***Rose In Bloom**

Photo by Ploylicia

"Some novels are very useful and do as much good as sermons..."

~Rose in Bloom

So it is with this blooming read, written well over a 100 years ago. This is one quote among many that you will add to your quote book, as there are so many worthy lines, that teach the truths of growing up gracefully just as a sermon would Sunday morning.

Rose in Bloom, written by the beloved author Louisa May Alcott, is a charming tale that centers around the namesake of the title, the story of a girl named Rose who grows from bud, to bloom before our eyes in the books Eight Cousins, and subsequent sequel, Rose in Bloom. In this book Alcott depicts the joys and troubles of growing from girl to woman, that are the same in 1876 as they are today. Coming of age stories are generally universal, the time and surroundings may change, but the emotions, trials, and joys remain the same.

Photo by Poppins' Garden

Rose is a young woman that was orphaned as a child and was speedily taken under the wing of a dear and sage Uncle. Her circumstances were considered a hindrance to becoming a respectable woman, yet Rose matches the beauty of her flower name through virtue, etiquette, convictions, and intellect. This book is a triumph of Godly womanhood. It is a picture of set-apart femininity, and it has much to teach the 21st century reader. 

Wisdom on Work:

"Young eyes look for a Paradise, and weep when they find a workaday world, which seems full of care and trouble, till one learns to gladden and glorify it with high thoughts and holy living."

Waiting for Love:

"In her eyes love was a very sacred thing; hardly to be thought of till it came, reverently received, and cherished faithfully to the end."

Photo By Poppins' Garden

Reading Material:

"Remember, my girl, that one may read at forty what is unsafe at twenty, and that we never can be too careful what food we give that precious yet perilous thing called imagination."

Temptations:

"For it is the small temptations which undermine integrity unless we watch and pray and never think them too trivial to be resisted."

Photo by Poppins' Garden

How to Win a Feminine Heart:

"It is very unreasonable in us to ask women to be saints, and then expect them to feel honored when we offer them our damaged hearts, or, at best, one not half as good as theirs."

God's Timing:

"He knows and He rewards in His own good time. I think a quiet life like this often makes itself felt in better ways than one that the world sees and applauds; and some of the loveliest are never known till they end, leaving a void in many hearts."

Photo by Poppins' Garden

I stand in my early twenties, and whisper under my breath, "Oh, I hope I grow up to be like her."This young woman seeks to instill and inspire those who hope to be a few cuts above the worldly rest. The principles are endless, and are wrapped up in such a pretty way, you can't help but feel you are reading this book in the middle of a New England garden full of flowers. I know if you chose to read it you would discover just how many varieties of roses there are, and how beautiful they bloom when they do it according to God's time and will.

Photo by Mellow Stuff

The result is truly breathtaking! Happy reading!

There is an Answer

My church has a theme we work towards every year. This year it's Be Ready Always, taken from 1st Peter 3:15. Praise God that in a world full of questions, Christ provides the answers we need! I was privileged to be able to write for this, and pray that as you see words come to life through video it will be a blessing to you as well.

Enjoy!

Due Time...

photo by random vintage

Psalm 1:3 “And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth its fruit in his season, his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

In high school I was asked frequently what I was going to be when I grew up. It was a popular question that, at the time, I hadn’t nailed down. As a result I felt directionless, and pressured to hurry up and pick something. My worrying didn’t make my path after high school clear. It also didn’t pick my major for me. God did that, in His time.

Some days I still feel that heat, only now I’m the one questioning myself. I now know what I want to be when I grow up. I’m doing it right now. But there are days, when the words come slow, that I wonder if I made a mistake. I fret if I will ever “make it.” Inwardly I want out-put. A bestseller among Christian books. A book written and published on my time table. Time doesn’t change worrying. It still doesn’t answer my questions. It doesn’t do anything except steal the time God is trying to do a work in me.

photo by Hilda Grahnat

I am reminded of this verse. It’s from a wonderful Psalm (one I encourage you to read, live, and commit to memory) that is highly referenced in Christianity. While reading it the other day a phrase of the verse highlighted itself for me in new meaning. The tree that soaks its roots in the water will bring forth its fruit, now get ready, in its season. Not out of season, not every season, but in his season. In the same way the young woman who puts her roots in the live-giving water from the Bible will bring forth her fruit in due time. God’s time, not her own.

