He Giveth More Grace: An Illustration

Did you know that there are lots of free books on Kindle? The secret to finding them is to look for books written or translated into English before copyright laws in their modern form came into effect. Some great authors include Leo Tolstoy, Victor Hugo, George MacDonald, G.K. Chesterton, and--the author I am currently reading--John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim's Progress.

All of Pilgrim's Progress is an allegory for the Christian life. I have enjoyed reading it and taken much encouragement therein. (Also, my internal monologue is starting to sound like the King James Bible.) Below is one of my favorite illustrations:

"Then I saw in my dream that the Interpreter took Christian by the hand, and led him into a place where was a fire burning against a wall, and one standing by it, always casting much water upon it, to quench it; yet did the fire burn higher and hotter.

Then said Christian, 'What means this?'

The Interpreter answered, 'This fire is the work of grace that is wrought in the heart; he that casts water upon it, to extinguish and put it out, is the Devil; but in that thou seest the fire nowithstanding burn higher and hotter, thou shalt also see the reason of that.' So he had him about to the backside of the wall, where he saw a man with a vessel of oil in his hand, of the which he did also continually cast, but secretly, into the fire.

Then said Christian, 'What means this?'

The Interpreter answered, 'This is Christ, who continually, with the oil of his grace, maintains the work already begun in the heart: by the means of which, notwithstanding what the devil can do, the souls of his people prove gracious still. And in that thou sawest that the man stood behind the wall to maintain the fire, that is to teach thee that it is hard for the tempted to see how this work of grace is maintained in the soul.'"

I have thought of this illustration often while I've slowly made my way through the book. Yesterday I was laid up with the flu, and although I feel much better today, I still am not quite back to normal. Despite my weakness, though, it is wonderful to think that Christ is working in my life, behind the scenes, adding the "oil of his grace" to the fire.

Little House on the (Urban) Prairie

"A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
She gets up while it is still night;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her women servants." - Psalm 31:10, 15

I've been reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's books in the hope that I will learn both to appreciate domestic life and pick up some tips along the way about how to run a house. I was surprised to discover that even Laura got discouraged about housekeeping. Writing about when she was pregnant with her second child, she lamented, "There was so much to be done and only [Laura] to do it. She hated the farm and the stock and the smelly lambs, the cooking of food and the dirty dishes. Oh, she hated it all, and especially the debts that must be paid whether she could work or not." I was surprised by the break in Laura's consistently positive attitude through all the ups and downs of she and Manly's first years of marriage. I found her brief complaint reassuring, though. Even Laura Ingalls Wilder had some bad days!

Source: modernpioneermom.com

Ma's tireless work to maintain a home first in The Big Woods and then on The Prairie, though, have really inspired me. She started the day by making breakfast before daylight, worked all day, and then sat and stitched or mended by firelight while Pa played his fiddle. This was a woman who knew how to work! Her are some things I've picked up from Ma:

1. Seasons matter. It seems that the Ingalls always knew what the changing weather meant for their lives. During a late snow one year, Pa said, "It's sugar snow!" Laura had never heard of sugar snow. It turned out that Laura's grandpa had tapped the maple trees for their sap, which would be made into syrup and brown sugar. A late snow meant that the trees would bud late and thus the sap would run longer. Laura's whole family came together to process the extra syrup and divide it up among themselves. The day's work ended with a dance with all the neighbors to celebrate and share the bounty. What a different perspective on late snowfall!

Another time, Pa harvested the oats. He cut the heads off some of the stems and gave the long straws to Ma. She carefully sorted the straw and wove the thinnest straw into hats for Laura and Mary, the thicker straw into hats for herself and Pa, and the thickest, roughest straw into work hats for Pa.

I really like the idea of ordering life by the seasons--by planting and harvest time and even by unexpected snows. How much stress to we put on ourselves by fighting the weather? When snow comes, we get up before daylight and go out with our salt and our shovels to take on the snowy obstacles keeping us from the things we "have" to do. We eat fresh produce all year round, paying no attention to when plants produce their fruit. If we want a straw hat, we go buy one. We establish routines that don't change for the weather, for the seasons, or for the unexpected.

2. Beauty matters. Ma always wanted everything to be pretty. She had a china doll that she carried wherever they traveled and set carefully on a shelf or mantel. She shredded carrots to use carrot juice to make her butter a nice, soft yellow. Although Laura may not have been as enthusiastic about housework as her mother was, she always wrote very lovingly of all the details that made both her childhood home and her married home beautiful. That careful attention to detail and to beauty is what makes a house a home, what makes a space welcoming and inviting.

3. There's a reason it's called "homemaking," not "home-doing." Both Ma and Pa were always making things. Pa built Ma a beautiful rocking chair. Ma made Pa, Mary, and Laura nice clothes and quilts. Pa plowed and planted fields. Ma tended the garden.

In our consumer-driven society, I am beginning to understand Pinterest's unending pages of DIY projects. People were meant to create things, not merely consume them. Managing a house is not just about cleaning dirty dishes and clothes day after day. It's about creating--creating welcoming spaces, creating order out of chaos, creating nutritious food, creating routines, creating unique items for family members. I've been thinking a lot about what I might be able to create, and so many things--like clothes, food, household items, furniture--are so much easier to buy now than they were in Laura Ingalls Wilder's childhood days. Creating things I don't know how to make when I can buy them in the store seems like an exercise in futility, especially when I'm not very crafty or decorative. However, I can write. Creating a record of thoughts and memories that I can share with others and revisit in the future is an act of creation that I can engage in now. And I am slowly learning to create other things and will continue to learn in the future.


