Category Archives: Inspiration

Peace be Upon You

Posted on by
4

Oh, my dear beloveds… will you humour me in a little exercise? Take a big deep breath in through your nose and fill up your lungs to the deepest capacity … now let it all out in a big ol’ sigh. I don’t know about you, but I needed that after the last few hours. The weather outside has been “frightful” here in the last day or so, and old man winter is certainly making his presence known in our neck of the woods. Normally, I don’t mind too much… but last night both my hubby and my eldest son were out driving in it. Late, after dark, alone. And as much as my dearests tell me not to fret, the all-season, I repeat, not-official-snow-tired-car with ABS brakes make me nervous to drive in … for fear I am the only woman driver on the road who will find the obscure patch of black ice and go crashing into a telephone pole. Or worse still, a rambunctious reindeer who recently escaped from a small town Christmas parade finds my son on his way home in said unsafe car…

Anyway, you get the picture. I worry a bit about bad weather. I worry a lot about driving in it. I think I am getting old. Grandma genes are starting to settle in. And there is nothing like a taste of old lady frailty (read anxiety) to rob you of that peace within. I know you know what I am talking about. Seems fitting that this second week of advent is “peace” week. A gentle reminder to me to attempt to bring my heart back to that state of peace. Especially as we anticipate the nativity scene… all babies wrapped in swaddling clothes, quietly sleeping amongst the barnyard animals. (All the moms out there recognize that this, too, is far from a realistic scenario… barn animals, people… and what newborn isn’t screaming for food in the middle of the night?) but the story of Jesus’ birth brings our focus to a unique place: Bethlehem.

Let’s look at it a little shall we? I did a little digging and here are some”fun facts” I dug up about “Bethlehem, in the land of Judah”. In Hebrew, it is called “Beit Lechem” which roughly translates as the “House of Bread”. Perfect for Christmas holidays, I’d say. Warm toast brings me peace! Bethlehem is home to approximately 25 000 people… both Christian and Muslim. Interestingly, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the U.S. is home to 800 000 Americans… who probably see just as many tourists!

The proposed “exact spot” where Jesus was born is marked by a silver star, that leads to an underground grotto or cave. Of course, the surrounding area is the tourist mecca for those seeking Christian history. With a large market for trinkets and a chance to profit from the bus tours. Maybe as much as Bethlehem, PA. I’m guessing either would be a cool place to visit… (dreamily look off into the distance… House of Bread… Amish baked goods…) Still, the Middle East has been far from a “symbol of peace” in recent years. Or the U.S.A, for that matter. Which brings us back full circle.

As you continue on in your Advent journey of faith, may you be prompted with thoughts of peace this week from the only One who gives true peace. And may your anxieties be comforted … even as you drive along the icy roads of life.

Photo: wiirocku Tumbler

Patterns

Posted on by
Reply

I was sitting on the couch a few days ago working on a crochet project I have going for Christmas. As I was flicking my fingers and yarn, I got thinking about patterns. Patterns seem to be everywhere! When you learn to crochet or knit or paint or even write, you start with a pattern. You learn basic stitches or strokes and then adapt those into complex arrangements of the pattern. Sometimes the patterns repeat over and over again. Those complex arrangements become the intricate design that, eventually, becomes your masterpiece! If you look closely enough at a masterpiece, you will see the tiny repetitions within. I love a good pattern. It makes everything so neat and tidy. I like even numbers and ducks in a row. I’ve mused about it before (check it out here).

Thanks for the doodle, Ruth!

Have you seen it? Repeating patterns in buildings, flowers, clothing… almost anything both man-made and natural contain these “repeats”. I think God liked patterns too. We’ve seen how He gives us colours, symbols, numbers and the like to point us in the direction to go. (check out our “colouring party series” of posts here) Some small details paint a bigger picture of something. Some small details make up a larger masterpiece. Let’s go back to painting for a minute. Simple strokes of the paintbrush and basic colours are usually the start of a painting. Then, as more blending of strokes and colours happens, a more complex picture shows up… a tree of bushy branches, a rocky creek of shadows and depth, a sunset of layers of colours on the horizon. Fabulous, isn’t it? Are you seeing it?

Now. Let’s imagine you are writing a letter to someone you care about, but you want the letter to contain notes from all your friends to that same someone special. Everyone will have their own unique take on the message, but the “theme” of the note will be the same… the pattern’s building blocks with “the basics” will be intertwined throughout the note. Do you see where I am going here, my friends? Of course! The Bible is God’s love note to us! Yes, different writers have had their part to play in the history lesson, but God’s love letter is full of patterns!

