Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on May 16, 2025 by Barbara Harper

Well, it’s been a week! It’s good to pause amidst the busyness and reflect on the blessings God sprinkles throughout our days. We share some of those blessings each week with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Safety in a medium earthquake. Saturday morning around 9, I was sitting at my desk when I heard a rumbling sound. As I tried to figure out what it was, the house started shaking and I heard a loud crack somewhere. Then everything went still, though the rumble took a while to fade out. Immediately, Facebook and other neighborhood forums were filled with posts asking, “Was that an earthquake?” It was! A 4.1 magnitude centered about 30 miles from us. I looked up some information afterward and found that damage doesn’t usually occur until an earthquake is 5.5 and above. And I hope I am never in one stronger than this one! It was very disconcerting, but I am glad no major damage was reported.

2. Mother’s Day breakfast. Saturday night, Jason and Timothy brought over a breakfast Mittu had made for us to warm up for Sunday Mother’s Day breakfast: quiche, potatoes, mangoes, and banana bread. It was good! And I was able to sleep a little longer since all I had to do was warm things up.

3. Mother’s Day. My family always goes above and beyond to make Mother’s Day special. Jim grilled burgers and turkey sausage. Mittu made what I call Four-Layer Dessert (like this recipe except we make a graham cracker crust), but she calls Chocolate Lasagna. It’s good by any name!

I received cards and flowers and treats and thoughtful gifts.

And a Crumbl cookie. 🙂

4. Dishwasher duty. I think Jim and the boys took care of the dishes Sunday, though Mittu may have as well (I remember hearing Jim ask, “Why is Mittu working? 🙂 ). But Monday morning, when I got up, Jim was unloading the packed dishwasher and dish drainer as well.

5. Phone call with a friend recuperating from an accident a few weeks ago. It was good to hear her voice and learn directly how she was doing.

I hope you had a great week!

Review: Crimson Roses

Posted on May 14, 2025 by Barbara Harper

In Grace Livingston Hill’s novel, Crimson Roses, Marion Warren has been taking care of her ill father for five years. They had always planned that she would go to normal college and become a teacher, until his accident.

Now he has passed away. They had discussed that she would have the house and her brother the life insurance money. But a will can’t be found. So her brother, Tom, feels the best thing to do is sell the house and buy a farm in Vermont (which his wife strongly wants to do). They plan that Marion will always have a home with them, where she can help with the housecleaning and teach their children (basically, act as unpaid live-in help).

Marion’s practical mother, who died years before, always called her husband a visionary, not necessarily meaning it as a compliment. Marion takes after her father, while Tom is more like their mother. Marion mildly protests that she doesn’t want to live on a farm in Vermont, she wants to stay in the city, go to school, attend lectures and concerts and such. Tom says these are “foolish notions,” and she’s too old to go to school now anyway. Tom and his wife, Jennie, think that Marion is just being grumpy and will come around by the time they leave.

As Marion considers her options, she truly feels it’s best for her to stay in the city. Since Tom and Jenny won’t listen, Marion finds a job and small apartment on her own. She plans not to take any of her father’s assets so they will be able to buy their farm.

When they find out her plans, there is a big blow-up. Jennie (who gets my nomination for worst sister-in-law ever) feels Marion is being selfish. Tom finally concedes that the only way Marion will learn is to let her have her way. In time, when she realizes she can’t make it on her own, she’ll come to the farm with them.

But Marion thrives in her new situation. She’s been out of circulation for several years while caring for her father, and some of her coworkers help her update her look and clothes. Marion draws a line at some of their suggestions, though, not wanting to look like a “flapper.”

Marion’s intense loneliness almost sends her to Vermont. But she hears of a local weekly symphony concert series. If she manages her money carefully, she can afford it.

On the night of the second concert, Marion finds a beauitful crimson rose on her seat. Thinking the rose has been placed there by mistake, she tries to find who it belongs to. But no one claims it. She decides to take it home and enjoy it.

But the next week, a crimson rose is again at her seat. And the next week, and so on throughout the concert series.

