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o, how are you doing on your New's Years Resolution list, your Bible reading list, the dreaded spring cleaning checklist, the homeschool catch-up corrections list, "Books to Read" list or maybe just your daily "To Do" list?  Do you lay in bed in the morning, making mental notes of what you want to accomplish?  And then at night do you do the same, going over those lists, recalling all the things that never were tackled, or possibly hardly anything on those lists?

As I think of the lists I make, be it mental or written down, I wonder how often these are "my lists" and are not "God's lists".  I wonder if it's why God allows certain things to happen in our lives for Him to say, "Be still, and know I am God."  I had plans today.  I've been working on making curtains for my bedroom for over a week now.  The sunshine is the alarm clock for our baby and when the sun's peeking out, so is he out of his crib (and I am not a morning person!)  I was so blessed to find just the perfect material at Walmart for only $1 a yard, making the the cost of it only $3 (having to spend more on curtain rods than the material!).  But, it was on the top of my mental list to get this done TODAY.  I did get one set done, but a sick child prevented me from getting the other set done.

So, instead, I sat with her, cuddling her, reading books, taking her temperature numerous times, and making sure she drank several juice boxes.  Then another younger daughter was jealous of the time I spent with her older sibling,  and told me "you don't love me cuz you won't give me a juice box."  So this pouty daughter had to have some extra lovins' as well, and reassured that mama loves her (despite still not getting a juice box!) 

Then my husband and I went for a quick errand run (so I could get home and finish those curtains) but instead talked to a friend for quite some time who was mislead about Christianity and "religious" people who failed her.  And here I am now finishing up my writing for Tuesday's blog, and "my" list is incomplete.  But I wonder, did I accomplish what God wanted me to?

I can have many things I want to do, from numerous craft things to reading books to even numerous Bible studies or Bible study podcasts that I like to listen to.  I make my lists, but often God weeds them.  It could be that book really does not need to be read now, that podcast though there is nothing wrong with it, God has something MORE encouraging for me, and those crafts . . . they will be there later.  A growing child needs me, my husband may need me to take care of business calls that relieves stress from him, a new hormonal mom may need my listening ear and encouragement that she is normal!

For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. 
Isaiah 55:8-9

I would rather have my lists ordained from an infinite God, rather than from me, the finite one.  Wouldn't you?

From Edith Schaeffer's The Hidden Art of Homemaking, chapter 12, Clothing:

"Since ancient times people have been concerned to dress 'correctly', which usually just means dressing in the fashion of the period. Attached to this whole subject of fashion, however, are many other topics. Does it matter how we dress? Is it a sign of spirituality to be dowdy? Are certain clothes and styles positively 'wrong'? And are other positively 'right'? Certainly some Christians have asked these questions, and sometimes they have come up with some very strange answers."

Edith goes on to encourage displaying creativity in dress, just as God beautifully and creatively clothes the grass of the field.

I don't keep up with fashion well. Number one, I don't really like to shop unless I'm in that perfect mood. Number two, my budget could not allow for me to keep up with the ever changing fashions. I have noticed that I tend to gravitate to vintage pieces and wear them until the seams fall apart, and in some cases, I mend the seams and keep on wearing.

One favorite shirt of mine I recently retired. My mom made it for herself in the early '70's. After she passed it on to me, I wore it so much that the oil from my body changed the color of the material. Although I have mended many seams, it is literally falling to pieces. I love the style so much that I borrowed mom's old pattern and made a new shirt for myself.

If the clothing isn't old, it must be comfortable. I think this comes from the years I had to wear a business suit to work each day. Pantyhose is no longer a piece in my wardrobe. They have been replaced with really long socks in the winter, and bare legs in the summer. Aaaahhhh.

What's my style? Sporty, retro, farm girl, all at the same time. God made me this way. I feel most comfortable when I can dress in what strikes my fancy for the day. Today that happened to be moccasin boots and my shirt made of Civil War Era fabric. My man said I needed a buck knife strapped to my hip today, but I didn't think Wild Oats would appreciate the accessory when I was out grocery shopping. 

amanda ∞

There are probably two people who have influenced my becoming an artful homemaker. One is the wife of the late Francis Schaeffer.The other is Tasha Tudor. Tasha died Wednesday, June 18th at her home in Vermont. She was 92.

Tasha lived an inspiring life. One that emphasized simplicity and reflected that of times gone by. She also was an illustrator for "Little Women" and "The Secret Garden" as well as many other books.

