Author Archives: Barbara Harper

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About Barbara Harper

https://barbarah.wordpress.com

A Steady Soul

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One September morning almost twenty-eight years ago, my left hand started feeling a little funny, like I’d slept on it wrong. I shook and flexed it while I continued packing my husband’s lunch for the day.

After a while, I realized that numbish feeling was spreading up my arm.

Then it started in both feet, spreading upward.

Within three hours, my left arm, both legs, and my lower torso were numb. I couldn’t walk on my own. I developed a laundry list of other symptoms.

After multitudes of tests and blood draws over eight days in the hospital, I was diagnosed with transverse myelitis.

Transverse Myelitis occurs when a virus hits the spine, triggering an autoimmune response which causes the body to attack the myelin sheath around the nerves as well as the virus. Symptoms vary depending on where along the spine the attack occurred. If the lower spine is affected, one might experience numbness and tingling. An attack high on the spine, however, could result in losing the ability to breathe, requiring a ventilator.

My spine was affected in the thoracic region. With much prayer and months of physical therapy, I progressed from a wheelchair to a walker to a cane to wobbly steps on my own.

I still have numb areas and odd sensations. But my biggest problem is balance.

I can walk in a straight line on level ground without problems most days. But uneven ground, slopes, and stairs are a challenge.

Sometimes people will offer me an arm for support, which helps. But what helps the most is a handrail, something solid and unmovable.

Oddly, though, I have the most trouble with balance when standing still.

Proprioreception has to do with knowing where your body is in space. Some people might not know where their hands and feet are without looking at them. I don’t have that problem, but if I stand still for more than a few minutes I lose balance. Usually I’ll inch towards a chair or wall to touch as a reference point to reset my bearings.

I told you all of that to tell you this:

A few years ago when I read 2 Peter 2 in a new-to-me translation, the word “unsteady” jumped out at me because I well knew what being unsteady felt like.

Peter talks in this chapter about those with unsteady souls. Other translations say unstable, unestablished, unsettled. These souls are easily enticed by false teachers (verse 14).

How do false teachers entice these souls? 1 Peter speaks of the false prophets’ sensuality, lust, greed, passion, so they “entice by sensual passions” (verse 18). James 1:14 uses the same Greek word for “entice,” which carries the idea of baiting, alluring, deceiving, when it says, “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.” They “despise authority” (verse 10). “They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption” (verse 19). They “exploit you with false words” (verse 3). They’re blasphemous (verses 10-13).

Probably many of the people who fall away to false teachers are not saved in the first place, but weak or new believers are susceptible as well. A true Christian can’t lose his or her salvation, but a believer can get tangled in false doctrines to their own confusion as well as that of everyone in their sphere of influence. But even those of us who think we’re strong need to “take heed lest we fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:12).

How can we make sure we’re not unsteady or unstable spiritually?

By orienting ourselves with the solid, unchanging Word of God.

Rest on the Bible’s sure foundation. Earlier in his letter, Peter told his readers that God’s Word was more sure than even his experience watching Jesus’ transfiguration (2 Peter 1:16-19, KJV).

Know that Scripture comes from God. Peter assured that that “no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20-21).

Know God Through His Word. Peter said “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence,” which we learn about from “His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world on account of lust.” (1:3-4, NASB). Everything pertaining to life and godliness! The first time this verse impacted me, I was nearly bowled over. There may be many things we don’t comprehend about God, but He’s given us everything we need to live for Him through knowing Him through His Word.

Don’t twist the Scriptures as the unstable do. “There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures” (2 Peter 3:15-16). The unsteady twist (wrest in the KJV) the very thing which could stabilize them. We read it in context so we understand its meaning. We don’t wrangle it to make it say what we want it to say. We don’t adjust it to us: we adjust ourselves to it.

Be watchful. “Take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability (2 Peter 3:17).

Keep growing “in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (3:18).

