Quiet

God always seems bigger to me in the morning when I take the dog out , and its quiet & cold. On winter mornings, everything is pale and pastel, the pinks and yellows of the sun rising. There is more evidence of God, then of man. On these dreaded winter mornings God always seems to be all around me. I breath fogs up in front of my face, the snow or frost crunches under my feet. Everyone else is still inside sleeping. Sometimes I hear birds singing and squirrels chattering, The dogs tags jingle. But mostly its quiet. Just me (& the dog) and God. This is when I like to pray.

This winter that I was not looking forward to, is passing swiftly. There is still a lot of cold days left. But not many. And there are only 5 weeks until the new baby comes. I am sad and joyous because this time has gone by so fast. I still have lots to get ready, but many things are getting checked off the list.

Love,
A.

Inaugural thoughts

I caught just a bit of the inauguration yesterday. A television played all day in the lunchroom at school and classes were herded in to hear the President's swearing in, speech, and a few musical pieces.

It was nice, I guess. The music was a bit boring. It all seemed subdued for the grandness of the occasion. The President's speech left me uneasy, somehow. He seemed promise us some things that are outside the realm of human possibility. Claims were made about the power of democracy that left me feeling that this concept was almost deified. Democracy will conquer tyranny. Not just in a few countries where we can make a real difference--but worldwide. Ushering in peace on earth everywhere.

Democracy can do great things, and has, but it is not God. I get uneasy when people start talking about achieving peace on earth, since Christian Scripture warns us to beware when we hear such talk. Only Christ is able to achieve some of the goals the President has aspired to reach. The speech seemed to me to be sprinkled generously with humanly unachievable goals. Which is the core of what left me uneasy. Is this what the President really believes? Why?

Now, I'm a Bush supporter. I voted for him, support him, and have committed to praying daily for him. The speech has inspired me to redouble those prayers. Which may be a hidden blessing. If others are similarly inspired, that can only be a good thing.

Often when I see President Bush, I see an incongruous face. Often the Bush detractors mistake it as an unintelligent one. No--just incongruous. The eyes, steely and determined. The mouth--embarrassed. That's right. He's not quite comfortable in his own skin.

Understand that although he is from a political family, he was raised as a young boy in a small town, with middle class kids as friends. Leaving him with the impression that he's just a regular guy. And a regular guy that finds himself the leader of the free world might be a bit embarrassed by the success. Hence the incongruous face. And the speech. It does not sync with the regular guy part of him that makes people trust him.

Here's a link to a Peggy Noonan column which is pretty good, especially since she agrees with me. ;-) Also, scroll down half the page to a carricature by Ismael Roldan that captures that incongruous face better than any I've ever seen.
OpinionJournal - Peggy Noonan
BTW, to somewhat offset the criticism, I DID appreciate the way the President referred to God throughout the speech. And thank God the prayer of invocation was not taken away from us this year.


-Godseeker

The Ordinary and the Extroardinary

Getting away for the holidays was wonderful. First, though, I had to get over the guilt of spending time playing instead of developing curriculum. I guess it runs with the territory of being a first-year teacher.

Vacation at our parents' houses is always a break from news "junkiehood." First we go to my mom's house, who up until this year didn't have a television. Now she has a TV, but no cable, so we were woefully dependent on network TV for our news. I found I'd just as soon do without.

Then we got to my guy's parents' house, where there's cable, but you just find yourself watching less TV after going without at my mom's. So we felt somewhat sheltered from news from around the world.

The Sunday after Christmas, there was a big ice storm in South Carolina. This in a part of the country where a single snowflake has the power to shut down entire school systems. Lest anyone think I'm making fun, remember, I grew up in that part of the country. We kids lived for the single snowflake.

So that Sunday morning we awoke to the sight of glistening twigs, grass blades and clinging leaves seemingly encased in glass. Beautiful. We channel-surfed to find out if there would be church. My mother-in-law was anxious to show off the girls. As she surfed with annoying speed through channel after channel, switching just as I thought we might be getting to the church closings, I caught a breaking news story about a large earthquake in the Indian Ocean--8.0, I think they said. I remember thinking that this was pretty big, but maybe since it was supposedly out at sea, it wouldn't do too much damage to human structures.

At church we played open chimes and did a Christmas service and generally sheltered ourselves from the world around us. At least that's how I remember it when I look back now, because as we contentedly celebrated Jesus' birth, reports were apparently rolling in of tsunami waves fanning out to devastate an entire region, wiping out a third of the people there. It reminded me of the book of Revelation, and how a third of the earth is going to be wiped out. We just got a glimpse of the caliber of event that would kill a third of the earth, and what it would be like to experience it.

The Tuesday after Christmas we went down to Myrtle Beach on a cold, crisp day. The girls frolicked in their heavy coats and we walked along the beach as I imagined the horror of a thirty foot wave driving in from the sea.

So here we are, back from a relaxing vacation, and I'm already sleep-deprived and fighting a head cold. It's three degrees out as I write. But God continues to do new things in my life. Imagine!

Our first Sunday back, the choir director asked if I would sub for her directing choir. After assuring her I had never done such a thing (at least not for adults), I said sure, I would be glad to do my best, for what it was worth. So now she's taken on the task of teaching me choral conducting! It's already helping with the kids at school, and I've led the church choir once so far, and it's an exciting new thing. Who would have guessed such a neat thing would happen to me?

I don't know why I'm sharing all this. The original idea for the blog was to show ordinary Christian ladies finding God in ordinary things. It seems to have evolved into ordinary Christian ladies facing extraordinary things in their lives. A. with her baby. Heiress seeking new ministry opportunities. Jomama will graduate from Bible college soon. Although this is extraordinary in itself, I'll bet it leads to extraordinary things in her life, too.

I guess I'm finding that extraordinary things can happen in anyone's life if she'll let them. But life happens in seasons, and there are times of ordinariness, such as finding God in your garden, and times for the extraordinary. So if you're going to get a full picture of a Christian woman's life, you might as well see it all. Because when God is allowed to be in it all, it's all extraordinary.

Christmas frolicking at the Beach