Charity Vaunteth Not Itself . .

"Humility is a most essential and distinguishing trait in all true piety. It is the attendant of every grace, and in a peculiar manner tends to the purity of Christian feeling. It is the ornament of the spirit; the source of some of the sweetest exercises of Christian experience; the most acceptable sacrifice we can offer to God; the subject of the richest of his promises; the spirit with which he will dwell on earth, and which he will crown with glory in heaven hereafter."

~ Jonathan Edwards, from Charity and Its Fruits

Note: I have recently become a member of a new venture on the Internet, a fellowship group called The Reformed Quotes Fellowship, which is exciting for me because of my love for the quotes of some of the great Reformers of the past. Now I'll be connecting with others of like mind and who have that same love. They have asked that we post at least four quotes per month and that I would love to do! I've set aside Wednesday as quote day, at least to start out. I'll see how that works out. If you know me and are familiar at all with this blog, you know that's one of the primary reasons we've been here anyway, so I doubt if you'll only see quotes on Wednesdays.

Many blessings to any of my fellow "quoters" who stop by! I'll try to visit you as often as possible.

The Tangled Web

My thoughts, before they are my own
Are to my God distinctly known;
He knows the words I mean to speak
Ere from my opening lips they break.
~~Isaac Watts

I have gone through many seasons of disappointment and even discouragement about my various writing projects. This work is one of them. Our Lord has made it clear to me that any thoughts of publishing the companion to Aunt Jane's Hero need to be abandoned. I realized it some time ago, but it was a difficult realization. There were several other disappointments and somehow it all got wrapped up in my neglect of this beloved blog. It has always been the favorite of all my blogs, but I suppose the state of my heart with respect to writing in general, Speakable Gifts publications in particular, somehow implicated "Scraps of Glory" in the mix. I don't believe that our Lord would have it be so. In fact, I do not believe He has been pleased with me in this.

So, I am not only picking up my dear "Scraps" again, but also my little thoughts, or notes if you would, from my companion work for this priceless Prentiss gem. None of the other issues I've been dealing with have been resolved, but the many months of delight I took in pouring my heart into Horace and Maggie and the others need not go totally to waste. I can still share bits and pieces of the fruit of those precious "labors" here.

Not too many people come here anymore. There was a time when many did. It's obviously a further proof of the often unfortunate results of neglect. That includes all types of neglect. But we won't get into that. Let's just say a few words about chapter 8 of this dear book, and pick up and go on. Let's see what God determines to do with what we do here in the days to come, if anything. Thankfully, that's His call, as is all of everything His call. As always, I don't know how often we'll make posts in this series, but we'll see.

Now to Chapter 8, very briefly. The most noticeable thing about this chapter is all of the entanglements of misconception and uncertainty. It's a chapter of high emotions, particularly on the part of Horace and Maggie, and unfortunately, these two young folks are ensnared by their own intensity of feelings. Annie is caught up in the web of confusion as well and a new primary character, Tom White, is promptly woven into the network. You enter the chapter with an array of inaccurate conclusions among the principals and when the occurrences of this segment are over, you see that everything is still quite muddled. You leave with a sense of wondering how and when it will all be unwoven. You can't wait to see how the author, as she always does, will uncover God's purposes in the lives of people, though fictional, who are so much like all of us in so many ways.

How many of us have gotten ourselves into all kinds of entanglements because of our emotions? If we're honest, we'd be willing to admit that it has been far too often. Misreading actions and words of others, drawing conclusions with little facts to support them, speculating and making presumptions about this person and that situation, and on and on. When will we learn to prayerfully leave matters to a sovereign and omniscient God? When will we learn to wait patiently for Him, trusting that in His own good time, He'll guide our steps and make His way plain?

Please, Lord, may I begin learning now.

Priorities

Jesus loves me, this I know,

For the Bible tells me so;

Little ones to him belong,

They are weak but he is strong.

Yes, Jesus loves me!

Yes, Jesus loves me!

Yes, Jesus loves me!

The Bible tells me so.

~ Anna B. Warner

Miss Warner is another of my "inspirations" in life. For those of you who know me well, this should not be surprising. Why? Because so many of the people, past and present, who fall into that category are people who loved children and and placed a high regard on teaching them spiritual truths. If you'd like to be blessed, read about the lives of Anna and her sister Susan. You will be struck by the riches of lives such as theirs.

