Author Archives: Barbara Harper
Friday’s Fave Five
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.
1. A bonus! My husband received a bonus from his job and distributed a portion to all the family.
2. An excuse! I received notice this week that I am excused from jury duty! I thought for sure I’d have to get something signed from the doctor, but they didn’t ask for that. I am relieved!
3. My mother’s ring. I told about more about this here, but I found out my sister had sent my mom’s “mother’s ring” in a previous package, which I thought I had lost because I hadn’t seen it in the package, and I was looking everywhere the package had been to see if maybe it had dropped behind or under something. Then I found out my husband had taken it out to surprise me with it later and had it in his closet. I felt much like the woman who found her lost coin!
4. Seeing Jesse coach and referee. Every year our school has an elementary basketball tournament: they take the kids who want to play, divide them up into teams, and have volunteers from the JV and Varsity basketball teams coach them. Jesse volunteered, thinking he’d be helping a Varsity guy — but he was given his own team, I think mainly because of a lack of volunteers. Plus he refereed another game. It’s always neat to see your teen-ager begin to take responsibilities and leadership roles and handle them well. It’s not the first time I’ve noticed that he seems to work well with younger kids, and I wonder if the Lord might have something along those lines in his future.
5. Jeremy cooking dinner. I’ve mentioned this before — my oldest has taken an interest in cooking and occasionally will make lunch or dinner, and it’s always nice. But this week I have a lot on the schedule, especially in the next few days. I have the ladies’ newsletter due this week and wanted to get it done early. That didn’t happen, but I was able to get a great lot of it done while Jeremy made dinner last night — and he even unloaded and partially reloaded the dishwasher. So not only was it just nice to have a night almost off in the kitchen, but it was an immense help this particular time. Oh, he made jambalaya, by the way. It was good! I hadn’t had that in years.
Bonus:
Mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Just the right amount of chocolate to satisfy a little craving or to finish off dinner.
And I don’t feel I can close this post without saying this…I mentioned yesterday how neat it is when the Lord sends just the reminder or instruction or rebuke or encouragement I need, and that happened in a special way yesterday and today. I do usually get something out of every encounter with the Bible, but there are times when it is just so incredibly apt for the very particular circumstances of the day, which is even more mind-boggling considering that I am reading a devotional book or e-mail devotional that was written or compiled years ago or following a Bible reading schedule. Somehow the Lord coordinates all of that to get the right message to the right person at the right time. Amazing!
I’ll be around to visit hopefully later on today. Happy Friday!
God’s Help for God’s Assignment
It’s amazing, thrilling, and comforting to me how the Lord sends just what I need through various means. I have a very busy few days ahead — not “crushing,” but busy, and this came yesterday in the daily e-mail devotional made up of Elisabeth Elliot‘s writings. This was originally from her book A Lamp For My Feet.
God’s Help for God’s Assignment
Sometimes a task we have begun takes on seemingly crushing size, and we wonder what ever gave us the notion that we could accomplish it. There is no way out, no way around it, and yet we cannot contemplate actually carrying it through. The rearing of children or the writing of a book are illustrations that come to mind. Let us recall that the task is a divinely appointed one, and divine aid is therefore to be expected. Expect it! Ask for it, wait for it, believe that God gives it. Offer to Him the job itself, along with your fears and misgivings about it. He will not fail or be discouraged. Let his courage encourage you. The day will come when the task will be finished. Trust Him for it.
“For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded, therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed” (Is 50:7 AV).
Booking Through Thursday: Grammar
The Booking Through Thursday question for this week is:
In honor of National Grammar Day … it IS “March Fourth” after all … do you have any grammar books? Punctuation? Writing guidelines? Style books?
More importantly, have you read them?
How do you feel about grammar in general? Important? Vital? Unnecessary? Fussy?
March Fourth. Ha! I don’t think I ever caught that before.
