Why I give up something for Lent

Sometimes people give me a quizzical look when I say I've given up something for Lent. "But you aren't Catholic," some say. True; the history of Lent is rooted in Catholicism. But the practice of fasting, prayer, and repentance has its roots in Jesus Christ. The 40 days of Lent offer every believer an opportunity to sacrifice something in order to prepare for the celebration of Easter.

I decided long ago that just giving up chocolate, or tv, or pop, was just not sacrificial enough for me. If I am going to give up something, shouldn't it be something that really needs to go? For the past three years I have given up meats and sweets for Lent. That means a steady diet of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Sounds healthy, right? Right. And that is exactly the point. I am learning to eat to live, not live to eat.

I do not like the stronghold that is "food." I rarely eat for pleasure or for hunger; I mostly eat from boredom and sometimes frustration. I overeat because I can. "Portion control" means I can control the portion and usually my portions are large (in our house when serving ice cream one asks, "Do you want a regular size or a Miller size?"). Sometimes I don't know exactly why I eat the way I do (read here for an interesting reflection on the psychology of overeating). Overeating and eating the wrong things are very much a problem for me. Giving up "meats and sweets" is an opportunity for me to take back control.

Today's reading from Oswald Chambers My Utmost for His Highest says this:

The first thing I must be willing to admit when I begin to examine what controls and dominates me is that I am the one responsible for having yielded myself to whatever it may be. If I am a slave to myself, I am to blame because somewhere in the past I yielded to myself. Likewise, if I obey God I do so because at some point in my life I yielded myself to Him.

If a child gives in to selfishness, he will find it to be the most enslaving tyranny on earth. There is no power within the human soul itself that is capable of breaking the bondage of the nature created by yielding. For example, yield for one second to anything in the nature of lust, and although you may hate yourself for having yielded, you become enslaved to that thing. (Remember what lust is— “I must have it now,” whether it is the lust of the flesh or the lust of the mind.) No release or escape from it will ever come from any human power, but only through the power of redemption. You must yield yourself in utter humiliation to the only One who can break the dominating power in your life, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ. “. . . He has anointed Me . . . to proclaim liberty to the captives . . .” (Luke 4:18 and Isaiah 61:1).

When you yield to something, you will soon realize the tremendous control it has over you. Even though you say, “Oh, I can give up that habit whenever I like,” you will know you can’t. You will find that the habit absolutely dominates you because you willingly yielded to it. It is easy to sing, “He will break every fetter,” while at the same time living a life of obvious slavery to yourself. But yielding to Jesus will break every kind of slavery in any person’s life.

This perfectly explains why I give up something of significance for Lent; because I am a slave--I lose control in the face of food, and I want to break the stronghold of lust of the flesh for food. It is an extremely difficult struggle for me (especially sweets). I have had two days in a row where I've failed; I DO realize, as Chamber says, the tremendous control food has over me, and I am utterly humiliated. So I, once again, confess, repent, and begin the Lenten journey again.

Lent provides me space to experience what it means to yield myself to Christ. Lent forces me to see the ugly selfishness of my human nature; I see it and I hate it. "I am the one to blame," says Chambers. And that is true. Which only makes me hate that lust even more. The dark struggle of Lent allows me to live in the stinky back alley shadow of "self," so that I may better understand that the redemption of Jesus Christ is the only hope I have!

Easter is HOPE! Easter is FREEDOM! Easter is REDEMPTION! Easter celebrates Christ reaching down and lifting me out of the desperation and filth of self, and into His NEW LIFE!

And that, my friends, in choosing to give up something for Lent, I am really choosing to give up all rights to my self, and give myself to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Romans 6.

The Danger of Burnt Offerings

I decided to light a few candles during my devotional time this morning. Today I chose to use the ACTS model for prayer: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. During the Confession time, I wrote my “vices” on the inside of a matchbook and then tore off the tiny strips and put them in the flames of a votive candle that was almost empty of wax. I watched in fascination as the single flame split into two flames that were joined by a gentle curve at their base. Each flame danced and moved, one growing larger while the other decreased. It was quite fascinating and I pondered the burnt offering and how life and light fed off the sacrifice, consuming it into ashes. It was a divine moment.

And then….I heard a loud CRACK….

I guess I should have had a coaster under that sacrifice. The initial crack was not that long, but slowly spread until it reached the edge. I'll probably lose that corner of 1/4" glass.

As I pondered this unfortunate event in the glass of my table, I wondered if I really understood the danger involved in confession. Seriously now; standing in the presence of the Divine, I confess my sin, both general and specific, and then have a sanitized expectation of God's grace, mercy, and forgiveness. I think we imagine confession much like saying, "I'm sorry" and then receiving a Fatherly pat on the head of "It's okay, go and sin no more." 

