The Week In Words

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Barbara Harper

Welcome to The Week In Words, where we share quotes from the last week’s reading. If something you read this past week inspired you, caused you to laugh, cry, think, dream, or just resonated with you in some way, please share it with us, attributing it to its source, which can be a book, newspaper, blog, Facebook — anything that you read. More information is here.

It’s been a busy week since last time! But I did find a few gems along the way:

I forgot to note where I saw this one:

My complaint is not that I am in the world, but that the world is in me. I cannot get it out of my heart except as I let You in. —John Baird

I like the thought of crowding out the world by letting Christ in — instead of just combating worldliness, following Christ proactively and letting Him fill the space that worldliness would take.

On a friend’s Facebook page:

“A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.” ~Author unknown

From a post of Janet‘s:

Questions about God’s goodness or why He allows suffering are usually asked by comfortable people in comfortable houses with comfortable educations, but they’re answered by those who are walking through the most extreme trials.

Seen at Challies:

In public worship all should join. The little strings go to make up a concert, as well as the great. —Thomas Goodwin

If you’ve read anything that particularly spoke to you that you’d like to share, please either list it in the comments below or write a post on your blog and then put the link to that post (not your general blog link) in Mr. Linky below. I do ask that only family-friendly quotes be included. I hope you’ll visit some of the other participants as well and glean some great thoughts to ponder.

And please — feel free to comment even if you don’t have quotes to share!

The Week In Words

Posted on January 24, 2011 by Barbara Harper

Here are a few that spoke to me this week:

This was quoted in an Elisabeth Elliot devotional, taken from a chapter in All That Was Ever Ours titled, “Fear, Suffering, Love”:

There are tenderhearted people who virtually object to the whole scheme of creation. They would neither have force used nor pain suffered; they talk as if kindness could do everything, even where it is not felt. Millions of human beings but for suffering would never develop an atom of affection. The man who would spare due suffering is not wise. Because a thing is unpleasant, it is folly to conclude it ought not to be. There are powers to be born, creations to be perfected, sinners to be redeemed, through the ministry of pain, to be born, perfected, redeemed, in no other way. ~ George MacDonald, What’s Mine’s Mine.

So true — I would rather there were no suffering, but God has His purposes in it and there are things accomplished through it.

I saw this on someone’s blogs after a series of one link leading to another:

While I regarded God as a tyrant I thought my sin a trifle; But when I knew Him to be my Father, then I mourned that I could ever have kicked against Him. When I thought God was hard, I found it easy to sin; but when I found God so kind, so good, so overflowing with compassion, I smote upon my breast to think that I could ever have rebelled against One who loved me so, and sought my good. ~ C. H. Spurgeon

It was the thought of God’s anger and punishment for my sin that made me aware of my need, but it was His love that drew me to Him for salvation.

From Robin Lee Hatcher’s Facebook about lessons from Exodus:

When God speaks to a responsive heart, it melts. When God speaks to an unresponsive heart, it hardens.

And back to Elisabeth Elliot again, this time from “As We Forgive Those….” from Love Has a Price Tag:

To forgive is to die. It is to give up one’s right to self, which is precisely what Jesus requires of anyone who wants to be his disciple.

“If anyone wants to follow in my footsteps, he must give up all right to himself, carry his cross every day and keep close behind me. For the man who wants to save his life will lose it, but the man who loses his life for my sake will save it.”

Following Christ means walking the road he walked, and in order to forgive us he had to die. His follower may not refuse to relinquish his own right, his own territory, his own comfort, or anything that he regards as his. Forgiveness is relinquishment. It is a laying down. No one can take it from us, any more than anyone could take the life of Jesus if he had not laid it down of his own will. But we can do as he did. We can offer it up, writing off whatever loss it may entail, in the sure knowledge that the man who loses his life or his reputation or his “face” or anything else for the sake of Christ will save it.

And that’s why it is so hard. 🙂 But the remembrance of His forgiveness of me helps me to forgive others — whatever they did to me is much less than my sin against Him.

And please — feel free to comment even if you don’t have quotes to share!

Progress

Posted on January 18, 2011 by Barbara Harper

I’ve felt like I’ve been in a bit of malaise or brain fog the last couple of weeks, and, interestingly, I was scrolling through old posts yesterday looking for something and noticed I had a post saying about the same thing the first few weeks of January almost every year. I think a lot of it is due to transitioning back into routine after the holidays, but that was disrupted a bit due to several snow days. But after getting a lot of sleep, I think I’m back on an even keel. Yesterday brought progress in several areas:

Temperatures in the 40s! I didn’t have anything to do with that, of course, but after days and days of sub-freezing weather, 40 felt pretty nice, and most of the ice and snow has finally melted. Winter’s not over yet, but this little break was heartening.

