Early morning meditation

The words still my eyes.  This is where the Father wants His daughter to begin her early morning meditation.

 "The sin of Judah is written down with an iron stylus; with a diamond point it is engraved upon the tablet of their heart And on the horns of their altars, as they remember their children, so they remember their altars and their Asherim.  By green trees on the high hills.  O mountain of Mine in the countryside, I will give over your wealth and all your treasures for booty, your high places for sin throughout your borders.  And you will, even of yourself, let go of your inheritance that I will give you;  And I will make you serve your enemies In the land which you do not know; for you have kindled a fire in My anger which will burn forever." ~ Jeremiah 17: 1-4

"What does this mean concerning me?"  I asked my Father.

I read on.  I'm stilled.

"Thus says the Lord, 'Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord."

I know this warning.  It's a familiar one to my heart.  One that seems to flash the yellow lights of caution whenever I begin to deal with this particular person.  Ah child with fading memory remembers. 
The Father grabs His daughter hand and gently leads her back to where she is to be.  Heart turned toward Him.  Feet with roots standing firm.  Planted.  Immovable feet.  God reminds me before I err.

The movie reel rewinds...slowly.  On the wall as I look up I see, 'cause He shows me how caught up I was becoming in a situation that isn't mine to get caught up in.  The mind was planning.  Orchestrating how each string of events were to be played.  And there was no need for the other to worry...  I would be there.  "I would be there."  Me.

Isn't that what God's children do?  We help.  We help our fellow man in need, correct?

The Father has me look to the wall again, and watch the plays that have been played between the lives of the one who seeks help and the one who, once again, runs to aide.  "I shake the head, not wanting to believe what is there, right there in front of me."  Folly is littered through and through.  I look close to see the imprints.  Finger prints are everywhere.  They reveal the truth that is so hard to accept.  "No, no."  The head shakes again, not wanting to believe the fingerprints of the evidence.  The evidence reveals that not only has the loved one been in folly, but its folly of their own making.  So harsh is the truth.

My heart grieves.  Their deceitful heart has been fully shown, yet again.

I desperately want to help.  So bad.  Make things better.
Heart tells me ... reason just a little bit more.  Understand just a tad deeper.  Love just a little harder.

Father says, "No.  Sometimes the only redemption that is allowed is through "tough love."  The seemingly turning of the back on the one you love the most."

So I decide while having my early morning meditation to turn away ... not help.  Though I am helping.  Didn't God turn His back on Jesus to help us.  Sometimes the only way for redemption is to turn away.  The turning away is the love.

My heart aches, eyes fill with water.  The water begins a slow and steady flow, for I know what I must do.  I have to forsake the one I love in order to give life.  I must believe that the resurrection will happen after the turning away ... leaving them to die on their own cross.  This is what discernment tells the broken heart.  "I have to let go."  It hurts.  I'm scared, but I must. 

This is what He shows me in my early morning devotions, and I'm reminded about turning the ugly into beauty.  The ugly-beautiful.  The hard eucharisteo.  I smile and I give thanks for the revealing.  The memory.  I give thanks for the grace.  It is true what the Farmer's wife says, "All is grace."

Troubles are permitted

`INEVER NOTICED until this morning the context of this command in the Epistle of James: 'My brothers, do not blame your troubles on one another or you will fall under judgment.' { James 5:9, NEB}.  The context is patience. 

A farmer's precious crop comes up only as he waits patiently for autumn rains, winter snows, spring sunshine.  Anything worth having is worth waiting for.  Troubles are permitted in order to teach us many lessons, not the least of which is patience. 

If we instantly assign responsibility for those troubles to somebody else, our energies will go into resentment instead of into learning God's lesson of patient waiting.  The Lord's coming is far more certain than even autumn rains and winter snows.  We can stand firm and patient no matter how others treat us, knowing that in the end our troubles will be transformed. 'The Lord is full of pity and compassion' {James 5:11}.

Can we believe that, even when we feel sorry for ourselves because we are so badly treated?  He knows it all.  He purposes a crop.  Be patient it will come." ~ Elisabeth Elliot

Searching for food leads me back to the Bread of Life

Have you ever searched for something only to realize once you found it, that it was never as far off as you thought?

That's sort of how it is for me with Jesus and my Christian walk at times.  Sometimes I stray ... in search of?  Peace...fulfillment...happiness...joy???  I find out very quickly from searching deep and looking wide that all I long for I already have, all of the wants, the desires and the hopes are mine for the asking.

Where are they to be found?

I have these things and more in abundance in the person of Jesus Christ.  "Man is a hungry being, says Alexander Shememann, but often times don't realize the insatiable hunger is for God."

I am a hungry soul with a hearty appetite, always on the prowl for tasty meals.  This insatiable hunger for food causes me to stray out of the boundaries of my diet.  There is always that "sugar rush."  My diet crash sends me right back to the starting point where I have to begin the process of eating properly all over again.  The walk with Him...attitude...actions have to begin again.  This is my fall, the slowing down.

I get up again to start the race over—my race with a slow jog.  I sprint toward the finish line, determine not only to run my race, but to finish the race that my God has set before me.

The benefits of giving thanks!

