Anachronism explanation: I wrote this post last week. :]
It struck me on a Friday. Reading words from the first chapter of Hebrews:
You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth,
And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
They will perish, but You remain;
And they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will fold them up,
And they will be changed.
But You are the same,
And Your years will not fail. {Heb. 1:10-12, emphasis added}
And it struck me on a Tuesday. With the words of Ann Voskamp as she considered her life, the world we live in, how to practice the presence of God, observing and asking:
The world I live in is loud and blurring and toilets plug and I get speeding tickets and the dog gets sick all over the back step and I forget everything and these six kids lean hard into me all day to teach and raise and lead and I fail hard and there are real souls that are at stake and how long do I really have to figure out how to live full of grace, full of joy–before these six beautiful children fly the coop and my mothering days fold up quiet? {One Thousand Gifts, p. 120}
On the Wednesday I stared down at a baby boy, dreamily drinking his milk and about to fall asleep for a belated morning nap. This day, tomorrow, and then he’ll be a year old.
Everything about life as I know it will sooner or later change. That image, of the heavens and the earth folding up, it nearly startled me. Like a tablecloth covering a table, a garment covering a bare back — the cloth can fold up, be removed. The thing underneath, that is the thing which endures.
Underneath the stoplights and grocery stores and tin shacks and post offices, beneath the television stations and grandfather clocks, libraries and even the mighty Amazon River — this one thing remains. When all that we’ve ever known, life as we know it folds up like a blanket at the end of time, set aside, work accomplished, there will be what there was in the beginning. God.
In the beginning was God.
At first this understanding is hard for me. I’m not a big fan of change. Stay eleven months, baby. Stay healthy, body. Stay living, friends and family. Stay here.
But I am so glad I know the One who endures. Him who saw, foreknew, predestined, purposed and planned my very soul.
I’m so glad He is good. I’m so glad He never changes. Knowing that this isn’t all there is makes the fact that things are going to change a little easier to handle. This life is like a tablecloth, or a garment covering the real thing underneath.
We who were created by Him and for Him — Him for whom all things are and by whom all things are — have the privilege to accept the invitation He wrote and paid for, the one that will bring us to His glory.
And a little bit of peace comes to this Mama-soul, knowing when this folds up, the childhood and the onesies, the swaddling and the sippee cups, sleepless nights and pajamas dancing on the living room floor — when Time itself is neatly folded and put up in some eternal linen closet, still somehow, Glory to God, the best is yet to come.
We watched videos this morning from those precious moments one year ago when our nine-pound Tiger was born in nine minutes. They weren’t actual videos of the birth, however. In case you were wondering. I was pretty much in tears — watching the videos, not during the birth — and not just at the tiny new baby, but also at how the Bear has changed in the past year.
The Birthday boy’s been having an okay day. He got to talk to Goo-Goo & Gammy on Skype and hang out with G-pa a little. But more little toofers are breaking through so he’s been kind of bummed about that. Today’s theme was “It’s my birthday and I’ll nap if I want to.” He didn’t want to. Our wee Breakfast Brunch Birthday Bash for Blakey will be happening tomorrow morning because we thought our stuff would be arriving from SA yesterday or today. They’ve now said Monday.
And we sure are hoping.
Another important part of celebrating the festivities today was choosing a winner for the Quiver Tree Photo Giveaway, which launched on the Tank’s due date! Since Tiger Tank was in no mood to choose a winner, we decided to let Gpa click the number generator thingy to randomly select the winner. Just so no one would be concerned it was the Hubs or yours truly behind the wheel, choosing a favourite.
You’re all my favourite!!
And this is what Gpa’s click chose:
And number 47 was….
Megan Boltes
who said:
We would [love] to have pics of both of our boys now that our youngest is home : )
So congrats, Megan! Since you entered through Facebook, I’ll contact you on FB so we can plan your photo session!
