Warning to parents

The Common Room: God is Not Your Vending Machine

Please, read this. It is a very long and excellent post that every parent of a teen or even younger child should read. It is very thought-provoking and well thought-out, and has links to other blogs posting about the Kara Borden/David Ludwig story.

I can't say it enough. KNOW what you children are doing, on the internet and elsewhere. Don't just assume because you are homeschooling that your child is safe. We MUST shelter our children's hearts, and teach them about the deceptive nature of sin. Don't assume your children are mature in their faith just because they "talk the talk" -- David and Kara did too...

And you can hold me accountable to do the same for my children.

And above all, this has really convicted me of the need to pray for my children fervently and constantly. They're His kids, and He loves them more than I. But I must be a faithful steward, and that means KNOWING and PRAYING!

Livy, today's historian

I am copying this from my other blog over at xanga.

I've been reading Livy's Early History of Rome (very, very slowly...not from lack of interest, but lack of time...the story of my life!), and I just LOVE this quote. This is WHY I love history, and WHY we as Christians should love history, and ultimately, WHY we have chosen to home educate our children (which is resulting in MY education, better late than never!)

"I invite the reader's attention to the much more serious consideration of the kind of lives our ancestors lived, of who were the men, and what the means both in politics and war by which Rome's power was first acquired and subsequently expanded; I would then have him trace the process of our moral decline, to watch, first, the sinking of the foundations of morality as the old teaching was allowed to lapse, then the rapidly increasing disintegration, then the final collapse of the whole edifice, and the dark dawning of our modern day when we can neither endure our vices nor face the remedies needed to cure them. The study of history is the best medicine for a sick (or discouraged, according to Mr. Callihan) mind; for in history you have a record of the infinite variety of human experience plainly set out for all to see; and in that record you can find for yourself and your country both examples and warnings; fine things to take as models, base things, rotten through and through, to avoid." (The Early History of Rome, Book I, Lattimore translation, emphasis mine)

Seems like there is nothing new under the sun, huh??

I am also really struck again by God's common grace...revealing truth to this ancient pagan. A pagan, yes, but a very observant and astute pagan. We would do well to heed his warning here in our country and in our own study of history. Reminds me of another excellent quote from the most excellent Author of the ages...

This is what the LORD says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, 'We will not walk in it.' (Jeremiah 6:6)

Lord, have mercy on us.

pax,
k

Contentment

I am reading a priceless book called The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. It is written by an old Puritan writer, Jeremiah Burroughs, who lived from 1599-1646. I just love the Puritans. They were so insightful and on the mark, and their writings are so relevant for Christians today. Although my version has very small print for my aging eyes, it is worth the strain!

In his opening pages, he describes contentment and then goes on to show his readers their great need of this virtue. He goes to great pains to point out that contentment is an inward virtue, and is only really present when we are not only able to "hold our tongues, but also to have a quiet soul." Ouch! I still have trouble with the first part, and am nowhere near the second.

"Contentment is an inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit...It is a grace that spreads itself through the whole soul."

He talks of how we must first be "satisfied in our judgment and understanding"...in other words, we see God's hand in all of our circumstances, and acknowledge His providence in our lives. We say to ourselves, "This is the hand of God...it is best for me, even though I don't see the reason, yet I am satisfied in my judgement.

But even when we understand God's providence and sovereignty in all of our circumstances,
"...you may still have much to do with your heart afterwards. There is such unruliness in our thoughts and affections that our judgements are not always able to rule our thoughts and affections."

This is ME he is talking about. How can someone who lived so long ago know my heart so well??

November

November is a spinner
Spinning in the mist
Weaving such a lovely web
Of gold and amethyst.
In among the shadows
She spins till close of day
Then quietly she folds her hands
And puts her work away.

~Margaret Rose

Voyage of the Dawn Treader

I love the Narnia books...I am passionate about them. God has used them in my life in so many ways. My sweet cousin Elizabeth and her mom, Aunt Lucy, introduced me to them when I was about 12. I adored them, and read them over and over. I still read them over and over, and have loved sharing them with my children. As C.S. Lewis aptly noted,

"No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally worth reading at the age of fifty."

I really wonder whether the movie can do them justice...we will see. There will be no more difficult-to-please critic, I am sure!

I'm reading them aloud to my crew. We just finished the part where Eustace becomes a dragon, and then Aslan brings him to wash in the deep well. He commands Eustace to remove his clothes, and Eustace is puzzled until he realizes that Aslan must mean to shed his dragon skin. So he scratches away, and is quite pleased to see the old skin shedding, but when he goes to wash, he sees that the skin is just as hard and scaly as before. Three times he attempts to remove the dragon skin on his own, working furiously, and seeing some progress, but then realizing every time he looks in the pool that his attempts have had very little effect. Aslan says to Eustace, "You will have to let me undress you." And Eustace lays down to allow him to do so.

"The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off...Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off -- just as I thought I had done the other three times; only they hadn't hurt -- and there it was lying on the grass: only ever so much thicker, and darker, and more knobbly-looking than the others had been. And there I was as smooth and soft as a peeled switch and smaller than I had been."

What a masterful description of how it works in our lives when we attempt in our own strength to deal with our sin. We think we are doing pretty well, but then we get another glimpse of ourselves when another difficult circumstance arises, and we see the truth about ourselves as Eustace did when he saw his reflection in the pool. So we must just surrender and allow God to deal with us, by stripping away the things that keep us from HIm. And it can be quite painful, cutting us to the heart. But, when sin is stripped away, we can see how much uglier it is than we even imagined. And then...we are smaller...there is less of self. As John the Baptist said, "I must decrease, and He must increase."

Lord, increase in my life, strip away my sin, until self is small and insignificant, and you are all.