Blog status

You poor old blog.  How neglected you have been!  Forgotten and ignored for weeks at a time.  

It hasn't always been this way.  There was a time when you were fresh and new each day; happily chatty, filled with photos and small observations of life in Chicagoland.  I'm sorry for you.  I wonder if you can be brought out of silence and obscurity.

I think I'll spend more time with you this week and see how it goes.  You never know; there just might be some life in you yet!

When you think about it, my old friend, what have you got to lose?  You don't have (m)any readers anymore, so who is there to know if it ends up that you remain sluggish and reticent after all?

Wake up, old friend! Bestir yourself and get ready to shake off the cobwebs.

Sunday Hymn:

Original Trinity Hymnal, #12
Psalm 135:1-7, 21

Exalt the Lord, his praise proclaim;
All ye his servants, praise his name,
Who in the Lord's house ever stand
And humbly serve at his command.
The Lord is good, his praise proclaim;
Since it is pleasant, praise his name;
His people for his own he takes
And his peculiar treasure makes.

I know the Lord is high in state,
Above all gods our Lord is great;
The Lord performs what he decrees,
In heaven and earth, in depths and seas.
He makes the vapors to ascend
In clouds from earth's remotest end;
The lightnings flash at his command,
He holds the tempest in his hand.

Exalt the Lord, his praise proclaim;
All ye his servants, praise his name,
Who in the Lord's house ever stand
And humbly serve at his command.
For ever praise and bless his name,
And in the church his praise proclaim;
In Zion is his dwelling place;
Praise ye the Lord, show forth his grace.

Sunday Hymn: Praise My Soul the King of Heaven

Praise, my soul, the King of heaven,
To his feet thy tribute bring;
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
Who like me, his praise should sing?
Praise him, praise him,
Praise him, praise him,
Praise the everlasting King.

Praise him for his grace and favor
To our fathers in distress;
Praise him still the same for ever,
Slow to chide, and swift to bless;
Praise him, praise him,
Praise him, praise him,
Glorious in his faithfulness.

Father-like, he tends and spares us;
Well our feeble frame he knows;
In his hands he gently bears us,
Rescues us from all our foes;
Praise him, praise him,
Praise him, praise him,
Widely as his mercy goes.

Angels, help us to adore him;
Ye behold him face to face;
Sun and moon, bow down before him,
Dwellers all in time and space.
Praise him, praise him,
Praise him, praise him,
Praise with us the God of grace.

Trinity Hymnal #70

Quote: Richard D. Philips

Hebrews 9a Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace

Unless a system of religion relies utterly on the work of Christ in his substitutionary work of atonement, it is alien, it is foreign, to the true religion of Scripture, which is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and especially in his redeeming blood.

Hebrews Commentary, Richard D. Philips

Spring. Just in time for summer.

Finally, it feels like spring in Illinois.  Our crabapple tree is finally blooming, the blooming trees in the front of the house are budding and will be blooming by this afternoon, and our Mama Robin is sitting on the nest outside my living room window.  It was 86 degrees yesterday afternoon and the air conditioner is humming this morning.  The trees and flower beds are about three weeks behind schedule--my hostas are up and finally starting to unfurl.

It was a long winter.  In a lot of ways.  I'm going to clean my studio this morning and then go out and do yardwork--weeding and edging and planting and praying. No calligraphy for me today.  I'm going outside!

Sigh. . .spring is good.

Baby You Can Drive My Car

Beep, beep, beep, beep, yeah!

Sunday prayer: Valley of Vision

Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly,

Thou has brought me to the valley of vision,

where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights;

   hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold

   thy glory.

Let me learn by paradox

   that the way down is the way up,

   that to be low is to be high,

   that the broken heart is the healed heart,

   that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,

   that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,

   that to have nothing is to possess all,

   that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,

   that to give is to receive,

   that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells,

   deepest wells,

   and the deeper the wells the brighter

   thy stars shine;

Let me find thy light in my darkness,

   Thy life in my death,

   that every good work or thought found in me

   thy joy in my sorrow,

   thy grace in my sin,

   thy riches in my poverty

   thy glory in my valley.

Sunday Hymn:

Round the Lord in glory seated,
Cherubim and seraphim
Filled his temple, and repeated
Each to each the alternate hymn:
"Lord thy glory fills the heaven,
Earth is with its fulness stored;
Unto thee be glory given,
Holy, holy, holy Lord!"