I've only finished Laura Ingalls Wilder's first two books (and skipped ahead to read the last one which was published much later). I am looking forward to continuing to learn about life in the Ingalls household. I am especially interested in Ma's character. She seems very steady and hardworking, both traits that I could use more of in my own life. She has inspired me over the past few weeks to work harder and more intentionally to run our household.

Source: Nazarene Theological Seminary

I was thinking of Ma this morning when I got up at four o'clock (while it was still night) to put soup in the crockpot for a community lunch at the seminary today!

On Faith, Judges, Coffee, and Short-Term Missions

"The conquering power that brings the world to its knees is our faith." - 1 John 5:4, MSG

For the past eighty-five weeks (approximately), my pastor has been preaching on Judges. Right now we're on Samson.

Here's what intrigues me about Samson: His name is on a list with Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Joseph, Moses, the prophets, and so many other mighty examples of faith in Hebrews 11.

Sure, Samson was really strong. He did have some problems with the ladies and his temper, but he was, after all, one of the judges. But does that warrant a place on this list of impressive men and women of faith? Ever since we've been studying Samson, I've been wondering exactly which part of his life might be worthy of imitation. Here's what I've decided.

Let me back up.

I was talking to my friend Liz the other day about a blog post by one of our favorite bloggers, Jamie the Very Worst Missionary. Jamie suggested that maybe the way we do short-term missions isn't quite what Jesus had in mind. But here's the thing. Jesus' method is pretty scary. Don't stay in a compound or "safe" place. Go to people's houses. Eat their food, share their space, serve them. Go out in pairs, not in a big comfortable group. Don't take a long list of all that you're going to accomplish by working twelve hour days the entire time you're there. Go and be with people.

Well, I like to check items off a list. A list of "sitting, talking, eating, sleeping, repeat" makes me a little uncomfortable. Especially if we're talking about strangers. Who don't speak my language. And come from a completely different culture. Let's do activities, people!

What do short-term missions have to do with Samson? After much consideration, I would like to suggest that the one quality in Samson worthy of emulation is his impulsiveness. Sure it led to a lot of trouble with the ladies, but it also led to fulfillment of God's purposes for his life. God was "seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines" (Judges 14:4). Samson provided such occasions in spades (see: killing a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a dead donkey).

I like to be prepared. I like to think ahead and anticipate difficulties. In fact, at this exact moment, I have hanging on my refrigerator a precisely laid out schedule for the stew I plan to make for supper tonight. It begins at 12:30 with cutting up the meat and ends with finishing the last 20 minutes of simmering and then eating at 5:30.

But maybe that isn't quite the sort of faith God has in mind for us. Maybe faith does not mean anticipating all the difficulties and bypassing them. Maybe faith means heading somewhat rashly, headlong into the difficulties.

This is the kind of faith I'm trying to exercise this year. On a big scale, I want God to move powerfully in my life. I want to step out into an unknown future following the God who goes before. My first step: stop drinking coffee. Because coffee is one of the ways that I try to anticipate and bypass difficulties. If I don't get enough sleep, I drink coffee because I want my day to be productive. But then, inevitably, I can't sleep at night. So I stay up too late, waste time playing iPhone games, and make generally unhealthy decisions. And then, guess what...I'm tired the next day and drink coffee!

Yesterday was a test of my resolve. I didn't sleep very well the night before, so I was already off to a bad start. I had a busy morning of getting the house ready for visitors, practicing for chapel music, and doing the regular morning baby routine. Then, around noon, my neighbor brought over his son, who is three weeks older than my son, for me to babysit all afternoon. I hoped that one or both of them would sleep for a good portion of our time together, but they were both very excited to be in each other's presence and refused to be separated. We watched some Daniel Tiger. We threw leaves in the yard. (I threw leaves while they looked on, captivated.) We read books. We all three suffered some sort of very nearly serious injury. (Don't worry if you're reading this, Sabrina. We were all fine!) It was a LONG afternoon.

At the end of our time together, I took both boys over to the seminary to prepare for chapel. This is when I really wanted the coffee. I was playing piano. Normally I would have practiced a bit in the afternoon, but sitting at the piano with my back to the boys didn't seem like a good plan. So I walked in feeling exhausted and unprepared. I handed both boys off to people in the congregation and, after a brief sound check, waited for chapel to begin.

I couldn't remember the introduction to the first song, so I just kind of fumbled along until Mike started singing. The music was not perfect, but after the terrible introduction, I miraculously found my notes. I kept losing my place in the music, but my hands always seemed to know where to go. We didn't have time to adjust the monitor levels, so I couldn't hear the other musicians very well, and we weren't always as tight as I like, but we stayed together and made it through both songs without incident.

Maybe I didn't go to a foreign country without an itinerary or take on the enemies of God with nothing but a donkey jawbone, but I stepped out on faith. I said yes to babysitting and to playing piano and then trusted God to give me what I needed to take care of two very active boys all afternoon, immediately followed by playing piano in the first chapel service of the semester--all without coffee or enough sleep.

Hopefully that is one small step towards bringing the world to its knees.

Here's the two boys when they were much younger. Surprisingly, I did not think of taking a picture of them yesterday.