isn't this sweet?

A baby elephant at the Columbus Zoo just getting his feet underneath himself for the first time. (no sound)

Cecile Woodruff

I was getting rid of some old Bibles, and this picture fell out. I have no idea who she is, or even where the Bible came from. (People know I love books, and so I will often get boxes given to me to look through.) The Bible had belonged to the Hollister family.

Anyhow, Cecile looked like such a pleasant lady, that I thought I'd give some random googler a chance to find her, if she happened to be a relation of theirs.

Some faces just intrigue me, and hers does.

So ... descendant of Cecile Woodruff, if you happen to pass this way, here is what she looked like one winter day long ago. :) Leave a comment, and I'll be happy to send you the picture.

Some thoughts on Psalm 139 from this weekend

I'm finally feeling better. Life is good! :) (You never realize how good you feel until you feel really BAD for a while.)

The speaker at last weekend's retreat gave us a lot of time alone with God, with suggestions for study. I really enjoyed it.

The first suggestion she had was to meditate on Psalm 139. This is one I'd memorized years ago, and I haven't spent much time with it since. Thinking about it was such a treat. I'll share some of what I came up with for the first five verses, and I'd love to hear your thoughts also.


1. O LORD, You have searched me and known {me.}

There is SO much in me (and in anyone) that would offend God, at the very core of His being. He is perfect, and we human beings are far from it. I know myself, and know that I am far from it.

Yet He makes a deliberate choice to go there. He is all-knowing. He already knows everything. Yet to "search" seems to imply some attention above and beyond that. He somehow directed the process, focused it more precisely, when it comes to knowing His people.

Now my first (negative) thought is that He's looking for hidden sins and yuckiness that needs to go away. Yet later, in verse 23, David ASKS God to search him for hidden sins. So this initial searching must be something different, yes? Maybe a desire to become more intimately acquainted with one who's loved? Maybe gazing on the reflection of the Lord Jesus, that's present (even in small scraps) in the hearts of those who have trusted him?

The word "me" is in brackets, which means it isn't in the original text, but is strongly implied. It's interesting to read it without that word. "You have searched me and known." There's something all-encompassing when you read it that way. The open-endedness (new word ... made it up myself) is comforting. He has searched, and He knows it ALL ... the motivations, the secrets, fears, triumphs. He just ... KNOWS.

2. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar.


He cares about all the little details of our day -- the things that would be SO tedious to all but those who really care ... "When did you get up this morning?" "Did you sit and watch the sunrise?" "Was your headache any better today?" These things are fascinating when they involve someone you love.

The end is amazing. "You understand my thought afar off." I have friends whom I love dearly, and whom I can truly say I "know." Yet, the way they think is so different fro the way I think that there is a continual mystery in understanding their motives and choices. Yet God is afar off ... profoundly different in every way. Nevertheless, somehow, He not only CAN, but chooses to, understand my thoughts. So often I don't understand them myself!

3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.

He "scrutinizes" or "winnows" my path. This sounds fearful, too, doesn't it? But only because I don't know HIM as well as He knows ME!

The use of "winnow" is interesting. Picking out the bad bits and blowing them away. Fortunately he adds in some good bits, so there's something left! It seems like a violent process, but it's a process with a POINT. There are times when violence is required in order to accomplish good ends. Surgery, or setting a bone, a soldier's boot camp or disciplining a child ... these would all seem violent to an observer who didn't understand the situation. Yet their end is healing, and maturity and strength.

"Path" or "journeying" makes me think of life and "lying down" of death as well as the day to day awake and sleep, or moving forward in our growth with God and times of stagnation. All of this, He knows intimately.

What a beautiful summary statement. "intimately acquainted with all my ways."

There's a story told, and I wish I could find the source. (help? anyone?) about a practical joker who sent anonymous notes to many people in his town. They all said the same thing: "all is discovered, flee now." And they did. Every one of them had a secret that, if it were known, would be so deeply shameful that they ran. We all do, don't we? If not something we've done, then something we've thought, or something we just ARE. But in God's case, all IS known, and there IS nowhere to flee. But there's also no need to flee.

