My 2015

Most bloggers, I realize, write blog posts on what they have been doing weekly, or monthly, but, more or less, they do it as the things happen. Most of you probably realize at this point that I am not most bloggers. I will instead don the cap of a traditional Christmas letter writer, squishing everything that has happened this year into but one intrusion on your time and reading comprehension. However, as most Christmas letter writers write on their grandchildren, and what trips they have taken, and who came over for the holidays, I am afraid I do not fit that bill particularly well either. I write almost completely of myself and my own doings, and they are not exciting doings, as I neither was born, got married, died, or traveled to Timbuktu to convert the Swahilis or have Thanksgiving with them. So I guess you will just have to read this post as A Rather Dry Report, Consisting Primarily Of Information On Why Margaret Was So Busy That She Had No Time For Anything And Was Always Tired And Wielding A Textbook Or Piano Score, Depending Upon Whichever Was The Sooner Deadline, Followed By A Mostly Unrelated Rabbit-Trail On Changing My Philosophy Of Life For The New Year.

So it has been a really crazy year. Again. But right now, in the lull of my forced Christmas break, when I actually have a little time to pause and contemplate how busy it was, I am feeling more rested and unstressed than I have since... the Bible Bee was over last year? No, then I had Music Olympics that was bearing down upon me in a little under three weeks, so before the Bible Bee started last year? Oh yeah, my Masters concert was two weeks before that... but wait! There was that two week lull between my Masters Concert finishing and the Bible Bee starting, so, anyway, I am feeling about as rested and unstressed as I was in the last half of May 2014. If you call wheezing on the side of the running track —knowing that you will start back in sometime after that moment when you could survive running again but well before that moment you want to start running again— resting and not stressful. But it's all comparative, guys, and I am sometimes afraid that if I stop long enough to get comfortable I may never be able to muster the willpower to start again.

This was the first (2014) Melodia group

In January through June 2015, I played for four age divisions of a local homeschool choir called Melodia. This was my second year of accompanying Melodia, but this year it consisted of about eighty kids — roughly twice the number we had last year— and there were four, instead of two, choirs. We practiced for about three and a half hours each week (collectively, not each group), performed at several retirement homes, and had one big concert at the end in which we performed fifteen pieces or so. This was fun, and a good experience, as a lot of what pianists end up doing in the "real world" is accompanying. It did contribute to a very busy spring season, though!

In February 2015, I started college. I already had accumulated twenty-four semester credits from casually CLEPing since I was fourteen, but since I signed up for CollegePlus in February I have much more systematically and efficiently earned sixty more. This means that right now I am over two-thirds done with my Bachelors in Music. I hope to finish by September 2016, though it will mean another very packed spring and summer, as this is my last year of piano competitions as well. I am looking forward to it, though. With all the general education requirements out of the way, I now get to work completely on the music part of my degree (I find this prospect significantly more appealing than studying more subjects like Ethics in America, Social Sciences and History, and Introduction to Entrepreneurship).

In June 2015, I did not do the Bible Bee. I am now too old, but, as it has gone through a lot of changes since last year (and we all know how much I love change), I was fine with being done, even though I missed it. During the summer I was working on College Algebra as well as a Leadership Theory and Practice course, and memorized twenty Psalms. This means that I did not have much time to even think about it much, which helped, but come October and November, when most of my Bible Bee acquaintances were preparing for a trip to Nationals, I sporadically got the urge to go somewhere on a plane. I became pretty good at suppressing the urge by studying for college a lot. This was a good thing, as it helped me meet my goal of eight courses (30 semester credits) from September to November.

On top of all the college stuff I have been teaching several piano students, and, in September, I became a member of the Gig Harbor chapter of the Washington Music Teachers' Association and the National Music Teachers' Association. This means that my students can participate in competitions, adjudications, and other events with the students of other teachers in the area. In November, six of my students participated in Music Olympics along with almost two hundred other students for the first time, they all improved a lot, and one got first place in her division, which was really exciting! I got to judge one of the music categories for all the morning and evening divisions, which was a lot of fun as well. Judging is something that I enjoy a lot (this is usually an unfortunate strength), especially when there is not a ton of subjectivity in how to award or detract points. For Rhythm, the subject I was judging, this was thankfully the case. Music Olympics was probably the most organized volunteer run event I have ever had the pleasure of being a part of. This, along with having competed for several years prior, significantly lessened the stress of the unfamiliar and unknown that usually puts a damper on my "first time" of doing something. The best part, though, was getting to know some of the other more experienced teachers who were volunteering and had students participating a bit better. Teaching, if you think about it, is perhaps the best profession to be in if you would like to glean knowledge and insight from those who know their business. The teachers who truly belong in the profession love to learn and cannot help but teach, so they are not particularly surprised when you appear interested in learning what they know, and they will teach you, often with great skill, what they have learned about teaching without thinking twice about it. I am really looking forward to further tapping into these great resources to improve my own teaching in the years to come.

