From My Heart to Yours
• Feb. 24, 2009 - Poem: Alone
"Alone" (Deut. 32:12).
"The hill was steep, but cheered along the way
By converse sweet, I mounted on the thought
That so it might be till the height was reached;
But suddenly a narrow winding path
Appeared, and then the Master said, 'My child,
Here thou wilt safest walk with Me alone.'
"I trembled, yet my heart's deep trust replied,
'So be it, Lord.' He took my feeble hand
In His, accepting thus my will to yield Him
All, and to find all in Him.
One long, dark moment,
And no friend I saw, save Jesus only.
"But oh! so tenderly He led me on
And up, and spoke to me such words of cheer,
Such secret whisperings of His wondrous love,
That soon I told Him all my grief and fear,
And leaned on His strong arm confidingly.
"And then I found my footsteps quickened,
And light ineffable, the rugged way
Illumined, such light as only can be seen
In close companionship with God.
"A little while, and we shall meet again
The loved and lost; but in the rapturous joy
Of greetings, such as here we cannot know,
And happy song, and heavenly embraces,
And tender recollections rushing back
Of pilgrim life, methinks one memory
More dear and sacred than the rest, shall rise,
"And we who gather in the golden streets,
Shall oft be stirred to speak with grateful love
Of that dark day when Jesus bade us climb
Some narrow steep, leaning on Him alone."
"There is no high hill but beside some deep valley.
There is no birth without a pang."
--Dan Crawford |
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• May. 6, 2008 - Thy Way is Perfect
by Amy Carmichael
Long is the way, and very steep the slope,
Strengthen me once again, O God of Hope.
Far, very far, the summit doth appear;
But Thou art near, my God, Thou art near.
And Thou wilt give me with my daily food,
Powers of endurance, courage, fortitude.
Thy way is perfect; only let that way
Be clear before my feet from day to day.
Thou art my Portion, saith my soul to Thee,
O what a Portion is my God to me. |
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• May. 6, 2008 - Drawing Nearer
In earlier years, I focused on various aspects of Biblical womanhood—its glorious vision, its call, its sanctifying influence, its ministry—and yet now I am convinced that ongoing worship and the resulting revival are absolutely essential if the vision is to be maintained and expanded—both for Christian womanhood and the Christian life. And revival which flows from awe-inspired worship and adoration of God are the foundation for all of the beautifying aspects of true Biblical womanhood. For ministry and service must flow out of love for God, and never instead of it—we mix their order at our own peril and at the peril of every life we touch.
Of a certainty, or at least it seems to me, the most beautifying force in our life must be the change of heart, life, countenance, affections, and treatment of others that flows out of a heart that worships God and desires to help others to worship Him as well. I am envisioning worshipping hearts that inspire others to worship. Ideally, we should be a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
Can any woman of any age be more beautiful than one whose face is uplifted in worship, whose heart is poured out in kindness to all around her, and whose submission to authority is joyful? Could it be that one of the beautiful fruits of communion with Christ is freedom from cutting words? Could we be women whose hands are never lifted up in worship toward anything other than God, and who willingly pour out their lives daily in serving others, all for the sake of Him whom our hearts adore?
We may all start at different places along the continuum of drawing Nearer, Still Nearer. Perhaps some have never heard the glorious gospel message of the Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps some have heard but not drawn near. Perhaps some at one time drew near but are now walking yet afar off. Perhaps others are weighed down by discouragement, disillusionment, depression, or suffering and have lost the steadfast gaze upon Him, the altogether Lovely One. It is my prayer for you all that you will taste and see that the Lord is good and will desire Him more than ever. |
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• Jan. 9, 2008 - Testimony: "Submission Brings Protection"
I think that the central theme to what God has been teaching and showing me in the past year and a half is that the blessing of submission is protection and that the primary tool God uses for the protection of women is the family. Psalm 68:6, says, "God setteth the solitary in families…but the rebellious shall dwell in a dry land." A commentary I read says that the dry land is barren of God’s blessings, which before they had abused.
God’s design is that life would be in the context of the family, and with the family comes submission to the role that God has placed me in. If I choose to rebel against this, then I will miss out on the blessings that God has for me. I’d like to enclose a quotation by Rushdooney regarding submission:
The alternative to submission is exploitation, not freedom, because there is no true freedom in anarchy. The purpose of submission is not to degrade women in marriage, nor to degrade men in society, but to bring to them their best prosperity and peace under God’s order…But in a world which denies submission and authority, every man serves himself only and seeks to exploit all others. Men exploit women, and women exploit men.