Lists. In spite of “brain fog,” some of my problem was just laziness. I’d think of things to work on but would veg out with solitaire on the computer instead. After confessing that to the Lord, I made a running list of various things that needed to be done and got started on it yesterday.

I’m still working on decorating the house. It’s going slowly both because it takes me a while to decide where to put things and because I need Jim’s help for some of the heavier items — plus the holidays put all of that on hold. I concentrated on our room yesterday and got several things up on the wall, several boxes put away, and a dust ruffle and dresser scarf ironed and in place. A bit of lace and decorativeness does my heart good. I do still plan to post pictures of the house, hopefully soon. We’re still waiting on those living room chairs…

I’ve been able to make headway on this cross stitch project here and there during the evenings. Jason commented that I’d been working on it a long time, and a variation of the song came to mind…”Little by little, stitch by stitch…” I don’t even remember when I started it, but it’s fun seeing it come together. I’m dreading the words in the hoop, though, and left them for later. They’re the most important segment but they don’t follow the lines and squares — I may write them on with a washable fabric marker and stitch over them.

Anger…which is actually a regression rather than a progression. I’m not in general an angry person every day, and some times, by God’s grace, I can take things in stride. But sometimes I can get blindingly white-hot angry in a flash, and often over some stupid little thing. And it’s worse when I’m in “the right” (or else believe I am) because it’s harder to let that anger go. Such an incident happened yesterday (no, not with anyone in my family), and after the emotion cooled down I was terribly ashamed and discouraged. I didn’t really say anything, though if the other person was alert they could have picked up on it. But the roiling under the surface was neither healthy nor honoring to the Lord. I confessed that to the Lord as well, and a couple of verses came to mind (“Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools” [Ecclesiastes 7:9] was one, as was “the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God” [James 1:20]), yet I still felt shrouded in defeat. So this morning I did a brief word study on “anger” and “wrath,” mainly in Proverbs and the epistles. Several helped, but one that realy jumped out at me was, “The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression” (Proverbs 19:11). Meditation on that and some of the others is helping.

So, though winter will still be here for a while and I’ll always have a list of things to do and an old nature to contend with…I am encouraged to see some progress.

The Week In Words

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Barbara Harper

Here are a few that spoke to me this week:

From a friend’s Facebook:

Some pursue happiness, others create it.

From another friend’s Facebook:

God doesn’t merely want a change of habit. He wants a change of heart, which will lead to a change of habit.

Seen at Challies:

Trials and tribulations are very good for us in that they help us to know ourselves better than we knew ourselves before. —D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Among the many purposes God has for suffering, this is one. Usually, for me anyway, I discover a deficiency in myself or some new way in which I need to trust in or yield to the Lord more.

And, actually, I heard this first rather than read it, but then I wrote it down and then read it. 🙂

God does not love us because we’re valuable; we’re valuable because God loves us. ~ Adrian Rogers

Also since last time I shared quotes about winter and quotes from Anne of Avonlea in different posts.

And please — feel free to comment even if you don’t have quotes to share!

Another year I enter

Posted on January 16, 2011 by Barbara Harper

The year still feels new to me! I saw this at Jewel‘s and thought it was a wonderful reminder for the year ahead.

Another year I enter,
Its history unknown;
Oh, how my feet would tremble
To tread its paths alone!

But I have heard God’s whisper –
I know I shall be blest –
“My presence shall go with you,
And I will give you rest.”

What will the New Year bring me?
I may not, must not know.
Will it be love and rapture,
Or loneliness and woe?

Hush! Hush! I hear His whisper –
I surely shall be blest –
“My presence shall go with you,
And I will give you rest.”

~Author unknown~

(Photo courtesy of the morgueFile)

The Week In Words

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Barbara Harper

A couple stood out to me from a Notable Quotes section of a recent issue of Frontline Magazine.

O what I owe to the furnace, fire, and hammer of the Lord. ~ Samuel Rutherford

So true — much as we resist them, there are things we can only learn via trials and tribulations.

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

There are cozy spots in this life, but I need to remember “This world is not my home — I’m just passing through.”

This was from an Elisabeth Elliot e-mail devotional taken from a chapter titled “Spontaneity” from her book All That Was Ever Ours:

I wonder if spontaneity is not sometimes a euphemism for laziness… Isn’t it much easier not to prepare one’s mind and heart, not to premeditate, simply to have things (O, vacuous word!) “unstructured”?

If you leave a thing altogether alone in hopes that it will happen all by itself, the chances are it never will. Who learns to play the piano, wins an election, or loses weight spontaneously?

