The good, the bad, and the ugly-turned-beautiful:

The Gospel is bad news before it is good news. It is the news that man is a sinner, to use the old word, that he is evil in the imagination of his heart, that when he looks in the mirror all in a lather what he sees is at least eight parts chicken, phony, slob. That is the tragedy. But it is also the news that he is loved anyway, cherished, forgiven, bleeding to be sure, but also bled for. That is the comedy. And yet, so what? So what if even in his sin the slob is loved and forgiven when the very mark and substance of his sin and of his slobbery is that he keeps turning down the love and forgiveness because he either doesn't believe them or doesn't want them or just doesn't give a damn? In answer, the news of the Gospel is that extraordinary things happen to him just as in fairy tales extraordinary things happen.

 -- Frederick Buechner,  

Telling the Truth: the Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairytale

Happy Easter, all.

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Conversations:

• Andrea -- I see what you did there! Thanks for the censorship ;)
• Asea -- now I'm going to have to work on a nickname for you! ;) But oh YES to the whole avoiding-confrontation thing. This is my life exactly.
• BushMaid -- I totally agree with everything you said, and I have particularly felt that sentiment: "It can be a curse to care too much." Our weaknesses, however, are often also the same things that provide our strengths. There's a plus and a minus to just about every quirk, it seems. I take hope from that!
• Joy -- a beautiful comment, Joy! Thank you for reading. I did my undergraduate degree through Tabor College and my postgrad through the University of New England. Both schools have qualities that I really love. Feel free to email or hit me up on facebook if you have any questions about either uni.

Peace on the inside:

Today's mail brought with it that all-too-rare treat: a beautiful, handwritten letter from a lovely friend (if you're passing by my little home in webland, RMB, thank you). On the back of the envelope, she had written, in immaculate cursive, a prayer from Theresa of Avila. It was just right, and so I share it here in the hope that it may be right for one of you, too.

May you trust God that you were exactly where you were meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love has been given to you...
May you be content knowing you are a child of God.

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Conversations:

Laura Elizabeth -- I like your spirit! It's our meme, so we get to decide whether we will post or not :D. Oh, wow, yes! Definitely give Freestyle another go. You do indeed deserve to be wowed.

Samantha -- thunderstorms definitely fit my picture of Spring, too.

For about fifty reasons, I need to remember this:

"I've spent too long wanting what was taken from me
and not what I was given."

Caspian, Voyage of the Dawntreader [film; 2010]

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Conversations:

Amanda -- sushi is the best! Healthy and yum.

Caitlin -- another reason we are meant to be friends. :)

Katie -- henceforth I shall call them sushi fish as well. It makes sense to me!

Samantha R -- and also to tell me I was wearing my seatbelt wrong, apparently.

I love Lucy

For one of my final essays this semester, the task is to write a literary analysis of a fantasy story containing a strong spiritual element. I've chosen Prince Caspian, a book I haven't read since I was a small girl. I finished my re-read a couple of days ago and found a fresh appreciation for the things I hadn't paid as much attention to as an eight-year-old. Of course, all the old feelings of adventure and possibility were there -- as well as that 'I-wish-Peter-were-my-big-brother' kind of feeling. But I also noticed things that I hadn't noticed before, or, if I had, I've certainly forgotten them since.

I loved how Lewis' depiction of Aslan made me ponder the aspects of God's character that I have a tendency to forget. I loved the undercurrent of conversation about keeping faith even when one cannot see God at work. Most of all, though, I loved Lucy and her example of steadfast, childlike, accepting faith.

Lucy gazed up into the large wise face.
'Welcome, child,' Aslan said.
'Aslan,' said Lucy, 'you're bigger.'
'That is because you are older, little one,' answered he.
'Not because you are?'
'I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.'

I am so thankful that He is always enough.

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Conversations:

Asea -- I definitely will post more about classes, then, even if just for you! I get terribly excited about these things, but I tend to imagine they will bore everyone else.

Julia -- it's a very cool thing to meet others who are similarly afflicted with this madness :).

