Reusing became renewing became recycling became repurposing became upcycling. Sort of. Actually, each of these are simply names for doing something new or different with something old or used or originally designed for another use. Each are probably unique in application, though. I smugly threw them all together but I know there’s a difference between reusing and recycling for example. I can’t think of an example right off the top of my head, but I’m confident there’s a difference. This is only possible because I’ve seen art. And I’ve seen Art. I’ve heard music… and I’ve heard… So, Amelia came…
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This morning I’m reading in 1 Chronicles 21 & 22. There King David, yielding to the Lord’s chastening, chooses his punishment: “…let me fall now into the hand of the LORD: for very great are His mercies; but let me not fall into the hand of man.” (21.13) For his sin of numbering the people, it’s interesting that David would choose not three years of famine, nor three months being chased by his enemies, but three days, the sword of the LORD — choosing to place himself at the mercy of the Living God. He emerged from that…
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Throughout that week I wondered what the LORD would have me to write for that week’s letter. And so, in an attempt to prepare a letter, I sat down to write. Distractions, buzzers, timers, calls, the dryer’s beep-beep-beep, and the knocking at the back door… distractions. And then I thought: distractions? No: life. Life is what’s happening when we’re waiting and planning for something else to happen. And then I thought on this further and wondered: is this the story of my motherhood experience? Has it all happened while I was waiting for something else to happen? Have the days…
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I’ve been thinking of you and am praying that God is blessing you in your home today. I’m sure I’m not alone in the busyness of life or that there’s been more day than the day can hold sometimes. So I’m [still!] wondering how to do more in less time or how to make sure that each day I do what counts the most. And, I’ve had to face up and fess up to the fact that some days it’s not so much that there’s so much to do but that I’ve been focusing on the wrong things — allowing…
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Dear Sister, First, I want to thank you for writing — for it is in acknowledging our condition and in seeing our need that we can best affirm and apply, by the grace of God, the help or teaching we receive. Second, though this may not be helpful, you’re not alone and your situation or your “dilemma” is not unusual. The devil may attempt to tell you otherwise, but what you’ve written is common to women who both come home from the “work-force” *and* who’ve been trained otherwise. The “trained otherwise” is the main problem — not the new daily…
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Through the years we gather and carry with us so many experiences and acquaintances. All of these are mingled among the successes and failures in the different testings and affirmations of faith. I marvel: the handiwork of the Lord; I marvel that He never misses a thread. Things I think are wasted, things long forgotten, prayers and petitions, praises and disappointments… God’s still holding all the threads of these things. Time passes and memories fade — and then, seemingly by chance, an old friendship is rekindled, a memory is brought to mind, a photograph sparks thoughts of an event rarely…
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“Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:” –1Peter 1.6-7 There seems to be no lonelier place than the den of rejection — few trials more painful and few trails more uncertain. And for us, as Christian women – wives and mothers, the enemy is at his fiercest when we give in to…
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It’s the week before Christmas and all through the house, mother is ____________ and the family feels ___________. I posted this @ Welcome Home on Facebook… but it’s so important that I thought I’d share it here. I’ve been posting brief year-end countdown thoughts on Facebook @ Welcome Home. In the new year I hope to post daily home notes and verses for encouragement. More housekeeping and sorting today. Don’t be afraid to box up stuff you really don’t use — as you’re cleaning and preparing for festive dinners and/or visits from family & friends. Whatever you box up today,…
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I’ve entitled this blog entry The Vacant Chair — a title that’s not original with me, but the title of a poem I’ll add to this post in a moment. The poem was written by a dear saint, the husband of a precious friend who passed into heaven earlier this year. It’s interesting that the poem should come in the mail today… as I have been thinking of several different ones who have ‘vacant chairs’ at their tables again this year. I think of the mothers and fathers who stand at the glass watching for the wayward son or daughter,…
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Through the years we’ve celebrated “Christmastime” many different ways — some years a little, some years more. A family tradition here and a family tradition there, but no set (read: unchangeable) tradition. I think this comes from a mixed reaction to cultural influence/cultural traditions. It also comes from an ongoing inner debate: should believers celebrate Christmas? We’d immediately say: Yes, we should celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, but that’s not really the question when people ask: should Christians celebrate “Christmas.” They’re asking: should Christians celebrate the twisted mix of truth and tradition, pagan and sacred. …