But hang tight before you get totally bummed and say “I never win anything” and go eat a few cookies with ice cream to make yourself feel better. {Or is that just me?} Once the Hubs and I saw all you sweet people entering, we started to get kind of bummed because we could only choose one winner, so we came up with a plan.
For all of you delightful folks who entered the giveaway but came in “close second”, we’re going to take a third off of the cost of a photo session {$75 – $25 = $50!} and give you 10% off any prints or photo products you order after your session, if you book a session/order in the next three months!
We will email or Facebook you to confirm those details, but if you don’t receive an email, just comment here or contact us on Facebook so we can send through the coupon codes and contact details and whoseywhatnots.
Thanks so much for entering and sharing the word. We really would love to get to hang with each and everyone of you.
One more lovely parting gift for all of you this evening: we managed to grab some 12 months shots of our precious little Tiger this afternoon. It was kind of yucky and rainy, and they are presently unedited, but here’s our smiling birthday boy!
A quick stroll down memory lane…
We’ve gone from here…
to here…
In what feels like 90 minutes.
Can you believe it?
Well b’deep b-b-deep, that’s all folks! Thanks again!
Irecently read an article in the Wall Street Journal which talked about the growing cultural divide among classes in America. The author mentioned different levels of income, living in different locations, the likely presence or absence of religion, whether children in each group are likely to grow up with married parents or not. It was very interesting. The premise of the article was that this cultural divide is very problematic for the future of our country, but it will take grassroots efforts, not top-down legislation to bridge the gap and keep us United.
Care to guess the difference between the two groups which stuck out to me more than any other?
Statistics about single parenthood, unemployment, or crime?
‘Course not.
I was completely distracted by the comment that one group eats cereal and milk is not at all likely to eat yogurt and muesli for breakfast.
I was distracted because we eat yogurt and muesli for breakfast, and I hadn’t considered the fact that it’s kind of posh. I guess my foreign hubs has a bit of poshness about him, though I’d more accurately chalk it up to the cultural differences.
Among those differences is his preference, which I’ve inherited (although I still do oatmeal with peanut butter and honey some mornings) — for yogurt and muesli or granola en la mañana. I digress to ‘splain that the muesli we more commonly ate in the UK and SA differs from the granola we eat here because muesli generally consists of rolled oats that haven’t been cooked (they’ve been soaked usually), whereas the granola oats have spent some time in the oven.
Anywho.
This could bring us back to the not-so-posh side of posh, but I’ve been considering making my own granola since Apple became a publicly traded company. Okay, maybe just since before Tiger Tank could crawl.
Similar to the bread issue that kicked off my affinity for baking our bread myself, this adventure was birthed out of a desire to find a cost-effective and healthy alternative to the expensive granola on the shelves at the grocery store.
So I did some research, dragged my feet, went back and reread the recipes I’d already looked at, and dove in.
Here’s the scoop on how you can too. {Make the granola, not drag your feet, that is.}
Start with this team of champions:
Old Fashioned Oats, Unsweetened Applesauce, Brown Sugar, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Chopped Pecans, Sliced Almonds, Sea Salt, Honey, Vegetable Oil and Raisins.
Turns out making granola with applesauce is a much healthier choice than the traditional method that calls for lots of oil. Applesauce is so magical.
Preheat your oven to 325F/160C.
In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup applesauce,
2 TBSP honey,
and 2 TBSP vegetable oil. This picture might still be honey. I can’t remember.
Oh wait, there’s the oil.
Warm gently over a low heat with an occasional stir. If you want to talk to the food while you’re at it, that’s up to you. I’m not here to judge.
Meanwhile, stir together 5 cups old fashioned oats,
1/2 cup of slivered almonds and 1 cup chopped pecans…
Why, yes I always measure my nuts into pretty dishes when I’m cooking. It had nothing to do with the Hubs taking pictures.
1/2 cup brown sugar…
{dump}
1/2 tsp of sea salt…
2 tsp. cinnamon and 1/2 tsp nutmeg.
