Monday, February 19, 2007

Presidents Day with Kylee

Today Kylee and I took a walk in the rain under the protection of two enormous black umbrellas. We sang "I know an old lady" the whole way and somehow we got from, "I know an old lady who swallowed a horse--she's dead of course," to, "I know an old lady who swallowed an umbrella..."

--Later--

"My stomach is grabbling," quoth Kylee and clutched her belly dramatically.

"Surely not," I replied and ran in the general direction of the kitchen, whereupon we made a sandwich shaped like an elephant.

--Later--

"What game shall we play?" said she, looking inquiringly into my face.

"I don't know," I said earnestly.

"Let's go in Grammie's room and fink," she said decidedly, and would have marched ceremoniously thence if she hadn't been waylaid by my capturing arms and hauled over my shoulder potatoe fashion. "Let's go in Grammie's room and fink," she repeated, confused. And I laughed. And she laughed too.

Note: Kylee and I have been saying, "I could eat a whole elephant," whenever we're hungry. Thus the pachyderm-shaped sandwich.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

My Valentine Rose

Someone told me recently that the sole purpose of Valentines Day was to cause people with sweethearts the trouble of buying meaningless symbols of affection such as roses, candy, teddy bears, etc., and to cause single people unhappiness and discontent because they don't have an excuse to buy said meaningless symbols of affection. I also recently heard the radio tell me that roses are boring and sappy...so I should buy a Vermont Teddy Bear!

I think neither of the above examples of society's attitude toward Valentines Day quite understands. Today I recieved a very red, very beautiful rose from a friend of mine--no not a sweetheart--a friend named Sarah. This rose was my companion throughout the rest of the day. It stayed in my hand like a bold, sweet, beacon of red truth, defiant love. The rain could not wash away its brightness. The vulgar "Dating Game" and other such rituals carried out here at Whatcom Community College could not mar its purity. It reminded me of the unapolagetic nature of blood.

God gave me a gift of love today. He reminded me of the sweetness and absolute purity of a gift infinitely more beautiful than any I have ever been given before. This is what romance means to me. Yes, romance! That is what I said. God, the author of romance, is in Himself the essence of romance.

The blood of Christ has bought back His bride for Him and I find myself simply starry-eyed with the glory of it all. Yes, I am in love. I am childishly, naively, infatuatedly in love with my Savior. Somehow I don't think all the Vermont Teddy Bears in the world can match that.

Happy Valentines Day one and all, and may your hearts be fired with the romance of redeeming blood.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

If you weren't Adam and I wasn't Eve

If you weren't Adam and I wasn't Eve then maybe romance would mean more than teddy bears and valentine candy.
If Earth was not Earth but Pangaea instead, then maybe we could have united.
If Joy to the World wasn’t bought at the mall then maybe we’d really be singing.
If lemons were sweet without sugar added then maybe we would have really found the perfect diet.
If love was really amen never-ending then maybe lawyers would never have been invented.
If band-aids were only for pretending then maybe children would never cry.
If man had not desired what God did not give then maybe “contentment” would still be in our vocabulary.
If man still walked with God in the cool of the day then maybe we wouldn’t know what “maybe” meant.
If the world was perfect and the people were good, then there wouldn’t be Jesus and redeeming blood.
If we trusted without stint and kept in our place then there wouldn’t be Christ and amazing grace.

Disclaimer: "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! Why should we, who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." Romans 6:1-4