Listen to sound teaching. Contrast the characteristics Peter lists of false teachers in 2 Peter to what he says about godly shepherds in 1 Peter 5. Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 4: “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” We seek to feed our souls His truth rather than feeding our own desires.

Jesus said the one who hears his words and does them is like a man who built his house on a rock which was unshaken by winds and flood waters.

So we watch ourselves, that we’re not being led away of wrong desires. We read and listen to God’s Word as it’s written, in context, not trying to twist it. We listen to pastors and teachers who faithfully proclaim God’s Word. We we obey it. We get to know our Savior better and better and remind ourselves of His truth. and we keep growing spiritually. Doing all of these things might bring persecution, which Peter discusses often in both of his letters. But we can trust God to keep us and deliver us. Then we can say, “My steps have held to Your paths; my feet have not slipped” (Psalm 17:5).

Keep steady my steps according to your promise,
and let no iniquity get dominion over me (Psalm 119:133).

Revised from the archives.

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Laudable Linkage

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Here are some good reads found this week:

The Day I Told God No, HT to Challies. “I was free to say it, and free to live it, but I was not free to control the consequences of that one little word. There in my room I was sitting at a crossroads. I could continue with the “no”, or I could continue with God. I could not continue with both. If I wanted God in my life, I could only have him one way: as my King. He would not accept a position as my consultant.”

What If I Don’t Know When I Believed in Christ? HT to Challies. “I spiraled into a season of doubting my salvation in Christ. This severe doubt led me to sit in my pastor’s office where I heard an analogy from Spurgeon that continues to comfort me. And if you struggle with doubt and assurance, I trust this will aid you as it did me.”

How Do You Plan on Fighting Sin? HT to Challies. Each of us has besetting sins that we deal with constantly. This article has some good steps to consider and implement in fighting sin.

The Problem Is Your Worship, HT to Challies. “Your life may have you feeling stressed and burdened. You are surprised by feeling anxious over the smallest disruption in your schedule. A dark cloud of depression seems to consume your days. You try every problem-solving solution you know to shake the feelings of overwhelm and despair—better planning, networking, self-improvement classes, changing your diet and exercise, staying busy. The gripping fear that nothing is working has you running scared.”

Motherhood Isn’t Martyrdom, HT to Challies. “Many of our taglines overemphasize the pain of motherhood to the exclusion of the delight. We stress how being a mom is so hard, overwhelming, frustrating, and painful. If we’re not careful, we can begin to sound like we’re equating motherhood with martyrdom. But the Bible speaks of motherhood as a gift, a crown, and a joy.”

Your Short-Term Mission Trip Should Be About You (and That’s not a Bad Thing), HT to Challies. “I’m still a fan of short-term missions. This is not an anti-missions-trip article. Those are out there. This is not one of them. So why do I still encourage these trips? Because I believe God can use them to transform lives. Not necessarily the lives of the people you are serving. But your life? Yes!”

If a Vacation Is Worth Planning and Anticipating, How Much More Should We Anticipate Life in Heaven? Randy Alcorn: “There’s a great deal I don’t know, but one thing I do know is what people think about Heaven. And frankly, I’m alarmed.”

Sin has been pardoned at such a price that we cannot henceforth trifle with it. Spurgeon

Friday’s Fave Five

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June is flying by quickly, and it’s Friday once again. Time to gather with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to think back through the best parts of the week.

1. Father’s Day. I felt bad about Jim grilling on the day set aside to honor him. It seemed like I should have cooked something while he sat with his feet up. But grilling is what he wanted to do, and we all love his burgers. 🙂 It was actually a group effort, with different ones contributing food or tasks. Mittu made a tasty spice cheesecake. We FaceTimed with Jeremy while Jim opened presents from us all. It was a great day.

2. Four solid hours of sleep. I wake up several times at night due to various physical issues. Once I’m awake, I have to get up and go to the bathroom. I usually get back to sleep pretty easily. But one night last week, I slept over four hours without interruption. It was lovely and refreshing. I wish I knew what made the difference so I could try to replicate the conditions.

