The Week In Words

Posted on March 21, 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.

Here are a few that ministered to me this week:

From a friend’s Facebook:

“Unerring wisdom ordained your lot and selected for you the safest and best condition. Remember this -had any condition been better for you than the one in which you are, divine love would have put you there. You are placed by God in the most suitable circumstances. Be content with such good things as you have, since the Lord has ordered all things for your good.” ~ C. H. Spurgeon

This spoke to me on so many levels. I had to just sit and think through it for a while.

Sherry at Semicolon shared this quote from Corrie ten Boom in A Hiding Place:

“You can never learn that Christ is all you need, until Christ is all you have.” ~ Corrie Ten Boom

Profound, from one who lived it.

A quote from a former pastor, now with the Lord:

“We are indwelt every day by either the grieved or ungrieved Holy Spirit of God.” ~ Jesse L. Boyd

May I live as much as possible without grieving Him and be quick to repent when I do.

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 March 14, 2011 by Barbara Harper

Here are a few that spoke to me this week:

From a friend’s Facebook:

“Christ does not exist in order to make much of us. We exist in order to enjoy making much of him. Christ is not glorious so that we get wealthy or healthy. Christ is glorious, so that rich or poor, sick or sound, we might be satisfied in him.” ~ Piper

There is such an “It’s all about me” focus in Christianity today. It’s not. It’s all about Him. That He extends grace for us to participate at all in His plan is just amazing.

From Diane‘s Facebook:

Minister out of overflow of relationship with the Father, not out of undertow of the ministry (Mk 1:35). (Pastor Mark Smith via Nancy Leigh DeMoss)

This one has been coming back to mind often since I first read it. It’s a much needed emphasis — it’s so easy to get dragged down in the “undertow.” As Diane said, we usually have it backwards.

From the Livesay Blog:

Better to love God and die unknown than to love the world and be a hero; better to be content with poverty than to die a slave to wealth; better to have taken some risks and lost than to have done nothing and succeeded at it. -E. Lutzer

Much to ponder there.

Seen at Challies:

It is a dangerous crisis when a proud heart meets with flattering lips. —John Flavel

True — like a flame to kindling.

From Warren Wiersbe’s With the Word, p. 258:

The past can be a rudder that guides you or an anchor that hinders you.

That’s true. We can’t do anything about the sins of the past except confess them to God and learn from them. Nor should we rest on past victories and neglect going forward and seeking God’s grace for today. As the children of Israel needed to gather manna every day, so we need God’s strength and sustenance every day. “As thy days, so shall thy strength [be]” (Deuteronomy 33:25b).

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

The Week In Words

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Barbara Harper

Here are a few that spoke to me this week:

This is from an Elisabeth Elliot e-mail devotional taken from a a chapter called “God’s Hep For God’s Assignment” taken from the book A Lamp For My Feet:

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).

I’ve certainly been there; you?

This was seen at the M.O.B. (Mother of Boys) Society:

“Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world” – John Milton

This was from one of Claudia Barba’s “Monday Morning Club” newsletter:

Are you annoyed this morning by the wrench some monkey has thrown into your careful plan for today? Relax and remember: interruptions aren’t hindrances to ministry. They are ministry.

From Ann Voskamp, on being out of our comfort zones:

It’s only in the uncomfortable places that we can experience the tenderness of the Comforter.

This is from a devotional titled The Invitation by Derick Bingham. commenting on John 4:6:

Christ experienced the limitations of human life. Here He is wearied with His journey. It is worth remembering that human life does have its limitations. We cannot, as human beings, be everywhere and do everything. Much better to understand that certain things in life are not for us and to concentrate on the things in life that are. Christ was weary in doing His Father’s will but He was not weary of it. In coming to fulfill His Father’s will He had put himself under its limitations. So must we if we would know contentment. In Christian service you can feel limited and weary in what you can do but you can also know deep contentment that nothing else can bring.

This reminded me of a post I wrote very early on my blog about Limitations and how they define rather than hinder our ministry.

