Thrum Thursday

ope you have had a lovely Thursday out there in Blog-Landria and will make an easy slide through Friday and into the weekend! Today was back to work again and a bit longer at it than yesterday. Next week is shaping up to be an extremely busy work-week, so I’m really looking forward to a great weekend around our sleepy little town in NC. 

Here’s some thrumming thoughts for you:

I’ve lost a little weight (with much more to go!) and needed a new pair of jeans or two. So, I decided today to go to one of my favorite stores in town…. Goodwill! Yes, I’m sorry to tell you, I’m a Goodwill Junkie. I love finding treasures that people have cast off. Today, for the low-low price of $22.51 I got five pairs of pants, one shirt, and one interesting-looking book! Very nice. BUT, as I was searching through the racks of jeans (not sorted by size!) I kept coming across Talbots and Banana Republic size 4. I just want to say – If you are able to purchase AND wear size 4 Talbots and Banana Republic jeans, please do NOT give your cast offs to Goodwill. It only demoralizes those of us looking for a size 14! We see that 4 on the tag and for just a second get excited. Not one woman out of the twenty that were shopping along side me looked like they had a prayer of fitting into a size 4. Most had not seen a size 4 since grade school. There. I feel better now. Carry on.

I have a friend who moved to Colorado recently. We want to stay in touch and have decided to read a book together and discuss it virtually. We’ve picked Dallas Willard’s Spirit of the Disciplines. I’m pretty excited about it.

I dyed my hair a couple of days ago. It turned out a bit darker than planned. Pretty much black. A guy at work called me Pat Benatar yesterday. Funny,  huh? Today I went for a haircut. I have the best hairdresser ever. She rides a Harley and comes to our church and Life Group. Her hubby has the best restaurant in town. She’s been cutting my hair for 8 or 10 years or so and today she made me look like a rock star. I made an appointment for highlights next week and was thinking of blue streaks. E told me I was a “professional” and couldn’t do something like that. (A professional what, I asked?) Mary cried. (Just pure horror, I think, at the possibility of total embarrassment.) Matt said he’d really rather I didn’t do that. (First time EVER he’s made any kind of request regarding my appearance!) So I guess I’m not going with blue. Just a lighter brown. I’ve missed my window of opportunity to do things like color my hair blue, I guess. Matt said a tattoo was still ok if it wasn’t someplace visible. All kinds of pithy retorts came to mind about the “someplace visible”, but I held my tongue. He’s out of town until Sunday. Who knows what he might come home to! :~O

Mary had M over today, a long-time friend, who is a delight to me for a couple of reasons. One - she’s just a sweet girl. Two - she’s the granddaughter of one of my best friends who passed away over a year ago. I see glimpses of my friend in M’s smile and laugh. I catch a remnant of her in the tilt of M’s head and the crinkle of her nose. Ah, I miss her. But I am so glad M is here and I’m hoping we’ll be seeing more of her in the future. AND, as a bonus, M’s mom is wonderful too! I’ve always thought she was so beautiful and creative and had the coolest way of dressing. She said she would do a personal “What Not to Wear” episode for me and take me shopping soon. Of course, I don’t think she’s going to give me $5,000 to go shopping in New York. But God is good and He’s on His throne as M’s grandma used to tell me. I’m grateful for small things today.

That’s all the thrum I’ve got in me. ‘Night.

P.S. The “H” is from Daily Drop Cap. All other art is mine via my Flickr account.

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Thrum Thursday

Thrum – the end of warp which is not woven but remains on the loom when the woven fabric has been cut free.

“One may have a blazing hearth in one's soul and yet no one ever came to sit by it. Passers-by see only a wisp of smoke from the chimney and continue on their way.” ~Vincent Van Gogh

Van Gogh is my favorite artist. I love his work. And I love his story. This quote of his makes me think of all the people we simply walk by in a day and don’t really know what’s inside them…. What are they suffering today? What are their joys?  What are they going home to? What are they running away from? Like his street scene here in Café Terrace at Night, there are so many people we see everyday, people we sit beside in an office building, pass money to at a cash register, smile and say hello to at church. People with a blazing hearth who we see as only a wisp of smoke.

Yesterday on the way home from taking Mary to see The Help I looked in my rearview mirror and saw a neighborhood mom run into the road, look both ways, then grab her head before turning around and running back to her house. For a second I thought I would just keep driving… we were just a little way from home. Mary had a ton of homework and it was already after 7pm. I was exhausted and ready to get into my pj’s. I didn’t even really know the woman. Mary is getting to be friends with her daughter. Her husband and I worked together briefly many, many years ago. But, really, she was just a wisp of smoke to me.