3. Zaxby’s ice. I love their food, too. But I also look forward to their munchy crunchy ice. Along with my meal, I get a cup of just ice and bring it home to pour my own decaf tea over it. I usually have more than half a cup of ice left, which keeps well overnight in their insulated cup in the refrigerator so I can do it again the next day. A simple but much-enjoyed pleasure.

4. Planters filling out. I didn’t take a picture when we first planted these in May, because they looked pretty sparse then. But they grew quickly. The only disappointment was that I had a few pink petunias there that didn’t make it for some reason. But the purple ones really took off.

flowers

5. Unexpected Take-out. I was at the computer yesterday afternoon when Jim came in to get a cup of coffee. He asked if I had any dinner plans and whether I’d want to order something out—not from our usual fast-food places, but from a restaurant. Yes!

I’m also thankful for safety this week as Jim traveled out-of-town, partly in the rain, and I was home during thunder storms. The power blinked a couple of times, but, thankfully, did not go out.

How was your week?

Humble Roots

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If people think about humility at all these days, they usually envision self-deprecation, playing down one’s attributes, talents, or accomplishments, or, at the very least, not bragging.

In Humble Roots: How Humility Grounds and Nourishes Your Soul, Hannah Anderson explores humility from a Biblical angle. Instead of viewing humility as a club or prod when we’re feeling too proud, humility frees us and leads us to rest.

I defined humility as a correct sense of self, as understanding where you come from and where you belong in this world (p. 64, Kindle version).

Theologically speaking, humility is a proper understanding of who God is and who we are as a result (p. 102).

I would describe it as a creaturely dependence. We’re “made in His image, but we are made nonetheless (p. 11)—made originally from dirt, to which our bodies return. As Paul reminds Timothy, “we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world” (1 Timothy 6:7). Everything we are and everything we have comes from God.

The problem is our obsession with ourselves. With our need to fix things, our need to make ourselves better, our need to be approved by God and others, our need to “count for something.”

But this is also why Jesus calls us to come to Him. By coming to Jesus, we remember who we are and who we are not. By coming to Him, we come face to face with God and with ourselves. “It is only in our encounter with a personal God,” writes philosopher Dietrich von Hildebrand, “that we become fully aware of our condition as creatures, and fling from us the last particle of self-glory” (p. 55).

If I can’t handle little things, what can I handle? Failure at small things reminds us of how helpless we are in this great, wide world. When little things spiral out of control, they remind us that even they were never within our control in the first place (p. 26).

Humility, instead of being a negative concept, frees us:

to be the people God created us to be (p. 11).

from the cycle of stress, performance, and competition (p. 12).

from our burdens . . . by calling us to rely less on ourselves and more on Him (p. 32).

to redirect our energies toward God and those whom He has given us to love (p. 3).

from the condemnation of others, . . . from self-condemnation and unnecessary guilt (p. 108).

to hear God’s call and leads you to a place of both rest and flourishing (p. 110).

from the oppression of our emotions, when we finally learn that “God is greater than our heart (p. 114).

from the responsibility of feeling like you have to “do it all.” You are free to do only what you have been made to do (p. 163)

. . . and so much more.

Hannah follows Jesus’ admonition to consider birds and flowers by grounding each chapter in something from the garden or nature. For instance, the chapter “Vine-Ripened” begins with all the work that goes into growing garden tomatoes, then being fooled every year into thinking the ones gassed for redness in stores will be the same. That leads into a discussion of wisdom being rooted not in acquiring facts, but in submitting to the source of wisdom–the fear of the Lord. Then an 1800 court case over whether tomatoes are vegetables or fruit is tied in, along with our relentless desire to be “right.” “Humility simply leaves room that my understanding of a situation could be wrong” (p. 124). We may not have all the facts or may be influenced by culture. Because we’re limited, “my faith cannot rest on my own knowledge . . . or ability to understand . . . humility leaves room for grace” (p. 124). How unlike most social media discussions, where everyone is right in their own eyes. Hannah then refers to an Isaac Watts book which discusses a “dogmatical spirit.” Our wisdom and safety come not from our being right, but from Jesus being right. Then the chapter goes back to the process of creating store-bought tomatoes, compares that with our search for wisdom, and extols the wisdom of waiting: “Humility teaches us to let knowledge ripen on the vine” (p. 129). The chapter is much more beautifully woven together than my cobbled summation here.