Stories abound about this hymn. You'd be surprised at the number of adults for whom it remained a favorite, such as Francis Schaeffer. The most enthusiastic singing comes at our church's nursing home ministry when this song is sung. As Mr. Schaeffer has said, while people need intellectual answers to their questions, they also need a direct message to their heart. "Jesus Loves Me" does that. It speaks directly to the hearts of young people, but also to all of us of all ages.

I firmly believe, as did the Warner sisters no doubt, that what we learn as children is best learned. While salvation is from God, and cannot be passed on by us, the truths that lead to a person's conversion can be firmly implanted in childhood and who knows when and how God will use them. That's why writing for children is still a priority for me. It's a priority, yes, but I've been neglecting it. This is not a resolution or anything like that, but my blogging and Facebook have got to take more of a back seat in coming days. Writing for precious young souls is burning at my heart again. There are several projects which got started and then, you know how it goes, things got off track.

I still want to visit friends and all that, but I am really going to try to limit my writing here to quotes, verses, poetry, notes about sermons, and things of that sort, which was my original intent. Unless some original thoughts do inspire the old brain and I can do it quickly!

Just thought I'd let you know what's going on. I'll be over to see you when I can!

Sweet Friends

Isn't it nice to have friends? Sometimes these friends are people whom we've never met personally but our hearts are knit together in the common bond found in Christ. There are two sister bloggers who fit into that category. Cathy of Melodies and Hymnsongs is one of them. We've gotten to know each other through our blogs and through emails and find we're quite like minded in the things we enjoy and love. Her blog is such a pleasant place to visit, music, art, and helpful links among other things. Visit her please. Then there's my newer friend, Lorie of Encouragement from My Heart, who writes lovely poetry and other posts from her heart. Go there, too, and be blessed by this beautiful woman from Hawaii. Both stopped by today to tell me they were passing on these two awards, and I thank them!

I want to pass these on to those of you who frequent this place and help to make blogging more of a pleasure for me. I wish I had time to post more often, because I enjoy it so, but I have to put first things first in my life. Thanks for your friendship--there are some of you who brighten my countenance as soon as I see the email with your name on it, even before I read the comment itself. Thanks, sisters in the Lord, and also the occasional brother who stops by!

Update: I just found out from Cathy that Crystal, at Memoirs of a Mommy created the lovely Sharing the Love award in Honor of the Donor that saved her precious son, Noah's Life. This makes this award even more special.

Great Gain in Great Loss

Jesus, my all in all thou art;

My rest in toil, my ease in pain,

The medicine of my broken heart,

In war my peace, in loss my gain...

~~Charles Wesley

I looked back and couldn't believe my last Aunt Jane's Hero post was on November 8th. Imagine that. To think that last July I had grand intentions that this would be a weekly series on this blog, one I even thought could be finished by now. I hate to say this, but sometimes I have expectations which come far short of reality. Well, enough of that--I've beaten up on myself sufficiently. I go forward with new resolve to be more diligent, even if I don't meet my initial goals. Now for Chapter 5 . . .

". . .The Young Men's Christian Association opened its arms to him; he became interested in the once-despised Mission School, and once or twice his voice was heard at the weekly prayer-meeting which he never used to attend. He felt, at times, that he had gained through loss; that he was a happier, better man; and yet a voice often whispered in his ear; that next to the love of God he needed the love of a Christian woman."

Horace? Is this speaking of Horace? Yes, a different Horace as you can clearly see. These final lines of the chapter are evidence that the most wonderful thing that could possibly happen to any wandering young man had occurred--he had been brought back to his God. In Horace's case, it had happened as a result of the heavy hand of divine providence. The episode is a stirring account of how our young hero, in the midst of great loss, came into possession of great gain, even Christ. We stand in awe, as if this fictional character were someone we knew.

Last night, during prayer time at our church, someone asked prayer for their wayward son. At that point I took a mental excursion around the room and counted four families who have either a son or a daughter who has strayed. As I thought about them, I thought of Horace and what happened to him in this chapter. I don't wish on any of these young people that they'd experience a loss such as the one Horace endured; but, oh, I pray they'll lay hold of his gain. Then, my thoughts went even further to ponder whether any of these parents would just as soon see God have hard dealings with their wandering ones if it's the only way. It's a tough call--to an area of prayer where any parent would tread with trepidation.

