Category Archives: Words

Thoughtful Thursday

O my heart, take care that thou be in all things on the side of truth, both in small things and great; but specially, on the side of Him by whom grace and truth have come among men! ~ Spurgeon

There may be a potent medicine in the great pharmacy of Scripture, and you may yet continue sick unless you examine and search the Scriptures to discover what “he has said”. ~ Spurgeon

Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. Psalm 119:18 (ESV)

The following thoughts are from listening to Alistair Begg from Truth for Life broadcasts:

God’s eternal plan of redemption is all about Him rather then all about us. It concerns us, it transforms us, but it’s all about God.

When reading and studying the Bible the question we should ask ourselves is, what does this tell me about God?

Hope you all have time on this Thursday to read, search, examine and behold wondrous things!

Thoughtful Thursday

I’m changing things up and nixing my Quotes of the Week on Friday for posts on Thursday that I’m calling Thoughtful Thursday.

The photo above is a portion of the road we travel to get to town, to our kids’ home, to church. We enjoy the landscape along the way. What you can’t see or smell is the aftermath of someone hitting a skunk. As our dear daughter-in-law’s Granny says, you travel skunk alley to get to town! She is right. In the short time we’ve lived here and traveled this road we’ve seen and smelled over 10 skunks that were not smart enough to stay off the road. Just keeping things real. One more thing about skunks, their fragrance lingers long after they are gone.

This morning we woke up to 4 degrees F. Brrr. So thankful for a furnace that warms up the inside of our home.

In the morning I’ve tried to start a regiment of reading before I turn on my computer while I drink my cup of coffee. I’m reading the Bible, a daily dose of Spurgeon and a devotional I pull off our bookshelf. The devotional with 140 meditations that I’m reading at present is Taste and See by John Piper. In today’s reading he quotes some of his beloved English professor’s resolutions from a talk in 1976. Piper says of Dr. Kilby that he had a pastoral heart and a poet’s eye. He pled with us to stop seeking mental health in the mirror of self-analysis, but instead drink in the remedies of God in nature. He was not naïve. He knew of sin. He knew of the necessity of redemption in Christ. But he would have said that Christ purchased new eyes for us as well as new hearts.

Here are a few of his resolutions I’ll share here. Awakening Amazement at the Strange Glory of Ordinary Things

  1. At least once every day I shall look steadily up at the sky and remember that I, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planet traveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above and about me.
  2. I shall not fall into the falsehood that this day, or any day, is merely another ambiguous and plodding twenty-four hours, but rather a unique event, filled, if I so wish, with worthy potentialities. I shall not be fool enough to suppose that trouble and pain are wholly evil parentheses in my existence, but just as likely ladders to be climbed toward moral and spiritual manhood.
  3. I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simply stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud, or a person. I shall not be concerned at all to ask what they are but simply be glad that they are. I shall joyfully allow them the mystery of what Lewis calls their “divine, magical, terrifying and ecstatic” existence.

Staring at this tree…

Looking steadily at the sky.

Psalm 19:1-6

The heavens declare the glory of God,
    and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
    and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words,
    whose voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out through all the earth,
    and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
    and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
    and its circuit to the end of them,
    and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

Hoping your Thursday is filled with moments of awe and gratefulness.

One Misty Moisty Morning ~ Ладушки, Ладушки

On mornings like today this old Mother Goose nursery rhyme pops into my head and I say it again and say it again and say it again and again…

One misty moisty morning,
When cloudy was the weather,
I chanced to meet an old man,
Clothed all in leather.
He began to compliment
And I began to grin.
How do you do? And how do you do?
And how do you do again?

When I was a school teacher we had a training session on how important nursery rhymes were to a child’s language development and future reading skills. So take that baby on your knee and have fun with all the nursery rhymes out there. Sing them instead of just saying them. I remember bouncing my kids on my knee with this one, too.

Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross
To see a fine lady upon a white horse
With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes
She shall have music wherever she goes

There’s also a rhyme we would repeat in Russian that goes something like this…

Ладушки, ладушки
Pat-a-cake
Clapping Song
(Russian)
Ладушки, ладушки
Где были?
У бабушки!
Что ели?
Кашку!
Что пили?
Бражку!
Кашка масленька
Бражка сладенька
Бабушка добренька!
~
The loose translation into English
Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake,
Where were you?
At granny’s!
What did you eat?
Porridge*!
What did you drink?
A little home-brewed beer**
The porridge is buttered,
The home-brewed beer is sweet,
Granny is kind!
~
The version we sang was a bit different at the end. I’ll need to talk to my mom today and update how we ended this rhyme.
~
*In Russia porridge is very famous, it can be made from wheat (millet), oatmeal, buckwheat, rice, fine-ground barley, etc.**This probably means kvas, a Russian home-brewed non-alcoholic drink, or it means that Granny gave the children some beer to try, she indulged her grandchildren. (and actually if it sits long enough Kvas turns into an alcohol drink)
~
I updated this post with photos from our trip to Banbury, England in July of 2014.
ht: Mama Lisa’s World for the Russian Rhyme.

Fun Monday ~

 Swampy is hosting Fun Monday and this is a short version of her assignment for us.

