After a long absence (sometimes school just seems to get in the way….) I was going to post today about homeschooling, but then I heard about George Tiller’s death, and school will just have to wait.
For those of us who are “pro-life” George Tiller has represented the worst of the other side for years. Even though he has been investigated for illegalities with varying rates of success (depending on your point of view), his legal activities alone are enough to have made this man into the figurehead of the abortion movement that he is. I won’t go into his activities – there will be enough of that in the media over the next several days to keep everyone entertained.
What I’d like to address is my own role in what Tiller represented – yes, I said my own role. Not that I have ever actively supported abortion – even in my “liberal” days I was aghast at the prospect of abortion, that I or anyone I knew would even consider such an alternative. No, my own role has been the same one we all share – as a citizen of the United States and a human being.
By being a US citizen, I share in the responsibility of the legalization and acceptance of abortion. I am a citizen of a democracy, and even though I may disagree with what our government does, I share in the responsibility of its actions. Because I enjoy the freedoms my government gives me, I have to allow others like freedoms. I have to allow others to have their opinions that abortion, even late term abortion is acceptable. I have to allow others to practice what is legal to practice in our country. That doesn’t mean that I like it, or that I want it to continue. That doesn’t mean that I won’t work to change the law. It doesn’t mean that I won’t pray and work to change people’s minds about what is acceptable. But it does mean that I still share in the responsibility of this horrendous practice in our country.
As a human being I share in the tragedy of abortion – just as I share in the tragedy of all sin. As a human being, each death of each small baby affects me. As a human being, the death of George Tiller affects me. Human life is sacred – we are made in God’s image. As that image is clouded and marred by sin, we all share in the tragedy and we all suffer.
We do all share in George Tiller’s death – as conservatives we will share in the erosion of our freedoms that the backlash to his murder will cause; as Christians we will share in the blame of the actions of one man (whether religion will be shown to be the reason for his actions or not); and as citizens we will share in the blow to the pro-life movement this murder will cause. But most of all, we should share in the grief that one more unrepentant human being has died…..such a tragedy.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
The Slow Good-bye
“Alzheimer’s Disease” is a term I’ve grown to dislike. What bothers me most about it is that word “disease”. That implies that this is an unnatural state, caused by outside influences, and can be cured by medical intervention. Is that true? I don’t know.
My mother has Alzheimer’s. In the last 10 years we’ve slowly been saying good-bye to her, as we see her slipping away a little more each time we visit her. Grief has become so much a part of my life that I almost don’t notice it anymore. Grieving as I remember what she was like when I was a young girl. Grieving as I remember her joy in her grandchildren. Grieving for the loss all of the conversations that we can no longer have. Grieving because we live 600 miles away and can’t visit her every day. Or week. Or month. Grieving because I know that one time very soon we’ll visit her and she won’t know who we are. And grieving because I may never be able to visit her again. This is the grief that has been part of my life for the last several years.
In the last few months she’s progressed (isn’t that a funny way of saying it?) to the point where she can no longer be taken care of at home and has been admitted to a nursing care facility. Saying good-bye is no longer one of the privileges we have: in some ways she’s already gone.
But then she isn’t. When we visited her last week she knew who we were, even though she couldn’t place names and faces together. She laughed with us when we told a story of what the cat did. She exclaimed at how tall her grandsons have gotten. She wasn’t ready to say good-bye when it was time for us to leave. She is still there, inside that increasingly aging body, inside the mind that can’t form words to communicate.
I know people worry about me, how I’m handling the fact that my mother is dying such a slow death. Wondering how I’m reacting to the fact that she’s dying the same way her mother did, and possibly the same way I will die. But I try to tell them I’m okay. I believe in the providence of God. What is happening to my mother is within His grasp. He is in control of it, and He is the one who brings good of every situation. Even this one. I trust Him with the past, present and future. All of it. No exceptions.
And I pray for grace to thank God for even this. And He gives that grace every day.
My mother has Alzheimer’s. In the last 10 years we’ve slowly been saying good-bye to her, as we see her slipping away a little more each time we visit her. Grief has become so much a part of my life that I almost don’t notice it anymore. Grieving as I remember what she was like when I was a young girl. Grieving as I remember her joy in her grandchildren. Grieving for the loss all of the conversations that we can no longer have. Grieving because we live 600 miles away and can’t visit her every day. Or week. Or month. Grieving because I know that one time very soon we’ll visit her and she won’t know who we are. And grieving because I may never be able to visit her again. This is the grief that has been part of my life for the last several years.
