My Cottage

Several weeks ago my two younger daughters and I sat at breakfast one morning, and commented on the fact that this particular breakfast was a "cottage" sort of breakfast; hearty and simple, but not without a touch of elegance. Having said that, we took off on an imaginary flight of fancy and "built" our little cottage in the country. Mine had dark wood floors, a sweet (and neatly made-up!) iron bedstead, and a half door which often stood open to catch the airs wafting from the countryside carrying the fragrances of the herb and flower garden just outside.

Now don't get me wrong. We love our house here--in fact, we've often laughed over the fact that having painted it in the way we did when it was built, we love it so much that we cannot imagine it any other colors. I really am blessed to have my dream house! So it's not discontent that caused us to take our moments together at breakfast to fancifully build our cottage.

Probably it was more the idea of the thing--sort of like having your own fairytale, where you are the good and wise prince or princess of your own domain, independently wealthy and able to do many of the things you are really unable to do in reality.

But that little bit of imagination has become a tool in my sanctification toolbox!

Be it known that I am not a good housekeeper. In my mind there are at least forty things that would be better and more enjoyable uses of my time than housekeeping. However, I do like a clean house. Certainly it is good for my family, but it also benefits me: my mind is clearer and less burdened, my attitude happier and more content, and I am freer to do those other things which I would rather do. So I am always looking for ways to "trick" myself into doing a better job of housekeeping.

Even though I love my house, I have been living here for several years now. My human nature has turned what used to be exciting and new into that which I do not appreciate as much simply from familiarity. I don't see the clutter as well, or the dirt (unless someone shows up at the door unexpectedly--isn't it amazing how that will make all the smudges, smears, clutter and dustbunnies jump to attention?). I've learned to live with some of the less efficient and therefore messier ways of doing things that need just a little change.

If you've ever been blessed to have a new house, either by moving or building, you may recognize that for awhile you see it differently than your old living quarters. It is clean and new. Everything seems to sparkle a bit.  You notice when a little dust or clutter accumulates, and you are motivated to dust it or pick it up to keep the "new" feeling. But after a time: maybe a few weeks, or months, or even years, the sparkly new feeling kind of wears off. Someone in the family may get the flu or a busy season will hit at work, and a little dust doesn't get dusted and few items don't get picked up. You promise yourself you'll deal with it soon--but "soon" is corrupted by the tyranny of the urgent, and the problem snowballs. Maybe you are a great housekeeper and this never happens to you, but still, you notice that you don't perceive your house or apartment the same way you did when it was new.

That morning at breakfast, the idea of the cottage really took root in my mind. For a few days I enjoyed mentally furnishing it and imagining a different, more earthy and carefree life in it. And then one day shortly afterwards as I was driving home from work, I realized that imagining my house AS that cottage gave me a new perspective on the housekeeping. Again I felt the motivation of keeping it "new " and neat as a pin. And when I arrived home I channeled that energy into just a few moments of extra housekeeping before collapsing from my workday. The next day I did it again. Having my little cottage in order was an idea that gave me a delicious sense of delight and peace.

I haven't kept this up everyday, but the results can be seen in my house and yard. Slowly things are looking better. I don’t promise that it will continue to improve, and I'm fairly certain that my personality will not change completely and turn me into a neatfreak, more's the pity.

Thinky Things

I don't want to over-spiritualize this little mental game I play, but I think it parallels our sanctification close enough that we can learn something from it about ourselves and about God.

So here are some thoughts:

1. Imagination is often denigrated by Christians, but has such potential for good purpose by God. He created us with imagination, after all!

2. Cooperating with God in our sanctification means using every tool He offers us. If it is the imagination of a sweet little cottage in the country to encourage us to redeem the time and bless our families with better housekeeping, we should use it, and thank Him for providing it.

3. The happiest news about sanctification is that it is not all up to us! God says HE will be faithful to complete the work He began in us. So we cannot fail! Who wouldn't be willing to cooperate in a venture if they knew for a fact that they could not fail to have success?!?!

4. What does YOUR cottage look like? Is it a cottage, or a grand manor? Perhaps it is something entirely different? I'd love to hear your flight of fancy!

5. Have you some tools in your sanctification toolbox that could benefit others by sharing them here? We'd love to hear them. 

To those tools and the good use of imagination...HOLD FAST 

Facebook--Status Whoa!

Recently several Facebook (FB) status quotes have come across my newsfeed over there on which I felt compelled to comment. It wasn't that they were bad, really. These people are my friends, and I know that they meant well by their status quote. But the quotes failed to communicate the full thought, and as a result actually ended up communicating another thought entirely, especially considering that non-Christians also read these quotes we make in such a public forum.

