Any Way You Slice It

I am exposed to rather less advertising than most people but still sometimes something comes along that grabs my attention. 

On my email page the other day this photo popped up:

with the caption: Why women in their fifties look 35. 

Now, really. I don't recall ever seeing a woman of 35 with strawberries plastered to her face. And I am surely disinclined to try it. 

End of Winter Musings

Winter. This year it goes on and on. I keep bumping into one big question: What amazing thing is God doing with all this snow and cold?

Thinking about winter this way gives me hope. I am all about hope and watching for the first signs of life being brought forth from winter. I wish I were biologist enough to know how 
so much winter affects life. What is going on down under all this snow? Will the flowers and crops be especially abundant and beautiful? And the animals, how will it affect them? 

I think one way God uses nature is to teach us hope. He has made the ebbing and flowing of seasons a part of human nature; it resonates with us and makes sense. God says in Ecclesiastes 3 that He has "made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity into man's heart." What I learn from watching seasons change ~ maybe especially seemingly endless seasons ~ helps build hope into my heart. 

Romans 8:22-25 has been one of my memory passages:

For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.  And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.  For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience

It almost feels as if nature is groaning under the pain of winter and waiting for spring, as Lewis showed when Narnia was under the White Witch's rule. What will all that snow give birth to?

But spring is coming. And what application does this have for different types of "winter" ~ what beautiful glory is God working under all the stuff I'd rather not experience? I am waiting with hope to see.

Not by Might

For me one of the deep truths - the sparkling ornaments that I learn from during Advent seasons (the time of celebrating Christ coming to dwell with us) is that victory really does not come from the kind of might I think it does. I have been mulling over some of the lovely sides of that ornament. 

~ ~ ~

I remember one of the first latin phrases I picked up in junior high, probably from a poem. Amor vincit omnia. Love conquers all. True of God's love. We are reminded of that love with the birth of Christ, and then again, so much at his death and resurrection.

~ ~ ~

Not long after that, I got the same idea about God's love often conquering us quietly and seemingly from a place of weakness, in the Edwin Markham poem Outwitted:

He drew a circle that shut me out —

Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.

But Love and I had the wit to win:

We drew a circle that took him in!

We drew a circle that shut God out. But He showed how large His love is by drawing a huge circle with Christ to take us back in.

~ ~ ~

And James 2:13 includes "Mercy triumphs over judgment." Not the usual cry of power.

~ ~ ~

Last week at a Christmas concert we heard this song, new to me. It moves a little fast, so the words are posted below.

This little Babe so few days old, is come to rifle Satan's fold;

All hell doth at his presence quake, though he himself for cold do shake;

For in this weak unarmed wise the gates of hell he will surprise.

With tears he fights and wins the field, his naked breast stands for a shield.

His battering shot are babish cries, his arrows looks of weeping eyes,

His martial ensigns Cold and Need, and feeble Flesh his warrior's steed.

His camp is pitched in a stall, his bulwark but a broken wall;

The crib his trench, haystalks his stakes; of shepherds he his muster makes; 

And thus, as sure his foe to wound, the angels' trumps alarum sound.

My soul, with Christ join thou in fight; stick to the tents that he hath pight. 

Within his crib is surest ward; this little Babe will be thy guard.

If thou wilt foil thy foes with joy, then flit not from this heavenly Boy.

"foil thy foes with joy" - there is the reminder that my soul longs for

~ ~ ~

Luke 5, So Far

I'm working my way through Luke slowly, more or less memorizing it (certainly less on that geneology). Anyhow. I have the great blessing of having been churched all my life, and am struck by memories as I work through the miracles of Christ: I am pretty sure my Sunday School in kindergarten must have worked through the miracles in Luke. 

Each time I read one of them slowly, I notice I have the sense of being in the room that was our church's kindergarten classroom. Last week ago I was there, in that room, being amazed when Jesus taught the crowds from a boat and then had Simon Peter let down the nets for a catch: today I am there to see the paralyzed man's friends let him down through the roof! to be healed and have his sins forgiven. I feel some of the same wow! as I did as a little child with layers of new understanding on top of it, and I can almost feel the lacy gloves, scratchy slip, and church hat I wore in those days.

~ ~ ~

I just love Simon Peter's "at your word I will let down the nets"
and then to see all those fish flopping in the nets. 

Here She Comes

Last year "they" started naming winter storms. Meet this year's first 26:

Apparently Atlas has started already. Oh boy. Oh joy.

App Development Time

I am working on new apps for my iPod and open to suggestions. Sadly I do not know any coding stuff so I am a bit light on the details of how to make these things actually work, but the idea is the main thing, right? right?

Virtual Cuppa - this app gets you through rainy days, boredom, slight illness, or anything else that cries out for comfort. You pour a mug of water, hold the mobile device over it, and type in what sort of tea you want and if you want any sweeteners. The app even heats it. There will definitely be a beta version for hot chocolate (gotta figure out how to whip the cream) and probably some coffee lover will insist on yet another similar app.

Not Today - allows you to hit the button and bump a crisis into the future. Bad day for the washing machine to flood the basement? Just access Not Today and it will be moved forward. (One guess what may have happened here today) I am pretty sure you will not be allowed to bump a particular crisis more than once, so use it carefully.

TruPaint - I have been thinking about the need for this one from way back in Commodore 64 days. This app Truly Paints your walls, furniture, car, whatever, just as quickly and smoothly as a paint program fills in areas on the screen - no drips, no spills, no missed spots, no brush strokes or gnats stuck in the paint. Just take a photo of what needs to be painted, highlight the area to color, and click on the desired shade. Voila - your item is immediately and perfectly painted, in just one coat! Did I mention it dries instantly to the exact hue you chose, no matter what the lighting is?

Math Meld - This app is pricey, sorry about that, but I call it a bargain. It allows the homeschooling Mom to simply wirelessly convey math skills to the somewhat frustrated child by accessing the app and placing her hands on the child's head, Spock style, assuring success in everything from decimals to factoring pesky trinomials to basic differentiation. 

ReDo - This is the biggest idea yet. It quite simply moves you back five seconds so you get a second chance to not touch that live wire, drop the casserole, or say the smart aleck remark. 

got more ideas? I'm sure I'll be adding more as soon as I figure out the details so the apps work.  :) 

Too Easy

Miss Language shared a 7 minute workout with us and I decided to give it a try because, really, how hard can anything be that only runs as long as about two youtube videos?
So Monday I asked Miss Dog Lover if she wanted to join me for it and her answer gave me my first inkling that it may not be as painless as I was thinking. She told me she didn't want to do it because "it's too easy."

I have a theory that Screwtape could have written a letter to Wormwood about the advantages of teaching humans not to bother with doing things that are "too easy" but saving their strength for the Big, Important Work.

Not to jot out a thank you or get well note, much too easy. Not to bother with a simple kindness at home. Not to do the easy work of memorizing a verse, or of praying for someone in need. Not to hold your tongue or your temper. Because all of these are Too Easy, and really not worth doing.

And what do you know, those 7 minutes are not actually as easy to do as they are to think about.  :-P