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

Homemaking meme

Posted on March 3, 2011 by Barbara Harper

This is another post I’ve had incubating, adding to it a little at a time. Since I have to go run errands in a bit and therefore not as much time to think through some other thoughts, I decided to post this today. Feel free to use it if you like! Let me know if you do and I’ll come see your answers (or feel free to answer in the comments). And, since I created this meme, I’d appreciate a link back. 😀

1. Do you make a plan for the week? The day? Or just go with the flow?

No, I don’t, unless I have some kind of deadline coming up. I tend to work housework in around what needs to be done and when I have time to do it…and, sorry to say, when I feel like it. 🙂 But I feel like it much more often than I did years ago! I can’t stand for things to get too very cluttered or dusty for very long.

2. When is your best planning time?

Usually the night before or first thing in the morning.

3. Do you clean room by room or task by task (e.g., do you dust the whole house at one time, or do you clean the living room completely before going on to another room?)

Task by task for most things. When I have the dusting stuff out, or the vacuum, I like to do everything I have to do with it while it’s out. One exception would be bathrooms: I tend to clean the whole bathroom before going on the the next one, except that I do all the floors at one time after I’ve cleaned everything else.

4. Do you do certain tasks every day every week, like a shopping day, a laundry day, etc.?

No — see #1. I do try to avoid housework that doesn’t need to be done on Sundays, and I have to wash Jesse’s gym clothes some time between Friday afternoon and Monday morning, but otherwise I tend to attack things on an as-needed basis.

5. What’s your least favorite housecleaning task?

Probably cleaning toilets.

6. Do you have a favorite housecleaning task?

I can’t honestly say I enjoy any particular housecleaning task, but I’m okay with most once I get started, and I do like the results.

7. What do other family members do in the way of cleaning the house?

When the boys were younger we rotated different jobs — there were some done every day (dishwasher, garbage, taking recycling out, etc.) and some done weekly (vacuuming, dusting). Now Jason and Mittu take care of the dishes most nights and Jesse does whatever I ask whenever I ask — often taking our garbage and recycling and sometimes unloading the dishwasher. He also takes care of the dog as well. Jason and Jesse help bring groceries in. Since Jim works 60+ hours I rarely ask him to do anything unless I am in a real bind. I figure that’s my work while his is being the “breadwinner” (yes, we’re pretty traditional 🙂 ), but sometimes he pitches in. He takes care of anything outside. That leaves me with the laundry (though Jason and Mittu do their own), dusting, sweeping, vacuuming, bathrooms, organizing and clutter pick-up, shopping, cooking, all the extra little jobs in the kitchen, etc. — enough to keep me busy. 🙂

8. What, if anything, do you do to make housecleaning more enjoyable, (e.g., play music, set a timer, etc.).

When I was first married, I had one friend who liked to spend a lot of time on the phone — and we didn’t have cordless phones then, much less cell phones. It was popular at least in the kitchen area to have an extra-long cord so you could reach the whole room while on the phone. So sometimes I would call this friend or my mom (my mom and I rarely talked for less than an hour) while puttering around the house cleaning here and there. One of my dislikes of newer phones was that they were so small I couldn’t comfortably put them between my head and my shoulder so I could talk and use my hands for other things. These days most of us don’t talk on the phone that long any more, and many phones have gotten “hands-free” anyway.

But usually I turn on the Christian radio station or play a CD. I don’t have an iProduct. I don’t know if I’d like either headphones or earpieces. I need to borrow one of the kids’ devices and try it out to see, because sometimes I do think it would be nice to listen to an audiobook or something else. I don’t like to just sit in front of the computer to listen to anything there without doing something with my hands, so being able to take some of those things with me while I work sounds appealing.

9. What things make a room seem messy or unclean to you?

Clutter. Picking things up and establishing a sense of order does wonders for making it look cleaner.

And dust.

10. What are particular areas that are standouts to you that other people miss?

The area around the faucet on the sink. It can pretty quickly get gunky stuff around it, and in our area, even pink or black mold. Once my sister was staying with us and surprised me by cleaning the bathrooms while I was out. I think the first thing I noticed was that little gunky black line around the faucet, and it took a great deal of effort to just say thank you and not mention that.

