A Lettering Project

Posted on by Karyn Jeffrey

Hello! I am so glad you stopped by.  I hope this post will give you a bit of a look behind the scenes of my art-making. I am sharing a video I made of myself doing a project for a lettering class I am taking at my local art supply store (Spokane Art Supply  http://spokaneartsupply.com/). The class is intended for beginning students in calligraphy. It is open to more advanced students who want weekly accountability and critique. I fall into the latter category and am so glad I decided to do this. Our teacher taught calligraphy at the local Community College and is very knowledgeable about the history of lettering. It has been very interesting to hear and see (he demonstrates so well!) the way letters have developed into the forms we recognize today.

Our first formal lettering project was to use the alphabet designed by Rudolf Koch- a German type designer and artist who lived during the early 20th century. Neuland is blocky and sans serif. Because every stroke is the same width the appearance is very dense. Sans serif means “without serifs.” Serifs are the little feet and shoulders on letters. Here is a diagram showing the difference between a font with serif and a font san serif. (Thanks, Bing online images!)

The little green circles show you the places that the little “shoulders” and “feet” are on the serifed font and where they are absent on the sans serif font.

 

Sans Serif alphabets are somewhat easier to read if the shapes of the letters don’t get too creative.

Here you can compare readabilityof fonts with and without serifs. What do you think?

Here is a sample of “Neuland” that Koch designed. It is a bit tricky to read because of the evenness of the type. Compare it to the “Arial” font in the chart above.

Notice the dense, overall texture that this lettering style creates. Readability is definitely diminished, don’t you think?

But one of the fun parts of the Neuland font is that it is open to adding color and designs in the spaces around and between the letters as well as within the “counters” of letters. The counters are the spaces enclosed by the shapes of letters—the circle within the ‘O’ and the triangle within the ‘A’ and so on.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals

Here is another sample of Koch’s work with color added in the counters and between some letters. He has also been more free with the letter shapes (not so blocky) and the height of the letters is more than the usual so the letters have a “slimmer”, more open look. Which sample do you like best?

 

Aha! You have just learned something about letters and lettering. And you didn’t even need to take a class!

And now here is my video. I think it will explain itself. I hope you enjoy watching the progress of the project for my class.

PS… I could have done a different design that would have gotten a “better grade”… Teacher had some critiques that I may take into account if and when I’m create version #2. Stay tuned.

QUESTION:  What sort of project are you doing this week? What new thing have you learned?

‘Tis the Spring of Souls Today

Posted on by Karyn Jeffrey
This is the third attempt at this piece. I’m still not happy with the italic lettering, but if I keep trying I’m sure I will be able to make a really good version someday.

 

 

Spring is the time of year that causes me to feel “burst-y” with enthusiasm, joy, exuberance and hope. The dawning days of spring are subtle but unmistakable. The snow piles recede before the relentless golden orb that warms the ground. Spring buds of crocus and daffodils push the moldy dirt aside with a fragile beauty that belies their sturdy and intense imperative to grow. Cold and nearly dark mornings are clamorous with raucous bird chatter. There is no doubt that spring is breaking. Winter’s solemn grip of icy silence is cracking before the pressure of resurgent life.

It seems so fitting that as spring elbows its way to ascendancy over the cold and dark of winter that we celebrate the glorious truth that Jesus, crucified, dead and buried for three days, rose to endless and powerful life. What magnificent work our God has accomplished!

Our God is not a dead god like Buddha or a solitary and remote god like Allah. He is not an imaginary man-made god of stone like Ashtoreth or Ra. Our God is the true and living God. In His mysterious three-in-one Personage, He came as a man to dwell among us. As the Man Jesus, He lived a perfect life. Jesus suffered an ignominious death at the hands of His own creation. He chose to die in the place of sinful man under the Father’s righteous wrath against sin.  He laid three days cold and dead in the tomb until that glorious morning when in His eternal power He broke the bonds of death and rose to triumphant eternal life. He has given that life to those who believe this. What a gift I have in Christ Jesus! Eternal life. Fellowship with Almighty God. Hallelujah, what a Savior!

 

I pray you will ask God to give you His rich mercy of eternal life in Jesus this Resurrection Day.

 

This is one of my favorite hymns. Can’t you just hear the happy people singing on Resurrection Sunday morning?!

 

QUESTION: As we celebrate Resurrection Day this Sunday won’t you join me in the praise of our wonderful Savior?

