Family Worship

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Recently, my husband and I attended the last vespers of the school year--we could hardly believe how fast the time had flown! But that is beside the point, because they had indeed saved one of the best topics for last. A brother and sister, both students at our university and renting a small house together, shared their testimony about family worship, which went something like the following.

They had been busy, squeezing every bit of life into every day, but missing something. One particularly busy morning, seminary student brother bounced into speech pathology student sister's bedroom, where she was frantically studying for an exam.

"Let's have family worship!" he said.

"I don't have time!" she replied.

Both siblings showing a bit of their strong personalities, sister eventually gave in and they had family worship. In fact, that morning they began having family worship together twice, I believe, every day, just as they had done in childhood with their parents.

They started noticing something: a line from the reading would give them needed strength for a trial; a snippet from a hymn sung together that morning would encourage their tired steps; the Lord blessed each with greater efficiency in their regular studies and tasks throughout the day.

The principles and ideas? A set time in the morning and evening that works well for all the members of the family. A set length of time, ensuring a non-rushed morning. Variety. Prayer--for each family member. Singing. Bible reading, or reading from another trusted book. Brief discussion of things read.

They also encouraged family members to have their own private devotional times before the beginning of family worship, and to have family worship before anyone leaves the house for the day.

Perhaps one of the most beautiful things of the presentation was that at the end of a concise presentation, they pretended we were not in the room, and had a family worship so that we could all, in our mixed group of singles, couples, and parents with children, see how they did it. And they applied the principle to everyone, saying that no matter what your life circumstances, it's important to connect daily with others, encouraging and building each other up.

Our couple-family has always had morning prayer together, and a wonderful evening worship. Since this vespers, we have filled out our morning prayer to a morning worship, complete with singing. What a blessing it has already been to our lives, and how grateful we are to be learning and practicing these principles early in our lives and marriage.

(Note: Something else we like to do, as shown in the above photo, is to take a little pocket Bible along on hikes and walks, and at a pretty stopping place, pause to reflect on our Creator and His words for us.)

(If you would like more ideas for family worship, you might reference, as the brother/sister team mentioned above did, a little book called Child Guidance, by Ellen White.)

Five Affirmations Before Breakfast

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We both know it. When I'm rushed in the morning, feeling that the whole day is gone before it has really begun and I'm already behind schedule, I'm not on my best behavior.

But even the knowing doesn't make it any more pleasant for either of us.

Yesterday was just such a morning. Behind again, the minutes slipping right through my fingers. I stepped into the shower, grateful for Husband's offer to whip up breakfast to help offset my tardiness, yet still feeling discouraged.

For once, at this moment, by the grace of God, I did something reasonable.

I prayed--after all, I had just given my Lord the whole day, and wasn't this too part of the day?

I remembered--because "we have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget how the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history." (E. G. White, Testimonies to Gospel Workers, p. 31) Last week when I felt discouraged, my feelings reflected no part of reality. It was easy to see it all in retrospect. Could that be true this morning as well?

I smiled--in spite of my stress the words at the bottom of a friend's e-mail came to mind: "Sometimes I believe in five impossible things before breakfast."

I thought--of my husband, to whom words carry great power to encourage or to tear down. What about five affirmations before breakfast? So what if I didn't feel affirming? Far from impossible, wouldn't that be a more pleasant path for both of us than speaking of all my worries before breakfast? Or at any part of the day?

I counted--with each delightful thing about my husband, said to him aloud, came the remembrance of another. And soon these selfless attempts to brighten his day's start, possible because of Jesus' selfless blood shed for me, brought sunshine to my morning as well.

The Ice was All Around: More of the Frozen Lake

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In many places, we could see that the ice was several feet thick. That being the case, of course we walked out on it to get a better view.

The ice formed balls. Farther out toward the water, these balls were not sealed together. But where we were, had been gradually frozen solid as the water washed over them and glued them together.

All this--the ice peaks in the distance, the massive ice berg on which we stood--had been formed in a week or less. When we visited exactly one week prior, the lake was not frozen at all.

All along the peaks at the edge between solid ice and flowing, smaller ice balls, the fury of the lake splashed up against the ice wall, and looked like a series of geysers along the ice line.

Another view of the sun, the gathering storm, the ice.

Testing the surface by throwing snow/ice boulders onto the new surface.

Out at the edge, some of the little ice bergs were still flowing with the waves before being washed in to meld themselves to the larger icy surface.

My handsome husband.

The spray was incredible. You can see in this photo that not only water, but also chunks of ice get swept up in the might of the waves.

Words, and even pictures, fail to describe the scene. I have never seen anything like this in all my life, and it's worth living through a Michigan winter just for that afternoon on the ice.

The Ice was Here: An Introductory Glance

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We'd had a snowstorm, so like we usually do (even if the weather men say to stay home where it's cozy and safe), we took a trip to the lake. We may not live in this area forever, after all, and we simply must take in the beauties as much as we can.


We had heard of the lake freezing. But we had not imagined what it would really be like.

If you scroll down to an earlier post, you can see the same path in warm-weather garb.

I cannot come away from a view like this thinking that water--its properties, the way it goes from lake to ice to cloud to snow--happened in any other way than by the word of God.

Thoughts by the Sea (or Lake Michigan)

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In the contemplation of Christ, we linger on the shore of a love that is measureless.

We endeavor to tell of this love, and language fails us.

We consider His life on earth, His sacrifice for us, His work in heaven as our advocate, and the mansions He is preparing for those who love Him, and we can only exclaim, O the height and depth of the love of Christ!



Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.




Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.




In every true disciple, this love, like sacred fire, burns on the alter of the heart.