But I made a u-turn and went back to her house. I already knew what was wrong. I recognized the panic. Her youngest, a six-year old boy with Down’s Syndrome was missing. “He was just in the garage! Just a minute ago!” she told me. She already had her older children out on bikes looking for him. I dropped Mary off at home to tell her Dad what was going on and to enlist his help. I then began driving around the neighborhood looking for a small boy I had never to my knowledge set eyes on. I kept coming back to our neighborhood lake and peering down the grassy edge by the water, praying, “Please, God, let him be safe.”

An hour later as the sun was setting my own mother-panic was beginning to kick in at the thought of this boy being lost in the dark. The police had been called and many, many other neighbors were out helping… on foot, on bikes, in cars. And then…. the boy was found! I was told he came riding home in a golf cart sitting on an elderly gentleman’s lap. Ah – blessings and glory and honor and all praise to the Lord God Almighty!

I’m glad I didn’t continue on my way yesterday. I’m glad I turned around and went back to ask what was wrong. I’m glad I had the chance to try to comfort this mother whose sufferings and joys are played out so close to me but who I know so little about. And frankly who I had never stopped to even consider.

I spoke to many neighbors I hadn’t spoken to in years probably as we checked in with each other to see if anyone had found him yet. So many people that live their days and nights so close to me yet who could just as well be living in another state. I watch from my window as wisps of smoke eek slowly from their chimneys.

I would like to do better.

Luke 10:25-37 ESV
And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” ...

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Thrum Thursday

Thrum – the end of warp which is not woven but remains on the loom when the woven fabric has been cut free.

Today I stole away from a busy day for a quick lunch with a new friend. While waiting for her to arrive, I read a little from the Pinesong Awards 2011. Amazing how poetry can still a restless heart and make it listen to its own beat.

Rhett Iseman Trull was the winner of the Brockman-Campbell Book Award for The Real Warnings. The opening line of her poem published in Pinesong has found a space in the warp and woof of my soul tonight:

Heart by heart the house
will empty, thread by thread all hems
unstitch.

My girlie is almost all packed up! I’m pretty sure Trull’s poem is talking about death, and this child’s leaving, and her brother’s leaving less than a year ago, are anything but bad. He into a wonderful marriage. And she off to her dream college.

But in a way I can see that children leaving home is a “kind” of death… Not all bad - but still a death all the same. A death to what once was… along with a birth of what will be.

I am trying not to cling, Trull goes on to say in her poem.

Yes, I am trying.

G’Night and blessings all.

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Thrum Thursday

Thrum – the end of warp which is not woven but remains on the loom when the woven fabric has been cut free.

While we were at the beach I started reading Brilliant: The Evolution of Artificial Light. For some reason, I read the first few chapters and then put it down. It was a really good read, though, and I plan to finish it. Not sure why I stopped.

In chapter three, “Lanterns at Sea”, there was a lot of information about whaling in the 1800’s. Two sentences planted themselves firmly in my head and and I haven’t been able to get them out since. That’s what Thrum Thursday is all about…. taking those little loose bits of thread left on the loom and seeing what you can make of them….

So, here are those two sentences:

”Whales have always inexplicably beached themselves, and once out of their element, they can’t survive for long. Exposed fully to the sun, their skin burns, and they are crushed by their own weight.” (pg. 38)

It was the thought of the whales being “crushed by their own weight” that captured me. In the water, everything is fine. The water buoys up their bulk and blankets their skin from the scorching sun. But “once out of their element” the whale’s body betrays her and she dies – suffocating under her own weight while being slowly roasted to death by the sun.

And this is where my mind has been lingering…. Like water is to the whale, what is my “element” without which I cannot live? Why do I sometimes “inexplicably” remove myself from where I can thrive and be well? And then go to a place where there is the potential for self-destruction?

There are many things I consider “my element”:

Being vulnerable and real with my husband and children. 
Being in relationship with other people.
Being able to give myself space to create in one way or another.

But mainly, after living some 42 odd years, I’ve found for certain that my most basic, most needful “element” is God. I have been made, I have been created, to commune with Him, to worship Him, to live in right relationship to Him as the created adoring the Creator.

And when I’m not? When I start hauling myself out of the safety and comfort of His waters? I find the very weight of myself too heavy to bear. Without seeking God everyday, without reading His Word, being with His people, worshipping at the foot of His Cross, I am unprotected from the scorching rays of this dry world, and I begin to shrivel and melt within myself.

But when – as always because He will never, ever leave me or forsake me – I turn back to Him and sink into that wonderful, mysterious, unfathomable depth that is God, then all the other things (love, relationship, and creativity) click back into place.

My “element” is simply Christ. Without Him I cannot survive.    

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.
(~Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing)

He (Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (~the Apostle Paul to the saints in Colosse)

Blessings, bloggy friends.

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Hello, There!

