A precious offering

Posted on August 28, 2007 by Barbara Harper

I was going through a stack of Elisabeth Elliot newsletters from years ago looking for a particular article I wanted to reference in the ladies’ ministry newsletter. I didn’t find that one, but I found a few others I wanted to quote from both in the newsletter and here.

Elisabeth’s newsletters were published from late 1982 to 2003. They are stored online here. I’ve been thinking I should probably print out the ones I don’t have in hand in case they are ever taken offline. Many of the articles I have read multiple times and they still minister to me.

This one caught my eye because I have read several accounts among my online friends in the last few days concerning taking their older children to college. I struggled with missing mine even though they are only 45 minutes away: I can’t imagine what it is like to leave them several states or even countries away. Though distance is a factor, I think what we wrestle with is the idea that they are taking yet another step away from us in the journey toward adulthood. We know that’s the way it is supposed to be, and we wouldn’t hold them back, but that doesn’t mean we don’t miss them.

Here, then, is a column from the May/June 2001 Elisabeth Elliot newsletter about the time her only daughter was preparing for college.

Shortly before my daughter Valerie, my only child, went off to college as a freshman, a “sudden tide” came over me one morning as I was working in the kitchen. She had been the great joy of my life for seventeen years. When she was about eleven or twelve, friends heard me speak of what seemed to me a near-perfect mother-daughter relationship.

“Oh, but wait till she’s a teenager!” they warned, “then you’ll have some rough times.” I was still waiting. I could not conceive of life without her.

“She has grown up,” I told myself. “My job is finished, the job I loved more than anything else I have ever done. The nest is about to empty.”

Overcome with sadness, I sat down at the wicker table, picked up the phone, and dialed Van, who is the sort of friend you don’t have to explain things to. Tears came as soon as I tried to talk.

“It’s O.K., Bet,” she said quietly. “It’ll be O.K.”

She did not need to explain to me what she meant. She knew I understood. We believe the same things—things like Julian of Norwich’s “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” But I needed to hear her say it. I needed to have the Word made flesh for me in her voice. Van’s simple word, “It’ll be O.K.,” encouraged me to trust and obey. I learned that in this renunciation I had what the seed has that falls into the ground—a new potential for life-giving. I would be lonely, but I now had something precious to offer in love to my Lord, which in turn would make something quite different out of my loneliness. In some mysterious way which I could not predict, that offering would bring forth fruit. It would make a difference to the wholeness of the Body of which I was but a single member.

The way we respond to the “givens” in our daily experience determines our growth in holiness. When we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” God answers that prayer, measuring out just what we need for spiritual as well as physical growth.

Wrapping up “birthday week”

Posted on August 27, 2007 by Barbara Harper

Jason’s birthday was in July while he was away at camp, and he wanted to wait til he got home to celebrate; then he wanted to wait til his friend came into town; then Jim had to unexpectedly go to an out of town meeting, so we finally celebrated on Friday evening.

We went bowling Friday afternoon, but on our 7th frame the proprietors had to reset the computers connected the scoreboards in each lane to the counter, which was supposed to take 3 minutes to reset and should have saved all our data. But they couldn’t get them to come back on. We waited for maybe 20 minutes or more, but then had to go because we had other events on the agenda. The bad thing was that I had bowled two strikes in a row and had a score of about 80 so far — a great day in bowling for me is when I break 100, and it looked like I was on my way! 🙂 Oh, well. When we told them we had to go, they gave us coupons for free games ad shoe rentals.

Jason’s visiting friend is of Indian descent, and Jason wanted to go to an Indian restaurant for his birthday dinner. I was apprehensive of offending his friend — I am not an adventurous eater and don’t like really spicy things. It did help with choosing what to order to have someone there who could explain the different dishes, and the waitress was also very helpful. They serve the food in little serving dishes in the center of the table, which each person then spoons onto his plate, so we were able to try bites of each other’s entrees. I was pleasantly surprised. I had tandoori chicken, which was very good. I also liked Jim’s beef masala and Jason’s chicken curry. Jeremy and Jesse had chicken tikka, which was a little too spicy for me. They had a type of bread called naan which was very good — it’s kind of like a soft puffy tortilla. I ordered mine with just butter, but some of the others ordered theirs with cheese. Both were great.