Gratitude is defined most simply as 'the condition of being thankful.  ... gratitude is literally one of the few things that can measurably change peoples' lives.'  But, and here's the self-help angle, 'gratitude (or thankfulness) is an effortful state to create and maintain.  It is not for the intellectually lethargic.'

... preliminary findings suggest that those who regularly practice grateful thinking do reap emotional, physical, and interpersonal benefits. ... Grateful people experience higher levels of positive emotions such as joy, enthusiasm, love, happiness, and optimism ... The practice of gratitude as a discipline protects a person from the destructive impulses of envy, resentment, greed and bitterness.'  That cultivating gratitude can fight depression is no small deal, as antidepressants have become the most prescribed medication in the nation.  Not only all that, but being grateful can, or might, also protect us from heart attacks, lessen physical pain and comfort other physiological benefits. ~ Robert Emmons, UC Davis psychologist

"Give thanks in all cirucmstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." { 1 Thess. 5:18}

Wana starting penning your thanks?  Give thanks: gratitude journal

Heaven's work

I've just hopped into bed.  My feet are up and my body is adjusting to its new posture.  I can feel the days hustle and bustle leaving...I relax. 

The lasagna is in the oven and shortly I will call for the girls to come make the salad.  Burning next to me is a candle, Wild Honeysuckle, a hint of its fragrance permeates the room. Besides the note pad that I'm scratching thoughts in, Elisabeth Elliot's book, "A Lamp For My Feet," rest in my lap.  Before I peel open the pages I sit quietly: meditating on the day.  Silently asking myself the question, "Did I make the most of my time today?  Did I accomplish the things on my agenda that I feel God wanted me to...this day?"

My lips part.  They move and quietly I whisper, "Lord give me another opportunity tomorrow to live for you.  To spend my time a lot more wisely and to purpose in my heart to please you.  Forgive me of this days sins:  the known and the unknown sins.  The seen and the unseen.  I do want to live a life where I please you Lord.  Thank You.  In Jesus' name I pray.  Amen."

Will I ever get it right?

I'm baffled by my humanness.  This sinful skin that I'm wrapped in.  I realize that this day is close to being gone, and I have not stopped even once to "give thanks" or search for gifts!  The heart weeps.  Why is the spirit so willing, and the flesh...  well it's just so FLESHLY.  So forgetful.  So sinful.  Instead of searching for gifts I got caught up in the "seemingly" important things: impostor.  "I must learn to make the most out of my time."

The Lord speaks to the heart: truth words

The house is now quiet.  I'm home alone.  I sit ...lingering in thought-talk to my Father.  Apologizing for not working His program.  He says to daughter...foolish daughter:

"Daughter today your husband wanted to spend time with you so he took you to the restaurant and made you lunch.  Then he asked you to go shopping with him for the business.  Husband said to you that you all needed some time together.  You went. {heavens work}

You helped the older children with their math lesson.  Had heart felt talks with them about character, the consequence of choices.  You laughed with them, had tea with them.  {heavens work}

You've washed mounds of laundry, changed linen, cleaned bathroom, hung clothes, swept, dusted ... {all heaven's work}

And now, now, you are looking back...you are raising your heart to gratitude in praise to me.  Showing me that you care enough to ask if I am pleased with your day.  No maybe you have not parted open the Scriptures today.  Maybe you haven't gotten on your knees today, nonetheless, your work today has been "heaven's work."

And I say to Him—my Father the righteous judge," In all that I did Lord the condition of my heart was done "unto" you.  So I guess in retrospect my day was just as Godly as it was good.  Thank You Father for allowing me to tilt my head, yet again, to get a different perspective of my view."

The work of heavy highway equipment is to smooth the way for travelers by exalting valleys, making low the mountains and hills, straightening the crooked.  Obstacles—trees, rocks, houses, even mountains themselves—are put out of the way.  This is what the Lord can do for His travelers (it is promised by the prophet Isaiah), but He does it without fuss, and in response to the one who simply thinks of Him: "Think of Him in all your ways, and He will smooth your path" { Proverbs 3:6 NEB}.
The mind can build barriers, produce huge obstacles, collide with boulders of impossibility.  Strangely and wonderfully, when we turn our thoughts to Him with whom nothing is an impossibility ( and to turn thoughts takes an act of will), He smooths the path for us.  We find it possible, maybe even easy, to move forward.
Don't waste time, energy, perhaps sleep-time, thinking of all those rocks in the way.  Think of Him.  Think of Him!  You may find your path suddenly smoothed. ~ Elisabeth Elliot, A Lamp For My Feet

Blessings.  And remember, "All is grace."

She needs LOVE

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word. ~ Ephesians 5:25


Marriage a "holy union." A precious relationship that needs tender, self-sacrificing care.  SELF-SACRIFICING CARE, men that's what a lot of us, WOMEN, want to see more of. 

• PROVIDING & WORKING is only part of it ...it's a good part, but not the only part.

We want you to show ...

• compassion
• understanding
• honesty
• integrity
• loyalty
• empathy
• kindness
• gentleness
• patience
• friendliness
• attentiveness

Love:  compassion, devotion.  In the NT, usually the Gr word agape', which focuses on benevolent (marked or disposed to doing good) actions toward another person, rather than on feelings for the person.  Often described as an unconditional, sacrificial love which does what is in the best interest of another, without expecting anything in return.