We live in a culture of instant gratification. Culture promotes action, and a healthy dose of stress and chaos so it feels like we’re going somewhere when really we’re not. A literal example is found at every grocery store in America. Browse the produce section with the grocery cart and you’ll notice that farmers force food to grow in greenhouses so consumers can have fruit all year long. But pick a strawberry at the peak of the season and it tastes much sweeter. Fruit grown in its own season is more fresh.
 
So it is with the fruit Christ longs to bestow to His daughters. If we position ourselves beside the life-giving water of Christ and His word, anchor our roots into it by meditating on it day and night God will take care of the rest. If we jumped into trying to change the world for Christ without being prompted we would find that we were ill-prepared, stressed-out, and have no peace. But God in His perfect timing grows and prepares us during the waiting seasons so we will be ready to act when He wills. It is then that we will find that we won’t wither under the heat of trial. Whatever we do in His name and for His glory will prosper, and there will be fruit. Much fruit. 

So wait. Prepare.Drink from the rivers of water. God knows the time. He knows the place. And He knows you. Take heart. 

photo by plastic dreams

{It's My Wonderful Life}

photo by loretoidas

Christmas movies are coveted traditions in my house. My entire family thoroughly enjoys cuddling up with cocoa and a blanket on a chilly New England night to watch classics like Muppet Christmas Carol, White Christmas, and let's not forget Jimmy Stewart's classic It's a Wonderful Life.

I love to get lost in the nostalgia, the themes, the sparkle that is Christmas on film for an hour and a half. In them I watch meant to be couples find mistletoe. I witness true goodwill and gratefulness acted out to others on screen. I see the value of a wonderful life, the blessing of a white Christmas, and most of all the fact reaffirmed by others' mouths that our God is with us, and a Christmas Child was born to all people.

photo by polka dot and plaid

This year it felt like the movies were just out of reach. I cracked open a few to relish, but there were still many to be had. Festivities and everyday events had kept me from pushing play.

At first this was a point of frustration for me. I even went to the calendar and counted how many available nights there were for Christmas movie watching opportunities. Christmas just wasn't Christmas if I hadn't watched everything twice. Right? Wrong.

I felt like George Bailey for a moment. Joyless because my pre-Christmas prep wasn't going according to my frosted candy caned plan. It wasn't a Grinch feeling, but the opposite. The feeling of trying to grasp Christmas spirit by a means it was never meant to be grasped. Like every time, it doesn't fulfill and only leaves me wanting more.

photo by polka dot and plaid

Today as I was baking some of the first Christmas cookies of the season I realized that I was living, actively living, the scenes depicted in the movies I watch to get the same experience. This year we haven't couched and pushed play because we're busy being the hands and feet of Christ. Because we're donating food, and visiting New York City instead of living it vicariously through a movie. My aim was off. My aim for the imaginary, a mere silver-screen, when I have my wonderful life taking place before my very eyes was wrong.

Getting ready for Christmas is drawing close together. It's living simply and meaningfully. It's finishing up work so we can get ready to play. It's the smell of gingerbread and raspberry thumbprints. It's a new tree with classic ornaments, poinsettias in a red vase, and gifts yet to be wrapped. My life is life lived under the mistletoe of God.

Jimmy Stewart can keep his wonderful life because I have my own. The movies will only decorate the season further. They are no longer my fulfillment. Living every December day to God's fullest is my real  live movie. And I wouldn't trade it for anyone elses.

photo by Sara Photography

Merry Christmas!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year...All Year Long

photo by Carmen Moreno Photography

I was in Walmart's toy aisle on Black Friday when I heard Amy Grant over the loudspeaker singing that song. My first Christmas tune of the season. While Amy sang like she meant it I had to refrain from waltzing down the aisle's affected by the music. Thanksgiving leftovers were stocked high in my fridge, but the Christmas season had already moved into stores across America.

I heard the song five times while in the same store. It's as if the radio stations were trying to broadcast Christmas spirit through subliminal shopping tunes to manufacture the joy all people seek during the month of December.

On Monday upon walking into work my coworker already had the 24/7 Christmas station playing in the background, something our office did only a few days before Christmas last year. Still, it was a warm thought, and it made menial tasks pleasant. Once again Amy Grant sang, "There'll be parties for hosting, marshmallows for toasting, and caroling out in the snow."

photo by gmwills

After five hours of sound-byte Christmas I looked up from my thoughts and out at the office and saw my coworker. She regularly wears something new, has bi-weekly polish exchanges, and frequent highlights, and a new granite counter top. Still it's not enough. So she puts on the tunes to drown out the ache God was supposed to fill, because all of the stuff in the world can't.