Choose a topic/theme and make an alphabetical list of words, phrases, photos…however you want to share your topic/theme.

For Spring I assembled this flower collage with an ode to it below using the letters of the alphabet in consecutive order. Not Shakespeare by any means just my zaney attempt at being clever. Enjoy…

 

A beautiful collage delights. Every fragrance gentle, heavy, intense,  journeys kindly lingering midst new odes poetically quipped resting still tantalized under vines with Xanadu yearnings zealous and zaney!

And because yesterday was Easter here are some ABC words I associate with it…

Angel ~ Blessed ~ Christ ~ Delivered ~ Empty tomb ~ Freed ~ Grace ~ Hope ~ Infinate ~ Joy ~ King ~ Lord ~ Mercy ~ Nails ~ Omnipotent ~ Praise ~ Quench ~ Resurrected ~ Savior ~ Throne ~ Unblemished ~ Victorious ~ Wounded ~ eXalted ~ Yield ~ Zion

For more fun Monday click over to Swampy’s.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage. I’m working on updating my blog posts very slowly.

Advent Tells Us, Christ is Near ~ Hymn

At first glance this hymn may not seem appropriate for our Easter Season but read it all the way through. Blessings on you today and through Easter Celebrations this year!

Advent tells us, Christ is Near

(words by A. Katherine Hankey 1834-1911)

Advent tells us, Christ is near:
Christmas tells us Christ is here!
In Epiphany we trace
All the glory of His grace.

Those three Sundays before Lent
Will prepare us to repent;
That in Lent we may begin
Earnestly to mourn for sin.

Holy Week and Easter, then,
Tell who died and rose again;
O that happy Easter day!
“Christ is risen indeed,” we say.

Yes, and Christ ascended, too,
To prepare a place for you;
So we give Him special praise,
After those great forty days.

Then, He sent the Holy Ghost,
On the day of Pentecost,
With us ever to abide:
Well may we keep Whitsuntide!

Last of all, we humbly sing
Glory to our God and King,
Glory to the One in three,
On the Feast of Trinity.

For information on Whitsuntide click here.

This was written for Sunday School of St. Peter’s Eaton Square, London and printed on a card with music by the author.

Ht: Cyberhymnal for Hymn and history.

Fun Monday ~ Music

The Crown Princess at Ohh a shiny pen is hosting Fun Monday this week.
Ok, here is the assignment.
Music plays a vital role in most of our lives. It is everywhere. I want to hear the ONE song that is you. The song that whenever it is heard, you smile. I am not looking for the soundtrack of your life, just that one song. Your friends hear it and think of you. You can post the video, the lyrics, the wav file. However you want to post it is great.
~
 I was on the phone reading the assignment to my sister Lana G! and she suggested that You’ve Got a Friend by Carole King should be the one I post.  Carole King is a favorite of mine for sure and I love this song.  My husband was listening to my conversation with Lana and he said I should post Smack Water Jack, he’s so funny, he says really it’s only because we were talking about Carole King songs that this one popped into his head, so don’t call the authorities just yet!
~
You’ve Got A Friend
   ——Carole King

When you’re down and troubled
And you need some loving care
And nothin’, nnothin’ is goin’ right
Close your eyes and think of me
And soon I will be there
To brighten up even your darkest night

You just call out my name
And you know wherever I am
I’ll come runnin’ to see you again
Winter, spring, summer or fall
All you have to do is call
And I’ll be there
You’ve got a friend

If the sky above you
Grows dark and full of clouds
And that old north wind begins to blow
Keep your head together
And call my name out loud
Soon you’ll hear me knockin’ at your door

You just call out my name
And you know wherever I am
I’ll come runnin’, runnin, yeah, yeah,
to see you again
Winter, spring, summer or fall
All you have to do is call
And I’ll be there, yes I will

Now ain’t it good to know
that you’ve got a friend
When people can be so cold
They’ll hurt you, yes, and desert you
And take your soul if you let them
Oh, but don’t you let them.

You just call out my name
And you know wherever I am
I’ll come runnin, runnin’, yeah, yeah, yeah
to see you again
Winter, spring, summer or fall
All you have to do is call
And I’ll be there, yes I will
You’ve got a friend,
you’ve got a friend,
ain’t it good to know,
you’ve got a friend,
ain’t it good to know,
ain’t it good to know,
ain’t it good to know,
you’ve got a friend,
oh yeah now, you’ve got a friend,
yeah baby, you’ve got a friend,
oh yeah, you’ve got a friend.

You can hear a rendition of this song by clicking on the url below…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6r1175w_lM

For more Fun Monday Posts click here.

WFMW ~ Parenting Tip ~ August 1st

Deuteronomy 6: 5-7 (ESV)

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your houses, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise”

Some very simple tips to keep God in your conversation…

~ When your kids get up in the morning thank God out loud for the new day that He has given them.

~ When you sit down to your meal thank God out loud for providing another meal for you.

~ When your kids walk out the door remind them that God goes with them and they should honor Him and shine for Him.

~ When your kids lie down to sleep tell them that you love them and that God loves them.

If you go to Rocks in My Dryer you will see many more parenting tips today!

ht: Photo from Madame Blueberry Learns to be Thankful ~ Cindy Kenney,  Zonderkidz