4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all.

Again, there's so much to know here that's abhorrent to me. There are things I've said that just make me flinch when the memory sneaks in unbidden. In James 3, it says "the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity."

In those times of verbal idiocy, I often don't even known my words before they slip out. Yet God DOES. If tongue control is going to happen, I need to ask Him to do it!


5 You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me.

I can tend to be claustrophobic in certain situations ... crowded rooms full of people, amidst clutter, when I can't see outside, etc. But this is a good type of enclosure, not like a cow in a loading cute!

I was thinking about reasons why we enclose things:


Because they might get lost
livestock, children, earrings

"Prone to wander, Lord I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love.
Here's my heart, Lord,
Take and seal it.
Seal it for thy courts above.

Because there is danger to be avoided

There are hidden pits, evil people and treacherous pathways, and we'll wander into them chasing butterflies.

To set it apart for ourselves


My yard, my field, my last piece of chocolate cake ... we enclose it to show ownership.

Because it's valuable, and someone might snatch it away

Passports, cars, and beloved disciples who might listen to false teachers who would lead them into falsehood

Because we want to assign it value

If you're trying to sell something, putting it in a glass case automatically gives it a perceived value. If you have something that might appear ordinary, and you want to display it in your home, you set it apart, and it draws the eye, and curiosity. There's an allure to the apparently-every-day that is, for some reason, different.

Because it's fragile, delicate

Oh to remember this about other believers! It's so easy to be quick with advice, or criticism, or just un-useful words. We are all far more fragile than we let on. God wants us to deal gently with one another.

“Being perplexed, I say,
‘Lord, make it right!
Night is as day to Thee,
Darkness as light.
I am afraid to touch
Things that involve so much;
My trembling hand may shake,
My skilless hand may break;
Thine can make no mistake.’

“Being in doubt I say,
‘Lord, make it plain;
Which is the true, safe way?
Which would be gain?
I am not wise to know,
Nor sure of foot to go;
What is so clear to Thee,
Lord, make it clear to me!’”
-- Streams in the Desert

**************

So, there's what I've come up with. I'd love to hear your gleanings!

On another note, my robins are back, and building a nest on the balcony again this year. I shredded some rags last night, and put them out, to contribute something to the construction process.

quite possibly the least productive day ever

I was at our church's ladies' retreat Friday night and Saturday, and it was such a blessing. I have some gleanings I'd like to post on Psalm 139, but not tonight, I don't think.

Came home sick, and I've been sleeping ever since ... I mean for the last 24 hours, I've been awake about 5. And now, that I've gotten up, checked my mail, and typed this, I'm considering going back to sleep again.

Sure hope this passes before I need to be at work Tuesday morning (and I also hope no one ELSE came home with it.)

no one accuses the EPA of being anti-science

I am listening to the Mars Hill Audio Journal right now. It's an audio publication our pastor subscribes to that examines different aspects of culture, theology, etc.

It really is fascinating. The one that's playing now is about stem cell research, and the line in the subject really jumped out at me.

Those who are against embryonic stem cell research are portrayed as being anti-science. Which is, I suppose, true in a limited sense ... they believe that there are limits to where research should go. (i.e. - Joseph Mengele ... or however his name was spelled ... don't want to look it up, because I don't want to know any more about him than I already do!).

However, those who want to protect the environment would ALSO believe in restrictions on scientific research ... animal experimentation, biological weapons, things that would harm the environment, etc. However, I've never heard anyone claim that those folks are "anti-science."

It's all a matter of your world view, isn't it? This is a fascinating magazine - I'd encourage you to have a listen! They have a free podcast with little samples from the different articles, which is what I'm listening to right now.

things change

I was reading in Acts 21 this morning, and thinking about how different things were in the early church than they are now.

In college, I used to attend a church that thought it was very important that we follow the pattern of the early Christians.

Yet, there are SO many things that happen in Acts that are VERY different from how God has the church structured now.

This particular chapter, I was noticing how OFTEN people were hearing from the Holy Spirit, not just about their own lives, but also about others. Paul was getting all KINDS of communication through other people from the Holy Spirit.