Pretend for Real

Posted on by Karyn Jeffrey

“Let’s pretend” is a phrase I used a lot when I was a child. I grew up in a quirky old house that had low walls and wide pillars on the front porch. One of the pillars had an old hook nailed to it. Coated by years of paint, its purpose was obscure, but we neighborhood kids, in repeated times of “let’s pretend,’ used it as the reins of an imaginary steed. Sitting astride the wall, kicking our heels and clinging to the hook we rode into amazing adventures.

Several trees marched along a lava rock retaining wall that angled upward from the front corner of the lot to the much higher back. We used the wide spreading branches of the old apple trees to be forts. By using boards scavenged from the decrepit garage, we laid walkways across the gap between the ever-rising sidewalk and the tree branches. Thus we were able to enter “tree houses” and pirate aeries. “Let’s pretend we’re pioneers” would lead to gathering weed grasses as “wheat” to make “bread”—mud “loaves.”

We used “The Green Thing” (an old green bedspread) as a theater curtain, a queen’s cape, a “coffin drape” for the “dead” heroine at the pretend “funeral.” My friend Mary’s un-used family garage was the venue for all sorts of “let’s pretend.” We would drape ourselves in friend Betty’s teenage sister’s old prom dresses as we performed dramatic stage shows.

The hours and days were happy as we played various versions of “let’s pretend.” It never really turned us into wild west Pony Express riders, jousting knights or rugged pioneers. And we were never movie queens. But in those games we took on a different “life” and played out imaginary life events. For a while we were able to be different than our usual selves. We tried out how it might feel and be to have that “pretend” life. Pretend is a tool that plays a vital role in a child’s development into adulthood. Imagining lets us inhabit and try out different realities. It makes us aware of what being someone other than ourselves might be like.

Now that I am a grown up, I regularly face the need to forgive another person because I think he or she has wronged me. The tool of “let’s pretend” has helped me come to a place of genuine forgiveness and healing.

When I have been wronged (or think I have) my sinful inner attitude of anger and bitterness builds up a wall of resentment that breaks my fellowship with Jesus and ruins my relationship with the offender. No matter how justified I think I am in my indignation, the Holy Spirit faithfully prods me to repentance. The Lord’s Prayer is convicting when I am honest before the Lord.

 

I am practicing my italic lettering. Just had a super lesson from the Calligraphy Guild’s president, Shelby. Learned so much, but as you can see, I’m not there yet!

When I get going in my outrage, I rehearse all the bad actions to myself. Thankfully the Spirit nudges me to stop and choose a different path. God desires me to be like Himself.

Jesus completely forgave those who put Him to death. He has forgiven my sin entirely.  So His desire that I forgive as He has is not unreasonable. Thankfully, He has made me a new creature in Christ Jesus and is in the process of conforming me to the Savior’s image.

So here is where “let’s pretend” comes in. When I am pondering and praying about my anger and resentment, I can use this “thought exercise” to change my response.  I can pretend that I like the person who has “done me wrong.” My imagination can help me pretend kind and Christ-like actions. As I pretend, my view of the “offender” changes. I can see what may have motivated the offending action. And the amazing thing about pretend is that it can help develop a new path, a new way to behave.

Of course, I will have to choose that path. I will have to make a conscious effort to forgive and let go of resentment. But imagining what a good path looks like or how a right attitude will feel helps me choose the God-pleasing, obedient response of forgiveness. The Holy Spirit is faithful to give me the strength to choose this good way.

Part of what helps me forgive is knowing that God will judge fairly in the end, but right now, My part is to choose to forgive, even if the offender never apologizes (or cannot). The Final Judgement will set all things right. I want to be right with God on that day and so choosing not cling to my bitter unforgiving attitude is the only thing I can do. And, joy of joy, my different, Christ-like attitude is not pretend! The Holy Spirit is making it real. He helps me give real forgiveness. And He works real healing in my inner man.

QUESTION: What are you clutching to your spiritual chest? Who do you need to forgive? Can you begin by pretending how it would feel to be living in harmony rather than sinful discord?

Make Your Mark

Posted on by Karyn Jeffrey

Learning a hand-written alphabet requires careful focus on each mark as it is made. The shape, direction, weight and placement of each mark is critical to the letterform carrying its intended meaning. I’ve just finished a lettering workshop where I spent 2 days learning the basics of a new-to-me alphabet. It is called “Bone” lettering because the strokes and shapes of the letters resemble a bone, being widened at each end. It required careful attention and lots of work to learn the new skill of twisting my pen as I made each mark to form the letters.

This intense scrutiny of mark-making stirred me to think and remember a conversation I had years ago. “Uncle Jerry” (my son-in-law’s uncle), along with his wife, had come to Central Oregon to visit us. During the drive back to Portland Airport he pointed out that all humans are “mark-makers.” Mark making is a distinct human activity that is one of the things which distinguish humans from all other living creatures. Jerry declared that with two simple strokes he could convey his entire cosmology. Can you determine what he believes by looking at the marks?

