Remembering 9/11

Posted on September 11, 2008 by Barbara Harper

(Originally posted 9/11/06)

I used to volunteer at my sons’ school every Tuesday. On that particular Tuesday morning in September, a little after 9 a.m., I turned on the car radio to catch a bit of news on my way to the school. I was confused at first — I could tell something serious had happened, but couldn’t make out what. Finally the newscaster explained that an airplane had hit the World Trade Tower. I was stunned. I sat in the parking lot at the school and listened to the news coverage for a few minutes. Then I went into the school office, with the words, “Did you hear…?” on my lips. They had heard and someone had set up a TV in the office. Many of us stood, motionless, stunned, shocked, and watched the coverage. We thought we couldn’t be any more stunned — then we saw footage of a second plane hitting the other tower. Then we saw people leaping out of windows to try to escape. Then we saw the first tower collapse.

I don’t remember how long I stayed there. The function that I usually helped with was canceled for the day. Several parents came to pick their children up and take them home: they just wanted to have them near. The principal had a TV set up in the gym for those students and teachers who wanted to watch the coverage. I think most of the high school classes were canceled and students could either watch the coverage in the gym or study quietly in one of the classrooms.

For the rest of the day and the next several days, with most of the country, I was almost glued to the TV as more news came in and pieces of the puzzle came to light. I clicked on news sources online and read coverage and looked at pictures in magazines.

There are several things I remember from that time:

Feeling in shock.
Feelings of vulnerability.
Feelings of horror that anyone could do such a thing to other people.
Feelings of fear, wondering if this was but the beginning of a larger effort, of a war.
Feelings of empathy with those who had died, those who had lost loved ones, those in parts of the world for whom terrorism is an almost everyday occurrence.
A feeling of unity in our country that I had never experienced in my lifetime. That is one thing I miss.
Feelings of…awe? gratefulness? wonder? inspiration? I am struggling with the right word to express what I felt on hearing the stories of heroism, of bravery, of decency.
Feelings of more joy upon hearing the stories of so many who unexpectedly missed flights or were late to work at the towers.
Feelings of comfort as the Lord ministered to hearts afterward.

Regarding that last item, one of the young men in my sons’ youth group shared this verse with the teens, I believe that first Wednesday afterward:

Isaiah 25:4: For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.

How that ministered to my heart! I shared it with many loved ones via e-mail. There is only one true Refuge.

The question has come to many a mind, “Why did God allow it?” I don’t know that we’ll have the answer until time is over and we are with Him. But, surely we don’t mean why did God allow that to happen to us? We’re such a blessed nation, even in the state of spiritual forgetfulness and indifference we are in now — do we think we’re exempt from the troubles many nations experience daily? This was of a greater magnitude, yes, but many countries face the possibility of car bombs and suicide bombers every day. Then we get into the larger question of why God allows evil at all. All I know is that He allows for us to have and exercise a free will, and that results in sin, because we all choose our own way over His all too often. There will be a time when “sin shall be no more,” when every tear shall be wiped away and there shall be no more sorrow, sadness, death, crying (Revelation 21:4). That time is not yet. Until then we have to deal with a fallen world. But those who love God have this promise:

Romans 8:28: And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

It is at the point of deep need that we learn the truth of that verse and others. We know it so well it almost become cliched to us, until we truly need it.

One of the “good things” to come out of 9/11 was the salvation of one of my son’s friends. He realized that life can end suddenly and unexpectedly and that he needed to be ready.

There are some who think we should remember 9/11 only with silence, who feel that replaying and reliving the events of that day only plays into the hands of the terrorists, inspiring more terror. I disagree. I can understand those for whom it might be too painful to reflect on much, but I disagree that we’re playing into the hands of the terrorists by remembering that day. It’s good to remember. We need to remember the fallen, to memorialize them. We need to remember those whom they left behind. We even need to remember our vulnerability. Psalm 9:20 says “Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves to be but men.” I can’t presume to say that that was one of God’s purposes for allowing this, but we do need to remember that we are “but men” (or women) even though we’re a “superpower.” We need to remember that “The horse [or the fighter pilot or the tank or whatever we might use in warfare] is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD” (Proverbs 21:31). We need to remember the empathy, the inspiration, the acts of courage.

