Fire

"Translate now (O my soul) all this into spirituals..." ~Robert Boyle

Yesterday, as I was trying to revive a rather dead fire in our cabin's wood stove, I began to think how frustrating it is when a fire just will not start

And then I thought, "Why do the fires that we don't want to start turn into wild fires and the ones that we're coaxing to life sputter out if we simply blow too hard?"

Then, because of the inspiring book "Occasional Reflections" by Robert Boyle, I began to think of how this applied to the Christian life.

 Romans 7:15 & 19 came to mind:

"For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do...For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice." 

How true it is, that the fires we want to start, like an earnest desire for God's Word or a passion for the lost, take so much nurturing and work, while the things we don't want in our minds spread like forest fires. 

And what about the effects of these fires?

A forest fire can destroy completely, leaving behind death and destruction, while the fire brought about through hard work and perseverance provides heat, light and food.

It's amazing to think about the comparisons.

But what's more amazing, is the fact that, most of the time, we can't see how anything good would come from a forest fire or a corrupted mind

But God can.

In His time and by His handiwork, the charred land can bear even more beautiful foliage, and the heart and mind, when cleansed by God's holy fire, can bear a more beautiful testimony of God's salvation.

Kia Kaha
Joshua 1:9

Can you hold off on the blessings, Lord?

Have you ever been blessed so much that you think something's gone wrong?

Well, that's how my life feels all the time.

It is the strangest sensation to be overwhelmingly blessed.
Blessed to the point that you don't want to tell anyone and you don't want anything else amazing to happen to you.

I look around at so many people in the world that don't have half of the blessing that I do, and it just makes me sick of it.

I'm blessed with talents. I'm good at alot of things.

I've learned to sing, play multiple instruments, cook, draw, write, knit, crochet, tat lace, quilt, paint, spin wool, darn socks and so much more.
I absolutely love to learn, which overflows into 1) obsessive reading and researching and 2) my constant chattering on random facts and skills I've acquired.

I've been blessed with the ability to travel.
My family took a month-long trip out west in 2005
We took a two week long trip the New England in 2006.
(In total, I think we've been to 36 states)
We go skiing every year.
Last year we took a cruise to Alaska.
This year we went to Ireland.

You know what all that leads to?
I get proud and selfish and puffed-up.
I get frustrated when I'm not good at something.
I get upset when I don't know something.
I get discontent when I can't go somewhere.
People don't like me because they think I'm trying to make them feel dumb by being a know-it-all, when really, I am only excited about the things I've done and learned!
I feel like telling someone about my life is as good as a kick in the pants.
For them and me.

I'm not telling you all these things to boast.
Honestly, I'd much rather not tell people because it's so terribly embarrassing.
There's a line that comes to my mind so often.
It's from the movie "The Inheritance" when the father says
"I seem to be suffering from an embarrassment of riches..."
I never knew why that line stuck in my head until recently.
I was struck with the fact that my life is an embarrassment of riches.
How does one balance gratitude with a desire to shout "ENOUGH! I'm blessed beyond measure! I don't want anymore!"?
Can you even tell God you've had enough blessings? Is that a sin?

There is something I know I can't do, and it doesn't frustrate me.
You know why?
Because no human could possibly do it.
No one on the face of this earth can save me from Hell and my sins.
No matter how blessed or degraded we are, Christ is the only Savior.
I don't have to worry that I'm better than someone else because I'm not.
We're not saved by what we can do, or how much we know or where we've been. 
It's only by grace.

"For it is by grace you have been saved,through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast."
Ephesians 2:8-9

Kia Kaha
Joshua 1:9

There's some people that I like.....alot :-)

Sometimes I really wonder what it would be like to be my friend.

What resilience it must take to put up with me!

I have to live with myself, but some people choose to hang out with me.

I'm very grateful for those people.

I'm grateful to the people who find me worth trying to change.

They want to make me better.

Even though I really bug them, and I'm stupid and thoughtless and annoying and sometimes downright mean.

Even after all that, they think my friendship is something worth hanging on to.

To all my friends:

Thank you.

I couldn't have put up with me like you guys have.

Proverbs 17:17

Kia Kaha

Kia Kaha

Today was a lousy day. 

And I mean lousy. 

Plans that I had been looking forward to were cancelled.

The friend that I really, really wanted to see, ended up not being able to come over.
I really, really wanted to go horseback riding today and didn't get to.
And alot of other things just went wrong.

I feel like I'm the closest I'll ever be to an inhabitant of Jericho.

(I'm also feeling tired, dramatic and completely overwhelmed)

But this is something I've been thinking about.

Crushed, broken things.

Dreams, mostly.

When I first started thinking about driving and getting my own car, all I wanted was a VW Bug.

As I got older, that dream got crushed by reality.
I wanted to train service dogs and you can't carry a dog crate in a Bug.
It's a little dream, but every time I see a Bug, I tend to get jealous.
But my plain white mini van serves the purpose and I really do like it.
I'm trying to see it as one dream replaced with another.
Training service dogs is a much more selfless dream than owning a VW Bug.
And I love it.
This day will be over soon and God has blessed me with a relatively optimistic outlook and short-term memory loss which helps each new day to (typically) start out fresh and happy.
His mercies are new every morning.
One last remark.
Some time ago, I got the nickname "Kia". It's a long story of how I got it and I won't go into all of it.
Recently though Fiah (the bestower of aforementioned nickname) and I saw a picture of a copy of The Hobbit book, signed my all the actors from the movie.
One of the actors put the phrase "Kia Kaha" above his name, which, of course, we looked into because it was my nickname.
As it turns out, it means "Be Strong" in Maori (a language spoken in New Zealand) and is a popular saying over there.
Needless to say, I looked into it even more and found that there is a Maori worship song called "Kia Kaha"
I have sort of adopted it as my motto and have had the words to the song running through my head all day.
(And I'm going to be signing off with it from now on)
If anyone would like to hear it, here is a link.

