Sunday Afternoon Tea

You will be the same person in five years as you are today

except for the people you meet and the books you read.

Charles "Tremendous" Jones

Sigh... as I write this... more snow is falling.  I am staying inside where it is warm and cozy, lemon bars (using a recipe Stephanie sent me last week) are cooling and the warmth from the stove and the sudsy dish water helped dispel the cold in the air.  While beautiful to look at, the snow in this snowiest winter I can remember is getting old.  Especially when one finds if difficult to leave their driveway. 

There has been plenty of time for reading this past week.  I continue to be haunted (in a good way that is) by the book about the Jonathan Edwards' family.  It has reminded me that God uses all kinds of families and in various circumstances.  To think how this one couple influenced a nation at first through Jonathan's writing and preaching, to be followed by the impact of their children and their heirs... amazing.

There was no Internet or telephone or even a dependable way to send and receive mail.  Travel was difficult at the least and often dangerous.  But there was a man and a woman who loved their children and those who came across their path, sharing hospitality and their Faith from their small house in a small town... one day at a time.

I think we forget that today, especially when we have had years and years of teaching that it is only those things done outside the home which are important.  We have so much more in the way of things to share His work and His Gospel... but instead are they distractions rather then instruments to use for His Glory?   I don't know...

That book changed me as the very best of books can do, which is why I was thinking of the above quote by Charles "Tremendous" Jones.  Of course, there is more in our life which can change us (both good and bad) but I know what he is saying... not only the people we meet in person but those we come to know on the written page can affect who we are.

Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts arrived last week and I am finding it quite a "God Thing" that this book would immediately follow the former.  I plan to write a review later this week but suffice it to say both books remind me why I walk this planet... that the greatest work I can ever do for Him is wrapped up in all the little ideas and all the little thoughts and all the little actions... which become so much more when they are cast down at the feet of Jesus.

No family is perfect just as there are no perfect people (outside the Man who was God, of course).  But within our imperfections, God works to mold us and make us into the people He wants us to become... as we influence and help mold others... generation unto generation... until that Day He returns to rule and reign on this... the silent planet.

My reading this week reminded me circumstances need not be perfect for God to work through any of us.  But there is much which can be accomplished within the boundary lines of a home... whether it contains one person or a dozen... as long as "Your will not mine be done" is our daily prayer.