I do have my trusty Harcourt College Handbook from way back in college days. I haven’t read it through like a book, but I’ve probably referred to every part of it at some point over the years. I do have other grammar, style, writing books that I keep for reference, but these days if a question comes up while I am in the midst of writing, I usually look it up online. For instance, I can’t seem to keep straight when to use “i.e.” and “e.g.” — if I just search for “i.e. and e.g.” I get multitudes of grammar-related sites that can remind me in just seconds which is which.
I do think grammar is important for clear communication. Punctuation marks are somewhat like traffic signs. If everyone interpreted traffic signs differently, we’d have a lot of accidents and traffic snarls. I just saw somewhere recently the following example:
“Let’s eat, Dad!”
“Let’s eat Dad!”
Big difference. 🙂
I think all those elements of grammar can help the writer communicate more clearly, intelligently, and effectively.
However, as a reader and listener, I think we have to exercise some grace. There are few things more obnoxious than for someone to correct someone else’s grammar in a social setting. Only parents, teachers, and editors should do that for people under their care. Sometimes I can get distracted by someone’s grammar mistake and miss the main point of what they’re saying. Unfortunately, grammar mistakes do have that effect, which is another reason to try to master them. But I do understand that in the heat of communication the subject matter can overtake good grammar. That’s what editors are for. There are no editors for public speaking, however, so I try to be a little for forgiving when listening.
Random Dozen Meme
Linda at 2nd cup of coffee created and hosts the Random Dozen meme every Wednesday. You can answer the questions on your blog and link up to Linda’s plus find more participants there.
1. Do you prefer even or odd numbers? Any particular reason?
I guess it depends on what it is relating to. Numbers just for numbers’ sake — no, I don’t think there is a preference.
2. On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being “not at all” and 10 being Carly Simon-worthy, how vain are you?
(What’s with asking us about our faults each week?!) I think we all have some degree of vanity in us. And I think I’ll just leave that at that. 🙂 Edited: OK, I had to come back to this one. Argh — I am too analytical for these kinds of questions! I think overall I have a healthy sense that any strength or ability I have, anything I can accomplish, is from the Lord and His grace and strength. But I will admit there a couple of areas where I struggle with this and have to give myself a talking to and get things back in perspective. And it’s silly because those areas are some where other people are way better than me. But that’s the nature of the flesh. So I think real vanity, really thinking that in any way or any part of me is better than anyone else — I’d have to say maybe a 3. But in occasional temptations it can go higher. And I do struggle with where the line between being pleased and proud. (Told you I am too analytical….)
3. Among these Irish stereotypes, with which do you identify most closely? Talkative, Proud, Inquisitive, Love to party, Hot-tempered.
What about open and friendly? That’s how I usually think of Irish people. I can be open and friendly, but it’s not my natural bent. I can be talkative, but I’m more inclined to be quiet. If inquisitive means curious, yes, I am that. I don’t love to party. Hot-tempered — I am afraid I do have my moments, but it’s more of a simmering beneath the surface than an explosion. But I don’t think I’d call that a primary characteristic.
4. How lucky do you consider yourself?
I don’t believe in luck: I believe in Providence and prayer.
5. What is the subject of your favorite post that you’ve written?
I have a few of my favorite posts in my sidebar, but the subject would be something the Lord has taught me or done in my life.
6. Describe March weather where you live in three words.
Changeable. Cold. Wet.
7. How apt are you at detecting blarney when you hear it? (Smooth talk, flattery).
I can detect flattery pretty well, but I used to be prone to smooth-talking sakes pitches. I’m more wary now.
8. How “green” are you, environmentally speaking?
I think there is a lot about “the movement” that is hype, which tends to make me discount a lot of it, but I could probably work on it more.
9. What is your favorite song this week?
I don’t know is I would say it is a favorite, but the one that has come to mind most often is “Going Home” which I posed a video of here earlier this week.
10. You are walking along and see a coin on the ground. What denomination does it have to be before you will stop to pick it up?
I am more concerned with how dirty it is that how much it is. Probably a quarter, though I don’t think I am likely to pick up coins anywhere but my own house unless I just dropped them myself.
11. Complete the sentence: “Every time I look outside my window ….”
I long for spring.
12. What was the #1 song on the day you were born? See this site to find out.
“Tammy” by Debby Reynolds.
