Posts Tagged ‘Thoughts and Musings’
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Who’s wasting their vote?
April 18, 2012 by Hannah Jane
Category Bulletin Board | Tags: Humor,Pictures,Politics and the like,Thoughts and Musings | 3 Comments
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Deadly Red Ties and Other Random Musings
March 20, 2012 by Hannah Jane
Pulling into church last Sunday morning, our family was surprised to see multiple police cars scattered throughout the parking lot. We are currently not attending one particular church and are instead visiting various congregations in the area, so we were not present for any announcements given the previous week.
Once we reached the lobby area, Mom was pulled aside by an excited church member who let her know that “Newt Gingrich is coming here today! He’s going to go right through those doors!” After politely exiting the conversation, Mom slipped over to the rest of us to give us the news. Our reactions ranged from “Eww! Yuck!” to “Who’s he?”, but we managed to make our way to the balcony without too much commotion.
Thankfully, the service was not at all focused on Newt, and at the end when the Pastor did mention him, he made sure to state that Jesus was the most important visitor. Nevertheless, “our” pew was conspicuously still and silent when everyone else was applauding and welcoming Gingrich. I was deeply disappointed in how excited so many seemed at the prospect of meeting him – if we had been in some place other than church, I would have been tempted to boo or start chanting ‘End the Fed!’.
Had Obama or Clinton or someone else wearing a blue tie been there instead that day I doubt that they would have received such an enthusiastic welcome – but because Gingrich wears a red tie, no one seems to look twice at the fact that he is otherwise indistinguishable from many liberals. Ugh. Red ties are quite deadly, I’m afraid. So far they’ve managed to do much are harm to our country, and I’m surprised that many continue to be blinded by them.
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Those of you who aren’t new here likely notice that I’ve changed my background theme. (yet again!) Hopefully this one is for keeps. I like it, even thought the html has proved slightly difficult to manipulate. If any of you note any bugs, flaws, or ugly stuff I’d be thankful if you’d leave me a comment pointing them out.
In other news, google has discontinued the friend connect gadget for all non-blogger sites. Since I’ve been double posting to my old blogger blog lately, anyone “following” me there will still get updates in their blogger news feed, although it’ll be more hassle than before. If you know me in person/know me well enough that you know my full name feel free to “friend” me on facebook, (no guarantees that I’ll confirm, though!) but if not, sorry…
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It’s been different lately with no real baby around the house. For the first time in about decade there are no diapers to change, no burp rags to fold, no little one to “fight” over… In a way it’s sort of sad, because unless God sends another sibling, that chapter of our family’s life is finished.
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My days lately are filled with school. Trying to finish up twelfth grade and “graduate” from my days of formal schooling has me busier than I’d like to be, but thankfully I’m in the home stretch now. Sometimes I feel a bit overwhelmed, although I’m a perfectionist and the overwhelm is mostly my own fault, I think.
I’m also trying to figure out what to do after graduating. Taking over schooling some of the littles is an option, although right now I think Mom is doing a better job than I would be able to. I’d also like to find a way to get some sort of income, although I’d prefer for it to be from home or self employed. Photography is something I really want to look into, although I’d need a better camera than the one I -er, Mom – has. Heh.
Anyway, if you’ve read through this far I congratulate you. Thanks for bearing with my rambling.
Category The Great Outdoors | Tags: Crafts,HomeSchooling,misc.,Politics and the like,Thoughts and Musings | No Comments
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Hesitating Over Communication
February 27, 2012 by Hannah Jane
I sit there, typing furiously, trying desperately to get the words out. Pausing to look at my work, dismay hits, and the backspace button is employed once again. With a clean sheet of paper, I migrate away from the computer, hoping to capture with paper the thoughts which the computer could not. But it is to no avail.
Anything I wish to communicate via the written word is inadequate, imperfect, too stiff. Some people are able to speak and write eloquently, making me laugh or cry or ponder. But when I write, everything just seems blah, at least to me. When I speak, it is not without much hesitation and trepidation.
Blog post drafts stay in the draft stage for weeks, months, and sometimes even years before I finally decide to either delete them or take a deep breath and hit the publish button. Conversations play out in my mind for hours before I take a deep breath and introduce myself to someone new. Even emails and letter collect {virtual??} dust as I try to find the courage to send them.
After I say finally something or publish a blog post or hit the send button or seal the envelope or whatever, I ask myself, why?
Why is it so hard for me to express what I want to say? Why do I fear to open my mouth? What makes it so difficult for me to be content with the quality of what I have communicated?
The answer lies not in that I have had a lot of criticism, or that I have been lambasted for saying something in the past, or anything like that. Although there have been times when close friends and family gently admonish me over something unkind which I stated, I have never received any real opposition to anything I’ve ever said.
So why the hesitation?
Pride.
Perfectionism is a pitfall which I all to easily stumble into. Mortified all too easily at any blunder, any faux pas, I tend to keep everything inside instead. After all, I can’t go wrong if I don’t say anything, right?
But instead, I hurt myself as well as those around me. I keep silent when I ought to say something, I don’t comment even when I know that I could or should or ought to.
Almost two years ago, some girls at Presbytery were going to be singing a quick chorus at the “talent show” there. They asked me to join, since the needed all the volume they could get. Refusing with the excuse that I needed to help Mom with the little kids, I politely declined and heaved a deep sigh of relief.