My husband and I were saying yesterday morning that we wished they would do away with the Labor Day observance and instead have a 9/11 observance. But then we thought that, after a while, it would just be another Monday holiday. It would seem the height of disrespect to turn it into another day for retailers to have sales. I wonder if WWII veterans are horrified that Memorial Day and Veterans Day, beyond the occasional parade and wreath-laying ceremonies, are regarded by most people as an opportunity to be off work and go to the mall. May we as a country remember all of our fallen better than that.

Booking Through Thursday: Villainy

Posted on September 11, 2008 by Barbara Harper

The Booking Through Thursday question for today is:

Today is the 7th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. I know that not all of you who read are in the U.S., but still, it’s vital that none of us who are decent people forget the scope of disaster that a few, evil people can cause–anywhere in the world. It’s not about religion, it’s not about politics, it’s about the acknowledgment that humans should try to work together, not tear each other apart, even when they disagree.

So, feeling my way to a question here … Terrorists aren’t just movie villains any more. Do real-world catastrophes such as 9/11 (and the bombs in Madrid, and the ones in London, and the war in Darfur, and … really, all the human-driven, mass loss-of-life events) affect what you choose to read? Personally, I used to enjoy reading Tom Clancy, but haven’t been able to stomach his fight-terrorist kinds of books since.

And, does the reality of that kind of heartless, vicious attack–which happen on smaller scales ALL the time–change the way you feel about villains in the books you read? Are they scarier? Or more two-dimensional and cookie-cutter in the face of the things you see on the news?

I don’t think major catastrophes in general change my reading habits. I am generally able to separate book villains from real ones, and in books you know everything will work out in the end (at least the books I read),

I do remember, though, after my good friend’s mother passed away when I was in my early 20s, It was my first experience with the death of someone close, and I reeled at how cavalierly death was handled, especially on TV, but sometimes also in books. I blanched when I heard jokes about death and hoped there was no one watching or listening who had recently lost someone. As a whole our society seemed insensitive to those who were grieving. So at that time I probably could not have read a story involving the death of a loved one. Though I have read many missionary books with parts detailing unimaginable suffering, for a long time I couldn’t read Gracia Burnham’s In the Presence of My Enemies because it was too close — it had happened to people not far from my age group and in my lifetime.

So, though I am not drawn to books dealing in any way with terrorists, if I were, I don’t think I could have read any around that time. We do watch some TV shows and movies with terrorist-driven plots now, but I probably could not have for a long while then.

I was drawn to articles about the different aspects of 9/11 for months afterwards, especially testimonies of people who were there in NY when it happened or family members of those those who were directly involved. The only books I read that dealt with 9/11 specifically were Karen Kingsbury novels One Tuesday Morning and Beyond Tuesday Morning.

More thoughts on 9/11 are in th next post, but I wanted to keep this one strictly in answer to the question.

Fakes are fine with me

Posted on September 10, 2008 by Barbara Harper

In response to the HGTV special about decorating mistakes, the worst of all (according to them) being fake flowers and plants, The Nester is asking us to show our fake plants, good, bad, and in between.

As I said yesterday, I am not good with live plants. Even though fake plants do get dusty (and I do wipe them off now and then), they last a lot longer than real ones do, and they add a welcome bit of color and cheeriness. The HGTV team recommends fruit (but a jar or plate of lemons or whatever just doesn’t do anything for my decorating sensibilities. Nothing wrong with that as decorations — I just don’t like them personally) or dried materials (which also gather dust and decompose after a while), so I will stay with my pretty fake flowers, as long as they look nice and aren’t frayed, thank you very much. 🙂

Here are a few of my “fakes”:

I haven’t decorated for fall yet, but these are around my house most of the time, except for fall and Christmas.

If you’d like to join in or see other “fakers,” The Nester has a list of links here.

(You know what’s really odd…my blog stats show this post has received 126 viewings so far, but there are only 10 comments at present. I wonder if the other 116 disagree? Or hate my arrangements but are too kind to say so? I guess I’ll never know…

BTW, it’s ok to disagree [kindly]. That’s what makes all of our styles uniquely our own. 🙂 )

Decorating mistakes

Posted on September 9, 2008 by Barbara Harper

Evidently HGTV had a special on recently about 25 common decorating mistakes. I didn’t hear about it beforehand or I probably would have taped it, but I saw a link at The Nester to a post where Rhoda compiled the top 25 decorating mistakes according to HGTV. I searched the HGTV site and found their lists here.