Hi, everyone. I'm so glad it's Thursday... which means tomorrow is Friday... which means it's the weekend! And hopefully a time of slowing down. Here are a few Thursday Thoughts (or as I once called it - Thrum Thursday):

1. I was listening to a sermon by Tim Keller the other day (I've been listening to a lot of them to prepare for the Bible study I'm leading on Ephesians) and he said something that has stuck with me. He was talking about human sinful nature and comparing it to a bear. Yes, a bear. A bear in general is dangerous enough, but when it's been injured or wounded in some way, it becomes really dangerous. He said that was what our sinful nature was like once you become a Christian. It's wounded, it's dying.... but my is it dangerous! And does it ever fight against the "new you" even as it dies. I thought that was such a great picture of our sin nature and how we struggle against it.

2. What a very cool site this is!

3. The Boy and The Girl's wedding is FAST approaching! I got a call from a sweet, sweet friend today who offered to put together the centerpieces for the tables at the rehearsal dinner as a gift to our family. How wonderful is that?

4. I've sorely neglected my writing these days. I'm promising myself a very slow Thanksgiving and Christmas season. SiMpLiCiTy will be the theme. Homemade gifts... nothing elaborate... and lots of time to wander around places like this to help get me back on track with my writing.

5. Last week's Bible study lesson had to do with the second half of Ephesians chapter 1 and what it means to "know" God. I came across this list from a favorite author and shared with the rest of the class. Which of these twelve ways to know God have you neglected?

6. I am giving myself a subscription to this for Christmas. (Er... see SiMpLiCiTy above. Maybe not, but I really want to!)

7. Ah, I like this poem.

Off to bed to read bloggy friends. Blessing to you and yours.

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Thrum Thursday: If Love Isn't This...

Thrum - \ˈthrəm\- noun - A term for fringe or short lengths of materials which suggest fringe. Specifically, the end of warp which is not woven but remains on the loom when the woven fabric has been cut free.

Thrum Thursday: looking at the "margins" of my life and seeing how to make pretty "fringe" out of it.


It's been a long time since I've written a "Thrum Thursday" post. I used to do Monday Moiety, Tuesday Tangent, Wednesday Word, Thrum Thursday, Five Word Friday, Seven on Saturday, and Sunday Susurrus. Ho-hum. Got out of that habit, didn't I? I still try to do Seven on Saturday. And Five Word Friday makes its appearance on Thursday now instead. Just trying to keep all my bloggy friends out there on your toes! :-)

Anyway - I've been thinking about something and it seems like a Thrummy kind of thing. First, I gave away one of my favorite books some time ago to a good friend and finally got around to buying myself a replacement copy. It's The Quantity of a Hazelnut by Fae Malania. I was happy to see it had come in while I was away in Georgia last week and I've picked it back up to read. Already, Fae's words have struck a cord in my heart. In this passage, she's comparing listening to a Brahms Violin Concerto to paying attention to people:

"This is surely the clue to the kind of attention I owe to people. I must empty my mind of other claims and, in interior silence, let them tell me who they are. I must remain in watchful, active quiet as the basic architecture of a personality presents itself to my mind. I must learn to hear a slight variation on a theme, a modulation to another key, and inner melody, a discord, an individual beauty of tone.

If love isn't this, it can't be much.

But the minute the note of another human being begins to sound, my self leaps up in clamant alarm and yells: "What about me? I'm here too!" In the ensuing din, I can't hear a thing."

I read this passage Monday morning after having arrived home late the night before from a wonderful - but tiring - trip. Then I was up and off to work, going to the grocery store, checking in with a sick friend, picking up kids from school, and cooking dinner. We had a function at church to attend, but Matt was feeling too sick (running a fever) to attend. I wanted to skip myself, but I was bringing snacks and I had agreed at the last minute to play with a little boy while his dad attended the meeting.

So -

I went.

And I was blessed.

I'll call the little boy "Joe." I'd never met him before but had often seen him around church. Joe is seven, small for his age, wears adorable little glasses, and probably struggles with some learning (and possibly physical) problems. I really don't know his history, but Monday night Joe sang me his song. And God gave me enough grace to be silent, forget about being tired, about all the things I had to do, and allowed me to just be silent and listen to Joe's melody.

After an hour and a half of playing with play dough and being quizzed on which states I had visited... and if I had liked them or not... and if so, why exactly did I like them... I was charmed. (He is apparently studying the 50 states and their capitols with his mom.) Joe's small pauses before answering my questions, his way of peering at me through his glasses as if he were truly trying to find the best answer for me, and his matter of fact replies lifted my soul and made me thank God for making us each so uniquely different... even though sometimes that uniqueness may carry with it heavy worldly burdens.

I am glad to know Joe. And I am glad to have heard his song and to now be able to pick out his own individual beauty of tone.

