The boys and I finished our read aloud, Abel's Island, last night. Paul, age 7, always has commentary on the endings of our novels; if they don't leave him with a certain level of satisfaction, his mood immediately sours.
After our ending last night, he quipped, "That's it?! Usually there would be a few more pages!"
Despite the less-than-satisfying ending, I loved the book. The vocabulary was so rich, even I learned some new words! Superb writing!
Next up for us is Elizabeth George Speare's The Bronze Bow, set in first century Judaea and winner of the 1962 Newberry Medal. Leveled at 5.0, it's about a young Jewish lad, Daniel,18, who develops a hatred of the Romans and Roman rule after his father's crucifixion for failing to pay taxes. Daniel spends time living in the mountains as a brutal rebel before learning from Jesus of Nazareth that love, not hatred and unforgiveness, is the answer.
The book is usually read by junior high students, and I think considering the content, the 5.0 level seems somewhat low. Once we're halfway through the reading, maybe I'll see why it was given such a low level. Several factors are considered in the leveling of books; not all the various methods utilized end in agreement.
November 21, 1908 in Melrose, Massachusetts, The United States
died
November 15, 1994
gender
female
about this author
I was born in Melrose, Massachusetts, on November 21, 1908. I have lived all my life in New England, and though I love to travel I can't imagine ever calling any other place on earth home. Since I can't remember a time when I didn't intend to write, it is hard to explain why I took so long getting around to it in earnest. But the years seemed to go by very quickly. In 1936 I married Alden Speare and came to Connecticut. Not till both children were in junior high did I find time at last to sit down quietly with a pencil and paper. I turned naturally to the things which had filled my days and thoughts and began to write magazine articles about family living. Then one day I stumbled on a true story from New England history with a character who seemed to me an ideal heroine. Though I had my first historical novel almost by accident it soon proved to be an absorbing hobby." Elizabeth George Speare (1908-1994) won the 1959 Newbery Medal for THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND, and the 1962 Newbery Medal for THE BRONZE BOW. She also received a Newbery Honor Award in 1983, and in 1989 she was presented with the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for her substantial and enduring contribution to children’s literature.
Christian marriage song--Dancing in the Minefields
What's making you cry on the radio these days? For me, it's this beautiful song about Christian marriage called Dancing in the Minefields, by Andrew Peterson. It reminds me that marriage, sanctioned by God, is bigger than any two people who enter into it. God will never forsake your marriage--he will never leave you alone in it.
Hebrews 13:5 tell us,
"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
This loaded verse doesn't specifically speak to a married couple, but holding these words dear all the days of your marriage will serve you well as a couple. God will never leave you, so cling tightly to one another and trust Him always, no matter what comes.
Listening to these beautiful lyrics makes me feel like grabbing my nicely-muscled, gorgeous honey, and slow dancing through this song many times over.
Unlike many top hits that repeat the same lyrics over and over, this song is a story that spans years--rich in words and in meaning. I can't even write about it without crying. Sniff, sniff.
My favorite lines are many, but especially the last two stanzas:
'Cause we bear the light of the Son of Man
So there's nothing left to fear
So I'll walk with you in the shadowlands
Till the shadows disappear
'Cause he promised not to leave us
And his promises are true
So in the face of all this chaos, baby,
I can dance with you
Here are the complete lyrics:
Dancing in the Minefields, by Andrew Peterson
I was nineteen, you were twenty-one The year we got engaged
Everyone said we were much too young
But we did it anyway
We bought our rings for forty each
From a pawn shop down the road
We made our vows and took the leap
Now fifteen years ago
We went dancing in the minefields
We went sailing in the storm
And it was harder than we dreamed
But I believe that's what the promise is for
"I do" are the two most famous last words
The beginning of the end
But to lose your life for another I've heard
Is a good place to begin
'Cause the only way to find your life
Is to lay your own life down
And I believe it's an easy price
For the life that we have found
And we're dancing in the minefields
We're sailing in the storm
This is harder than we dreamed
But I believe that's what the promise is for
So when I lose my way, find me
When I loose love's chains, bind me
At the end of all my faith, till the end of all my days
I came across a link this morning on the folly of first time obedience training. I've had parenting spells in which I've tried first time obedience, usually following tough times with my kids, as you might recall if you've read here for very long. Each time, I've abandoned it for many of the reasons Sally Clarkson mentions in her post, First time obedience, really?