Hannah points us to Jesus, “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:6-8) and who invites us to “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:20).

Besides benefiting from the truths Hannah shares, I marvel at the way she is able to weave together facts from nature, literature, Scripture, and personal example seamlessly into each chapter. I don’t know how she accomplishes this without time to just sit and think, but as a busy pastor’s wife and mom, I’m sure such time is at a premium. I first read one of her books during Advent and have been working my way through her others. She has quickly become one of my favorite authors.

Even though I just finished this book, reading one chapter a week, I am thinking about going through it again. I need to soak in its truths more.

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Fathers and Children

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Fathers have a tremendous impact on their children, for good or bad. We need God’s grace to overcome the effects of a bad father and not lose the benefits of a good father.

In Keep a Quiet Heart, Elisabeth Elliot shared an excerpt from a book titled Fathers and Sons written by Phillip Howard, her grandfather:

Do you remember that encouraging word of Thomas Fuller’s, a chaplain of Oliver Cromwell’s time? It’s a good passage for a father in all humility and gratitude to tuck away in his memory treasures:

“’Lord, I find the genealogy of my Savior strangely checkered with four remarkable changes in four immediate generations.

Rehoboam begat Abijah; that is, a bad father begat a bad son.
Abijah begat Asa; that is, a bad father begat a good son.
Asa begat Jehoshaphat; that is, a good father begat a good son.
Jehoshaphat begat Joram; that is, a good father begat a bad son.

I see, Lord, from hence that my father’s piety cannot be entailed; that is bad news for me. But I see also that actual impiety is not always hereditary; that is good news for my son.”

We’re not doomed by a bad father. We may have to overcome what we learned from him. We may have long-lasting wounds of spirit by how he treated us. But we don’t have to follow in his footsteps. When we turn from our own way in repentance and faith and follow Christ, we have a new, perfect, kind Father. The better we know Him, the more He changes us to be more like Himself. What we missed in our earthly father we can find in our heavenly one.

He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:11-12).

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God (1 John 3:1).

Similarly, we’re not saved by a good father. His teaching may help us on the road of life. His example may be the highest we have to follow. His love and care may settle deep in our hearts and give us needed security and confidence. But his faith is not automatically passed down to us. We each have to choose to believe in, follow, and obey God personally. Our earthly father can’t be to us everything our heavenly Father is, but he can point us to Him.

And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever (1 Chronicles 28:9).

The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. (Exodus 15:2).

Of course, most fathers are a mixture of good and bad. They’ll have some habits we want to emulate and others we want to avoid.

It’s natural for children to want to forge their own paths, make their own decisions, follow their own way as they mature. We become independent of our earthly fathers. But we should become ever more dependent on our heavenly Father. He can take us farther than our earthly father can.

There’s no greater example of parenthood than our heavenly Father. As we spend time with Him and behold Him, we become more like Him.

Fatherlike He tends and spares us;
Well our feeble frame He Knows.
In His hands He gently bears us,
Rescues us from all our foes.
Alleluia!
Alleluia!
Widely yet His mercy flows!

Henry Lyte, “Praise My Soul, the King of Heaven”

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Laudable Linkage

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Here are some of the good reads found this week:

To the Older Woman in the Church: You Are NOT Obsolete. “Older women in the Body of Christ are not obsolete, and ‘so we do not lose heart.’ Though our outer self may be forgetful, less agile, and plumper than we’d like, our inner self is on duty, continuing in service to our God.”