In the last few months she’s progressed (isn’t that a funny way of saying it?) to the point where she can no longer be taken care of at home and has been admitted to a nursing care facility. Saying good-bye is no longer one of the privileges we have: in some ways she’s already gone.
But then she isn’t. When we visited her last week she knew who we were, even though she couldn’t place names and faces together. She laughed with us when we told a story of what the cat did. She exclaimed at how tall her grandsons have gotten. She wasn’t ready to say good-bye when it was time for us to leave. She is still there, inside that increasingly aging body, inside the mind that can’t form words to communicate.
I know people worry about me, how I’m handling the fact that my mother is dying such a slow death. Wondering how I’m reacting to the fact that she’s dying the same way her mother did, and possibly the same way I will die. But I try to tell them I’m okay. I believe in the providence of God. What is happening to my mother is within His grasp. He is in control of it, and He is the one who brings good of every situation. Even this one. I trust Him with the past, present and future. All of it. No exceptions.
And I pray for grace to thank God for even this. And He gives that grace every day.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Birdwatching 101
I love birdwatching. I can't remember when it may have started - I do remember trying to identify birds by their songs when I was quite young...probably 8 or 9 years old. I've been trying to improve my skills little by little ever since then, which has been more than 40 years. So why did I title this entry Birdwatching 101? Because I always feel like I have so much to learn! I could spend so much more time at this than I do, and I could learn so much more....
The current birding project that is under construction is a bird garden. The former owners of our house had an above ground pool, which meant we inherited a lovely round circle in our yard, right next to the patio. We've hauled in top soil, landscaping timber and mulch to create a not-so-level area, and expanded the circle in a couple directions. The goal is to make a mini-habitat for the birds, with various levels of shrubs, plenty of cover and natural food, a bird bath, and several different feeding stations. We have a natural windbreak of hybrid willows on the north side of this area, and the birds already love those trees for cover and for nesting.
This is the second winter for the garden, and the birds are certainly enjoying it. The shrubs that have been planted aren't large enough to provide shelter yet, so the birds make good use of an existing Barberry bush and our recycled Christmas tree. We have three different feeding stations and water available, so we are getting visitors. Mostly house sparrows, but I've also seen a couple other varieties of sparrows, juncos, chickadees, cardinals, mourning doves, northern flickers, and once or twice a Merlin - my husband likes to say that we feed all kinds of birds here!
The fun part is watching our new kitten. Maggie-cat has a front row seat on all the action - behind the glass of the patio door. She spends hours stalking the sparrows, crouching behind the door frame, and watching, watching, watching....and of course wishing the glass was non-existent!
And of course, since it's January, the planning for the spring has begun. I think this spring we'll plant some annual vines for color and height while we wait for the holly and weigela to grow - a teepee of scarlet runner beans and thunbergia would make a nice focal point next to the birdbath....
The current birding project that is under construction is a bird garden. The former owners of our house had an above ground pool, which meant we inherited a lovely round circle in our yard, right next to the patio. We've hauled in top soil, landscaping timber and mulch to create a not-so-level area, and expanded the circle in a couple directions. The goal is to make a mini-habitat for the birds, with various levels of shrubs, plenty of cover and natural food, a bird bath, and several different feeding stations. We have a natural windbreak of hybrid willows on the north side of this area, and the birds already love those trees for cover and for nesting.
This is the second winter for the garden, and the birds are certainly enjoying it. The shrubs that have been planted aren't large enough to provide shelter yet, so the birds make good use of an existing Barberry bush and our recycled Christmas tree. We have three different feeding stations and water available, so we are getting visitors. Mostly house sparrows, but I've also seen a couple other varieties of sparrows, juncos, chickadees, cardinals, mourning doves, northern flickers, and once or twice a Merlin - my husband likes to say that we feed all kinds of birds here!
The fun part is watching our new kitten. Maggie-cat has a front row seat on all the action - behind the glass of the patio door. She spends hours stalking the sparrows, crouching behind the door frame, and watching, watching, watching....and of course wishing the glass was non-existent!
And of course, since it's January, the planning for the spring has begun. I think this spring we'll plant some annual vines for color and height while we wait for the holly and weigela to grow - a teepee of scarlet runner beans and thunbergia would make a nice focal point next to the birdbath....
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
The following is from another blog I like to read - "Joyfully Home" (joyfullyathome.blogspot.com) - and says what I'd like to say about yesterday's elections so much better than I can. With Jasmine's permission, you get to read her thoughts - all I say is Amen!
