Simple love

Thought provoking study on looking at marriage and being a wife this week, from The Legacy of Biblical Womanhood. On the kingdom purposes in marriage. On opportunities to "grow in holiness." On the idea of "oneness," with unity and diversity.

Author Susan Hunt writes, "Submission and respect nourish oneness. These attitudes and actions do not oppress a woman but are restorative. They help to restore the intimacy and harmonious complementarity of the pre-Fall marriage relationship. Submission and respect are life-giving. They breathe hesed (Hebrew: goodness) into a marriage relationship."

Of course, Hunt reminds us that "we must go to the depths of the gospel before we can joyfully embrace the concept of submission. ...The fact that the Son sumbits to the Father 'does not mean that the Son is inferior in dignity and being. Rather, in His messianic work the Son subjects Himself to the will of the Father... The climax of Christ's submissive, messianic work is this total conquest over His enemies, that God may be all in all, when His absolute rule is universally acknowledged."

And then, doesn't it come down to a practical application of loving selflessly, that act that is so unnatural and yet, so good? I think of the sweet chorus of a favorite Allison Krauss song:
I want a simple love like that
Always giving, never askin' back
For when I'm in my final hour lookin' back
I hope I had a simple love like that

So do I.

He who dwells... (Ps. 91:1)

Over the last week, at every moment I could get away with it, I've been soaking up this memoir of Jim Elliot. Soaking up like a sponge! This book challenges and exhorts and encourages and comfirms. Its words inspire and cause one to question himself, especially in light of the Lord. There was very little wasted in Elliot's life, not time, not energy, not things- his was a life lived with deliberate and prayerful purpose.

I started Shadow by borrowing a friend's copy, and quickly realized that I needed my own, to mark and go back and reference.

Here's just one thought from Elliot, of many, that impresses me. Wife Elisabeth writes:

"Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart." God had given us that desire, and perhaps in the sense in which Jim had interpreted it in a letter to me written in 1949:

"It does not say He will give you what you want. It does say He will give you the want. Delight in Christ brings desire for Christ. He gives the heart its desires- that is, He works in us the willing (Philippians 2:13). This is why He can say in John 15:7 'Ye shall ask what ye will... if ye abide.' The branch takes its sap from the vine, the same surges the vine feels then become the surges of the branch. My will becomes His, and I can ask what I will, if I delight myself in Him. Only then can my desire be attained, when it is His desire."

Make a Joyful Noise!

The Psalms are full of references to "make a joyful noise unto the Lord."

Psalm 95:1- Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Psalm 95:2- Make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
Psalm 98:1- Make a joyful noise to the LORD.
Psalm 98:4- Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth...
Psalm 98:6- ...make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD!
Psalm 100:1- Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!

And until now, my praise has been joyful, but perhaps in comparison to my more melodious friends and family, a bit of noise.

NO MORE!

I have joined, if just for a short season, the ranks of musicians!
I am in the bell choir!

What fun!
Harder than it looks, I'll tell you.
I'm E6 and F6. I often have notes in succession. I even almost have a solo. :-)

To edit Psalm 71:23 just a little bit...
My lips will shout for joy when I ring praises to You!

Since I've been gone...

How nice! My three regular readers missed me. :-)


Here's some of the goings-on in the last week or so-

Family came to visit. Here's Su and cousin Sh from MI.

And Mom and Dad H. (Notice the middle guy. As friend Kenny says, "one word. Headbladedotcom.")

A trip to the zoo. Someone should market jellyfish tanks as a relaxation device...

A Curious George sighting at the Durham Western Heritage Museum. We were there for the Christmas tree lighting. Beautiful huge and full tree in a stately setting.

And lots of cards and games, lots of shopping, lots of eating, and a couple of great worship services besides.

We are blessed.

And thankful.

Harder and Easier

Excerpt from Mere Christianity by CS Lewis

The Christian way is different: harder, and easier. Christ says, “Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked– the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.”

Both harder and easier than what we are all trying to do. You have noticed, I expect, that Christ Himself sometimes describes the Christian way as very hard, sometimes as very easy. He says, “Take up your Cross”- in other words, it is like going to be beaten to death in a concentration camp. Next minute he says, “My yoke is easy and my burden light.” He means both. And one can just see why both are true.

Ref:
Matthew 10:38
Matthew 16:24
Mark 8:34
Luke 9:23
Matthew 11:30

(photo from National Geographic.com- a Malay woman with rice seedlings. I think Christ's yoke is easier...)

Crunch and Rustle

A few days ago I walked along the edge of the lake and was treated to the crunch and rustle of leaves with each step I made. The acoustics of this season are different and all sounds, no matter how hushed, are as crisp as autumn air.- Eric Sloane

It was Yard Help Day at our place, but not all work and no play. After all, who can resist a pile of leaves?

"The Freest of All God's Acts"

But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. Romans 11:6

"Grace would not be grace if it were a response to resources in us. Grace is grace because it highlights God's own overflowing resources of kindness. Grace is eternal because it will take that long for God to expend inexhaustible stores of goodness on us. Grace is free because God would not be the infinite, self-sufficient God he is if he were constrained by anything outside himself."
John Piper, Future Grace

Thoughts to ponder on for a while, with utter gratitude and wonder...

Bizarre Foods

Our normal Monday date night plans were altered last night when our regular show wasn't on. So, in search of adventure, we turned to the Travel Channel and found Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern. WHOA! And let me say again... WHOA! This guy eats some nasty stuff! Last night he was in Ecuador where local cuisine includes such delicacies as roasted cuye (can I just say, an animal that we have kept as a pet...), a choice of soups (do you prefer the inside or outside of the stomach?), coconut grubs (fat little guys!), and a vitamin-filled aloe vera drink that seemed to have a consistency similar to, well, snot? I know that my faithful readers are intrigued!

But, we have to admit, Mr. Iron Stomach Zimmern made us laugh out loud, and fresh empanadas don't seem all that bad! You can check out his entire trip here.

Next week, we do hope to be travelling again with our Trekker friends, but Bizarre Foods was an amusing diversion for a week, anyway...

Happy eating!

One Semester of Spanish - Love Song

This might be the silliest of "Silliness" posts (or maybe that should be Tonteria con accento sobre el "i"...). Gracias a Escott for a blip that caused our entire familiy to laugh out loud!

Bump, Set, Spike!

This weekend, you'll find us at the National Home School Volleyball Tournament. 40 teams of volleyball playing young ladies, and some very competitive volleyball going on!

Go Warriors!

::: UPDATE ::: Here's a link to a story on the Tournament that appeared on the local news last night (November 1). Check out the video, too. Thanks WOWT!