Potential Dangers of “Applying Scripture to My Life,” HT to Knowable Word. “Imagine asking a friend how her day was and two minutes into her summary interjecting, ‘Wait, tell me how this applies to me?’ We’d never do this. And yet we do it to God. We exchange the feast of relational intimacy and holistic formation for the porridge of minor behavioral change and practical nuggets for our optimized life.”

What We Regard as Little, HT to Challies. “The lack of obedience in small things would always eventually lead Israel to idolatry, to drifting from the God who rescued them and made them His own people. We like the dramatic stories of walls falling and dry river crossings but deemphasize the daily obedience to God’s Word because that’s not as gripping or faith-growing.”

Obituary for a Quiet Life, HT to Susan. “When the notable figures of our day pass away, they wind up on our screens, short clips documenting their achievements, talking heads discussing their influence. The quiet lives, though, pass on soundlessly in the background. And yet those are the lives in our skin, guiding us from breakfast to bed. They’re the lives that have made us, that keep the world turning.”

At the Center of All Things. “Christians are prone to take a relatively minor point of doctrine, one we might identify as second- or third-order, and set it like the earth at the pivot point of Ptolemy’s universe. Their love of this doctrine and their conviction that it is key to a right understanding and practice of the Christian faith means that soon everything begins to orbit around it. It becomes the center of their beliefs in such a way that any other point of doctrine is understood only in relation to it.” Tim shares a better way.

The Danger of Playing God. I caught part of this from Stephen Davey’s Wisdom for the Heart program on the radio then skimmed through the transcript online.The part that grabbed my attention was the difference between critical thinking and judgmentalism. “The Christian is actually told, and I quote, to judge all things (1 Corinthians 2:15) – the same root word for judge that James uses here when he obviously tells us not to judge. So is the Bible confused? Not if you understand the context of this prohibition. What James is forbidding here is judgmentalism – a critical spirit that judges everyone and everything and runs everyone down. / Hughes, p. 196. There is a difference between making a discerning judgment and having a judgmental spirit. There is a difference between judging and judgmentalism.  There is a difference between thinking critically and being critical.”

The Assignment I Wasn’t Expecting, HT to Challies. “I once was an eager college student flush with conviction, laying my life out for Jesus. His love had captured and transformed me, and I was driven by the wonder of it. I would go anywhere, do anything, I vowed. And I did. It was difficult and painful and exhilarating and beautiful, while it lasted. But somehow I didn’t expect it all to come down to this.”

Why We Should Read Poetry, although the piece talks about literature, not just poetry. HT to the Story Warren. “Reading literature offers us profound solidarity with an author and admits us to a broader human community but it also holds up a mirror that allows us to see aspects of ourselves more clearly than we could have before.”

Why Build a Personal Library? HT to Linda.”Writing in the Guardian, Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett recently took aim at ‘everything that is smug and middle class about the cult of book ownership.’ She clarified, ‘I don’t mean reading. . . . No, I specifically mean having a lot of books and boasting about it, treating having a lot of books as a stand-in for your personality, or believing that simply owning a lot of books makes one ‘know things.’ But, seriously: Who does that?” Joel J. Miller shares some good reasons *for* a personal library.

I enjoyed looking through several illustrations by Liz Fosslien, many about time management, HT to Redeeming Productivity. I especially liked this one about having a bad day and breaking the cycle.

It’s a good time for my occasional reminder that links do not mean 100% endorsement of everything on these sites.

Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home. C. S. Lewis

Friday’s Fave Five

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This was a week when it was hard to come up with five favorites. It wasn’t a bad week, but nothing stood out as worth mentioning. But that’s one reason I love this exercise with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story. When I look and consider, the blessings are there. Here are a few:

1. Impromptu family dinner. We’ve had a pork loin in the freezer for a while, and Jim decided he wanted to cook it Tuesday. He cuts it up and marinates it in the sous vide cooker Jeremy made for him, then finishes it off on the grill. As he cut the meat up, I thought, that’s much more than the two of us can deal with. I texted the kids to see if they wanted to come over, and they were all free.