Later in the book, when a young man shows interest in Marion, some “mean girls” in the church think Marion’s station is beneath his and act unkindly toward her (fueled by the interest in one of the girls in the young man).

This book was published in 1928, and, of course, is very old-fashioned in style and content. It’s a clean, sweet story–maybe a smidgen too sweet, but just a smidgen. Some of the 20s slang is amusing.

Marion seems a little naive for a twenty-three year old young woman. But that might have been the case in those times. Plus she had been mostly at home for five years.

The theme of the story might be that faithfulness wins out in the end. Through all her tribulations, though Marion struggles, she remains humble and sweet and tries to do the right thing.

I listened to the audiobook nicely read by Anne Hancock. Though the audiobook was released in 2024, the narrator’s style and accent matched the setting in the book.

(Sharing with Bookish Bliss)

Joys and Sorrows of Mother’s Day

Posted on May 11, 2025 by Barbara Harper

Mother’s Day is fraught with mixed emotions.

It’s good to honor mothers. The Bible does. One of the ten commandments tells us to honor our parents. Motherhood has taken a beating by society over the last several years. Moms carry a heavy load, often unseen and unappreciated. They need all the encouragement and support they can get.

But Mother’s Day is profoundly sad for others.

Some grieve the death of their children, or their estranged children or wayward children.

Some have mothers who are still here physically but far away mentally or emotionally, mothers who rarely, if ever, showed love, mothers who abandoned them, mothers who have died. For those who feel abandoned or unloved by parents, may you truly know “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up” (Psalm 27:10).

Some would love to be mothers, yet God has not granted that request. Mother’s Day only adds to their pain. I appreciate Wendy Alsup’s thought that “God uses both the presence and the absence of children in the lives of His daughters as a primary tool of conforming us to Christ.”

Some moms grieve that their families don’t acknowledge this day at all, and they feel more taken for granted than ever. Erin has some good advice for managing expectations.

Some downplay the day. They would rather have their family appreciate them year-round, not just on a certain designated day. And, true, it doesn’t make sense to disrespect someone every other day and then buy them flowers and a card on Mother’s Day. But I always look at special days in the same vein as Thanksgiving. Yes, we’re supposed to be thankful every day, but Thanksgiving reminds us of all we have to be thankful for. Jesus’ resurrection impacts our lives every day, but it receives special focus at Easter. So Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, or someone’s birthday are just opportunities to tell someone you love that you appreciate them.

For many, all the talk of ideal mothers on Mother’s Day makes them feel their failures all the more. They feel like “perfect mother,” or even “good mother,” are titles they can never aspire to. God took our faults and foibles into account when He made us mothers. He knows we’re made of dust. We confess our sins to Him and lean on Him moment by moment for grace and help and strength to mother as He wants us to. “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

My mother and all of my older mother figures are gone now. I try to honor their memories. I am thankful for so many women who were examples to me and made me a better woman, wife, and mother. I hope I can encourage others as these ladies did me.

For those whose families show their love this day, and for those who have a mother to celebrate today, I wish you joy.

For those who sorrow, I pray for the peace that passes understanding. May His merciful kindness be for your comfort, according to His word unto you (Psalm 119:76).

(Revised from the archives.)

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

Laudable Linkage

Posted on May 10, 2025 by Barbara Harper

I found quite a few thought-provoking reads this week:

How Do I Leave My Sin at the Foot of the Cross? “Whatever it is, even when you’ve consciously given it to Jesus, you wake up the next morning and it’s back. Or it reappears because you gave in to temptation during moments of stress or exhaustion, even though you thought you’d fully surrendered the struggle to the Lord. What then? When you feel caught somewhere between the guilt that clings to you and the truth of Scripture, what does it actually mean to leave a sin struggle at the foot of the cross?”

If You Never Become a Mother: Truths to Anchor Your Hope. “They have learned to rest in truth––the kind that gently offers them a reminder that their value is not tied to motherhood nor do their lives lack meaning, beauty, or purpose. They’re merely grounded in a different kind of fullness.”

William Carey and the Power of a Second Chance. “Sometimes, life does require a ‘do-over.’ A second chance at a project, person, or path in life. Again, these can be frustrating, humiliating, and discouraging, but necessary. William Carey found himself in such a situation.”