We headed back home to open Jason’s presents. The two major ones were a gift card to a favorite clothing store and a Nintendo DS light (what’s that saying about the difference between men and boys being the price of their toys? 🙂 ) He also got some flavored coffees (he’s my coffee connoisseur) and a few other little things.

Then we had cake and ice cream, and then Jesse took off for the all-nighter, a favorite annual event in the youth group where they go play laser tag and roller skate and other assorted things from 8:45 in the evening til breakfast the next morning. Why, I don’t know. 🙂 I do remember the thrill of staying up all night as a teen-ager, but I got over it.

So he was pretty much dead to the world Saturday afternoon. Jason took his friend up to the college Saturday so they could both check in and she could get moved into the dorms. We had had a lovely visit. It was nice to have a girl in the house for a change. 🙂

Jesse had had school camp last week: every year near the opening of the school year our school has a school camp with different chapel services, devotional times, and games, to get the school year started off on a right spiritual footing. Jim Van Gelderen was the preacher for the week. He was without the Minuteman team this time, but it is always a joy to have him at church.

But this week starts the first regular week of classes for Jesse, and Jason starts classes Thursday. So we’re getting in gear for our fall schedule.

The nice thing about the flurry of housecleaning at the beginning of last week is that, except for a few touch-ups, everything is done and I can relax on that front this week. Good thing, because I have the ladies ministry newsletter to work on this week (I can’t believe it is the last week in August already!) plus making up a master “wish list” for our missionary Christmas emphasis, plus a few other odds and ends.

So I have a busy but not too pressured week ahead. How about you?

Psalms Sunday: Psalm 42

Posted on August 27, 2007 by Barbara Harper

Erica at Butterfly Kisses has once again resumed “Psalms Sunday” in which whoever wants to can read and study the selected Psalm for the day and “share what the Psalm meant to you. Maybe there was a verse or two that spoke to you. Maybe the Psalm made you think of a story you would like to share with us. Maybe you would like to paraphrase the Psalm. Or maybe you would like to do an in-depth word study. What you write, what you share is up to you.” She provides a “Mr. Linky” each Sunday so those who participate can share the link to their own posts about the Psalm.

I really enjoyed doing this before. The Psalms are pretty easy to breeze through, looking for the verses that are familiar or that touch my heart, without really studying them in context. The being able to read and comment on what others have posted helps even more to bring out things I may have missed in my own study.

The Psalm for today is Psalm 42:

1 As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.

2 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?

3 My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?

4 When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.

5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.

6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.

7 Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.

8 Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the day time, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.

9 I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

10 As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?

11 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

This is one of my favorite Psalms. Probably every Christian has gone through these times of talking to oneself, encouraging oneself in the Lord. There is nothing like a crisis to strip away distractions and false props and to create in us a realization for our deep need of God. When our tears are our meat, when others ask where our God is, when enemies oppress and reproach, when we’re cast down and disquieted, when we feel God has forgotten us, we suddenly find ourselves thirsting for His presence and power in our lives. We change our focus from the many problems to God: we remind ourselves to hope in Him with the faith that we will yet praise Him for His answer and deliverance.

Verse 5 speaks of “the help of His countenance” and verse 11 “health of my countenance.” When I know His countenance (which Dictionary.com defines as “face, visage, calm facial expression, favor, encouragement, moral support”) is upon me, I am helped, and my countenance is restored to health (Verse 11). He not only helps me with His countenance, He is the health of my countenance and my God.

Show and Tell Friday: Jason’s roses

Posted on August 24, 2007 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.“

My middle son, Jason, took a friend to the store yesterday to get supplies for college and brought these back for me, for no special reason.

Interesting things seen around the blogosphere

Posted on August 23, 2007 by Barbara Harper

Charity at Vintage Threads made a wonderful collage of fall decorations and links.

Rabbit at The Hutch has a wonderful post about the Name of God regarding whether God cares what He is called.