Odds and ends
THE sun is bright,—the air is clear,
The darting swallows soar and sing,
And from the stately elms I hear
The blue-bird prophesying Spring.
The darting swallows soar and sing,
And from the stately elms I hear
The blue-bird prophesying Spring.
From “It Is Not Always May” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- The calendar says that spring is coming in a couple of weeks, but there are no bright skies, clear air, or blue-birds prophesying Spring here today. It’s snowing. In March. In South Carolina. We’re supposed to get 2-4 inches today. Thankfully it is expected to be gone by tomorrow and the weekend is supposed to be nice.
- I was at W-Mart this morning and saw these cute sandwich cutters. I never liked the idea of cutting sandwiches into cute shapes because of the waste of what’s left over, but this looks like it would create little waste. Unfortunately, my guys are beyond the cute sandwich stage — though it would be fun to see how they would react to little dino-sandwiches. 🙂
- One of my sisters in Texas and I had e-mails going back and forth about a Christmas package she had sent. We were talking about the contents and the fact that I still have some of the things in it that were for two of my other sisters about 45 minutes away (even though it is two months past Christmas….we have conflicting schedules and a hard time getting together.) She was all right with that, but then she asked, “Did you like the ring?” “Ring? What ring?” She had sent one my my mom’s “mother’s rings” — years ago it was popular to have a ring made with all your children’s birthstones. I had not seen it at all and didn’t know it was in there. I went back and searched thoroughly the box and the two different areas where it had been, but saw nothing. If it was mixed up in the packaging material, it’s long gone. I was hoping maybe it fell out of the box near the wall or between different items nearby…but found nothing so far. I am so heartsick over it. My mother’s taste in jewelry was much gaudier than mine, so I would never have worn it, but I would have liked to have it because it was hers. I’m praying that if it is still anywhere here, we’ll find it.
- Update: FOUND! Okay, between e-mails and phone calls, here is what happened: My husband had gone to Houston for a business trip last fall and couldn’t get by to see my sister but had called. They talked about the ring, and decided she would send it to him in a Christmas box before our anniversary, and he was going to give to to me then. But it didn’t arrive in time, so when we got back from our anniversary trip, he opened the box and took out the ring and put it on a shelf in his closet, thinking he would get it cleaned and give it to me another time. So when I e-mail my sister back that I searched everywhere and couldn’t find the ring, she e-mailed back and said, “Oh no, I ruined the surprise!” and told me what was supposed to have happened. I called my husband, and he told me where it was — and I found it! I am sooo relieved!! Whew — talking about hitting the heights and depths in one morning!!!
The Week In Words
(Today’s Microfiction Monday post is below.)
Melissa at Breath of Life hosts a weekly carnival called The Week In Words,which involves sharing some words from your reading. Melissa explains,
“Playing along is simple, just write a post of the quote(s) that spoke to you during the week (attributed, of course) and link back here [at Melissa‘s]. They can be from any written source, i.e. magazine, newspaper, blog, book. The only requirement is that they be words you read.”
I like this idea because I often will see a quote that really speaks to me, but then I forget it. Just recording them here helps me remember them a little better.
The first one is from a friend’s Facebook profile:
“The gospel comes to the sinner at once with nothing short of complete forgiveness as the starting-point of all his efforts to be holy. It does not say, ‘Go and sin no more, and I will not condemn thee.’ It says at once, ‘Neither do I condemn thee: go and sin no more.’” — Horatius Bonar
Amen.
This one I saw at Ribtickler and traced back to Stephen Hume’s column in the Vancouver Sun.
“What matters is not the medal count, it’s simply that these remarkable young people—from Canada or from anywhere else—qualified and then showed up and did their best against the world’s best. Everybody can’t finish with a gold medal; most who strive must always settle for satisfactions that don’t even include medals. But it’s their striving that creates the winner’s glory.” — Stephen Hume
I love this. Often when Jesse played basketball, I just prayed for each team to their best. And even those who didn’t win gold in the Olympics contributed to the sport, the competition, and their own stretching, growth, and development.