All who've entered the giveaway -- thank you for your entries! It's putting me in quite the Christmassy mood. If you haven't entered yet, there's still time.

Keeping the clocks wound

'There's a story of a small village where lived an old clockmaker and repairer. When anything was wrong with any of the clocks or watches in the village, he was able to fix them, to get them working properly again. When he died, leaving no children and no apprentice, there was no one left in the village who could fix clocks. Soon various clocks and watches began to break down. Those which continued to run often lost or gained time, so they were of little use. A clock might strike midnight at three in the afternoon. So many of the villagers abandoned their timepieces.

'One day a renowned clockmaker and repairer came through the village, and the people crowded around him and begged him to fix their broken clocks and watches. He spent many hours looking at all the faulty time pieces, and at last he announced that he could repair only those whose owners had kept them wound, because they were the only ones which would be able to remember how to keep time.

'So we must daily keep things wound: that is, we must pray when prayer seems dry as dust; we must write when we are physically tired, when our hearts are heavy, when our bodies are in pain.

'We may not always be able to make our "clock" run correctly, but at least we can keep it wound, so that it will not forget.'

Madeleine L'Engle
Walking on Water

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Conversations:

Mothercarey -- YAAAAAY!

Katiefoolery -- highlighters can frequently equal joy :).

Rebecca -- ah, thank you so much! What a lovely comment :).

Living in freedom from tyranny.

Uni started back this week, so I am once again immersed in books and assignments and lectures, and it's a treat. Learning really is so much fun. But adding to that, the timing of this week's theology lectures has been particularly super. The last two months have been ones of massive change for my family and I and, being rather a stick-in-the-mud, I don't always handle change particularly well. So this week's lectures, which discussed how living in the freedom of Christ means being steadfast because of what He has done within (instead of being changeable based on what is going on outside) were incredibly encouraging. I'm challenged to make choices and responses based on what Christ has already done, rather than what is happening in the moment. And what has Christ done? He's opened the door for us to be part of a new way of life in fellowship with Him.

I love Eugene Peterson's paraphrase of a powerful section of Ephesians 6:6-14:

Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life -- no longer at sin's every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ's sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection.

We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, this of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That's what Jesus did.

That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don't give it the time of day. Don't even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholehearteduly and full-time -- remember, you've been raised from the dead! -- into God's way of doing things. Sin can't tell you how to live. After all, you're not living under that old tyranny any longer. You're living in the freedom of God.

Praying that for all of us, this week.

PS. It's been like Spring here in Queensland this week. This afternoon was spent under the sun by the water with a bunch of church friends for an 18th birthday party -- a perfect place to be on a Sunday afternoon.

You nailed it, Don

Reading through Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz with a bunch of very lovely girls at the moment. I came across this hard-hitting nugget of truth today:

A friend of mine, a young pastor who recently started a church, talks to me from time to time about the new face of church in America -- about the postmodern church. He says the new church will be different from the old one, that we will be relevant to culture and the human struggle. I don't think any church has ever been relevant to culture, to the human struggle, unless it believed in Jesus and the power of His gospel. If the supposed new church believes in trendy music and cool web pages, then it is not relevant to culture, either. It is just another tool of Satan to get people to be passionate about nothing.

Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz

Chapter ten: Belief

Wow.

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conversations:

Caitlin -- thanks so much for sharing my excitement! The publishing process is really a pretty unsure thing. Before it gets published, the book needs to somehow impress either an agent or a publisher, and that is the hardest part of the job. We'll see what God does!

Abbie -- you're so right; I don't think Jane Austen would've had one of her "elegant females" racing around the street for an hour or more. However, I do think the older version had a run in it if I'm right... I just can't remember if it was in the book! (I'm going to have to check that now or I'll keep thinking about it!) And thank you for your kind congratulations!

Elizabeth -- Thanks, lovely! You can read it soon if you like (ooh, now I'm nervous). I'll have to get the huge wad of papers down to you somehow. :)