2 sad things that I read in this past Sunday's newspaper...

"When we think about our armed forces and the sacrifices they make, we probably don't think about this: 72,682 are mothers."

and this:

"I just knew I couldn't juggle between the career woman I was with being a great mother, so I opted not to have children." -Betty White

What's the Point?

And the answer is...I still don't know. Apparently I still have things to say and consider the public medium of internet to be too tantalizing to pass up, so for now I will succomb and share some things that I hope to be helpful, or thoughtful, or at least mildly amusing.

Lately (as in the last several months) I have been intrigued and drawn toward theology and doctrine of the semi-studious kind. I don't think I'll even make the leap to college classroom like I always hoped I would, as the older I get, the more work at home there seems to be and so I am happily preparing for future needs while attending to the work around me. This means that my "studies" happen in spurts--couple of hours reading blogs, a few minutes looking up a verse, a weekend in conversation with people who know more than me (my oldest son, David, in particular), and so on. This isn't the best method for putting pieces in their proper place, but it keeps me moving forward and I am as engaged as ever to want to understand things I never even knew existed prior to a couple of years ago.  My thanks to the awakening arranged by the Holy Spirit via a little church plant in Cincinnati by the name of Seven Hills, in the living room of Michael and Emily Foster. No one should ever be bored as an older "mature" Christian when there is so much more to learn and know about God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, His Church, and the history of it all as we look toward the future with Him.

Testing mobile blogging...

Elisabeth Elliot quotes

I really love this woman:

"It's alluring to think of our own situation as very complex and ourselves as deep and complicated, so that we waste a good deal of time puzzling over "the will of God." Frequently our conscience has the answer."

'Discerning the Call of God', Elisabeth Elliot 

Sept./Oct. '92 newsletter

"'The chain of cause and effect which makes up human life, is bisected at every point by a veritcal line relating us and all we do to God.'-Von Hugel

This is what he has given us to do, this task here on this earth, not the task we aspired to do, but this one. The absurdities involved cut us down to size. The great discrepancy between what we envisioned and what we've got force us to be real. And God is our great Reality, more real than the realest of earthly conditions, an unchanging Reality. It's where we belong. It is for us to receive it--all of it--humbly, quietly, thankfully."

(excerpt from Elisabeth Elliot's newsletter Nov./Dec. 1992)

Prior to being a Pryor

It seems I rarely go anywhere anymore. Especially this time of year, when the weather is cold, the days shorter, and my energy level a little lower. Yesterday, however, was a rare day and I was gone for most of it. As I pulled out of the driveway, I thought of how I hadn't left the house for the last 2 days, and how, when I was a young wife and mother, I nearly hated to be at home. Horrible, I know. But it's true. And now, though I love an adventure as much as ever, I relish the days of being "stuck" at home with a toddler, homeschooling a teenager, staying connected with my older daughters, and dealing with all the little things that my life usually consists of. I wish I had those years again with a more willing heart to serve my family instead of spending so many hours wishing for something that didn't belong to me--my life.

But there is beauty in this lesson, and one I hope to pass along to others. Serving my husband and children is a joy-filled life of the most wonderful things: self-sacrifice, self-deprivation, loss of identity, and unrealized dreams.  And I am the most grateful woman alive because of it.  Don't bother trying to talk me into "finding myself", or preparing for empty nest opportunities that are full of self-serving ambition under the guise of living a full life. I won't do it.  I have too many unknown, last-minute calls for service and ministering that I need to be ready for and I won't fill my life with artificial busyness in order to prove my worth to society, or even to other Christians.

Someone once told me, "Jesus's ministry only lasted 3.5 years but he was still able to say to the Father, 'It is finished'".