Note: I've intentionally not mentioned what Horace's great loss was. Remember, these posts are little prods to get you to read the book!

I Need a Break!

Hi Friends! I've decided to take a short break. I need to for more reasons than one. The number one reason is that the wireless connection on my laptop is acting up and trying to drive me insane. I will not go into all the gory details partly because I am sick of thinking about it. For another thing, the desktop in the kitchen is having issues of its own too. Then, I have so many writing projects at different stages which I am not getting to because I am too busy on the internet, or TRYING to get on! So......I think the Lord is telling me to take a break. For the next week or more I plan to work on the editing and writing that should be taking my attention at this point. AND finish with some Christmas shopping and wrapping.

So if you don't hear from me you know where I am!

Thank You

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. Philippians 1:3-5

I am very thankful. I have been given another opportunity to tell my friends who visit here how grateful I am to have met you all. Since my tentative steps in April when I began this blog, there have been more and more people who have come into my blogging life who have been encouragers in the faith and have given every indication of being true disciples of the same Savior who I am trying to serve here at this little corner of the internet.

Well, Kathy at Sumballo, one of those true disciples, has been a dear and passed on to me the Mathetes Award, which originated at Management by God. It is given to those acting in the role of a disciple of Christ. Kathy serves God by doing helpful and in depth Bible studies, as well as sweet and reflective devotionals which will touch your heart. I appreciate her so much and she's one of the reasons I enjoy blogging so much. Thanks so much, Kathy.

And I must say that those of you who have been so faithful to the little "ministry" going on here are also on my list of blessings. So, I am not going to NAME people to pass this award to as I am supposed to. You might be interested in reading my response to the award last week when it was given at my other blog. That helps to explain things. So, ALL of you sweet sisters who come by from time to time are hereby awarded this badge from me. EACH of you deserves it! In every visit I make to your respective corners, I see proof of your discipleship, which is evident in a way that is peculiar to YOU. I cannot bring it into my heart to just pick out just five of you. (Hopefully, someday I'll have a few brothers to add on too.) I love you all and appreciate each one of you and hope we can keep visiting each other this way!

Sunday Snippet

This is something new. I've been contemplating a few things lately, especially the issue of my time. Tomorrow is the first day of our new homeschool year. I now have a high school student to look after, as we are beginning ninth grade. I wish I could say that I'm happy that summer is over and school is starting up again, but that's another story. Let's just say that I am thankful for the fact that God is still allowing us to have school here in our home. But it does mean that I may again have less time for fun things like blogging.

So back to what's new. I knew when I made the decision to take on another blog that time was an issue. But when I made the decision, one of the reasons that I thought I could do it was that this blog was to be made up of short posts of a devotional nature, as well as a forum to discuss my writing projects. Typical of the type of person that I am, I've noticed that my posts have been getting more and more wordy and some have been such that I've pondered a while on what to say, hence it gets time consuming. I'll still be doing more intensive posts from time to time, but in order to keep things flowing around here, I'll be doing this weekly feature of words from other sources, with few or none from me. At least it will insure that things aren't stagnant and also that the original intent for the blog is maintained.

With all that said (see, I even made that a long explanation), here is the first week's Sunday Snippet. We sang this as our hymn during Sunday opening time, and it touched the heart of me and another teacher as we sang it with the children.

Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,

Calling for you and for me;

See, on the portals he's waiting and watching,

Watching for you and for me.

Why should we tarry when Jesus is pleading,

Pleading for you and for me?

Why should we linger and heed not his mercies,

Mercies for you and for me?

Time is now fleeting the moments are passing,

Passing from you and from me;

Shadows are gathering, deathbeds are coming,

Coming for you and for me.

Oh! for the wonderful love he has promised,

Promised for you and for me;

Though we have sinned, he has mercy and pardon,

Pardon for you and for me.

Come home, come home,

Ye who are weary, come home;

Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,

Calling,O sinner, come home!

~Will L. Thompson, 1847-1909

What a wonderful Savior who calls sinners to Himself. I hope He's your Savior.