Blessings, bloggy friends -

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Thrumming Thursday

Ah...Thrumming Thursday...coasting to the weekend! Or - not coasting exactly...lots to do over the next two days before Saturday arrives. J is still with us, but his parents are back in the country and his mom (my sister) should be here Saturday. He's very excited. We had a trip to buy a new Webkin on Monday, a pottery painting excursion on Tuesday, and then yesterday...I must have went nuts or something, but I spent two hours doing yard work! Yes - believe it or not - I raked and picked up piles of straw, sticks, and pine cones most of the afternoon... And that just took care of half of the front yard. Yikes! (Note the lack of pine cones in the picture above! I should have taken a "before" picture so you could fully appreciate the TWO truckloads I hauled off to the burn pile.)

A friend passed away this week - Max - a giant gentleman that I've worked with a good bit over the past years. We butted heads often, maybe because we were both pretty stubborn, but he loved me and I loved him... And I think we actually accomplished a few things together for the Kingdom. I imagine he's already in charge of a committee or two in Heaven or is debating St. Peter on one theological point or the other. :-) His funeral is this afternoon.

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Thrum Thursday

Thrum - \ˈthrəm\- noun - A term for fringe or short lengths of materials which suggest fringe. Specifically, the end of warp which is not woven but remains on the loom when the woven fabric has been cut free.

Thrum Thursday: looking at the "margins" of my life and seeing how to make pretty "fringe" out of it.

So - I've been wondering something for a while...You know how school bus drivers stop at railroad tracks and open their doors to look before crossing - even if there are computerized signals and gates? Why don't other vehicles do the same? Like vans from a retirement home taking their residents for an outing?

I understand it's a safety thing. As a 'safety professional', I get it. The children are precious cargo. An accident on a railroad track with a bus full of children would obviously be a tragedy. The children are full of potential. They are in the process of 'becoming.' One might become the doctor who will discover the cure for cancer. One might become a great humanitarian in the likes of Mother Teresa or Ghandi. One might become a scientist who solves our dependency on oil. (Or the Internet. ;->) One might become a world famous musician or artist in the ranks of Mozart or van Gogh. The possibilities are endless.

But, what I've been thinking is this: Why don't we protect and value our elderly in the same way? They are like children in that they are 'becoming', too. Those at the end of life are 'becoming' ready to cross into their eternity - whether it be heaven or hell. They see the world differently. They are gaining wisdom we need to know.

I so very much value the older women I know. I value their words of encouragement to me probably more than any others. When an older woman tells me, "Honey, this will pass. One day you will look back on this and be thankful for the pain you've lived. You'll be able to see that God's Hand never left you" - I listen. When she tells me, "Pay attention. He needs to know you believe in him" - I listen. When she says, "Love them as much as you can right now. They will be gone before you know it" - I listen. And when an older Christian woman who has walked long in the faith tells me she's praying for me, I am so thankful. Her worn knees have bowed so much before the throne that I know she and God are the best of friends and He gives ear to her prayers.

Just thinking...I miss my Grandmother tonight. Sigh.

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Thrum Thursday: A Resource for You

Thrum Thursday: Weaving together the threads of life...

My blogging entries have been pretty sparse this week! Life has been busy, overwhelming, etc., etc.,....probably not any more for me than it is for most of you out there, so I'll try not to complain.

I've been listening to some sermons from Tim Keller at Redeemer Church in Manhattan. I can't say enough about his ability to preach and teach the word. Here's the link to Redeemer's sermon store. Most of the sermons or series have a minimal cost associated with downloading (~$2.50), but there are some that are free. I really encourage you to try some of them out. Last week I listened to Jesus at His Father's Feast which was a wonderful study of Luke 2:41-52 and really comforted me where I am right now. This week I've started a series preached in 2002 on Practical Grace: How the Gospel Transforms Character. I need some practical grace right now!


Just wanted to share this resource with you today....It's helped my 'thrumming.'

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Thrum Thursday: On Friday!

Life is kinda hard right now...Not so much bad, but just hard. I had thought to write a post yesterday on exhaustion because that is how I feel...totally exhausted. Here's the definition I found that explained exactly how I feel:

Exhaustion: a marked diminution in capacities that are usually taken for granted


BUT - as I began to write the post, I felt like a whiner, so I didn't finish it....and this morning as I was reading from the Scriptures for the day in the Lectionary, I came across these words of Jesus that I guess I'd read before but never really noticed:


Luke 33:13a "In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day—"


In this instance, Jesus is making his way to Jerusalem and has been warned that Herod wants to kill him. And even though he knows what faces him there...because he knows what faces him there...he is determined to keep going, today, tomorrow, and the next day.


That was a picture I needed of Jesus today...One who is tired, maybe a little afraid of what is yet to come, but determined to walk through it, determined to be obedient.