11. How do you motivate yourself to clean when you don’t feel like it?

The biggest thing is just to get started. “Once begun is half done” as the saying goes. Another motivation is having been embarrassed a few times when someone popped in unexpectedly and the house looked like a disaster area. But then I felt really guilty one time “cleaning for company” when I thought — doesn’t my family deserve a clean home, too? Wouldn’t it help motivate them in their future to keep things clean if that’s the habit they’ve grown up with, rather than a frenzied, pressured marathon cleaning when an event is coming up? Plus I’ve learned that I just feel more peaceful and orderly in my thinking when my environment is fairly orderly. When the house is cluttered and chaotic, I just feel the same way (not to mention time and energy wasted not being able to find things when needed, etc.). And then, I have learned over the years that it is less work and takes less time to keep on top of housework than to let it slide and build up.

But probably what should be the biggest motivator for a Christian homemaker is that we’re representatives of Christ. I don’t think that means we have to keep things museum quality and can’t let our families relax in their own homes. We shouldn’t become more Martha than Mary. But “Let all things be done decently and in order” (I Corinthians 14:40), though the context is church services, surely applies in principle to every area of life. And then of course I Corinthians 10:31 applies to all areas: “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” If a non-Christian walked into my house unexpectedly, would a messy, unclean house or a basically clean and orderly house be a better testimony? And shouldn’t that testimony be before my own family as well, not just unbelievers? Now, I admit, I don’t think through that every time I need to clean, but every now and then getting the right perspective helps.

Sometimes collecting quotes about homemaking encourages me, too. I put several in an older post titled “Encouragement for Homemakers.” A few other homemaking-related posts are:

Wanting things to be “perfect.”

I confess: I really don’t like to cook.

Two views of housework.

Cooking style.

“Thy list be done.”

ABC Homemaking Meme.

(Graphic courtesy of Fotosearch)

Parenting Teens

Posted on March 2, 2011 by Barbara Harper

Some time ago I began jotting down some thoughts in regard to parenting teens as a possible post one day. It’s been incubating, because every time I think about posting it, I think I should wait because there will probably be more I’ll think of later. But this isn’t a book: it’s just a blog post, not meant to be exhaustive. So I thought I’d go ahead and share these thoughts.

Let me quick to say, though, that I am no expert, that neither my children nor their parents are perfect, and that there is room for differences of opinions in many areas. But as my boys are 26, 23, and 17 now, these are just some helpful things I’ve learned along the way.

Don’t dread the teen years. A wise older mom once told me never to dread any stage, whether the “terrible twos” or the teens or anything in between. If you come into it with negative expectations, that will color everything about it.

Don’t “expect” rebellion. Modern media makes teen rebellion sound like a given, and all you can do is hang on and hope for the best. They are journeying toward independence, and that will raise a difference of opinion sometimes, but that does not have to include rebellion and disrespect. .

Don’t be afraid of their questions. For many this is a time when they begin to examine what they believe, and, hopefully, when they begin making the truths they have been taught their own rather than just following along parroting what they have heard. Though scary, this can be a good thing as they come out of it stronger and more fully convinced of what and Who they believe in. Don’t be afraid to say, “I’m sorry, I don’t have an answer for that now, but I’ll get back to you on it.” Josh McDowell has some good resources for some of these types of questions.

Discipline in early years will carry over, but if you haven’t disciplined well til now, stop and have a frank discussion about how and why things need to change

Give them opportunities to try various things, yet keep balanced so as not to over-pressure and over-schedule and have both the teen and his family running ragged. On the other hand, don’t keep pushing one area that you want your teen to excel in (living vicariously through them, perhaps?) if they’re not interested.

Listen. Someone once said, “If you want your children to listen to you when they’re 15, you have to listen to them when they’re 5.” Listen without pouncing on things that need attention or things you disagree with. Listen without demeaning.Keep the lines of communication open.

Let them begin to handle situations and make decisions so they can gain experience.

Encourage service toward others, probably best done at first with you or with school or youth group.

A lot of what makes for a good relationship with your teen is built on the relationship you’ve had when they were children. Those foundations of respect and discipline are so important.

Don’t think they don’t need you as much. Their needs are different from when they were small, but they still need you.

Stress that the Christian life is not just a set of dos and don’ts: let them see the relationship you have with Christ by how you talk about Him and to Him and acknowledge Him through the day.

