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Wednesday, June 16, 2010

A Sunday Afternoon: Vintage Thingie Thursday


Yesiree! It's that time again...Vintage Thingie Thursday! Every Wednesday night, when it suddenly dawns on me that the next day is my favorite blogging day, I say to my husband: "Guess what tomorrow is?" He says, "Vintage day!" Yep, he gets excited for me too! If you have the chance today, go on over to Coloradolady's blog and check out Vintage Thingie Thursday.

Today I am showing off something very special to me! When I was a little girl, my mom, brother and I, went for a walk one day and found this plate at a yard sale. We thought it was very special and ended up giving it to my great-grandmother, Grammy Irma. She hung it in her kitchen and it was always my most favorite thing in her home. When she passed away in 1999, this plate was the only thing I wanted from her things. It has always hung in whatever kitchen I've had, these last 11 years.

Last year, I was snooping around in a thrift store and found this framed picture of the same scene. There are minor differences, but it's obviously meant to be the same picture. There are no markings on the picture at all but the plate does have a silver and red sticker on the back that says, "Japan" and the numbers 5956 are written below it. Along the bottom of the back of the plate are written the words, "A Sunday Afternoon".

I looked all over online tonight but can't find any information on it at all. I'd be interested to know which scene came first: the plate or the drawing. I'd also like to know if there are other things out there to go with it--perhaps a figurine?

Thanks for stopping by today---hope you have a wonderful Vintage Thingie Thursday!

God is NOT on our side!


Joshua 5: 13-15-- "Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, "Are you for us or for our adversaries?" He said, "No; rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the Lord." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, "What has my lord to say to his servant?" The captain of the Lord's host said to Joshua, "Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so."

A pastor friend of ours posts daily Bible studies to his Facebook page. Today I was reading his notes on these verses and was struck by this: "God is not on our side. We are on his." Or rather, we should be on his. Often times, when reflecting on a crisis situation for example, people will say, "Thank God we had the Lord on our side." However, that's not exactly the case. It's not like God looks at a situation and chooses which side to be on. God is good and true and right and just in all sides and situations.

When we come over to God's side, we often reap the benefits and blessings of his protection so it would seem that he's pleased with us for "doing right" and is rewarding us by being on our team. The problem with that logic comes when we try to see the flip side. If he's rewarding us by being "on our side" and allowing us to live a happy, easy, blessed life, then what does it mean when life turns scary, ugly, difficult and unfair? It must mean that God's not on our side anymore, right? These bad things must indicate that God is mad at us and punishing us by removing his blessing.

That is SO not the case! While it's true that we will reap these bad "side effects" of disobedience, often times bad things just happen to good people (whole 'nother topic---not goona go there tonight!) The Lord promised never to leave us or forsake us (Josh. 1:5). David encourages us with this thought: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me" (Ps. 23:4).

However, God is not going to sanction sin--no matter how slight or unconscious. That's why he can't be on our side--we are sinful beings. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). We fluctuate between good days and bad days. We have our own wills and they're usually self-centered. How wise we'd be to come over to the side of the one who is steady and unchanging!

Saturday, June 12, 2010

(Can't Think of a Non-Sacrilegious Pig-ish Title): Pink Saturday


I'd first like to apologize to all Pink Saturday participants. I've just been made aware that due to an unforseen circumstance, my Pink Saturday post did not get put up. In desperation, I've put this up as I'm just about to leave for the day and won't have a chance to do a new one. This is an old post from a couple of years ago. I'm aware that the only thing that makes this one "count" is the pink piggy icon---but hopefully I can squeak by this week and you'll still enjoy the "deep thoughts" (Ha Ha) of this post anyway. Have a great Pink Saturday everyone--I look forward to visiting other PS blogs tonight!

Ok
, I really had to think about it to get the following revelation to line up to some spiritual truth...so bear with me.

You know on Charlotte's Web, at the end, when everyone is singing the praises of the pig. "He's Some Terrific, Radiant, Humble Thing-a-Majig Of a Pig"... Well, I was contemplating that song today and realized something. It's not the pig who is terrific, radiant, humble, for crying out loud---it's the spider!!! The pig did absolutely nothing to make himself praiseworthy---it was Charlotte, his spider friend, who used all her gifts and abilities to make him shine. Did anyone ever think to give glory to the spider? Nope, she just gave birth to her most magnificent masterpiece...and then died. Talk about humility...

So, it got me (eventually) thinking about Hebrews 11. In this chapter, we find the Hall of Faith...all the great men and women of renown and all their worthy accomplishments in the name of faith. Not to discount these honorable brothers and sisters in the faith---but don't we see some liars here? Some murderers? Adulterers? I mean, when we look really closely, the things that make these people worth remembering are all the things that the Lord has done in their lives by his power and covenant with them. It is nothing that they have done on their own. They would be unmentionable nobodies---runts doomed to death---if it weren't for the Lord.

That chapter that we refer to as the Hall of Faith---from now on, I'll try to consider it God's Hall of Fame---and give credit where credit is due.
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