Maybe that loud crack is more representative of confession and forgiveness--a shock to my being, perhaps much like the ripping of the Temple curtain from top to bottom (Mk 15:37-38). I stared at that crack in astonishment! Did the Jews stare at the torn curtain in astonishment and fear? I can only imagine. 

Seriously now; I stand in the presence of the Divine (AMAZING!), confess my sin (and don't die immediately-INCREDIBLE!), and God, with a holy and gentle CRACK that is heard throughout the spiritual realm (ASTONISHING!) states, "Child, you are FORGIVEN." This is not an event that should be taken lightly nor be sanitized--this is a dangerous revelation of God's character; LOVE. Love that will not tolerate nor exist alongside sin. 

And those cracks made in MY character continue to spread so that those unholy pieces of my being fall off and are gently replaced with the character of God. 

May we all be aware of the danger of burnt offerings. 

Why am I feeling so crafty?

I don't know the answer to that question. Since September 1st I have been creating all kinds of nifty things, and eagerly looking for more nifty things to create. Maybe it is because I have more time on my hands; maybe it is because I have pent up these crafty juices for too long and they are just bursting out. Go figure.

Anyhoo, I do not like wrapping Christmas presents or decorating for said holiday. It's so much work. Last year I didn't decorate at all because we were excitedly awaiting John & Katie's wedding on Dec 26!! Donna couldn't stand it however and did some decorating on her own (fine with me). But this year something came over me (craft juices) and I have been enjoying wrapping presents and look forward to decorating! Makes my head spin a bit.

So I thought I'd share some of my wrapped packages.

Nothing real special with this one. (Except I accidentally decorated the back of the package....):





I find that it is so much easier to use my kids' initials rather than full names, especially when texting. So JK is John & Katie:

The star was made from a cardboard toilet paper tube. Flatten it, cut in slices, glue together. I used paper clips to hold the centers until the glue dried. Then I spray painted them gold and silver:

Got a little "clashy" with the patterns on this one!



Donna & Tyler. Used pages from old hymnals (purchased from MCC Connections), Christmas hymns of course:

Now to show you how I made the bow on the above gift. First you get one of these doohickies:

Then get some more pages from the hymnal and cut into various size strips:

Stick them on the doohicky. Isn't the optical illusion fun--it looks like it is spinning:

This doohicky has a face:











CAREFULLY curl the strips. I ripped a few in my over-rambunctious curling efforts...

Add some curled ribbon and TADA! (scroll back up to the finished package).

And now for an adorable picture of my Sweet B:

Ain't he CUTE??!!

Segerstrom Piano

I am finally attacking the upright piano in our basement. I researched a little bit on how to take apart such a beast and thought, oh well what have I got to lose? So I grabbed some tools, a bucket of bleach water (to clean up mildew and who-knows-what), and the sweeper hose (for the who-knows-what).

I did some research on the Segerstrom piano (there is very little info on the web about this company) and discovered it has no real value. The company began in 1912 and went bankrupt by 1914!

It wasn't difficult and in about one hour I had it down to this:

Now comes the hard part...everything I've read about taking apart a piano says BE CAREFUL with the strings! They are under a lot of tension and if cut could easily cause injury. So I'm trying to find the correct tool to loosen the nuts (or whatever they are called) thus relieving the tension and solving the whole DANGER problem. Once I get that harp out they I'll be finished with the dismantling and can then try to figure out what kind of desk I'd like.

So do you want to know the who-knows-what that I found?
-Pencils
-A plastic hair pin like was used for rollers in the 60's (at least I remember my mom and sister using them)
-A mouse nest with a mummified baby mouse
-A key
-Mildew
-And this letter:

It was written by Bob's now deceased aunt Alice who was in 6th grade at the time it was written on September 20, 1957. Apparently when she folded it to mail it, it slipped into the piano (she talks about how tired she is of her music lessons) and has been in there for over 50 years!! I can't WAIT to give this to Bob's mother!!!

I'll post more pictures as I keep working on this!

Shabby Chic Makeover

Well, my crafty-ness continues. The last two days I have been working on a project that has been in my plans for years. We have an old upright piano in our basement. The piano man checked it out and said it would take at least $500 to make it playable but it would always sound awful and never hold a tune (and he told me that about 15 years ago). So I've been brainstorming ideas for this formidable wooden beast which really is just a high-rise spider apartment.

Here is one idea but I can't find anybody to do it and I'm afraid it would cost a lot of money: Piano desk But it would be whoa cool, eh?

I really hate just taking it to the dump; the thick oak wood is beautiful. What I decided to do was to take it apart, keep the large pieces of wood, maybe someone would want the keys and wire for crafts, and then trash the rest of it. Like I say, this has been in my head for years. And Hubby doesn't like the idea. He has never played this piano; he doesn't even know HOW to play a piano. But he has "known" this piano all his life...and he is attached to it. I don't get it.