Graduate, Step Up to More than the Podium. “When I graduated, I had to rethink what graduation means. I’d come to see it as a finish line, but I needed to see it as a launching pad. The graduate (whether from kindergarten or college) is stepping up from one level of formation, education, and aptitude to another. You may be graduating with a diploma or degree in engineering or nursing, but when you step up to the podium, you shouldn’t neglect to move forward in your Christian walk as well.”

She Forgot Our Names, But Not the Rock of Ages, HT to Challies. “My grandmom’s story taught me about the power of music for remembering and reproducing truth. The songs that Grandmom learned as a barefoot girl in a little mountain church stayed with her – for eight decades. They stayed with her when almost everything else was being forgotten.”

The Woman Who Saved Capitol Hill Baptist Church, HT to Challies. “She did not need a formal leadership role in the church to know that every member has the responsibility to protect a church’s life and doctrine. A sign of a church’s health is not simply how well the church’s leaders know their Bibles but how well the members do.”

The One Life Dream That Makes a Girl Blush, HT to Challies. “But the souls that move in bodies in and around my home? They are a legacy and an investment that I do not ever regret giving it all for. When I’m weary and feeling empty, when my life goals feel lifetimes away and my body isn’t the one I hoped I’d have, I can promise you that I wouldn’t give them up for a thousand trips around the world, a perfect waistline, or a name linked to fame.”

Reading Widely and Well. “The lack of reading and ensuing limited vocabularies lead to a limited ability to interpret rightly and wrestle well with ambiguity. I find students more likely to categorize an author immediately as friend or foe. They quickly determine whether they are supposed to blindly agree with, or set themselves in opposition to, a given text, often as a result of the author’s known or assumed political or religious persuasion. This approach doesn’t require close reading skills; it just requires quick judgment.”

You Don’t Need AI. You Can Just Tell Your Kids Stories. HT to Challies. “In my experience, the biggest challenge to telling bedtime stories is the difficulty of making up a plot and dialogue and characters. This is where A.I. is offering to save you time and effort. Don’t buy it. You can do this.”

The process of shaping the child, shapes also the mother herself. Reverence for her sacred burden calls her to all that is pure and good, that she may teach primarily by her own humble, daily example. Elisabeth Elliot

Friday’s Fave Fives

Posted on May 9, 2025 by Barbara Harper

It’s been a busy, up-and-down kind of week. It’s easy to get stuck in doldrums over the “down” parts, so it helps to remind ourselves of the good parts–which we do every Friday with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Ladies’ Luncheon at church. We had a couple of sessions before and after with the theme of telling our stories of God’s work in our lives.

2. A mistake is often not good, but this time it was. We got a weird email, supposedly from our insurance company. But we brushed it off as a scam attempt. The next day we got an email from them thanking us for our conversation that day, with an attachment of an insurance policy. We began to be concerned about identity theft. After some research and phone calls, we discovered the agent had used the wrong email.

3. Valet parking and finding our way. I had an appointment at UT Medical Center this week, which is a huge, confusing complex. Jim offered to drive me and drop me off at the right building while he parked. But we discovered they had valet parking for only $2 more than the parking garage charge would be. Then we had to go in one building to get to another building and felt a bit like rats in a maze, but we found our way in and out without any problems. I’m quite directionally challenged, so I appreciated that Jim drove and then went with me to find the right place.

4. Spring flowers. Jim was looking around the garden section of Home Depot and found some plants marked down. He decided to get several for the planters around the house, thinking that if I didn’t like any of them, he could plant them somewhere else. But I liked them all!

5. Real ID appointment set up. I was concerned that I might not get an appointment before my driver’s license expired–the web site said most appointments are made 90 days out. But, thankfully, I was able to set it in time. I dug up all the appropriate paperwork, so all I have to do with it now is wait for the appointment.

How was your week?

Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell

Posted on May 6, 2025 by Barbara Harper

Ruth is a novel written by Elizabeth Gaskell (sometimes listed as Elizabeth Cleghorne Gaskell) in the 1850s.