From the chapter “Some of My Best Friends Are Books” from the same book and author:

A reader understands what he reads in terms of what he is. As a Christian reader I bring to bear on the book I am reading the light of my faith.

Everything I read may not line up exactly with what I believe the Bible to be teaching, but I read it with Christian eyes and discernment and sometimes even see spiritual truth when the author hasn’t meant to share it. On the other hand, I don’t think that okays an “anything goes” mentality with reading. I’m still responsible for thinking on right things (which is hard to do if I am filling my mind with wrong things), and “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not” (I Corinthians 10:23.) In fact, I am a little concerned about a friend who swoons over romances while her marriage crumbles (and I have to wonder if there is a connection) and whose language is becoming increasingly less Christlike and more vulgar while she reads books with that I personally wouldn’t be comfortable with. We do bring our frame of reference to bear on our reading, but our reading does influence us as well.

I have a few marked from Anne of Avonlea, but I think I will wait to post them until I review the book.

And please — feel free to comment even if you don’t have quotes to share!

Have You Heard?

Posted on January 9, 2011 by Barbara Harper

Another lovely new-to-me song from the Steve Pettit Team CD So High the Price.

Have You Heard?

Have you heard about Jesus? Do you know who He is?
He’s the very Son of God, He’s the King of Kings.
Have you heard of the gospel? Do you know what it is?
It tells us Jesus died for us to save us from our sins.

This is the best news that we could ever hear;
More than amazing, it drives out every fear.
By trusting in Jesus Christ and His saving sacrifice
We can be made new, we can be made new.

Have you heard of the promise God has made to us all?
That if we turn from our sinful ways and put our faith in His Son.
He will freely forgive us, He will wash us clean
And when we stand before His throne He will shout, “Welcome in!”

This is the best news that we could ever hear;
More than amazing, it drives out every fear.
By trusting in Jesus Christ and His saving sacrifice
We can be made new, we can be made new.

~ Words and music by Zach Jones

Laudable Linkage & Videos

Posted on January 8, 2011 by Barbara Harper

Oddly, after a couple of weeks of not sharing interesting links I’ve seen, I only have a few. You’d think I’d have multitudes, but much of the blogosphere was fairly quiet over the holidays, and perhaps my reading was distracted enough that I didn’t think to save many. But here are a few:

8 Amazing Blogging Lessons from Albert Einstein, HT to Lisa Notes. The author takes quotes from Einstein and cleverly applies them to blogging.

52 Ways to Read and Study the Bible compiled by Semicolon. So many ways, and with all our electronic devices so many venues — it should be easier than ever.

A couple of years ago I compiled a list of resources and reasons for reading the Bible in Planning to read the Bible more this year?

Katrina at Callapiddar Days told of her first successful attempt at reading the Bible through in Part 1 dealing why she wanted to do so and finding a plan and Part 2 concerning how she succeeded this time, what she learned, and a few resources.

Lisa shares Why I am NOT reading the Bible through in a year, though she is still reading and shares tips for making it more effective.

One area where I’ve fallen short is memorizing. I did a lot in college and then in a children’s ministry we worked with, and those verses have pretty much stayed with me all these years (except I have trouble remembering the references) but not much at all since then. I’ve never memorized a whole book of the Bible. Some ladies at church are memorizing Ephesians, but they meet at a time that isn’t best for me and they are already a good ways into it. Lisa Notes shared a plan for memorizing Philippians by Easter: Partnering to Remember The 2011 Philippians Memory Moleskin. Ann shares a plan for memorizing Colossians with 2 verses a week for a year with some more details and updates here. I am leaning toward the Colossians plan — 2 verses a week sounds very doable, and I have to admit the little booklet really appeals to me. They’ve set up a Facebook page as well.

Well, I guess I only thought I had just a few!

Just a couple more:

The worst gifts ever, HT to Challies. Though, I don’t know, that office chair looks good for a power nap. 🙂

How Critical Thinking Saves Faith HT again to Challies, on the need to talk with young people and wrestle through their questions with them rather than cutting them off for even asking.

I’ve shared this before, but here is some fun you can have with your Christmas tree when you’re done with it. My guys used to love shooting off model rockets, so this really appealed to them.

And I can’t remember if I shared this here or not, but it just makes me happy:

Packing up Christmas

Posted on January 4, 2011 by Barbara Harper

Even though I am kind of glad to get the house back in order and get back to routine, it always makes me a little sad when Christmas is over and the decorations are put away, not just in my home, but in the community. The special lights are taken down, the cheery decorations are removed, the whole air of festivity is gone, and everything is just…ordinary again. And not just ordinary, but dreary, drab, colorless winter for a few more months.