Some of my friends on FB have requested friendship multiple times. Why? Because they join FB, then they cancel their membership. Then they join again, only to cancel again a few days or weeks later. Sometimes they give an explanation, seeming to be confused about whether FB is a godly use of time.

It seems that as Christians, we need to do some careful thinking about Facebook and other social networking options. Many articles and blogs have been written about this subject: at the bottom of this post you can find two links with thoughtful articles to help you understand the pitfalls as well as the potential of social media like FB.

The Big Announcement


There are several aspects to FB, but I want to focus on status posts--and I want to do something to encourage the use of FB status posts as a tool for witnessing and edification. To that end, I've come up with Status Whoa!

Status Whoa! Will be a series of blog posts (hopefully weekly, but we all know how that has worked out for me in the past) highlighting some of the best (Status go!) and worst (Status Woe) Christian status posts to come across the newsfeeds.

Rules and policies for Status Whoa!

All posting and recognition decisions will be made by me--no appeal. It's my blog, we do it my way--but I think it will be fun anyway! My own statuses are, of course, disqualified.

Quotes have to be from statuses of real people--not videos or links, not from ministries or businesses. They can, however, be quotes of quotes--in other words, someone could post a great status quote and acknowledge that it actually originated with Spurgeon, for instance.

Types of status quotes I'm looking for:

Status Woe: Quotes that demonstrate unsound or unclear theology…they'll be posted on the blog along with my commentary and the comment section left open for suggestions of how to improve the status so that it becomes a Status Go!

Status Go!: Quotes that demonstrate sound, clear theology that pointedly communicates truth in a winsome, clever, or humorous way.

Since encouraging Status Go type quotes is the main part of my goal, I'm asking my readers--yes you!--to submit your friends/family statuses to be considered for a Status Go blog post--you cannot submit your own status. Simply message me on FB or email statuswhoa.holdfast@gmail.com. Be sure to include the quote, and the name of the person who posted it  so that proper recognition can be made! If chosen, I will post a notice on the blog, and on my facebook profile as well as notifying the person who submitted the status--all in an effort to recognize in public a person who is benefiting the Kingdom of God by their use of social media. If the person is on my friends' list, I'll post a notice on their facebook wall.

Status Woe type quotes may be submitted, but with no names attached. As noted, we'll work here on the blog to turn Status Woe posts into Status Go! Posts.

More people are watching your newsfeed than you think. Are they getting the gospel?

Thinky Things

Here are the links to the articles mentioned above:
http://www.challies.com/christian-living/how-and-how-not-to-use-facebook-for-ministry
http://www.internetevangelismday.com/social-networking.php

Ready? Set? Go! (and don't forget to...

Hold Fast...

Art And All That

No Part No. because we're done, remember? Because, as you can see below, it's being discussed in the blogosphere. A quote from the article, with the link following:

So let's have pastors who love the arts and do not need a title to tell the world that they do. And let's have pastors who study hard, pray hard and love artists. Let's pray for opportunities to reach those in the arts community.

And let's take in plays like Albee's to remind us of what we were. Let us not do so in a Pharisaical way. Rather, let us weep that plays like this are written simply because they so viscerally capture what lurks in all of us. But let us rise from the theatre and sing for joy because Christ has set us free. Your local pastor, who probably is not a pastor for the arts, can tell you all about it. Pay him a visit.

On Being Afraid of Virginia Woolf

Christian Parent: What Are You Thinking?

Perhaps a better title might be "Christian Parent:  Are You Thinking?", but I'm trying to be nice, here, having come across several mentions in the past week concerning "crusty" Christians who are ever-so-smart and critical and yet not very winsome. 

Besides, being a Christian parent...and I mean a Christian parent in the strictest sense of the word: a believer, regularly attending church, studying scripture to inform your life and specifically your parenting, and cooperating with the Holy Spirit to root out the sin in your life...is a difficult thing these days, and mercy ought to be extended.  The choices are legion and challenging:  preschool or not? Homeschool?  Private School?  Church-with-age-graded-Sunday-School?  Family-integrated-Church? Homemade baby food? Once-a-month-cooking? The list of decisions is enormous and overwhelming.

So adding yet another facet of consideration to the Christian parents' insomnia-inducing list should be carefully weighed against it's potential fruitfulness. Yet I find I must offer this question for meditation: are you training your children for battle?

A Christian's battle with sin and self lasts until death.  So it makes sense, as a parent, to carefully train our children to come to grips and succeed in mortifying these tireless enemies in every possible teaching moment we are granted in their lives. It is vital that you concern yourself with your children's readiness for something besides reading! They must be ready for battle, and you have a responsibility to train them.