Ruth’s mother died when she was twelve. Her father, absorbed in his own grief, did not pay much attention to Ruth and died when she was fifteen. The man named as Ruth’s guardian had never met her before, but obtains a postilion for her with a dressmaker.

Ruth is naive and immature, not having had her mother’s instruction as she became a young woman. When she accidentally meets a Henry Bellingham, a well-to-do young man in his twenties, he is struck by her beauty. He observes that she goes to church alone on Sundays and arranges to be where he can interact with her afterwards. After several weeks of meetings, he offers to walk with her to where she used to live, as she has often described how much she loved the area.

Ruth’s boss sees her so far from home with a young man, draws the wrong conclusion, and tells Ruth she is fired. Distressed and alone in the world, Ruth succumbs to Bellingham’s persuasion to accompany him to London.

Some time later, Ruth and Bellingham are visiting Wales when he falls seriously ill. The inn’s proprietor sends for his mother, who disgustedly ousts Ruth.

A Mr. Benson is a dissenting minister visiting the same area who ascertains Ruth’s situation. He intercepts her as she plans to attempt suicide and persuades her to live with him and his sister, Faith, and their crusty but kind-hearted housekeeper, Sally.

Faith and Sally don’t think well of Ruth at first. But her sweetness and humbleness win them over.

None of them realize that Ruth is with child at first–not even Ruth. When Ruth’s pregnancy is discovered, Mr. Benson’s sister, Faith, persuades him to say that Ruth is a distant relative who has recently been widowed. They want to give Ruth a fresh start but also want to protect her child.

As Ruth attends Mr. Benson’s church, she realizes she has done wrong and repents.

Eventually she becomes a governess to the daughters of the town’s leading citizen. But then her secret becomes known.

Mrs. Gaskell is one of the first authors to make a “fallen woman” the heroine of her story (The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne came a few years earlier; Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy came a few decades later). The book was controversial in its Victorian era. Gaskell rightly asserted that sometimes the fallen woman is the wronged party, that grace and forgiveness are available to all who have sinned, and that the child born of such a situation does not deserve to be branded.

Gaskell comes from a Unitarian background, which, from what I have read, I would not agree with. But much of what is said of Christ in this book seems accurate. However, there’s also talk about penance and “self-redemption,” which I don’t think are scriptural concepts.

Besides the themes of forgiveness and compassion, the book deals with the dangers of gossip and hypocrisy.

This novel is a product of its times. It’s wordy, with a lot of detailed description. Ruth is presented as almost too perfect. Some interactions are a bit overwrought.

But I loved the story. And I loved what Gaskell conveyed through the story. Both the main and secondary characters were well-developed.

I listened to the audiobook, nicely read by Eve Matheson.

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

Not When, But How

Posted on May 4, 2025 by Barbara Harper

After Jesus foretold that the temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed, the disciples asked when it would happen.

For the next six paragraphs of Mark 13, Jesus gives the disciples signs of the end of the age. There would be an increase of:

False Christs
Natural disasters (earthquakes, famines, etc.).
Wars and rumors of wars
Persecution of His followers
Family division
Celestial phenomena

But Jesus never answers the question about when these things will happen. He doesn’t give them a date. He says in verse 32 that He doesn’t know when; only the Father knows. (Jesus was fully God and fully man, yet while He was on earth He did not always fully exercise His divine attributes.)

He did tell the disciples how to wait.

Don’t be led astray by false Christs (verses 5, 21, 22).

Don’t be alarmed by the bad news and upheaval (verse 7). Jesus compared these things to birth pains.

Be on your guard due to coming persecution and falsehoods taught (verses 9, 23, 33).

Proclaim the gospel (verse 10). This isn’t stated as a command here, though it is after Jesus’ resurrection.

Do not be anxious about what to say when persecuted: the Holy Spirit will give you what you need to say when it is needed (verse 11).

Stay awake (verses 32-37). He doesn’t mean for us to avoid physical sleep, but to be alert and watchful.

Learn from the fig tree (verses 28-31). Verse 28 says that when the fig tree puts out its leaves, we know summer is near. In the same way, Jesus said, watch for the signs of His coming and know it is near.

