we can link our answers up on her site.

The flashback question this week is:

What were birthdays like when you were growing up? Were they a big deal or understated? Did you have parties? Get to choose what or where the family ate for dinner? Are there any particular birthday traditions that you remember? Is there any birthday that stands out (good OR bad!), either due to the events surrounding it or due to the particular present(s) you received?

Birthdays were fairly understated when I was growing up. No one I knew then would have dreamed of having a huge bash costing hundreds of dollars for any party, child or adult. I think we got to choose what to have for dinner and then had the usual cake and ice cream. Funny, I don’t remember what I chose, but my dad always chose corned beef and cabbage for his. I don’t think we ever went to a restaurant for anyone’s birthday then, though in later years after all the kids were grown, meeting at a restaurant for a birthday became the norm.

There are only glimpses of a few birthdays that stand out in my memory:

I was thinking I had never had a surprise party, but I do remember one time we were meeting up with a bunch of people, either friends or relatives (not that relatives aren’t also friends…) or a combination at either the beach or a lake (sorry to be so inexact — you have to remember some of these memories are over 40 years old!) As preparations were being made, food packed, etc., nothing was said about my birthday, no cake was in sight, and I kept asking (probably bugging) my mom about it. I knew she hadn’t forgotten my birthday, but it didn’t look like we were doing anything for it. My mom was not usually harsh, but she must have told me in some way to stop already. So I was feeling pretty down until some time after we got there, when someone did pull out a cake after all. I have always winced at TV shows where it looks like everyone has forgotten someone’s birthday while they are actually planning a big surprise party — there must be some way of planning s surprise party without making the honoree feel really bad first.

On another birthday, I had a party with my cousins. In their family they had three girls, all one year apart, all with birthdays in August, as was mine (and when my firstborn was due in August, I empathized with my aunt being heavily pregnant in the hot humid summer three years in a row!) The middle cousin was my age, and one year we had a birthday party for all four of us. The only specific thing I remember was that my aunt set up a few little games like you’d see at a school carnival, and I remember one having to do with dropping clothespins in a jar from a certain height. Though I may have had other full-blown parties involving games and guests, this is the only one I remember, and I think it was my favorite of my childhood — not just because it was a full-blown party, though I loved it, but because all of us cousins got to celebrate together.

Updated to add: Slumber parties! I had forgotten until someone else mentioned sleepovers for her birthday, but I had several slumber parties as a teen, and I know one or two must have been for my birthday. I don’t remember if this happened on a birthday or not, but at one of them, I think we were telling ghost stories in my bedroom (I don’t know why that was a favorite pasttime  right at the age we were most scared of them…) when my dad’s face showed up in my bedroom window, which was open. He was shining a flashlight up from the bottom of his face, so he looked eerie, and laughed an evil laugh, sending all of us running out the door, nearly trampling my brother, who was listening at the door for our reaction.

Overall I enjoyed birthdays (and still do!), my own and others’, as an opportunity to do a little something special or different as a way to express to the birthday honoree that we love them and are glad they’re here.

Am I the only one who…

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  • Wonders if having an adult dressed in a mascot costume waving at people in front of a business actually brings any more customers into a business?
  • Does NOT like roosters in decorating? I don’t understand that phenomenon. Ugly creatures.
  • Does not like flavors of one food in the texture of another? Like Taco soup. I love tacos and soup — but a soup that tastes like a taco doesn’t appeal to me.
  • Does not like bagels. The outside is too hard. I had one on a plane and dug out the softer innards and wondered what the appeal was.
  • Thinks pictures of babies with food all over them are only cute if it’s your baby?
  • Is tired of milk mustache ads?

I frittered away my morning with several fragments of thoughts for blog posts, but couldn’t seem to develop anything, so I decided to go with randomness. 🙂 Reading back over the list, a lot of it sounds gripy, and it isn’t meant to sound that way. It’s meant to be fun.

My primary focus this week was supposed to have been getting plans for decorations and favors for our annual ladies’ luncheon firmly in place so that we could work on them at the ladies’ meeting Monday, but I have been a little fragmented there as well. I’ve had some ideas and I’ve looked around online to see if anyone else had already done anything along the lines and found some neat stuff. I just need everything to coalesce in my brain and then make some samples and get materials ready.

I don’t know why I am feeling so fragmented and having such a hard time getting in gear this week, Maybe I am still recuperating from last week’s trip. Maybe it’s allergy brain — the pollen is the worst it has been here in a long time. This is a dark green car but looks yellow under all the pollen:

I’m not one who usually wishes for rainy days, but I am today. It would be so nice to have everything rinsed off, if only for a little while.

Then again, maybe I am just making excuses and need to take myself by the scruff of the neck and get myself going.

Maybe. But I think I’ll go see what we have for lunch first.

🙂

Book Review: Where My Heart Belongs

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Where My Heart Belongs by Tracie Peterson is a prodigal daughter story. Amy changed her name at the age of eighteen, demanded her inheritance from her father, and left home without another word for twelve years. Suddenly she shows back up on the old homestead doorstep wanting to renew family ties. Her older sister, Kathy, is understandably wary at first and wrestles with her own feelings of anger and betrayal.

Tracie does a good job with what could have been, but is not, a clichéd story (not that the Biblical prodigal story itself is clichéd — it is a marvelous parable of redemption.) I found myself empathizing with both characters as they worked through their various issues and alternately took steps toward and then away from understanding and forgiving each other. There were layers to each that I would not have originally anticipated.