About a year and a half ago, this principle was becoming more and more clear to me. At that time, I was working at (a local conservative evangelism ministry). While my parents were away for a weekend, God really impressed upon my heart that if I was to properly fulfill my role as a daughter and learn to be a keeper at home as we are commanded to in Titus 2, I needed to quit my job and come home. I realized that by working at a job, I was not able to fulfill that commandment of being a keeper at home. That same weekend, my parents had also come to that conclusion and were praying for God to bring me to that realization as well.
When they returned home, we discussed it and determined that it was God’s will to move forward in that direction. At the beginning of August, I finished my obligations there and came home to serve my family. Even knowing that it was the clear will of God did not make it any easier. Throughout most of the summer, I wrestled greatly with the decision that we had made, but eventually I accepted the peace that God offered and found joy in my new direction in life.
After coming home, the principle of protection following submission was made very clear. When I think of protection, I often think of an outside source seeking to cause harm, but what I realized was that most often I need protection from myself and the battles of the mind, etc.
A situation arose, in part, because I had previously chosen not to heed my parent’s warnings and admonitions in a particular matter. It came to a head when I was on the verge of making a decision that would have had a significant impact on my future and would be going in a different direction then God had been leading me and my family. My parents stepped in and told me that I was wrong and that I needed to make changes appropriately. I regret that although I was submissive to make the changes that were needed, I was not joyful and did not make it easy on them. It took quite a bit of time for my heart to be in line with the direction that we had taken.
As I look back now, God has shown me a little of what my parents had protected me from. I will probably never know the full ramifications of the decision that I chose not to make. And even though my heart was not in line from the start, God still blessed my actions of submission and protected me through my parents. I want to say that I appreciate my parents who were willing to put their foot down, regardless of my age, and exercise their God-given authority in my life, contrary to a world which tells parents that they need to let their children go and make their own decisions. As long as I am living at home, no matter my age, I am to be submissive to their authority.
I had another opportunity to be protected by my family, although this time it was from an external source. God has shown me how daughters and women are vulnerable and need to embrace the protection offered and not to struggle against it. I’d like to include a thought from a book entitled Letters to a Daughter written back in the 1800s from a father to his daughter:
In addition to all the other circumstances which render her (that is his daughter) an object of deep interest, and in which she shares in common with children of the other sex, she is, in a higher degree than they, dependent on parental aid: there is a sort of natural defencelessness in her condition, independently of the fostering care of those from whom, under God, she received her being, that makes an appeal to a parent’s heart, which, if it be not a heart of stone, he will strive in vain to resist.
Contrary to what the world is teaching--that women need to be independent and self-sufficient--I learned that God has put men in a place to protect women from outside sources that would seek harm. Had I been alone and without the protection of my family, this situation would have left me very fearful and vulnerable. In conclusion, I would say that I have learned and am still learning (it is so very hard at times!) that the best place for me is to be submissive to the authorities that God has given me, and in so doing, I will enjoy the blessings that God has for me and not dwell in a barren land.
A young lady in her late 20s
UPDATE: Just a couple of months after this young lady made this decision, an absolutely stellar young man in her church began discussions with her father. To make a long story short, she is now married! She had no idea that this young man was watching this process, but he was! |
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• Oct. 9, 2007 - The Importance of Devotional Reading
Recently, I was reading Spurgeon's Morning and Evening devotional for February 15 (I like to read interesting entries over and over regardless of date), and I was rejoicing how bracing his writing is--it shores me up. I was also thinking about the topic of women and sorrow.
When Mr. Self-Pity, Mr. Hard-Heart, Miss Woe-Is-Me, and their accompanying wretched companions bang so fiercely at the door of a woman's heart that she quivers, she can often with trembling hand hold the door shut. BUT, if Mistress Loneliness arm-in-arm with Mistress Bitterness join the murmuring crowd, often the poor lady is overcome at last and will fail to keep the door shut--letting in the whole horrendous pack.
And yet, immersion in Scripture and Godly writings such as Spurgeon's devotionals are a potent anecdote. I am reminded that I must keep devotional reading a high priority, for it is a sanctifying and preserving lens and a tonic to the fainting.