It’s natural that we’d like to know what’s going to happen when. But we need to follow Jesus’ admonitions. The ESV Study Bible notes says that “Jesus’ discourse about the end times focuses the attention of the disciples on preparedness, on readiness to suffer, and on trust” (p. 1922).

Similarly, Warren Wiersbe wrote, “The purpose of prophetic truth is not speculation but motivation” (Be Alert (2 Peter, 2 & 3 John, Jude): Beware of the Religious Impostors, p. 107).

Our Sunday School teacher quoted pastor and teacher Bob Deffinbaugh as saying, “The purpose of prophecy is to generate hope by focusing on perseverance and encouragement.”

Most of the preaching I have heard about end times focused on the timeline and order of events. But not as much has been said about how we’re to wait. We need to let these truths motivate us to service, faithfulness, watchfulness, trust, and encouragement as we wait for our Savior’s sure return.

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

Laudable Linkage

Posted on May 3, 2025 by Barbara Harper

I have a short list this week:

Watch for the Thing After the Thing, HT to Challies. After a crisis or major event, there are often unexpected challenges to deal with.

The Article You Don’t Want to Read, on the subject of death. HT to Challies.

What If You Were the Older Brother? “Too often we read the Bible as though we would have been the hero in every story. God knows this, and so He gives us deeply flawed heroes. When Moses disobeys or Abraham lies or Noah gets drunk or David commits both adultery and murder, or another good king becomes arrogant and rebels against God’s representative, we begin to realize that we all have problems and God is the real hero of the Bible. But still, in some stories I fear we might miss what God is seeking to teach us because we write off the villain too quickly.”

Testing the Teachings of Roman Catholicism, HT to Challies. “Following my conversion, I saw the contrast between my religious upbringing and the straightforward teaching of the Bible. Because our beliefs have eternal consequences, I sincerely desire to help others understand some of the key differences between official Roman Catholic doctrine and the truth of Scripture.”

Beautifully Made: Breaking Gender Stereotypes for God’s Glory. “Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a worldview that had room for girls to be girls even if they like football, NASCAR, and power tools? Or for a boy to be a boy even if he’d rather crochet than swing a hammer and listen to showtunes rather than heavy metal? I have good news. There is.”

If your life is broken when given to Jesus, it may be because the pieces will feed a multitude.–Elisabeth Elliot

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on May 2, 2025 by Barbara Harper

It’s the first Friday of May! I’m joining Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to cultivate gratitude by pausing to remember the good things of the week.

1. Puttering. I sent much of Saturday afternoon getting some none-computer-related stuff done that usually keeps getting transferred from one to-do list to another–stuff that’s minor, but still needs to be done.

2. Mammogram done. I’d had to reschedule a time or two, so it was nice to finally get it behind me. I was told that the “nodule was stable”–but no one had mentioned a nodule before! Evidently there is one, but they don’t think it’s a problem and it hasn’t grown.

3. Hobby Lobby excursion. While I was out for the mammogram, I stopped by Hobby Lobby for a couple of things. It’s almost like a field trip or day at the park for me. 🙂 Plus, my family keeps me stocked with Hobby Lobby gift cards, so I was able to get a few things I might not have otherwise.

4. Bible study wrap-up. Our ladies’ Bible study group finished our look at Hebrews last week, and this week we had finger foods, played a fun game, and discussed what we’d learned. The game involved writing down something others wouldn’t know about us on a piece of paper, folding it up, putting it in a basket, then passing the basket around to choose a paper (not our own). Then we guessed which paper belonged to which person. Some of the entries involved snorkeling (not the person any of us guessed!), moving eleven times, a fun encounter with actor Chevy Chase, and working on a NASA project.

5. Hearing from recovering friends that they are doing well. One was in an accident and the other had surgery. They still have a way to go, but they’re home and progressing well.

How was your week?

April Reflections

Posted on April 30, 2025 by Barbara Harper

Spring has finally settled in, and I am enjoying the “in-between” weather–not too hot or cold.