In November 2015, I got my drivers' license. (I honestly do not know where to put that possessive apostrophe. Is "driver" singular, since it is only my license I am talking about, or is it plural, because most drivers have them?) I had just a permit for two years because I did not really have to go anywhere except piano lessons, I had no money for insurance, and because I do not find the burden of responsibility that goes along with taking multiple people's lives in my hands on a semi-regular basis particularly appealing in the first place. However, neither did I want to renew my permit twice, so took the driving test, passed it, and got my license.

Throughout 2015, I have continued taking classical lessons, performing in recitals, competitions, and adjudications, and practicing more or less faithfully. I broke a personal record this year by practicing one hundred hours in four weeks, which made it pretty easy for me to meet my goal of five hundred hours of practice in 2015. While faithful practice and performance has been difficult to maintain with everything else going on, it has challenged me to stay focused, keep learning, and helps me sympathize with and advise my students when they have a hard time fitting in their practice time. Many people have asked me why I am still taking lessons, even though I am done with my senior recital, and am very busy. The best reason I can come up with is that God has given me the gift of ability and enjoyment in learning music. Not everyone has this gift, and I may not have it forever, so, in an attempt to steward the gifts I have right now, I will keep doing music lessons while I am still able and enjoying them. The second reason is related. I have found that the learner and teacher inside of me are inextricably linked. The day that I do not learn something is the day that my joy and execution in teaching becomes slightly weaker. Therefore, to maintain and even build passion and excellence in my profession, I must keep learning. Perhaps someday I will find an alternative to weekly lessons and daily practice to become a better teacher, but at the moment, this is what works, so this is what I am doing.


I look forward to 2016, but I do not expect it to be any less busy. I will, Lord willing, play for Melodia again, perform in my last year of competitions, will hopefully graduate from college in September, and will continue growing my studio. I would like to finish memorizing Proverbs, but I may need to spread this project over 2017 as well.

I would also like to be more caring toward people this coming year. I have a tendency to think of day to day life as a list of checkboxes to mark off, rather than a story that is building and developing its characters and their relationships with each other and the story itself. This influences what I perceive and act upon as priorities. But the story of God, and what He's done for us —through Creation, His unfailing love and patience exhibited between Creation and Christ's first coming, Christ's birth, life, and death, His gift of His Spirit and Word to work and move in our hearts, the growth of His body (the church) into the unity we strive for in Christ, and the victory and homecoming that will occur, followed by final and true fulfillment of the beautiful words "And they lived happily ever after. The End."— the story of God was something more beautiful, and more messy, than a checklist He was systematically marking off, for, in a checklist, there is no love. Not inherently, anyway. There is a great deal of efficiency and excellence in checklists, but without love, they will not be truly effective. So this year, I want my priorities to be driven by love and consideration for those around me, rather than simply reaching my quota of tasks each day. This does not mean I will not have a list of tasks I will shoot for accomplishing, it just means my reasons and processes for reaching them will probably be different. I can reach and accomplish the items on a checklist with love, but I cannot reach and accomplish love through following a checklist. Believe me, I've tried. I need God's divine intervention. But if God, in ages past, was willing to take the risks of loving with the knowledge that He would be rejected, hurt, and killed, He will not be stingy in shining that love through a willing, though broken, vessel. The problem usually is that I am not willing. I am hesitant to "waste" love on undeserving people, or to risk the vulnerableness that comes with love. However, since God Himself demonstrated both those things freely toward mankind in general, and myself in specific, and since it is actually God's love I am giving to others (which is not in danger of running out if I am too generous with it), I am left with no excuse to be stingy and guarded with love and compassion for people. This goes for the awesome people that I tend to think are so close to God that they don't need to feel His love through me. This goes for the average people that check out my groceries, don't understand how I can do college online, and sit in the third to back row at church. And this even goes for those really annoying people who always manage to either drive me up the wall, or whom I always seem to drive up the wall.