Heaven is still with glory ringing,
Earth takes up the angels' cry,
"Holy, holy, holy," singing,
"Lord of hosts, the Lord most high."
With his seraph train before him,
With his holy church below,
Thus conspire we to adore him,
Bid we thus our anthem flow:

"Lord, thy glory fills the heaven,
Earth is with its fulness stored;
Unto thee be glory given,
Holy, holy, holy Lord!"
Thus thy glorious Name confessing,
We adopt thine angels' cry,
"Holy, holy, holy," blessing
Thee, the Lord of Hosts most high.

Trinity Hymnal #42

Quote of the Week: Ferguson on Law and Gospel

Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus came to fulfill the law, not to destroy it. . . Jesus teaches that the law of God is an essential diagnostic tool. Whether we break it or keep it, and whether we encourage others to break it or keep it, is an indication of our true spiritual condition.  It is the standard for evaluation in the kingdom of God but not the standard of entrance into the kingdom.  The Sermon on the Mount, Sinclair Ferguson.

Deja Vu

A thought went up my mind to-day
That I have had before,
But did not finish, -- some way back,
I could not fix the year,

Nor where it went, nor why it came
The second time to me,
Nor definitely what it was,
Have I the art to say.

But somewhere in my soul, I know
I 've met the thing before;
It just reminded me -- 't was all --
And came my way no more.

Emily Dickinson

He is Risen!

Sunday Hymn: Look Ye Saints

Look, ye saints, the sight is glorious;
See the Man of Sorrows now;
From the fight returned victorious,
Ev'ry knee to him shall bow:
Crown him! crown him!
Crowns become the Victor's brow.

Crown the Saviour, angels, crown him;
Rich the trophies Jesus brings;
In the seat of pow'r enthrone him,
While the vault of heaven rings:
Crown him! crown him!
Crown the Saviour King of kings.

Sinners in derision crowned him
Mocking thus the Saviour's claim;
Saints and angels crowd around him,
Own his title, praise his Name:
Crown him! crown him!
Spread abroad the Victor's fame!

Hark! those bursts of acclamation!
Hark! those loud triumphant chords!
Jesus takes the highest station;
O what joy the sight affords!
Crown him! crown him!
King of kings, and Lord of lords!

Trinity Hymnal #217

April 18 snow

While I was dreaming, snow was falling.  I prefer the dream, myself.

Sunshine dazzles me.

Sunday Hymn: Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted

STRICKEN, SMITTEN, AND AFFLICTED

Stricken, smitten, and afflicted,
See him dying on the tree!
'Tis the Christ by man rejected;
Yes, my soul, 'tis he, 'tis he.
'Tis the long-expected Prophet,
David's Son, yet David's Lord;
By his Son God now has spoken:
'Tis the true and faithful Word.

Tell me, ye who hear him groaning,
Was there ever grief like his?
Friends through fear his cause disowning,
Foes insulting his distress;
Many hands were raised to wound him,
None would interpose to save;
But the deepest stroke that pierced him
Was the stroke that Justice gave.

Ye who think of sin but lightly
Nor suppose the evil great
Here may view its nature rightly,
Here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the Sacrifice appointed,
See who bears the awful load;
'Tis the Word, the Lord's Anointed,
Son of Man and Son of God.

Here we have a firm foundation,
Here the refuge of the lost;
Christ's the Rock of our salvation,
His the name of which we boast.
Lamb of God, for sinners wounded,
Sacrifice to cancel guilt!
None shall ever be confounded
Who on him their hope have built.

Trinity Hymnal #192

Good times with an old friend

Have you ever looked forward to something for a long, long time?  Of course you have.  You plan and plan and imagine what the day will be like.  And if you're like me, sometimes the thing you looked forward to was, well, disappointing or not at all what you thought it would be.

Well, I've been looking forward to meeting my long time blogging friend, Kim, for years (always knew we'd get together sometime/somehow!) and anticipating our time together this past Thursday for months and I can tell you that this was NOT one of those times, although it did not end up entirely as planned!

Meeting Kim was not really like meeting someone new.  It was like greeting an old, dear friend that you hadn't seen for a long time.  We chatted as if we were making up for lost time, and in a way, we were.  The time flew by so fast--that was the only bad thing about it!  I wish we had had more time.  I wish we lived closer.

There were a few stressful moments leading up to our visit.  I had left it until Thursday to clean the house--a formidable chore as I've been fully booked with work and the house suffers when I'm holed up in my studio.  I'd gotten most of the food ready by 11 am, when Jake came into the kitchen to take his medication.  He had been suffering from a headache for a few days, which we attributed to a new medication he just started on, but when I looked at him I noticed that he had some slight swelling around his eye and cheek.  Fearing an abcess or infection of some sort,  I called his local cardiologist right away.  With his reconstructed heart, I knew that infection that got into the bloodstream was potential life threatening if it lodged in his heart.  So, after a flurry of phone calls, we were off to the emergency room.  Turns out he has a sinus infection and they got him on an antibiotic right away.  The whole thing was wrapped up by three o' clock.  Four hours lost and I had everything planned down to the minute.