If you have teens or remember something helpful from your own teen years that your parents did, please share!

This post will be linked to “Works For Me Wednesday,” where you can find a plethora of helpful hints each week at We Are THAT family on Wednesdays, as well as Women Living Well.

The Week In Words

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Barbara Harper

From a friend’s Facebook:

God often puts us in situations that are too much for us so that we will learn that no situation is too much for Him. ~ Edward Luther

Sadly, sometimes we don’t look up to Him until we’re overwhelmed, but when we do and find Him faithful and able, hopefully then we begin to seek Him and to lean on Him more in everyday life.

From Lisa‘s sidebar:

God comforts us not to make us comfortable but to make us comforters.” -John Henry Jowett

And from yet another friend’s Facebook:

If I find 10,000 ways something won’t work, I haven’t failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward. ~Thomas Edison

That is a great perspective and a good reason not to be discouraged by failure.

I’m almost halfway through Ann Voskamp‘s One Thousand Gifts and have marked several places, but one quote that arrested me the last couple of days opens Chapter Six on page 102:

“Every time you feel in God’s creatures something pleasing and attractive, do not let your attention be arrested by them alone, but, passing them by, transfer your thought to God and say; “Oh my God, if Thy creations are so full of beauty, delight and joy, how infinitely more full of beauty, delight and joy art Thou Thyself, Creator of all!” ~ Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain

I have felt that way even in listening to secular music or viewing beauty in art or words as well as nature — that swell of praise to God for the beauty He has created that reflects Himself.

Then Ann says, on page 106:

I am beset by chronic soul amnesia. I am empty of truth and need the refilling. I need come every day — bend, clutch, and remember — for who can gather the manna but once, hoarding, and store away sustenance in the mind for all of the living?

Chronic soul amnesia — so apt. We can’t gather all the truth we need at once to last us all of our living: we need to come to God daily, gathering the manna for that day’s needs.

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

The Week In Words

Posted on February 21, 2011 by Barbara Harper

This week, I don’t know anything about any of the people quoted, so I thought it might be wise to say that I am just taking their quotes at face value and not necessarily endorsing everything about them. They may be fine doctrinally and every other way, but I felt maybe I needed to offer that disclaimer.

That said, here are a few quotes that ministered to me this week:

This is from a friend’s Facebook:

“Be master of your petty annoyances and conserve your energies for the big, worthwhile things. It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out – it’s the grain of sand in your shoe.” – Robert Service

So very true. So often it’s the little things that get me down or trip me up and waste time and energy needed for better pursuits.

And from a different friend’s Facebook:

If the Lord is stripping us, emptying us, pruning us, and bringing us low; so that we feel weak, empty and void of good — it is in order that he may strengthen us with his might, bring us to rest on his Word, fill us with his own love, and lead us to look for everything in Jesus. ~ James Smith

A good reminder. It’s so easy to focus on the pruning rather than the ultimate purpose.

And yet another Facebook status (I’m fortunate to have friends who post great quotes!):

A love of knowledge and a desire to explore God’s creation through the discipline of science need not alienate us from our Creator; on the contrary, it should draw us closer to Him. –Ken Connor

Having a husband who is a scientist and having read and studied science a bit, I can attest to this. There is a “science falsely so called,” but rightly understood, studying God’s creation glorifies Him.

This is from a section commenting on I Chronicles 16 in Warren Wiersbe’s With the Word:

To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God. ~ Archbishop William Temple

I’m still contemplating this one. I think I would agree with it. Worship is definitely far more than going through certain procedures: it has to somehow involve a glimpse of God and a loving, submissive response to Him.

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

Flashback Friday: Car accidents and tickets

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Barbara Harper

Mocha With Linda hosts a weekly meme called Flashback Friday. She’ll post a question every Thursday, and then Friday we can link our answers up on her site. You can visit her site for more Flashbacks.