When I read my own devotional notes in devotional books made over 20 years ago, I marvel that God met with me then and meets with me now. Oh, that we women would all redeem the time with wholly sanctified reading, that our minds might be truly renewed by the truths of God.
Meeting with God is a holy endeavor that I am sure makes satan tremble--hence his relentless opposition to it . . . What can one or two hours of preaching on a Sunday morning do against the world, the flesh, and the devil, if the women of God avail not themselves of this sacred duty and privilege?
Oh, with a mind set apart for God--how rich are the eternal dividends for our own lives and all we touch. May God grant us all a double portion in the holy work of encourage others to behold Jesus and to bestir themselves to read of His works of grace and truth in the lives of the saints. It is not a vain thing--it is our life. |
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• Oct. 9, 2007 - Open Letter to a Princess
Shelley would like to share with you a letter written by a dear friend of hers, Esther Joy Shrader, to young girls at a conference. You can read more about Esther at the end of the letter. Without futher ado:
Dear Precious Ones,
I so wish that I could be there with you for this special and wonderful conference, but since that is not possible, I would like to give you a few words of counsel and encouragement from my heart. I will start by sharing with you my favorite verse regarding being a princess. Psalm 45:13a says; “The Kings daughter is all glorious within.” It does not matter how beautiful you try to look on the outside, the secret to true beauty is your heart.
So what do you look like on the inside? Bitterness, or lack of unforgiveness, will spoil a heart faster than anything. Be careful, because Satan will do his best to build walls of unforgiveness between you and your father, the very one God designed to protect you. On the other hand, one of the most beautiful things is a heart that flows with the refreshing “still waters” of gratefulness. It is such a breath of fresh air to the soul to be around the young lady who is truly grateful.
Be grateful for your father and all that God has done for you. Even though our earthly fathers may fail us, you are still to honor and obey him, and please let me encourage you to give him your heart to guard and keep safe until the day that God will bring you your prince. Confide in him, and trust him. Build your relationship with him and let him teach you and protect you and strengthen you towards the day when another man will be brought to you. Young ladies who reverence their father have no trouble reverencing their husbands, but Satan knows that if he can bring hurt and ruin to the relationship between you and your father then you will be sowing seeds for a foundation of failure in the future relationship between you and your husband. Be a “daddy’s girl,” and rejoice in his sweet protection and guardianship for you that the Lord has provided. Seek his approval, his counsel, and his companionship, and trust the Lord for the future.
I Corinthians 7 is also full of counsel for those who desire to be a pure princess. Remember dear one, that a princess is one who is waiting for her prince. If you occupy your time searching for that prince, or dreaming of his coming, instead of following God’s directions for a princess, then you will not in the end be a princess indeed, and you could very well miss God’s true prince for you. Verse 34 to 35 in chapter 7 tell us in part; “…The unmarried careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: … that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.” Did you know that you are in such a special period of your life where you can serve our precious Saviour without distraction? There are so many distractions for you in the world, and yes, those questions of “is he the one?”, and “what would it be like to be a wife and mother?” will cross your mind and heart. Take these natural desires and give them to the Lord and be busy about the wonderful work that he has to do while you are single.
By God’s grace, I can look back at the years when I was allowing the Lord to make me a princess for Him without regret, and with joy. I can do this by God’s mercy, and rejoice that they were not wasted years, but rather very fruitful years of ministry. The Lord gave me many avenues to serve Him, and I was also fulfilled as I sought to love my family. I sought to encourage widows, taught children, ministered to our church, prayed for and ministered to missionaries, and served with my father in ministry to prisoners and juveniles. May the Lord open your eyes to the ministries of service that He has for you. I encourage you to also follow the directions of our King in seeking to attend upon Him without distraction.
As I grew closer to my King, it made it so easy as I served Him without the distractions this world brings. It is this secret, the secret of “attending upon the Lord without distraction” that allowed me to be “holy both in body and in spirit.” When we seek to be holy in our bodies, yet allow our spirits to yearn for the pleasures that young men offer us, or this dying sin-sick world seeks to lure us with, we became stained and tainted in our spirits, and many times in our bodies as well.
