TEA KETTLE MINISTRY

"Following her return to England in 1919, Biddy (wife of Oswald Chambers) continued to embrace God's calling to share Oswald's words through the printed page. Yet, she would willingly suspend her work to talk with a needy friend who dropped by . . . To her, the ministry of the tea kettle was equally as important as the ministry of books."

Our Daily Bread
November 2017
Volume 62  #8


As For Me

I have certainly been the recipient of Tea Kettle and Coffee Pot Ministry.

Thank you God,
Lonnie

MAKE HIS HEART GLAD . . . TODAY

Mary anointed Jesus feet with expensive perfume. (John 12:3)

"Let us rejoice that she made the Master's heart glad before it was too late.

"One tiny violet of encouragement will mean more to those with whom we live today than will acres of orchids when their pulses are stilled in death.

"There were four women who set out later with their spices, only to find the empty tomb.

"The opportunity for anointing had passed."

L.B. Cowman

Streams In The Desert Morning And Evening  p.806

Zondervan  2016

As For Me

I've heard people say, "Don't wait until I'm dead to give me flowers." 

I heard, understood, and try to live out that encouragement. Yet this story, with Jesus in the middle, so touched my heart!

I want to make His heart glad today . . . and tomorrow . . . and every day until He returns.

Lonnie

BEING DIFFERENT

"My point . . . is that when I was growing up to be Catholic was to be a bit different. It was a little bit beyond--in some parts of the country a lot beyond--what was respectable.

"And the Church, I must say, far from seeking to eliminate that differentness, in some ways seemed to go out of its way to emphasize it."

Antonin Scalia
Scalia Speaks: Relections on Law, Faith, and Life Well Lived   p.128
Crown Forum  2017


What Say You?

I enjoy listening to Susie Larson interviewing authors on KTIS. She often presents a dilemma of the Christian walk, and then asks the author, "What say you?"

I'm thinking that if we can do so, without being obnoxious, Christians also should emphasize what makes us different?

BUT . . .

What Say You?
Lonnie

HOSPITALITY SCARES ME

Hospitality: Let it be an expression of love, not a project.

Journal: January 17, 1992


Back-Story

Living in low-income housing did a number on me. I scrubbed, dusted, and tried to make the townhouse shine; but it still looked like HUD housing.  

When someone asked if I liked living there, it felt like judgement. Fear and shame slipped in the door. 

A fellow writer told me the requirement for joining a critique group was hosting. She warned me that other members had really nice homes. Shame slipped in a little further.

 Add some voices in my head, that sounded a lot like Dad, about standards of orderliness, and fear grew like a monster on steroids. I could never measure up. I knew hospitality held nothing but rejection for me.

 I can still remember a Bible study that changed from meeting at church to taking turns hosting. I quit. 

"People come to see you," Mom said, "not your house."

She might also have said, "If they don't like your house, they don't have to come back."

My fear exactly.

As I reread what I felt God was speaking to my heart decades ago, the project piece fades. The love stands out. I DO love. I don't have the polish of an experienced hostess. I don't do frills very well. But I can make a pot of coffee or boil water for tea. I can, with God's help, risk one more time. Maybe two.

It's You And Me, God,
Lonnie



PS: I'm pretty sure I need to retitle my blog------50 WORDS OR MORE

I CHOOSE EXPECTANCY

" . . . my weaknesses aren't cause for worry. They are material for miracles."

Journal: January 10, 1992


Are you a quilter? If so, I'm guessing you have a stash (or 3) of different colours, patterns, and textures, along with dreams of projects and people to give them to. If you're like me, you have way more fabric than time. You will never run out of material. 

We could look at that abundance with a sense of dread for projects not yet done. Or . . . with a sense of expectancy.

I choose expectancy,
Lonnie



Everytime, I reread the first part of this, my mind reads, "Are you a quilter or a quitter?"  I enjoy sewing quilt tops, but I sort of freak when I have to combine layers and sew the binding around the whole quilt. I'm afraid of failure, afraid of ugly. I'm in such a place now. God and I have some work to do. I choose expectancy.

IF THE SHOE FITS . . .

As For Me

Mom used to say, "If the shoe fits, wear it."

The shoe fits "less well" these days . . . to no credit of my own.

God continues to work.

Lonnie

"While the West may not consider itself idolatrous, the definition of idolatry given in Isaiah 2:8 shows that it is, for in this culture people worship 'the work of their hands.'"

                             . . . . .

"Another form of idolatry is fear. When we fear something, we make it bigger than God in our minds."

John Devries
Why Pray?  p. 146
Mission India 2005

WHO GOD USES

"God never picks the person you or I would choose. He chose a posse of fishermen, tax collectors, and insurgents to be His disciples. He picked Paul, the greatest persecutor of Christians, to be Apostle to the Gentiles and to write most of the New Testament. He selected David, the runt of Jesse's litter, to be king over Israel, and Moses, a shepherd, to confront the most powerful man on earth . . . "

Richard Stearns
The Hole In Our Gospel  p.45
Thomas Nelson  2010


As For Me

Our small group started a DVD study of this book. I left last week thinking, I'm not falling into that legalism, that condemnation.

Then I ran across the book for 99 cents.

Good, I'll have good reason to free up my Monday nights . . . 

Or Not . . .

I could feel hopeful that God could use me, or scared that He will.

Unsettled,

Lonnie

AUDIENCE OF ONE

"PSALM 22:3 tells us God inhabits the praises of His people . . . praise from your heart will invite God to pull up His chair and become your audience."


( I love this picture.)


"You might want to repeat to Him a few of the attributes the Word records for Him. Tell Him who He is. God already knows, but He's wanting to make sure we know."

Beth Moore
Whispers Of Hope  p.1-2
Broadman&Holman  2013


As For Me

One of my most cherished qualities of God, these days, is FAITHFULNESS.

God is so faithful . . . to meet my needs; to love me when I'm angry, crabby, weepy, selfish, generous, happy or even stupid-silly; He is faithful to send encouragement when I need it most and He is faithful to keep me safe. God is faithful to convict me of sin with love and compassion, and to hold my heart in the palms of His Hands.

He absolutely is faithful to pull up His chair and listen to every--single--word.

I Love You Lord,

Lonnie

INCREDIBLY BORING

"One of the great slogans of the success seminars of the New Age movement is, 'What the mind can conceive, man can achieve.' Although it's meant to be freeing, I find this statement incredibly boring compared to God's motto, 'God is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20)."

John Devries
Why Pray?  p.94
Mission India  2005

What Could I Add To "That?"
Lonnie

A PROPER IRISH LIE

"Another characteristic of the Irish--perhaps their most endearing--is their lightheartedness. A result, no doubt, of the depth of their belief in the hereafter. It's only a short time here, so there's no use taking it all too seriously."

Antonin Scalia
Scalia Speaks   p.32/Nook
Crown Forum   2017


"The wonderful thing about a proper Irish lie is that it does not matter if it is believed. It is such a bold, courageous, imaginative invention that, even when you see through it, you are so impressed with the quality of mind that could concoct such nonsense that it is impossible to have anything but admiration for the author."

Scalia Speaks  p.32


As For The Wests

Our children have O'Tooles on one side, and a strong presence of McCoys on the other. Give me time to ponder that . . .

Colour Me Smiling,
Lonnie