 

Think of it. We communicate our thoughts to other humans using our voices to form words. Those sounds can, and usually do, correlate to marks we make to record our thoughts in a more permanent fashion. As others look at those marks, the meaning we intended is conveyed to the reader of the marks. In ancient times, the marks would be pictorial as people used sticks burned to charcoal or minerals ground to powder to create images –marks- to tell others something of importance. The hieroglyphs of ancient Egyptians, the cuneiform wedges pressed into soft clay, the inky swirls of Sanskrit brush strokes all carry meaning from the minds of those who made the marks to those who read them then and now-even after millennia have passed. Whether the marks are pictorial or letter form, the maker of the mark is sharing abstract thoughts.

Consider these marks. Any guess as to their meaning?

When I made the marks to form these words, you were able to read my marks and think what the writer of the Psalm nearly 4000 years ago thought and wrote. I was able to share what was in my mind by making marks on the paper and showing you the result. The words are ones that were in the mind of the Psalmist (probably King David) four millennia ago! And even more amazing is that the thoughts are actually the thoughts of God Himself, communicated to us—David, me and you and all other readers of this Scripture.

 

Because we are made in the image of God, we are beings who are able to communicate with one another. We can do this by forming and speaking words. But we can also make marks—write or draw—the thoughts of our minds and people yet unborn can and may be able to think and hear from us. God has given us His own thoughts. He actually wrote them with His finger when He delivered the tablets of the Law (the 10 Commandments) to Moses on Mt. Sinai. The Holy Spirit inspired men to write as He moved them, and thus God continued to direct the mark-making, meaning-giving, wonder of words.

 

Here we are, millennia after the marks were first made, able to read and know the mind of God. As we look at each mark on the page, whether on the lightweight page of a printed Bible or on the glowing screen of a phone, the meaning comes unmistakable over the ages. And if you like writing by hand as much as I do, you are able to make marks that put down those very words right there in front of yourself. God’s thoughts, your writing, and your heart’s thoughts all tied together. All because of marks!

QUESTION: Are you finding meaning in the marks on the pages of Scripture?

Painting Celtic Knot Work with Gouache

Posted on by Karyn Jeffrey

This week I am taking a break from overtly spiritual reflections and have prepared a video highlighting how I work on one of my illuminated letters. I am working on a set of all 26 letters of the alphabet and this letter “A” is my first. The video shows how I paint Celtic knot work and it gives you a bit of background in what my tools and materials are for painting in this ancient style.

I hope you will come along and watch as I paint on my Celtic letter “A”.

You can find this and other tutorial videos on my YouTube channel  (Karyn Jeffrey- The Designing Woman   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_J6vhzsxkCeAkwXs7PqTQw  )

QUESTION: Have you every painted in watercolor? Opaque watercolor? (gouache) Ever wanted to?

 

Sunshine on My Shoulder

Posted on by Karyn Jeffrey

February here in my area was very cold and very snowy compared to nearly all previous recorded February weather. As a consequence, today, the first official day of spring, there are large expanses of snow on lawns and fields. Driveways and curbs suffer heaps of grubby, gravelly ice. All these sordid remains of the miseries of winter are fast fading under the onslaught of sunshine—relentless, lovely, blue-sky sunshine. The patter-drip of melted snow in the gutter downspout is background to the cheerful songs of juncos and robins in the throes of spring romance.

Sunshine is so delicious to the soul after so many weeks and months of grayness. I sit facing my big window soaking in the “shine.” I smile at the pleasure of the light and warmth of the sun and as I sit, rather like a turtle on a rock, my mind ranges over the similarity of the sun to Jesus. You may be puzzled at that comparison. Let me elaborate.

In the book of John we read that Jesus declared “I am the Light of the World.” Obviously He isn’t the sun we see in the sky, but rather His Light is truth and reality for all mankind.

Ponder this: the sun is an incredibly powerful element of creation. It pulses with unfathomable energy. Though it is 93 million miles from earth it wields influence in every corner of the globe, every hour of the day. It even displays its glory by sharing its light with the moon. That entrancing silvery light, cold and in the night, is the sun second hand!

As the sun warms the earth it stirs plants to grow, giving each green leaf and blade the energy it needs to grow and flourish. That energy and life makes possible the very air we breathe and provides what we need to nourish our bodies. The fundamentals of our very existence are right there in the light of the sun.

