Outward Beauty From an Inner Life I

“Let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.” I Peter 3:4

I believe good definitions help our hearts get to the essence of things. To Adorn:  to deck or decorate; to set off to advantage; to make more pleasing; to display the beauty or excellence of;

We are called to adornment--We are called to this; as mothers and wives, we have a calling.  Not to making sure Joe gets to soccer practice and Millie has her homework done and something resembling dinner is on the table.  We are called to actively pursue adorning ourselves, and the only way to do this, according to the Truth of Scripture, is by cultivating our hearts.

For so many years I have felt the need to accomplish the demands of the day: having young children around, the constant din of “Mommy?  Mommy!  Mom!!”  Of teaching, and driving, and counseling teenagers.  But the preeminent thing as a wife and mother is our calling to cultivate beauty first of all in our lives: in our hearts and inner soul.  A gentle and quiet spirit is not a personality trait.  I know women who are gentle and of a quiet disposition, and they are lovely.  I am not one of them.  But here we are not called to change our personality.  We are called to live in peace of soul, despite all that annoys and troubles and angers us, despite all that frustrates our plans and brings us sorrow, we are called in our inner spirit to be gentle in our responses to others, to be quiet before the Lord in the ebb and flow of all our waking hours.

What have we accomplished?  All the fullness of our days is perishable stuff.  It comes and goes and very little of it is permanent.  It is a particular aspect of a woman’s life that so much of her work is not permanent.  I have found this to be very frustrating.  Do you have any idea the shocking amount of dishes we use that need washing?  The appalling amount of garbage and recycle that must be taken out?  The mountains of wash that pile up if we don’t do a load every 23 minutes?  And whoever is going to fold all that?  Over and over the cycles wash over us with unrelenting familiarity and yet none of it remains.  I do believe it is one of the reasons why women are in such a hurry to be making a name for themselves today out of the home, to be working on something out in the workplace that they can produce and that has tangible value.  Or that they work on in their homes rather than caring for their home.  We all want to actually see something that we have created that will endure, that has lasting substance.  We’re wired for this.

Last weekend our son kept wanting to go swimming up in the water by Deception Pass.  If you’ve vacationed around here, you know that shock that comes when you dive into icy waters that have come from some glacial stream.  It about knocks the breath out of you.  If we have an imagination, that’s what this verse ought to do for us.  It ought to give us a jolt awake.  What do we create that is imperishable?  Tangible and lasting and creative, something that bears our name?  Imperishable beauty.  The imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit.  That is our magnum opus, our work of art, our lasting legacy, that which will bear our name after we are gone.  And we do not do this in our own strength, wisdom, stoic fortitude.  We do it as a product of living hidden in Christ, of walking closely with Him, of residing in His presence.  And we can only do this by cultivating time with Him, by discussing with Him and sometimes not complaining to others, what is on our hearts, and by finding constant prayer to be a way of breathing.  We adorn ourselves with this beauty by knowing more about the character of God, and by taking on the attributes of being in His presence constantly.  Who we are is who God is as lived out through us; everything we are speaks of something He is because He has done it in us and through us.

That One Thing

Today, a guest post from our daughter...

I want a thankfulness that freezes the moment because it delights in a present God.

 This thankfulness like the laughter of the universe, because every syllable screams worship.

It's hard to keep the gratitude flowing...but to Him who keeps the waves rolling, to this God of miracles and wonders beyond our imagining, nothing is impossible.

So as the math problem frustrates, the brother whistles shrilly, the sister messes up a tidy bed, the dishwasher beeps, and I feel hot and ready to let the world know just how bad all this is---in the midst of this, He catches me before the edge, and it would just be easier to fall, but that is not the way of the cross, of the crucified self.

So I open that gratitude journal, and my heart--write the words: "The math lesson I can't figure out", engrave them on the moment; change it thus from defeat to victory. Funny how a watermark on this instant creates ownership, not simply marks it. If He wakes me up, any moment could be watermarked for Him.

Everything seems ordinary to my thankfulness-starved heart. Aren't I about done with school? Why do I have to hang up that load of wash? Why couldn't anyone thank me for bringing up the dried bananas? And I wonder where I'm going, what I'm doing that this magic globe, this wonder-filled planet has grown old. I ask for glory, to see glory, to know glory, to be filled with glory--and He says its right here, right now. "Really, couldn't it be more exciting?" "Really", He says, "this life would be too exciting for you to bear if you knew the half of it."