So my challenge for myself, as well as for you, is to live this next year as part of a story. Specifically, part of the story of God's love touching earth, touching people, touching individuals.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

Field Trip

This week Margaret and I took our little brothers on a field trip! We kept the destination a secret, mostly because I was afraid something would come up last minute and they might be disappointed. Once they found out we were going somewhere I was bombarded with questions trying to make me give "hints" about the destination ("Sam! Another clue: she said to wear our coats!" "Is it far away? Have I ever been there before?"). Well, they were having so much fun attempting to figure it out, I decided I wouldn't spoil it, and left them in suspense until we pulled into the parking lot of...the Bug Museum.

Two excited little boys.

We headed inside, and found lots to explore. One whole wall was a big ant farm, with lots of ants crawling around through tunnels in the sand and through little plastic tubes that connected the various colonies, dragging dead ants all into a big pile. William decided that this was his favorite part.

There were also live scorpions and cockroaches to look at in glass cubes, as well as a table full of bees and beetles of all kinds (these were dead, for which I was thankful, since some of the bees were huge). I think the coolest bug I saw was the violin mantis. They sit on little twigs and sway, and they really look a bit like they are playing a violin.

An alien musician

Some of the bugs were beautiful, not just scary or weird looking. Butterflies were everywhere, with their vibrant colours, and there were dragonflies and moths too. The butterflies were Sam's favorite bugs that we saw, and I'm inclined to agree with him. 

William in front of a case of butterflies

Now, the place is called a bug museum, but they also have a whole room full of live snakes, lizards, and turtles. The boys enjoyed this section a lot, although they were a little nervous about the way the python would stick her tongue out through the wire mesh on one side of her cage. Sam agreed to be photographed with her, but insisted on being on the glass side, far away from that tongue.

I figured if we were making the boys smile for the camera, Margaret and I ought to have at least one picture each, so she posed in front of the tortoise, one of our favorite animals:

Since I dislike spiders, and always feel creepy around them, naturally I had my picture taken with them. At least there were two layers of glass separating us. 

Me nervous? Ridiculous!

The last section we visited was full of snake skin, frog skeletons, and other reptile and bug remains, which you could look at through a magnifying glass under a bright light to catch the little details. Feeling the different types of snake skin was interesting, but I found the dried out carcasses of lizards with empty eye sockets a trifle distasteful.

William studies a model of a turtle skeleton

A gift shop is also part of the building, so before we left we looked through their collection of carnivorous plants and contemplated candy suckers with larvae and ants embedded in it. I scared Will pretty good by putting a rubber snake head on my finger and hissing at him.

It was so fun to do something just the four of us, I hope we can do another field trip sometime soon. 

Complaint About Vague Course Assignment Instructions

I just want some clear instructions,
Things obscure I find a plague,
Made intuitive deductions—
That assignment sure was vague—
Should have asked just one more question,
Didn't want to bother her,
Now I make a strong suggestion:
Avoid things I can't endure
Like assignments not assigning
Things till after they're done wrong,
(Yes, this is a student whining;
There are other ways I'm strong.)
So the moral of this story
And the point I hope I've made:
Even this is for God's glory,
But it does affect your grade.

Proverbs

There are lots of interesting things in Proverbs, but one of the things I enjoy every time I read it is all the vivid word pictures.

Consider Proverbs 26:18-19:
Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death,
Is the man who deceives his neighbor,
And says, "I was only joking!"

Or here's one I always find funny—Proverbs 27:14:
He who blesses his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning,
It will be counted as a curse to him.

I think of this one often when a sibling is really excited for the day, and wants to share the excitement with me.

Those who live in Washington state will appreciate the imagery in Proverbs 27:15:
A continual dripping on a very rainy day
And a contentious woman are alike;

Solomon must have run into a lot of fools over his lifetime, because Proverbs is filled with them. One of the most graphic descriptions is found in 27:22:
Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed gran,
Yet his foolishness will not depart from him.

I remember this rather revolting verse was required memorization when I was younger:
Proverbs 30:17
The eye that mocks his father,
And scorns obedience to his mother,
The ravens of the valley will pick it out,
And the young eagles will eat it.


There are a ton of other fun verses in Proverbs, not to mention some in Ecclesiastes, Job, the prophetic books...it just reminds me how amazing (and sometimes funny) the whole Bible is, not only the more famous sections.

My Bookshelf

Credit for this idea goes, I suppose, to my little sister, who posted about her bookshelf on her blog. I have little interest in tracing its antecedents any further, but I understand she got the idea from a different blog. I've added a few questions, and subtracted a few, but many of them are the same.

My bookshelf: (the top two shelves, the books piled on top, and the right half of the bottom shelf.)

