FOR THE BEAUTY OF THE EARTH

I ALWAYS think of this as a thanksgiving hymn (Is it? I don't know). The song is entirely a praise song, offering God "grateful praise" for many different blessings.  I highlighted my favorite two verses- praising for family and friends and the church....my biggest blessings.

For the beauty of the earth,
For the glory of the skies;
For the love which from our birth,
Over and around us lies;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

For the wonder of each hour,
Of the day and of the night;
Hill and vale and tree and flow'r,
Sun and moon, and stars of light;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

For the joy of ear and eye,
For the heart and mind's delight;
For the mystic harmony,
Linking sense to sound and sight;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child;
Friends on Earth and friends above,
For all gentle thoughts and mild;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

For Thy church that evermore,
Lifteth holy hands above;
Off'ring up on ev'ry shore,
Her pure sacrifice of love;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

For the martyrs crown of light,
For Thy prophets eagle eye,
For Thy bold confessors might,
For the lips of infancy.
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

For Thy virgins robes of snow,
For Thy maiden mother mild,
For Thyself, with hearts aglow,
Jesu, Victim undefiled.
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

For Thyself, best Gift Divine,
To the world so freely given,
For that great, great love of Thine,
Peace on earth and joy in heaven.
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

Thursday Notes

First, best news of all: next week I get to see Jack and my sister and brother in law. My friend Paige and I are flying to Vermont monday to spend the holiday up there.  I can't wait to hang out with my favorite baby boy. (I hate when mothers are obnoxious about their own kids, but I worry how I will be, because lets be honest, I'm pretty obnoxious about Jack Attack, and he's not even my son.  So who knows how much I am going to make everyone listen to me drone on and on about my babies? Ha, hopefully, I'll keep myself in check.) I'm pretty in love with the little boogar though and am super excited to give him his first ornament and celebrate his first major holiday with him.

Here's a pic of me meeting Jack for the first time...



Other tidbits:

 Marley and I have decided to do a Thanksgiving brunch since we have dinner plans with some families from her church plant. Any suggestion on holiday brunch food? We would love ideas. So far our ideas include Mimosas and pumpkin waffles/pancakes....

Also, I was sharing some quotes with a friend today and thought I would share with y'all. I am not very eloquent and I can be wordy (d*mn ADD) so I love quotes because they say something so profound in so few words. Here you go....

"Don't complain as if you've been singled out for particular suffering.What you're experiencing is uncomfortable, transforming grace."  - Paul Tripp

"By His wisdom, he orders his delays so that they prove to be far better than our hurries."  - Spurgeon

"If it was God's will to bruise His own Son, why should it not be His will to bruise you?"  - Oswald Chambers

Finally, read this article on motherhood.  I thought it was great. I get so tired of moms fighting over breastfeeding, natural birth, teaching methods, parenting methods, diapers, etc! Its great to have an opinion on these things, but the true mark of a good mom is if she loves Jesus well and in turn, teaches her child to love Jesus well. I know its easy to say I won't fight about these things now, because I don't have a child yet so I don't feel things so strongly yet, BUT I hope that watching mothers - those that do obsess over silly details and those that don't- teaches me to remember whats most important. Then, whatever personal decisions I make will be secondary.

Thankfulness

To be honest, the past 6 weeks have been....well, tough. They have included a breakup (although even at the time, I was somewhat grateful for that, but even so, things ending are rarely fun), stresses at work, a friend moving, church drama and trying to decide if I am going to go elsewhere, and finding out a boy I really cared for last year (who left me because he was in love with his ex still) is finally over her and dating again (ain't timing a b*tch? we can't redo this but if we could, I would meet him now at the right time when there wasn't too much water under the bridge)  Each of these items may seem small, but pile them together and tons of stress!
 
So, as thanksgiving comes around, in some ways, I don't feel like thanking God. in some ways, being thankful this year has been a struggle. A year ago, I was praying the same prayers...Lord show me your will. Lord provide clarity on what I should do with my life. Lord provide healing in this relationship. Lord show me if I should live here or there. Lord bring me a godly man. And, a year later, no answers, still waiting... but even when we don't feel like thanking God, we should, and not only should we (out of obediance), we should strive to see the MANY MANY MANY reasons we have to be thankful.
 
And yet in some ways, I do feel like praising and thanking him. In some ways, its easy.  2010-2011, even with all its hard moments has included some of the BEST moments of my life (Jack being born, Auburn NC). And, what is more, I have seen  the Lord's provision on a daily basis. I do not think I have clung to the Lord and tried so hard to trust Him (asking him to make my heart trust and have faith) in any year past like I have this year. For that, I am thankful....  It's hard to be thankful for the process, but I am thankful for the result...so, I am thankful.
 
So, although things don't seem different this year, I am different. I have changed - and it only occured through pain and broken relationships and stress at church and constantly having to turn to my Savior to get me through. That is worth being thankful for.  Later this week, I plan on doing a post on my thanksgiving blessings and on that list, I am including some of the bad too. Because whether or not it was easy, every circumstance was God's will and His provision. And every circumstances served a purpose in refining me.
 
I saw this on Facebook today and I had to share:
 
"Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places."  Habakkuk 3:17-19
 
Even when it appears we don't have much to thank Him for, we do. . Despite what appears to be lacking in our lives, we have a God who is our strength, comfort and peace. Let us thank Him and rejoice in Him this coming week.

Trusting

I love Fabs Harford's blog.  If you haven't ever read her stuff, do it today, you will love her honesty..She seems to say what I know we are all thinking.  I loved her recent article.

