Giving Thanks

 

I have been thinking about thanks and thanksgiving for many months now. Back in April, I prepared a zoom Bible study on Philippians 4. That wonderful chapter is so encouraging, I thought it was perfect for the stress and worry we all felt during the COVID shutdown.

My main focus was on verse 6: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” It starts with the negative command, “Do not be anxious about anything.” The rest of the verse is a positive command, “Present your requests to God,” with several modifiers.

The whole verse is easy to say, but, frankly, it can be hard to understand and accept. So I gave it a lot of thought. The two commands, the negative and the positive, give us the means to address our anxiety. We have so many concerns and experiences in our lives that can make us anxious, but Paul extends these admonitions to every situation. Clearly, some situations will take more concentration and perseverance than others.

I also pondered the difference between “prayer” and “petition.” I think that prayer is the ongoing conversation we have with God. If we are in constant communication with Him, we naturally let Him know what we are concerned about. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Paul tells us to “pray continually.” A habit of communicating with God is very helpful for our day-to-day anxieties. Then, “petition” might be those very specific prayers for God’s intervention. In his wonderful meditation on Philippians 4, Anxious for Nothing, Max Lucado encourages us to be as specific as we can in these petitions. Doing so helps us narrow in on exactly what we (think we) need from God.

Then there is the phrase, “with thanksgiving.” This is also repeated in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Actually, there are a zillion verses in the Bible that lead us to thank God.

If we take seriously the command to be thankful in all situations, we are going to have to be deliberate in finding things for which to be thankful. How difficult that is if… we are in financial difficulty; we have a personal relationship that is breaking our heart; we or someone we care about is suffering from pain or illness; and so on.

But here’s the cool thing: When we are deliberate and purposeful in looking for things for which to be thankful, we find them. It’s that same “selection bias” (or Baaden-Meinhof phenomenon) I mentioned in my November 17 blog, “Pet Peeves.”

Each year for Thanksgiving, most of us sit at the table and thank the Lord for the top-of-mind things: Our family, the great food, our innumerable blessings. This year for Thanksgiving, I hope you’ll join me in thinking even harder to ferret out as long a list as possible of things for which we can be thankful.

Advent

 

“Advent is coming” is a redundant statement. The word “Advent” comes from Latin and means “It is coming.” For Christians, Advent refers to the coming of Jesus Christ. We celebrate His birth on December 25, Christmas. Advent is also the season, i.e., the four Sundays, leading up to Christmas.

Most churches mark the four Sundays of Advent by lighting special candles. Each candle has some meaning. The first candle is for Hope, the second for Peace, the third for Love, and the fourth for Joy. Often, there is one more candle that is lit on Christmas Eve for Jesus.

Advent is a time for preparation. For so many of us, the focus is on the folderol of Christmas. We put up lights on the house or blow-up Santas on the front lawn. We drag out or purchase a Christmas tree. We decorate our homes. We bake special goodies and plan a feast. We buy presents. We send Christmas cards. (I say “we” here, but I mean, “some people.” I gave up sending Christmas cards in 1979.)

This preparation is so much fun—when it’s not too much work. The rituals and traditions are deeply satisfying, even for non-religious people. In this COVID-plagued year, the preparations are likely to have special poignancy. Many of us will not be able to celebrate with friends and family as we usually do. Even worse, for far too many of us, there will be empty places in our homes and hearts this year.

In the church, the folderol was never the point of Advent. For Christians, Advent is about preparing our hearts for the coming Christ. According to Christianity.com, https://www.christianity.com/christian-life/christmas/what-is-advent.html

Advent is intended to be a season of fasting, much like Lent, and there are a variety of ways that this time of mourning works itself out in the season. Reflection on the violence and evil in the world causes us to cry out to God to make things right—to put death’s dark shadows to flight. Our exile in the present makes us look forward to our future Exodus. And our own sinfulness and need for grace lead us to pray for the Holy Spirit to renew his work in conforming us into the image of Christ.

In my opinion, the best Christmases are the ones that are most deeply steeped in Christian spirituality. It can be a productive time for seeking God and attuning our hearts to His will. This can require some discipline. Besides attending church services on the four Sundays before Christmas and the services on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, we benefit from daily, personal time of prayer and Scripture reading.

This is why Advent devotionals can be helpful. Let me recommend two.

One is written by my friend, Dr. Debi Newman; Soul Transformation Through Advent. Debi is one of the most spiritual people I know. She leads you into deep contemplation that is challenging and uplifting. Her devotional has daily readings for Advent all the way through Epiphany, January 6. It even  has some recipes for sweet treats.

The other Advent devotional is mine: The Season of Songs.  This is my first self-published book. I  have always loved Christmas carols and some years ago I did some research into the backstories of my favorites. This Advent devotional has 28 daily readings. Each includes the lyrics to a well-known carol and some information for reflection.

Advent 2020 begins Sunday, November 29. You still have time to order one or both of these devotionals to arrive in time. No worries if you have to get a later start, though. Let me be the first to wish you a Merry Advent.

Pet Peeves

 

I think I might start a list of pet peeves. I’m sure I can come up with a very long list and add to it often. After all, when someone introduces a topic of conversation with, “What is your pet peeve?” my answer is always, “I have a whole menagerie of pet peeves.” Sadly, it’s true. I guess I’m more of a curmudgeon than I like to admit.