I like to think of myself as fairly easy to get along with and willing to listen to advice, but this kind of thing makes my inner rebel rise up and declare, “Who sez?” I do like to watch or read “the experts” sometimes, and I appreciate gleaning knowledge about things like how to make a small room look larger, how to place arrangements on the wall in a pleasing manner, etc. But, similarly to what I said about frumpiness and the fashion industry, this kind of advice can go way overboard sometimes:

Fake flowers and plants. (I don’t do well with real plants, and even if I did, who would be able to keep up with them in very many rooms? And what about wreaths and wall hangings and such? Now, I agree that some artificial flowers scream “fake,” even to the point of frayed fabric edges, and I think it is best to try to avoid those. One reason HGTV cites for not using fake plants is that they gather dust, yet, oddly, they recommend dried natural plants. But in my experience those gather just as much dust and show it more than fabric flowers.)
Too many pillows, on the bed or sofa. (This one I would agree with, just as a matter of personal preference, not necessarily because someone says it is “wrong.” I’m fairly practical and just don’t want to take off and put back pillows on a bed when I get in it or make it, or to have to arrange them constantly on the sofa because they would be constantly out of place.)
Knick-knack overload. (Again, a matter of preference…and time and willingness to dust. :))
Fear of color. (I think I’d agree here. I have seen some nice nearly all-white rooms that are that way not because of a fear of color but because the owner thought it looked serene. Personally I like more color than that, but I don’t like bright, bold colors in my home. I like softer, soothing colors.)
Ignoring windows
Pushed back furniture. (This is one of my pet peeves of decorating advice. I think furniture only needs to be pulled away from the walls is in a larger room where it would be hard to converse if the furniture was placed against the outside walls. The average home I have lived in or visited doesn’t usually have the room to do that just as a decorating scheme.)
Tacky couch covers. (Plastic ones? Definitely. Protect furniture with a preventative spray rather than plastic. And ill-fitting fabric slipcovers look sloppy.)
Frames too high. (I agree, but I think frames hung too low are just as much if not more of a mistake. They recommend a frame be hung over a sofa with six inches between the top of the sofa and the bottom of the frame. That’s too low for me — I have big guys who rest their arms on the backs of the couch — they’d be constantly bumping the art. And even if that wasn’t a problem, I just don’t like art right there behind my head as I am sitting down. Unless it’s a really big piece [and personally I loathe big wall art that takes up the whole space above the sofa, but that’s just me], then hanging frames that low would mean they’re too low when you’re standing. My rule of them has been to hang frames where the middle-to-top [depending on size] is at about eye level when standing.)
Improper lighting (I agree with this one completely.)
Floating rugs.
Too many colors/patterns (I generally agree here, but then again “too many” is a relative term. I tend to be pretty conservative.)
Furniture that doesn’t fit
Following fads (I agree here…except sometimes you don’t know something is considered a fad until the rest of the decorating world moves on to something else and says your style is “out” now.)
Everything matches (Generally agree here — I like a little variety rather than having everything the exact same color and pattern.)
Lack of traffic pattern. (Definitely! Rooms that are hard to get around in are just uncomfortable in every way.)
Uncomfortable dining room chairs.
Too formal (It does need to be livable.)
Keeping something you hate.
Lopsided furnishings.
Outdated accessories (This is a hard one to pin down — what looks outdated to one person might look retro or vintage to someone else. And it is VERY expensive to replace things like kitchen cabinets just to get a newer look.)
Out-of-Place Themes (Rhoda’s list just said “Themes,” which I do like to some extent, but the HGTV site listed “Out of Place Themes” like a beach-style room in Alaska. That makes sense.)
Undressed cables. (True. Love technology but hate the abundance of wires and cables.)
Ignoring the foyer. (That first impression does set the tone for how your house comes across to other people.)
Too many family photos (This one bothered me until I read their reasoning. I think my reaction stemmed from a home economics teacher who looked down on the idea of using many family photos. True, you don’t want your home to look like a shrine, but on the other hand I love to see family photos in a family room or hallway. Having a lived-in, family-oriented home is more important to me than having a magazine-cover rooms.)
Contoured Toilet rugs. (Well, they do keep my feet warm in the winter, and my feet aren’t where any yucky stuff would be [I live with all males — if you have any in your home you know what I mean. :)] And I would much rather toss the rug in the wash than have to mop the floor every day, which is what I’d feel I needed to do without a rug.

I have to admit after I read the designers’ comments in context on the HGTV site, I didn’t feel quite as riled as I did when I first saw the list. 🙂 And I did see that the show is scheduled to air again November 2.