Kia Kaha!
Lydia

*looks around* Hmm. It's been a while

You wouldn't believe it to look at me, but I've changed since the last post. 

In fact, looking back over the past few posts made me kind of sick. 

I'm constantly changing. 

I used to hate change and it still isn't my favorite thing. 

I like being comfortable. 

But I also like not knowing what's coming.

I like changing to become better, more like Christ, more like what I'm supposed to be.
(Strange how something as small as a blog can get you thinking about something so profound)

I guess there are several points to this post.
One is to get me back in the habit of blogging.
Two is to say that, while I'm still the goofy, crazy girl that I was and that will come out in my posts, I don't want to be as flippant and, frankly, ridiculous as previous posts made me seem.
Three is to draw your attention to the fact that I have changed the name of this blog by two words.
Less of Me makes room for Christ and others.
It's not all about me :-)
Four is to say that this weekend is going to be EPIC!
I'm spending it with one of my favorite people doing some of my favorite things.
My nephews are coming down and we're going to play pirates.
Then, we're off to fix a meal at the Ronald McDonald house
(not to be confused with McDonald's)
After that, it's the watching of "Reclaiming the Blade" and (hopefully, maybe) a little Robin Hood
(Do you think we can make it through Brothers in Arms this time? ;-) )
And somewhere in there will be the exploration of our own little piece of Middle Earth.

Well, that's it folks.
Let me know what you would like to see happen with this blog.

Because when I find out about a really cool historical figure, I get excited.

Meet William Augustus Bowles

He is one awesome dude. 

I found out about him from a really good book called...

"The Lost States: True stories of Texlahoma, Transylvania and Other States That Never Made It"

by Michael J. Trinklein

You see, Mr. Bowles tried to establish the state of Muskogee

(hence, earning him a place in the lost states book)

(By the way, it is a really awesome book that is very educational, fun to read and tends to lead to many other rabbit trails of learning. Such as William Augustus Bowles and other little known facts(like the fact that Alaska was bought for 1.9 cents an acre) ) 

Back to William.

The reason I am posting about him is because his life, much like Robert Boyle's (whom I should post about sometime in the near future), was filled with things that interest me. 

Examples:

1) He was a pirate.

2) He was a comic actor.

3) He was a portrait painter. 

(I do not know if he painted the above portrait of himself)

4) He was married to the daughter of an Indian Chief 

5) He fought for the Creeks and Seminoles to get the Spanish out of Florida

6) His Wikipedia page calls him an "adventurer" which he really had nothing to do with, but I thought it was pretty awesome.

7) The Spanish offered 6,000 dollars and 1,500 kegs of rum for his capture, so he had to have done some epic stuff.

This link has a good synopsis of his life. 

(I really would love to read that book) 

Obviously, he wasn't perfect.

He had short-comings. 

Like marrying two wives and starving himself to death in a jail in Havana. 

(That last part may sound heroic, and, I don't know, it kinda is. For the most part it just sounds like pouting to me.)

But, you have to admit...

There really should be a movie made about this guy.

(Please read the "Muskogee" page of the lost states book)

If you would like to know more about William Augustus Bowles, start here.

(Just so you know, Robert Boyle still trumps William by a long shot.)

So, what do you think? 

This is the end of the eighth post of Me.

Lessons of a bridesmaid

So, I learned alot this weekend.

(I was in a wedding, just so you know)

(Also, just so you know, I'm skipping all the sentimental stuff I could say because I am not in a sentimental mood........Actually, I am rarely in a sentimental mood....Welll....nevermind. Either be satisfied that this will not be a sentimental post or stop reading now.)

Here is a list of things I learned and what I will do differently:

1) My groomsmen (or my husband-to-be's groomsmen--whatever) will be ninjas. 

There are several reasons for this:

a) They will look really cool coming down the aisle 

(if you can see them, that is)

b) They can do a crazy amount of work in a tiny amount of time. 

c) It's original

d) I like it

2) If I don't wear Converse, I will be going barefoot, even if it is an eight o'clock wedding at St. Paul's Cathedral.

I do not care.

3) The groomsmen and bridesmaids will  at least meet each other even before the rehearsal.

Reasons for this:

a) it may make it slightly less awkward when they have to hand you a tissue in the middle of the service

b) it may make it slightly less awkward if you fall over on them going down the aisle 

(note: no, this did not happen, but it very well could have)

c) the groomsmen will be ninjas and who wouldn't want to hang out with ninjas??? 

(besides my sister...)

4) I will eat food and drink water. 'Nuff said.

So, what will you do at your wedding?

I'd love to hear.

Seriously, if you just read this whole post, you must be bored so tell me about your dream wedding

(or spit out some goofy ideas like I just did!)

**DISCLAIMER** 

I may or may not have ninjas in my wedding... or will I? You don't know!

I will have a meaningful wedding. This post was meant to be humorous and doesn't accurately depict exactly how I want my wedding to be. Maybe someday I'll post about my "real wedding"...if enough people ask....if anyone reads this blog...  

This is the end of the seventh post of Me.