The prompt for today is:

Thinking primarily of your growing-up years and your early years of driving, have you ever been in an auto accident? Were you a passenger or the driver? Were you injured? How badly was the car damaged? Whose fault was it? What was the attitude of your parents toward “fender benders” and tickets? Were minor dings and scrapes a big deal? Have you ever received a traffic ticket? If more than one, ‘fess up: how many? Any warnings? Has a family member or close friend been seriously injured or killed in an accident? Have you ever witnessed a bad accident and stopped to render aid or give a statement? What role, if any, did seat belts and car seats have in your early years?

Thankfully there were no car accidents that I remember from childhood. The closest we came was when my brother fell out of the back seat of the car while my mom was making a turn. I can’t remember if most cars didn’t have seat belts then or if we just had an old one without them. Thankfully he was fine — we were going slowly and he didn’t get caught under the car — but we were pretty shaken after that. When I had my own children I remember chafing a bit at all the regulations involved with car seats and such, but I did appreciate the fact that they had to be and could be strapped in. I was the oldest of six kids, the youngest born when I was 17, and there was always a toddler standing just to the right of the driver in the front seat. The potential for disaster makes me cringe to even think about now. Even though my own kids were always in car seats when they were little, it is still instinctive for me even now to fling my right arm out when I stop suddenly.

The very first time I drove as a teen, I backed over the mailbox. 😳 My dad had pulled the car out to wash it and decided to give me an impromptu driving lesson by asking me to pull it back into the driveway. He got in with me and gave me some preliminary instruction. I began to back up, and suddenly he yelled, “Hit the brake! Hit the brake!” I said, “Where’s the brake?!” 🙄 My dad had a pretty quick temper and I was waiting for it, but thankfully this time he laughed. I think he realized he should have given me a little bit more instructional. Or taken me out driving where there were no obstacles.

There were no other problems with my driving until my senior year of college. It was a Sunday night and Jim had let me borrow his car to take a group of girls to church. On the way home, a white car swerved into my lane and hit me and swerved back into his own, never stopping. Thankfully the Lord put it in my head to press neither the break or the gas — I just drifted over to the shoulder. None of us was hurt, but I was pretty shaken. A staff couple from college was right behind us and saw it happen, and it was a huge blessing to have them with us to handle everything with the police and then to take us back to the dorms. Jim was in a different car with a group of guys, and they usually went back to school another way but decided for some reason to come the way we had. They saw an accident had occurred — and then Jim was shocked to see his car had been hit. They stopped and he was able to handle getting the paperwork for the policeman. I didn’t get a ticket since it was a hit-and-run. The car was totaled, so he had to scramble to get another one. But he said at least we got the whole, “Honey, I dented the car” thing out of the way before we married.

In my only other accident, I wasn’t even in the car…..we had borrowed some chairs from a friend when we had some folks over, and I was returning them to her. I had parked the car in her driveway near her door to get the chairs out, and when I came back to the driveway to pull the car around to the back and park it….the car wasn’t there. She lived on a busy street, so I must have wondered at first if the car was stolen — I can’t remember now. The driveway had a pretty steep slope, and the car was at the bottom of the slope crashed into a tree. I don’t know if I left it in drive instead of park, which was likely (I don’t remember looking to see — I think I just jumped in and moved it) or if someone did something with it. I had to call Jim, and thankfully he took it very patiently. I can’t remember for sure what shape the car ended up in — I don’t think it was totaled. I do remember we had our insurance take care of payng someone to come and attend to our friend’s tree. Though she protested it wasn’t necessary, we wanted to make sure there was no long term damage — we didn’t want it to die and fall on her house or have her have to have it taken out.

The only ticket I’ve ever received in my 36 years of driving was a few years ago. One of the roads beside our subdivision connected two more major roads. The speed limit on it was 35, but it easily could have been 10 more as it was a straight, wide road with few houses on it. There was a fire station down the road where a little police car sometimes parked, and one day as I passed the station and stopped in the turn lane at the red light, I saw flashing blue lights behind me. “Oh no,” I thought, “I need to figure out how to get out of his way.” It didn’t register that he was after me. When the light changed all I knew to do was go ahead and turn and then pull over to let him pass, but he pulled over behind me. Still not getting it, I thought, “Well, okay then, he’s stopping here so I guess I’ll go on.” I started to pull away, and then he flashed on his siren. Then I realized — he was stopping me! I was pretty upset but managed to hold it together. I think I was doing around 50 in a 35 mph zone. I don’t remember what the fine was or how many points I got, but he did cut them in half since it was my first. I went home and told my two older sons: one laughed and one put his arm around me and said, “Awww.” My husband asked if I was driving that fast because I was angry; I said no, I just coasting along not thinking. Thankfully, patient man that he is, he again didn’t get angry (at least not visibly…) And the rest of the time we lived there it was instinctive me for to slow down at that section of the road!