This is His moment, His life, His time. He has allowed me to borrow it for only a lifetime--Father, teach me usefulness in Your kingdom so that at the end of everything Your Mighty Name will be lifted up in me, that I might grow small.

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“One thing have I asked of the LORD . . .” (Psalm 27:4)

“. . . but one thing is necessary.” (Luke 10:42)

“But one thing I do . . .” (Phil. 3:13)

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"A zealous man in religion is pre-eminently a man of one thing.

It is not enough to say that he is earnest, hearty, uncompromising, thorough-going, whole-hearted, fervent in spirit. He sees only one thing, he cares for one thing, he lives for one thing, he is swallowed up in one thing; and that one thing is to please God.

Whether he lives, or whether he dies – whether he has health, or whether he has sickness – whether he is rich, or whether he is poor–whether he pleases man, or whether he gives offense–whether he is thought wise, or whether he is thought foolish – whether he gets blame, or whether he gets praise – whether he gets honor, or whether he gets shame – for all this the zealous man cares nothing at all. He burns for one thing; and that one thing is to please God, and to advance God’s glory.

If he is consumed in the very burning, he cares not for it – he is content. He feels that, like a lamp, he is made to burn; and if he is consumed in burning, he has but done the work for which God appointed him." (J. C. Ryle, Home Truths)

Weaving Wild Imaginations III

“The imagination seeks out the ideal, and beholds its beauty.  In doing so it penetrates farther to the truth than does the sloth of cynicism.” 

And Anthony Esolen continues tongue-in-cheek, 

“If we want to ensure that our young people grow up with the cramped imagination of the cynic, we should if we cannot ignore the past completely,  at least magnify the tarnish on those who came before us.  We should emulate God’s creation of man in His image and likeness, but in reverse, as through the wrong end of a telescope.  We should make everything small – like ourselves.  That will leave us with quite a sense of moral and intellectual superiority.  And that’s more deadly to the imagination than were the spears of Hannibal’s soldiers to the Romans at Cannae, centuries ago.”

--from Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of your Child

--statue of David Livingston, missionary and explorer, near his boyhood home

Creating Culture

“Neither culture nor leadership… can really be understood by itself.  In fact, one could argue that the only thing of real importance that leaders do is create and manage culture and the unique talent of leaders is their ability to understand and work with culture.”   --Edgar Schein

Every now and then something from a business model or, in this case a book on business leadership, shines a brilliant light on other aspects of our lives.  My thoughts immediately flew to a family dynamic, in particular a home schooling environment, although one could take that out of the equation and still have it stand.

I’ve been intrigued by the power of creating a family identity, a family culture.  When each person feels respected and enjoyed, feels a strong belonging to a group that is woven together with a million inside jokes, daily laughter, adventure memories, trip stories, days walking in humility and gentleness amidst the battlegrounds of each other’s sins and shortcomings, ministering together to others, helping each other and sometimes hindering,  weathering pinnacles of accomplishments and depths of failures, efforts to be encouraging and profferings of forgiveness and repentance both, a tangible thatch to stand on is woven underneath the feet.  And those feet don’t stray into the byways of an enticing world culture promising alliances of another sort.  They’re too focused on the dance they’re in.

So if we identify that a family can have its unique culture, the obvious leadership is from the parents.  Do we have on our mother-resume, “Create and manage culture”?  I’ve wondered about thinking carefully on what it means to create and manage a culture in the home.  Authenticity in pursuing a life in Christ, remaining in awe of His character revealed through nature, history, people, and the doctrines are a start.  Working hard, playing hard, adds depth and flavor.  Loving each other fervently doesn’t hinder, but it is messy and it is hard sometimes, and those little ones have to be taught to lose the whine and the “Mine!” and self besides, just when they think it couldn’t get any worse.  And do they have examples in the leadership-- those leaders who are creating and managing their culture?

In this rich context, the most basic of all societal fellowship, stories can be discussed and Story comes alive.  The doctrines are adorned with shades and nuances of reality; and that’s when our doctrines really begin to dance.