As I write this letter to each of you my heart is overflowing with joy. God has truly rewarded me for faithfulness to Him and His Word. He has given me my prince, a wonderful, loving, romantic husband, but most of all, a husband that fears the Lord! He has also blessed me with three adorable children. Our oldest just turned three. Yes, my days are very busy, but I couldn’t be happier than I am right now, serving the Lord with my husband, an assistant pastor, and our children.
I’ve only scratched the surface of what I would have been able to give to you had I been there, but thank you for letting me share a bit of my heart in this letter. So many precious ones have forever lost the priceless treasure of being a princess because they failed to “attend upon the Lord without distraction.” They have forfeited the honor of being a pleasing princess for their King, as well as His best for their life. As you reverently serve the King, He will make you “all glorious within,” and your life will radiate His joy, His peace, and His love as you testify to the world by your service and love for Him what a princess of the King really is, and that the King truly IS, because he fulfills you, provides for you, and has a “perfect will” for your life. My prayer for you is that you would be a princess for the glory of the King.
With love from the Heart,
Esther Joy Shrader
Note by Shelley: This dear sister’s testimony among the saints is pure inspiration. A tract written by her husband John describes God’s way for courtship and marriage and depicts the engagement picture of her and her husband John Shrader posing with a Bible between their upheld hands. Until their wedding day they refrained from all physical affection…their wedding kiss was the first ever. They married with the full blessing of both parents, honored the Lord in every aspect of their courtship, and were immediately involved in serving as the assistant pastor at John Shrader’s father’s church in Katy, Texas. Both John and Esther’s parents gained a vision from the Lord for a Godly courtship and seeking to honor the position of the father in both homes. Glorious has been the result …rich the fruit…and vibrant the testimony. Having served with these dear ones in ministry I can attest to the strength, beauty, and Spirit filling of this wonderful happy couple. May their tribe increase. May God do so similarly in all our assemblies for His glory. “When the enemy comes in like a flood the spirit of the Lord lifts up a standard against him.” |
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• Jul. 12, 2007 - Why I Follow Christ
I invite you to read this convicting article written by John C. Hutchinson, Jr., in 1981, at:
http://www.youmustbesaved.com/preview_050.htm
I don't follow Christ because of what He can do for me, but because of who He is.
Shelley |
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• Jul. 11, 2007 - Letterwriting: A Ministry to Touch Hearts
Dear Girls,
Oh, I wish I could talk to each of you heart to heart about the ministry of letter writing. But since I am talking with your mothers during this time I have decided to write you a letter! I hope this letter can serve as an object lesson for you as you consider the wonderful ministry God can give you to share the love of God with others as a vessel unto honor for His glory.
I want to begin by pointing you all to God's great love letter to us--the Bible! In it we read of His love to the children of Israel, to wayward sinners, His mercy to those who failed and forgot Him, to those He sought to bless, to those He desired to forgive. We see His acts and His wonderful promises. We see His heart for those He has made, His desire for fellowship with them, and His ways and truths for us. And in it all we see HIM!!!
Reading the letters others have written has dramatically changed my life. Many have been the times when I, due to taking my eyes off the Lord or physical exhaustion or back-to-back disappointments, I have gone into the dark valley only to be brought out by a letter of encouragement.
Other times sin has taken hold and a letter of rebuke or even a letter written by others to others and included in a tract or book has been used of God to bring me to repentance. Other times vision for a new area of growth or ministry or renewed strength or inspiration has come through reading letters. Of the tremendous potential of letter writing I agree with the Queen of Sheba: "The half has never been told." Even now the letters of the Bible and of the saints of old, or of military leaders, and notable Christians of old have played an inestimable role in developing my vision and life purpose. The legacy of the pen is of immeasurable worth, and it is a legacy fast fading, yet more needed than ever!
I recently heard on the radio recently of a man telling the story of a letter from the father he never knew. His father had died while serving overseas before this man had ever been born, and years after the father's death the letter was found in the attic of the son's childhood home. The years following his father's death had been very difficult, and his mother's life was so devastated that she never could really recover from the death and go on to healthy parenting. But this one letter dramatically affected him, and as he read how wanted and loved he was even before birth, this letter was mightily used of God in this man's life. He wept as he read it, and I wept as I listened. I thought of the letters I have longed to receive from some key people in my life and never have . . . of those letters I would love to see others I care about very much receive . . . and those I have thought of writing, but failed to write. Why did I fail to write them? Usually, it was due to a lack of discipline or preoccupation with the temporal instead of the eternal.