In the meantime, I had made alternate plans with Dorothy to have her be at my house to meet Kim and Neil by 4 and had decided that if I didn't get home in time to finish preparing dinner, we'd order a couple of pizzas and eat the salad.  And if things became even MORE complicated (as they can sometimes end up being with Jake's health) Dorothy would take the Shays and the salad over to her house and order pizza over there.

Now, I'm used to fixing big meals.  They don't make me nervous, but that's because I always have things timed down to when I pull the last thing out of the oven.  I'm a planner and when my plans are disrupted, I can get really stressed.  And the more important the event, the more stressed I would normally be. But in all this, I never once felt stressed.  As soon as I knew Jake was sick, I didn't worry about anything else. 

Long story short, the house wasn't perfect and I forgot the croutons for the salad, and we had the most wonderful visit together!

I promised a picture, so here goes!

(Ivy had to get into the act, as usual.)

Jake is getting better, too, by the way.  God is good!

Company's Comin'

I've been looking forward to this day for a long, long time!

My long time blogging friend, Kim (of The Upward Call) and her husband, Neil, are coming for a visit this afternoon after the Gospel Coalition Conference in Chicago winds down.  Kim and I have never laid eyes on each other before, but we have been like-minded friends for years.  I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to today!  (I woke up at 4:20, realized what day it was and couldn't go back to sleep!)

My dearest 'real life' friend, Dorothy, and her husband Andy will be joining us for dinner tonight.  My first time ever blogger's get together.  (Now, if we could just teach Rebecca how to Apparate. . . )

Pictures tomorrow.  (And, yes, I will post pictures of myself, even though I really, really, REALLY don't like having my picture taken!)

Morning Sunshine Magic

Cross posted from Scriptorium:

The sun comes streaming through my studio windows in the springtime.  It's beautiful, but I have to twist the blinds shut because it hits me straight in the eyes.  Even with the blinds drawn, the light falls across my drawing board.

This morning I was mesmerized by the texture of the envelopes I was working on and the wet, shiny black ink as it skipped across the surface of the paper.  Light and shadows, white and black--the light was magical.  I could watch the wet ink laying down on the paper and then beginning to dry as my pen pulled and shaped the wet line of ink.

I put my pen down and picked up my camera and attempted to capture the light, the paper, the ink:

If you look closely, you can see the watermark, 'Crane & Company' to the left of the zip code.

 

As the day wore on and the stacks of finished envelopes piled up, the magic light was gone but the memory of it remained in my mind's eye.

Sunday Hymn: O Word of God Incarnate

O Word of God Incarnate,
O Wisdom from on high,
O Truth unchanged, unchanging,
O light of our dark sky;
We praise thee for the radiance
That from the hallowed page,
A lantern to our footsteps
Shines on from age to age.

The church from her dear Master
Received the gift divine,
And still that light she lifteth
O'er all the earth to shine.
It is the golden casket,
Where gems of truth are stored;
It is the heav'n-drawn picture
Of Christ, the living Word.

It floateth like a banner
Before God's host unfurled;
It shineth like a beacon
Above the darkling world.
It is the chart and compass
That o'er life's surging sea,
'Mid mists and rocks and quicksands,
Still guides, O Christ, to thee.

O make thy church, dear Saviour,
A lamp of purest gold,
To bear before the nations
Thy true light, as of old.
O teach thy wand'ring pilgrims
By this their path to trace,
Till, clouds and darkness ended,
They see thee face to face.

Trinity Hymnal #267

Delicious soup and an epic fail

So today I made creamy roasted red pepper soup for lunch.  It was a pain to make because I made it from a bag of mini peppers and it took forever to peel and seed the peppers, but was worth the effort--rich, savory, and delicious.  So rich that we could only eat a small portion and there was a lot leftover.

After lunch, I went out to the kitchen to put the food away, wipe the counters, and load the dishwasher.  I got out a container for the leftover soup, picked up the soup pan, reached for a spatula and began scraping it--into a container BESIDE the clean container I had gotten out of the cupboard for the soup.  A container that Ivy had just licked clean.

Sigh.  No yummy, yummy, creamy roasted red pepper soup for lunch tomorrow.

Epic fail, as Sam would say.