2. A cool summer evening. Summer hasn’t officially started, but the temperature and humidity feel like it. I ran errands Tuesday afternoon, and by the time I navigated the grocery store and lugged groceries in and put them away, I was red-faced, hot, and sweaty–and, I am sorry to say, a little irritable. I bumped the AC down and turned on the ceiling fan while preparing dinner, and finally cooled off. I wasn’t excited when everyone congregated outside, but I was pleasantly surprised that it felt really nice as we sat and talked and watched Timothy play.

3. A good meeting. Jim met with the pastor of the church that we’ve been visiting the last several weeks to ask several questions.

4. Good answers to a couple of specific prayers this week.

5. A productive week after a couple where I felt like I was spinning my wheels.

Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there this weekend!

A Place to Hang the Moon

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In A Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus, William, 12, Edmund, 11, and Anna, 9, live in 1940 England. Their parents died when William was 5. “The grandmother” had charge of them since, but she sent them off to boarding school and was cold and aloof when they were home.

Now the grandmother has died as well. The family solicitor, Mr. Engersoll, explains that the children have been left a lot of money, but no one has been named as their guardian. Apparently there is no one to ask. The children plead to stay with the family’s housekeeper, Mrs. Collins, but she’s too old to take them in.

Mr. Engersoll suggests that the children join evacuees being sent to the country. Perhaps the foster parents they find might take them in permanently. The children are advised not to tell anyone that they are alone in the world or that their family has money, so they don’t get taken advantage of.

The children agree with what Mrs. Collins calls “the preposterous plan,” as there seems to be no other option.

The children are billeted together first with one family, then another. I don’t want to spoil the story by telling what went on in those places, but neither is suitable.

The children spend many afternoons in the town library. Books have always been their friends, and the warmth and quietness of the library provide a refuge. The kind interest of the librarian, Mrs. Muller, makes the place even more welcome.

It’s not long, however, before they discern Mrs. Muller is something of an outcast. She’s married to a German man who has disappeared.

The children wish they could stay with Mrs. Muller, despite her husband’s possible Nazi leanings.

This story starts out like a classic fairy tale, with children alone in the world having to overcome various difficulties. I had thought it was a young adult book, but Amazon recommends it for grades 4-7.

I don’t often read secular books for this age group, but the Story Warren and Hope both spoke well of this story, piquing my interest. I agree with C. S. Lewis that a good children’s book can be enjoyed by adults as well. When the title came up temporarily free from Audible. I gave it a try.

I’m so glad I did. I loved this book. The story is well-told and the characters are beautifully drawn. Descriptions of both warm and cozy and difficult scenes make you feel you are experiencing them along with the children. References to beloved classic children’s books are scattered throughout. Polly Lee’s British accent enhanced the audiobook. I didn’t want the book to end.

Some of my favorite quotes:

The first words of a new book are so delicious—like the first taste of a cookie fresh from the oven and not yet properly cooled.

The librarian took this all in, standing by the fire and observing the children for a while, letting the silence be. Somehow, it didn’t feel awkward, the way silences often do. Perhaps librarians are more used to quiet than most.

William, Edmund, and Anna knew, somewhere deep in the place where we know things that we cannot say aloud, that they had never lived in the sort of home one reads about in stories – one of warmth and affection and certainty in the knowledge that someone believes you hung the moon.

Edmund took in the boy’s mended jacket, the eyes underlined in shadows, the skin above his upper lip chapped raw from a dripping nose gone unattended, and saw the sort of hunger whose endlessness digs a pit in a person. Being eleven, Edmund wouldn’t have put it quite in those words, but he recognized it nonetheless.

While she wasn’t sure of the precise definition of the word “bibliophile,” Anna was certain it meant something that she wanted to be.

The stealing of sweets, after all, is an act committed only by those with unspeakably black souls.

The smell of the cookies filled the children with a warmth that can only come from the magnificent alchemy of butter and sugar.

