Capers Island

Spring Break is this week for 3rd son
who is in school up in Boone and they
have had lots and lots of snow.
He will head in here tomorrow
from a long weekend camping and
kayaking on this undeveloped island
near Charleston. A bit of some sun
and in need of a shower! Water was cold!
The Outdoor Adventure Club
from APP State sponsored the trip.
He did tell me on Saturday that they
have the Coast Guard's number and not
to worry!
This son will hit a milestone birthday next month:
21!

Police Academy son , who turns 24 soon,
shot 300 rounds today on the firing range.

Well, there's an update!

Hopes of Spring

Wash Day, A Back Yard Reminiscence of Brooklyn by William Merritt Chase, 1886.

It is Gratitude Monday and
the habit of thinking upon
things to be thankful for is
what God wants us to do.
I will use my journal to write
down some things, seeing clearly
into the days. Enumerating them
as Ann has done.She spoke
at a Benedictine Abbey this
past weekend. Or maybe was just
attending?

I'm so thankful for the warm air
descending into our days. Hopes
of blooms and greenery and color
in our landscape.

It is 64 degrees out and feels like 64
degrees. I'm so thankful I hung a load
of laundry outside!

Here to study the verse:

1 Thessalonians 5:18
NAS:
in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.


King James:
in every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

NIV:
give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

ESV:
give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.


Geneva Study Bible:

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

(f) An acceptable thing to God, and such as he approves well of.

Wesley's Notes:

5:18 For this - That you should thus rejoice, pray, give thanks. Is the will of God - Always good, always pointing at our salvation.

Calvin's Commentary:

18 For this is the will of God — that is, according to Chrysostom’s opinion — that we give thanks. As for myself, I am of opinion that a more ample meaning is included under these terms — that God has such a disposition towards us in Christ, that even in our afflictions we have large occasion of thanksgiving. For what is fitter or more suitable for pacifying us, than when we learn that God embraces us in Christ so tenderly, that he turns to our advantage and welfare everything that befalls us? Let us, therefore, bear in mind, that this is a special remedy for correcting our impatience — to turn away our eyes from beholding present evils that torment us, and to direct our views to a consideration of a different nature — how God stands affected towards us in Christ.

Chrysostom's example of "Praise For All Things"...

Three hundred years after Paul lived John Chrysostom, a good and brave man who preached very plainly against iniquity of all kinds. The empress was not a good woman, so she schemed to have him falsely accused and banished. He died an exile from his home.

Thirty years later, his body was bought back to Constantinople for burial in the imperial tomb. Chrysostom's motto was inscribed on the tomb: "Praise God for everything!"

As his friends testified, "When he was driven from home, when he was a stranger in the strange land, his letters would often end with that doxology, 'Praise God for all things!' "

William Law wrote in 1729 in his famous book A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life wrote that...

If anyone would tell you the shortest, surest way to all happiness and all perfection, he must tell you to make it a rule to yourself to thank and praise God for everything that happens to you. For it is certain that whatever seeming calamity happens to you, if you thank and praise God for it, you turn it to a blessing. Could you, therefore, work miracles, you could not do more for yourself than by this thankful spirit, for it heals with a word speaking, and turns all that it touches into happiness

Spurgeon admits that...

I have not always found it easy to practice this duty; this I confess to my shame. When suffering extreme pain some time ago, a brother in Christ said to me, "Have you thanked God for this?" I replied that I desired to be patient, and would be thankful to recover. "But," said he, "in everything give thanks, not after it is over, but while you are still in it, and perhaps when you are enabled to give thanks for the severe pain, it will cease." I believe that there was much force in that good advice.

As John Piper asks

How can we not be thankful when we owe everything to God? (A Godward Life)

Give thanks (2168)(eucharisteo [word study] from eucháristos = thankful, grateful, well-pleasing - Indicates the obligation of being thankful to someone for a favor done <> in turn from eú = well + charízomai = to grant, give.; English - Eucharist) means to show that one is under obligation by being thankful. To show oneself as grateful (most often to God in the NT).

Scottish minister Alexander Whyte was known for his uplifting prayers in the pulpit. He always found something for which to be grateful. One Sunday morning the weather was so gloomy that one church member thought to himself...

Certainly the preacher won't think of anything for which to thank the Lord on a wretched day like this.

Much to his surprise, however, Pastor Whyte began by praying...

We thank Thee, O God, that it is not always like this.

