Even Ungodly

Found this quote in Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s “Life Together”, in Chapter 4, Ministry. It is in the section titled The Ministry of Holding One’s Tongue. I found it beautiful and profound:

“I can never know beforehand how God’s image should appear in others. That image always manifests a completely new and unique form that comes solely from God’s free and sovereign creation. To me the sight may seem strange, even ungodly. But God creates every man in the likeness of His Son, the Crucified. After all, even that image certainly looked strange and ungodly to me before I grasped it.”

How does it hit you?

Watering Begonias

Whatever I just had written out is now gone. I was only a paragraph or two into it, but it was nothing.

Content.

The word of the night is content. It’s the one thing I feel like all of my life’s creative efforts are missing, and the one thing I wish they all had.

I get so focused on building a nice house for my thoughts to live in that they grow old and die, and I am left with nothing but a well-groomed gravesite. (more…)

attempting the impossible

Sure enough, as soon as I said I’m going to try to take things slow this summer a million and one things started running a hundred miles in my direction. As much as I would like to say I kept peace in the storm, that would be a bit of an overstatement.
One thing that I’m being reminded of right now is that major life changes don’t usually happen over night. They happen after disciplining yourself and implementing them over and over. So for me, I’m taking this thing one day at a time. Learning as I go. And learning that failure is acceptable.
Thank you God for grace.
(and thank you husband for patience)

The Church as Proverbs 31 Wife

I wrote this about a year ago, thought I’d post it here. This one is unedited but this idea has become central to the way I view church, so I’m sure that it will continue to evolve here. Here it is:

This idea just popped into my head recently: “The Church as the Proverbs 31 Wife.” When I sat down to read Proverbs 31 through that lens, I was blown away by how appropriate it was. My NIV subtitles the section, “The Wife of Noble Character.” If the Church is the bride of Christ-the King of Kings-I think there’s no greater form of nobility. As I read over the passage, it seems to (more…)

K.I.S.S.

What exactly does it mean to live simply?

People have their different opinions.  I know some people who would describe it as working only 40 hours a week.  I also know people who say it is working from home.  Some think you can’t do it in America. You must move overseas to truly understand simplicity. Others say, plant a garden. eat organic. RECYCLE! Buy reusable diapers. Take a day off. Go on vacation. Don’t buy things you don’t need. Buy nice stuff so it will last. Give all your stuff away. Spend time with your family.  Move away from your family. Start a family. Stay single. (more…)

Balance

” I’m starting to believe the ocean’s much like you, ’cause it gives and it takes away.” -Thrice

Until recently I think I’ve had a great misunderstanding of balance. If you can picture a free-swinging pendulum, my idea of balance was to hold the pendulum vertically above the axis in a constant fight against gravity’s attempts to pull it toward either extreme (quite a tiring idea now that I really think about it…).

My little design of balance was challenged at a New Heights staff meeting recently, when (more…)