My only quibbles were that the latter part of the book seemed a little rushed, and it ended maybe a little too perfectly, but on the other hand, every now and then it is nice to have things end in the ideal way we all really wish would happen, and after all the anguish both characters suffer, it is good to see things turn around for them.

Catching up…

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That’s the name of the game these days!

I mentioned that Jesse was out for spring break last week. What I didn’t mention (because, you know, of all those cyber-stalkers lurking about to find an empty home to burgle. 🙄 🙂 ) was that we went out of town for a few days.

We were in the Knoxville, TN area. It is beautiful country up there. Rolling hills, little streams and rivers, acres of pasture, etc. We passed so many valleys nestling little cottages or farms that Jeremy speculated that the Tennessee Department of Tourism put them there to look idyllic. 🙂 I imagine it is even more lovely in the fall when all those hills are covered with autumn color.

At one point I was admiring the bluish mountain range in the distance and wondered what they were called, and Jeremy said, “Probably the Blue Ridge Mountains.” Yep, I guess that would be them!

(Photo courtesy of Ken Thomas)

We met up with an aunt and uncle of mine that we haven’t seen in years, but we were able to plunge right in as if it had been only a few days. They took us to the Flatwater Grill for dinner one night, a lovely restaurant right on a lake. The whole outer wall is windows, so you have a view of the water, trees, etc. The food was wonderful, too!

We were trying to decide what fun thing to do on Saturday — Dollywood, Gatlinburg, and other attractions were within an hour’s drive — but the guys all decided what they’d really love to do is go to the Apple store. 🙂 We don’t have one in our area, and the iPad was due out that day. So that’s where we went. There was a definite air of excitement, even though I’m not so much into the latest techno-gadgets! They enjoyed experimenting with one. I would have looked around the mall more, but it was uncomfortably noisy all over. Later in the afternoon Jim and I explored a street full of antique shops. I spied one little book by Henry Drummond called The Greatest Thing in the World. I had heard of both author and book, and the inscription in the front was signed by a Barbara! So I got that.

We did enjoy a beautiful Easter service at a church we visited in the area. The pastor there knows our pastor and has spoken at our church, so it was a little like visiting an acquaintance rather than walking into a totally new situation.

We were sad that Jason and Mittu weren’t able to go with us, but they checked in with Grandma, took care of the dog, got the mail, etc. for us, and I noticed that they did some vacuuming and folded a load of laundry left in the dryer, so that was wonderful. We had lamented that we wouldn’t get back until Easter evening and so would miss our usual Easter festivities, but when we got home, Mittu had set the table with fresh spring flowers and little Easter treats, and then she and Jason brought over a ham dinner with all the accouterments. It’s so nice to have such a sweet and thoughtful daughter-in-law! (And son, too. 😀 )

I may make the resurrection rolls next week since some missed them — after all, we celebrate the resurrection every Sunday, right?

Yesterday was spent not getting everything done that I had planned to, but making a dent in all those after-vacation tasks, like laundry, a trip to the grocery store, going through mail, etc. After this morning I think I’ll be pretty well back to “normal” — whatever that is. 🙂 I think I do foresee a nap in the near future, though!

Happy Easter!

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Dear Lord, I have no Easter flowers to bring,
No roses fresh, no lilies dewy sweet.
But still one offering I may gladly bear,
And lay rejoicing at Thy feet.

Enfold my weary love in Thy sweet will,
And keep it closely to Thy wounded side,
So shall I rest, nor sad and helpless mourn,
While safe in Thee my love and I abide.

~ Author Unknown

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. John 11:25

Happy Resurrection Day!

Friday’s Fave Five

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Susanne at Living to Tell the Story hosts a “Friday Fave Five” in which we share our five favorite things from the past week. Click on the button to read more of the details, and you can visit Susanne to see the list of others’ favorites or to join in.

My favorites from the past week or so:

1. Spring break! No alarm clocks!

2. Winning a comment contest at A Dusty Frame. The prize: $10 credit from her Etsy shop. Thank you, Lizzie!

3. I made this Chicken Pot Pie that I saw last year at Barb‘s.

I had been wanting to make it for a while, and finally reminded myself that I wanted to do so before the weather got much warmer. I avoid turning the oven on during the summer if I can help it! (I also got the idea from her of decorating the crust with little cut-outs!)

When I tell my husband we’re eating something I saw on someone’s blog, he says, “Blog food?” with the same intonation as if he were saying, “Dog food?” 🙂 But so far he has liked any “blog food” I have served. And everyone liked this.

4. Then one of my favorite things to do with the leftover pie crust is so sprinkle it with cinnamon and sugar and a little butter and bake it just for a few minutes til done. Wonderful!

I also had this week another of my favorite little things to do with leftovers is to make a sandwich out of leftover meatloaf. Some time last year I started making a grilled cheese sandwich with leftover meatloaf in it — even better!

5. This little box:

Holds a little pump:

Which I hope solves a big problem.

I had mentioned before that our little patio area floods when we get a lot of rain, which then floods our sunroom. It’s become quite an ordeal to set the portable pump outside and get towels and the wet vac inside. The drain wasn’t keeping up, and we had roto-rooter guys who cleared a hole through it but said it was caving in and broken through with roots, plus it was not enough of an incline for gravity to really help the water drain. They wanted to dig up a corner of the patio and out a pump in for $1200.  My husband put this little pump in outside the patio (Isn’t he smart?) So far in testing it and in a small storm we had the other day it did great. It’s set to automatically come on when the water reaches a certain level. This will be a BIG relief!

I hope you all have a great weekend and a wonderful Easter.