Category: Reading

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Ash Wednesday

So this is the first year where we will go to an Ash Wednesday service. I am curious… apparently it will be a eucharist service ending with compline. But I don’t really know what to expect of the ash liturgy. Usually the evening services at church are pretty small, and my children will occupy the majority of my mental energies as they will be even more curious than I am. 🙂 But we are looking forward to this opportunity to worship the Lord and fellowship with His people in a new capacity, through the Ash Wednesday service.

Then every Wednesday until Holy Week we will be going to the church for “Lenten soup and lectures” where the whole church will have a soup supper together, and we will study this book together (discussion led by the author himself who is a friend of ours). Steven and I have already read the book, and while it is a short & “easy” read, it is also so deeply honest & raw that it cuts sharply and leaves an impact of blessing and grace.

I have been planning on giving up an hour of sleep every morning during Lent, to focus on prayer and Scripture. This (the actualities of the Lenten season) is all pretty new to me (we’ve been attending an Anglican church since last spring), and I love the beauty in a lot of these things. So this morning, at 6am, I spent a while with the Lord quietly in the darkness of my room. It was beautiful to speak to Him of my husband, my children, our church, our parents. It was good to lay desires before Him, and ask for His will to be done. It was a practice of faith in action. Even though the action seems small, just kneeling and speaking quietly with closed eyes and bowed body, it was big work. And I am eager to see what big things the Lord continues to do through small offerings of prayer, offered in a purposed and habitual way, more diligently planned (so to speak) than is my usual prayer routine.

For another thing, I am going to go through the book of Ecclesiastes, along with this commentary on it that my husband said was enlightening for him. I only read the first chapter of the book, and of Ecclesiastes, but I already agree. The Lord is so good.

May He bless His people, as we seek to follow Him and pursue the light of His countenance.

From dust we came, to dust we shall return. May we turn from sin and be faithful to the Gospel. May the peace of the Lord be with you. Amen.

…and for some beautifully enlightening reading, please read what our pastor friend wrote here on Lent.

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faithful body image

What does the world mean when they speak of having good body image?
The test is simply whether you can look in the mirror and love yourself.
Can you see your body and love it?

But for a Christian woman this question should be completely different.
Good body image for a Christian woman means being able to look in the mirror and love God.
If you can look in the mirror and thank God for the body that He gave you –
that He spoke from nothing when He called you to life –
when He made your heart beat in a secret place,
when out of nothing He crafted you and gave you life.

When you can thank Him for all the challenges that come with this body of yours
because they come from His hand –
this is a far deeper joy than loving yourself.

This is not the shallow joy of having good body image,
but the deep security of having faithful body image.

Pursue that – because it is pursuing your Creator.
Thank Him – for His gifts to us are overwhelming.
Image Him, even as we see ourselves.
~Rachel Jankovic~

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enjoying life & its offerings

[M]ake the most of dinner time in particular by creating an event of it.
Don’t allow it to be just throwing food down the hatch.
Enjoy the time, enjoy the food, and
enjoy our fellowship together as a family.
~Kim Brenneman, Large Family Logistics, pg215~

There are one thousand ninety-five meals a year that we as home managers are responsible for…
For those one thousand ninety-five mealtimes that your family sits down together to enjoy,
be encouraged that God will help you in your efforts.
Food, presentation, etiquette, and conversation direction are responsibilities
we need to take seriously as the matrons of our homes.
We must give thought and plan for these times during the day.
In planning meals, it is important to realize that these are times that the
family is gathered together around the table sharing, talking, and enjoying each other
and the food set before them.
~Kim Brenneman, Large Family Logistics, pg282~

 If you’ve never been able to summon fervent interest in nutritional breakdowns,
you will find a companion here.
And if you are one of those who has dined with such enthusiasm
that nothing could stand in the way of sheer enjoyment,
you may find that you’ve enjoyed not gluttony,
but the fullness of life and its offerings.