Truth be told, Anna was rather giving away the ending, but sometimes one cannot help oneself.

Anna thought of offering up a hearty platter of I told you so, but she didn’t. Why foul perfection with such a sharp thing as bitterness?

This is a lovely book. Not fluffy bunny and serene landscape lovely, but a wonderful tale beautifully told.

The Four Graces

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The Four Graces are daughters of the vicar of Chevis Green, England, during WWII. This book is sometimes listed as the fourth Barbara Buncle book, but Barbara only appears in one scene at the beginning at a wedding. The setting and some of the characters from the previous book carry on, however.

The vicar has been a widower for some time, and his grown daughters all help around the house and village–or at least they did, until one went into the service during WWII.

Liz works on the neighboring farm of Archie Chevis-Cobb, the local squire. She’s always up for adventure and is unconventional and outspoken.

Sal takes care of most of the home chores. She was sickly as a child and therefore did not attend school. She has a quiet, steady disposition and helps her father smooth the ruffled feathers of his congregants.

Addie enlisted in the WAAF and lives in London but pops in and out.

Tilly is quiet and shy and plays the organ.

Amid the war shortages and rationing, the Graces live a quiet, pleasant life. But then William Single, a scholar interested in Rome, comes to stay with them and study what he thinks is an old buried Roman settlement nearby. William is a large but gentle, bumbling man and fits into the household nicely.

A young officer, a friend of Addie’s comes to visit–too often for Tilly’s tastes. She’s afraid he has designs on one of her sisters.

But the household is totally disrupted by the arrival of Aunt Rona, the girls’ late mother’s sister. Bombing shattered all her windows of her London house, so she came to stay with the Graces. But she takes over and tries to manage everything and everyone. And then the girls fear Aunt Rona might be trying to worm her way into their father’s affections.

This book reminded me a bit of Little Women, if it had been set during WWII. The girls here are older, though, all in their twenties.

Some of the quotes I loved:

Life was like that, thought Liz. You drifted on for years and years—then, suddenly, everything happened at once and all the things that had seemed so stable dissolved and disintegrated before your eyes…and life was new.

I have noticed that nowadays when people speak of being broad-minded they really mean muddleheaded, or lacking in principles—or possibly lacking the strength to stand up for any principles they may have.

“Books are people,″ smiled Miss Marks. ″In every book worth reading, the author is there to meet you, to establish contact with you. He takes you into his confidence and reveals his thoughts to you.

She talked less than some of the others and perhaps thought more.

I listened to the audiobook nicely read by Karen Cass.

This was a secular book, so I would not agree with every little thing–like brief mentions of astrology and a universal religion. But otherwise, this is a sweet English village story that I enjoyed very much.

In fact, I am a little disappointed to leave this setting and these characters behind. I’d love for  there to have been a sequel or at least a mention of the sisters in other books like Stevenson does with some of her characters. But we’ll just have to imagine the Graces continuing in in the ups and downs and pleasures and sorrows of life.

 

Why Doesn’t God Make Everything Clear?

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Why Doesn't God Make Everything Clear?

I suppose people could disagree over almost every point in the Bible. But by and large, most Christians agree that much in the Bible is clear: the way of salvation, who Jesus is, how a person can know God, and so much more. All the most essential, non-negotiable doctrine is clear to those who seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance as they read and who don’t twist the Scriptures..

But there are issues good people have been arguing about for centuries. I fear many Christians have spent much more time causing division over these issues than they have sharing the truth they know and ministering to others.

Have you ever wondered why God doesn’t make some things more clear? So much energy and time and angst could have been saved if God had spelled some things out.

I don’t know, but just speculating, I came up with a few thoughts.

Our hearts. If you’ve ever tried to give rules to your children, you’ve probably found one who can find any loophole. We used to say that one of ours could be a lawyer, he was so skilled at this.

Even when you think the standards are pretty clear, some are going to question and push the limits.

