Friday, April 27, 2012

Over and Out

To my myriad of faithful followers (all 6 of you), I am doing penance and will not be blogging again until God tells me what in the heck I am allowed to be passionate about in public. Praying for guidance.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Moses as Cheerleader

American humorist, Lewis Grizzard, said, "Cheerleaders are like parsley on a plate, it’s nice to look at, but doesn't really do anything"

I beg to differ, and I have scripture to back me up. Do you remember the story of the battle between the Isreallites and the Amalekites in Exodus 17? As long as Moses held up the staff, of God (his rally stick?) the Isrealites were in the lead. When Moses' arms faltered, so did the Isrealites. So he got Aaron and Hur (the rest of his squad) to help. At the end of the battle, Moses and his fellow cheerleaders sent the Amelikites down in defeat and afterwards established Biblical precedent for talking smack and putting up banners:
Exodus 17:14,15 “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, ‘I will completely blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven.’ Moses built an altar and called it The LORD is my Banner.

Be a cheerleader. In do or die situations, call on fellow believers to help, and don’t hesitate to boast in the power of our God.


Monday, April 16, 2012

Wonder

“How could an idiotic universe have produced creatures whose mere dreams are so much stronger, better, subtler than itself?” C. S. Lewis in a letter to Sheldon Vanauken

[Sheldon Vanauken (August 4, 1914–October 28, 1996) is an American author, best known for his autobiographical book A Severe Mercy (1977), which recounts his and his wife's friendship with C. S. Lewis, their conversion to Christianity and dealing with tragedy.]

The universe did not imagine itself into being, but it speaks to us of its origin.

Psalm 19:1-4
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Anti-Aging Secrets

“Cheerfulness and contentment are great beautifiers, and are famous preservers of good looks.”
Charles Dickens

There comes a time in every woman’s life when any amount of make-up or surgery cannot stave off the inevitable. But, if she has practiced the beauty tips in Proverbs 31, she is still the light of many lives, and those who love her will not notice.

Proverbs 31 (paraphrased)
A woman of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
Her family and friends have full confidence in her
and they lack nothing of value.
She brings them good, not harm,
all the days of her life. . .

She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.
She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Children arise and call her blessed;
her family also praises her:
“Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all.”
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Honor her for all that her hands have done,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Harriet Beecher Stowe

I just retook an abbreviated version of the Myers-Briggs personality test. Yep, I’m still an INFP, meaning I’m likely to go off the deep end so far as following my heart is concerned, and I’ve done it more than once. Persons of my ilk tend to get buffeted, bruised and burned out. So I have gained a bit of caution in my old age—not so likely to tilt at windmills, but still passionate, i.e.: still trying “write” the wrongs of the world.

I also just finished reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin and a biography of its author. What do these bits of achievement have in common? I have found a kindred spirit in Harriet Beecher Stowe.
Mrs. Stowe, as she was referred to in her time, felt keenly, as I do, the wrongs of this world. We both were reared in Christian homes in which religious and political debate was common. I and she are products of a religious doctrine that restricts women to certain roles and limits the use of our gifts. Both Harriet and I felt drab in comparison to our friends and sisters. We each had a father who wished we were a boy. And we each measure the world by a set of absolutes.
But the Puritan ethos of Harriet’s day was more optimistic than my own. In her time, a large portion of America believed that “thy kingdom come” would be fulfilled in an earthly utopia created by the heroic efforts of Christians. And many human ills were righted, at least temporarily, by people of that era; slavery being the most notable.
And yet, the twenty-first century has dawned with more humans in slavery and with as many, if not more, instances of mass inhumanity. Victorian optimism died with the Civil War and the last passenger pigeon. But we INFPs keep marching into battle with our hearts on our sleeves and in our throats—tempered by the knowledge that any good we achieve will be temporary.


Pure Science

“Pure religion has, in fact, a good deal in common with pure science . . .What they have chiefly in common is humility.” Dorothy Sayers in an address to the Socratic Club

At their bases religion and science are simply the study of, and submission to, God.

James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.