 In that instant it clicked--the music, the message, the commercialization--secular America only has one day to find true Joy. But that isn't enough time. So they stretch it out as long as possible. For the unbeliever it is the most wonderful time of the year because it's the season they are closest to God, the very reason for the twenty-fifth of December. That is a short time span in which to fill an empty cavern, called the soul, if Christ doesn't reside in it.

Without Christ humanity clamors for more. With Christ believers battle against it. Christmas reveals the state of our hearts on the subject. It reveals how much access He has in our life. I used to wonder why some people lived in houses decorated for Christmas all year long, or why some planned all year for a holiday that lasts the months of December. There is a tie there, a tie from God to the soul. We all know it's special, but many don't know why, or refuse to believe it.

photo by polka dot and plaid

The opposite end of the spectrum are those who are deemed medically depressed after the holidays. The wrapping paper is in the garbage, only broken sugar cookies remain uneaten. The "magic" the "spirit" is gone. Now they are back to feeling empty. For these, the most wonderful time melts like a snowman on a warm day. All that's left is a scarf, a carrot, and other ordinary objects from their houses.

How sad! For me the most wonderful time of the year lasts all year long! As born-again children of God everyday can be Christmas, because everyday we live in the reality that Christ was born for the cross. Daily there is joy exceeding available to us. As Christians, joy is actually one of the presents, or spiritual gifts, of the Holy Spirit (the portion of Jesus all believers have inside of their hearts). There is no let-down because Christ came, died, and rose again. Because of that, each day here on earth is a gift to be used for His glory. I don't need songs to produce a fleeting high of happiness. I have the very inspired word of God, the Bible.

The world is trying to do their best to get the "Christmas spirit" to stay all year, but they will never succeed. 24/7 music stations, black Friday beginning on Thursday, and perpetually decorated houses won't keep life tinsel-colored. Only a real understanding of Jesus Christ can.

photo by Sarah Photography

You are reading the words of a girl who particularly loves Christmas. The baking, the music, the sacred aspect that the season brings...I am all there. For example, just this year on the night before we decorated our tree I could barely sleep for excitement! I am a child again at this season, and I am in no way saying that the gifts, the food, the lights are wrong. I am saying that while they enhance the season, they are not the reason for the Christian's rejoicing.

 It convicts me to think I have the advantage of experiencing Christmas twelve months of the year, but sometimes I don't think of taking it. Some days I leave gifts underneath the tree unopened. I'm too worried about the here and now, or about the there and then. I leave joy behind and worry instead.

Lord, may I do better to keep my God-give Christmas spirit all year long. And may those who don't know you, but long for you at Christmas find their way to true, everlasting joy!

Amen

photo by Honey Pie!

The Twenty-Five Days of Christmas

photo by Harabergsmannen

In my journal I am focusing on the gifts God bestows in my life each day and trying to record them. If I really thought about it there would be more than I can write. The very air I breathe is a gift when you dissect the concept. But I thought it was a good way of documenting the season. Here is an excerpt.

Day One...

On the first day of Christmas my True Love (Jesus Christ) gave to me...a perfectly festive day that equalled two. Among our many activities, our family gathered to decorate our Christmas tree. We had gotten the artificial pine on last year's clearance at a good price. But I have to say that we put so much hope in the tree, that we couldn't help but be disappointed when it was up, fluffed, and lighted.

photo by Sara Bystrom

It was small. Not in height, but in width. Our tree looked like it had been on a diet while we had it in storage. It was dismaying, but we decorated it nonetheless. Since then, it has grown on our family, and given the fact that it revolves slowly so you can see all 360 degrees of it, we have decided that it is one of a kind indeed! It's both trim and beautiful, especially now that it's a living (revolving!) piece of Guthrie family history and tradition on display for the next month  or so. For some reason vintage glass balls, Little Bo Peep, duck feathers, gum ball machines, and mercury glass blend seamlessly. It might look disjointed and cacophony to others, but to me it's a pictorial look into my past and present. Another year of family made memories.

At first our tree was bare, with nothing on its branches save a few pieces of cranberry and popcorn garland. It reminds me of how without Christ I am plain, bare, nothing beautiful. But after salvation He begin the work of remaking me, decorating my character, life, and personality one branch at a time.

photo by where your heart is

It's a precious process, as my Savior has an eye for detail. He knows which ornaments to pick, and just where to hang them. He fills in my holes, and balances out any misshapen branches. Part of His business is  beautifying what others would see as imperfections with His capable hands. And at the top doesn't hang a star, or an angle, or even a bow, but a cross because that's where my real story began.

