Girl apartments, at 10:00, are lit by selective lamplight or just candles, serenaded by favorite Baroque cello, and warmed by afghans, tea, and favorite books.
Boy apartments, at 10:00, have just started to come alive with every light on, POD blasting (or whatever adrenaline-crazed music of choice), and warmed by cranked heat so that only a white undershirt and jeans are required.
It makes me smile.
The union of two individuals, creating a unique family unit.
I think about that on days like today when I’m blasting Aaron Copland orchestral works, and suddenly remember that Ryan doesn’t really listen to stuff like this.
But then, if being married means that I have to think Ajax is cool (programmers out there will know what I’m talking about), then I guess he can grow in his appreciation of Michael Tilson Thomas.
:)
“Brothers and father,” he wrote, and my heart fell, heavy.
Somehow that sounded so forlorn, so unsure, so… not right. A family isn’t just girls. A family has a mom.
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief…
Yes, we all quickly learn to identify with that.
Thanks be to God that we can also come to identify with glorious Life through Jesus Christ, and the hope of the Resurrection.
Lord, let my life only continue to be more and more empowered by that hope. One day I will see You–and then all will be satisfied, forever.
We left last night at a rather odd time–1:00 a.m. It wasn’t a planned outing, per se, and was consequently done in a bit of haste.
[I’m on “kid duty” for my sister, who is due to deliver her 3rd at any moment. What a privilege–to bring the older two to the hospital to meet the new important person and impacting force in their lives! Their little minds cannot even begin to understand how deeply the coming of this new infant will effect them forever. Family is the coolest idea! But this post isn’t really about any of this. And, by the way, there is still no baby. It’s the old stop-and-start routine that my poor sister experienced with #1. Pray for her!]
Anyway, a late phone call, a flurry of excitement, a few quickly packed bags, and we were out of here. I then spent all of today with two of the cutest little guys I could ever hope to know, and after dinner, games, and clean-up, finally came back home.
Home sweet home, just the way I left it.
It looked like I’d suddenly gotten a phone call and high-tailed it out to the car. In my dream world, even in the most surprising of emergencies, my home would be left in a better state of order.
I’d like “just the way I left it” to improve a bit.
And that, my friends, is the topic of this post.
As I prepared for bed and put a few things back that had been left rather randomly out of place, I suddenly felt challenged: Jesus is going to show up at some point. Just appear. Just, ta-da, arrive, and that’s it. We’ll high-tail it on outta here, in whatever state He happens to find us. Am I ready? Do I live if a life that’s ready?
I pondered that for a moment and realized it would probably be good to evaluate my life again with that in view. Hoping to glean some more conviction/enlightenment from my physical surroundings, I began to take note of what sort of things need to improve in order for my apartment to be more in order. And this is what I saw:
Nothing big. No huge overhauls. (A little one, though. I’ll see to that in the morning!) Nothing notable, really; just little things. But all of those little things added up to one big thing, I realized. I need to be more observant and more of a “doer” all day long. If I had noticed and done something about every little out-of-place thing, my home would have been left in a better state of order. If each moment, I was determined to make the area I was in conform to the Kingdom, to the best of my ability, there would be no little things to add up to a big thing.
Translate: Are there huge things to overhaul in my life in order to be a wise virgin with plenty of oil? Maybe. But maybe not. More than likely, the preparation I need to invest has much more to do with my diligence moment to moment. How am I thinking about circumstances and people? Is the gate to my mind undergoing full-time maintenance, or do I let it get run down? How is my attitude? When my tongue utters the overflow of my heart, what comes out? Do I repent quickly, or am I letting hardness settle in, here and there? Am I quick to heed the soft whispers of the Holy Spirit?
Sometimes I’d so much rather overhaul that I fail to notice the two hangers on the floor, halfway beneath the dresser. Am I like that spiritually?
So tomorrow I’ll be tidying up, and then all day long, trying to remember to notice and do the right thing. And while I’m at it, I’ll be pondering this:
If Jesus were to come and take me today, would I be happy to see a picture of my life, just the way I left it?
“Reading is a way to love God with our minds. In Matt. 22 the Savior is asked which is the greatest commandment in the law. He responds, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ i would submit we have given too little thought to how we might love God with all of our minds. Reading is a means of loving God with your mind. Reading is an expression of loving God with your mind. Communicate that to God. I will often say out loud to God, ‘Lord, I love you with all my mind. This act of reading is an expression of my loving you with my mind.’ This perspective of reading will transform your understanding and experience of reading.” (source)
I found this very challenging when I read it last night. I was forced to confront and reevaluate my mental intake. While I’m not against the need to just relax my mind, I also realize that it’s too easy to find my mental diet consisting almost exclusively of “brain candy”. Keeping my mind sharp, observant, and discerning is one of my great responsibilites before the Lord, for through that He is able to speak with clarity and revelation. To keep my mind exercised–which includes everything from pouring over cookbooks to reviewing classic literature to faithful reading of the Word–is one of my renewed goals.
I came across an interview with Elisabeth Elliot, wherein she eloquently expresses a thought I stumbled with earlier this week. It is this: God reveals enough about who He is for us to trust in what He does.
We know, for example, “that all things work together for good to them that love God” (Rom. 8:28). Now the Bible says we know that. The Bible does not say God is going to show us how all things work together for good, here and now. He’s not going to show us that, here and now. We have to take His word for it. But that’s what it means to take His word. You just read the verse and as my friend Catherine Morgan said, “I don’t have faith, I just know how to read.”
So if you know how to read, open your Bible, read Romans 8:28 and 29. It says there, “Everything that happens, fits into a pattern for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” It is all we know, but it is enough. He will prove it in His time. . .
So what difference does this make in our life during this week? Let’s meet everything that comes, as people who know, trusting and submitting to the authority of the eternal Word–Who does not reveal the end or the outcome or the meaning, but only Himself. –elisabeth elliot