Ash Wednesday

This last Wednesday was Ash Wednesday, the day on the church calendar that marks the beginning of Lent.  I will say that growing up Lent usually meant just giving something up for a period of time and that was that.  There was nothing more to it.

Today, I think that I understand the "tradition" of giving something up for Lent a little better than I did back in the day.  However, I think it's more than that.  It's a sacrifice of something that is maybe an idol in ones life or takes time away from other priorities - then using the time that you think about such things or would be doing whatever it is that is consuming you to focus on the Lord.  With all that said, there is nothing saying that we have to do these things.

This last Wednesday was the first time our little church had an Ash Wednesday service.  Here's the explanation and general invitation from our bulletin:

The early Christians observed, and many Christians still observe, a time of focused devotion upon the Lord Jesus Christ; focusing specifically on the days of His passion (suffering) and resurrection.  It is a helpful practice for the children of God to consider the wondrous work of our Savior, His sacrificial death, and the forgiveness of sins that is found in Him alone.  This season of Lent, and the observation of Ash Wednesday, provides a time in which God's people memorialized the life of the Savior; a life of suffering, temptations, cross-bearing, and sacrificial love.  They would join together in considering His life and His call upon us.  In doing so, the whole congregation is reminded of the hope of forgiveness and new life set forth in the gospel of Lord Jesus Christ, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith.  By remembering our Lord's agony we will be led to celebrate His victory.  As the people of God, and while we will never deny the importance of repentance, we must always remember our salvation is found in Jesus alone.  Because of this, we should not remain "in Lent" but always worship and live in the light of Easter, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.  The Lord takes people from death to resurrection, the Lord brings beauty from ashes (Isaiah 61:3), and has provided life for the dead through Jesus Christ.  Therefore, our service will go from ashes to washing, from focusing on ashes and repentance, to focusing on the atonement that is found in Jesus Christ alone.

What struck me here was the phrase living in the light of the resurrection.  How come we can get so geared up for Christmas (months in advance) when the crux of what we believe is observed at Easter? Jesus defeated death!  So, begins the time where the church has set aside to observe the journey to the cross with reflection, meditation, and repentance. 

Our service was then rounded out by corporate reading of the Scriptures, singing, prayer and confession.  Of course we also had the symbolic placing of the ashes on the forehead if one so wanted to have it done.

Our pastor then read a short story but what really caught my attention was what he said as he was getting ready to dismiss us.  He mentioned that these ashes on our foreheads would reminds us that we are not perfect and that we have smudges of gunk and blemishes on us.  However, we are the people of the baptism and we are washed clean because of Jesus.  He then washed his forehead and when we washed at home we were to remember how we are clean because of Jesus.  We are to remember who we are in Christ and not who we were in the firm grip of sin and death.

Radio Static

Shushing a baby works wonders to calm them down.  Usually the louder it is the better it works.  I sometimes have to get right up into Little Flower's ear to override her cry.  A vaccum works well, too.  It's all about them remembering the soothing sounds of the womb -- mama's heart beat and the swooshing of blood.  I read that the sound can be twice that of a vaccum.  Interesting.

What do you do when there is no vaccum and you can only "shush" so loud without spit getting on the windshield?   (ha ha ha!)

Well, find yourself a static station on the radio and crank it up.  It will catch their attention, calm them down, and maybe even put them to sleep.  Works well when just the movement of the car doesn't fully cut it. 

Just don't plan to have any conversations until baby is asleep and you can turn the static off.

Senior Saints

Worship on the Lord's Day tends to look a bit different when you have a baby.  To some that may sound weird when in most churches you just drop off the wee ones in a nursery and go.  Thankfully, I am attending a church that values family and children of all ages are in the sanctuary for worship.  What better way to teach the little ones about the people of God and His Kingdom (Matthew 19:13-15)?  I could go on there but that is not the point.  During this season I catch different glimpses of our worship service.  I grab tidbits of the sermon being piped into the "quiet" room, which should just be called the "Mother's Room" because there's usually nothing quiet about it.  However, what remains the same for me is being able to observe others in the worship service lifting their hearts, voices, and hands to our Lord. 