As a general rule I do enjoy decorating shows though I don’t watch them often. Sometimes I can be inspired by a lot of creative and helpful ideas: sometimes some of the specific things they do are immensely impractical for a real family to live with. I like to just glean what I like and what works for me without really worrying much about whether a designer would approve.

Taking every thought captive

Posted on September 7, 2008 by Barbara Harper

I found this very helpful and practical thought in the September 6 reading of Joy and Strength, compiled by Mary Tileston:

Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5

Some have found it a useful thing when their minds have wandered off from devotion and been snared by some good but irrelevant consideration, not to cast away the offending thought as the eyes are again lifted to the Divine Face, but to take it captive, carry it into the presence of God and weave it into a prayer before putting it aside and resuming the original topic. This is to lead captivity captive.
~ Charles Brent

Jesus, I Am Resting

Posted on September 7, 2008 by Barbara Harper

One of my favorite hymns:

Jesus, I am resting, resting,
In the joy of what Thou art;
I am finding out the greatness
Of Thy loving heart.
Thou hast bid me gaze upon Thee,
And Thy beauty fills my soul,
For by Thy transforming power,
Thou hast made me whole.

O, how great Thy loving kindness,
Vaster, broader than the sea!
O, how marvelous Thy goodness,
Lavished all on me!
Yes, I rest in Thee, Belovèd,
Know what wealth of grace is Thine,
Know Thy certainty of promise,
And have made it mine.

Simply trusting Thee, Lord Jesus,
I behold Thee as Thou art,
And Thy love, so pure, so changeless,
Satisfies my heart;
Satisfies its deepest longings,
Meets, supplies its every need,
Compasseth me round with blessings:
Thine is love indeed!

Ever lift Thy face upon me
As I work and wait for Thee;
Resting ’neath Thy smile, Lord Jesus,
Earth’s dark shadows flee.
Brightness of my Father’s glory,
Sunshine of my Father’s face,
Keep me ever trusting, resting,
Fill me with Thy grace.

~ Jean S. Pigott, 1876.

Saturday Funnies

Posted on September 6, 2008 by Barbara Harper

My husband suggested this once for our home decor…

If you can’t see it very well, it is a clear toilet seat and lid with little plastic fishies in it.

Umm…no thanks, dear. 🙂

Someone sent this in an e-mail:
Redneck Wedding Cake:

Some favorites from icanhascheezburger.com/

Poetry Friday: John Greenleaf Whittier

Posted on September 5, 2008 by Barbara Harper

Years ago when I was in college, someone jotted these lines across the back of an envelope of a note sent to me:

Drop Thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace.

I thought it was lovely, but I didn’t know where it came from (funny the difference the Internet makes in our lives with the ability to look these things up immediately!) Then some years later I found the same lines quoted and attributed to John Greenleaf Whittier in something Elisabeth Elliot wrote, though now I don’t remember what. Later still I heard it on the radio as a hymn. I don’t remember if I have ever sung it in church — I may have. But just recently I found it from from a much longer poem.

A few of the other verses are:

Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
Forgive our foolish ways;
Reclothe us in our rightful mind,
In purer lives Thy service find,
In deeper reverence, praise.

With that deep hush subduing all
Our words and works that drown
The tender whisper of Thy call,
As noiseless let Thy blessing fall
As fell Thy manna down.

Drop Thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace.

Breathe through the heats of our desire
Thy coolness and Thy balm;
Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,
O still, small voice of calm.

More can be found under the hymn titled “Dear Lord and Father of Mankind” at Cyberhymnal. I am not as familiar with either of the tunes listed there: I have always heard it more often to the melody of the Navy Hymn, Eternal Father Strong to Save.

Whittier was a Quaker, which had a whole philosophy called “quietism” that I don’t ascribe to. But the Bible speaks of a “meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price” (I Peter 3:4a) and says in one of my favorite verses “For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength” (Isaiah 30:15). David asks himself repeatedly in Psalm 42 and 43, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me?” The quietness in these verses is not a mystical state, but rather just a a peace of spirit resting on and trusting in the Lord. As David says in answer to his own question, “hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God” (Psalm 42:11b). Psalm 46:10 a says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 112:7 says, “He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD.” Psalm 46:1-3 says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.” I have reminded myself at times that if I can trust God to carry me through those circumstances, I can trust Him for whatever more minor problems I am facing.