So we’ve been pretty fortunate not to have any serious major accidents. My husband has had one accident that I can remember since we were married when a lady backed out in front of him. When he was in college, there were two carloads of college students who rotated driving from Idaho to college in SC and back, about 2,000 miles, to and from school and home a few times a year Christmas and summer breaks. I can’t imagine how nervous that would make me as a mother if it were my child! Once after we were married and living in SC and no longer making those drives, we had just been commenting that out of all those trips there hadn’t been a major accident, when the very next time there was a serious one involving the whole front of the car being torn off. I can’t remember the details and I don’t think anyone was seriously hurt, but it was sobering for all. None of my kids has had an accident except for one time when another teen-ager ran through a stop sign and hit Jason, flipping his car around. Thankfully, again, no one was hurt and there was no major damage. Mittu had an accident before she and Jason were married: they were on the phone (though she wasn’t holding it; it was on speaker-phone) when Jason heard the crash and then the phone went dead. We didn’t hear anything else til the next morning: that was a very long night. At that time he didn’t have her mother’s number or anyone else’s where she was. She had hit her head but I think otherwise was okay from what I remember.

We’ve known various people involved in major accidents. Both the ones that come to mind involve teens. When we lived in GA, friends of friends whom we’d met once or twice had three sons. The two older ones were on some outing and racing home so they wouldn’t be late: they had an old car with no seat belts in it, but they were on order. I don’t remember what caused the accident, but they were both killed. Our mutual friends had our church pray much for them: it was devastating to have 2/3 of their children wiped out in a flash. That has really given me pause when all of my kids have been in a car together. When the older two were commuting 30 miles to college and rushing out the door early in the mornings, I’d often tell them it was better to be late and safe than race to get there and have an accident. The other accident that comes to mind was several years earlier when two young people from church, a brother and sister, were driving in the rain and hydroplaned and had an accident. The brother was killed. We prayed that family through for a long time as well.

There have been so many times God has protected me from my own foolishness. There have been other times when I have passed one way, such as to get the kids from school, and in just a few minutes coming back the same way there has been an accident. So many times I have thanked the Lord for not letting us be in that spot at the wrong time. Sometimes I wonder if we’ll find out when we get to heaven just how much He did protect us from that we never knew about.

Wednesday Hodgepodge

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Barbara Harper

Joyce From This Side of the Pond hosts a weekly Wednesday Hodgepodge of questions for fun and for getting to know each other.

1. Your favorite chocolate treat?

That’s hard to narrow down as I love many things chocolate. Of store-bought chocolates, it would be Lindor Lindt Truffles, especially the milk chocolate ones. Of cake mixes, it would be devil’s food with chocolate fudge icing. Of home-made things, it would be Texas Sheet Cake. Cracker Barrel has a Coca-Cola cake that’s pretty similar to it.

2. What more than anything else makes you feel loved?

That’s a hard question to answer. Of the supposed “love languages” — words of affirmation, gifts, touch, time, acts of service — different ones make me feel loved at different times, but other times not so much. I think what colors each of them is attentiveness, being “tuned in” to me. A gift, for instance, can be an expression of love even if it is not what the recipient wants or likes, but it makes the recipient feel loved when it’s particularly suited to them. But I think overall my main “love language” is acts of service. My husband usually fills up the gas tank if he uses the van and it’s at all low. So when I’m heading out and think, “Oh, yeah, I need to get gas first,” and then notice the tank is full — the thought that he noticed and took care of it makes me feel loved and cared for. Or when the kids go from doing something reluctantly because they have to, to doing it to please Mom.

