Making Lent Linger - contemplating the next preparation...

Our lenten season was full of pressing in closer to the Lord, and what He desired for us to receive...

I was determined to speak only kind words to sweet tweener, even in the midst of any "tweener storms", and I think she was really trying to give up "arguing" or "talking back" (tho' she believes she is simply sharing her heart when it happens - smiling) - she didn't tell me so, but I heard and saw her check herself on more than one occasion, and she alluded to something "she was giving up" for lent...

one of those things a mother ponders in her heart!

I didn't want to pry; I wanted her to enjoy her personal interaction with the Lord - so I still don't know...but there weren't any tweener storms, just little spurts of being irritated at what the other said or done - no doubt bouts of carnality in each of our hearts;

the very reason we each desperately need the Lord  -

we counted the days with a stalk of wheat around the Lenten calendar that we ordered and Caleb Voskamp made -


...but I'm not quite ready to let go of this marking of time;

I'm not quite ready to even examine if the Lord accomplished a work in my heart;

I just want to still be in this contemplative place...

And so we are still counting...

We started with the day that First Fruits was celebrated - we know that day by the name of "Easter" -

Yes, Easter is the celebration of the Lord's Resurrection, but it is also First Fruits - a separate feast from Passover yet connected intimately to it, appointed by the LORD, and celebrated faithfully by observant Jews - and I didn't even know about it for so many years...

Another time of joy that points to Jesus as our Messiah...and the beginning of another count - one of 50 days.  Perhaps an invitation to practice Resurrection into new life?  Not just to celebrate His, but to begin the journey of making it our own; that every day of our life in Him is a little resurrection in and of itself? 

We are into day 4 of the count...would you like to join us?  And contemplate along with us?

This is what we are doing:

1) We have made a "count down" calendar...

Click here to download the plain "Word" version...

Click here to download a jpg image of the calendar...

2) Each day there is a reading from the Scripture

3) When we have finished the reading, we mark the calendar and place another stalk of wheat in a vase...we began with the stalk of wheat that traveled around the Lenten Calendar with us...

Our vase today...

The first readings are from Psalm 119 - one letter of the alphabet each day -

There's plenty of time to...

         Join us!?

Sharing with Walk with Him Wednesdays                                 And Imperfect Prose here                      

Lamb of God...free printable

I love the symbols of my liturgical roots...and I love the image of Jesus as the Lamb of God...I have been waiting for Holy Week to offer this as a free printable...it is sized at 8.5" by 11" and 300 dpi.  It does have a white frame around it.  The words are inspired by a post written by Ann Voskamp.  When you click the download link (my flickr account) there is another image with no text to choose if you like...

****Download here****

Please share with other who might like this?  And leave a comment letting me know(?) - I would love to know this is a blessing to you this week...

We are attempting to observe Passover customs in our house this week.  The lamb without blemish was to be taken into the house for about 4 days prior to the Passover...this gave the head of the house time to observe that the lamb was indeed without blemish and worthy, but it also insured a relationship with the sweet little thing would have begun...the slaying and eating of the lamb would have been a great sacrifice, and remorse would have been a natural emotion during the Passover meal...followed by the excitement and awe of being freed from bondage!  

We don't have any little lambs, and I thought of perhaps a stuffed animal, but my husband came up with the perfect idea - the traditional Easter lamb cake needed to be baked early, and kept around for a few days, then we would literally eat it for Passover!  So it is sitting on our kitchen island!  Baked, not frosted yet...and no image for you!  But just the idea...sweet tweener has been collecting walking sticks for herself for several weeks, and we will gather them to have as we prepare for our "journey"...

We are reviewing the final week of Jesus' life for Bible and some of our language and history work...it is making this week very powerful as the emotional fervor rises in Jerusalem - and the epic tale grips our hearts as any good novel would - with one difference...this is for real, for eternity, for us!

Sharing with Painting Prose here 

and 

Walk With Him Wednesdays here.

How is {my ministry} defined?

{sigh} We love the Advent/Lenten wreath we ordered from Caleb Voskamp!

I still remember the day I read Luke 1:6
with eyes illumined by the instruction of the Holy Spirit:

They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments 

and requirements of the Lord…

One verse. 20 words. The summation of a long life lived for the Lord.  This was the pronouncement of the Holy Spirit; the “well done, good and faithful servants”, spoken of two people who had gone unnoticed for years, but who had nontheless served their God faithfully,

in the shelter of secret places – 

of heart and home, 

of minds and souls.  

I remember thinking to myself, “I would be thrilled for that one sentence to be said of me!” 

Read the rest of the post here...


