Smaller than I had been

"Then the lion said -- but I don't know if it spoke -- 'You will have to let me undress you.' I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I just lay flat down on my back to let him do it.

"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. You know -- if you've ever picked the scab off a sore place. It hurts like billy -- oh but it is such fun to see it coming away."

"I know exactly what you mean, " said Edmund.

"Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off -- just as I thought I'd done it myself 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 was I as smooth and soft as a peeled switch and smaller than I had been. Then he caught hold of me -- I didn't like that much for I was very tender underneath now that I'd no skin on -- and threw me into the water. It smarted like anything but only for a moment. After that it became perfectly delicious and as soon as I started swimming and splashing I found that all the pain had gone from my arm. And then I saw why. I'd turned into a boy again." [115-116]

WHEN ALL HOPE IS LOST

You try
and you fail
and you try again

And you hit walls
and roadblocks
and street signs

You leave
and you go
and you run away

But you always find
at least one
at least one
who has been touched
who has been affected
who has been changed

-Written after watching "Born into Brothels" for the second time

The Serenity Prayer LP

God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
The courage to change the things I can;
And the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as a pathway to peace;
Taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world
As it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that You will make all things right
If I surrender to Your will;
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life
And supremely happy with You
Forever in the next.
Amen.

And, if you haven't checked out http://oneroofafrica.blogspot.com/ yet, DO IT.

Just a few...

A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS

mittens (not gloves!) and pum'kin-colored dishes;

african violets, dad's favorite: narcissus;
round knives that let you spread butter with ease;
but they can also spread jam or some cheese

window bird-feeders and dry rubber Wellies;

self-wat'ring pots and flowers that are smelly;
cordless can openers; yiaourti (yee-ah-OOR-tee)
cake plates are stacked like tea trays for the Tea
(this was as close to "stacking" as I could get:)

A fuller life

It is the branch that bears the fruit,
That feels the knife,
To prune it for a larger growth,
A fuller life.

Though every budding twig be lopped,
And every grace
Of swaying tendril, springing leaf,
Be lost a space.

O thou whose life of joy seems reft,
Of beauty shorn;
Whose aspirations lie in dust,
All bruised and torn,

Rejoice, tho' each desire, each dream,
Each hope of thine
Shall fall and fade; it is the hand
Of Love Divine

That holds the knife, that cuts and breaks
With tenderest touch,
That thou, whose life has borne some fruit
May'st now bear much.

-Annie Johnson Flint

LABOR PAINS

In the last nine months
there are a few things
I have learned

that I ought to rein in my emotions

that I need to be a better friend

to be kinder than necessary

to keep my mouth shut

Love Jesus; Do What You Like

"The world we inhabit makes everything complex, but there was a moment in His ministry when Jesus reduced everything to a radical simplicity. When He spoke about the first two commandments...He said, 'On these, hang all the Law and all the Prophets.' It's like: 'Okay, guys, if you're really stuck, forget the whole Bible, just remember the first two commandments and you'll be cool.'

Or as the early apostles used to say, 'Love Jesus; Do What You Like.'

'Cause the reality is, if you love Jesus with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, the last thing on God's green earth you will do is what you like.

Love Jesus with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and do what the heck you like.

Thing is, you can't do that; when you get so caught up in who God is, when you get so enraptured by His nature, the one thing you wanna do is waste your life for the cause of God, because there is no other way to live."
-Graham Cooke