3. Cherries or blueberries?

Not a big fan of either, but I like blueberry muffins and cherry[flavored slushies. 🙂

4. What is the one trait you most want the leader of your country to possess?

Integrity. I may not agree with his views, but I want to be able to trust that he’s not just wavering with the political wind or out to make a name for himself — I want an underlying character to uphold what he says and does.

5. Are you a saver or a spender?

A spender, to my shame.

6. If you gave a party for all of your friends would they already know each other?

No — I know people from different states where I have lived or different organizations or walks of life who don’t know each other.

7. Are you interested in antiques?

Mildly. I like the idea of an item with a history, and, sadly, we don’t have much that’s been passed down through the family. But I don’t frequent antique stores much. I don’t know enough about antiques to know what’s a good deal. I go more by what appeals to me.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I hate to wade into the sewage of the spam folder of my blog because of the kind of muck that gets caught in there, and I often wonder….don’t these people have anything better to do with their time? But my spam-catcher does sometimes rake in a legitimate comment, so I check it once a day or so. I’ve found that if I scan the addresses rather than the text, that saves my mind from a lot of garbage, but every now and then I catch a hum-dinger. One spam comment recently said:

Usually I don’t article on blogs, but I need to say that this write-up very forced me to accomplish so! Thanks, quite nice article.

Oooookay…

And another said:

If people are stuck with academic essay accomplishing, therefore I would recommend to buy persuasive essay from some paper writing service under such circumstances.

I don’t think I’ll be using their services, thank you very much.

The Week In Words

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Barbara Harper

Here are a few that instructed and inspired me this week:

I forgot to note where I saw this:

To pursue union at the expense of truth is treason to the Lord Jesus . . . . It is our solemn conviction that where there can be no real spiritual communion there should be no pretense of fellowship. Fellowship with known and vital error is participation in sin. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

This isn’t saying we should never interact with people who don’t believe just as we do, for, as Paul said, “then must ye needs go out of the world.” The Bible has much to say about unity but it also has much to say about separation and in what circumstances we should pursue one or the other.

And I failed to note where I saw this as well:

There may be genuine grievances; but what makes us bitter is that we ponder them and meditate upon them and stay with them; in other words, we nurse our grievances, we dwell on them, we pay great attention to them, and if we are tending to forget them we deliberately bring them back and allow them to work us up again into a state of bitterness. ~David Martyn Lloyd-Jones

That is so true. I read someone once who said that every time an incident comes to mind in which someone wronged us, we need to forgive them all over again, but I think rather, once we do forgive them, we need to remind ourselves that that transaction has already taken place and move on to verses about forbearance and loving the brethren.

There are two quotes from an Elisabeth Elliot devotional titled “Not One Thing Has Failed,” taken originally from her book Love Has a Price Tag:

Here she quotes from David Brainard’s diary:

“I visited Indians at Crossweeksung,” Brainard records, “Apprehending that it was my indispensable duty…. I cannot say I had any hopes of success. I do not know that my hopes respecting the conversion of the Indians were ever reduced to so low an ebb … yet this was the very season that God saw fittest to begin His glorious work in! And thus He ordained strength out of weakness … whence I learn that it is good to follow the path of duty, though in the midst of darkness and discouragement.”

And in the same article she writes:

Jessie Penn-Lewis’s book Thy Hidden Ones showed me God’s purpose in my isolation and helplessness. It was her words I sent in a letter to Jim: “In the Holy Spirit’s leading of the soul through the stripping of what may be called ‘consecrated self,’ and its activity, it is important that there should be a fulfillment of all outward duty, that the believer may learn to act on principle rather than on pleasant impulse.” It was a spiritual lesson that was to fortify me through countless later experiences when feelings or impulses contributed nothing to an inclination toward obedience. God allows the absence of feeling or, more often, the presence of strong negative feeling that we may simply follow, simply obey, simply trust.

God’s work and will are often so little related to how we feel — yet how often we tend to go by our feelings.

I shared a whole lot of quotes from the book 50 People Every Christian Should Know: Learning From Spiritual Giants of the Faith by author Warren Wiersbe here last week.

And you’d think I’d have something about love for Valentine’s Day! But I don’t have anything new. I posted some in past years here and here. And, just for fun, here are some Valentine’s jokes I posted a few years back.

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