Katrina at Callapidder Days has a two-part post about how injustices are perceived and handled and right and wrong ways to react.

Grafted Branch at Restoring the Years has a great post on children’s interruptions.

Dr. Jim Hamilton, Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies at Havard School for Theological Studies – Southwestern’s Houston campus, had a very thought-provoking interview on the topic of writing books reviews. (HT to Jason Button).

Chris Anderson references an excellent, thought-provoking article titled What You Can Learn from Calvin and Hobbes about the Message and the Medium, asking “If chintzy merchandise cheapens a comic strip, what in the world does it do to the gospel of Jesus Christ??!”

Niceness and thoughtfulness

Posted on August 23, 2007 by Barbara Harper

Several days ago Alice at Hello, My Name Is Alice gave me the “Nice Matters” award. I couldn’t find the originator of this award, but I saw these lines posted with it on several blogs:

“This award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world. Once you’ve been awarded please pass it on to others who you feel are deserving of this award.”

Thank you, Alice! That’s very sweet of you. I do agree that niceness matters very much.

It’s hard to know who to pass this on to, because there are multitudes of nice bloggers! But I will try to narrow it down to a few and try to name people who haven’t already received it, but if I do name someone who has been named before, that’s all right:

One is Bet at Dappled Things. After having somewhat known of each other during college and after she taught my oldest son when he was in college, we somehow discovered each other’s blogs. She has been very patient with me as I have tagged her for just about every meme going around since I felt I knew her a little better and felt a little freer to tag her. 🙂 She’s one of my first and frequent commenters and she’s a general all around nice person.

Diane at A Watered Garden, Susan at By Grace, and Jewel at Down In My Little Valley have impressed me with their sweet spirits and kind, gracious comments.

Kelli at There’s No Place Like Home is the epitome of niceness. Her blog exudes a warm, homey, welcome feeling.

Alice also passed on to me that Thoughtful Blogger Award. The originator for this award says it is “For those who answer blog comments, emails, and make their visitors feel at home on their blogs. For the people who take others feelings into consideration before speaking out and who are kind and courteous. Also for all of those bloggers who spend so much of their time helping others bloggers design, improve, and fix their sites. This award is for those generous bloggers who think of others.”

Thank you again, Alice! That was very thoughtful of you. 🙂

Again, this could go to so many people. including those already named above. But to name just a few thoughtful people:

Laurel Wreath has been one of my earliest commenters, and she always expresses herself thoughtfully in her comments here and elsewhere.

Janeen of Our Story and Susanne at Living to Tell the Story are also a sweet and thoughtful both in their blogs and comments on other blogs.

Elle’s blog title at A Complete Thought well suits her, for her blog posts and comments are always well thought out.

Homecoming and birthday week

Posted on August 22, 2007 by Barbara Harper

Jason arrived safely home Saturday from Castlepoint Ministries (formerly Camp Lucerne) in CA. I hadn’t wanted to say before exactly where he was. Even though I don’t really think anyone would stalk him from reading my blog — better safe than sorry. They had had to leave in the evening to drive to Sacramento to fly out around midnight, but their flight was delayed, which caused them to miss their connecting flight in Houston. They were on standby for a couple of other flights that were full and finally got on one and arrived in Charlotte by 5 p.m. (originally due around 10:30 a.m.). I thought he would be dead tired and out like a light early on, but he was still up at 1:30 a.m. — then I remembered his body clock was still on CA time, three hours behind the east coast.

He had worked on operational staff for two previous summers, and this was his first summer as a counselor. He seemed to really enjoy it.

Jeremy’s birthday was on the 15th, but he wanted to wait to celebrate it til Jason got home, so we did that Saturday. One of our traditions is letting the birthday honoree pick dinner, so we went to Fuddruckers. Then we went home for presents and cake.

I won’t list all of his presents, but his interests are along technological lines, so his gifts reflected that. One was a GPS thing (you see how technologically inclined I am) that works with his blackberry. Another was this t-shirt with a glow-in-the-dark Transformer on it:

If you’re familiar with Homestar Runner, you might recognize this guy:

This is not just a cuddly plush toy — if you kick and toss it around it makes all kinds of little sounds. (Shrug. It’s a guy thing. 🙂 )

The next couple of days were spent cleaning for company — busy, but good to get a lot done in a concentrated effort. Jason’s company came in last night. I am a mother of three boys, and it is different having a girl around!

