Cat Attack

So here I am down in Houghton, enjoying a week off from teaching, wearing nice new slippers that my mom gave me. My sister's kitten, however, seems to enjoy the pompoms on the slippers and likes to attack me when I am walking by. While I don't really mind walking around with a kitten hanging off of my leg, it does take away from the restful atmosphere of the vacation.

Belated New Year's Post

I received this in an e-mail from the Berean Call and thought I would post it because it is a good one:

Taken from William MacDonald's devotional book, "One Day at a Time":

New Year's resolutions are good but fragile, that is, easily broken. New Year's prayers are better; they ascend to the throne of God and set answering wheels in motion. As we come to the beginning of another year, we would do well to make the following prayer requests our own:

Lord Jesus, I rededicate myself afresh to You today. I want You to take my life this coming year and use it for Your glory.

I pray that You will keep me from sin, from anything that will bring dishonor to Your Name.

Keep me teachable by the Holy Spirit. I want to move forward for You. Don't let me settle in a rut.

May my motto this year be, "He must increase; I must decrease." The glory must all be Yours. Help me not to touch it.

Teach me to make every decision a matter of prayer. I dread the thought of leaning on my own understanding. "O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps" (Jer. 10:23).

May I die to the world and even to the approval or blame of loved ones or friends. Give me a single, pure desire to do the things that please Your heart.

Keep me from gossip and criticism of others. Rather, help me to speak what is edifying and profitable.

Lead me to needy souls. May I become a friend of sinners, as You are. Give me tears of compassion for the perishing.

Lord Jesus, keep me from becoming cold, bitter, or cynical in spite of anything that may happen to me in the Christian life.

Guide me in my stewardship of money. Help me to be a good steward of everything You have entrusted to me.

Help me to remember moment by moment that my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. May this tremendous truth influence all my behavior.

And, Lord Jesus, I pray that this may be the year of Your return. I long to see Your face and to fall at Your feet in worship. During the coming year, may the blessed hope stay fresh in my heart, disengaging me from anything that would hold me here and keeping me on the tiptoes of expectancy. "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!"

At last an update...

So the January craziness has ended and I am now into the relatively calm of February. The latest and greatest is that I've finally pulled my viola "out of storage" so to speak and am practicing again. The reason: my brother-in-law needed a violist for his April recital at Houghton. It has been about 8 years since I've played my viola and about 6 since I've even really practiced violin, so it has been quite interesting. But I must say the Lord has blessed my efforts and the past 6 years of teaching have improved my musicianship skills and in turn has given me the ability to practice more efficiently. So I had thought that I had become a violinist....but must confess on beginning to play viola again realized that I am truly a violist at heart. Thus the reason why I love the sound of the bass recorder. I guess the exciting news is that practicing has gone from being a chore to something I enjoy doing and look forward to when I get home from teaching. Now if I can just figure out how to squeeze more than an hour and a half in each day, I will be good to go!

Sundays

Sundays are supposed to be a day of rest....not a day for doing report cards. It is maddening to me that I have spent both Saturday and part of Sunday doing work related things. My plan was to get the report cards finished Friday (on my day off--day off meaning: day that I'm not supposed to be working) but I woke up not feeling well and it didn't happen. Yesterday afternoon was Solo Festival and afterwards I was able to get some of the report cards done. This morning I was planning on going to my friend's church, but woke up feeling like I didn't sleep all night. So I made the decision to skip church and get started on the cards, because I had a feeling if I went to church I wouldn't have the energy to do the report cards when I got home. Well, at 11:08am, I'm happy to say that I only have 16 cards left to do and I've listened to a fascinating teaching over the internet, but I must say that I am questioning my decision.

You might be asking how I got myself in this pickle to begin with...well, my time at school has been spent preparing for a field trip I took my kids on Thursday and a concert we have on Tuesday. Since the report cards are due Monday, and I am only there three days a week, I just haven't had the time to get them done in school.

There are so many things wrong with this scenario that I won't even attempt to begin naming them. So I will just pray that the Lord will give me the grace to deal with it and that He will meet with me right where I am.

Hmmm....

I borrowed/stole this from Jaelle. It seems to speak to where I am right now in my walk with the Lord:

DARKNESS BEFORE THE DAWN
by Charles R. Swindoll

Read Genesis 40:20-41:1

The process of discovering, processing, purifying, and shaping gold is a lengthy, painstaking process. Affliction is gold in the making for the child of God, and God is the one who determines how long the process takes. He alone is the Refiner.

This is where Joseph was when we left him. He is still in process. His gold is still being refined. His heart is still being broken by affliction and abandonment.

Those two full years for Joseph were neither exciting nor eventful. They represented a long, dull, monotonous, unspectacular, slow-moving grind. Month after month after month of . . . well, nothing. Not even the Genesis account attempts to make those years seem meaningful. Because they weren't.

That's what it's like when you're in a period of waiting. Nothing's happening! Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait.

On the other hand, it only seems like nothing is happening. In reality, a whole lot is happening. Events are occurring apart from our involvement. Furthermore, we are being strengthened. We are being established. We are being perfected. We are being refined into pure gold.

We're back to my earlier comment---Joseph is being shaped for greatness. All whom God uses greatly are first hidden in the secret of His presence, away from the pride of man. It is there our vision clears. It is there the silt drops from the current of our life and our faith begins to grasp His arm. Abraham waited for the birth of Isaac. Moses didn't lead the Exodus until he was eighty. Elijah waited beside the brook. Noah waited 120 years for rain. Paul was hidden away for three years in Arabia. The list doesn't end. God is working while His people are waiting, waiting, waiting. Joseph is being shaped for a significant future.

That's what's happening. For the present time, nothing. For the future, everything!

Taken from Charles R. Swindoll, Great Days with the Great Lives (Nashville: W Publishing Group, 2005). Copyright © 2005 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Mystery Money....

Yesterday I received a check in the mail from U of R for the exact amount that my last class cost. It was a rather startling event, partially because I have no idea why they would be paying me, but mostly because I came to the realization that this check is worth more than one of my paychecks!!!

New Year's Eve

Last night as I was trying to fall asleep, I was listening to the book of Luke when I heard the story of the paralytic man who was lowered into the house by his friends. Now I don't know much about the construction of houses back then, but being that they lowered him through the roof, the friends must've gone to some trouble taking apart the roof in order to get him in the house. What stuck out to me was how much work it must've taken these men to get the paralytic in to see Jesus. And then I thought about how easily I am distracted from meeting with Him, and how a diligent effort must be made on my part to meet with the Lord. I have been aware of how many times recently that I know the Lord is calling me, telling me to meet with Him, yet I find things to keep me busy and not meet with Him. This is one thing that I pray would change as I go into the new year.