First John 3:16 says, "For God so LOVED the world that He GAVE..."

Love is demonstrative. It's an action.  It's a self-sacrificing act.  We see that in God giving His Son that His act is not self-centered.  God didn't think about what was best for Himself or Jesus.  No He thought about what was best for YOU and ME.

Men sometimes you have to reach out or low and draw your wife in or up.  This is true love and the basis for all "true love" relationships.

When you truly love someone you are willing to give to that person (s) freely...to the point of self-sacrifice.

Our love toward one another (and your love to us men) must be like Jesus--willingly giving up your own comfort and security for your woman:  your wife.

                                                                                                          ... a repost from the archives

Preparing for Easter {This is a long one}

For the past 20 years, our families Easter tradition on my in-laws side has been to head up to Louisiana for a Shrimp and Crawfish boil.  We always enjoy this...the gathering together with fun and fellowship with our loved ones.  Though my heart is happy in these times, I've always felt as if I was forgetting about the "true" meaning of the Easter event. 

Even when we are home and don't go to Louisiana we get up and go to early service for that day, but again the true meaning of really celebrating the leading up to the death and supernatural act of Jesus being raised from the dead truly gets lost over here.

I noticed that every year Ann Voskamp posts a link to John Piper's site.  This year, actually last year I prayed and asked the Lord to really help me learn more about this season and to pass it along to my children.  I want this celebration of lent and Jesus' resurrection to be life long traditions in our family.  Something to be pass down from generation to generation.

Below is an explanation of  all that is to be done. 

 Lenten Lights

Eight Biblical Devotions to Prepare for Easter

to be used weekly during Lent OR daily during Holy Week

Introduction

Using These Readings

Each reading begins with a few sentences that summarize the thought for the day. All the rest is Scripture—letting God speak to us directly from his Word.
This devotional may be used weekly or daily. And if you choose, it also can be used together with seven candles, representing the Light of the World.

Reading Weekly
There is one reading for each Sunday of Lent and for Good Friday and Easter.

Reading Daily
Daily use should begin on the Saturday of Palm Sunday weekend. This leaves Saturday, the day before Easter, with no devotional, a reminder of the emptiness experienced by Jesus’ followers between his death and resurrection.

Without Candles
These pages may be used simply for personal or family reading and meditation in preparation for Easter. In that case, please ignore the bracketed candle instructions within each reading.

With Candles
The readings may also be used in conjuction with any grouping of seven candles. On the first day, all seven should be burning as you begin reading the first devotional. Bracketed instructions within the reading tell you when to snuff out one candle. On the second day, six candles burn as you begin reading, and you snuff out one of them when instructed, and so on. On Good Friday, the last candle is extinguished. Then on Easter, there are instructions within the reading to light all seven candles.

The Symbolism of the Seven Candles
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). But for a while it seemed as if the darkness was overcoming—for a long while.
Your seven candles symbolize the Light of the World—the Light that was God’s glory and that illuminated God for us—the Light that, in the end, seemed to have been darkened. As we move through the season preceding Easter, the candles are snuffed out one by one, until all are dark on Good Friday, when Jesus died and the earth was covered with shadow. Darkness apparently had won. The Light of the World had been extinguished. It was finished.
But NO! Easter brings resurrection! Life! Return from death! The Light has won and all the candles burn as we praise him—the Light of the World, the Bright Morning Star, the Glory of God.

First Reading

First Sunday of Lent (if reading weekly)
or
Saturday of Palm Sunday weekend (if reading daily)
[All seven candles lit before reading]
God created the universe—from galaxies to water spiders. He created the breeze that calms us and the hurricane that terrifies us. All of it is to show us what he is like, to display his glory and personality.
BUT people have let themselves be blinded to the truth. Some take all of God’s creation for granted and say it just got there somehow—no need for God. Others worship the things that were created and don’t see God behind it.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. . . . And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. . . . Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. . . .
[Snuff out one candle. Do not light it again until Easter]
They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
(Taken from John 1:1-5; Genesis 1:1-2:3; Romans 1:18-25.)

Second Reading

Second Sunday of Lent (if reading weekly)
or
Palm Sunday (if reading daily)
[Six candles lit before reading]
God created people to give him glory. And he created a perfect place for them—a place that reflected his glory. He gave them everything they could need or want for happiness.
BUT they listened to God’s enemy. They didn’t really believe God’s gifts to them were enough for them. So they turned their backs on God, and they lost their perfect place to live and their perfect friendship with God. Now, they could see pain and futility and death in their future.
And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.... And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”. . .
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”...
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate....
And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate”....
To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children....”
And to Adam he said, “Cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life.... By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
[Snuff the next candle. Do not light again until Easter.]
Therefore . . . sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. . . .
(Taken from Genesis 2:8-3:19; Romans 5:12)

Third Reading

Third Sunday of Lent (if reading weekly)
or
Monday before Easter (if reading daily)
[Five candles lit before reading]
Usually God holds back his anger over sin. But one time he let it loose, so we would know how serious it is to turn our backs away from God and toward the darkness, and so we would know how great his wrath is against sin.
BUT he did not totally destroy his creation. He showed us his mercy, through Noah.
The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land....”
But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.... Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God....
Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh. . . . Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. . . .
[Snuff the next candle. Do not light again until Easter.]
“For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark.... And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you....” Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.
And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.... The flood continued forty days on the earth.... He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground.... Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark.
But God remembered Noah.... And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.... So Noah went out....
The LORD said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done....”
And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”
(Taken from Genesis 6-9)