Photo by George Becker on Pexels.com

I learned a unique way of Bible study some time ago that showed me just how to see these patterns in the passage I was studying. Take a handful of pencil crayons and as you read, start circling or underlining phrases or words that mark the building blocks of the pattern. For example, green for places, black for a time, circle people, highlight promises or commands or warnings. Then, as you flip through your pages, the patterns begin to emerge. Ever wonder why the authors repeat themselves? Are they making an important statement? One, we perhaps need to pay attention to? Trust me, you’ll begin to see the masterpiece emerge from the basic stitches repeating over and over again!

I saw the Bible described this way:

The Bible is a compilation of 66 books written over 1,600 years by 40 authors, all inspired by the Holy Spirit and beautifully telling the Big Story of God.

This Big Story is sometimes called the metanarrative of Scripture. It’s the story of how God works in the world through creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. (onethingalone.com) Each little story falls into place in the Big Story.

That “metanarrative” is the masterpiece encompassing all the little brush strokes and basic stitches contributed by 40 authors in 66 books. Cool, eh?

So, maybe next time you sit down to study you’ll give this colourful pattern hunting a try. Supplement it with journal keeping, or doodling or whatever you like that draws your attention to the Big Story of God’s love for you! You’ll be glad you did.

Then, you’ll begin to see the patterns everywhere… trust me.

Reduce Reuse Refurbish and Repent

Posted on by
1

Don’t you love the way your computer seems to “know” what you’ve been researching? You search up one little thing and you are bombarded with ads for that thing for the next two weeks. Or you happen to “like” a video or post, and your inbox is over run with similar posts and opposing views from like people…even those folks you haven’t heard from in awhile. Isn’t technology wonderful? Algorythms and secret formulas that lock you in to keep you engaged… Hopefully, mittonmusings.com is on your radar and we get the repeat customers!

“Flip”

Blatant plugs aside, my feeds have been filled with “furniture flips” lately. Or thrift finds that people refurbish and renew. Then these folks go on to make a financially significant side hustle… making thousands of dollars in seemingly quick and easy revenue. I don’t know if “flipping” is as easy as they make it out to be on television … but there it is, tempting me to try. I love to thrift, but I don’t have that knack that some people seem to have. They easily see the beauty and potential in long forgotten objects. I want to, though. I love to see things made “anew”. Plus, I don’t like to see things simply tossed in the trash because they are no longer “fashionable”. Hence the hoard of craft supplies in my basement. I’ll use them someday. I will. And they will be beautiful….

I got thinking aobut that little prefix: “re”. Reuse, recycle, refurbish, renew… and repent. According to dictionary.com, that little prefix is defined as:

a prefix, occurring originally in loanwords from Latin, used with the meaning “again” or “again and again” to indicate repetition, or with the meaning “back” or “backward” to indicate withdrawal or backward motion:regenerate; refurbish; retype; retrace; revert.

Which makes sense when we are talking about redo or refurbish. We can even “recycle” lots of things over and over again. But does “repent” have the same prefix? Maybe not. Still, for the sake of argument, let’s decide for the moment that it does. Or maybe it revolves around the second half of the definition and one must move back before moving forward. That sounds a lot like how I repent. Or maybe how we should repent. We do something we shouldn’t and for a second, we need to step back and take ownership. They say that we have to “name it and claim it” in order to change our behaviours for good. In order to move on with clean slates.

It’s like that piece of furniture or house we want to renovate. Sometimes you have to strip off the old paint and pull off the wallpaper to really get to what’s underneath. Only then can you start afresh and move forward. Do you see it? I used to have to remind my kids about this. “Saying Sorry” means very little unless you actually change your behaviour. True, sometimes the “saying sorry” is the first step in stripping off the old, but true change only occurs when you keep going forward.

Then there is the “again and again” factor. Ever fall into the trap of “here you go, God – I’m done with this or that”, but then we take it back again and recoil into our same worries, sins and destructive behaviours. It’s tough. I graciously acknowledge that this is the hardest part of our faith journeys. The one-foot-in-front-of-the-other, day to day journey that leads us heavenward. But….

But. The reason I love “flipping” videos so much is the before and after. The “new” from the old is sometimes so different, the transformation is breath taking. And so it is with us, my friends. As we become new creatures in Christ, the old is (sometimes slowly) stripped away, revealing the true beauty that we were designed and destined to become. Here’s to one more step forward… and a little “re” now and then.