An insightful new voice.

Love this article by Kate Harris at The Washington Institute

Most insightful paragraph:

" In all of this, whether it be language, category or context, it is essential for mothers to recognize that the goal in exploring identity in light of work is not to do more or be busier, but rather to think better about the ways we engage the fullness of our callings. For some women, it will mean granting themselves permission to explore interests, skills or opportunities that persist outside, alongside or amidst their responsibilities as a mom. For others it means evaluating whether or not their priorities and commitments are properly aligned with the commitments they have to their family. For all women, it means being humble enough to step outside the bounds of our own comfort and offer the fullness of our gifts in service to Christ, trusting that if it His work to do he will provide the margin needed to do it.

My favorite quote:

"Similarly, as believers engaged in every square inch of God’s good work, mothers have an opportunity to use this Epiphany season to reflect not on the work they deem most valuable to Christ, whether it be inside, outside or alongside the home, but instead to reflect on—and step into—the work Christ deems most valuable to Him."

According to...

this 5.5 inch santoku knife.

according to my Food and Wine magazine this month, you can get this nice looking knife for $25 plus 8 dollars shipping at www.hammerstahl.com...Enter " FOOD" to receive the discount. Thought I would pass it along!

Finding the solution.

It is the time of year to reflect on the year past and look to the new one ahead. Which ever direction you are looking at most, we must have resolution.

Resolution.

When I think resolution, I think solution. Today I can look at my life in that way-- I just want to identify my problems and find the solutions for this new year.

We all want to find out how to find the equilibrium--a solution when solvent and solute are compatible. And yet I will admit there are parts of my life that just don't mix. This won't resolve. This doesn't combine. This will never work.

Chemically, ingredients are either compatible or not. They will mix or they will separate.

Impossible combitions.
Suboptimal conditions.
Sound familiar?

Yet there is always one Solution.

Christ is my one great solution. Christ alone can dissolve these impossible combinations. He alone uses suboptimal conditions to catalyze change.  Impossible combinations and suboptimal conditions are rendered instantly by the Refiner.

Christ must first dissolve my weaker motivations and give me the right resolution-- something balanced, something stable, something pure. New Year's resolutions are people boiling down their problems and trying to name, define and identify the primary and obvious solutions to those problems. But as children of God, we find freedom from arbitrary goals. We can find deeper purpose, stronger resolve and clearer solutions because of Christ.

Malachi 3:
 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD...
 “For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed."

Despite how we feel about the year past and the year to come, we can take confidence that it is God who leads the way.

I read Oswald Chambers on this and found it most encouraging:

 

He went out, not knowing where he was going —Hebrews 11:8

Have you ever “gone out” in this way? If so, there is no logical answer possible when anyone asks you what you are doing. One of the most difficult questions to answer in Christian work is, “What do you expect to do?”You don’t know what you are going to do. The only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually examine your attitude toward God to see if you are willing to “go out” in every area of your life, trusting in God entirely. It is this attitude that keeps you in constant wonder, because you don’t know what God is going to do next. Each morning as you wake, there is a new opportunity to “go out,” building your confidence in God. “. . . do not worry about your life . . . nor about the body . . .” (Luke 12:22). In other words, don’t worry about the things that concerned you before you did “go out.”

Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do— He reveals to you who He is. Do you believe in a miracle-working God, and will you “go out” in complete surrender to Him until you are not surprised one iota by anything He does?

Believe God is always the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him. Then think how unnecessary and disrespectful worry is! Let the attitude of your life be a continual willingness to “go out” in dependence upon God, and your life will have a sacred and inexpressible charm about it that is very satisfying to Jesus. You must learn to “go out” through your convictions, creeds, or experiences until you come to the point in your faith where there is nothing between yourself and God.