{I’d like to note here that if you’re not a big fan of the taste of nutmeg you might want to scale it back to 1/4 tsp or skip it all together. Because we eat our granola with yogurt, it mellows it out to perfection for me.}
Stir to nicely combine.
And then pour in the applesauce mixture which should be nice and warm by now.
Stir till all the oats and pecans feel like they’ve had a chance to warm up in the mushy goodness.
{Did I mention that if you haven’t moved into your aunt’s old home and inherited a smiley face spoon, you haven’t lived? Truth.}
Now evenly distribute the glorious contents of your mixing bowl into two 9 x 13 dishes.
Turn the oven down to 300F/150C and bung them into the oven (that’s how my mother-in-love says it) for about an hour, stirring every 10 minutes, until the granola is a deep brown. (I just think the hot preheat seems to help with my browning. I might just have a lazy oven.)
When you think it looks good, remove it to cool and boo-yow! The breakfast of my champions! It will get a little crunchier as it cools, but if you like yours good ‘n crunchay let it go a little longer. I keep mine on the softer side for the sake of the little teeth that also like to munch it.
Once it has cooled, stir in 2/3 cup of raisins.
Bask in the glorious goodness. And pat yourself on the back. Or whatever you do to celebrate.
This recipe makes about 8 cups. I like to store it in a cleaned out applesauce jar.
Posh, no?
You can easily halve this recipe to see whether or not you like it before going all out. I think this lasts about a week around these parts. Feel free to add 1/2 or 1 cup sunflower kernels, or other nuts. I was just wasn’t feeling the kernels this time. Sorry guys, maybe next time.
I created a printable recipe card for you. Because I love you. And have fun with creating things in Pages.
Let me know if you decide to try it, and how it goes! I borrowed heavily from Drea Wood’s Granola and Fake Ginger’s while finding my own thang. They’ll help you halve the ingredients if you don’t want a bunch like I did. But for all that work, why not make a bunch? 🙂
Back in the summer of 2008, just a few months before the Bear was born, I can remember passionately singing the words to the worship song How He Loves in a cinema-turned church service in the city centre of Edinburgh, Scotland. I remember commenting to a friend that the song felt like a “modern day hymn” as we softly repeated the verses we’d sung that morning in the car on the way home.
It was a song full of life, a fresh look at the love of God, and a song best described by the word passion.
It was only this morning, all these years later, that I heard the powerful backstory to the birth of this beautiful song, and nearly wept.
In November of 2002, a worshiper of God named John Mark McMillan received a call that two of his friends had been critically injured in a car accident. Later that evening, he received another call from his father that Stephen Coffey, his best friend, had passed away.
The next morning he woke up, and as Jonathan David Helser described it in this awesome podcast {click the one called “Born for Greatness”, he decided to get up, and as an answer to the voices surrounding him asking “How could God do this? How can God take your best friend and still be good? Is God really good?” he picked up his guitar and began to sing, over and over again, “He loves us. Oh, how He loves us. He loves us. How He loves us so.”
It was the birth of a song of passion, sung with joy and with weeping by people across this nation and throughout the world. {It was covered by David Crowder Band in 2009 and received a Dove Award in 2010.}
It turns out that on that night, McMillan’s friend Stephen Coffey was at church: a youth minster, at a church prayer meeting. He prayed aloud at that prayer meeting, “I’d give my life today if it would shake the youth of the nation.” And it was that very night that he was in a multi-car accident and died of serious injuries.
That song has shaken the youth of this nation. And to that God who loves us so — our mysterious, majestic, and great Creator — to Him be the glory.
{Yes this is long, but it is worth listening to the end. Very worth it.}
As I recently read through Deuteronomy 7, I thought about the fact that God displayed His power to save and deliver Israel before they were to conquer and enter the Promised Land. Their story as a nation, a people set apart by God began with His deliverance.