This last Sunday our eldest saint, Mrs. W (93), was used in a way to show me the sermon that I missed hearing.  I have had a few opportunities to sit with Mrs. W during the service.  I know that she doesn't know many of the songs that we sing but she knows some.  Our pianist makes sure to play old hymns that she does know during communion and the offering.  Many times I have glanced over to see Mrs. W mouthing the words with the melody.  It always captures my heart.  This last Sunday as we were singing our usual closing song, the Gloria Patri (which was arranged for us by a former member), I noticed Mrs. W singing this song with hands raised.  She's picked up the song over the months and sings it with us.  tears welled up in my eyes as I have thought about all of the years that she has served our Lord.

Husband was filling me in on some of the sermon as we were driving away from the church.  In a quick summary it was about persevering until the end.  I saw that hour plus sermon played out in less than two minutes by a woman who is a living example of what it means to persevere until the end. 

I appreciate the elder generations in our church.  Actually, I appreciate that we are becoming more multi-generational... that there is an appreciation for the new lives and a deep honoring of those who have walked the roads of faith much longer than me.

Baby Burrito

Well, it's a funny thing.  Even little babies change their minds.  ha ha ha!!

Not too long after my post stating that Little Flower no longer wanted to be swaddled we discovered she really did.  The culprit at the time was most likely temperature.  We had a bit of a warm spell and the swaddle we had was a micro-fleece.  Which meant she was probably a little steamy!  When the weather cooled down she was much more comfy in it.  Also, she was outgrowing the one we had.  She's just too tall and a bit broad in the shoulders for the small.  We moved up a size and it helped that I could get it tight enough where she wouldn't break out.  We have also since found some t-shirt material swaddles now that we are reaching up into the 80's.  Makes for a happier baby who is now sleeping through the night.

Just so you know, neither I or my sweet husband were never especially talented at the swaddle (oh to be like the pros in the hospital -- I think they have swaddle machine.  ha ha!) so we had the cheater swaddle.  You know, the ones with a pouch and some Velcro.  However, Little Flower is pretty darn strong.  I am not sure anyone would be able to do a traditional swaddle on her and not have her break out.  Goodness, sometime she breaks out of the Velcro ones!

Swaddle

It's true that the swaddle soothes a baby.  Especially if you can master it with a regular blanket.

We were not ones to master it well at all.  With the value of sleep on the rise we bought one of those blankets with the Velcro that swaddles the baby with ease.  It worked wonders for our Little Flower.

I wondered one day, "When do we stop swaddling our baby?"

Little Flower let us know the answer sooner than we anticipated.

Now.

So, what do you do with a baby who really would rather not be swaddled and continues to break out of the swaddle, yet still flails her arms about (making it difficult for her to fall asleep and to stay asleep)?  Oh the dilemma.

Well, I did some looking around on the Internet and in our clothing drawer and found a semi-helpful solution.  I put a sleeping gown or sack on the wee one and then pin or rubber-band the arms off --with her little arms inside.  You see, it still acts like a swaddle in that it keeps her arms from going all over the place but not so confining as the swaddle.  It works well enough.  However, I have noticed that the gowns that snap up work much better than ones that go over the head.  Little Flower stretches the neck even further and sometimes breaks out.  The snaps are much stronger. 

 I think I need more snappy sacks.

Numb

It's rather odd that I had major surgery 7 weeks ago and I still have some numbness in my abdomen area.

It's true.

I went for my final check-up and told them about this tingly, numb, weird feeling.  I told them that it wasn't on my incision but near there and doesn't seem to radiate as far out as it had before.  The doctor then told me that the numbing medicine can linger in the body for weeks and that was most likely the issue.

Awesome.

The Going Price

More quotes from a newsletter that we again find ourselves pondering, "Say WHAT?"

"The going price to kill a pastor is $250."
- Faiz Rahman, chairman of Good News India, says about the 500-plus Christians who have been killed in India by Hindu mobs since August 2008. (World Net Daily, www.wnd.com, "Going rate to kill a pastor: $250" 11/20/08 )

"If we threw a handful [of babies] on an island and they raised themselves, I think that they would believe in God."
-Dr. Justin Barrett, a senior researcher at England's University of Oxford's Centre for Anthropology and Mind, who claims that children have a predisposition to believe in God. (www.telegraph.co.uk, "Children are born believers in God, academic claims" 11/24/08 )

"Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."
-The words on a sign placed at the Washington State Capitol by atheists and agnostics with the Freedom From Religion Foundation. (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com, "Nonbelievers' sign at Capitol counters Nativity, " 12/02/08 )