mere christianity . by c.s.Lewis

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If you are a believer in Christ, or even if you don’t believe in God at all, there is no reason to expect a believer to be this perfectly kind and understanding person that does and says everything that Christ would say or do.  
Even though the believer is filled with the Holy Spirit, he is still a sinful human, the same, in that way, as everyone.

God’s power works within and through weakness and brokenness. God’s Holy Spirit makes quiet changes within the heart and mind, like the changing of a season that happens slowly and is eventually noticed. Yes, we are still broken, but sometimes we see God’s light shining through that brokenness.

To believe, is to realize my need for Jesus as well as His Love for me.

He is always waiting for the heart that turns to Him.
And that person will receive God’s Love in relationship with the living Spirit of God and His gift of grace and mercy, all of this, through the Son of God.

~
wednesday post for the reading of “mere christianity”. by csLewis
photograph “Light in the brokenness” ~ nance

seasons

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In Oregon, we had a very late and cool summer. And now, summer is walking out the back door with her long trails of warm breezes flowing behind her. Autumn has one wet and muddy foot in the front door, and is bringing with her the scent of earthy decay and ripe apples.
Summer’s warmth was very late in arriving this year. And the whole season was unusually cool. It leaves my husband and i wondering if any of the vineyards will have good fruit this year. We have had a couple of rains, but, the fruit needs about three more weeks to ripen. It is pretty difficult (close to impossible) to make excellent wine from unripened grapes.
The thing with the rains in this part of Oregon, is that they get seriously down to business. None of this rain one day, clear for a week. It starts to rain some time in October, and for the most part it continues to rain until a little let up in April or May. It gets cloudy and grey, which makes us all very needy for a day of sun here and there.  Growing up in southern Illinois was a different story with those beautiful fall days and cold yet sunny winters.
Back to the grapes. If the rain spout really turns on before the grapes are ripe, they will rot. Not good.  No one wants a vineyard full of rotting wine grapes.  But, we shall see, as only time will tell.
A couple of nights ago, Peter made a dish of insalata caprese. He had some beautiful tomatoes from our friend, another winemaker and a fantastic gardener, Dick Ferraro.  Peter bought some basil and mozzarella at the farmer’s market. Those three ingredients, along with salt and a good olive oil is all it takes, but, Peter also likes to add an excessively good balsamic vinegar that is all thick and sweet. It was so pretty that i had to get a photograph of it. An image of the last of summer on a plate. We also have a tiny bit of summer, in a few peaches, sitting on our kitchen counter being eyed every day for the exact time of juicy sweetness.

One on one

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I don’t like to label groups of people. Even though i know that it must be done to some extent, the people in most groups do not all think completely alike, no matter how they are represented. People vary greatly under the same label.
There is also the fact that anyone who speaks of a group and makes a name or label for them can say anything they want about said group, and it may or may not be true. Be careful to weigh what you hear. 
A person can generalize about another person until a closer look is taken. And no one can know a whole group, unless you know each and every person’s heart.
Plus, each person doesn’t even know their own heart completely, so how could anyone else?
What i am saying is that God is the only one that knows a person’s heart. So no matter what a group or a person seems to be, we can not even pretend to know the whole truth.  
We don’t know…and so we might want to allow our heart to remain sensitive when we think or speak about others. For there is one judge, and it is He who knows each person’s heart.
Allow your heart to remain sensitive to the leading of Holy Spirit and God’s word.
~
My photograph, is of plums. A bit blurred, but i like it that way. All the plums are indeed plums, but, even if you can’t see it in this photo, they are all different, unique in some way. I want to remember that people are all people and yet they are each unique, special, and to be Loved.

book hunting

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I stopped by the little thrift store in Newberg today.  As one goes through the heavy metal front doors you find yourself in a small entry room, the walls lined with books on shelves, and with boxes of books on the floor, that have not been put onto shelves, mainly because there is no room there.
As i perused the shelves i found four books, two hardbacks and two paper backs.  After that i looked through one of the boxes and found a running press miniature edition of “Sonnets from the Portuguese” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.  It fits in the palm of my hand.
Here is what the book’s introduction says:
“These poems poured from the soul of a woman whose life was transformed by a most improbable love.
In 1845, Elizabeth Barrett, a well-known Victorian poet, was a housebound invalid nearly forty years old. A fan letter from a 33-year-old aspiring poet, Robert Browning, commenced a correspondence that quickly kindled to love, although the two did not meet face-to-face for months. When Barrett’s tyrannical father forbid her to marry, she found the strength to elope with Browning to Italy, where they lived happily in semi-exile until her death in 1861.
Robert Browning’s nickname for Elizabeth was “the Portuguese,” referring to a character in her poem “Catarina to Camoens.” Writing this sequence of highly private sonnets about her astonishing love affair, she used that name, hoping to disguise the verses as a translation. But her passion shines through, making these her finest poems-and, indeed, some of the greatest love poems ever written.
I bought that book and four others, and the lovely lady only charged me two dollars.  The other four books are:
1. The Ship’s Pasture, by Jon Silkin, his 9th book of poems, 1986
2. Always a Reckoning, and other poems, by Jimmy Carter, 1995
3. The Family Orchard, by Nomi Eve, 2000 (actually, i bought this one to have a closer look at the illustrations)
4. The Coup, by John Updike, 1978

