As their [the Puritans] Christianity was all-embracing, so their living was all of a piece. Nowadays we would call their lifestyle holistic: all awareness, activity, and enjoyment, all ‘use of the creatures’ and development of personal powers and creativity, was integrated in the single purpose of honouring God by appreciating all his gifts and making everything ‘holiness to the Lord’. There was for them no disjunction between sacred and secular; all creation, so far as they were concerned, was sacred, and all activities, of whatever kind, must be sanctified, that is, done to the glory of God. So, in their heavenly-minded ardour, the Puritans became men and women of order, matter-of-fact and down-to-earth, prayerful, purposeful, practical. Seeing life whole, they integrated contemplation with action, worship with work, labour with rest, love of God with love of neighbour and of self, personal with social identity, and the wide spectrum of relational responsibilities with each other, in a thoroughly conscientious and thought-out way. In this thoroughness they were extreme, that is to say far more thorough then we are, but in their blending of the whole wide range of Christian duties set forth in Scripture they were eminently balanced. They lived by ‘method’ (we would say, by a rule of life), planning and proportioning their time with care, not so much to keep bad things out as to make sure that they got all good and important things in — necessary wisdom, then as now, for busy people! We today, who tend to live unplanned lives at random in a series of non-communicating compartments and who hence feel swamped and distracted most of the time, could learn much from the Puritans at this point.

I thought about the meanings of words like perishable, corruptible, and mortal. How wonderful to know that the imperishable, incorruptible, and immortal are in the future — even my future. The Gospel is good news indeed!

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58

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Related posts:

• Finding Delight – Week 4
• Finding Delight – Week 3
• Finding Delight – Week 2
• Finding Delight – Week 1

Lord Jesus, Give me a deeper repentance,
a horror of sin,
a dread of its approach;
Help me chastely to flee it,
and jealously to resolve that my heart shall be thine alone.
Give me a deeper trust,
that I may lose myself to find myself in thee,
the ground of my rest,
the spring of my being.
Give me a deeper knowledge of thyself
as saviour, master, lord, and king.
Give me deeper power in private prayer,
more sweetness in thy Word,
more steadfast grip on its truth.
Give me deeper holiness in speech, thought, action,
and let me not seek moral virtue apart from thee.
Plough deep in me, great Lord, heavenly husbandman,
that my being may be a tilled field,
the roots of grace spreading far and wide,
until thou alone art seen in me,
thy beauty golden like summer harvest,
thy fruitfulness as autumn plenty.
I have no master but thee,
no law by they will,
no delight by thyself,
no wealth but that thou givest,
no good but that thou blessest,
no peace but that thou bestowest.
I am nothing but that thou makest me,
I have nothing but that I receive from thee,
I can be nothing but that grace adorns me.
Quarry me deep, dear Lord,
and then fill me to overflowing with living water.

I am thankful that we all love each other so much that we can’t help sharing our illnesses. How do you spell ca-cough-ony? I can hear one in my living room.

I am thankful for pharmacies.

I am thankful for my husband’s career and employer which make health care less of a worry.

I am thankful for chicken and rice that can be made into a yummy soup. I am thankful for good, old-fashioned saltine crackers.

I am thankful for heavy blankets and quilts and pillows. And slippers, soft Kleenex, cough drops, Vick’s vapo-rub, and hot tea.

I am thankful Karl decided to stay home today. I am thankful he did all of the grocery shopping.

I’m thankful Noah put away the laundry for me.

I am thankful that I get to take care of my people when they’re sick. I am thankful that they take good care of me when I’ve caught whatever they had.

Hoping…oh, my hopes for this year are set so high I don’t know what to do with myself. All good things, good hopes. The only problem is that they are so impossible for me to accomplish that it’s ridiculous that I even dare to hope for them. They are all, every single one, so far out of my grasp today it will be a miracle if any of them come to pass. Sunday morning, however, I was encouraged when our pastor announced our church’s verse for the year: Luke 1:37. Look it up and then have a good laugh with me, kind of like Sarah did when the visitors told Abraham she would have a son.

Wishing…I had more time to blog this week. I have some thoughts about some things, but no time to sit down and write sentences for mass consumption. In fact, I should be doing my dishes right now, but instead I’m pounding on these keys. I wish I didn’t have to wash dishes.

Realizing…two things: 1) My hope is in God. If he wills that a thing shall come to pass, then it will. 2) That I am responsible for working and doing what I can, but, ultimately, #1.

Reading…The Silmarillion by Tolkien and the Bible. I also started working through a study of Ephesians by Wendy Alsup. Hey! Maybe I’ll blog about that.

Enjoying…Dr. Horner’s Bible-reading plan. Intimidated on January 1, I see now that cutting out all of the other books hasn’t been as painful as I thought it’d be. I’m also enjoying teaching my class of 3rd – 5th graders on Wednesday nights. I shared the gospel with them tonight.

Thinking…about the Doctrine of the Trinity. Y’all, it’s not the easiest thing to explain. I have it straight in my head, but to articulate it to a couple of 8-year-olds is difficult. Because of the ER2 controversy this week, I found myself keenly aware tonight of the words I used to describe God and which person does what in salvation. This afternoon, as I was going over questions and answers with Abbey, I kept probing her to make sure she had a good understanding of the trinity. Finally, she said, “Mom! 3 persons, 1 God. It’s easy. Just memorize it and believe it.” Also thinking…it’d be nice to be 8-years-old again.

Looking…at pictures of my neighbors that I took this past weekend. She needs pictures of her family since the new addition, and I need to practice taking portraits. Win-win! I really enjoy taking pictures. I’ll share a few below.

This is my friend Linda. She came by last Monday to visit for a little while. We drop in on each other every now and then. This usually means that the one getting dropped in on has to run to her bedroom to put on decent clothes. One thing we have in common is that we both tend to wear our jammies longer into the day than most people.                                                                                                                                                                                      This is the Linda I see most of the time. Effortless beauty, photogenic, hip.

Below is the Linda who showed up for picture day. When she hopped out of her minivan, I think I gasped. She’s so, so pretty! I mean, in three years we’ve only ever seen each other bra-less and in pajama pants and pony-tails. Everyone needs a comfortable, easy-going friend like Linda.

She’s simply beautiful!

This next one is of the whole family.

FOUR boys! They are a fun bunch. Our kids love playing together.

I really hope she likes the pictures. There’s that word again.