~Deborah Madison, in her preface to Supper of the Lamb~

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fat isn’t the enemy

A certain amount of fat keeps your skin looking younger and more supple. As females, we have 12 percent essential fat in our bodies to support our reproductive organs, brain, bone marrow, spinal cord, and complete nervous system. That percentage is high compared to men who only require three percent essential fat. We also need some non-essential fat. That is the fat that lies just below our skin layer and helps protect our bodies from injury and cold. It also provides us with a great source of energy and allows us to sit on something, rather than just a tail bone.
~Trim Healthy Mama, p97~

 

A healthy amount of body fat on a woman is not repugnant. Don’t think you need to be “shredded” and try to eliminate all body fat. That is not healthy for your hormonal profile. Going too far below a healthy body fat ratio will disrupt your delicate endocrine balance, and if you are pre-menopausal, you may stop your period altogether. That is a dangerous set-up for bone loss, depression, skin aging, and cardiovascular disease. God did not design a grown female to appear like ripped muscle and skin as men are more apt to be. Desiring that appearance is a warped perception of how a female should look. Female fat layers in the right proportion are beautiful. That “too skinny” look is very aging for anyone over 30 years.
~Trim Healthy Mama, p97~

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meat and grain

What about Jesus’ own parable of the prodigal son? The Father in the parable told his servants to prepare the fatted calf ready for a feast when his son returned home. Of course, this parable was not told as a lesson on what to eat, but we need to pay attention to every red letter word in the Bible. We shouldn’t gloss over any of Christ’s words as trivial. There is joy and celebrating in eating meat, and we are not any more righteous or holy, or even more healthy, if we deny ourselves red meat.
~Trim Healthy Mama, p49~

Some principles of the paleolithic diet do have some merit. Our culture overdoes grain and there are some people who have legitimate allergies to gluten and need to avoid many grains. But Jesus likens himself to the “Bread of Life.” He fed over 5,000 hungry people with loaves and fishes. He broke bread with His disciples. Was He intentionally harming them? No. Did He not know better? Better than us, for sure. God included grains as “the increase of the fields” (Deuteronomy 32:13) as part of His food groups. Paleo diets teach that grains are toxic to our bodies. God obviously thinks differently. Who’s right? That’s a no brainer.
~Trim Healthy Mama, p53~

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Mingling the longing & the gratitude

I want to cultivate a deep sense of gratitude,
of groundedness,
of enough,
even while I’m longing for something more.

The longing and the gratitude, both.

I’m practicing believing that God knows more than I know,
that He sees what I can’t,
that He’s weaving a future
I can’t even imagine from where I sit this morning.

~Shauna Niequist, Bread & Wine, p59~

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Hope for 2015

What gives me hope is the belief that God will be faithful,
because he has been faithful before,
to me and the people around me.

I need the reminders.

I need to be told that he was faithful then, and then, and then.
Just because I have forgotten how to see doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
His goodness is there.
His promises have been kept.
All I need to do is see.

~Shauna Niequist, Cold Tangerines, p128~

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She Delivered the Conquering Savior

Mary overcame in the way women are called to conquer—
by giving birth to conquerors,
or by giving birth to daughters who will give birth to conquerors.

And this explains how the Magnificat can have been
composed by a woman
and still be so gloriously militant.

Godly child-bearing is militant.
The seed of the woman has crushed the dragon’s head.

~Douglas Wilson, God Rest Ye Merry, p26~

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Needing Rescue

The fall of man did not introduce evil; it placed us on the wrong side of it, under its rule, needing rescue.

~N.D. Wilson, Death by Living, p77~

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Real story grip

Mary knew she was a pregnant virgin,
Mary knew what Simeon told them here [in Luke 2:25-35],
she knew what the angel had said, and more.

So she knew that the cross was not the end of the story—
but it was true grief in the story nonetheless.

Knowing we are in a story does not prevent real story grip from happening.
A sword went straight through Mary’s soul—
and she knew that it was coming years in advance.

~Douglas Wilson, God Rest Ye Merry, p29~