But today, the Spirit communicates to the individual believer about their own life, but (in my opinion) doesn't go meddling with others. He will talk to me about ME, and He will talk to you about YOU. He doesn't need to use me to give you orders!

It made me think of how, when a baby is newborn, SO many things change ... the hole in their heart closes up, the soft spot in their heads firms up, their neck gets stronger, they gain weight, vision improves, etc. And it's SO SO FAST.

And it's the only time in life (except maybe adolescence) that everything is in such a state of rapid change.

Acts is kind of like a newborn. All kinds of things are happening to prepare the church for maturity and stability in the future. And while we learn a TON from it, I'm becoming less and less convinced that it's intended to be a pattern for how the church should function today.

In fact, it's amazing how LITTLE pattern God actually gives us for the church's function. We are told some about how the leadership should be, and some about how we should treat one another, but as far as details about when we meet, how long, what the music's like, what the building's like, what we should wear, etc. etc. ... God doesn't say a whole lot.

When you look at the intricate details He gave for old testament temple worship, that's really amazing, isn't it? They had specifications for EVERY THING having to do with worshiping God.

Yet for the new testament church ... there's all this liberty left.

I think it's a neat picture of how God is now focused on the internal condition of our hearts, rather than the externals of buildings and dress and music and blah blah blah. He wants us to worship Him in community with a local church, but how that's done? We're pretty free.

And how adaptable this makes Christianity. It's not a belief that only "works" in Israel in 50 A.D. or in America in 2009. It belongs to every culture who opens to it, and any time. The Dutch here who prefer music without any drums, or such-like (and kind of like their food without spice also ... I wonder if there's a connection?) can HAVE their plain way of worship. And those who like drums and dancing can have that too. It's all freedom and liberty. I like that!

Grey areas are very VERY nice in so many things!

Rambling post today ... if anyone read this far, I'm impressed. :)

Obama's latest

He's suggesting we charge military personnel for treatment of service-related injuries.

I am SO not kidding.

(He says "charge their private insurance" ... but, that means their insurance rates will rise dramatically, or they'll be dropped entirely ... when you charge an insurance company, you charge the people who buy the insurance.)

Read it! And write letters. Many, many letters.

Trinka

don't you just have days like this?

My oldest niece was having a bad day. Everyone was, apparently, out to get her.

She wrote the following missive. (Note the use of all-caps on the word "BAD"). :)



I've had days like this. Everyone in the world is just BAD. I'm buying an island and moving. :)

Often, I find that coffee helps!

we interrupt this blog

For a non-commercial announcement.

There is a free add-on, discussed in this LifeHacker article, which, when installed, will give you a tab on your Office '97 programs called "menu".


Upon clicking on this tab of wonder, you will get ... can you believe it? ... the Office 2003 menus!



You're welcome.




(I'm slowly learning the Office 2007 menus, but, when I'm in a rush, it's VERY nice to be able to just go to what's familiar, and grab what I need!)

Today's Dilbert

Love it!!! (If you only see two panels, click on it to go to the site, and see the third.)

It's good to be a girl ...

My insurance company recently sent a document to me that indicated they thought I was male.

The funny thing is ... this is NOT the first time this has happened, or even the second!

I'm quite a girly-girl, so at least it's not an indictment of my appearance.

But I DO have a strange first name, and my last name is a commonly-used man's first name.

So, often data-entry types will see my name, assume it's reversed, and assign me the wrong gender. One college I applied to made this mistake. I would have had a very interesting time in the dorms, if I'd ended up going THERE!

I think I've gotten insurance-company straightened out.

Which is good, since I'm wearing a skirt today, and I'd hate to have to go home and change. :)

Everything is Amazing ... Nobody's Happy

so many bad choices start with these words ...

"I'm afraid of ending up alone."

Good grief folks. There are WAY worse things.

Pull up your big-girl panties, learn to operate power tools, replace air filters and see the occasional movie by yourself.

Really ... it's not a bad way to live.

Relationships are great.

Relationships born out of desperation ... not so much so.