Finally, in Parting the Waters:Finding Beauty in Brokenness by Jeanne Damoff, which I am currently reading, she writes in section about a situation that was not bad in itself but was causing problems for some and was being used “to stir up lies and jealousy”:
We’d escaped any permanent damage, but a sobering thought struck me. With all the prayer surrounding our family, how had these darts found a chink in the armor?
I remembered a verse. “Satan is like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” Satan doesn’t fight fair. Often, he takes something good — something God has done — and perverts it into an instrument of destruction.
So perceptive, and so true. We need God’s grace not just to watch out for the “big things” but also the little things that could lead to big things.
Read anything lately that struck you in a particular way that you’d like to remember? You can visit Melissa’s for more or to link up with your own quotes.
Microfiction Monday
Susan at Stony River has begun a Microfiction Monday wherein participants write a story in 140 characters or less based on a particular image that Susan has chosen for the day. Design 215’s Character Counter helps keep track of the number of characters. It’s a fun exercise in creative conciseness…or concise creativity… You can visit Susan’s to see some very creative stories for today.
The photo for today inspired two different stories!
I. Accentuations
“Top o’ the mornin’ to ya, lassie! Where might be the Blarney Stone?’
“Sigh. Bessie, lay off the Irish accent. You’re a Jersey cow!”
II. The Great Escape
“I was glad Farmer Brown’s cart wasn’t latched after I saw where he was taking us.”
“Me, too, but he’ll catch up to us if you don’t hurry!”
Going Home
This past week my dad would have celebrated his 80th birthday if he were still alive. He passed away about 13 years ago.
I don’t approach his birthday or the anniversary of his death with the same emotions as I do my mom’s. Our relationship was not as close, those we did love each other. I wrote about him, his alcoholism, and his conversation late in life here partly as an encouragement to others who have prayed long years for lost loved ones. But even though he did become a genuine (as far as I could tell) believer and there were some evident changes, long years as an unbeliever and lack of means of spiritual growth prohibited a dramatic turn-around. I’ve ben surprised at the amount of anger, resentment, and disappointment I’ve experienced since his death. As I wrote previously:
I was surprised that I had a great deal of anger in the years after he died — anger that our relationship wasn’t what it could have been, and though I couldn’t talk to him about it, anger at his anger. I felt it was kind of silly, really, to be angry at that point when there was no way to reconcile anything with him. I have read, though, that those feelings are pretty normal. What helps is to know that now, in heaven, where hearts are made finally perfect, knowing what he knows now, everything is all right on his end and he would do things differently if he could.
And that’s the encouragement I want to leave with people today. I know people who have had horrible relationships with their parents, involving manipulation and twisted emotional abuse, made worse by the fact that these were professing believers. Making a profession doesn’t necessarily make one a believer, of course, if there was no faith and repentance behind the profession; however, many true believers are far from what they should be (see Lot and Jonah for examples). When those kinds of parents (or siblings or friends or whoever) pass away, instead of or along with some degree of relief there is an unsettledness that things were left unresolved and that there is no way to resolve them now.
But there, in heaven, where “the spirits of just men [are] made perfect,” their hearts are finally perfectly right, they can see things clearly, and they would apologize if they could, and we can look forward to a joyful reunion.
I can’t remember where I saw this video: I scrolled through recent posts of a few blogs I regularly read, but I couldn’t find it. But after Dr. John‘s recent passing, the anniversary of my father’s death, and this week the passing of my pastor’s wife’s sister-in-law, a woman I looked up to in school, this seemed particularly poignant. I had know for years that a song called “Going Home” had been made with the melody of the second movement of Dvorak’s New World Symphony, but I had never heard all the words before.
Prayer
You’ve probably heard that there was a major earthquake in Chile which is setting off a tsunami. I have several friends in the predicted path of the tsunami — I am sure they and the people affected by the earthquake would appreciate prayer.
Also, our family may be facing some major changes in the coming months. I can’t say anything more specific right now, but would appreciate prayer for discernment of the Lord’s will and leading and reconciliation of our feelings to His will.