mere christianity . by c.s.Lewis

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It is so easy to want to judge.  To take one side over another.  Doing so makes us feel in control of our self, of others and our world.  And yet, what judgement really produces are extremes, walls, division and selfishness.  None of these things are very good.
When we realize that we are not the judge, the extremes disappear, the walls come down, and we are less about protecting something that we are not meant to be part of.  We are less selfish.  When we step away from judgement, we are released from a certain web of deceit.
As a Christ believer we are to keep our eyes on God.  In that we realize that everyone is part of the same body of Christ, as everyone is a different organ within that body. When each organ is allowed to do what they are to do, this allows everyone in the body to live as the whole Body lives.
People are unique and at the same time they need one another.  In God’s creation we find everything to be both the same and different. The same and different are what we are.  Snowflakes are all snowflakes, and yet each one has their own unique shape.  All people are unique, and all people are part of God’s creation. God Loves everyone and wants everyone to freely Love Him.  And so we have free will, that we can be free to know Love and to choose to Love, as well as choose to Love God and to know Him.
~
There are links to other posts on this chapter, as well as Jason’s post, at the blog of JasonS… here

voices and friends . poetry reading

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I know that speaking and hearing words makes them seem to come alive.  And then i think, well…the words of God are truly alive and living.  So, is there something that happens when we speak the words of God that is different than speaking my own words.  Spiritually, i think that there is.
I am grateful to be able to hear some of your words.  Thank you for speaking them.
Note:  I was having trouble getting on soundcloud this morning.  So i am trying a new place called Vocaroo.   I used the anonymous recording page, so my recording will be around for 1-2 months and then gone.  If i had signed- in i think it would have been around for about 5-6 months.
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becoming changed

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I have been inspired to look closer at my motivation behind my blogging. And so, photos have become smaller, column width has been shortened for easier reading, and links of other blogs have been brought up and along side of my posts.  All to support a more equal balance of priority.

Poem by Edith Brownell

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October

Like tired lids the leaves drop down,
Earth drowsy grows, and on her breast,
Beneath a blanket red and brown,
The weary year lies down to rest.

Poem by~Edith Brownell
Published in The Outing Magazine
The outdoor magazine of human interest
Volume XLVII
October, 1905-March, 1906
The Outing Publishing Company

~

The following text is from
The Writer: A monthly magazine for literary workers
Volume XVIII   December 1906 ~ No. 12
Boston: The Writer Publishing Company 146 Franklin Street
Page 184
Writers of the Day

Edith Brownell, author of “His Burden of Hatred,” in Lippincott’s for October, was born in Toledo, O., but went south to live when a child.  Her first writing was done in Atlanta, and consisted of interviews  and book reviews for theSaturday Review, a local woman’s weekly, and two stories which were published in the Puritan Magazine – now extinct.  Soon afterward Miss Brownell went to Chicago, where she spent four years at the university, during which time her only literary out put appeared in the student publications.  While there she wrote and staged a little play, which was givening one of the women’s halls, and she herself appeared in some French plays.  Two years ago she came to Washington and began newspaper work.  She is now on the editorial staff of the Washington Post, writing special articles for the Sunday issue, together with dramatic criticism and interviews. Last summer she was sent abroad by the Post, and wrote weekly letters from England, France, and Germany.  Miss Brownell has had verse printed in Outing and in Youth, and Lippincott’s Magazine and Munsey’s now hold unpublished poems of hers.

Something to Celebrate

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I have been thinking of the yearly celebrations of christmas and halloween.  And i have decided that i don’t want to honor them.  They are not biblical celebrations and they are full of paganism and worldly hooey.

I do like to bring more light and comfort into the house for the darker and colder season.  I like to decorate with different colours in different seasons.  And i want to look for God’s Grace in every day.
I don’t want to celebrate out of thoughtless habit.  Just because the world says it is the time to do so and that this is the way to do it.  I don’t need to honor all of the beliefs that are intertwined through history in these celebrations.
I can bring in light, colour, music, and decorations that speak of and celebrate a life lived everyday in the Lord, instead these once-a-year conglomerations of religion, paganism, consumerism, and greed.  
I am free to make choices.  And i think it’s time that God be the one i honor and celebrate, in relating with Him and others, every one of the days i am given. Not the pre-packaged, pre-digested, pre-prepared, yearly, staged, fake gold and sold, glittered-over “stuff” posing as okay and good and harmless.  
I want the real thing.
I want every new day and a new way.
His way.
~

photographer michael o’brien

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photos above:
from “Their Own Choice”
A portfolio of LIFE photographers’ favorites.
LIFE Magazine’s 50th Anniversary Issue . Fall 1986
I took photos… of photos…that were in an article of
the 1986 magazine that i bought at a book sale…
which led to…
The Photographer
Web site for Michael O’Brien here
Book – “Hard Ground” 

Tom Waits – Author
Michael O’Brien – Author and Photographer (his second book)
DJ Stout and Berrett Fry – Book Designers
University of Texas Press
March 1, 2011

78 Photographs by O’Brien
23 Original Poems by Waits

✒ A very good article on the book, @ Pentagram, here.

✒ Maureen Doallas led off her December 23, 2010 post of “Facts, New or Not”
…..with information and links about the book, here.

~
light carving –  photo (light) + graph (scratch or carve into stone)

mere christianity . by c.s.Lewis

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The main thing this chapter is about, is that God took on the life of a baby, a man, lived and breathed and spoke of who He was and what it meant.  He died a physically terrible human death, and then came back from that into life.  
Also, that the natural life of each of us is something self-centered and obstinate.  It does not like anything stronger or higher that would make it feel small or weak.
That your part and mine is to believe that He is Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, and to draw close to Him, and to lay ourself open to Him.  
And within those actions of the heart and mind is the wonderful mystery of the Holy Spirit and connection with the God of Abraham, Moses, David, Isaac, and Joseph.  The God Almighty.  A life with, and belonging to, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
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Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say.  You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.  Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!  Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?  Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”