I was thinking this morning of the shepherds to whom the thrilling, stunning announcement of the Savior’s birth was revealed. What excitement! Bright lights, wonderful news, angels, a quick trip to Bethlehem, awe and wonder at the sight of the Christ child, the long-awaited Messiah. And then…it was back to the sheep and ordinary life. Dark nights, lonely days, smelly work, in all kinds of weather. And yet…they didn’t return quite the same. “And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them” (Luke 2:17,20). I wonder how often they talked of that night, that promise. I wonder how many of them were still alive when word began to spread of a prophet and teacher doing miracles and saying the most incredible things. I wonder if any of them realized it was Him, the same baby they had seen thirty years before. I wonder if any of them saw Him die, or heard about it, and were mystified, and then astounded and joyful at the news of His resurrection. I like to think they continued “glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen” even in the midst of “ordinary” life.

And Mary. After the whirlwind of remarkable events — a visit from an angel, remarkable news, an unplanned pregnancy (unplanned originally by her, at least), almost losing her betrothed husband, an uncomfortable trip to Bethlehem and a birth in a stable, strange visitors — shepherds, and later, magi, then another couple of visits of angels to her husband, a flight into Egypt to protect her newborn Son, and finally, after all of that…back to the ordinary life of a wife and mother, everyday housework and cares, at least six more children. What must it have been like to raise one child who never sinned? Did she have to deal with sibling rivalry against Him of the other six who did? How many things did Jesus say that she did not understand? We don’t hear from much from her in the rest of the New Testament: there was the incident when Jesus was twelve, the wedding at Cana where she asked Jesus to help the host who ran out of wine, and where, incidentally, her last recorded words in Scripture are “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it” (John 2:5), a time when she tried to see Him but couldn’t get to Him, watching her Son die on the cross and arrange for her care as one of His last acts (Joseph must have passed away by then). And then in Acts we see her “continuing with one accord in prayer and supplication” with the disciples, women and Jesus’ brethren. Perhaps those quiet years from Jesus’ birth until He began His public ministry were the only ones anywhere near ordinary. We’re told just after the shepherds’ visit that “Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). You can tell from what words of hers which we do know of that she was a thoughtful, faithful woman who loved God. From the birth of her Son for the next thirty years, she did not quite know how the promises concerning Him would be worked out, but she faithfully served and cared for Him, pondering all the while the things she had been told.

As we pack up and put away Christmas, may we keep the wonder, the love, peace, and joy, the pondering, the telling, the waiting in hope. May His light fill our ordinary days.

The Week In Words

Posted on January 3, 2011 by Barbara Harper

Here are a few that caught my eye:

I saw this at Bobbi‘s in a longer fictitious poem about what Joseph’s (Mary’s husband) point of view might have been at one point in his life. From what I could tell it is by John Piper from the Desiring God site.

There’s something worse than death,
And loss of faith, not loss of breath,
Is what he fights.

Seen at Challies:

I have taken my good deeds and bad deeds and thrown them together in a heap, and fled from them both to Christ, and in him I have peace. —David Dickson

I have trouble with the right perspective of both, and I am glad that my peace is in Christ and not my deeds.

This is the time of year when people make goals or resolutions. The following two might help with that. The first I saw at Simple Mom from a link at A Holy Experience:

“A goal without a plan is just a dream.” ~ Dave Ramsey

And I saw this at Semicolon’s from (From Donna at Quiet Life — I don’t know whether Donna is the one who originally said it or of she quoted someone else.

“A discipline won’t bring you closer to God. Only God can bring you closer to Himself. What the discipline is meant to do is to help you get yourself, your ego, out of the way so you are open to His grace.”

So true. Sometimes we can get so caught up in setting up our disciplines as if so doing will make us right with God, when the disciple is a tool, not an end in itself.

I saw this at nikkipolani’s Friday’s Fave Five:

The bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you fail to make the turn.”

That just really resonated with me with all the changes we’ve faced this year.

Lisa Notes recently shared a link to “Amazing Blogging Lessons From Albert Einstein.” This jumped out at me — Einstein’s words in quotes, the writer’s words following:

“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” Don’t waste your time trying to create a successful blog, dedicate your time creating a valuable blog. If your blog is valuable to others, it will succeed.

And finally, a good hope for the new year, from a friend’s Facebook:

“What heavens are laid up in Jesus! What rivers of infinite bliss have their source, ay, and every drop of their fullness in Him! Since, O sweet Lord Jesus, Thou art the present portion of Thy people, favor us this year with such a sense of Thy preciousness, that from its first to its last day we may be glad and rejoice in Thee.” -Spurgeon (Morning and Evening)

And please — feel free to comment even if you don’t have quotes to share!