 Earlier this year I tried to strip the finish but discovered that whatever nasty red stain that was originally used was IMPOSSIBLE to completely remove!! So even after many layers of stripper the lid was pink...PINK! So I got frustrated and set it aside. Anyhoo...since I have more time on my hands, I decided to finally figure out what to do with this thing. After a bit of research (which actually means scrolling through pictures on Pinterest) I chose to paint it give it a distressed finish. Here is the completion of two days' work:

Before:

After:

The paint I used was a cream color....but that foul red stain tinted the paint PINK!!! But it looks cool so I'm not too upset about it. And it goes with my decor so it's all good.

I had an old book I got from a used book store that was full of color pictures of religious Byzantine art. I modge-podged them inside the bench. I think it looks very interesting and if I were a child I'd spend hours just staring at these and trying to figure out the stories and the people!

I also have an assortment of old hymnals so I photocopied the hymn "Tread Softly" onto fancy tissue paper and then modge-podged (is podged a word??) it to the lid. My parents and Herman and Melba Myers used to sing this hymn as a quartet so it brings back good memories and I can hear them singing in my head.

Everything I used for this project I already had laying around the house...except the piano hinge. I had to spend $6.98 for that but it was worth it. The old hinges were yucky....and I can't remember where I put them...

So, there you have it! My Shabby Chic Piano Bench Makeover!!

No sermon. Pretend I'm sayin' something about God's Makeover of us...

Recycle, Repurpose, Reuse

I love visiting MCC Connections because I just never know what I will find!! I try to cruise through the whole store (except the men's department, unless Bob asks me to buy him something specific). The other day I was just looking around and I found this sweet little wooden box.

It smelled so good inside...I bet the tea was yummy! It was only $2 and it is a nice solid box so I bought it. I was thinking of a jewelry box or maybe storage for embroidery thread.

Today I was feeling crafty (which is really odd for me). I made a table runner (picture pending) and then thought I'd see what I could create with the box.

First I took out the inner dividers, which I will keep because they are a sturdy balsa wood. Then I dug through my fabric to see what inspired me. I found some beautiful silky embroidered fabric that I've had for awhile and decided to use that.

Then I busted out a can of spray adhesive and lightweight cardboard. I measured the inside of the box and cut the cardboard accordingly, then lightly sprayed it with the adhesive and pressed it on the fabric.

I carefully sprayed adhesive around the edges and folded the raw edge to the back of the cardboard. This was a sticky challenge and I had to clean my fingers with fingernail polish remover a couple of times!

This was the final result! It turned out beautifully I think!

Then I wanted to make a padded cover for the lid. And wouldn't you know...my spray adhesive ran out! So I had to use good old Elmer's for this:

The picture doesn't show the color very well (since it is so shiny it reflects the flash) but all the fabric backgrounds are dark choclate brown).

I do believe this turned into a jewelry box, eh?

And here is the table runner:

Inspired by this one fat quarter:

Wonky Quilt

Wonky-adjective. Askew, awry, cockeyed, lopsided.

Before you scroll to look at the pictures read this first! (You scrolled didn’t you? Shame, shame, shame, the courts know your name!)

I finally finished Brenan’s blanket, which I am calling the Wonky Quilt (my previous blog named it the Crooked Little Log Cabin Quilt, but I like Wonky better). Because of all the small pieces, I wanted the top to have more strength than just what knotting would provide and I didn’t want to hand quilt it (I know how to quilt but I just don’t enjoy it and this would have required a lot of stitch-in-the-ditch) so I decided to machine top-stitch:

The edges were a challenge because sewing a wonky block does not always give a uniform edge when said blocks are sewn together. I had to add a couple little edge strips because even though the blocks are wonky I wanted the edges to be straight for the border.

The only law of wonkiness is to not be straight; planned wonkiness is no wonkiness at all.

Then I found a pattern online for a teddy bear, which I have named Basil. I looked up Bulgarian “B” names, to go with Brenan, and think Basil is a fantastic name for a teddy bear! However, the blog from whence the pattern came had terrible directions and I spent hours trying to get the arms sewn onto the body! I finally read the comments and discovered that just about everyone else had trouble with the arms, too! So I started the arms over and actually had to redesign the pattern and finally got them to fit!

This was fun but was a challenge! I hope Brenan will love it!

Do you like the Wonky Quilt?

• Yes, of course! It’s the most wonkiest quilt I’ve ever seen and your grandson will love it!
• No, it makes me queasy.
• No! Have you been eating fermented apples like that Drunk Moose Found in a Tree in Sweden??!!
• Maybe. I’m not sure. Maybe if I squint when I look at it.