Do you have any special or different way of organizing your books?
Yes, I organize them in height order, and the non-fiction books are on the top shelf, while the fiction ones are on the second shelf. Why height order? I got the idea from Hercule Poirot, Belgium's most famous methodical detective. It does give the shelves a neat appearance, does it not? The effect is somewhat spoiled by the stacks of books piled on top of the others, but this was necessary to fit all my books onto the shelf. 

How many books do you own?
103, to the best of my knowledge. And counting.

What's the thickest (most amount of pages) book on your shelf?
That would be one of my Western Literature books from college—2660 pages

What's the thinnest (least amount of pages) book on your shelf? 

Hardly even counts for a book—47 pages.

Is there a book you received as a birthday gift?

One of my cousins gave me this. It's a humourous book, but pretty interesting.

Is there a book from a friend on your shelf?

My brother gave me this book, knowing how much I like WWII history.

Most expensive book?
Probably my leather-bound ESV Bible. You can tell it's expensive because it has two bookmarks.

The last book you read on your shelf?
This book isn't actually mine; I have a stack of my brother's books on my shelf right now because he's leaving all his books in storage for the next couple years, and there were several that I wanted to read.

Of all the books on your shelf, which was the first you read?
Oh, boy, I don't really remember, but most likely this one.

Do you have more than one copy of a book?
I have three copies of Jane Eyre, and five copies of the Bible. Two ESV, and three NKJV.

Do you have the complete series of any book series?
A few, yes. Probably my favorite series that I own is Winston Churchill's The Second World War.

I also have two sets of Edith Nesbit's children's books:

What's the newest addition to your shelf?
These two that I bought a few months ago at a used book store. History books, no surprise. But hey, only one of them is on WWII. I'm branching out.

What book has been on your shelf FOREVER?
None of them. I don't even know which one I've had longest, but since I've started putting dates in, maybe this one that I got in 2008:

What's the most recently published book on your shelf?
The 3rd edition of The Lie, by Ken Ham, published in June 2013.

The oldest book on your shelf (as in, the actual copy is old)?
This book was printed in 1877. I must admit, I got it just because of how old it was; I haven't really read much of it.

A book you won?
I got this little biography on Isaac Watts as a prize for memorizing 1000 verses. 

A book you'd hate to let out of your sight (aka a book you never let someone borrow)?
I have no picture for this one, because I did let someone borrow it. Now it is somewhere in Oregon. Hopefully someone else who loves Captains Courageous found it, and is now enjoying it. Loosing a book is sad; it's even sadder when it's one of your favorite books from your childhood that you've had for several years.

Most beat up book?
Definitely my Bible. I take it everywhere, and it has stood up to a lot of abuse over the last four years. You can see the torn cover, but not the pen scribbles and blood on the pages, courtesy of various younger siblings.

A book from your childhood?
I've always loved Twenty-One Balloons, so when I started collecting my own books it was one of my first purchases.

A book that's not actually your book?
This book of Milton's poems actually belongs to my eight-year-old brother. When I started teaching him how to read, I'd always tell him it was so he could read Shakespeare and Milton. I'm keeping it for him until he gets a little older.

A book with a special/different cover (e.g. leather bound, soft fuzzy cover etc.)?
Again, my ESV Bible. Lambskin leather smells so good, and feels amazing.

A book that is your favorite color?
I have a couple grey books, but the other one has pink on the cover as well, so I'm going with this one:

Book that's been on your shelf the longest that you STILL haven't read?
Most of the books I haven't read are from the last couple years, but Jesus Freaks I got when I went to the National Bible Bee in 2009, and I've only glanced through it. Maybe when I finish all those WWII books I'll get around to reading it...

Any signed books?
I co-authored this book with my brother and a friend, and we all signed it. Does that count?

In His Steps, by Charles Sheldon—Review

What would Jesus do...

...if He lived in 1896?

...if He lived in a city rampant with squalor and drunkenness?

...if He was the editor of a newspaper?

...if He had a million dollars?

What would Jesus do?

When Reverend Henry Maxwell challenges his church to spend a whole year following in Jesus's steps, this is the question he asks them to consider. Those who take the challenge experience drastic changes in their way of life, and these changes soon begin to overflow into their community.

With a premise like that, how could a book go wrong?

Well, for a number of reasons I was not especially keen on this story, unlike most of the books I've reviewed on this blog...read more about In His Steps at A Well Cultivated Mind.

Psalms

I love Psalms, and I've been greatly enjoying memorizing some of them over the last couple weeks. Every part of the Bible is amazing, but sometimes it is hard to put specific reasons for this enjoyment into words, and analyze it.

