King and I were looking at lyrics to hymns the other day.  We had some songs in mind for the wedding and were looking them up…such richness to the words.  King remarked that people love God so much in each generation.

“This is my Father’s world, the birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white, declare their Maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world: He shines in all that’s fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass;
He speaks to me everywhere.”

From This is My Father’s World by Maltbie D. Babcock

As much as I am ready for some warm weather (mostly sunshine), the oversized, slowly drifting to the ground kind of snow flakes tug at my heart every time (in good way).

This morning at Mars Hill, Tim Brown, the president of Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan taught.  He shared the bolded part of the quote below, and I found it to be quite a stirring series of questions…definitely whetted my appetite to read some more from Frederica Mathewes-Green.  The Illuminated Heart: The Ancient Path of Transformation and Gender: Men, Women, Sex, and Feminism sound particularly interesting to me.  Anyone read any of her books?

“For all of us, I think, there is a recurrent sense of loneliness. Ultimately, we are alone, humanly speaking, on this hurtling earth. Even in the most jovial and affectionate of families-and I speak from blessed experience-there remains a melancholy awareness that each of us is still fundamentally alone, encapsulated in skin like a spaceman. Even when enjoying those whom we love most, we are looking through a pane of glass, and all the urgent longing of our hearts can’t break through.

We modern Christians have a ready and confident response to this dilemma. We say that of course this is so; it is because, as St. Augustine said, God has made us for himself, and our hearts are restless until we find our rest in him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together, as St. Paul put it. When we draw near God, and only then, do we find our place in relation to all the world. It is like going up the spoke of a wheel to the center, and when nearest him we find ourselves closest to everything else he has made.

Here is communion. In God’s presence we discover ourselves able to love one another, to be vessels of heroic love, even toward our enemies, even unto death. We find all creation in harmony around us, as responsive and fruitful as the Garden was to Adam and Eve. The peace that passes understanding informs our every thought.

It sounds pretty good, right? So why are we doing such a crummy job of it?

Why are we modern Christians so undistinguishable from the world?

Why are our rates of dysfunction and heartbreak just as high? Why don’t we stand out in virtue and joy? Does anyone ever say, “We know that they are His disciples, because they love one another”?

How come Christians who lived in times of bloody persecution were so heroic, while we who live in safety are fretful and pudgy?

How could the earlier saints “pray constantly,” while our minds dawdle over trivialities?

How could they fast so valiantly, and we feel deprived if there’s no cookie at the end of the in-flight meal?

How could the martyrs forgive their torturers, but my friend’s success makes me pouty?

What did previous generations of Christians know that we don’t?”

Frederica Mathewes-Green: excerpt from The Illiminated Heart

I was playing on the Behr paint website with some different combinations.  I know the color thing should not be that hard of a decision, but for someone who really loves color it is quite difficult…any votes?

Last week, King came to Grand Rapids.  I asked him to call me when he was about an hour away so I could make some dinner for us.  He made the call and an hour and 20 minutes later, I was trying to keep my apple chutney from being completely sucked of moisture and wondering where he was.  I called him and he sounded a bit nervous.

“Are you okay?”

“Uh yeah…I’m almost there.”

I detected in his voice that he wasn’t telling me the whole story. King is a brutally honest one, and it’s very easy to detect a hint of untruthfulness in his voice.  In my naughtiness, I prodded further, knowing that he perhaps was caught in the act of trying to surprise me.

“So, are you on the highway? Where are you?”

“Uh…yeah…I’ll be there soon.”

He showed up with a lovely bunch of white roses for me and some spring rolls from the Thai place nearby.

The sky is gray today and so are the clothes of many people…including me.

I’m taking a landscape painting class this semester and having some fun playing with watercolor again.  This morning I went to a park nearby my apartment to paint and had the company of this old duck.  This guy was fearless; he just kept staring at me and walking in circles around me for the hour I was at the park.  He must of thought I had food and that if he waited me out long enough I would cave.  Sorry duck…no food, just paint.

Today I read that Joseph Albers was an elementary school teacher for 12 years before he was the assistant director at the Bauhaus and a professor at Yale (and an artist with work in most of the significant museums in the world).

The cool fall breeze is settling in, and I whipped out the fleece hoody for the occasion.  And let me tell you, fleece is hot in Michigan.  Everyone rocks it.

Click this link.

All photos by Tracy May Fouts.

Which ones are your favorites?

http://www.mms.com/us/becomeanmm/create/

Saturday King picked me up at the airport in Grand Rapids.  When we got to my apartment, I walked in and saw twinkle lights and several vases of flowers all over my kitchen table.  A song was playing that we danced to in my dorm room when we first started dating (Simply Nothing by Shawn McDonald).  King had secretly gotten a copy of my apartment key from my sister Jenny while I was in Missouri so he could sneak into my apartment to surprise me. As soon as I saw everything I started crying!  We danced to the song a little, and then he had me sit down, and he got down on one knee.  He told me he adored me, he is delighted to love and serve me, i please him, he hopes he pleases me too, and asked, “Will you marry me?”  Of course I said yes!  He then gave me a beautiful ring.  We went to beach and out to dinner at Mangiamo’s in Grand Rapids to celebrate.

“I become timeless when I work with fiber. Each line, each knot is a prayer.”

I am quite fascinated with this artist right now. Seeing creative uses of materials is something I find quite inspirational. When I was at the MOMA this summer, there was an artist books exhibit going on and there was one tiny piece that caught my eye. It was called Seed Circle. Lenore Tawney had carefully placed tiny seeds in concentric circles on the cover of a weathered looking book. This spurred me to look up more of her work.