Hello friends,

I was sorry to miss Friday’s Fave Five yesterday. I had a procedure Thursday morning to remove a squamous papilloma from my tongue. I was supposed to come home later that day, but when they took me off the anesthesia, my heart went into afib, around 150 beats per minute. They spent several hours trying different medications to get me back to a regular rate and rhythm. My heart rate slowed, but still wasn’t regular. They finally decided to admit me. but it took another few hours. So I was in recovery most of the day. Then Friday morning they did a cardioversion. We finally got home around 8:30 last night.

I told one friend that, of all the what-if scenarios my mind kept coming up with, this wasn’t one of them! But some of the other concerns I had didn’t come up. I’m on soft foods for the next few days and hopefully will be enjoying rest in my own bed. For those who knew about the procedure, thanks so much for your prayers! Those and your care have meant so much to me.

I always start my Laudable Linkage post early in the week with whatever post I first find that I want to share and add to it until Saturday. So here’s what I collected this week:

Harvest in Fearful Times. “When we hear murmurings of bad things on the horizon, when the men in pickup trucks start getting us all worked up, when the doomsday preppers get our ear, we must pray with all our hearts that our first thoughts are for the millions of souls in this world who don’t know Jesus, whose best days are right now, with only dread and doom ahead. We should be filled with a sense of urgency for our neighbors to experience true salvation so they have hope for a peace and perfection in eternity with Jesus.”

Knowing God as Father Fights Fear. “God is our heavenly father and in His Word He describes Himself as a father and His love as like that of a mother. In the New Testament, the familiar term “Daddy” or “Papa” is even used. These parental words are used over 250 times in the Bible.”

It All Comes Down to This. “Pine shadows greeted me creekside, and I settled onto a rock with my brand new Bible. It was one made for teenagers like me, in my language, pages of helpful words to introduce the timeless ones. I flipped through it, feeling like I’d come home. Near the front I discovered a reading plan, and I caught my breath. What if I read the whole thing? What would I discover? I had no way of knowing that simple curiosity would launch me on a lifetime habit.”

Feasting. “Hospitality is not really my gifting. Setting a table and planning a meal overwhelms me. That said, my introverted heart is filled with pleasure in the space of time after dinner where everyone lingers at the table. Bellies are full, good drinks are flowing and a peace settles. I long to linger because that is the after. The preparation is done, we’ve hopefully all been satisfied and now we can rest. We sit after the feast together. This is a small picture of what the Lord’s table should be for us.”

The Great Pumpkin and the True Meaning of Christmas. “When it is serving us correctly, fiction serves as a scaffolding for truth. Imagine scaffolding for a moment: it provides a framework for people to get higher. It is not the building itself. Compared to the strength of the building, it’s a temporary structure. But it serves an important purpose.”

Made to Make: Two Books About Creativity in the Midst of Motherhood. I have not read the books mentioned, but I liked what this post had to say about trying to find time for creativity while parenting. I especially like the part about creativity not just being “artsy.” “Motherhood and creativity sometimes seem like paradoxical pursuits. I think any mother with a creative hobby–writing, crocheting, baking, painting–knows that doing their art takes time, and motherhood is a stage of life where schedules are so unfriendly toward the time that creativity takes. And yet, being a mom has given me an urgency to pursue writing–my creative outlet–in a way I have not experienced before.”

What Will You Do with That Degree? “But what is an education for? Do we know what we are trying to achieve? Too often, our assumptions rest on deeper philosophical commitments, each with their own vision of human flourishing.”

There is no greater mercy that I know of on earth than good health except it be sickness; and that has often been a greater mercy to me than health. It is a good thing to be without a trouble; but it is a better thing to have a trouble, and know how to get grace enough to bear it. C. H. Spurgeon