For me, part of the delight in reading the Psalms is pure literary appreciation, which sounds a bit strange when applied to the Bible. However, God created and uses the written medium to allow humans to communicate across space and time, and the fact that when He inspires men to write He inspires them to write well should not be astonishing. The poetry of the Psalms, the word choice, and the different voices of different psalmists are all part of the literary aspect. It must have been fun for the translators, trying to figure out how to put Hebrew poetry into English and retain some of the lyrical qualities while keeping the sense of the original. No surprise that some of our greatest hymns echo the Psalms.

I also enjoy finding places in Psalms that are quoted in other places—either multiple places in Psalms, or in other passages I've memorized from all over the Bible, OT and NT. Sometimes the words are exactly the same, sometimes they differ slightly, and sometimes it is just the idea, but it is always fun to see how Scripture intertwines with itself.

Another reason the Psalms are so beloved by many people is because they give a picture of how we can interact with God, since they are people talking to God, primarily, rather than the other way around. Whenever I read through them a lot or memorize them, I notice some of the phrases carry over to my thinking and prayers, giving me words with which to address God, and a greater understanding of His awesome holiness.

Most important by far is the wonderful theology they contain: all the attributes of God, the precise descriptions of Christ, the incredible insight into human nature, and the interaction with Israel's history, to name just a few aspects of theology involved in the book of Psalms. No matter how often we hear it, we always need to be reminded of the basics of our faith, and Psalms does this over and over.

Defining Courtship and Dating

From what I have observed, all homeschooled girl bloggers either write a blog post on this subject sometime in their mid teen years, or, once they get into their later teen years, are (presumably) given no peace until they do so. Though this has not been true in my case (I cannot see why), I turned nineteen last week, so I thought for once: why not fall into the homeschooled young lady stereotype of my own accord? Why not be the one to write the bazillionth article saying pretty much the same thing, in pretty much the same words about the necessity of defining one's terms, and which of those clearly defined terms I prefer but am not going to force on everyone else, etc., etc.?And so, like bloggers have from the beginning of time, I sat down at my computer, completely unresearched, with no sources but my own experience and (mostly unfounded) opinion, and set about broadcasting my knowledge and lack thereof on the internet. This was the result. I hope —but do not expect— that you find it helpful and enlightening:


In my mind, the differences between Dating and Courtship are quite simple and obvious. Granted, there is more than one definition of each. Still, I thought, if you only saw the definitions written down you would see how they simply cannot be confused. They are entirely different things however one looks at it.
Here are the definitions as outlined by M. C. Eddy, Defining Courtship and Dating, 2015:

Courtship: 

1. A ship that is employed by the court. 

2. A ship the carries around the court. (i.e. When the viking kings would go to battle the king and his court would all be in one ship so that they could confer more conveniently. More often, however, this is called the "Kingship".)

3. Ships used by individual court members to attend court when the actual court consisted entirely of water. This particular kind of court was mostly limited to the Renessaince era in Venice and similar parts of Italy. Its general impracticality, and the ease of "accidentally" dispensing of opposing members of the court by toppling them out of their boat overrode the aesthetic appeal as soon as reason once more reigned in Europe.

Dating:

1. The process of making historical dates. This is most commonly employed by historians and archaeologists, but is very easy to do by anyone. The preferred process is to find something (in the ground or otherwise) and make up a time period for it. Using as many zeros as possible is encouraged.

2. The process of making a certain food like substance called dates. We seem to recall that drying them is necessary at some point in the process. We are not completely sure what they were before becoming dates. It is commonly believed that dates were figs, or some other kind of fruit, before becoming distorted and altered in taste, texture, and appearance. The personal theory of the author is that they were at one time the heads of very large caterpillars.


What did I say? Dating and Courtship are very different things. I, personally, prefer courtship, as I do not find even the mental picture of caterpillar heads very appetizing. However, if you do, I will try not to judge you, though I doubt that I will succeed. 

This has been Margaret Eddy: bringing clarity where there was confusion.

Putting Pressure in its Place

I think having pressure in my life can be kind of like having the wind blowing incessantly behind me. 

If there is a little wind, it helps me progress a little faster, but blows my hair into my face, which is annoying, and, depending on what I am trying to accomplish, it may outweigh the tiny bit of good it does to my speed. If I am standing still and/or trying to eat, it is a disadvantage to have any wind whatsoever. If I want to go faster, but I also want to be accurate, the wind can be more bother to factor in than it is worth. However, if I just want to go as far as I can as fast as I can, I take all the wind I can get. 