In any case...


No matter what...whatever may come...He was ready to do the will of the Father, to make his way to Jerusalem, to be crucified, to carry the weight of mankind's sin.


In any case...


He knew his call, his purpose, his obedience. He must keep going. I must keep going....today, tomorrow, and the next day.


Thank you, Jesus, for your words, your example, your never ending love that fueled your trip into our humanity. Amen.

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Thrum Thursday: Margins

Thrum - \ˈthrəm\- noun - A term for fringe or short lengths of materials which suggest fringe. Specifically, the end of warp which is not woven but remains on the loom when the woven fabric has been cut free.

Thrum Thursday: looking at the "margins" of my life and seeing how to make pretty "fringe" out of it.

I was thinking today about my post and remembered that Thrum Thursdays are about looking at the "margins" of my life. This made me look up the meaning of the word margin:

• the boundary line or the area immediately inside the boundary;
• an amount beyond the minimum necessary;
• the blank space that surrounds the text on a page

On margins:

Give time for little things. Give some time talking to a child, pouring myself a good cup of coffee, comforting someone, cleaning the toilet, learning to cook Tom Yam from Mommy, helping the blind person to cross the road, marvelling at the sunset, or just watching the street busker performing.

From Enriching Your Life.

Margins are where real life happens. May your margins be wide!

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Thrum Thursday: Sin - It's Everywhere!

This is from this morning's entry in the devotion book I'm working through: Whiter Than Snow: Meditations on Sin and Mercy by Paul David Tripp.

My sin is ever before me. Psalm 51:3



Sin is not hurtful because it is forbidden, but forbidden because it is hurtful. - Benjamin Franklin

Marriage is three parts love and seven parts forgiveness of sin. - Lao Tzu

Other men's sins are before our eyes; our own are behind our backs. - Seneca

Pleasure is the bait of sin. - Plato

A sin takes on new and real terror when there seems to be a chance that it is going to be found out. - Mark Twain

Do not bite at the bait of pleasure till you know there is no hook beneath it. - Thomas Jefferson

Sin is sweet in the beginning, but bitter in the end. - The Talmud

Laziness grows on people; it begins in cobwebs and ends in iron chains. - Thomas Fowell Buxton

To sin is a human business, to justify sin is a devilish business. - Tolstoy

If you have sinned, do not lie down without repentance; for the want of repentance after one has sinned makes the heart harder and harder. - John Bunyan

The beginning of atonement is the sense of its necessity. - Lord Byron

It is impossible for a man to be freed from he habit of sin before he hates it, just as it is impossible to receive forgiveness before confessing his trespasses. - Ignatius

We have a strange illusion that mere time cancels sin. But mere time does nothing either to the fact or the guilt of sin. - C.S. Lewis

Self is the root, the tree, and the branches of all the evils of our fallen state. - William Law

In short, a man must be free from the sin he is, which makes him do the sin he does. - George MacDonald

The temptation of the age is to look good without being good. - Brennan Manning

Repentance is but a denying of our will, and an opposition of our fantasies. - Montaigne

Personal sin reflected upon breeds compassion. - John M. Shanahan

People don't do what they believe in - they just do what's most convenient and then they repent. - Bob Dylan

I would rather feel remorse than know how to define it. - Thomas A Kempis

Why does no one confess his sins? Because he is yet i them. It is for a man who has awoke from sleep to tell his dreams. - Seneca

All sins tend to be addictive, and the terminal point of addiction is damnation. - W.H. Auden

Adam ate the apple, and our teeth still ache. - Hungarian Proverb

Sin is never at a stay; if we do not retreat from it, we shall advance in it, and the farther we go, the more we have to come back. - Isaac Barrow

Out of timber so crooked as that from which man is made nothing entirely straight can be built. - Emmanuel Kant

We are all too Christian to really enjoy sinning, and all too fond of sin to really enjoy Christianity. - Peter Marshall

Original sin is that thing about man which makes him capable of conceiving of his own perfection and incapable of achieving it. - Reinhold Niebuhr

Few love to hear the sins they love to act. - William Shakespeare

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Thrum Thursday: Curious Testifies

Here's an audio file from NorthCross Church in Cornelius, NC from Ken Cross's sermon he preached on September 28th. Ken asked Matt to give his "profile of grace" before he preached. So, if you click on the title of this post, an audio file will open that begins with a prayer and then Ken introduces Matt. (Be patient, it's a large file.) He talks for 10 minutes or so and then Ken preaches.

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Thrum Thursday: Mercy

I haven't talked much about my Intro to OT class I'm taking at RCC. It's really, really been good. It's like going to hear three sermons in a row every Monday night. Dr.Straight is a wonderful teacher.