It was on the earth that the love of God was revealed through Christ. It is on the earth that His children are to reflect this love through blameless lives. Thus sinners will be led to the cross, to behold the Lamb of God.




(White, Ellen G. The Acts of the Aposltes. p. 334.)

Autumn Sabbath

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After a wonderful lunch (how bountifully the Lord provides!) and far, far away from our families, my husband and I thought we would take some pictures of our Michigan autumn for show and tell. And what a beautiful Sabbath day we had for the venture! Well over 70 degrees, the weather gave us the perfect excuse to be out and about.

For us, Sabbath is a wonderful reminder of our Creator, and spending time outside in the fresh air among the beauties He has given reminds us how much He cares for our every need and plans for our happiness things we can hardly imagine. "The eyes of all wait upon Thee," writes the Psalmist, "and Thou givest them their meat in due season."

I hate spiders. But my husband thinks the pattern on this one was beautiful.

Last week, the gulls were all afloat on the water in the cold. Why they decided to absent themselves on this glorious day (which I thought would be far better for a bath), we don't know.

A favorite park swing overlooking the river, from which we can see (kind of) the shores of our favorite mission organization across the water. It's romantic, it's peaceful, it's a wonderful place to pray and meditate--and it's far enough away from the {amazing} children's play area to be satisfactorily solitary.



This little fellow kindly posed long enough near his nut bank for us to take several portraits. He's such an avid climber--fearfully and wonderfully made.


Our river. Ours because it runs very near where we live, and we have the privilege of seeing it every day.


"This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!"

Encouragement

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Some words got me thinking, and I praise God for all the courage and faith He has brought to my mind in all these thoughts! I share a few of them here, and apologize for the lack of pictures....

All afternoon, all evening, even this morning as I lay half sleeping, half waking, words poured into my mind. Some I’ve carried in my heart since childhood, some I’ve grasped only in the last week or two.

My eyes scanned my own experience. That wasn’t God’s fault, I thought. Nothing that has happened to me or to those close to me was ever His fault. An enemy hath done this. (Matthew 13:28)

This war, this carnage we experience daily, didn’t begin here, in isolation from God’s own heart. First there was war in heaven. Where all was perfection, peace, joy, love, service, faith, glory, there was war. We’ve seen the wars on earth, the devastation of all sides fighting to the death. We’ve seen valor and courage face to face with evil and treachery; we’ve read the bloody history of war upon war. But how much more terrible would it be to see out and out war in heaven, where all had been bliss, where both armies had strength beyond our imaginings?

Oh, the grief our Father must know!

Lucifer started out perfect, the sun of the morning. Yet he nursed pride, thinking he could overtake the throne of God, that he could have the power of his Creator, that God wasn’t fair to keep him from his goals. (See Isaiah 14)

“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him…And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted…” (Revelation 12:9, 13)

It was all his fault.

He disguised himself, spoke charming words, and before there was even a third human being on earth, the devil had led astray our first parents. They saw the flowers and leaves dying, they saw their son turn murderer, they faced grief beyond what we could bear, Adam living as near to one thousand years as some of us live near to one hundred.

God made them, and us, with minds, with reason, with choice. An enemy drew them in, and they had chosen. Their pain was Satan’s fault, as well as their own. They had no excuses. Adam and Eve made their choice, and it seemed like ours was forever lost in theirs.

But from the first, God had the answer to all our ruined choices, all the persecutions of the enemy. You know the answer; I know it. We know the cross. We know the Truth that sets us free. We find forgiveness at the cross.

We find justice there, too.

Has someone stolen from me? Whether the theft was petty, concrete, emotional, the price of the theft is paid to me in full for my healing by Christ’s death, whether that person repents or not. Have I been abused? Christ restores by His wounds. Have I been cheated? Have I been hurt? Have I been scorned? All the worlds of hurt in my heart are healed because Jesus died to restore to me what was taken, what was lost.

“By His stripes, we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)

Jesus knows all our pain. It wasn’t His fault or His doing, but He paid the price for us anyway. Because He was innocent of all guilt in this war between good and evil, God and Satan, His sacrifice pays the price for us. If He had been guilty of any wrong-doing, however small, His death would have paid only the price for His faults, and could not have even begun to pay for ours.
But He was, is, and always will be perfectly holy and pure. Thus the cross is fair. It’s just. It’s merciful. It makes no excuses for sin, but takes sin’s wages from us and puts them on Jesus.

Jesus knows the pain of losing a friend in death. “Jesus wept.” Over Lazarus. Even though He was about to raise him from the dead again.

“Then said the Jews, See how He loved him!” (John 11:35, 36)

He weeps still with us, when today we face loss and discouragement. Could that be why He does not speak instantly, why He seems silent, for all His tears? He will heal, He will raise up, like He did Lazarus. He promises to wipe away all tears from our faces (Revelation 7:17). Joy will come in the morning.

Jesus knows the pain of betrayal, of loss, of ridicule, of shame, of torture. He experienced it not only in His own life and death on earth, but He also experiences it every day, every hour, every moment, with all of us. “I will never leave you, nor forsake you,” He promised, and with His presence, this Gift of all gifts, we can be content. (Hebrews 13:5) He took up the cross for us, and has not laid it down again, but daily walks the road with us, bearing our burdens.

No matter how alone we feel, no matter how grieved, no matter how isolated, we cling to this promise. God does not lie, and His Word cannot fail. This is a God I can trust, though He slay me. (Job 13:15)

He said we would have trouble in this world. It’s because of the enemy, because of our choices, because of choices others make around us.

“But be of good cheer,” He says. “I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)