Fourth Reading

Fourth Sunday of Lent (if reading weekly)
or
Tuesday before Easter (if reading daily)
[Four candles lit before reading]
Even before the world was created, God knew that Jesus would be the Way, the Truth and the Life for all who believed in him. But God didn’t just ignore his people then, waiting until the time came for Jesus. No, he gave them a way to be forgiven. If they offered sacrifices from a heart of worship, they could renew their friendship with God as they proved their reliance on him.
BUT people did not rely on God. Some did not follow his way of sacrifice and worship. And there was an even deeper problem. Many may have followed the outward ritual, but they didn’t trust God in their hearts. They didn’t love him. They didn’t live lives that reflected his glory.
The LORD called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of you brings an offering to the LORD, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock.
“He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the LORD. He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.”
For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel. . . “In the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this command I gave them: ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’ But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day. Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.
[Snuff the next candle. Do not light again until Easter.]
“So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall call to them, but they will not answer you. And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the LORD their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.’”
(Taken from Leviticus 1:1-4; Psalm 51:16-17; Jeremiah 7:21-28)

Fifth Reading

Fifth Sunday of Lent (if reading weekly)
or
Wednesday before Easter (if reading daily)
[Three candles lit before reading]
God wants people to be happy. And the only way we can be happy is by following his instructions. So he gave us his Word, his written Word, to make very clear to us where our life comes from and how we can keep it.
BUT again and again we think our ideas are better than God’s. And we turn from life to death.
The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
I [Daniel] prayed to the LORD my God and made confession, saying, "O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
[Snuff the next candle. Do not light again until Easter.]
To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame . . . because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice.
(Taken from Psalm 19:7-11; Daniel 9:4-11)

Sixth Reading

Sixth Sunday of Lent (if reading weekly)
or
Thursday before Easter (if reading daily)
[Two candles lit before reading]
God made very sure that we could understand who he is, what he is like, and what he wants for us and what he wants from us. He did this by sending his Son, Jesus. Now we don’t have just the written Word, we have the Living Word—a real person. When people watched Jesus, they were seeing God.
BUT even God himself, God in person, was rejected. People hated him and rejected his message from God.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
[Snuff the next candle. Do not light again until Easter.]
And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him.”
(Taken from John 3:16; Luke 2:6-7; Isaiah 53:3; Mark 10:32-34)

Seventh Reading

Good Friday
[One candle lit before reading]
This was the darkest day in history. The Son of God himself was killed by people who weren’t satisfied simply to reject him; they couldn’t stand to have him exist. They thought they could put God out of existence.
And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him.
“You stiff-necked people . . . you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”
“Hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know. This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.”
[Snuff the last candle. Do not light again until Easter.]
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
(Taken from Mark 15:22-24; Acts 7:51-53; Isaiah 53:4-6)

Eighth Reading

Easter Sunday
[Begin with no candles lit.]
HE IS GOD! He cannot stay dead. HE IS ALIVE. The true Glory of God shines in the world. The Light has won! The Eternal Light! TheBright Morning Star! The Light of the World!
The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.
[Light all the candles.]
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.
(Taken from Matthew 28:5-6; Colossians 1:15-23; 1 Peter 1:3-4)
The Lord is risen!
The Lord is risen, indeed!

Some Words of the Season

Holiday
From a combination of two Old English words, halig + daeg—holy day; day set apart for special religious observance.
Lent
From an Old English word related to lengthen. It meant springtime, when the days are lengthening. Now we use it to refer to the days between Ash Wednesday and Easter.
Ash Wednesday
In the Bible, ashes are a sign of mourning, an appropriate symbol as we think of our part in the death of our Lord.
Maundy Thursday
The night when we look back to the Lord’s Last Supper gets its name from the Latin word mandatum—commandment, remembering Jesus’ words to the Apostles during the Last Supper, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34).
Good Friday
This worst day in history is also good because of the reconciliation that comes through the cross.

To see this article in its original post please visit: Desiring God

The tilting of the head changes the perspective

On my back!  That's the description of my posture this weekend.  Back pain had me down
flat— pain and the drowsiness caused by the muscle relaxers I was popping. 

In between pain and sleep, I found myself being supported by huge pillows in attempts to sit up and help my dearly beloved complete a 15 + hour test.  A test that really should have been taken weeks, if not at minimum, a month ago.  This is just the sort of thing in times past that would send my tongue on a lashing spree.  Not this thime.  This time I was his note taker—the bopping head one.  He would read, and I would write what was read.  I would doze.  And then I would write.   Sometimes I put tablet and pen down to sleep.  This worried the Husband. His composure told.