She talked about how she thought she "let go of" a situation and gave it to God because she quit wanting it so much, quit praying so desperately.  Essentially, she convinced herself that she didn't want what she wanted....

The she said,

I think one of the truths I’m learning through all this is that trusting God doesn’t mean you don’t hurt.  On the contrary, I think trusting God means you are not afraid to hurt.  I think trusting God means you can beg boldly with all the emotion in your heart without holding anything back.


You can tell if something is an idol when you pray for it with ultimatums and anger.  You can also tell if something is an idol when you don’t pray for it with all the emotion you feel.  You hold hopes unspoken in your heart in the name of ‘faith’ out of a desire to protect yourself from disappointment.  I couldn’t pray boldly because I didn’t want to get my hopes up.  I would be too devastated if God failed me

In reality, she had held on to that desire and was convinced God could do nothing about it.  She refused to bring her heart and all of its hurts and longings before the God who made it. When she was finally honest and came before God with her real prayers and real desires, she said...

There are no corners left for me to govern.  I can’t manage my expectations.  I can’t try to get ahead of whatever might be round the corner.  Trusting God means walking through pain and emotion without fear.

This article is so true of most people in so many stages of life. We alternate between extreme hope that God will answer yes, and he better do it or else...or we decide that if we really trust God, we will quit asking, quit praying, just take whats given, refusing to beleive He can change our circumstances and answer our prayers. Both are wrong. We should be somewhere in the middle, honest, vulnerable even pathetically hopeful with our desires, lying them before the feet of the only one who can answer....yet choosing to worship Him whether that answer be Yes or No.

I jump from one extreme to the other, but rarely am at the middle ground. Today, I pray I trust God enough to surrender, yet enough to hope. Both are essential parts of faith in Him and His provision. And, yes, trusting may mean hurting- longing - waiting, but if you trust God, you trust that He knows how to answer and that laying your heart before him will not be in vain.  Do you trust God in the hurt? Do you trust God enough to hurt?

Monday Funday

You all know its true....... :) just a little monday humor. 

Friday Thoughts

Not much to say today except its been a LONG week and long weeks when you are single can sometimes suck.....because it feels your daily battle are only your own.  But, its all perspective, I guess, because as much as I wanted to have someone to come home to last night, I also realized I didn't have to go home and cook for anyone, change diapers, get anyone ready for bed...instead, I made myself dinner, watched TV, chatted with a friend and went to bed early.  And, I have the blessing of spending saturday in Starkville with friends this weekend, cheering AGAINST alabama (note: not for MSU)

ALSO, I was cleaning out my email and discovered this quote I had saved, reading it again made me smile.  It's true that waiting, trusting and surrendering all go together -- I so many times just hope or just surrender, but there is a unique balance of giving ourselves, our requests and our lives to God, trusting Him to decide whats best yet hoping that he provides what we ask.... there is a balance between hoping and trusting, and I am always trying to find that balance. Anyways, here's the quote - it was too good not to share:

To wait open-endedly is an enormously radical attitude toward life. So is to trust that something will happen to us that is far beyond our imaginings. So, too, is giving up control over our future and letting God define our life, trusting that God moulds us according to God's love and not according to our fear. The spiritual life is a life in which we wait, actively present to the moment, trusting that new things will happen to us, new things that are far beyond our own imagination, fantasy, or prediction. That, indeed, is a very radical stance toward life in a world preoccupied with control.

Henri J. M. Nouwen

DAY 8: Places I've been

Back to the "days" thing...it may take a couple months to get through these, but I am a cheeseball and its fun....I love travelling, although the more and more I feel settled here in Jackson, the less need I have for adventure. It seems I would rather be here or at a ballgame.  Travelling is exhausting.  I hope my next trip is to Asia or the middle east....

I have been to Canada, Mexico (just over the boarder if it counts ha...), France, Spain, Italy, Vatican City, Austria, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Czek Republic, Belize, Malawi and Zambia....not to mention I've been in the airports or trained through several different places (England, Switzerland, Ethiopia, but I don't count those)

I promised with the blog I would discuss the ups and downs of singleness...Travelling is the biggest "up" -- I travel a lot-- a trip to Dallas, a road trip for a ball game, going to Vermont for Thanksgiving or NYC to see friends...and every couple of years, I take a big trip.  I realize that this phase of life will end one day (thankfully) but I will regret losing some of my freedom to come and go as I please.  I would be turning down a good gift from the Lord if I didn't travel (either to see friends, participate in missions -- although regretfully my missions trip this summer was cancelled due to mono, or see new places!)

Favorite three places I have been:

1. France -- went to Paris, Alsace, Provence and stopped in Nice (Riviera) for the afternoon. I loved French and France in high school and always dreamed of going so this was one of my favorite places I have been and I will go back. I am thinking about French lessons or classes soon because I loved it.

In 2007, I backpacked Europe, by myself (the girl I was going with fell through) -- so 5.5 weeks in France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, etc. This was such an important thing for me to do to regain my independence and celebrate surviving a broken engagement AND my first year of law school.  I doubt I ever "rough it" again...but at 23, roughing it was fun and an important trip for me to take!

2. Africa (Malawi and Zambia)  - In 2009, I went to visit Marley and Bech for 2 weeks in Malawi.

 With baby Ruthie

on Safari in Zambia

 3.  Prague - this is hands down one of the prettiest places I have been! I went with my friend Ann Kirk in 2010. I hope to go back one day.

Prague, at the Charles Bridge.

There you have it, my favorite places I have been....any suggestions for my next adventure? I'm considering Isreal (depending on safety), China, or a Christmas Market tour in Europe...but I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to hear your suggestions.