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When to Warn Someone …
Have you ever gotten into a situation that you KNOW you could have avoided if someone had just given you accurate information and warned you to STAY AWAY(!)? I’m thinking in particular here about jobs, relationships, hiring someone to do some work around the house or for your office building, etc. Why do you think it is that people don’t warn one another? – We don’t want to be gossips or have loose lips. Who wants to talk about someone’s weaknesses? That’s no fun! Plus, who knows? Maybe that person has grown? Maybe they have changed? Who are we to say? (So we tell ourselves, “It would be gossip to…
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Some Women are Such Wonderful Peacemakers (!)
Just finished a call with a friend. And can I just say … this is a great woman. She is careful in her speech; quick to overlook; funny, interesting, steadfast, full of faith, and full of laughter. PLUS, although I assume she would never describe herself as a “Christian conciliator” or “mediator”, she completely fulfills what many of us “in the biz” say all the time: Most of the profoundly gifted peacemakers are already in the churches. They’ve never had any formal training. They don’t know the difference between the Slippery Slope or the Seven A’s … but they breathe in Christ and breathe out Christ and help others to…
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Valentine’s Day Fun at Co-Op
I do like a shindig! Glad my friends do too …
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Grandma Eleanor’s Recipes
Yowza! I had something happen to me today that RARELY (ever??) happens … Someone asked me for the RECIPE for something I actually cooked. Without help. This is very fun for me … SO … (drum roll please) … here is Grandma Eleanor’s recipe for Sugar Cookies (and frosting too). Note: I can’t imagine any cardiologist recommending this recipe so enjoy at your own risk: CHRISTMAS BUTTER COOKIES * Make the dough the night before and refrigerate it (and keep the dough cool as you work with it) * – Cream 1 cup butter & 1 cup powdered sugar – Add 1 egg and beat until fluffy – Add 1…
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An Abiding Sense of One’s Own Sinfulness
From The Joy of Fearing God: The Fear of the Lord is a Life-Giving Fountain by Jerry Bridges: “Nothing produces humility in a Christian as much as an abiding sense of one’s own sinfulness … As we seriously pursue holiness we’ll grow in humility, for we discover, as Calvin said, that ‘our nature, wicked and deformed, is always opposing his uprightness; and our capacity, weak and feeble to do good, lies far from his perfection.'” ‘It is not enough to appreciate God’s love only in terms of our initial salvation. We should be growing each year in our awareness of the depth of His love for us in Christ—as we…
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Nothing cuts to the nerve of the desire to pursue holiness as much as a sense of guilt …
‘To the degree that we feel we are on a legal or performance relationship with God, to that degree our progress in sanctification is impeded. A legal mode of thinking gives indwelling sin an advantage, because nothing cuts the nerve of the desire to pursue holiness as much as a sense of guilt. On the contrary, nothing so motivates us to deal with sin in our lives as does the understanding and application of the two truths that our sins are forgiven and the dominion of sin is broken because of our union with Christ.’ Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace: God’s Role and Our Role in the Pursuit of…
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If sin be not mortified in its guilt …
Yesterday was a full day of study and prep for me for my new women’s retreat on fear: I’m up to 70 or so pages of content and illustrations, so I should be nearing “the end” for what I will research before I take a first swing at actually lining out each session’s handouts and questions for discussion. What a privilege it is to study this material! I am being helped so much. And I dearly pray that I will get to serve the women in Iowa (in April) well too. Here’s are two quotes from my research yesterday that were sweet reminders for me: “To the degree that we…
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Moving Quickly (but Honestly) through a Tremendously Hurtful Conflict (Part 2)
I hate conflict. I really do. I just hate it when I am defensive or when I attack someone. I hate being around defensive people who attack me. It’s all so frustrating and adrenaline-filled and unpleasant. But yet again, only days after my exchange with Fred (see Part 1 if you’re interested), I was in yet another conflict. Grrrrr. The cause of this one was really easy to spot because it was SO completely, 100% ME. My words. My thoughtless, careless, wish-I-hadn’t-said-’em, Oh!-a-tiny-spark-really-CAN-start-a-whole-forest-on-fire, words. It was unintentional. I really didn’t mean to cause what I caused! But that really doesn’t matter because I am responsible for my words and in…