That mighty deliverance — the miraculous demonstration of the power of God, the plagues, the Passover, the parting of the Red Sea (shall we call them the 3 P’s?) — all these things happened before it was the time for them to enter in to the Promised Land (P #4) and receive what God destined for them to inherit.
Why does it matter that the deliverance happens first?
I believe it’s the same in our own lives — God meets us wherever we are, and when we are willing to listen, to hear and to understand the Gospel, and when we receive the forgiveness bought by the cross for our sins, we too, become a people set apart by God. And it starts with our own deliverance. That deliverance from our own sinful and selfish nature — that marks the beginning of the journey toward walking in the destiny and purpose of God for our lives. It starts with God — showing His power, His amazing Love, His incredible Grace.
Moses was recalling the stories of God’s deliverance to the people of Israel in Deut. 7 — and repeatedly giving them the charge to Remember.
The power that the people of Israel had already seen — the mighty power of God that forced Pharaoh to free the thousands of slaves that were causing his empire to prosper — that was the power the Israelites could believe in when they faced the giants in the land they were supposed to conquer.
We cling to our faith by remembering.
As the story continued in Deut. 8, five times more Moses instructed the people to remember or not to forget.
And in Deut. 9 Moses told them not to for a moment think that the deliverance was because they were good people:
It is not because you are so good or have such integrity that you are about to occupy their land. The LORD your God will drive these nations out ahead of you only because of their wickedness, and to fulfill the oath he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You must recognize that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land because you are good, for you are not — you are a stubborn people. (v 6) {He goes on here to recall a story of their stubbornness as a reminder.}
Does any of this sound familiar or have a parallel in your own life?
It was not because of my own goodness that God delivered me — I was actually a mess, not listening even though I could hear His whisper and see Him continually providing a way of escape. I always had a choice to get out of the destructive patterns I was walking in, and I sensed it was the Lord opening that door. But I ignored it until it became so glaringly obvious — God loved me, my life was a mess. As undeserving as I was, He still choose to show me His love, and He showed me that He had a better plan for me.
Like the people of Israel, enslaved in Egypt, He first chose me and showed me His deliverance when I was a slave to my own sin. He is a God who never changes, so I can trust that the power to deliver was not a one-time deal… not a “I saved you, but if you get yourself in another pickle or life passes you a problem, you’re on your own.”
When God pursues us, He has more than just deliverance in mind.
He has a Promised Land for you and me to inherit.
Sometimes we have to face giants to walk in the promises of God. Sometimes the giants are challenging circumstances — empty bank accounts, frightening diagnoses — but sometimes the giants are things we need to overcome in our own soul.
It wasn’t God that kept the Israelites out of the Promised Land. It was their own fear about whether or not they could take it.
This is where that remembering can come in, strong and powerful to shape our destinies. If He has delivered and does deliver, He will deliver.He was able to bring me out of that trial, He can bring me through this one.
The writer of Hebrews summed up the Israelites’ wandering in the wilderness in this way:
So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest. {Heb. 3:19}
God has rest for us. Peace for us. Joy for us. There are unspeakable riches to be found in Christ Jesus. It just takes believing in the possibility that you can enter that Promised Land, and stepping out in faith to fight for it.
If you’ve been delivered, Egypt is behind you. Remember what the Lord has done, and look ahead with eyes of faith. In this life and the next, we will receive the promises of God by faith.
We have a glorious inheritance.
xCC
P.S. Have you heard about the Quiver Tree Giveaway? You need to enter by Thursday at midnight. Just checking!
I create resources to help people find deeper, more meaningful relationships with God through pursuing, pondering, and prayer. The "Shop" link above will take you to the home of many of the lovely resources I’ve created to help you keep walking one day deeper with Jesus.
, p. 120}
I create resources to help people find deeper, more meaningful relationships with God through pursuing, pondering, and prayer. The "Shop" link above will take you to the home of many of the lovely resources I’ve created to help you keep walking one day deeper with Jesus.