But now I wonder if my refusal was partly based on pride, on the fear that I would mess up. If I has asked Mom, I’m sure she would have told me to go ahead. Instead, I let my fears get in the way.
The epistle of James speaks of the tongue being a rudder, something which steers the whole course of life. I’ve heard many people speak of times they said the wrong thing, times they blundered terribly with what the spoke and damaged many around them.
“Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things.” – James 3:4-5
So many realize quickly how easy it is the say the wrong thing at the wrong time, to speak when it is not appropriate.
But a ship’s rudder, although it can be incredibly harmful when used the wrong way, is also necessary. So also is communicating, even when it is something hard for me to do.
Moses was not nimble in speaking. He did not feel at all capable of confronting the Pharaoh, of taking on the tremendous task of ambassador for Israel.
And yet he did.
Sure, God sent his brother along to help him out, but Moses was not excused from duty.
Just as Moses stood up and used his faltering mouth for God’s glory, so I ought to do the same, even when my pride hisses to me that I can’t, shouldn’t, won’t.
Perhaps I will never find speaking to be an easy task. Perhaps I will never excel at communicating. But with God’s help, I can reach past my pride and trepidation and speak.
Category The Living Room | Tags: Bible,Grace,Thoughts and Musings | 1 Comment
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Friendship
January 13, 2012 by Hannah Jane
{1} Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above.{2} Before our Father’s throne
We pour our ardent pray’rs;
Our fears, our hopes, our aims, are one,
Our comforts and our cares.
{3} We share our mutual woes,
Our mutual burdens bear;
And often for each other flows
The sympathizing tear.{4} When we asunder part,
It gives us inward pain;
But we shall still be joined in heart,
And hope to meet again.~John Fawcett
The words to this song, specifically the third line of the first verse, really struck me recently. 2011 was a hard year for me & my family in several ways, one of which was a lack of Christian fellowship and community. I miss the cozy, stimulating feel of a good discussion among like-minded friends, the fun of laughing and crying and debating and praying with and for friends. The old saying “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” is true in many ways, and I pray that when God brings to us a season where we will be able to experience this again we will not take it for granted.
When God does open up the door for us to taste that sweet delight of fellowship again, I pray that I will have the courage to, as the third stanza speaks of, share and to sympathize, to hear and to help, to give and to receive. I don’t want to be superficial, to just chatter.
The aching void that this current lack has created has also forced me to draw nearer to my family, to the occasional friend who I have been able to see, and also to the “friend that sticketh closer than a brother”*.
Not only that, but with the technological world we live in now, I am able to do so much more than I would otherwise be able to. I can keep up with friends and acquaintances with so much more ease than I otherwise would be able to. The mere click of a button allows me to share and see thoughts, pictures, videos, and other such things with you and from you.
I do not know why God has not let us experience more of the joys written of in this hymn. I cannot explain or understand it, but I do know that all thing work for to accomplish His plan. While I often feel that we have been stranded, I know that somehow, someday, God will work it out for our good, for our benefit, and most of all for His glory.
*Proverbs 18:24b
Category The Great Outdoors | Tags: Bible,Thoughts and Musings | No Comments
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Just a quick note…
December 25, 2011 by Hannah Jane
…to wish everyone a blessed Christmas as you celebrate the Saviour’s birth and the multitude of gifts which He has bestowed on us all. Merry Christmas!
Category The Great Outdoors | Tags: Christmas,Thoughts and Musings | No Comments
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Grace
November 15, 2011 by Hannah Jane
They come to me, tiny feet pattering across the kitchen floor.
“Can I help you? ” Are you able to use my skills, imperfect though they be?
Little eyes and tongues beg me to say yes. I cannot resist.
Clambering onto the counter, they thank me as I hastily make room for them by moving out of reach anything with potential messiness or fragile-ness. They sit there, grinning away.
“May I stir it?” Please let me do more than observe. I want to be doing something for you. I want to be useful.
I hand them the wooden spoon, knowing full well that afterward I will have to scrub them, the counter, and very likely myself, not to mention finishing stirring what they could not.
The joy on their faces reminds me of the reason I handed the wooden spoon to them on the first place. It is not about my wants or desires. Not about the cookies or a clean kitchen either. It’s about teaching and encouraging little ones to be capable, hard working adults who glorify God in their daily lives. It is about showing them by example what journey down the path of sanctification looks like.
Stirring, pouring, laughing and scooping, they give me a dim reflection of how I look, striving to do good works.
Just as they are unable to truly assist me, I am unable to truly do anything good. The little bits that I do do are only there because of God’s work in my life.
And yet just as I thank them for their willingness, God promises all rewards in heaven for all believers.
“The giving of a whole day’s wages to those that had not done the tenth part of a day’s work, is designed to show that God distributes his rewards by grace and sovereignty, not of debt...because we are under grace, and not under the law, even such defective services, done in sincerity, shall not only be accepted, but by free grace richly rewarded.” – Matthew Henry: A Commentary on the Whole Bible (Volume 5, pg.284 on Matthew 20)
Despite the fact that I am by nature rotten to the core, utterly dead in sin, and a hater of God, He has chosen to redeem me and justify me.
Despite my disgustingly petty efforts, He promises not only to continue to santify me, but to reward me for these efforts!
Hallelujah for God’s wonderful grace!
Category The Great Outdoors | Tags: Abigail,Grace,HomeSchooling,In the Kitchen,Pictures,Thoughts and Musings | No Comments