I think we need to identify what we are trying to accomplish to know whether pressure, and how much, will help or hinder us. If all we really want to do in a project is stay in the same spot, recuperate, and to just have the constant blowing go away for a while, then adding deadlines and timers would be counterproductive. If we want a perfect grade and to remember every possibly helpful detail in the process, cramming a month's worth of work into one week is probably not the ticket. However, if we want to break records, we should recognize that the wind can be used to our advantage.

I use pressure as a way to get myself to do things a lot. Music recitals and competitions, Bible Bee, Spelling Bee, trying to fit high-school geometry into six months, wanting to graduate high-school when I was sixteen, and now college. The first time I remember consciously using deadlines as a way to improve without any outside suggestion was when I was five just after I learned how to read. I set a goal to read my Little Bear Treasury in one day. The whole thing was probably only four stories, but it seemed like a feat at the time, and I kept trying until I got it. A little later I set the goal of reading the whole Chronicles of Narnia in a week, and when I was ten or so I wrote five chapters of a book every week of the summer. The book was incredibly boring, but I did not miss one week. (On the other hand, I have not really set any deadlines for posting on this blog. You are a witness of the result.)

Pressure can be a really powerful thing, especially in some types of people, but in those same people it can be a really dangerous thing. There is no way to miss out on the important things in life like constantly having to meet unimportant deadlines, and, for some, there is no way to kill the enjoyment of something like giving it a deadline. Not everything in life should have pressure, and some things should only have pressure sometimes. I do not have a deadline for every last thing I do in music or academic pursuit, but I usually try to have at least one deadline in one area of those things, because I know it will motivate me to grow in them like nothing else will, but if I get to much I will forget my love for them in the midst of the stress. (Also, I might get shingles. Just saying.) I took last week completely off of school and piano. My family and I had a great time at Mount Rainer with Grandma and Grandpa Eddy. I turned nineteen. I slept ten to fifteen hours a day in attempt to recover from a cold that hit me a few days before we left. Then, we had people (now friends) from Kansas that we had never met, friends from Virginia that we had not seen in ten years, and our old babysitter and her two little girls at our house over the weekend. I did not study during that time, either. Did I feel guilty? Well, yes. Habit is a hard thing to work against. But I knew that the purpose for that week was not to break records for how much college work I accomplished.

Which leg of the race are you in? When, and how, should you apply pressure to manage your time accordingly? There is no one answer for all people all the time, except that whatever we do should be for God's greatest glory. I guess what I am saying is: perhaps if we identify what we are trying to accomplish by the things we do, we can better know when pressure will help us, and we can overall run with greater purpose and focus.

1Corinthians 9:24-27 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 

And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 

Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 

But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. (NKJV)

Deadline, by Randy Alcorn—Review

For every book I read there is a slightly different reason behind why I initially pick it up. Because it’s within arm’s reach, the only one available that I’ve never read before, the title, a recommendation, an interesting premise, because I know it’s a classic or recognize the author, the cover design or subject matter, and sometimes just the feel and smell of it. With Deadline, the main purpose in my reading was to see what good, modern, christian fiction writing can look like, in hopes of improving my own writing... read more about Deadline at A Well Cultivated Mind.

Changing Direction

If you are reading this, I would hope you have noticed that the name of our blog just changed. We wanted to make it broader, to include many aspects of our life and any random ramblings we happen to come up with. The idea behind “preparing for the ultimate career” (being a homemaker) is that everything we do is preparation for the future, and ought to be intentional preparation. 

So…what will this blog look like from now on? No idea, really. I have no doubt we’ll keep talking about the Bible, and what we’ve read recently. Beyond that, you’ll probably hear a lot about stuff we’re doing—at school, church, and home, from the far flung reaches of the globe (that last one is highly unlikely, but you never know)—and hopefully a little bit of the “why” behind what we do. 

I’ll also probably post book reviews and creative writing every so often, from my other blog: A Well Cultivated Mind. 

Hopefully, we can encourage other young ladies pursuing a career in homemaking, and share a few insider jokes and tricks of the trade along the way.

Out of the Ivory Palaces

This is an awesome poem that I really enjoy, and would like to memorize sometime. I love all the names of Christ that the author includes throughout.
As far as I can tell from doing a google search, it is public domain, so posting the whole thing should be no problem.

Out of the Ivory Palaces
by Janet R. Banse

God has a Son.
King Solomon, gifted with the wisdom from above,
This proverb wrote: "What is His name, and what
Is His Son's name, if thou canst tell?"
Heaven knew the answer then.
Now earth does know, and hell.