Joining with the Community at "Walk With Him Wednesdays"


and 
Painting Prose 

The Only Thing We Really Need...

If I am going to set a goal, if I am going to develop a new habit at the beginning of this new year, my year of "Contemplate"; shouldn't it be a goal that:

compliments His leadings for me - 

develops a habit that has value beyond what I might see -

is something that transcends what I might (in my human frailty) miss because I am focused 

on a weakness or a need or a want that may loom in importance in my fallen heart, but miss the mark of what He has for me?

Shouldn't it be a goal or habit that reaches beyond what I can do in my own strength?  That must tap into His power that is at work within us (Ephesians 3:20)?  That releases in us something immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine?

 And couldn't this goal have eternal value, for "... physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come." (1 Timothy 4:8 NIV)?

Out of all the voices clamoring for our attention in these days, how does anyone really know what the one thing they need is?  Just for fun, I typed "the one thing we need" into my google search window and got....

2,300,000,000 results!

(and I hadn't posted this yet, so add "one" to that number!) 

 

 "One thing" typed into my favorite online Bible program yielded only 6 results, with 4 being applicable to me today:

Psalm 62:11(NIV) One thing God has spoken,

Where is your quiet road taking you?

           two things have I heard:

           that you, O God, are strong,

           12and that you, O Lord, are loving...

Philippians 3:13(NAS) Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

John 9:25 (NIV) He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” 

Psalm 27:4 (NAS) One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek:
         That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,
         To behold the beauty of the LORD
         And to meditate in His temple. 

These are my true "goal-setting" questions:

What do these verses teach me about the one thing I desire?

What is the one thing God desires of me?

Is there one thing that satisfies the criteria listed above?

Which direction is He quietly leading in?

The Psalm 62 passage guides towards the "one thing" - 

there is one thing is that the Lord does...

He speaks!

and that leads to the  

one thing we really need:

 that is...

to hear Him!

  

That was His first desire in all of Creation, to share Himself with us, and when that sweet fellowship was severed in the fall, He came seeking and SPEAKING to restore what was lost...and our first mother and father heard!  And in His dealings with His creation ever since, He has reached out to us through speaking - and those we regard as heroes....h.e.a.r.d...

That one thing, that habit, that goal which facilitates my contemplation, that encompasses the enormity of Him, that has the ability to transcend my feebleness AND my misguided "strengths", that has a benefit for this life and the one to come ...

is developing my hearing ear for His constant, guiding, seeking, healing, restorative voice.

Ancient doors leading to new possibilities...

The Beauty of Holiness - Part 8

12Now when the turn of each young lady came to go in to King Ahasuerus, after the end of her twelve months under the regulations for the women—for the days of their beautification were completed as follows: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and the cosmetics for women...

Today we are continuing the study of  Esther 2:12, the last phrase of "six months with spices and the cosmetics of women" (NASB):

 

Cosmetics - the same word translated as "beautification"

Scraping/rubbing                                                                     

Spices   -  from a word meaning "sweet odors" or "spices"  and the King James adds "with other things for the purifying of women"                                                                                 

In essence, spices are perfume.  There is a perfume defined in the Bible - "All thy garments [smell] of myrrh, and aloes, [and] cassia" - the fragrance of Jesus as written in Psalm 45:8.
                                                              

Myrrh  -  Last week we learned it is a spice associated with Death (in this case, meaning death of the Old Nature, of the flesh), with anointing, with love, and with purification.  The fragrant oil is released when the spice is crushed; myrrh is a picture of the fragrance of Jesus being released when we are crushed...by life, by our own choices or the choices of another, by walking in a fallen world...

Aloes - these spices were from a tree native to India and which was very aromatic.  Aloes are often
             associated with the Fragrance of nature

Cassia - a cinnamon like powdered bark that is often associated with the Fragrance of Christ

Just as Esther was being prepared to be a possible queen, our days of beautification are intended to prepare us to be transformed into a citizen of heaven, infusing us with the nature, anointing, and fragrance of Christ Himself - and leaving behind conformity to this world's system.  During the beautification process we are setting our affections on our new home, instead of this earth home (Colossians 3:2)…

and this is how holiness is worked in us, a continuous scraping and scrubbing and cleansing from that which is old and dead and worthless, and a soaking in all that is found in newness of life with Jesus, being infused with His nature and fragrance...


and just why am I surprised when the pain of releasing that which is old comes?  Can I learn to quickly see His "beautification" process has come to me in that moment, in that way?


Work Your beauty in me, O God!

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6 
Part 7 



Joining Emily at Imperfect Prose and Ann at Walk With Him Wednesdays