My birthday was yesterday, and we went to Fatz cafe (love their babyback ribs!) Jason’s friend and her mom gave me a pretty plaque with Psalm 118:24 on it. Jesse gave me a gift card to Michael’s (always a pleasure!); Jeremy gave me a hard drive for my computer (I had been talking with him about how to back up files and pictures now that all our new pictures are digital, and he said this was a good way to do it); Jason gave me Cassidy, a new book by Lori Wick. Jim gave me Summer, new and just out by Karen Kingsbury and The Mitford Beside Companion by Jan Karon. He also gave me a blender. I had asked for one. I have an old kitchen made multi-purpose appliance from 20-25 years ago. Not only is it bog and clunky to use and change features, but the controls are stiff. He also gave me a under-the-counter radio CD player to replace my big old boombox. That will leave so much room on the kitchen counter! I am already figuring out how to rearrange things. 🙂 All in all I had a nice though busy day. (No black balloons in honor of my 50th, thankfully!)

The rest of the week should be a lot less hectic. Jason’s birthday was in July, but he wanted to wait til he got home to celebrate, so we’re doing that tomorrow. I have to go get a few things for that, but otherwise the rest of the week will be pretty easy. I have another project due next week — I may go ahead and get started. I’m leaving myself open to just visit with Jason and his friend while she is here. They start back to college next week, so we won’t see either of them much. Jason’s friend is of Indian descent and he wants to go to an Indian restaurant for his birthday. I’m a little apprehensive about that. I am not an adventurous eater, and I don’t want to offend her. But having someone who knows what the choices are should help us find things we like.

Regular readers usually see a “Works-For-Me-Wednesday” post here — but I think I am officially out of tips. 🙂 I had been keeping a running list as tips came to mind that I could use, but I am at the end of it unless something else comes to mind. I am one more in need of tips than one who has great tips. But the WFMW runs regularly on Wednesdays at Rocks In My Dryer — I invite you to browse through the tips there today as I will be doing later on.

Happy Wednesday!

Wordless Wednesday: Jesse in pretzel mode

Posted on August 22, 2007 by Barbara Harper

I don’t know how he can sit this way and do anything else for very long. Youth and flexibility, I guess. 🙂

More Wordless Wednesdays are listed here and here.

A milestone birthday

Posted on August 21, 2007 by Barbara Harper

I turn 50 today. 50! Wow. I can hardly believe it. Doesn’t seem like I’ve been around for 50 years!

I guess I’ll need to change the “40-something” designation in my profile. But I don’t want to say “50-something” since that sounds so much older than just barely 50. Maybe I’ll just say “middle-aged.” 😀

I had thought about doing something special here to celebrate this milestone, but it ended up being a busy week. So I’ll share something that brought me a few chuckles and eased me into the transition into a new decade:

Perks of Being Over 50

No one expects you to run into a burning building.

People call at 9 PM and ask, “Did I wake you?”

People no longer view you as a hypochondriac.

There is nothing left to learn the hard way.

You can eat dinner at 4 PM.

You have a party and the neighbors don’t even realize it.

You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.

You quit trying to hold your stomach in, no matter who walks into the room.

You sing along with elevator music.

Your eyes won’t get much worse.

Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay off.

Your joints are more accurate meteorologist than the national weather service.

Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can’t remember them either.

~~~~~

When Sally discovered her first gray hair she immediately wrote to her parents: “Dear Dad and Mom, You saw my first steps. You might want to experience this with me too.” She taped the offending hair to the paper and mailed it. Her father’s response was in the form of a poem:

It’s a trustworthy observation
That nothing can compare
In the process of aging
With finding the first gray hair.

He signed off with this observation: “That gray hair you sent is not the first one you gave us!”

