Trusted Book Reviews

12/18/13 Reading Pastor Cole Huffman's 2013 Book List, I was excited that I had read 3 of his books and agreed with his insights and assessments.

• Surprised by Oxford by Carolyn Weber--an all time fave of mine---"Beautifully written, great narrative tension...read bulk of it in one weekend." (CH) 
• Help, Thanks, Wow: Three Essentials Prayers by Anne Lamott --- More liberal than I, but has quite a way with words. CH's fave sentence was, "Gratitude begins in our hearts and then dovetails into our behavior. It almost always makes you willing to be of service, which is where the joy resides. It means you are willing to stop being a jerk. "(p.56-57) 
• The Little Way of Ruthie Leming by Rod Dreher who watched his former home town come together in community to aid his dying sister. "A powerful forgiveness story." (CH)

I am also glad to have a new Dorothy Sayers title, Letters to a Diminished Church, to add to my "to read" list----because I can trust the reviewer.

TEMPER THE HEAT

5/10/12 Each morning Mother always made her tea for the day. Right in the glass pitcher. She taught me  to make perfect tea by adding the sugar while the water was hot. (We never called it "sweet tea," it just always was.) To keep the glass from breaking, she always put a table knife in the pitcher and would pour the water so that it hit the knife first. I guess that somehow dispelled the heat.

I was reminded of this today as I read a “keep your spoon in the cup” incident described by the author in Surprised by Oxford, as her former professor was encouraging her, a “new” believer.

Keeping the spoon in the cup keeps the china from cracking under the heat, she explained…..The metal of the spoon becomes a conductor, protecting the delicate china from extreme in temperature.

You need to keep the spoon in the cup, Caro….especially when things get hot. God lifts us up, but He also grounds us. Fear will get into the cracks; fear ultimately is what breaks us apart. (Weber, 289)

I mulled my mother’s teaching with Weber’s analogy and some needed “fear” related verses. Mulling, Joshua 1:9, Psalm 16:8, Psalm 27:1-3, Isaiah 41:10, John 14:27, II Timothy 1:7 & Hebrews 13:6, as I drank my English tea in my Hadley stoneware mug from KY. What a combo!

Dispelled. Dispersed. Diffused. All good action words for tempering heat. Heat that comes from struggles and fear. Fear that will crack us wide open if we don’t allow the truth from God’s word to infuse us and thus diffuse the heat that can break us.

“Master” Meditation

5/7/12 Enjoying an afternoon “cuppa” with some of Mary Jane’s homemade shortbread and a good book, I came across the author’s explanation of an Alexander Pope epigram that begs the question, "who is your master?"

'I am his Higness’ Dog at Kew:

Pray tell me sir whose dog are you.'

As Carolyn Weber states, we all have a master. As she puts it, “ No individual by the very state of existence, can avoid life as a form of servitude; it only remains for us to decide, deny, or remain oblivious to, whom or what we serve.” (Surprised by Oxford, 5)

We all will serve something or someone. At that point in her life, Weber was her own master, thus serving herself. Garnering respect for herself alone.

My notes from yesterday’s sermon on a passage in Malachi had me asking myself questions. Is the Lord truly the Master of my life? Do others see my service and respect for Him? Does the Lord receive from me the respect that is due Him?

"A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?" says the LORD Almighty…..”(Malachi 1:6)

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24)

"I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul," writes William Ernest Henley in his poem, "Invictus".

Acceptance or rejection of God as the Master of one’s life seals our destiny. Though God made us in His own image, God gave us choices. One may choose to steer his ship, the vessel of his soul, with a single purpose---to be a praise to God’s glory. God becomes the Master/Captain of his vessel and leads Him on the path to eternity with Him.

On the other hand, a “self” master mistakenly thinks that he can control all aspects of his life, apart from God.  If he chooses his own destination, thus veering off God’s course, this choice can lead to destruction.

Who’s your master?