How do you smell?

This morning we heard a convicting sermon on these verses:

But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?
~2 Corinthians 2:14-16

 The gist of the message was that if we belong to Christ, we smell like Him to others: if they love Christ, itis a sweet fragrance, and if they don't, it is the stench of death.  And if we don't smell of Christ to others, then we need to question if we belong to Him.

Perhaps one reason the message was so moving this morning is that it came from the lips of a man who has served God in costly ways for many years: first, abroad in places like Columbia and Ecquador, and now as a chaplain in a maximum security prison for the criminally insane, and for a regional hospice program.  You know how stressful the prison job is when you hear that he took on the hospice chaplaincy to have a break from the stress. Here is a man who knows what it means to smell like Jesus.

Of course, these verses end with a question: who is equal to such a task? The implied answer is, of course, none of us.  Not you, Gentle Reader, not me, not my amazing friend who did the preaching this morning.  It is only Christ Himself who is equal to such a task.  And so I find myself thankful, indeed, that He leads us always in victory. May you rejoice in the same, Gentle Friend!

My most recently completed quilt...

It is already off to my dil Nikki, to celebrate her upcoming birthday.

 

And here is a close-up of the center.  The subject matter is so very precious!

The photograph in the center was "painted" using GIMP, then printed on cotton fabric, and measure about 5 x 7.

Wednesday without words...

A delightful weekend

In a stunningly spontaneous act, my dh decided on Saturday that we were running away together for the weekend.  So off we trooped.  We had geocaching adventures, and a picnic in the car under gray January skies.  But here are the views from our picnic spot:

And Sunday found us enjoying fellowship with a sister congregation where we are loved, and then having a gargantuan geocaching adventure in the afternoon, finding 12 (count 'em-- TWELVE!) caches in the afternoon.  In addition to the treasure-seeking aspect of this, we wandered through some lovely areas in the bright New Mexico sun.  It was entirely delightful!

Good-bye year of adventure, hello year of service...

My sweet husband, sometime in January of last year, dubbed 2010 our "Year of Adventure".  We had never had a "theme" for a year in our previous 30 years of marriage, but he was moved by what he observed as a tendency to repetition and complacency, and wanted us to challenge ourselves to be more adventurous: more adventurous in our spiritual lives, our relational lives, and even in our entertainment and reading lives.  So, we embraced a year of thinking about taking what looked to us to be adventurous paths, the road less travelled, the decision that looked less comfortable and more, well, exciting. It was frightening at times! And how did that work out for us? It was a tremendous year!

Some of the "adventures" that came our way included new jobs for both of us: one keeping the world safe for democracy, the other in the world of online teaching. We traveled to places we had never been (like hiking to the top of Pajarito Mountain, buying a car on e-bay and driving it home from California across the Sonoran desert, and geocaching in all sorts of places).  We entered the new world of Grandparenthood.  We also found ourselves identifying the places where we stop ourselves from doing things because we are creatures of habit.  This was a very valuable part of our year! So it was a wonderful year, with little adventures popping up everywhere we turned.

After much prayer and thought, my dh has made another declaration for this year: a year of service.  Our job is to ask, "How would God have me serve this person, or in this circumstance, or through this trial? How can I set my own desires aside and serve God or someone else?"  And already, the options for service are popping out of the woodwork.  This topic is also a little frightening.  The truth is, I love living in the Cosmos of Chris, where everything in the universe revolves around me.  But already, I am seeing how this goal for the year will change my perspective in healthy ways.  I am tutoring some students to serve their families, and it is really exciting to watch these folks learn and change, and to have the privilege of taking part in that process. 

I think this will be another adventurous year, Gentle Reader.  And I hope you will join us.

Health update, and counting blessings...

For those of you wondering what ever happened with my iron infusions, I thought I would give a general health update. There may only be a couple of you, but since those couple have asked, here we go...

The infusions (5 of them) are done, but the bruises and the bills remain. They were not really problematic, especially for the first three.  The last two found my veins saying "No more!", but we accomplished them.  I will have blood work next week, when we hope to find I have a full load of iron on board.  I will get results from the oncologist on the 31st, Lord willing. I'm not sure who I will be seeing, but they assure me they will have a doctor in the office...

I have more tests scheduled for February to look for sources of some slow bleeding that may have added to my problem. I continue to appreciate your prayers, Gentle Reader, as I traverse this rocky landscape of health issues.  As a friend here in town (now almost through her 80's) says: Growing old is not for sissies.  I am trying to learn not to be a sissy..

I am not always succeeding at that "not being a sissy" part, however.  I often feel a little (or more than a little) sorry for myself.  It's at those times that the discipline of counting one's blessings is vital.  And I have many, many of those to count, by God's grace!

May the tough times find us all counting our blessings, Gentle Reader, and fighting for non-sissy status...

A New Year's goal already met...

Over dinner on New Year's Eve, we discussed our goals for the New year.  One of my daughters-in-law stated that her goal was to finally be added to the family tree which hangs in our dinning room.

May all of our goals be so easy to accomplish!