~~~~~

Finally, here are some quotes I saved especially for this birthday from a Thursday Thirteen I saw at Echoes of Grace when she was also facing a milestone birthday:

1. Happiness is inward, and not outward, and so, it does not depend on what we have, but on who we are. ~Henry Van Dyke

2. Regrets are the natural property of gray hairs. ~Charles Dickens

3. I suppose real old age begins when one looks backward rather than forward. ~May Sarton

4. There is no cure for the common birthday. ~John Glenn

5. It is not how old you are, but how you are old.~ Marie Dressler

6. The older the fiddler, the sweeter the tune.~ English Proverb

7. Old age is like flying through a storm. Once you’re aboard, there’s nothing you can do.~ Golda Meir

8. The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it. ~Jean Paul

9. You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair. ~Douglas MacArthur

10. Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter. ~Mark Twain

11. Age does not diminish the extreme disappointment of having a scoop of ice cream fall from the cone. ~Jim Fiebig

12. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you were? ~Satchel Paige

13. Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many ~Anonymous

Bathroom renovation, stage 2

Posted on August 21, 2007 by Barbara Harper

We’ve been tackling right and left this week.

Last week I showed “stage 1” of our bathroom renovation — taking out the old tile and replacing it with a shower surround. We decided, instead of patching up the wallpaper, to pull it off and paint. Jeremy and Jesse pulled off the old wallpaper, then Jim patched up several little imperfections and replaced some pieces of molding and primed everything. He and I went shopping for paint and towel racks. We found a really pretty light tan called “Pecan Sandie” — looks like coffee with cream to me. But he painted and put up the towel racks, then today I put the wall decorations back up. Here is the finished product:

Here are most of the decorations in there.

This print was a very inexpensive one at K-Mart years ago. The old sailor reminds me of Mr. Peggoty from Dickens’ David Copperfield.

We had gone with a lighthouse theme with the old wallpaper because the pattern looked to me like sand dunes and sea grass and seagulls and blue, beige, and tan as the color scheme, and early on I found the above Thomas Kinkade lighthouse prints for a very good price in a catalog. We decided to stay with that theme and color scheme. I looked around just a little for a lighthouse border or stencil but didn’t really have much time to put into it this week. I may look some more — I don’t know — I don’t want to overdo the lighthouses. I may expand into a general nautical theme. Or I may just leave it. Right now everything related to a theme is in the decorations and shower curtain, which can be easily and inexpensively changed if I want to do something else.

We’re also having out of town company come in tomorrow, so I had the boys tackle vacuuming, dusting, sweeping, taking out all the trash cans, and a few other odds and ends. I changed the burner pans and rings on the stove, cleaned the range hood, cleaned the microwave inside and out, moved everything on the counters out and wiped them off and cleaned the counters, dusted the little ridges on the cabinet doors that collect dust as well as the back edges of the dining room chairs, which do the same thing, did several loads of laundry, and did “my” dusting (my room, picture frames in the hall, and some of my decorative shelves). I also took Jason for an appointment at the oral surgeon’s: at his dental cleaning last May, before he left for the summer, they said his wisdom teeth would be needing to come out. He has none on the top, but one of the bottom ones is coming in exactly sideways, and the other one is at a 45 degree angle. There is some concern that one is close to a nerve, and if it develops more roots may cause problems, but they felt he could safely wait til Thanksgiving or Christmas break. He decided he wanted to do it over Thanksgiving break. I tried to talk him into waiting til after Christmas — there’s more time for recovery and a little more flexibility in his schedule then. But I think either he wants to get it over with or they scared him about the possibility of damage to the nerve. He said he didn’t mind missing Thanksgiving dinner — I wonder if he’ll still feel the same way when the time comes. 🙂

Anyway, Tuesday the one thing I have to do is clean bathrooms. I also hope to get the laundry finished, clean out the toaster oven, declutter the sunroom, vacuum the lamp shades in the living room (one of those odd little jobs that is often overlooked, but once I notice it I can’t stand it), and a few other little odd jobs. Once you get started, especially when company is coming, it seems like the more you clean the more you notice tings that need attention. But I have learned from experience not to spend so much time cleaning that I’m exhausted when company finally does come, so I’ll stop and rest in the afternoon.

Happy tackling!