CAREFULLY CARELESS

"God is clearly blessing us." "Thank you Lord for how much you've blessed our efforts." "Our growth is no doubt because of God's favor on us." The world, even the Christian culture, is claiming God's blessings as signs of approval. There were absolutely instances in the Bible, specifically the Old Testament, where good gifts were signs of God's pleasure and hardships were attributed to His divine disdain. However, Jesus clearly abolished this singular mentality when a blind m

The greater the gift, the greater the demands. I'm not sure if anyone has quoted that before, but I think it stems from Luke 12:48, which says, " From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." It hit me recently how much this relates to marriage, but how we only associate it with gifts other than marriage. Think about it: if work requires our time or dedication, we'll oblige. If getti

I've never lived in a place where snow stayed on the ground for more than a few days, so it's an entertaining novelty at this point in my life. We've lived in North Carolina for more than a month now, and we've had several rounds of snow, making for a delightful and hazardous winter wonderland, which I personally have LOVED! There happened to be a pond in the back of our rental, and watching it go from slightly frozen to thawed to completely frozen again was like watching a

If you hate poetry, well you won't appreciate this, but if you've ever lived without modern appliances, and then come back to them, you'll understand. I have had a month of grand appreciation and decided to write my own Ode... "Ode to Appliances: Buttons of Ease" With the ease of buttons all quarters are lost. And with them too thoughts of dedication: The days which suited best for washing and drying, The time which suited best for function or applying. Each machine open, av