That's the habitual attitude of gratitude Paul is calling for in all of God's children, beloved. Gratitude is an attitude that like all spiritual disciplines, needs to be consciously developed and deliberately cultivated in the dependence on the Holy Spirit and the grace in which we stand. There are some practical steps that can cultivate the gracious attribute of gratitude. For example, you can make thanksgiving a priority in your prayer life (Col 4:2-note) rather than focusing only on petitions and requests. There may even be blessed times when your prayer time consists of nothing but gratefulness to the Almighty. You can always thank Him for the various wonderful aspects of your salvation (adoption & sovereign care, forgiveness, inheritance, the gift of His Spirit, freedom from sin's power and Satan's authority, etc) Have you had any prayer times like that recently? And you can thank Him for the "smaller" blessings of life, those things we all to often take for granted. You can ask Him to make you very sensitive to grumbling and mumbling complaints which are the polar opposite of a thankful spirit. You can utilize spiritual songs (Ep 5:20-note) to cultivate an attitude of thankfulness, allowing the words of a wonderful hymn to lift your eyes and heart in a way that nothing else can. Thank people who bless you in even the smallest ways. It will complete your enjoyment of the blessing, and it will increase your capacity to thank God. Reflect on and serve those less fortunate than you. This will remind you of how gracious God has been to you, how far He has brought you, and how much He has blessed you—which will in turn motivate you to be grateful to God.

Milestone Birthday: 18

I dropped off
Gordan this
afternoon at
The Tinder Box!
He wanted to buy
a cheap cigar!
He is 18 today.
The 4th son.


He's going to
college in the Fall.
Waiting to hear from one more university
and then he will make his decision.

I've got to scoot to make lasagna for the
large birthday table of 10 tonight. Julia
Child will appear with a Chocolate Sponge
Cake with Choc. Buttercream Frosting!
Plus a homemade ice cream cake. YUM.

Speaking of Beauty

This came
in the mail
today.

Isn't the cover
beautiful.

Google Books
has it.

From Publishers Weekly

How we talk about beauty-"how they, you, and I talk about it, and why we say the things we say"-is the theme of this densely packed meditation, aimed at those who delight in, say, anyone's daring to call a poem "gorgeous." Donoghue assumes a reader as well read as he, a flattering assumption from a distinguished New York University professor and prolific critic (Adam's Curse; The Practice of Reading; etc.). His tone, lucid and jargon-free, reminds rather than instructs.

Named a New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year.

Review for the NY Times here. "Clearing A Space in the Mind."

Denis Donoghue is University Professor and Henry James Professor of English and American Letters at New York University.

the sound of clicking

It was like the music in
Atonement but different.
In the movie, the typewriter
is used as a percussion instru-
ment. Today in my high school
class, it was the sound of PCs.
Listening and typing. It is
what we all do. Mulitask.
Hard to think someone is
listening when they type.
They all do it. I do it, but
not well; you know "MOM
are you listening!" "What
did I say?" ( it happened tonight
with my daughter holding
Oreo!)


So will libraries become all
technical ~ what will happen to
books? Will everything look different?
Yes, our library system will be
cutting back with some closings
and some hour changes. Sort
of like the Post Office. Two of
my favorite places.

If you want Shelf Life, Dr. Grant
has a SALE here.

If you want a list about A LIFETIME
OF READING,
go here.

If you want to hear him read,
go here.
Where he finds the time and
what he is reading.



Woman Reading in a Landscape, 1869, Jean Baptiste Camille Corot

My question to Lauren

"How will reading and writing
change with technology changing
how we read and write? " That was
what I wrote on a small piece of paper
to put in the box of questions for
Lauren Winner as she left a bit of
time at the end of her Writer's Workshop.
She picked it up at the end , right at
almost 3:00 and stopped the day by
just reading it.

My 4th son, who is almost 18 , tells me
that I will have a Kindle one day.
I laugh and chuckle because I have
a house full of books. Real leather,
real paper, even dust. He says that
because at one point I wasn't going
to have a cell phone and now it is
a must. All of my older sons only
have cell phones. So I wonder if I
will have a kindle in my lifetime.

I found a blog on the subject
( Why You Should Write in Your Books
Now) which examines the future
of real books made with paper.

The sun is starting to set on the golden age of the printed book. ....

Your writing is what will make your books cherished artifacts to your descendants.

There are virtual bookclubs, blogs,
new ways of reading and connecting
online and how will that change us?
We are already.

I found this through a link
from Ann Voscamp's blog, Holy
Experience. I think she is becoming
a household word. I smile at that,
thinking how God takes a mom on a
Canadian farm to write and glorify
His Name! God's way for sure.


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A New Month for Gratitude Monday

My sister left this afternoon and
we had such fun going to a local
thrift store: 5.00 a bag! It was
contagious and addicting to fill
it up with clothes! How could we
leave something when it costs so
little? Anyways, we met another
set of sisters who mirrored us:
one brunette and one with grey
hair! Getting a good deal is fun.
It is something to be grateful for.
It is another thing to share it with
a sister. For those of you with sisters,
close ones, you know that deep kind
of gratitude!

Then we came home for a salad and
laughed until we cried. One bag at the
thrift store was less than the 2 books
and 2 videos she bought at the Christian
library across the street. I mean 2.00
for a hardback compared to 25 cents.
( about what the sweaters, dresses,
tops amounted to , you know, you see
how much can go into a grocery bag!)
It makes you feel very frugal and that
makes it weird. The books seemed so
expensive compared to our bags.
We laughed so hard we cried.
We could not even talk
because each word brought another
funny thought . THAT laughter is good
for the soul.

We were thankful to get new things
that were really others old things!