So it is with Jesus. As His Light is shed in our hearts we are made into new creations. We flourish and grow. He and His Word are the very spiritual air we breathe and bread we eat.

 

“Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this, in whose had is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Job 12: 9-10

“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the Bread of Life, he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.’

                                                                                                                                                                                               “John 6:35

He lights our life with His Spirit. The Holy Spirit guides our footsteps and lights our way.

 

reading God’s Word is the way to soak in His True Light

Jesus is the most powerful light – eclipsing the sun. What joy to bask in His love and wisdom. What comfort to have Him as the One who shows me the way to live.

It is my hope and prayer that I would reflect His light just as the moon reflects the sun. The moon, even with its pale reflection of the sun, inspires wonder at its mysterious beauty. I hope that as I live for Jesus that His Light would shine through me so others see His beauty, mystery, and power.

QUESTION: Do you have the True Light of Jesus in your heart and Life? Are you reflecting His light to a dark world?

Faith- Really?!

Posted on by Karyn Jeffrey

Faith is complicated. And simple. Many times I’ve heard phrases like, “just have faith” or “I’m a person of faith.”  What does the speaker (or the meme-maker) mean? I venture to guess that the first suggests that the speaker is exercising “positive thoughts” about some desired situation yet to be resolved. The second seems to say that she considers herself to be moral, upright and one who thinks about “spiritual” things with some regularity.

what is ‘FAITH’, really?

 

But the truth is that FAITH depends on what or to whom it is applied. I believe many people are not totally clear about just what ‘faith’ means.

Here is the main part of the definition I found on www.dictionary.com.

Noun

  • Confidence or trust in a person or thing:
  • Belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion.
  • Belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.
  • A system of religious belief: the Christian faith; the Jewish faith.

Notice that the first definition requires confidence or trust of something or in someone. Let me give you an example.

I can stand staring at a chair and declare most emphatically “I have faith that chair will hold me if I sit on it.” But until I actually sit on the chair, my ‘faith’ is just words. Until my action matches my declaration, I don’t really have ‘faith’. The one who has true faith knows what he believes about the object of his faith and is willing to completely trust himself to that object with its implicit message: “I will support you”.

In the case of the chair, we need to know how it is made. We need to know it will be capable of holding us up if we sit in it. If it is made of flimsy material or the joints aren’t glued or screwed adequately it cannot hold us without collapsing. It cannot support us even if we say with vehemence and stern authority that we have faith in it. If the object of our faith is untrustworthy our faith is useless and downright dangerous.

It is the same with our need to know just what it is that will happen to us when we die and where we will spend eternity. Many people have a vague ‘faith’ that their good deeds will outweigh their bad actions. Others think “everybody goes to heaven” with ‘faith’ that God won’t send any one to hell or maybe there isn’t a real hell. Others avoid thinking about the subject altogether. The truth is that we all will die and we all will face the judgement of Almighty God. Where we spend eternity will be the result of what and who we trust.

Eternity is long and the afterlife is real. A real heaven and a real hell exist. There IS a God to whom we will bow and answer for our deeds. On that solemn Day of Judgement what will we say? Jesus says He is the Way to a right relationship with God, but how do we know Who and what is Jesus? Can we trust Him with our soul and eternal destiny? I urge you to read the Gospel of John (especially chapter 10) for a clear answer to that question.

Being a Christian says that I trust or believe specific things about Jesus Christ that will influence my life and my eternal destiny. What is it exactly that I believe and trust about Jesus?  Upon what is my ‘faith’ based?

The Apostle Paul succinctly states it in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4:

“For I delivered to you, as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”

God is perfect and holy, we have sinned and deserve His wrath as punishment. Jesus- God Himself- came to live among us as a real man.  He was crucified and God the Father laid all our sins on Him.  He died in our place under God’s wrath so we do not have to face that terrible judgement. He raised from the dead and lives forever so that we can have eternal life. His perfect life, His death in our place and His resurrection assure only those who believe in Him that they have been saved from their sin and will live forever. There is no other way to approach God and to be sure of our entrance into Heaven.

 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way narrow that leads to life…” Matthew 7:13-14.

God urges you to seek Him NOW while you are being moved to approach Him. You don’t know that you will have the next minute of life, let alone time enough to decide about what you believe. Once you are dead it will be too late.

So if I believe this about Jesus, how does faith act? It takes God’s Word, The Bible, seriously. It hears what God says and obeys what He has commanded. It believes the promises He has made. We obey Him when He says “have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:3.  We believe Him when He declares “the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4: 7.  These are examples of exercising the faith we have been given by our gracious Heavenly Father.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2: 8-9

QUESTION:  So do you just say you have ‘faith’ in Jesus without really being clear what it is that you trust and believe? Do you act on your faith? What does your faith show itself to be genuine?

