One of these days I'm gonna get serious about my blogging and update more often.  I've been busy baking and decorating cookies for Christmas celebrations and gifts.  Isn't this cartoon precious???



Plus, since acquired a Kindle Fire...things just aren't getting done around here...LOL.

Futility

"The futility of our efforts may be the Voice of God calling

us to be still in Him instead of trying to

work things out on our own"   by Priscilla Shirer

So, I guess futility has it's purpose.  It's where I end and God begins. 

Arguing

As a "Christian community," I think we spend too much time arguing about things that aren't really all that important.  This quote says it well...

Alexander Campbell said:
"It is not the object of our efforts to make men think alike on a thousand themes. Let them think as they like on any matters of human opinion and upon 'doctrines of religion' provided they hold to the Head, Christ, and keep His commandments. . .indeed if you wish opinionism to cease or subside you must not call up and debate everything that men think or say. You may debate anything into consequence.”

C.S. Lewis made a similar point:

"I suppose the problem arises especially in personality types for whom their opinion/interpretation is elevated to 'biblical principle' and is therefore a) beyond debate and b) likely to be a minority view which MUST therefore be evangelized to the wider church, which can only be healthy once it adopts it."

Tug of War/The Conflict Within

When it's okay to be conflicted~~~~

John Murray:

"If there is still sin to any degree in one who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, then there is tension, yes, contradiction, within the heart of that person.
Indeed, the more sanctified the person is, the more conformed he is to the image of his Saviour, the more he must recoil against every lack of conformity to the holiness of God.

The deeper his apprehension of the Majesty of God, the greater the intensity of his love to God, the more persistent his yearning for the attainment of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, the more cautious will he be of the gravity of the sin which remains and the more poignant will be his detestation of it. "

Redemption Accomplished and Applied, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1955), 145

Prayer (1)

Prayer by John Baillie in: A Diary of Private Prayer: Evening, day 17
"I bless Thee , O most holy God, for the unfathomable love whereby Thou has ordained that spirit with spirit can meet and that I, a weak and erring mortal, should have this ready access to the heart of Him who moves the stars..."

Photograph  from National Geographic:  courtesy NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)



No Ordinary People

     There are no "ordinary" people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations--these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals that we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit--immortal horrors or everlasting splendours...

   

Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.  If he is your Christian neighbour, he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ vere latitat, the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden.  

C.S. Lewis, in The Weight of Glory

Well, summer is over but I don't know where it went.  I would promise to post more often, but last time I tried that it didn't work out....life happens! 

Summer is flying by...

Well, posting more often just hasn't happened.  The weeds are taking over with all the rain we've have and I don't like the heat and humidity, so I have to take advantage of the cool days.  I finally got my rows of flower seeds planted in the veggie garden about 10 days ago. They are just starting to pop out. I probably won't have flowers until September!!   I don't have much blooming this early but was able to scrounge up a bouquet for the dining room table...ants included!