Taking the Ordinary and Making Us Good

There is something wondrous in taking the ordinary . . . .

and making it special.

There is something almost magical about taking something that is almost nothing . . . .

and creating beauty.

When we create, I think we feel a bit of that satisfaction that the Creator might feel when He looks at us as we grow and mature. I picture the smile on His face as He works in us and through us, as He molds us from meaningless and gives us purpose.

If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us. As it is, there's not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we're not much to look at.
2 Corinthians 4:7-8, The Message

We may not look like much, but in time, as we follow Him and His plan for our lives, God makes our lives beautiful.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.  Ephesians 2:10

We are His.  His creation.  His handiwork.  Made for His own pleasure.  (Ephesians 1:5)

God saw all the He had made, and it was very good.  Genesis 1:31

He made us well. 

He makes us good.





Counting ordinary and not-so-ordinary gifts #483 - 510:

helping The Stinker create Christmas crafts

glitter

things that sparkle . . .

including The Stinker's smile as he makes special

a house transformed

a heart transformed

ears to hear

God speaks

poinsettias, pink and red

candlelight

a drive to see Christmas lights

singing carols in the car

Rudolph and Prancer

silver bells

a first good snowfall

a world transformed

Baby Girl's first real snow experience

her excitement

her tantrum because she didn't want to stop playing

snow boots

tiny mittens

big brothers' snow fights

my mom's handiwork hung on the mantle

my best friend's newborn baby GIRL! (after two boys)

new life in the dark days of winter

Immanuel, God with us

The Creator stepping into creation

over half-way to 1,000 gifts and still amazed at how many blessings there are to count

Taking the Ordinary and Making Us Good

Eating Rainbows

A long time ago in a land far away, a teenaged boy was kidnapped and taken from his homeland to live as a slave in a foreign country. After six long years, he managed to escape by walking two hundred miles where he found a ship and sailed home to his family.

And then, strangely, he went back to his captors.

Christ will do that to a person -- cause you to do things others find strange.

Patrick is now known as the patron saint of Ireland for his work as a missionary to that country. He took a people who were at the whims of the gods of nature and their druids, who even practiced human sacrifice, and showed them the way to their Creator and Savior. He was just one of several missionaries in Ireland at that time, but he is long remembered for the work he did there.

All this I learned as an adult while reading a picture book to my kids. I'm neither Irish nor Catholic so when I was younger, St. Patrick's Day was only about wearing green to avoid the mean kid who was sure to pinch you -- hard! Now, I try to teach my kiddos about the mission-minded man and the God who directed him.

This year to celebrate, we baked these fun cupcakes. I'm sharing the idea with you today in case you want to do the same.

I got the idea from Family Fun Magazine, a favorite of mine, and you can go to my Recipe Box if you're interested in learning how to make them.

There's no pot of gold at the end of these rainbows (maybe a pot belly if you eat too many).  May your treasure be this instead from the third chapter of Proverbs:

Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding,

for she is more profitable than silver

and yields better returns than gold.

She is more precious than rubies;

nothing you desire can compare with her.

Long life is in her right hand;

in her left hand are riches and honor. 

Tomorrow wear some green and maybe eat a rainbow.  Have a little fun.


And God be with you!

Eating Rainbows

I'll Owlways Love You

It’s just around the corner. That day of paper lace hearts, candy, and flowers. The little pink purse my husband bought for the Princess is waiting in a bag in a secret hiding spot, along with two definitely more boyish gifts for the guys in the house.

This made me realize that I'd better get crackin’, so I opened up my Family Fun Magazine to a super-cute, easy idea. The boys made these:

Then I told the boys that their writing assignment today was to write a love letter to Jesus. My younger son was pretty sure that he’d never written a love letter before and didn’t know where to begin, so that inspired me to find some verses in God’s love letter, some words that came directly from His mouth.

I discovered the original “Longer” song:
“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.” (Found in Jeremiah 31.)

And I found the first “I’ll Be There.”

(Forget Jackson Five. God has the copyright on this one.):
“You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior . . . Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you . . . Do not be afraid, for I am with you.” (Read more in Isaiah 43.)

And one more oldie-but-goody.

The very first “Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love For You”:
“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken.” (God had this recorded in Isaiah 54.)

Take a minute and let your soul sigh over those. . . Isn’t He something?

I’d say those are pretty inspiring for some love words of our own back to our Father and Friend, as did my boys:

Now, I just need to work on a card for my hubby.

Maybe I’ll turn to some other love letters from history for a little inspiration:

…Do you know, when you have told me to think of you, I have been feeling ashamed of thinking of you so much, of thinking of only you--which is too much, perhaps. Shall I tell you? It seems to me, to myself, that no man was ever before to any woman what you are to me--the fullness must be in proportion, you know, to the vacancy...and only I know what was behind--the long wilderness without the blossoming rose...and the capacity for happiness, like a black gaping hole, before this silver flooding. Is it wonderful that I should stand as in a dream, and disbelieve--not you--but my own fate?

Was ever any one taken suddenly from a lampless dungeon and placed upon the pinnacle of a mountain, without the head turning round and the heart turning faint, as mine do? And you love me more, you say? Shall I thank you or God? Both, indeed, and there is no possible return from me to either of you! I thank you as the unworthy may…and as we all thank God. How shall I ever prove what my heart is to you? How will you ever see it as I feel it?… (Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

On second thought, maybe I’ll just go to Hallmark.

I'll Owlways Love You