I regret not writing more letters to my own six children and have recommitted myself to do just that in the journals I am writing to each of them. For some letters that God prompted me to write, the opportunity has passed--it is too late. So, with all of these motivations in mind, I write to each of you young girls attending the Vessels unto Honor conference to try to impress upon you the importance of letter writing for the glory of God.
Until the season of my life of mothering many children I wrote hundreds of letters to others, and even now I hope to spend the last years of my life doing that once again.only now I hope to share that vision so that many of you will be joining me.
We see this wonderful means of God all throughout Scripture and through history as God worked in miraculous ways through letter writing. General Lee, from his tent, sent history-making directives and provided inspiration for his army's cause, garnering the respect of thousands in the process. Amy Carmichael, at her desk or from her bed of pain in "The room of peace," sent out hundreds of letters to her fellow workers to encourage them to see the One whom her own heart adored and to pattern all they did from that view. The Apostle Paul, William Tyndale, John Bunyan, and imprisoned Soviet pastors wrote from their prison cells with the concerns of their churches burning in their breasts. Susannah Spurgeon, at her desk as an invalid, wrote letters to raise money for ministerial student's libraries.
This could be you--dear younger sisters--sitting at your desks or under a tree or in your window seats with pen in hand and your Bible, hymn book, and perhaps a book of Christian poetry by Amy Carmichael, or a devotional by Charles Spurgeon, or a biography or even a collection of letters by another Christian . . . You could have beside you someone's work you can share with this--your--generation, that the blessing may go on. Letters--gifts of the heart--to be received and cherished. They are so greatly needed in these days to accomplish their mission to hearts everywhere.
Finally, I think of my own great yearnings--often almost unbearable at times, for a letter or even a note to know someone is thinking of me, or cares, or is praying, or has been helped my life--which I see as one failure after another descending on my shoulders with crushing weight. And then it comes . . .
Just as I am ready to sink, faint, and give in, and Satan is winning battle after battle . . . it comes: "Thank you for touching my life," or "I thank God for you," or I read one of Amy Carmichael's letters. And I always remember that line from a letter Elisabeth Elliot (to us iGranny Gren) once wrote that caused me to weep both in renewed hope and gratitude "I pray for you daily, Shelley."
Oh may we be to others, in word, what these past generations have been to so many. May we take up our pen and write for the glory of God, for the edification of the saints, for the salvation of souls, for the comfort of the brokenhearted, for the encouragement of the disheartened, for the return of the wayward, for the upward glance of the despairing one, for the inspiration of the disillusioned, for the strengthening of the weak, for the steadying of the faltering, for the correction of the erring one. Yea, to bless and help those whom God has placed in our lives.
May we all be vessels unto honor that the love and words and messages of God and His wonderful truths and words may flow through our hearts, to our minds, and through our pens to touch hearts that we may all say: "O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together" and "Blessing and honor and glory and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb."
In Christ,
Shelley
What cannot letters inspire? They have souls; they can speak; they have in them all that force which expresses the transports of their heart; they have all the fire of our passions.--HELOISE |
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• Mar. 11, 2007 - To the Friend in Grief
Stop loving you?...when you need it most...and call myself a Christian....impossible.
Does Jesus care when my heart is with sorrow too great to bear....O yes He cares...I know He cares...His heart is touched with our grief...when the days are weary ...the long night weary..I know our Saviour cares...
Amy Carmichael reminds us that "A garden does not water itself...nor a spring feed itself...it can only receive from the source."
I am praying that the Lord Jesus will fill the garden of your heart with Himself...answers if necessary..but always Himself--the great Necessity...
I am also praying that the Lord Jesus will fill your spring with His Spirit...to receive his peace in your pain...His hope in your despair...His light for the darkness that seems everywhere and all at once.
May God give you gold, in this your hour of lead.... |
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• Mar. 3, 2007 - Quotes from Homeschooling Digest
"If we truly follow our hearts, we will not gain the praise of men, rather, their curse. Jesus said it would be so. What are we doing? We deceive ourselves. We say, 'I'll obey God. I'll homeschool.' And then we hold up the secular yardstick to see if we're doing well. What motivates us to this contradiction is fear. In fear there is no peace."