There's been a lot that I've learned, and a lot that's been reaffirmed. One thing that was mentioned a couple of weeks ago, though, that I wanted to write about had to do with mercy. We've all probably heard the definitions of grace and mercy: Grace - getting what you don't deserve and Mercy - not getting what you do deserve. Focusing a bit more on mercy, here's some food for thought:

In the Tabernacle was the Holy of Holies, the place where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. It contained three things: Aaron's rod, a pot of manna, and the Ten Commandments. On top of the Ark, between two cheribim (angels), was a space called the Mercy Seat. God's Shekinah glory, His very Presence, presided over the Mercy Seat. The cheribim were bowed down, faces shielded from the gaze of God.

So we see the Law (Ten Commandments) and God's presence (Shekinah glory) being seperated by the Mercy Seat. The Ten Commandments pointed to the fact that all men had broken the law and were therefore sinners. God's glory represented the holiness of God. Men as sinners were seperated from the holiness of God by the Mercy Seat.

Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood of sacrifice on the Mercy Seat to atone for his and the people of Israel's sins. Take a minute and imagine this in your mind....The Law, broken by all men, lay in the Ark. God's Presence hovers above. And in between, there's the Mercy Seat, with the blood of sacrifice on it.

Dr. S. said that when you read in the OT cries from the people of "God have mercy on me" it could simply by translated as "mercy me!" In other words, "God don't look on my sin (the Law I have broken), but instead see the blood sprinkled on top of Your Mercy Seat. "

Now, fast forward to the New Testament, and the morning Mary found the tomb empty. Read John 20:1-18, but especially verses 10-12:

Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

Do you see the picture repeated again, one angle at the head and one at the foot? Between them lay the last Mercy Seat, the very spot where Jesus' dead body was placed, the ultimate and final sacrifice through which God will forever and ever see us instead of our broken sinfulness. A beatiful picture!

May His mercy be forever upon us.

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Thrum Thursday

I've been reading a book by C.J. Mahaney with Sovereign Grace Ministries titled Humility: True Greatness. It's a short little book, but packed with great Biblical insight. The short chapters make it a good morning devotional.

Obviously, the book is about humility. Ouch. Not a topic most of us are naturally drawn to. This morning the chapter I read was about how to cultivate humility as we begin each day. Mahaney shares some things he has tried to be faithful to do each morning for decades. While not trying to give a 'to-do' list, he simply shares what has helped him in his journey of faith as he rises each morning.

- Reflect on the wonder of the cross: "There is only one thing I know of that crushes me to the ground and humiliates me to the dust, and that is to look at the Son of God, and especially contemplate the cross. Nothing else can do it. When I see that I am a sinner...that nothing but the Son of God on the cross can save me, I'm humbled to the dust...Nothing but the cross can give us this spirit of humility." (Martyn Lloyd-Jones)

- Begin your day acknowledging your need for God: Purpose by grace that your first thought of the day will be an expression of your dependence on God, your need for God, and your confidence in God....This is simply a strategy for taking control of the thoughts we allow in our mind. "Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?" (Martyn Lloyd-Jones)

- Begin your day expressing gratitude to God: "Thankfulness is a soil in which pride does not easily grow." (Michael Ramsey) An ungrateful person is a proud person. If I'm ungrateful, I'm arrogant. And if I'm arrogant, I need to remember God doesn't sympathize with me in that arrogance; He is opposed to the proud.

- Practice spiritual disciplines: Prayer, study of God's Word, worship. I've (C.J.) learned that the very act of opening my Bible to read and turning my heart and mind to prayer makes a statement that I need God.

- Seize your commute: Census information says that the average American worker commutes about 25 minutes to and from work. That's about 50 minutes each week. If you used that time to listen to an audio recording of Scripture, you'd get through the entire Bible every three months. (!)

- Cast your cares on Him: When we humble ourselves each morning by casting all our cares on the Lord, we will start the day free of care. The humble are genuinely care free.

CONTINUE READING...

Thrum Thursday: Associating with Words

Thrum - \ˈthrəm\- noun - A term for fringe or short lengths of materials which suggest fringe. Specifically, the end of warp which is not woven but remains on the loom when the woven fabric has been cut free.

Thrum Thursday: looking at the "margins" of my life and seeing how to make pretty "fringe" out of it.

Since the word 'thrum' is a weaving word, I thought this word-association game would be a good post for today. I'm feeling out of sorts, harried, missing my friend who I can't get to answer the phone!), and disconnected. It's been a busy and somewhat stressful week at both work and home. So - maybe doing this game (called "Unconcious Mutterings", I think) will help get all my loose threads tucked back in. Hmmm...who knows?

1. Cry :: Again
2. Stretch :: Goals
3. Efficient :: Use of time
4. Brunch :: With friends
5. Afro :: Good Times
6. Preheat :: Oven for brownies
7. Delicious :: Ice Cream
8. Global warming :: Climate Change
9. Actions :: Louder than words
10. Ride :: the train

This game is from Luna Nina. Give it a try.