I'm learning how to be the blessing.  The giver, especially to him.  Sometimes...a lot of times, sadly, he is taken for granted by me.  I'm a gift seeker now.  I see him differently, just by the tilting of my head he changes: becomes swan like.  He's one of my biggest gifts.  I write about eucharisteo, and it teach me how to live fully in the moment right here, where I am, and to give thanks,  how to see.  Find the beauty. I'm beginning to understand how words take on skin.  Understand how vision becomes clearer with the giving of thanks and the tilting of the head.  "Thank You Lord for the opportunity to serve my husband in this moment.  Yes...even this." I take pleasure... I know what to look for ... the beauty.  I know that stopping to appreciate the moment...to whisper a prayer of thanks... slows things down so that time becomes seemingly still.  My attitude calms his fears.  He feeds off me. 

It is strange how just a tilt of the head one way or the other can change the perception of our view.   An  entire perspective of a situation can be changed simply based on how we see it, and what we do with what we see.  It is true what Elisabeth says, "Anything if given to God can become our gateway to joy."  So true.  And anything really does mean "anything."


I am not in control.  Think it is finally seeping in.

The gratitude list # 106

~ thankful for my husband (my soul mate) and the different ways of seeing

"The day you said 'I do' you chose your love; since then you have been learning to love your choice." ~ Donna Otto

The distractions of my morning prayers

I'm bended, fragile knees on pillow.  Head resting in palms and my thoughts are on Him, for a while anyway.  At this moment all I hear are the breaths of my husband.  I watch him.  Inhale.  Exhale.  I focus.  I remember our first meeting. I give thanks: eucharisteo.  How more so now than ever do I know the brevity of life.  "Life is loss."  So I remind God that regardless of the struggles that Husband and I endure.  Regardless of the frustration of lack...  I rather be with him then to be without him.  I pray for him.  He's tired.  His eatery opens today.  He was up all night at the restaurant preparing.

My prayers are interrupted with yet other things.  I hear the melodic chorus of birds. Gracing me in beautiful song early morning.  I see  "all is grace" this morning.   This too is a gift from His hand.  I want to see them, but I'm still on my knees: praying?  I want to feed them.  Finally I get up and take a look out of our glass back door.  I spy them.  They're perched on the naked branches in my back yard tree, and some are at the feeders. 

I grab their food and go out.  The spring weather causes me to release a great sigh.  I take it all in.  Eyes closed.  I smell the earth.  Wet grass.  I open eyes to see the rebirthing.  A new.  I thank Him for this gift.  And I scatter the food.  Food for His creation.  They fly to the fence: red ones.  Gray ones.  Blue ones.  Yellow.  Teeny-tiny ones.

I stand back and watch them partake of their morning bread and I give thanks.  I become the blessing.  The giver.  Suddenly my focus is on two birds at the feeder.  To my disbelief they are fighting!  One is eating and the other is pecking him continuously.  I want to scold.  The poor bird is attempting to eat, but can't savor.  He has to grab a bite, and then fight.  Grab and fight.  This song and dance between the two carries on for well over a minute, when one of the perching birds finally has enough and swoops down and begins pecking both birds.  Eventually forcing the two fighters to the back of the line on the branch.

Then I remember the words of my Father to them who brought iniquity to us, "Cursed is the ground because of you..." Gen. 3:17b.  Yes.  Adam and Eve sins has caused all of creation to moan, groan and display the sin now embedded into our being.  I see it in me daily.  I sit outside and watch a little longer.  I watch and pray.  Watch and pray.

The choice you make can have an everlasting effect on those you love and know now and those who are to come in the next generation.  Choose  your actions wisely.

The desires of our heart

Please take time today to listen to this podcast by Dr. Charles Stanley.

 I really enjoyed this message today and I just know you will be blessed by it too, so PLEASE find a bit of time to listen to this audio and allow God to bless you, teach you some new truths and remind you of a few old ones.

You will do have to scroll down to the bottom of the blog to mute the music.

Dr. Charles Stanley Desires of the heart part 2

"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.~ Psalm 37:4

How do we do this?  How do we delight ourselves in Him and commit our way to Him?

When we delight in someone that means that we experience extreme pleasure and joy from being around them—remember when you were dating your spouse? 

The pleasure and the delight that we seek to have with God can only come from us spending time with Him—becoming intimate.  This is how we get to know and experience God better.


When we commit to Him we entrust our very being (our existence) all that we have to Him.  And then as Dr. Stanley says we must wait patiently on Him.  We don't want to complain.  We wait.  We wait for Him to work out the very best for our lives.

Isn't this a beautiful kitchen?  One I would love to do my 'domestication' in. 

I don't know if I've ever shared with you all how I love the Walton's and my desire before I leave this earth is to visit Schuyler, Virginia the hometown to Earl Hamner creator of the Walton's.  I want to see the original home and the museum (Walton's Museum).  My husband doesn't see it as being so thrilling, but has said (for years now) that we will go.  I hope it will be sooner, now, rather than later.

If anyone of you live close by Schuyler or has ever been please send me an email.  I would love to hear your stories.

A big thank you to Eva girl  over at The Opulent Poppy for sharing her pictures.  You guys should go visit her.  She's quite a seamstress.  She's copied a lot of the dresses that Olivia on the Walton's wear. 

May our heavenly Father bless you.



 ... a repost                                               

Proclaiming the gospel to the world

In starting this blog my only thoughts were to journal "online" instead of on paper.  I knew nothing about followers and all else that goes along with blogging.  Since starting my eyes are being opened daily to the greatest opportunity a Christian has and that is sharing the gospel.  In my case I have the privilege of sharing the gospel world wide without ever having to leave my home.  And in that I am truly honored.

