Things I am loving:
Barbara Kingsolver: A few months ago I ate dinner at the home of one of my favorite families in the world. As usual we swapped stories, sermons, and good conversation. And, as usual, we swapped books too. The father of the house gave me a Wendell Berry and a Barbara Kingsolver. I lingered over the Berry, shoving the Kingsolver off like the low man on the totem pole. Turns out this totem pole got turned upside down! The Bean Trees was my first fiction by her a few months ago and since then I've bought every copy of her books I can find at the local used-bookstore haunts. I am hooked! Not only are her stories delightful, they are real. The characters are so real, so present. The writing is so clever, so insightful. I had only read her non-fiction before this (and I only have good things to say about that as well), but her novels are some of the few modern lit that I find worth reading. No really!
Repurposing projects: A while ago I realized that I have a panache for sewing and an inability to find affordable fabric that I really like. Until I discovered repurposing! Now nearly every piece of anything that comes out stitched from the machine was previously stitched by some other creative soul before me. I love this! I love searching racks of cheap or free clothing looking for prints, feels, and sizes that will fit nearly anything I can dream up in my head. My latest projects are made of men's wool suitcoats, old button up dress shirts, and a few scarves whose yarn I liked but style I didn't (Did you know that anything can be taken apart? Well it can!).
Philippians: My pastor is doing a series on Philippians right now and every morsel is oh so good. It's nice because I've been hanging around those Philippians too, you see, scrounging up gratefulness in every situation I find myself. Mark Driscoll also has a great series from Philippians that I've been working my way through as well. I get wallowed down pretty easily, see, distracted by circumstances that aren't changing and frustrated with my inability to change them. I'm beginning to see in a big way that circumstances aren't really all that important anyway. Our effectiveness isn't determined by our circumstances, it's determined by our ability to get Jesus in the midst of them. I like that.
Burgundy Apples: A few weeks ago, when my golden friend was here, we searched all over for apple pickings and found quite a few, but it seems that apple picking is quite the fall festivity and not for the frugal minded. At $20 a bushel, well, that just didn't make sense. We finally found an orchard who did the picking for us and sold them for $8 a bushel and so buy we did! We peeled and froze bags and bags of them, but left some for eating. Just tonight I looked in the big fruit bowl that sits on our table and realized that there are three left. Three sad little apples that will surely be gone tomorrow, eaten by the three inhabitants of this home. And that makes me a little sad. Because the end of apples means the end of fresh fruit for the winter. Sigh.
Being All Here: I alluded to this in the bit about Philippians, but let me say it more plainly: I'm am not in a rush to figure anything out, change anything, go anywhere, or be something different. That's not to say that figuring things out, changing things, going places or being something aren't on my list of things to do. The difference is that I'm not in a rush. Up until the past few months I've been consuumed with getting things done quickly. The Kingdom of God is at hand, look busy! was my mantra. But these days I am so, so, so entirely confident of His timing and His ways and His sovereignty that I can't help but just bask in a glad rest.
His Kingdom is at hand! Look at how He's accomplishing it!
Barbara Kingsolver: A few months ago I ate dinner at the home of one of my favorite families in the world. As usual we swapped stories, sermons, and good conversation. And, as usual, we swapped books too. The father of the house gave me a Wendell Berry and a Barbara Kingsolver. I lingered over the Berry, shoving the Kingsolver off like the low man on the totem pole. Turns out this totem pole got turned upside down! The Bean Trees was my first fiction by her a few months ago and since then I've bought every copy of her books I can find at the local used-bookstore haunts. I am hooked! Not only are her stories delightful, they are real. The characters are so real, so present. The writing is so clever, so insightful. I had only read her non-fiction before this (and I only have good things to say about that as well), but her novels are some of the few modern lit that I find worth reading. No really!
Repurposing projects: A while ago I realized that I have a panache for sewing and an inability to find affordable fabric that I really like. Until I discovered repurposing! Now nearly every piece of anything that comes out stitched from the machine was previously stitched by some other creative soul before me. I love this! I love searching racks of cheap or free clothing looking for prints, feels, and sizes that will fit nearly anything I can dream up in my head. My latest projects are made of men's wool suitcoats, old button up dress shirts, and a few scarves whose yarn I liked but style I didn't (Did you know that anything can be taken apart? Well it can!).
Philippians: My pastor is doing a series on Philippians right now and every morsel is oh so good. It's nice because I've been hanging around those Philippians too, you see, scrounging up gratefulness in every situation I find myself. Mark Driscoll also has a great series from Philippians that I've been working my way through as well. I get wallowed down pretty easily, see, distracted by circumstances that aren't changing and frustrated with my inability to change them. I'm beginning to see in a big way that circumstances aren't really all that important anyway. Our effectiveness isn't determined by our circumstances, it's determined by our ability to get Jesus in the midst of them. I like that.
Burgundy Apples: A few weeks ago, when my golden friend was here, we searched all over for apple pickings and found quite a few, but it seems that apple picking is quite the fall festivity and not for the frugal minded. At $20 a bushel, well, that just didn't make sense. We finally found an orchard who did the picking for us and sold them for $8 a bushel and so buy we did! We peeled and froze bags and bags of them, but left some for eating. Just tonight I looked in the big fruit bowl that sits on our table and realized that there are three left. Three sad little apples that will surely be gone tomorrow, eaten by the three inhabitants of this home. And that makes me a little sad. Because the end of apples means the end of fresh fruit for the winter. Sigh.
Being All Here: I alluded to this in the bit about Philippians, but let me say it more plainly: I'm am not in a rush to figure anything out, change anything, go anywhere, or be something different. That's not to say that figuring things out, changing things, going places or being something aren't on my list of things to do. The difference is that I'm not in a rush. Up until the past few months I've been consuumed with getting things done quickly. The Kingdom of God is at hand, look busy! was my mantra. But these days I am so, so, so entirely confident of His timing and His ways and His sovereignty that I can't help but just bask in a glad rest.
His Kingdom is at hand! Look at how He's accomplishing it!
posted by Lore at 22.10.09
2 Comments:
I really like some of your lastest posts- I want you to teach me how to sew! And I want to borrow Kingsolver- and I really want to see you!
@Claire,
I want to teach you how to sew, but first, see, you have to come home =)
And when you do you can borrow all the Kingsolver you want! I promise! And...oh yes. I want to see you too. I haven't forgotten your email. I promise. I love you.
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