I woke up this morning, not filled with dread or disappointment at Barack Obama's election; no, I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to face a new day. I woke up, unsurprised to find that God is still on His throne, holy, just, righteous, omnipotent, sovereign, and loving, and that we are His children, bought with a price, sealed for that marvelous day when the King of Kings will come to reign here on earth as He reigns in our lives, and sovereignly over all things.
America has fallen for Obama's promises of change... and change I'm sure we'll receive; President Obama is sure to provide us with ample opportunity for change, sliding on a downhill slope towards Marxist socialism. As one friend joked via email this morning, New Zealand's looking better and better to me each day. :-)
Reflect, however, on Romans 13:1-7... is Barack Obama's administration as unsavory as the administration that the Apostle Paul was submitting to when the Lord inspired him to write those words?
The Lord gave me peace this morning as I was able to reflect on a different type of change that can occur over the next four years under our new administration. I don't mean the change that means our troops perhaps coming home to soon, abortions being easier and easier to come by, taxes raising painfully high, and welfare spreading our money painfully thin...
I mean the change that could come within the lives of God's people. As we are forced to transfer our hope from a fallen human candidate, and into the hands of our all-wise God, perhaps He will quicken our hearts, soften our consciences, and give us a renewed passion for His Kingdom; He will sanctify us, He will strengthen us, and through that sanctification process, He will make us more and more able to carry out His glorious plan.
More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
(Romans 5:3-5)
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
(James 1:2-3)
The Lord has placed us in this time in history, in this country, for a reason; we are here on earth in this window of time to bring Him glory and honor, to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, to leave a legacy for those that come after us, that they may continue this work long after we're gone. Obama's presidency cannot stop us from carrying out this mission; he can make it difficult, he can make it painful, but he cannot stop us.
In light of our present circumstances, I do have hope that a change will come; a revival, starting in the hearts of the children of God as they learn to trust and revere their mighty Maker. And I have a hope that this change will inspire us to do great and wonderful things for the Kingdom of God, through our submission to Him in all things.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
October 31 at our house....
Many years ago, October 31 was a great holiday. It seemed like it was made just for us kids! After all, when else could we dress up however we wanted (as long as the materials were in the scrap bag - nobody bought a costume!), go out after dark without adult supervision (just the big brothers), and ask for candy from strangers (yes, in the days before "stranger danger")?
Later, it became a holiday to relive our good memories through our children's fun...but something was different. This time around, 20-some years later, Halloween was a bit darker. The masks were scarier. The trick-or-treaters were older. The strangers were dangerous. We found ourselves at the mall one year in a slowly moving line of hot, tired little kids dressed up as who knows what, shuffeling our children from store to store to get their candy. All this for candy?
And then the Holy Spirit slowly started to turn our hearts toward Him on this issue. I started noticing one, maybe two families in the neighborhood that kept their porch lights off on October 31. I knew that they were being different...not disliked, just different. I started asking myself why, what was it that made them just quietly stay in their houses and not participate in the neighborhood party. I started seeing the activities we were participating in through God's eyes. I started seeing that God was calling our family to be different....different enough to quietly make our own little stand against the celebration of evil.
The next year we kept our porch light off, invited some friends over, and started a tradition of having a "Harvest Party" on October 31 - a time to make decorations for autumn, to decorate the house, and begin a month long celebration of Thanksgiving. If we were going to lose a holiday in the busyness of the last three months of the year, we were going to choose which one, and it wasn't going to be Thanksgiving! Other years we've studied Pilgrims, made pumpkin pie from the pumpkin up (I'll stick to canned, thank you!), and read "Of Plymouth Plantation" by William Bradford.
As time has gone on, our children have outgrown our Harvest Parties, but not the enjoyment of November as the season of thanks. We look forward to good fall meals of homemade soups, breads, and apple crisps. Cosy evenings sitting around the table talking together long after the meal is over with the curtains closed against the dark night outside. The gathering up and storing of our own family harvest...the memories that will last long after these children have moved into homes of their own and the table is filled completely only on occasion....and looking forward to the final harvest home, our final sabbath rest. This is our season of Thanksgiving.
Later, it became a holiday to relive our good memories through our children's fun...but something was different. This time around, 20-some years later, Halloween was a bit darker. The masks were scarier. The trick-or-treaters were older. The strangers were dangerous. We found ourselves at the mall one year in a slowly moving line of hot, tired little kids dressed up as who knows what, shuffeling our children from store to store to get their candy. All this for candy?