I ask that you, yes, you who are reading this take the time to click on the link below and listen to the young girl share what's going on in her life.  After you do that I simply ask that you pray.  Sincerely pray.  Pray for her and what she is going through.

You may not be facing intense persecution now, dear one, but this is a daily reality for Christians in other parts of the world are.  As we hear about Christians suffering on behalf of their faith, remember that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ.  Pray for them. 

Truth - North Korean Testimony The Lausanne Global Conversation

"This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." ~ Matt. 24: 14

You may not be facing intense persecution now, but Christians in other parts of the world are.  As we hear about Christians suffering on their behalf of their faith, remember that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ.  Pray for them. 

Feed the hungry,
and help those in trouble.
Then your light will shine out from the darkness,
and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.
The LORD will guide you continually,
giving you water when you are dry
and restoring your strength.
You will be like a well watered garden,
like an ever-flowing spring. (Isaiah 58:10-11)

Blessings

Jesus: let go, 2

Today we will continue looking at how Jesus 'let go' of His ways, and submitted to the will of His Father to bring salvation to mankind.  We're continuing our Walk With Him Wednesday participating with Ann Voskamp and community over at A Holy Experience.

" 'Jesus went beyond the ancient tradition, says Chuck Swindoll, after the blessing, He passed to His disciples the broken fragments of bread and told them, 'Take, eat; this is My body.'  The bread was now not just a reminder of 'the swiftness of God's deliverance' from Egyptian bondage; it was linked definitively to Jesus, the Bread of Life, and His impending death.

Jesus had given a new significance to the Passover bread, superseding the ancient meaning with the concept that His brokenness, His death, would secure salvation for all time.  Just as the Passover signified, 'the greatest redemptive event' of the Old Testament and looked forward to 'the coming of the Messianic age,' so Jesus' Last Supper now signifies the 'greatest redemptive event of the {New Testament}' and points 'to the arrival of the kingdom in glory when He comes . . . and shares the messianic banquet with His followers.'

Through the bread ritual, Jesus announced that He would be the offering for sin, that He would "atone vicariously for the sins of the world."  As He gave the bread, so He would give His life on behalf of helpless sinners, hungry for life.

Then He took the cup:  And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them saying, 'Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.' (Matt. 26:27-28)

The Meal

1 whole lamb, unblemished—skinless and gutted
6 servings of bitter herbs, dried and tossed in a scoured bowl
3 to 4 loaves of unleavened bread
1 large bowl of fruit puree past for dipping

The roasted lamb represented the sacrifice of the spotless lamb from which the blood was spread on the doors of Jewish believers during the Passover (see Ex. 12).  The bitter herbs—a mixture of greens and various herbs—reminded the pilgrims of the stinging bitterness their ancestors endured under centuries of bondage.  The unleavened bread told of the haste in which the Hebrews were to leave Egypt.  And the fruit paste was a reminder of the mortar used by Hebrew slaves in making bricks for Pharaoh's harsh regime.

Every acrid bite, every bitter swallow, reminded the Jews of the bitterness of slavery, and the sacrifice made to user in their freedom." ~ excerpts taken from The Darkness and The Dawn, Chuck Swindoll

The Darkness & The Dawn Book

Prepare for Easter with the 'I AM Passover Collection.'  Plates & goblet shown in photograph above.

Reading and devotional reading to prepare hearts for Easter.  Click on the devotional readings too for additional reading.

Motherhood's ministry

`Fulfillment in its truest sense is to be found in surrender and obedience.  We need only look at two models for proof:  Eve, whose motto was 'My will be done,' who thus brought sorrow and death to the world, and Mary, who said, 'They will be done,' and by willingly simply to be somebodies mother, cooperated with God in bringing salvation to the world.  No woman has ever been so highly exalted." ~ Elisabeth Elliot

The other day I went rummaging through our garage and came across a box with all of my old journals and books.  I found a journal where I'd written out this quote and a prayer that I use to pray daily for my children.  I can't remember the name of the book (I'll look it up), but I know the author is Donna Otto. 

I remember the book too well as it was a life-saver for me during the beginning years of my ministry as a stay-at-home mom, and the giving of my body for babies.  I was on my third child when I came across this book.  I'd just suffered another miscarriage before bringing my son, Kyle, into the world.  So actually that put the number of miscarriages to eight.  I'd forgotten about the one before Kyle until reading the journal I found.

Anyway during these times, it felt like everyone I knew with the exception of my parents, were against me having "too" many babies, staying home with them, and home schooling. You would have thought Kennedy and I were insane.  This is the time when Elisabeth Elliot was truly a God sent for me—a jewel.  She and I would talk long on the phone and we would write.  Lots of letters were exchanged back then.  When she was in town or passing through I would go see her.  It was she who recommended that I get this book.

Mothers our work is a ministry.  It's the call that God has placed on our lives, and if you are a mother who is called to stay home?  Your domestic duties as routine and mundane as they may be is your "high calling."