God's Good Gifts

photo by i believe in love

God's Good Gifts: A Different Kind of Black Friday Shopping Story

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."

~James 1:17

God allowed my mum and I to walk out of Walmart with a Wii on Black Friday. It wasn't planned, or intentional. We didn't draw out store maps, or draft gift lists. I never grew up being a Black Friday shopper. It was never something my family did. Something about rude, overtired, and post-gluttonous shoppers who would stop at nothing short of taking my life to get their Tickle Me Elmo never made me feel guilty about pulling the covers under my chin and sleeping in. Growing up, Black Friday was a day to wash all the Sunday dishes company had eaten on the day before.

But a series of events necessitated a quick trip to Walmart. I'll admit, I did browse the online sale flyer before heading out, just to see if there was going to be anything good. And there was.

What the store flyer didn't say was that Wii's were on sale for $89.00.  My mum and I held the box while repeating the following facts to ourselves: Wii's are expensive. Wii's never go on sale. Our family has wanted a Wii for years. But the price coupled with the fact that my dad is in and out of a job because of the construction economy has kept us from enjoying one. We stood in the middle of two decisions, and in the end, put down the box.

photo by Marlous Anne

For the rest of the day, we thought about what to do. Could we afford it? Would this be an impulse purchase? At six p.m. the question was more like, "Would there be any left?" But there was a settled peace between both of us that we should go back and see. If they were any left it was God's will for us to buy one.

They were all gone. All that remained was the sign advertising the price that seemed to mock a few of the world's materialistic mantras, "What did you expect?" "You shouldn't have consulted your budget." "You should have put it on a credit card like everyone else." "You are too late!"

I pushed these lies away, and searched in the surrounding aisles for a mislaid box. I didn't feel like we were too late, I felt like we had to keep looking. On our way out, my mum and I checked the returns department, and asked a woman with a face of stone if there had been any returned that day.  She pointed to the last Wii in the store, and informed us that it was store protocol to shelve the item before purchase. It turned out that the face of stone, didn't have a heart of stone. My mom told our story, and in less than a minute we walked toward the register, Wii in hand.

It may seem silly to draw a spiritual parallel, and label a last minute Wii purchase as a miracle of God. But I know that the Bible says that every good and every perfect gift is from God. Why would I think this Wiii was any different? I firmly believe that God gives better gifts to His children than His children get for themselves.

My family could have put the Wii on credit the year it came out. That would have been easy. But the easy path doesn't satisfy, and many times doesn't honor God. I could have chosen the typical electronic purchase story. The long line. The denying personal wants to pay those five not so easy payments to the credit card company. But personally, for me, that wouldn't have been honoring God.

For me honoring God was biting back the impatience I could feel quickening my pulse when a sudden shopping spree presented itself during my devotions. Honoring God was choosing deliberately to give Him my undivided attention during the first hours of my day. Honoring God was having the discipline to put the item down and consult Him through prayer and the online bank account. Honoring God was having joy and contentment when the cardboard box was empty.

photo by Magpie's Fancy

Many would agree that God is the giver of every good and perfect gift. But many wouldn't be so ready to claim that those who want good and perfect gifts can't go about the typical methods culture utilizes to obtain them. God's gifts require God's methods. His methods are often unpopular and involve words like--waiting, trusting, and depending. Many times there is no instant gratification. But there is a fabulous resolve.

My resolve was a fabulous testimony of God's goodness, and how He rewards faithful children. It's a testimony I can share. I'm sharing it with you now. God honors those who honor Him. I have proof. It's sitting in my closet underneath my sneakers to ward off any potential snoopers.

Most would think that's a good Black Friday story. I did too. In fact, I thought it was awesome. Until today, when at church a family heard we had tried to buy a Wii on Friday but couldn't because Walmart was sold out. Obviously this family had talked to my younger sister, who hasn't looked in my closet lately, and didn't accompany my mom and I on our last jaunt to Walmart.

In a few days my family will be getting another Wii, this one or free. My mom plans on returning the other one. The Wii we purchased on Friday was not a mistake, or an accident. There are no accidents with God. If we had never tried and bought a Wii, this family never would have known it was an item on our Christmas list. He used one Wii to obtain the other.

It's proof that whether it be finances, relationships, or electronics, if we wait on God's timing He will give us every good and perfect gift in the end.

photo by the modest muse