The last two lines are an allusion to Elijah’s encounter with the Lord in I Kings 19: “And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice” (verses 11-12). I thought it odd that Whittier would say, ” Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,” when this passage says God did not speak through those means. Then it occurred to me he probably meant “through” not as in using those means to express Himself, but rather Whittier is asking God to speak to him in the midst of turmoil, to let him hear God’s still small voice over all the other clamor.

I found this lovely version on YouTube.

The Poetry Friday Round-Up can be found at Wild Rose Reader today.

Show and Tell Friday: Family room and pin

Posted on September 5, 2008 by Barbara Harper

Kelli at There’s No Place Like Home hosts “Show and Tell Friday” asking “Do you have a something special to share with us? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, an antique find. Your show and tell can be old or new. Use your imagination and dig through those old boxes in your closet if you have to! Feel free to share pictures and if there’s a story behind your special something, that’s even better! If you would like to join in, all you have to do is post your “Show and Tell” on your blog, copy the post link, come over here and add it to Mr. Linky. Guidelines are here.

Recently I found this sweet little pin on sale at Sweet Necessi-Teas.

If you’ve been reading here long, you know I love hearts and pink roses and vintage/old fashioned things…and sales! So this fit the bill all the way around!

As the shop’s name would suggest, most of its items have something to do with tea, but I didn’t notice until after I looked at it a while that the little charm at the bottom is a tea bag. Isn’t that cute? Unfortunately it’s a little dark right there in the picture.

I also loved the way it came packaged:

Something I hope to accomplish in the next week is to figure out how to arrange these

On this wall.

A while back we replaced our TV and entertainment center, and the new cabinet was wider than the old one, so we had to take out bookcases that used to flank it and put them in another room. That left a lot of wall space. I’ve been collecting various items through sales and received some as gifts. I want to get a shelf as long as the long piece there (which, by the way, I got half-price at Hobby Lobby!) I am thinking of making three separate groupings, one over the TV, and one on each side, maybe placed a little lower. I’m thinking of putting the long plaque and a shelf over the TV.

The picture up there now is an older one I got during a Home Interiors craze that went through all my friends years ago. 🙂

It shows a mom stopping what she is doing to sit down and look at her child’s picture. I loved that — and hope I remembered to do that often! Of course, I love the house and flowers and colors in it, too. It’s appropriate for a family room, but I am trying to downplay pink and flowers in this room for the boys’ sake. So I haven’t decided whether to keep this in here or put it somewhere else…though there is really no room anywhere else for it.

I also had this painting over the mantle before receiving my Shepherd print.

It is special to me because of who made it. Several years ago when we lived in GA, the church we attended had a “secret sister” program where we drew names at the beginning of the year and prayed for and did little things for our secret sister anonymously throughout the year and then found out who our secret sister was at the end of the year. I drew the name of a lady named Gayle, who was very artistic and crafty. She couldn’t do much in that vein for her secret sister, though, because then that would reveal who she was in our very small church. So she often waited to do something special til the end of the year. Well, that particular year I had her name, but we found we were going to have to move in May, so I went ahead and revealed my identity to her. She gave me this as a thank you. I love it because it is from her, and I love the dogwood blossoms — two of the four homes we have lived in have had white dogwoods. She admitted that the little bird ended up “looking like he was ready to peck someone’s eye out.” 🙂 She added the verse because she said it reminded her of me, though it is actually speaking of wisdom. I hope I have gained and display wisdom, pleasantness, and peace, though I assured her I am far from walking in any of those elements perfectly.

But I am not quite sure where to place this little birdie. Decisions, decisions!

Hopefully I’ll have this figured out and can show you the finished project next time.

Thanks to Kelli for creating and hostessing Show and Tell Friday! Other show-and-tellers can be found there.

Booking Through Thursday: Peer Pressure

Posted on September 4, 2008 by Barbara Harper

The Booking Through Thursday question for today is:

Have you ever felt pressured to read something because ‘everyone else’ was reading it? Have you ever given in and read the book(s) in question or do you resist? If you are a reviewer, etc, do you feel it’s your duty to keep up on current trends?

Curious, maybe, but not pressured. I am influenced by the recommendations of other people I trust and keep a list of those titles to possibly check out, but I don’t feel the pull to jump on the latest literary bandwagon. I prefer to do my own thing. Usually, in fact, I am disappointed in whatever is making the latest buzz in the book world.

If I were a paid book reviewer, that might be a different story — it would depend on who I was working for and what they wanted me to cover. I mostly just review books I like, and as Meghan said, even older books that aren’t well known. In fact, I take pleasure in telling people about those “hidden treasures.”

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme which can be found here.