Laudable Linkage

Posted on March 9, 2024 by Barbara Harper

Here are a few thought-provoking posts from the last week:

7 Blessings Older Saints Offer the Church, HT to Challies. “My grandparents, with their godly example, aren’t alone. Their example of faithfulness is afforded to every saint who lingers on this earth into old age. In fact, older Christians have some of the most important lessons to teach the local church today.”

Be the Church Member You Want Your Church to Have. HT to Challies. “Paul addresses the Romans who are having some disputes, and he starts with this glorious phrase: ‘so far as it depends on you’ (Rom 12:18). In other words, he deflects the attention away from ‘those people’ and shines the light on ‘you’. Paul knows that focusing on ‘those people’ is a dead end street. You can’t do anything, not really, about anyone else. But do you know who you can affect? YOU!”

Visible Grace in Disagreements, HT to Challies. “Here are three things we should strive for: Christians who are willing to confront but aren’t eager for controversy. Christians who pursue a gentle revival, not a holy war. Christians who eavesdrop on Jesus’ intercession instead of joining Satan’s accusations.”

Do You Want My Opinion? HT to Challies. “In the past week, I’ve had two experiences that confirm a need to get a better grip on how I share what I think about current events.”

Elisabeth Elliot, My Dear Mother. This was a blog by Elisabeth Elliot’s daughter, Valerie, and this particular post was written just after Elisabeth passed away in 2015. I don’t remember if I have seen it before, but it was shared this week on the Elisabeth Elliot Quotes Facebook page.

Doesn’t a Library-Themed Hotel sound ideal for a book-lover’s vacation? It’s expensive, and it’s located in NYC, not a place I have any desire to go to. But maybe this idea will catch on with more accessible places and prices. HT to Dan Balow.

“A saint in this life is like gold in the ore, much dross of infirmity cleaves to him, yet we love him for the grace that is in him. A saint is like a fair face with a scar: we love the beautiful face of holiness, though there be a scar in it. The best emerald has its blemishes, the brightest stars their twinklings, and the best of the saints have their failings. You that cannot love another because of his infirmities, how would you have God love you?” Thomas Watson

Laudable Linkage

Posted on November 28, 2020 by Barbara Harper

My online reading has been quick and light this week, but here are some reads that stood out to me:

What Freedom From Sin Looks Like in This Life, HT to Challies. “We want to have a neatly resolved plotline where we say I had this problem, and I asked the Lord, and he removed my desire for that, and I didn’t do it anymore. But, we all know that’s not how we typically see holiness playing out in our lives.”

Let’s Stop Stirring the Pot, HT to Challies. Sometimes sharing truth will cause controversy. But we shouldn’t post online just for the purpose of stirring up controversy.

Dr. James Dobson’s Election Reflections.

Making Sanctuaries. I love posts like this that encourage moms in their ministry at home. “Here we pray and worship. Here we read and learn. Here we play and argue and muddle through. For now, there’s nowhere else. So I try, in as much as I can, to make this a place of safety. Of welcome, even on the hard days. Of messy, constant grace, and awareness that the sacred is always closer than we think.”

2020 Comedy Wildlife Photo Finalists, HT to Laura. These are always fun. I especially like the first one with the bears and the fox and mouse.

Finally, this is a post-Thanksgiving experience for many of us (seen on FaceBook, don’t know original source), HT to my brother and sister:

Happy Saturday!

Laudable Linkage

Posted on September 12, 2020 by Barbara Harper

Here’s my latest collection of good online reads:

Why Unhealthy People Crave Controversy, HT to Challies. “Over the years I’ve seen Christians who have engaged in controversy when needed, and I’ve observed the way that the Christlike among them so often do it—with a sense of love for the good, and for the well-being of those they believe in error, not a love for the fighting itself. And I have seen those I thought were ‘zealous for the truth’ who, in time, proved to just be zealous for the feeling of zeal.”

How Perfectionism Makes You a Spiritual Quitter. “It has taken me 43 years to begin to learn that there is a happy, spiritually-nourishing medium between praying for an hour a day and not praying at all. Between reading five chapters in my Bible and not reading a single word. Spiritual disciplines don’t have to be feast or famine, and they shouldn’t be.”

Small Miracles. A neat story of answered prayer from author Lynn Austin.

4 Ways to Help Your Kids See the Bible as Truth, HT to Story Warren. “How do we grandparents and parents convince, show or prove that we can rely on God’s truth?”

Stories Teach—Even If We Do Not Want Them To, HT to Story Warren. “When we are hoping to be merely entertained is the precise moment when we let our guards down the most, and it is in the letting down of our guard that we are most susceptible to dwelling with and admiring and eventually imitating.”

No photo or video this morning because I don’t have one handy and need to go somewhere in a bit. But, you may have heard a tiger was spotted loose in Knoxville recently. I haven’t heard whether they’ve found it, though either another one was spotted in Kingsport or this one traveled that way. Anyway, almost immediately someone started a Twitter account for Knoxville Tiger. I love people’s humor and creativity. My favorite is this one.

Happy Saturday!

Laudable Linkage

Posted on November 25, 2017 by Barbara Harper

My latest round-up of newly discovered noteworthy posts:

Doing Spiritual Warfare Without All the Weirdness, HT to Challies.

Dear Mormon – I Can’t Call You a Brother in Christ, HT to Challies.

A Beautiful Table and a Bitter Heart, HT to Challies. Good not just for Thanksgiving!

What Is Thanksgiving Anyway?

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Obsession With Polemics, HT to Challies. It’s necessary but shouldn’t be the main thing. Some helpful considerations.

Which Are Better: Old Books or New?

The Last of the Iron Lungs, HT to Challies. A handful of people with polio still rely on them, but they’re not sold or maintained by the the manufacturers any more. Fascinating article. And, though this is not the main point of it, I was inspired by those who are trying to make the best of their circumstances, like the man who took his iron lung to college, practiced law for the few hours a day he could go without the iron lung, until he started needing it almost 100%. Now he’s writing his memoirs while encased in it.

I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but in case you missed it, I announced the Laura Ingalls Wilder Reading Challenge for February 2018 and included a long list of related books to consider for those who might want to read beyond just the Little House series.

Finally, I didn’t listen to all this, but overheard a good bit while hubby was listening. Press Secretary Sarah Sanders began the last press briefing before Thanksgiving asking the reporters to share something they were thankful for before asking their questions. What we found amazing was the way they whole atmosphere changed by doing that, from confrontational and adversarial to convivial!