Ann Voskamp says, "Scratching a stubborn pot furiously with a wire scrubby, I remember it again, what I once read of liturgy.  That liturgy has its roots in Greek word leitourgia meaning "public work" or "public servant."  The meaning!  This life of washing dishes, of domestic routine, it can be something wholly different.  This life of rote work, it is itself public work, a public serving—even this scrubbing of pans—and thus, if done unto God, the mundane work can become the living liturgy of the Last Supper.  I could become the blessing, live the liturgy!  I rinse pots and sing it softly, 'This is my song of thanks to You ...'"

Our commitments to say "yes" again and again to the many mundane tasks of motherhood will make the difference in not only our lives, but in the lives of our children for the work that we do: the washing of feet, and the washing of souls, pots and pans is a heavenly work.  Soul work.  Character building for mother and for child.

The prayers...  pray that your children will ...

~ fear the Lord and serve Him

~ know Christ as Savior early in life

~ hate sin

~ be caught when they're guilty

~ have a responsible attitude in all their interpersonal relationships

~ respect those in authority over them

~ desire the right kind of friends and be protected from the wrong kind

~ be kept from the wrong mate and saved for the right one

~ Pray that your children and their prospective mates will be kept pure until marriage.

~ learn to submit totally to God and actively resist Satan in all circumstances.

~ be single hearted, willing to be sold out to Jesus.

~  be hedged in to they cannot find their way to wrong people or wrong places, and that wrong people cannot find their way to your children.

~  have  a quick repentant heart.

~ honor their parents so all will go well with them

~ be teachable and able to take correction

~ Pray that your children's lives will bear the fruit of the Spirit.

~ will live by the Spirit and not gratify their flesh

The only assurances I have of access to my children's hearts is through prayer and  the power of the Holy Spirit. ~ Donna Otto

"What makes our labor holy, what makes it eternal, is not just the work but the state of our hearts while performing that work.  When we comprehend that truth, then we realize washing dishes is as significant to the kingdom as operating on a patient; driving a truck is as eternally triumph as leading a company.  Then even in the zig-zags of our careers, when life seems more random than ordered, when it feels like we're running in thick and with heavy boots, we can rest in the knowledge we're serving God as we labor faithfully and diligently." Randy Kilgore

Thy will be done

Her writing grips me still.  Makes me pause long in thought.  Lights the wicker of my soul.  The Farmer's wife. His servant girl...her life.  Her words.  Her book: all grace.  Simple grace.

I read her book and discover lessons from Him.  This book is not for skimmers.  I read these words in her book: "Eucharisteo makes the knee the vantage point of a life and I bend the body, it says it quiet: 'Thy will be done.'  This is the way a body and a mouth say thank you:  Thy will be done.  This is the way self dies, falls into the arms of Love."

I put the book down again.  I decipher words.  I am, again, stilled.  Moved stiff.  I, too, bend the knees.  Clasp the hands and bow the head.  I mutter my utterances to Him who sees the heart.

He has heard me speak these words before.  Long ago.  Somewhere...somehow...the roots of living and life chocked away the desire to give Him my will totally.  I had not realize this until I read the book.  Her book.  The light illuminates the dark.  Wakes up the slumber.  The walking dead.

I had forgotten how good it feels to be intimate with God—loving Him.  Giving myself over to Him.  He and I were intimate often throughout the day when I was young in Him.  When we had just met.  That's when hopes and dreams were bountiful and alive.

I remember the crave I had to teach orphans in Uganda and Russia.  That was back then.  Up until Ann's book I had fallen into a slumber...just moseying along.  Life became hard, and I pushed the ugly away.  Dug my heels deep in soil and grew roots.  And stayed still in heart.

I walked down the isle, said "I do," six months after meeting Jesus.  Immediately after that I suffered one miscarriage after another.  My heart began grieving.  It grieved long and it grieved hard for the six babies I lost seven if I count the ectopic pregnancy.  My heart became unforgiving ground.  Even worse was being told I would never have babies.  Joy turned into pain.  I pushed eucharisteo away, and wanted no part of living a totally surrendered life.  Pain too grave.

All of this hurt.  All of this pain came from His hand after I had serenaded Him with how much I loved Him.

It came after I spoke the words to Him, "Thy will be done."

It came after I said, "Yes.  Jesus I will follow You.  I will be your disciple."


It came after I said, "Use me."

God laid me flat.  Struck me deep to the marrow with His dagger through and through.


Seems like it came without warning, the ugly.  All of it gushing from the heavens...from His hands.  I longed to turn it—the ugly into the beauty, but I was too weak.  Too feeble.  I stuffed pain.  Careful to say and do anything Jesus instructed...But..."giving over the will"... my will ... again?  No.  No can do.  I wasn't about to be that silly girl again.  The silly girl learns quickly.  Sometimes the Father's will hurts.  It oozes pain.  Jesus souls was deeply grieved to the point of death, remember?  Remember Him asking the Father "if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me...?"

Sometimes the Father ask the children to drink from the bitter cup: the sour.


Funny how the heart changes when you let Him all the way in.  I've changed.  I'm changing.  I can feel it.  Since I've started counting the gifts...since I started reading the book.  I've changed the lenses in which I view life through.  Her book is showing me how to...  She writes about God being a good God.  I know this.  Even in slumber.  And He gives good gifts to His children on that I can be assured.  So regardless of how bad the ugly-beautiful is, I can trust that He's working it all out for good.  My good.  His beautiful, wonderful, perfect plan for me.