Blogger Reflection Award

In April of this year I made what was then a tentative decision to start a third blog. Not being sure about it for several reasons, including time constraints, I kept it private for a while. I wanted this blog to be mostly devotional in nature, as well as being a forum for discussing my writing projects, hopes and dreams. After a bit, I decided I'd go ahead with it and make it public, even if just a few people would read it.

It was through and because of this venture that I have "met" some of the sweetest folks that one could hope to encounter on a journey of any kind. I have received more encouragement from these ladies than I've ever had in anything I've written. One of these ladies, Mishel at Seasons of Life has honored me here at Scraps with a Blogger Reflection Award. I want to thank her for this award, but then turn around and give one to her for being one of those special people I just spoke about. As she said, we haven't known each other long, but she's one of those bloggy folks whom I wish I could someday meet personally.

The same would hold true for each of the following ladies. There is something in their spirits when they comment that lets me know theirs are kindred with mine. I see in each of them a love for God and a selfless desire to help another sister along the way. Thank you ladies. This award is for your encouragements to me and I'm sure to others.

1. Cami at Lindenville Devotions - Like me, Cami is a lover of devotional writings and she does it well over at her place. She is a wife and mother who loves her family and God. She owns the Lindenville Cafe blogring, which she takes seriously while showing heartfelt care and concern for each of its members. She's very supportive of us all. I'm sure everyone in the ring feels the same.

2. Carol at Musings from Down Under - Talk about talent--this lady has it. If you want to be refreshed and renewed by poetry that touches you in the inner man, then visit Carol often. She's quite popular with her writings, and understandably so. Most of the poems are short and sweet, but packed with so much meaning! Most of us know that poetry can express something in a unique way that prose never can. Carol has a gift for doing just that. Go there and be blessed.

3. Jodi at The Deputy Domain - Who of us does not like beauty? This is one lady who gives us beautiful portraits, music and writings. She puts them all together in a way that makes her blog an absolute pleasure to visit. As a wife and mother of five, I am always amazed that she has the time to put together such a charming, cozy and God-glorifying site. I would imagine that her home is the same way!

4. Kathy at Sumballo - This is a lady whose blog is worth visiting if you hunger and thirst for a deeper walk with God. Her knowledge of the Word is consistent and biblical and she humbly shares it with all of us. She recently has started a weekly feature which others can do with her to dive deeper into Scriptures, with "tools" to help accomplish this. She knows what she's doing, and does it well, at a level which most of us can understand. She's just getting started with this, so go over and check it out when you can.

5. Patty at Beside Still Waters - Yes, I know Mishel awarded her already, but my list would not be complete without her. Her blog is absolutely lovely. It caught my eye when I randomly went there one day and we've been bloggy friends since. She has such sweet quotes and little devotions that touch the heart. Like me, she is a wife, mom and grandmom and loves home. She also has another blog where you can go and find tasty recipes! Hope you can visit her because you won't find a nicer lady anywhere.

(Honorable mention: I know this is cheating, but I do want to thank my daughter Beverly and our friend Beka for often coming here to encourage their mama/friend.)

Also, I believe I'm supposed to mention in this post that this Blogger Reflection Award is to be awarded to five other bloggers and that it originated here, where you may find more information about it.

Being Public

And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Colossians 3:17

I guess it's been ten days ago that I started this new little venture in the blogging world. I've kept it private because I wasn't sure exactly how I wanted to proceed with it; I needed to be clear in my own mind as to what it is that this is all about. I do believe I like the idea of having a blog that is mostly devotional, with thoughts about serving the Lord in written words and publications. So I've decided to go ahead with it. This is my tenth post: a good place to start sharing with others. I hope it will be what I want it to be--an offering to my God. I hope that anybody who happens by, will see little bits of His glory.

Welcome, if this is the first post that you read. I would like friends to come often, whether or not they leave a comment at a given visit. I just want folks to read and if any blessings come from that, I'll be satisfied. And if so, then to God be the glory!

Behold His Glory

...and we beheld His glory... (John 1:14)

That's what I want to do here. Behold little bits of His glory. Sometimes from His Word, other times from a hymn or poem someone else wrote, or from words another person spoke. Perhaps it will be in the face of a persecuted saint. Or it could be in nature. Just a little of the magnificence of our Savior--in short clips.