Sally Clarkson writes very long posts and I don't usually have time to read them. She's a stream-of-consciousness blogger. I guess kind of like me? Ouch. Only she has tons of wisdom to share!
Her post above is worth any time you can give it! The post received 114 comments, which gives you some idea of the number who were blessed by it!
Are you good at grace? Does it pour from you effortlessly? Are you always satisfied with your responses to life...to your loved ones...to strangers?
I've seen grace pour readily from past and present sufferers--wrought from their intense suffering. These sojourners are intimately acquainted with that low down feeling.......with powerlessness and emptiness. When you're low down yourself, instead of giving advice, they just hold your hand...not assuming they could've done it better than you....or that mistakes brought your suffering.
I want to be like this--to acquire such gentleness--but I'm fearful of the intense suffering it entails.
Lord, may grace pour readily from me. Help me be the face of Christ to those around me. I haven't suffered cancer or the death of a living child I've held and nurtured and laughed with. I haven't been betrayed. I'm not a widow. My kids don't have terminable diseases. I am not starving or cold.
But I want to be grace-filled, grace-full. May it be so, Lord.
I awaken to the strange truth that all new life comes out of the dark places, and hasn't it always been? Out of darkness, God spoke forth the teeming life. That wheat round and ripe across all these fields, they swelled as hope embryos in womb of the black earth. Out of the dark, tender life unfurled. Out of my own inner pitch, six human beings emerged, new life, wet and fresh.
All new life labors out of the very bowels of darkness.
That fullest life itself dawns from nothing but Calvary darkness and tomb--cave black into the radiance of Easter morning.
Out of the darkness of the cross, the world transfigures into new life. And there is no other way.
Then...yes: It is dark suffering's umbilical cord that alone can untether new life.
It is suffering that has the realest possibility to bear down and deliver grace.
And grace that chooses to bear the cross of suffering overcomes that suffering.
My favorite line: "It is suffering that has the realest possibility to bear down and deliver grace."
We can't argue with that. That's truth.
Lord, may we welcome suffering, and not fear it. May we know the beauty birthed from it.
- Favorite quote from Saturday devotions, found in A Gospel Primer for Christians, Learning to See the Glories of God's Love (Milton Vincent, 2008, p.54):
Understanding that I am not the ultimate end of the gospel, but rather that God's glory is, actually enables me to embrace my salvation more boldly than I would otherwise dare to do. For example, when my timid heart questions why God would want to love one so sinful as I, I read the answer, "to the praise of the glory of His grace." I figure, then, that my unworthiness must actually be useful to God, because it magnifies the degree to which His grace might be glorified as He lavishes His saving kindness upon me. This line of reasoning makes perfect sense to me and convinces me to embrace the gospel with greater passion so that God might glorify Himself through me, an unworthy sinner.
Indeed, the more I embrace and experience the gospel, the more I delight in the worship of God, the more expressive my joy in Him becomes, and the more I yearn to glorify Him in all I say and do.
- My Peter read the book of Jonah at the dinner table, without a single OCD-related stutter or repeat of words/phrases. Momma proceeded to do the hallelujah dance. How fitting that God healed it as Peter read from the Word.
- Nursing my toddler to sleep and watching her eyelids fall, long lashes resting against milky smooth skin.
- A perm from a very nice stylist in a salon where everybody had normal hair, which was quiet enough for me to read 2 more chapters from Ann's book.
- A 53-year-old stylist who shared my middle-age, wrinkling-skin angst. Like me, she doesn't feel any different and when she catches a glimpse of herself in a store or a random mirror, she questions who that person is. "Surely that can't be me?" I will be 45 in a few days, and I look 50. I told her she'd taken very good care of herself--and obviously never resided in California--because at 53, she looked better than my impending 45. She said that was nonsense.....and then I liked her even more.
- My handyman cousin is coming soon to size up some handyman projects that need to be done around here. The dining-room light fixture is faulty, leaving us with too little light for school on dark, rainy days.
- Couch cuddling with my kiddos....something I'm making intentional nowadays.
- My Beth holding onto Goodnight Moon like it was a precious stuffed animal.
- A husband who let me sleep in, after at least ten wake-ups from my teething toddler.
- Whole-wheat flour shortcake with strawberries on top, tasting so wholesome. Forgot to buy vanilla ice cream.....wishing we had an ice cream maker...hoping to find one at a garage sale this spring.
- The keyhole in the van is acting up, making it difficult to get it started lately. I'm giving hard thanks for the way God uses that van to make it so clear that He is in control.