How still the Ivory Palace! The heart of Heaven
Missed a beat, a token of parting soon to come.
That great appointment, made while the world was
Still a thought, will now be kept.
At last the day!
What trembling within the angel throng! They
Minister, but do not understand this mystery.
Is something wrong? The bright and morning star
Has dimmed its glow, as from His Father's bosom
The Son prepares to go.
No! The robe of glory laid aside? How can it be!
Yet, there He stands, the fullness and the image
Of the Father. Bright Glory, and pure Deity.
His chief delight to do the Father's will.
Oh, still! Keep still! Heaven and earth and
All creation, each holds its breath.
The Son of God goes forth to war, obedient
Unto death. And who can know, and who can tell
The height and depth and length and breadth
Of love? With morning, joy will come, though
Now in Heaven is sorrow's night. The Dayspring
From on high must wear a veil to cover up His light.

How still the night-clothed stable! This is the
Place where lambs are born, not kings.
The stricken angels whispering, "Could such a great
Mistake be made? No earthly king or monarch yet,
Was ever in a manger laid. And this, the King of
Kings, and Lord of lords!"
"But Lamb of God, is this eternal Word."
A mystery—God manifest in flesh! The heart of
Heaven placed within the hands of men! An awful
Risk such fallen creatures thus to bless? But
God so loved, He gave. The end and the beginning
Known to Him as one. Tonight, end and beginning
Have come together in His Son.
The robe of glory? Kept in store in Heaven for
Him. He shall return to take if off no more.
Now for a little while, in city streets and country
Roads, beside the shore, God will walk clothed
In the common robe of men.
The time, a moment's span across Eternity.
The bridge, the Son of God, the Son of Man, tonight
Is lowered into place. Jesus. Love's pathway Home
For Adam's fallen race.

But why a special pathway back to God? Why
Should one Man, God's Son, be called the Way?
One Path. One Man alone could be the Door.
It was through just one man that all men went astray.
We went by just one path that costly, brokenhearted
Day...

Soft call of the bird, sweet breath of the flower,
Low voice of the serpent. All lovely that hour
To Eve, a child deceived.
"Oh, is this really wrong? I'll just look—.
I'll just touch—. I must taste!" Now haste!
Run! Make haste to the man with a portion for him!
"Adam!"
How still can one heart be and live? Death is
Only a name. But now, beyond the name, the fact
None can deny. "Of this tree's fruit you shall not eat.
Or else you die."
This fruit is poison? No. But somewhere God
Must draw a line—somewhere man bow to Godly
Rule, "Thus far, no farther shalt thou go."
And all within the circle of that holy will is
Peace, unbounded joy and pure delight. And all
Without that circle drawn is danger in a foreign
Night that man need never know.
And so he took the fruit, and ate and fell. And
All creation with him crashed. It was the fall
That cleared the road to hell.
This is creation—ruined, black, a different race
Than left the Maker's hand. And no way back.
Sons He would have. But now, a rebel band led by
The master rebel of all time.
A daystar turned to a serpent in the slime.

Though Love had drawn the circle wide, creation's
Crowning glory, man, without its rim in guilty
Shame must hide. To whom then could he go?
Satan, the seducer, has retreated to his lair.
Man has fallen! Man has fallen! Man has fallen!
Leave him there.
But lost in sin hear Adam cry, "To whom now shall
I flee?" And Love comes walking, God comes calling
"Adam, I am He! Bring now a lamb. Behold, and
See while in defeat, the Victory. This lamb must
Die. But as its blood is shed, look close, and know
And understand. The lamb dies in your stead. The
Unprotesting, gentle One shall bruise the serpent's
     head."
The Promised One!
Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and
All who sought the God of Israel, to worship Him.
Day after day they watched long year on year.
"How long! How long! 'til Shiloh shall appear?"

He came. And things proceeded much the same.
Some sought the stable where He lay at first.
Some sought the Youth, the Man, and those who
Knew real thirst came soon to understand that this
Was God, the Son. The veil the Dayspring wore
Shut off more glory than their eyes could bear.
But God was there. Some said, "A prophet."
Others said, "At least, the greatest man of any
Age is in our midst."
And so He walked in city streets and country lanes,
Beside the shore, in common dress. To heal, to
Bless, this was His will. But yet a mightier plan
Would He fulfill. The bridge must anchor fast
Upon the other side. And so one day men came and
Led the Holy One away.
The nails were driven deep. Oh, make the bridge
Secure! And raise it high and make it wide, that
Whosoever travels it may find a footing sure.
The shoulders of the earth are bent. And as the
Dayspring's veil is rent, rocks leap, earth quakes
On every side!
Sun—hide your face.
Creation has been crucified.
And men discuss the price of grain (not gain).
They do not know that God is slain.
For sin, no lamb need any more upon an altar die.
It shall suffice. This is the Great, the final
Evening Sacrifice.