And because I know this I can begin my own "joy story" as I am doing by counting gifts and going through my own memories of shattered glass. 

Yeah.  I can say it now too!  I nod my head in agreement with her words.  I really can "dare to live fully right where I am.'  And I really can trust His love enough to say again with no fear, "Thy will be done."

Lay open thy hand.  Let go.


Gratitude list #'s 102-105...I'm thankful for...

` motherhood.  For the opportunity to accomplish His will for me as a mother.

` being a wife.  For the opportunity to accomplish His will for me as a wife.

` being a stay-at-home woman.  For the opportunity of cleaning and making a better home for family...and accomplishing His will in this call...this season.

` being a home school mother to my seven children.  God allowed me to get pregnant seven more times and carry these seven to full term!  He completed me.  So thankful to have them home with me and to be over their education and train them in character building.  Praying His will be done.

The book: "One thousand gifts: A dare to live fully right where you are."

I use to think that God's gifts were on shelves one above the other, and that the taller we grew in Christan character the easier we should reach them.  I find now that God's gifts are on shelves one beneath the other, and that it is not a question of growing taller but of stooping lower, and that we have to go down always down, to get His best gifts. ~ taken from "One thousand gifts: A dare to live fully right where you are."

Please pray for Japan: pictures of destruction.


More pictures of destruction

Thank you Ann for sharing the pictures!  Heart grives.

How do you look?

`AChristian is spiritual {mature} when he sees everything from God's viewpoint.  The ability to weigh all things in the divine scale and place the same value upon them as God does is the mark of a Spirit-filled life.

God looks at and through at the same time.  His gaze does not rest on the surface but penetrates to the true meaning of things.

The carnal {immature} Christian looks at an object or a situation, but because he does not see through it he is elated or cast down by what he sees. 

The spiritual man is able to look through things as God looks and think of them as God thinks.  He insists on seeing all things as God sees them even if it humbles him and exposes his ignorance to the point of real pain."

~ A.W. Tozer

How do you look?

Prepare for Easter: "I AM Passover Collection." 

Get yourself & family ready in heart for Easter: some good reading on 'how to.'

Life interruptions transfigure

Iwake up with it all on my mind: the interruptions.  For years now it seems, I've had one interruption after another with the end results being the same: nothing.  Appearing only to be a waste of time.

"What have they been good for?" I lie in bed scanning the mind for answers.  All that has really come out of it is what I've already known.  I have layers of sin-sickness and my instability only peels the layers away exposing the truth.   Smokescreens.  The crux of it all boils down to a lack of trust...I'm sensing.  But why do I lack trust?  Do I feel I know better than the all-knowing God how to run my life?  Doesn't my actions speak louder than what I say, so the answer to that question would be yes.  His actions spoke loud too, and revealed His heart toward me: us.  The Bible tells us that God so loved the World that He gave His Son ...  God proved that He loved me by 'giving—doing.'  I prove that I love Him by getting off course...doing?  Yes.  I would have to admit that my actions clearly say something about my belief in trusting God.

"It's only when you live the prayer of thanksgiving that you live the power of trusting God," says Ann Voskamp.  But wait.  He said He's working it out for our good?  Can I trust Him with that?  Can I be sure that He is in fact doing that with all that seems to beset me?  That is what He said.  I read it in His book: Romans.  "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." (8:28 NASB)

I cry hard when heart is exposed to truth. The truth hurts.  I don't fully trust.  I don't fully believe He knows how to handle me and my life. Well...I know He can handle it, but does He know what's really best for someone like me?  Where do I go from here?

I want to remember His Words.  His ways.  Sometimes we have to look back to find the eucharist.  "Lord help me remember to look back in my rearview mirror when doubt sets in.  Fear. When the need to control grips tight."  Then I remember the author's words:

"You may suffer loss but in Me is anything ever lost, really?  Isn't everything that belongs to Christ also yours?  Loved ones lost still belong to Him—then aren't they still yours?  Do I not own the cattle on a thousand hills; everything?  Aren't then all provisions, in Christ also yours?  If you haven't lost Christ, child, nothing else is ever lost.  Remember through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God" [Acts 14:22 NASB], and in "sharing in [My Son's] suffering, becoming like Him in His death "You come to know Christ and the power of His resurrection" [Philippians 3:10 NIV] ~ Ann Voskamp

I had forgotten that too.  God wants to transfigure all no matter how long it takes.  Yes, this is "the ugly-beautiful."  That which is perceived as ugly transfigures into beauty.  Just like Jesus.  Didn't He become ugly so that you and I might become beautiful?

"The God of the Mount of Transfiguration cannot cease His work of transfiguring moments—making all that is dark, evil, empty into that which is all light, grace, full."

I must remember this.  God is at work beautifying me ... even in the midst of "seemingly unimportant" interruptions.  It's all important and somewhere, somehow an 'all-knowing' God takes it all...the ugly, and he transforms it and uses it 'all' for my good.

Life interruptions transfigure me.  God is transfiguring me.

Eucharist [thanksgiving] is the state of the perfect man.  Eucharist is the life of paradise.  Eucharist is the only full and real response of man to God's creation, redemption, and gift of heaven. ` Alexander Schmemann