My knitted shawl hangs over our GGma's childhood rocker that her Pa built for her on her 12th birthday in 1914. It reminds me daily of Tasha and the simpler life. Every winter I wrap my shawl around my shoulders and am transported back to the days that were slower. When time was spent baking bread, cooking a pot of stew, tending a garden, knitting by the fire, weaving cloth to sew, picking berries to dye fiber, placing flowers on the table with a linen cloth and falling asleep from shear tiredness. This was the life that Tasha lived even in 2008 and this is the way I aspire to live. One that reflects my love for The Creator God and my love for all that He made. My love for my family and for living a simple life. For loving to create beauty to bless all those around me.

In honor of Tasha, I am starting her "Truly Tasha Shawl". I have always admired this shawl and how it wraps like a good sweater around the shoulders to keep one warm on a cold winters morning. I'll let you know how it goes.

It's the horrific things that you can't get out of your memory. Some of us are plagued with memories we wish would go away. I have one such memory from many years ago when my arrogance as a young man caused me to be in an incredibly embarrassing situation. I cringe whenever I think of it. There is another painful memory when I acted in the very best of interest of a friend and was terribly misunderstood and endured the unhappiest year of my life. Fortunately I was never abused as a child and don't have to cope with those memories, but I know those who do. I have an elderly friend who still fights off the memories of the horrors of torture in a prisoner of war camp. Memories can be terrible!

I know people who have anguished and pleaded with God to have their memories wiped.  Some I know He has done that for. Others still struggle with the memories. When I've asked Him to wipe mine, I didn't get a clear answer but I sensed the reason for the refusal was threefold. Part of it was to keep me humble, to remind me never to be like that again (the embarrassing incident), part of it was to soften me and make me gentle with others (rejection and misunderstanding broke my hardness), and part of it is to remember - when I foolishly forget - that this world is tainted by Sin and we need the grace of God to come and heal us and uphold us.

So much for the memories we would wish to wash away. There are other memories - the good ones - that remain vivid and strong and give us a sense of gladness and gratefulness. Holidays do this, especially I find, when they are reinforced by a digital camera. Those things help balance life.

My wife has taught me that memories are important. She picked it up, I think, from the writings of Edith Schaeffer. Good memories help build secure families. Every now and then my children make a comment about a time in their childhood in our garden. Now our grandchildren are creating new memories to be brought out in many years to come.

Some of us, I'm sure, find gaps in our lives because we so rush past the tough present looking for a better tomorrow and so we miss the possibilities of 'today'. A lovely lady I know recently spoke in my presence about how she used to yearn to win the Lottery as a means of getting her family out of the hard-up days which they knew. But then she came to know Christ and has found that now her desires are completely different, and she focuses now on what she can leave her children whenever she dies, and it has nothing to do with material possessions. 'Today' has become important for it can never be repeated and in today she has the opportunity to do and say things in her family that will make them all stronger and more grateful in the years they have ahead.

Gaps are sometimes frustrating though. I write Bible meditations as a means of seeing into the wonder of what the Bible has to tell us, but I have to confess there are often times when I feel completely frustrated with the writers. Why did you only give us the bare bones of the story? Why were just these things important to you? Why didn't you give us more detail?  Live with it; that's how it is!

Christians  and scientists used to talk about the "God of the gaps" referring to the way, in the past, a tendency was to attribute what was unknown to God, but as more and more became known, the gaps got smaller and the things attributed to God got smaller as well. How limited we were in our thinking. If He's the Creator that the Bible says He is, then He designed everything and knows how everything works, but that's not the issue is it? It's whether things can work without Him. That's what dear Richard Dawkins gets in such a fuss about. If the world can operate and function without God, then who needs God. The only trouble is that we don't know just how much of the movement of life and existence is because God keeps it going, and we never will this side of heaven. It also doesn't address the fact that God speaks into and acts into His world and so sometimes He does this, and it carries on unchanged, and other times He does it and life and existence is changed and we call it a miracle. But one of the frustrating things about God is that He holds Himself tantalisingly just out of sight and reach - except for those who yearn for Him with all their heart.

Yes, He came and revealed Himself incredibly in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ, God in a flesh body, but ever since has limited Himself to the occasional angelic visitation (and there are a lot recorded by very reliable people - another story on another day) and to frequent moves by His Holy Spirit, and that leaves most of us confused - except those who yearn for Him with all their hearts. So even life with God is filled with gaps. Some days He appears to draw very close and other days He seems the other side of the Galaxy, but maybe that's more about our perception than His reality. Welcome to the world of gaps!