CONTINUE READING...

Thrum Thursday: Broken Bits

One of the books I've finished this week at the beach is Crazy by Pete Early. It's about the criminalization of the mentally ill in our country. It was a very eye-opening book for me. There was one section, though, that talked to me on a different level - a spiritual one.

The author visits and shadows a client at a mental health home in Miami called Passageways that treats the violent criminally ill. Most of the people there have been in jail for murder, attempted murder, or assault. But they are all also sick with a mental illness like schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Some live in the Passageways home, but others live in apartments nearby. They all spend their days at the clinic, going through group therapy sessions, talking with their case or social workers, doing chores, eating meals together, and interacting socially with each other.

There's a passage in the book where Pete Early is sitting in on a group therapy session and as the group goes through a worksheet together, he gives a little history and description of each person (paraphrased):

There's Carl who has been found not guilty by reason of insanity of an attempted murder. Robert, Passageway's youngest client from a well-connected Palm Beach family, is probably faking being crazy to stay out of jail for drugs and assault. Allaf has just arrived and sleeps most of the time during the sessions because his meds aren't adjusted correctly. No one knows much about him yet. Guy played a year of football in Alabama before his breakdown. John, who can't read, sits by Henry who helps him out with his worksheet. Henry is the longest-held client at Passageways - 15 years - and lived through lighting himself on fire with gasoline. Angela is there because she murdered one of her own children. Julio always has a book with him and his favorite subject is philosophy. While on vacation in Florida with his parents he attacked a child he thought was Satan in disguise. Mary is shy and doesn't talk, but likes to paint. Thomas attacked his father and sister because he thought they were plotting to kill him. Now he attends classes at the University of Miami. Paul earned a degree in psychology during his time at Passageway. He had tried to kill his mother.

Quite a group, huh? While I was reading this part of the book, I could almost see these people in my mind's eye as the author went around the table describing them with some scant details of what brought them to Passageways. There's so much more to their lives than just the little bit Pete Early chose to share...their hopes, dreams...their families and loved ones.

It just struck me so very clearly, that when I am gathered with a group of people...at work, at church, over a meal...we are all like this. We are all sick with a disease, too. Sin. And it makes us do things we wish we hadn't and we battle it every day. We learn our own 'red flags', we pray, we read God's Word, we do our own 'group therapy.' But it's still there, still something that taints our every thought and action.

Granted, most of us aren't murderers, haven't tried to kill ourselves or others. But, if we're honest, we all have it in our hearts. Jesus tells us if we hate, we murder. I am a murderer, then.

So, this story has been flopping around in my head for the past few days like a fish washed up on the shore. Early this morning I was sitting on the beach watching the waves, when I started looking down at the sand around my feet. I noticed a piece of broken shell and picked it up to look at it a little closer. It was rectangular in shape, smooth around the edges, peach on one side, and striped orange and cream on the other. I could tell it had once been part of a bigger shell, but the ocean had tumbled it around and around until all the sharp edges were gone and this broken bit had finally washed up and landed on the shore. It felt good in my hand and I thought it was pretty.

I started searching for other pieces similar in size and color. Once I started looking, they were everywhere. I spent a lot of the day looking for these broken shells that I call sea shards. I've got a small zip lock bag about a third full of them now. When I look at the shards, I think of myself and my friends...about the people at Passageways...how we are all broken. But then I also think about how God's loving Grace, His holy embrace, tumbles us around all our lives, smoothing us, knocking off the rough edges, turning us broken ugly things into something lovely.

Each shard individually I find pretty to look at...but all put together, they are even more beautiful. I plan to get a little glass bottle to put my shards in and keep by my chair back home where I drink coffee, read, and pray. I hope it will help me remember we are each broken and how God is turning us into something wonderful...something that is especially beautiful when all the broken bits are put together...as we will be in Heaven.

Peace to you, my broken bits of friends.

CONTINUE READING...

Thrum Thursday

Do you know why bugs are attracted to lights at night? Very interesting...

"...but the main reason is the moon. On clear nights flying insects steer by the moon. The moon is a good navigation point since it is usually high enough not to be obscured by hills and trees and it is sufficiently far enough away to act as a landmark. This is an effect we've all probably experienced while driving at night in automobiles - the buildings and trees speed by, but the moon seems to keep constant pace with your car, no matter how fast you go. So it is with airborne insects. If they use the moon as a landmark and keep it in the same relative position as they fly, say, to their left or right, then they can travel in a straight path in whatever direction they need to travel. But, because insects are mostly "hardwired" they cannot learn that a streetlight or a porch light is not the moon. When they try to navigate with such an artificial "moon," keeping it in the same position relative to their direction of travel, they have to keep compensating and their flight path curves. As the continue to compensate, their trajectory spirals even closer to the light until they finally arrive. From the insects' perspective it is as if they have inexplicably flown to the moon." - Christopher Dewdney in Acquainted with the Night.