Between the death of midnight and the
Birth of morning, Love once again came walking,
Calling for His own. Not this time seeking for
A sinner hiding, but for the sinner's Saviour,
Briefly abiding for him in the tomb.
He tasted death for every man. That full and bitter
Cup came to Him from His Father's hand.
"Herein is Love."
But when the last drop had been drained, the
Overflowing heart of God breathed out the Name.
Only a whisper...
"...Jesus."
God's quiet voice pierced through the substance
Of the earth, and from that grave death was cast out.
The morning stars, dumb since that aching
Day of parting, flung their joyful shout
Across the heavens! And in that bright, that
Justifying hour, my Lord arose! Declared to be
The Son of God with power!

Lift up your heads, eternal Gates! Lift! everlasting
Doors. The royal Heir is coming Home triumphant
From the wars!
Lift up your hearts, redeemed of God! Loud let the
New song swell. The dynamite of Calvary has
Smashed the gates of hell!
The bright and morning Star shines once again on
Heaven's adoring band. And now we see Him not.
Until the day of His appearing. Waiting, we walk
As those whose home is in Immanuel's land;
Whose hearts and full eternal destinies securely
Lie in God's almighty hand.
He lives in us! We live in Him! Two are made one
At Calvary. Henceforth, no more our own are we.
Thus, all of earth's dear images must dim, though
Bright they shine, though good and boundless fair
They seem. For over there within the palace of the
King, by faith alone, we see beyond the Cross, the
Lamb—the wondrous prize, the crown, the throne.

King Messiah! Prince of Peace! Mighty Saviour!
Glorious God! Long Thy coming's been delayed.
Though the price of sin is paid. Thy feet, the
Earth, the grave, the heavenliness, have trod in
Victory for me! How long until we see Thee
Face to face Thou conquering Captain of Thy
Father's ransomed, re-born race? How long before
Thy righteous rule shall bow the earth's dark
Powers; the lamb and lion gently play, and every
Once-cruel beast of prey drink in with thirst the
Showers of Thy peace, the lifted curse?
Thou Right Arm of the Lord! Thou Servant of Jehovah!
Thy precious blood has bought us. Thy Holy Spirit,
All the days of this our pilgrimage, hath taught us.
Rend the veiled day, when in Thy presence we shall say,
"Our Jesus all the way to Glory now hath brought us!"

Blessed is the Man Who Endures Temptation

What I love about the Bible is the way you can read a passage dozens of times, and then suddenly get hit out of the blue with something you've never seen before. This has happened to me over and over, but it never ceases to amaze me. It doesn't have to be an obscure passage, either. Take, for example, the well-known book of James.

I've been working on memorizing James for a few weeks now, as part of a memorization challenge with some other Bible Bee Alumni. As I was reviewing chapter 1 yesterday, I saw a connection that somehow I'd missed over the years, between two verses that I memorized several years ago:

James 1:12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of Light, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 

Both are great verses, but I had not in the past seen any connection between them. However, looking at the context of the verses that lie between them, something important is revealed about that second verse. 

"Blessed is the man who endures temptation" says James, but that is not all he has to say about temptation. He continues on to remind his readers that God is not the one who tempts us, but rather our own desires enticing us away. One of Satan's best tools is appealing to our own desires. 

“If you really follow Christ, you won’t be allowed to do this thing that you really want to do.” 

“If you give all your time to Christ, when will you have time for yourself?” 

Just wanting to do something isn’t the same thing as actually doing it, is it? Hating your brother isn’t the same as murdering him, is it? The problem is that desire gives birth to sin, and sin leads to death. One leads to another, and by our own power, we can’t stop the process once it is started.

But what can we do when we feel our desires pulling us away from Christ? Remember that enduring temptation leads to a crown, yes, but James gives us another tool to use. “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of light.” 

What is James saying? How does verse 17 connect with verses 12-16? I think he is reminding us that however wonderful the things we desire may seem, they cannot begin to compare with the good and perfect things God gives us when we follow Him. Satan works on our selfishness, whispering that we’ll have to “give up” so much to follow Christ, but in reality, He gives us everything! 

We may think that following our own desires will make us happy, but if they do not come from God, we will be left empty and unsatisfied. Obeying God’s commands may be hard at times, but the joy He gives us throughout makes it completely worth it.