A couple of years ago I was speaking with a homeschooling mom who was concerned about her teenage son.  She explained that he was starting to engage the world a bit, and she didn't feel he was making good choices.  When I questioned her further, the issues she was worried about seemed rather trivial to me:  this son was 17-going-on-18, plenty old enough to decide the issues she mentioned on his own.  As our conversation continued, she revealed more about the parenting this young man had received, and I realized that yet again a child, although carefully homeschooled, had failed to be trained for battle.

This is not the first instance I have heard of or witnessed of this failure.  The parent, attempting to protect the child from [fill in the blank with your choice of the following:  "low self-esteem", "sin", "the world", "the flesh", "the devil"] shields the child from every danger, injury, encounter and consequence possible.

Listening to this mom continue explaining her parenting methods I heard a familiar story.  "I don't understand why he isn't making good choices. We never let them play with any of the neighbor kids. We carefully controlled their environment so that they didn't develop a taste for "the world". I remain their primary teacher so that they would always have information provided to them through the proper worldview. I never let them sleep over at anyone's house."

These parents, in their diligent desire to protect their children, made every decision FOR them.  Instead of building a solid foundation of scriptural principals, then allowing their children to make decisions for themselves while they were still at home in a safe environment where they could learn from their mistakes without life-altering consequences, they prevented them from having to make any major decisions at all or having to rely on any principles of scripture carved in their own hearts.  The result is a family of children who are completely unprepared to make scripturally-based decisions as they grow up and leave home.

And when they leave home, they often leave the Church and Christianity.  Nancy Pearcey, in her article "How Critical Thinking Saves Faith" summarizes a recent study by Fuller Seminary on teens who become "leavers" in college:

The study indicates that students actually grow more confident in their Christian commitment when the adults in their life -- parents, pastors, teachers -- guide them in grappling with the challenges posed by prevailing secular worldviews.  In short, the only way teens become truly “prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks” (1 Pet. 3:15) is by wrestling honestly and personally with the questions. 

Do enjoy the whole article.

Recently I treated myself to a good read:  I happened to pick up an old (very old!) volume of "Reader's Digest Condensed Books".  I noticed the publish date of 1960--and since that is the year I was born, it held a little more interest for me.  I chose to read the title "The Lovely Ambition" by Mary Ellen Chase.  In it was the following quote concerning the raising of children--and allow me to point out that the book was published in 1960, but it discusses "50 years ago" from the perspective of 1903!

"Fifty years ago people were rarely made aware as they now are of the necessity for adaptation--or "adjustment," perhaps I should say, in the tiresome, shabby terminology of today.  They just took things as they came along; and, of course a more stable world was immeasurably helpful in the process.  Children took things, too, in part because parents respected their children enough to allow them to learn what life was really like in order that they might assume its obligations with a natural robustness and buoyancy, sadly mistrusted in many families nowadays.

At all events I have always been grateful for that extraordinary summer of 1903.  It had its consoling, reassuring features as well as it's alarming ones, and it contributed lavishly to the richness and the mystery of human experience." (emphasis added)

Thinky Things

Christian parent:  are your children prepared or being prepared to assume life's obligations with robustness and buoyancy?

Even if they are very young, each time they have an opportunity to make a decision for themselves, it is also a teaching opportunity.  Your job as a parent is to allow for as much of that learning to take place as is safe and reasonable:  i.e., can you pick up the pieces afterwards?  Will they learn a valuable life lesson from the consequences of their decision?  Do you respect your children enough to allow them to learn what life is really like while you are there to help them cope with the consequences, and while you are there to structure the tests to their age level and ability, while you are there to provide a scriptural foundation from which they can make decisions?  Are you allowing them to grapple with the questions they have about life and spirituality, or are you not sure you, yourself know enough to help them?

This applies whether it is a decision the child makes is one of obedience ("Johnny, you must clean your room.  If you do not, then you may not enjoy a movie with the family tonight"--and stick WITH that, because it is training Johnny to mortify his sin so he can face that in a bigger way later on in life:  for instance, getting up to go to work to earn money to feed your grandchildren) or one of wisdom ("Jane, do you REALLY want to go outside without your coat on?  All right then, it's your decision").

Train your children for the battle against sin and self.  Train them for the battle for the Kingdom of God.  This training is absolutely vital to their spiritual and emotional health and to their eternity.  It's not easy--oh, it's much easier to make every decision for them.  But the sacrifice will result in children who can face what life throws them with godliness and equanimity.