To God Be the Glory

June 8 2008 

Dad opens The Gathering, announcing the weather is windy and that a picnic was enjoyed the previous week.

Around 9' JL? birthdays/anniversary 

9'44" Special Day song

17' organ offertory and Doxology

25' SL? discusses VBS with children and listening to God's quiet voice

33' Joys/Concerns

36' JL? prayer

43' (or earlier) JL? Sermon on the Paralytic Man and his friends

53'35 Our God Our Help In Ages Past

Hello Readers,

Today's sermon, which I breezed through, seems to offer the advice of waiting on God while also accepting help from others or ourselves. I am also struck by the words of the children's time advising us to slow down what we say and be quick to listen. 

Two quick thoughts from the week:

I watched Carrie Dayton Vlogs. Starting around 9 minutes, Carrie shares about being OCD and how it shows up as indecisiveness. Carrie quotes from The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath- a poem called, The Fig Tree. Carrie reads about Ester under a fig tree-- and the different options her life could take. In the quote Carrie shares, Ester says she is, "...starving to death because she couldn't decide which fig she would/should choose..."[not wanting to lose the rest]. Carrie shares that her way of dealing with this dilemma is to set a time limit for making decisions and sticking with it, living with it, and not saying "if only."

I am currently watching (restarted, actually) Downton Abbey, and I am struck by the characters and their stories. I will not spoil much, but stop here if you are concerned about such things. A long-awaited marriage is going through a tough time due to the wife experiencing trauma. I was struck as I watched when the wife's confidant broke her promise, told the secret, and also lied to protect the husband. The complexity of the situation made this an example of when breaking promises and lying was not only the right thing to do but also showed great love for all involved. (As my mom used to say, 'The plot thickens..." 😉 )

Thanks for reading.

Stay well,

AmyBH





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