During car trips, our kids got bored and started bugging each other. After several rounds of correction, we finally said, “Just don’t touch each other.” Then we heard cries and wails again. I turned around to see one brother holding his finger an inch away as if he was going to poke the other one. When confronted, he looked up innocently and said, “I’m not touching him.”

Even though he was obeying what we said, his heart wasn’t following what we meant.

I think God does not just want us to follow rules blindly, but He wants our hearts.

Do we prefer a list of rules, or are we going to seek to know our Father well enough to become more like Him in character?

Our consciences are at different levels of maturity. In New Testament times, Christians differed over whether it was all right to eat meat that had been offered to idols and then sold in the marketplace. Some felt the meat was tainted by its association with idols. Others felt meat was meat, idols were nothing, so eating the meat was no problem.

Paul told these saints, “I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. . . . Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble” (Romans 14:14-16, 20-21).

The meat is not unclean, Paul said. But if some people think it is, don’t offend their conscience by eating it in front of them.

We knew a pastor’s wife who felt she shouldn’t wear earrings. Her husband didn’t have a problem with earrings, but allowed her to follow what she felt was God’s leading. When the “Iron Curtain” came down in Eastern Europe, this couple were among the first Christians who traveled to help, hand out Bibles, and minister in whatever way they could.

They found the Christians they encountered had strong opinions about women wearing jewelry and makeup: they thought such things were worldly. Because this woman had already voluntarily cut down on such things, she had an inroad with them.

Did these believers need to learn not to judge others for wearing jewelry and make-up? Yes. But they had many other needs that had to be attended to first. They had not had access to Bibles and regular church gatherings. Those kinds of issues would come with time, teaching, and maturity. It would not have been right to fuss over them right off the bat.

Study and prayer. When the Bible does not state something clearly, we’re disposed to dig in and study it all the more. We shouldn’t join this camp or the other just because one appeals to us. I mentioned before Romans 14:5b: “Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.” As best we can, we need to search the Scriptures and ask God’s guidance and wisdom.

Grace. Are we going to beat everyone over the heads with our views of Bible versions, end times, modesty, standards? Or are we going to extend grace to those who differ?

I was quite grieved during the pandemic and the last couple of national elections to see how Christians treated each other’s differences. Christians have always had differences and have always needed admonishment to disagree gracefully, which is why these topics take up so much space in the epistles. But social media has taken such bickering to new lows.

I used to think that if we’re all filled with the same Holy Spirit, we should all come to the same conclusions about everything. But that’s not what the Bible says. Instead, it tells us to remember that each of us is God’s child, His image bearer, and should be treated accordingly. We should do everything we do as unto the Lord. In Romans 14, those who ate meat and celebrated certain days did so unto the Lord—and those who did not acted as unto the Lord, even though they were on the opposite sides of these issues. Both were living as unto the Lord, even though they differed on how to do so. Romans 14 also tells us not to despise or judge each other, to be fully persuaded in our own minds, not to cause others to stumble, to “pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding” (verse 19).

1 Corinthians discusses some of these same issues. Chapter 6:12 says, “’All things are lawful for me,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful for me,’ but I will not be dominated by anything.” Chapter 10, verses 23-24 add, “’All things are lawful,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.” So some things may be strictly permissible, yet I should not do them if they dominate me, aren’t helpful, and don’t build up. I need to think about not just my good, but my neighbors’.

Seek God’s glory. After discussing several issues where Christians differed, Paul said, “ May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 15:5-6). We need to look for and choose the path that most glorifies God, not the easiest or the most familiar.

If God does not spell some of these issues out, how do we know what to do? “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3). The next verse says “he has granted to us his precious and very great promises.” We seek Him and His Word with a sincere heart. When there is not clear chapter and verse on an issue, some of these principles we’ve discussed will guide our attitudes and actions.

Conversations with others, especially more mature Christians, can shed light. But we shouldn’t descend into bickering.

Rupertus Meldenius had it right when he said, “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.”

Walk in love like Christ

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