Hello Kindred!
We are getting on toward Easter and Spring Break. Are you as busy as I am?
Here was my quiet time yesterday: While taking a shower I sang aloud the chorus from Revive Me Again. Here's how I remember it--if this is wrong don't tell me. We first-service people are a little hazy on our hymns.
"Hallelujah! Thine the glory!
Hallelujah! Amen!
Hallelujah! Thine the glory!
Revive us again!"
Does this count as a quiet time? I don't know. On the one hand, I sang it pretty loud. On the other hand, my heart was true and longing for revival. I needed Him and the shower, and, in participating fully in His calling, had not enough time for either, much less both.
I got ready to feel guilty about it and then I just stopped. It was funny. My spirit lifted. I couldn't think of why it wouldn't be pleasing to Him. I did feel revived; I didn't remember to thank Him till this morning, but better late than never.
Am I hopelessly misguided and pitifully off the mark or am I bold in the nature of the spiritually mature? Would David do this? What about Beth Moore?
Don't have time today to analyze it! Pray for me, Kindred! I do for you!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Friday, April 8, 2011
Easter Table Attitude Adjustment
Dear Kindred,
I don't know if you have had the chance to check out our new Facebook page, but head on out there when you get a second. We have some photos of our recent retreat and some Easter tablescape ideas from the 2010 Tour that I think you will be inspired by. Add Easter eggs to any one of them and you have got yourself a backdrop for a lovely celebration. Wouldn't Jane Colgan's bear table be equally delightful with bunnies instead of bears?
Speaking of fancy tables, maybe you've heard that they are doing a sequel to "Upstairs Downstairs" on PBS soon. I missed the first one; I remember my grandaddy taping them on the VHS. One of the creators of the original was talking about it on NPR this morning. She said they were watching some show with a fancy dinner party and wondering who had cooked all that food and polished all the silver and arranged all the candlesticks. She said it gave them the idea to do a story about the downstairs people--the ones who serve.
Two things hit me as I drove along:
1. At my house, the upstairs people and the downstairs people are all same one person, me.
2. Being one who serves is a Christlike thing.
It's an incredible thing we do as women, both making the celebration and participating in it. We cook the food but we also serve it and eat it. If there are tables, we set them. But we also head them up, continue the conversation, and clean up after. Historically each of these roles were filled with a separate team of people: Servant, Host, Guest. These days I sometimes feel my teams are called Me, Myself, and I.
Marie Hicks and I were chatting before early service last week. She was getting ready to go home and throw her mother a birthday party. She was about to run down her list for me, then she became momentarily silent, whelmed a bit by the magnitude of what the next two hours held for her. I understood, and I bet you do too. We never blame each other for feeling put upon. We know how it is. We share this burden as we should. We're not complaining exactly. We just want to know that someone else understands.
Read John 13 about the Lord's Supper in preparation for your Easter celebration and know that Your Lord understands. See that at this last feast he too was the host and the guest of honor. Now watch Him make himself the servant, with the towel and the bowl of water. Be shocked along with the disciples that the only One who should be served lowered himself in service. Then rise and do likewise.
I'm claiming John 13:3-4 as my attitude adjustment for this season. Because of what he will do on that cross, it all boils down to this. Once I remember that I know these same things that Jesus knows, I can gird myself accordingly for whatever comes. I can stand up, lay aside my struggles, and become the one who serves.
Happy Easter, sweet Kindred. Love each other well!
I don't know if you have had the chance to check out our new Facebook page, but head on out there when you get a second. We have some photos of our recent retreat and some Easter tablescape ideas from the 2010 Tour that I think you will be inspired by. Add Easter eggs to any one of them and you have got yourself a backdrop for a lovely celebration. Wouldn't Jane Colgan's bear table be equally delightful with bunnies instead of bears?
Speaking of fancy tables, maybe you've heard that they are doing a sequel to "Upstairs Downstairs" on PBS soon. I missed the first one; I remember my grandaddy taping them on the VHS. One of the creators of the original was talking about it on NPR this morning. She said they were watching some show with a fancy dinner party and wondering who had cooked all that food and polished all the silver and arranged all the candlesticks. She said it gave them the idea to do a story about the downstairs people--the ones who serve.
Two things hit me as I drove along:
1. At my house, the upstairs people and the downstairs people are all same one person, me.
2. Being one who serves is a Christlike thing.
It's an incredible thing we do as women, both making the celebration and participating in it. We cook the food but we also serve it and eat it. If there are tables, we set them. But we also head them up, continue the conversation, and clean up after. Historically each of these roles were filled with a separate team of people: Servant, Host, Guest. These days I sometimes feel my teams are called Me, Myself, and I.
Marie Hicks and I were chatting before early service last week. She was getting ready to go home and throw her mother a birthday party. She was about to run down her list for me, then she became momentarily silent, whelmed a bit by the magnitude of what the next two hours held for her. I understood, and I bet you do too. We never blame each other for feeling put upon. We know how it is. We share this burden as we should. We're not complaining exactly. We just want to know that someone else understands.
Read John 13 about the Lord's Supper in preparation for your Easter celebration and know that Your Lord understands. See that at this last feast he too was the host and the guest of honor. Now watch Him make himself the servant, with the towel and the bowl of water. Be shocked along with the disciples that the only One who should be served lowered himself in service. Then rise and do likewise.
I'm claiming John 13:3-4 as my attitude adjustment for this season. Because of what he will do on that cross, it all boils down to this. Once I remember that I know these same things that Jesus knows, I can gird myself accordingly for whatever comes. I can stand up, lay aside my struggles, and become the one who serves.
Happy Easter, sweet Kindred. Love each other well!
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