You know me...always have to make a connection. Reading this last night brought to mind the scripture:

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. (Psalms 119:105)

Like these nocturnal insects I, too, am "hardwired." But instead of using the moon to navigate, I'm created to follow God's Word - big enough and high enough to give me all the guidance I need.

But, I do get distracted and confused by lesser lights...the demands of the day, my own ideas of what is best, the world's image of success...and so many others. And I end up spiraling down, out of control, finally landing, thinking I've made it, when really I've just been caught in the false warmth of an impostor.

But the good news is...

...the bulb will eventually burn out! :)

CONTINUE READING...

Thrum Thursday (on Friday - Catching Up...)

Hi all...this week has been a bit of a blur. There's been lots and lots going on at work and I've been sleeping and working at odd hours. I can honestly say today, "Thank God it's Friday!" I'm so grateful that Matt has been with me at work during all of this. It was so good to work together.

My house is a disaster. I'm still looking at a Christmas Tree in the middle of our living room from Mary's birthday party last week! Hopefully, I'll get our house back in order this weekend and be able to spend some time writing and reading in the midst of all the laundry that needs to be done.

Matt and I actually had a night alone in our house last night. A foretaste of what's to come, I suppose, when the kids are all gone. Sean was dog-sitting. Ellen spent the night with a friend. Mary is at the beach for the week with friends. It was just me, Matt, and the dog. I had a bowl of Special K for dinner and crashed early...exciting night! :)

When I got home Wednesday and yesterday exhausted from work, I was greeted with boxes from Amazon on my doorstep. I had treated myself by making an order earlier in the week. February was the last time I bought any books from them, and since I got a bonus last week, I thought, "Why not?" So, I browsed and browsed, pulled some books from the "To Buy Later" section in my Amazon shopping cart, and clicked away. Here's what I bought:

Acquainted with the Night

Who Gets to Narrate the World?

Humility: True Greatness

At Day's Close: Night in Times Past

The Faces of Jesus: A Life Story

Do you think there will be Amazon in Heaven?

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Thrum Thursday: Curds & Whey

For some reason, I've been thinking about the word whey for the last few days. How odd is that? For me, maybe you're thinking, not so much, but for most people - pretty weird. I can't remember how the word ended up getting lodged into my gray matter, but it's there, and I don't think there's any other thing to do except try to dig it out on my blog.

So - whey...Whey is a by-product of cheese making and is formed when curds separate from milk or cream. After the cheese curds are formed, the remaining liquid is called whey. It's watery and thin and can have a tinge of blue to it. But, even as unappetizing as it may look, whey is an excellent source of protein, vitamins, and minerals. It is the base of many athletic protein drinks and can be an important diet supplement for those suffering from debilitating illnesses.

Hmmm...the by-product of a bigger process...the leftovers...to all appearances unappetizing...but is really good for you...

Makes me think of what I'm learning as my husband and I walk through leaving a church we've been with for a dozen years and trying to find a new place to worship, grow, and serve. There's a bigger process at work, for sure. God is dealing with each of us involved in very different ways - both those who are staying and and those who are going. We're each so unique and God is teaching and moving and changing us all...dealing with fear, idols, pride, sin. Every once in a while these days I get a glance at the bigger perspective of what's happening and am thankful God is God and I'm not.

And the word 'leftover' has a significant meaning to me, too. Our church is moving on...as it should. Our pastor is moving on...as he should. And somewhere in the middle there are those of us who feel 'left.' Like the children of a divorce, I suppose, when each parent is moving on to new relationships. Several people have likened what's happened to a divorce or a death. I guess I'd have to agree. But sometimes leftovers are even better than the meal was the first time around. (I think of chicken-n-dumplings, in particular!) I try to remember that...perhaps we are all being seasoned in a way that couldn't have happened before, absorbing the juices of life, the wisdom, and integrating what we've learned into our souls. Giving us 'weight', as Tim Keller said in a sermon I heard this past January in New York.

So - to all appearances this seems very unappetizing...that there could be no good thing in all this yuck. But, oh how wrong that thinking is! I could make a long list of all the good I've seen already...in my life, my children, my husband's, my friends', but I won't. I'll just say that with me, God has shown me the idol I've had of a particular church body, shown me my prideful arrogance in thinking this one church is the only place He is working in our community. For that I've had to repent. A lot.

It may be a hard to drink, but this particular cup of whey is helping to heal this particular person who is sick with the debilitating illness of a sinful heart.

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