"We are afraid that the world will challenge us. We are afraid to live for Heaven. It's radical--training for a kingdom nobody can see. But that's the purpose of instruction--to gain the fear of the Lord, to be made ready for His return, and to occupy effectually until He does. Does our schooling meet that criteria? "
"It is unthinkable for the generals of two opposing armies to train in the enemy's camp. A soldier doesn't stand inspection from rival forces. He is concerned with what his superiors expect, not with what his adversary thinks of him. How can we earn honors from the world and from God? We can't. Stop trying. . . ."
"The standard He would raise is us. Our lives, the lives of our children, yielded vessels, possessed by God, sanctified wholly, disciplined purely, illumined with truth--this is the measure and the mark to meet. How does the world compare? How can they ever hope to?"
"We have no need for the world's endorsement. They hold nothing that we honor. If there is any truth or knowledge, does it not belong to God? If it belongs to Him, then it belongs to us."
"Would you stretch the cord of comparison between yourself and the world? Would you grade yourself on the edge of society's slippery curve? The Spirit of God is saying, 'Just don't do it!'"
From "Measuring Success" by Jennifer Schrodetzki (in the "Over a Cup of Tea" column), The Home School Digest, pp 39-40. (No volume or date is listed on the pages) |
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• Mar. 1, 2007 - Shelley and the children
• Jan. 12, 2007 - Greatest beauty of womanhood?
Is it the force of circumstances or the distracted heart that drags us into hopelessness and despair? Certainly the molding pressure of the world, the exhaustion of the flesh, and the persistent malice of the enemy seek to drag us down at every instant. We mothers, sisters, and wives find ourselves often encumbered by what we would like to call labors of love, but somehow our love cools into mere duty in the endless grind of exhausting service. Were we not called to serve our Master with love and joy? Is our service an act of worship, or has our heart of worship become dull amidst shattered dreams, debilitating disappointments, and seemingly hopeless causes? But if somehow we gaze upon Christ in the midst of our circumstances and distractions, all our troubles for that instant come into perspective. Our gaze steadfast upon Him, our altogether Lovely One, in all his beauty, raptures us. But how can we take that beatific vision back with us into the pressing responsibilities of parenting and homemaking? Could it be that the greatest beauty of our womanhood is a life adorned by worshipful communion with Christ?
From Shelley's journal |
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• Jan. 12, 2007 - Peace in God's Daily Presence
It is a sign that the soul is living in God, if it maintain calmness within through the consciousness of His Presence, while working for Him in active ministrations. Such restfulness will show itself in the commonest ways, in doing common duties at the right time, in preserving a sweetness and evenness of temper in the midst of ordinary interruptions and disturbances, in walking to and fro quietly on the day's varied errands, in speaking gentle words, in sweetly meeting unexpected calls. A calm, restful temper grows as self is learning to lose itself in God. Such grace tells gradually on the daily life; even the minutest detail may be brought under the power of God, and carried out in union with Him.
T. T. CARTER
Quoted in Joy and Strength by Mary Wilder Tileston |
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• Jan. 3, 2007 - Reflections for Christian Homemakers
Between Walden and the Whirlwind, by Jean Fleming, p. 99-100:
The acid test of Christianity is not giving our life at the stake or in the lion's den, but giving it little by little, day after day, moment by moment, a drop at a time, in the common duties of life assigned to us. These tasks seem too small in themselves to have any significance, but their cumulative effect keeps us from pursuing more "noble endeavors." Frustration grows as we feel our options shrinking, our life drained away by the mundane.
But it is not the job that determines its worth and impact; rather, it is the heart of the person approaching and executing the task. No work in itself is spiritual or secular. Prayer can be secular if is offered as a perfunctory exercise of form; sorting socks or changing the oil can become a sacrament when done with a pure heart surrendered to God. The motive of the heart either degrades or hallows all work. Scottish pastor John Caird, in a sermon preached before the Queen in 1855, said, "Religion consists, not so much in doing spiritual or sacred acts, as in doing secular acts from a sacred or religious motive."
God gave unfathomable dignity to common labor when He made His only begotten Son a carpenter, not a king or a scholar. Our Lord's dear mother, even after giving birth to God in flesh (the most awesome event in human history), still baked bread, washed clothes, and did the dishes. Christ made a fire and cooked an early-morning breakfast for His disciples after His resurrrection. God's order is not to abolish the mundane and routine from the life of the Christian, but to transform it. |
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