And then the Holy Spirit slowly started to turn our hearts toward Him on this issue. I started noticing one, maybe two families in the neighborhood that kept their porch lights off on October 31. I knew that they were being different...not disliked, just different. I started asking myself why, what was it that made them just quietly stay in their houses and not participate in the neighborhood party. I started seeing the activities we were participating in through God's eyes. I started seeing that God was calling our family to be different....different enough to quietly make our own little stand against the celebration of evil.
The next year we kept our porch light off, invited some friends over, and started a tradition of having a "Harvest Party" on October 31 - a time to make decorations for autumn, to decorate the house, and begin a month long celebration of Thanksgiving. If we were going to lose a holiday in the busyness of the last three months of the year, we were going to choose which one, and it wasn't going to be Thanksgiving! Other years we've studied Pilgrims, made pumpkin pie from the pumpkin up (I'll stick to canned, thank you!), and read "Of Plymouth Plantation" by William Bradford.
As time has gone on, our children have outgrown our Harvest Parties, but not the enjoyment of November as the season of thanks. We look forward to good fall meals of homemade soups, breads, and apple crisps. Cosy evenings sitting around the table talking together long after the meal is over with the curtains closed against the dark night outside. The gathering up and storing of our own family harvest...the memories that will last long after these children have moved into homes of their own and the table is filled completely only on occasion....and looking forward to the final harvest home, our final sabbath rest. This is our season of Thanksgiving.
Finally back on the blog!
I'm not sure what happened, but I haven't been able to post to my blog since July....okay, school happened, which cut back on my computer hours drastically, but besides that I haven't been able to sign in to my blog.
So now I'm back - yeah!
So now I'm back - yeah!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Resist the trivial....
We received the newest resource catalog from Ligonier Ministries a couple weeks ago, and this phrase was on one of the pages: "Resist the Trivial". What a concept! We are made for great things - no less than the worship of our God.
So the next question is: how do we do that? How do we resist the trivial in our worship of God?
Since we moved to this fair city almost 3 years ago, we have searched for a church that allows us to worship God in a serious, reverent, God-centered way. What we have found is church after church doing the same thing - shallow worship songs, an entertaining worship band and praise chorus, shallow sermons that tickle the ears with relative topics, youth groups that try to entertain the teenagers with "their kind of games and music". The "seeker-sensitive" model. The trivial.
Before you jump on me, understand that I know the people in the churches we've visited are very serious about what they do - but I think they're wrong. The approach that most Protestant Evangelical churches take to worship today is man-centered rather than God-centered. The concern is more about which music will people want to sing rather than what does God want to hear. The concern is more about helping people get their lives "back on track" rather than teaching them who God is. And in many cases, the concern is more about getting bodies in the pews rather than discipling the believers who are already there.
Enough complaining, I'll get to the point - I really think the main reason we haven't found a church isn't because there isn't a good church here, but because God has other plans for us. He has led us to seek out other like-minded Christians to start a Reformed fellowship and Bible study - and we've finally taken those first steps. There is another family in town who has been searching for the same things we've been searching for. We have started meeting and studying together, publicizing our efforts and inviting others to join us. We are small (9 of us representing 2 families), but we have hope that God will bless our time together as we seek to honor Him. Will you pray for us as we seek to "resist the trivial"?
So the next question is: how do we do that? How do we resist the trivial in our worship of God?
Since we moved to this fair city almost 3 years ago, we have searched for a church that allows us to worship God in a serious, reverent, God-centered way. What we have found is church after church doing the same thing - shallow worship songs, an entertaining worship band and praise chorus, shallow sermons that tickle the ears with relative topics, youth groups that try to entertain the teenagers with "their kind of games and music". The "seeker-sensitive" model. The trivial.
Before you jump on me, understand that I know the people in the churches we've visited are very serious about what they do - but I think they're wrong. The approach that most Protestant Evangelical churches take to worship today is man-centered rather than God-centered. The concern is more about which music will people want to sing rather than what does God want to hear. The concern is more about helping people get their lives "back on track" rather than teaching them who God is. And in many cases, the concern is more about getting bodies in the pews rather than discipling the believers who are already there.
Enough complaining, I'll get to the point - I really think the main reason we haven't found a church isn't because there isn't a good church here, but because God has other plans for us. He has led us to seek out other like-minded Christians to start a Reformed fellowship and Bible study - and we've finally taken those first steps. There is another family in town who has been searching for the same things we've been searching for. We have started meeting and studying together, publicizing our efforts and inviting others to join us. We are small (9 of us representing 2 families), but we have hope that God will bless our time together as we seek to honor Him. Will you pray for us as we seek to "resist the trivial"?
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