Highlights in April include Easter, Timothy’s birthday, and the guys’ first camping trip in Jim’s new camper van.

Watching

We finished up The House of David. This first season ended with David’s confrontation with Goliath. Though the filmmakers embellished the story in ways they didn’t need to, we still got the truth that David met Goliath in faith. It seemed miraculous that David even got the chance, since his brothers as well as the other soldiers would not have let an untrained teenager on the battle field.

When Jim was camping, I watched Wicked, a retelling of the “Wicked Witch’s” story from The Wizard of Oz. I had seen a few clips but wasn’t sure what else to expect. I ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I would. I’ve mentioned before that I used to avoid any story with witches or “magic” until I realized that “fairy tale magic” is a different thing that the occult (more thoughts on that here).

Creating

I don’t do a lot of freehand work when I make cards: neither my handwriting nor my drawing skills are great, so I rely on my tools. A couple of Timothy’s main interests are balloon men (also called tube men or air dancers) and tornado sirens. I wanted to incorporate both in his birthday card, but couldn’t find Cricut images or stickers of either. In fact, when I searched for “tornado sirens,” most of the results were mermaids–I guess they were thinking of the sirens of Greek mythology, which are different from mermaids, but, oh well.

I wanted to have a tube man looking like he was using a tornado siren as a megaphone. So here’s what I came up with.

I thought of adding a few other touches but decided to quit while I was ahead.

This card was meant for a baby shower, but I ended up not using it, for a couple of reasons.

I’d seen a similar idea on Pinterest, which often leads back to the maker’s website with instructions. This one didn’t, so I was figuring it out on my own. I didn’t realize the cross piece was too long until I already had it glued down. Plus, I thought it would look neat to use real twine. Although it wasn’t very thick, it was enough that it left a bump under each of the bears. I wasn’t up to redoing this one from scratch, so I went with a simpler idea.

The onesie and bears were done with the Cricut.

The following two were simple variations on the same idea. These were for friends, one recovering from an accident and the other recovering from surgery.

The blue card is one of my all-time favorites. The words were done with a stamp. The rosy corners on the second card were done with a punch. The lacy strips across the bottom of both were from a set of stickers.

Reading

Since last time, I have finished (titles link to my reviews):

Hebrews for You by Michael J. Kruger, a helpful commentary on the biblical book of Hebrews.
An Ocean of Grace by Tim Chester, a Lenten devotional compiled of writings of many Christians of the past.
The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien, the last of his Lord of the Rings series.
The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry. Though the main story was good, I had some problems and mixed emotions with this one.
Wild Swan by Patti Callahan Henry, a novella of Florence Nightingale’s difficulties in convincing her family that she was called to be a nurse.
He Should Have Told the Bees, another winner by Amanda Cox. Two young women who don’t know each other are named in the same trust, which leaves them co-owners of the one’s farm and apiary. In trying to find out why, they discover each other’s history and more about themselves. Excellent.

I’m currently reading:

Minor Prophets 1 by the Navigators
The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume 3: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy, 1950 – 1963, compiled by Walter Hooper
On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, Volume 1 of the Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson
Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell

Blogging

Besides the weekly Friday Fave Fives, Saturday Laudable Linkage, and book reviews, I’ve posted these since last time:

The First Step to Murder. Just as lust is the first step to adultery, and is a sin in itself, contempt and dehumanizing others is the first step to murder.
Redeemed Regrets. Regrets can haunt us even when we know we’re forgiven. But God can redeem them and use them for good.
The Cross Is the Measure, both of the awfulness of sin and the depths of God’s love.
When Stones Speak. Jesus said if people were silenced from acknowledging Him, the very stones would cry out. It turns out stones have testified of Him many times.
If Jesus Had Not Been Resurrected, how bleak and horrible our outlook would be.
What Does Jesus Pray for Us? I knew that Jesus prayed for us but never considered what He prayed for us until a book I was reading inspired a study of Jesus’ prayers.

As we change the calendar to May, we look forward to Mother’s Day, a ladies’ luncheon at church, the resuming of our writing critique group, and a long-awaited appointment.

How was your April? What do you look forward to in May?

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