The idea came to me after I was telling my husband, John, about an incident that typified a pet peeve. I won’t describe it here. The person involved might recognize him/herself. That’s the advantage of a list of pet peeves. You can write them down, get them off your chest, but you don’t necessarily have to bore someone else with your complaining or insult the person responsible for this peeve.

There are probably different categories of peeves. The annoying things your friends and loved ones do. The irritations you encounter at work. There are probably pages to be filled with peeves concerning transportation, business and commerce and, God help us, politics. What makes a peeve a pet peeve? Are there stray peeves? Feral peeves?

I’ve seen other people post their pet peeves on Facebook and it just makes them seem, well, peevish.

Why not a list? I already write down all my prayers and petitions. It’s not exactly a list, because a lot of commentary goes with it. Lists are usually bullet points, right? That said, I suspect when I start listing my pet peeves, there will be copious commentary. All the more reason to put that in a list, rather than yammer on to someone else.

Recently, I counseled someone who’s going through a rough time with health issues to start a list of blessings. That is certainly not a new idea. Some years ago, there was a book called 14,000 Things to be Happy About, by Barbara Ann Kipper. Other books have been written on the same subject.

The purpose of writing down your blessings, I think, is that it forces you to look for blessings, or things for which to be thankful. In Philippians 4:6, Paul writes, “Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God.” I’ve thought about that verse so many times in the recent months, and I concluded that was the point of “with thanksgiving.” If you are looking for things to be thankful for, if you are expecting to find them, I believe your odds of finding them go way up. Selection bias (or Baaden-Meinhof phenomenon) is what they call it.

Of course, that calls into question the idea of listing negative things, those peeves. Would that make me look for peeves more diligently?

Well. That’s food for thought. Right now, I’m going to go eat lunch. I’ll heat up leftover Brussels sprouts in the microwave.

All Is Vanity

When I was growing up, we had a framed print in our house that fascinated me. It was a print of "All Is Vanity" by 19th century artist Charles Allen Gilbert.  Can you see it? It's called a "double image," or "visual pun," or maybe trompe l'oeil. 

I wish I could tell you why it fascinated me so. It still does.

Recently, I wondered if the image was available as a counted cross-stitch design. Googling revealed that it is. I purchased and downloaded the pattern from Etsy. 

This will be a daunting project. It's 131 by 199 stitches, so 26,069 stitches altogether. It is monochrome, although it has 21 different colors ranging from white to black. My friend says it's 21 shades of gray. Chuckle.

I thought I'd blog about the project and the progress I make.

So, the first thing I did was figure out the canvas. My first take was to stitch on 16-count fiddlers cloth, which is like Aida cloth, but beige. I cut off a piece, zig-zagged the edges, ran threads through the center, vertically and horizontally. I assembled all the DMC floss I need. Then I plunged in. 

The original 16 count fiddlers cloth        Everything assembled!          Progress, November 1. 

In no time, I had made serious errors. And I determined that backing out was too laborious, so I started over. This time, I used 14-count white Aida cloth. Again, I ran the cross threads. This time, I decided to stitch all the stitches on the vertical and horizontal center axis, rather than fill in all the, say, pale ice blue stitches near the center. This worked pretty well on the horizontal line. 

But when I started on the vertical line, I realized I had another weird error. For some reason, I was one row off. It took me a while to figure it out; apparently I had mis-counted. Fortunately, I hadn't made fatal errors yet, and I was able to rip out some of the stitches and redo them. I also decided to run white cross threads every ten spaces, vertically and horizontally. This is pretty tedious, but I'm convinced it will save me more fatal errors going forward. 

Here's my progress to date, November 11. The image on the left from a few days ago includes my colored-in chart that helps me keep track of what I've stitched. After 2,000 stitches, the image (on the right) is beginning to be clear. You can see the lower jaw of the skull, or, if you prefer, the bottles of cologne and makeup on the vanity table. 

             

So far, it has been fun. I still have that new-project enthusiasm, and I hope it lasts for another 24,000 stitches. 

Stay tuned. I hope all this effort won't be in vain. 

Repurposing

The last time this blog was updated was in 2016. A lot has happened since then, in case you haven't noticed.

I've been busy with a part-time job that I started in June 2014. Since spring of 2020 (Read: COVID quarantine), I've had a little more time on my hands. It seems like now is a good time to rethink, reset, and repurpose this blog. 

Heretofore, this blog was primarily a way to publicize things happening at my part-time job, which was at a church library. We have moved that blogging function to Notes on our Facebook page. Since I've had more time to be creative during the home confinement, I thought it would be fun to blog about some of the stuff I get creative or thoughtful about.

I'm planning to post blog entries about actual crafts: I love counted cross-stitch, knitting, crochet, and some sewing. I might have some ventures in cooking, because sometimes I surprise myself with an unusual concoction. I also look forward to blogging about things I think about. In particular, I like to write essays about my view on the world. More often than not, that view is connected to my religious faith and my Bible study.

This will be a learning experience. I'll be doing a lot of trial and error. Which is what this very post is about. 

Thanks for reading. I hope you find something of interest in my random postings. There's a comment section below; use it if you feel so moved.