Having a dog who doesn't mind being buried in the sand, and a cat who doesn't mind being put in the drawers for company while studying, we find are necessary culture-builders.

Speaking my Language Today...

Lifted from Ann Voskamp' blog, just because I need to repeat it to myself:

For the life of me?

I can’t get it all right.

Heaven and earth both know I am a miserable mess away from perfect. This is exactly why the bruised knees just have to bend at the table of communion, and say, yes, please.

I need Jesus.

I need His life.

I need the perfect, sinless sacrifice of Jesus Christ who can take all the broken messes and make them into mosaics of Grace.

And what I really need? Is to come to the table of communion so I can celebrate this messy life! Because this is how the dictionary defines a celebrant:  The person who stands at the table of Communion is a celebrant.  

The person who lives in communion with Christ is a celebrant. A celebrant is the one keeping company with Jesus.

A celebrant is one who celebrates the extravagant grace of Christ.

A celebrant is the one keeping her eyes on Jesus and His perfect sacrifice —precisely because she isn’t perfect.

The sinners and the sick, the broken, the discouraged, the wounded and burdened — we are the ones who get to celebrate grace!

Weaving Wild Imaginations II

“There’s no question that stories for children form their moral imagination…children see in stories that we live in a world where what we do matters, and that there is real good and evil.  And they know that. Children’s stories are simple, but they’re not naïve.  They’re profoundly true…stories call out of us the best that God puts in us. 

“This includes compassion.  Because what is compassion?  Compassion means to suffer with…you put yourself in their story—and that takes imagination.  I have to imagine what it’s like to be you and to be in need.  It draws out of me what is necessary to break out of self-consciousness and solipsistic pure interest only in myself in order to put myself in someone else’s shoes.

“So I think story or imagination is at the core of morality, the core of our moral natures.  And of course that’s the ultimate story.  That’s the greatest story ever told—that God had compassion for us.  What did He do?  He joined our story in a physical way.  He started our story.  He initiated it.  But from the foundations he knew that at some point in history and in time He was going to radically join with His creation.  And that’s called the incarnation.

“I think all great artists take good and evil seriously, even if they don’t know where it came from.  And if they don’t take it seriously, then they’re not great artists.  No great work of literature or art is produced by someone who doesn’t take evil and good seriously.  So we can learn from those people who haven’t put it all together, who don’t know or haven’t accepted that God has incarnated Himself.  God still made them, and God has given them at least limited insights into the human condition.  So I love any story that brings out of me what God intended from me.”

--excerpted from an interview with Dan Taylor, Bethel University, in The Power of Words and the Wonder of God (recommended)

And as we develop discernment, a thought very worth adding here, from Doug Bond, author of many historical fiction books:

"Beware redemptive tales that turn us to ourselves and not to Jesus, that sacrifice Christ and the gospel on the altar of social justice metaphor. Weep, yes, "but drops of grief can never repay the debt of love I owe...""

--Sir Walter Scott's home (speaking of someone with a taste for the imagination of reality

And these are just photos of his study - before we entered his actual library!

----the gatehouse to Sir Walter Scott's home

Great Peace

"Great peace have they which love thy law; and nothing shall offend them."  Ps. 119:165


"Yes, a true love for the great book will bring us great peace from the great God, and be a great protection to us.  Let us live constantly in the society of the law of the Lord, and it will breed in our hearts a restfulness such as nothing else can.  The Holy Spirit acts as a Comforter through the Word, and sheds abroad those benign influences which calm the tempests of the soul.


Nothing is a stumbling block to the man who has the Word of God dwelling in him richly.  He takes up his daily cross and it becomes a delight.  For the fiery trial he is prepared, and counts it not strange, so as to be utterly cast down by it.  He is neither stumbled by prosperity, as so many are, nor crushed by adversity, as others have been; for he lives beyond the changing circumstances of external life.  When his Lord puts before him some great mystery of the faith which makes others cry, 'This is a hard saying; who can hear it?' the believer accepts it without question; for his intellectual difficulties are overcome by his reverent awe of the law of the Lord, which is to him the supreme authority to which he joyfully bows.  Lord, work in us this love, this peace, this rest, this day." 
--CH Spurgeon