Categories
- BLAT (2)
- Book Reviews (9)
- brothels (1)
- Creativity (4)
- decluttering (5)
- goals (4)
- home birth (3)
- Life (136)
- Maker's Diet (5)
- Missions (7)
- Money (1)
- Natural Living (2)
- Neighbours (2)
- NFP (1)
- Nicaragua 2014 (14)
- Parenthood (8)
- poetry (3)
- Prayer (10)
- pregnancy (18)
- Project 333 (1)
- psalm 40 (3)
- Reviews (2)
- Scripture (22)
- suffering (6)
- Thoughts (97)
- Three Things Thursday (16)
- Torre (1)
- Uncategorized (44)
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Thoughts
I started reading The Monks of Tibhirine, the true story of French monks in Algeria during the civil war of the 1990s. It is the inspiration for the award-winning movie Of Gods and Men (Des Hommes et Des Dieux - I know, the French title is flipped around), which I saw a couple months ago and LOVED and want to own when it comes out in July. We'll see how the budget goes.
Anyways, I was struck as I began reading the book by some parallels to ideas I am trying to sort out and have been reflecting on the last few weeks. This quote in particular stood out, speaking about the impact political changes in the 1970s had for Christians in Algeria (when a socialist and Islamic constitution was adopted):
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Thoughts
I missed church yesterday to support Matt as he ran 5K.
By support, I mean I went to Tim Horton's with a friend after the run started, and we made sure we were back to cheer as Matt and Tom (her boyfriend) crossed the finish line. Not only did I cheer, but I yelled, "Beat that kid!" as Matt indeed sprinted past an eleven year old. Don't worry; I don't think either of them actually heard me!
Also, Matt and Tom started the run late, so Matt was way ahead of that kid time-wise anyways.
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Thoughts
Matt blogged this week about 1 Corinthians 13 (the love chapter) and how even though it is often read at weddings, it really relates to the love that must exist within the church. I have also been reading 1 Corinthians this week and was struck by the passage that precedes this huge description of love.
Paul is explaining to the church that different people have been given different spiritual gifts in order to work together as a unified body. There is no place for comparison or competition because they will simply become self-defeating. After all, what would happen if our internal organs stopped working together so they could prove how important they all are individually - the body would die!
Unfortunately the same thing happens in churches today: people get so caught up in the ways we are different (how we worship, how we serve each other, what our personal values are) that comparison begins to erode the unity we should have. We easily forget that immediately after Paul lists off a ranking of spiritual gifts, he launches into that famous chapter on love, saying that this is an even more excellent aim to strive for than the most elite spiritual gifts.
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Thoughts
We had a church meeting yesterday, and I had been thinking about it coming up all week because the last church meeting was.. shall we say.... dramatic. Not everybody gets along at our church all the time, and a bunch of stuff went down, not everybody handled themselves well, and in the end I think it could have been a lot worse than it was and it was good to clear the air and work through conflict as a community. But it was still dramatic.
One day this week when I was reading my Bible, this verse stuck out to me: Romans 15:2 "Each of us should please our neighbours for their good, to build them up." Churches would be transformed, I believe, if instead of pointing fingers and grumbling, people could think to themselves not only "That person sure sucks." but then add, "What could I do to help them?"
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Thoughts
Among different denominations and even different individual churches, the topic of spiritual gifts is dealt with in different ways. Sometimes it is front and centre, with even Sunday school children doing personal inventories to find out their own spiritual gifts, while other churches may never really delve into it and people can spend their whole life without ever feeling comfortable to say they have or don't have certain spiritual gifts.
I spent time with a friend of mine this weekend, and we were talking about some difficult things she is going through and struggling with, and she said "I'm so glad that God has given me the ability to do art because it seems like the only way to deal with these things that doesn't hurt me." She is a fantastic artist and certainly gifted, and the way that she put it reminded me that God's gifts to us are not just hobbies on a checklist or ways that we prefer to get involved at church - they are gifts. Presents. For us to enjoy and often times to share with others, but so often it seems to me that we skip the enjoyment, or we leave it out of the equation when we are trying to discern what exactly God has given us.
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Thoughts
Soon to come (as soon as I have them, I guess :P) are pictures from grad, and pictures from bug-ageddon, which Matt and I participated in with my parents. For now, I wanted to share from a great post that I read on Seraphic Singles. This is a blog that I enjoy very much even though I am not single, and I am not Catholic! There are usually great nuggets of truth and pearls of wisdom in the advice she posts for readers who write in (mostly single Nice Catholic Girls), and there are also many posts of just good thinking. I am hoping to buy her book soon, especially if Crux will take my gift certificate from three Christmases ago that was lost but is now found. But I digress.
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Thoughts
I have been thinking a lot lately about obedience and grace.
The first piece in this train of thought was the sermon at our grad chapel, and the speaker said that praying for forgiveness should be part of our daily discipline as Christians, to remind us of our need for grace.
When Matt preached on Sunday, he talked about Jesus being accused of breaking Sabbath, and one of the verses in that story really struck me:
Matthew 12:5
"Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?"
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Thoughts
I read my Bible on the train to work this morning and was really struck by this story.
Thought for the day: It is better to be in danger where we belong and cry out to God for help than to hide and rely on chance.
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Thoughts
Matt and I were talking about the Holy Spirit the other day because we have some youth who want to experience the Holy Spirit more (we have the best youth group ever, I know). The thing is, their expectations of what the Spirit does were a little bit limited and not very subtle.
The thing is, very often it is easy to think of the Holy Spirit like an amusement park ride that you climb into, buckle up, get moved, and then enjoy the adrenaline while you wait in the line for two hours to go on it again. Special youth events, conferences and retreats are places where it is easy to get on a spiritual high that makes every day life seem less than significant, not exciting, and probably not empowering. School and work and church are just things to do until our turn comes for one of those big events.
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Thoughts
One of the things that adds a little variety to what is certainly a repetitive job is when we receive Christian literature along with cheque payments. Today we got the Chick Comic "Flight 144"!
Jesus has no face!! What the heck... I understand the riskiness of drawing God in a comic, but still... I think white ninja handled this issue better than Jack Chick...