What are the chances?

Posted on by Karyn Jeffrey

“What a coincidence!” “What are the chances?” So many times I’ve said or heard those surprised remarks when events have come together in ways that seem completely unlikely. Events that amaze us in this way make us think, consciously or not, that they have come about completely at random. My mental picture is of a galaxy-sized green felt gaming table with hands shaking a pair of dice, tossing them and “ta-dah: a pair of sixes!”

Is there really such a thing as “chance”?

But on serious reflection, my belief in God makes this silly picture utter nonsense. What I believe about
God makes and enormous difference in what I believe about how life unfolds. My beliefs shape what I think when I’m running late for an appointment and stalled a traffic light. It changes my vision of the timing of all the transactions and details needed to sell my house, find a new one and make a major move. My convictions about God and His character colors my response to this winter. It seems endless with more snow and cold that has stretched into March. “Where is spring?!”

When face with events that come together in very beneficial and unexpected ways I am turned again to contemplate my amazing Heavenly Father.

The Scriptures say “He has made everything that was made.” (John 1:3) He has named every star (Psalm 147:4) and knows every hair on my head (Matthew 10:30). Scripture declares that Jesus holds every molecule of the universe together “by the word of His power.” (Hebrews 1:3) It says He has set the bounds of the seas (Proverbs 8:29), turns the hearts of men and women where He desires (Proverbs 16:9) raises up kings and puts others down. (Psalm 75:7).

God asks Job piercing questions that vividly show the limits of puny human powers in the face of the Almighty God. I am stopped cold by the force of the comparison of who I am in relation to this vast, inscrutable and almighty Being.

If God orchestrates the rise and fall of nations and kings, if He controls the wind the waves with just a word, if He holds back the ocean by His decree, why would I ever think that two events colliding in a surprising way in my life are “coincidence.”?

He created all things. He upholds all things. He has made me His child by His Son, Jesus’, merciful sacrifice in my place. So why would He leave the unfolding of my life to “chance”?

Is there really such a thing as “chance” in the face of the reality of our Almighty God? “Chance” is not chance even on the gaming tables of every casino in the world. God knows and directs those dice rolls, roulette spins and poker hands. He is using every human action, every weather event, every purpose and plan we make to accomplish His will.

what a contrast to believing “chance” rules the universe!

This knowledge give me tremendous peace. Faced with so many unexpected twists and turns in life, from small “where are my keys?!” moments to “I have cancer?!” shocks, God is there. He has planned and is ruling every detail. He is not a diabolical, cruel puppet-master, but as the good and gracious One who made me, loves me and loves the world He created. He has plans that will come to pass as He chooses. And every event will glorify Him and be for my good. (Romans 8:29)

QUESTION: What or who do you believe controls the events of life?

Do you rest in the living God who keeps and leads you every step toward eternity?

 

Here is a poem by one of my favorite poets: William Cowper, 1731-1800. It is from his series of poems called the “Olney Hymns.” Olney Hymns LXVIII

Satisfied- Not Stuffed – Not Starved

Posted on by Karyn Jeffrey

What can compare to the wonderful sensation of being satisfied at the end of a delicious meal? One is not still vaguely hungry, nor stuffed to painful misery. Satiety is that “goldilocks place” of being filled “just right.” It is tricky trying to balance our eating so that we hit that spot regularly.

Have you ever eaten at one of those “all-you-can-eat” buffets? I have and there is just something about all that alluring food that I am drawn to eat. And eat. And eat. When I finally come to my senses and push back from the table I am miserably stuffed. A grim pall comes over me as I remember how long this bloated, belly-bursting feeling will take to pass. Why did I do it? What was I thinking?

Or maybe you have had days that were so busy from the moment your feet hit the floor until late afternoon that you didn’t eat. You were so engrossed or entangled that you waited too long to eat. Now you are light-headed, ache-y stomached, raving hungry and grouchy. You are, in my daughter’s made up word, “hangry.” That dreadful place of low-blood sugar induced anger at little or nothing.

Comparison can be made to our spiritual lives. The Holy Scriptures are our necessary spiritual food.

We will starve without a regular diet of reading, hearing and meditating on them. It is difficult to get a good balance on the amount of Scripture we regularly read. We are not like boa constrictors. They devour their prey in one large bite and then go for weeks or months without eating again. Physically and spiritually we need to eat much smaller meals much more often. A binge-eating episode at the buffet is really hard on our physical body. And, although it can seem pretty “holy” to read a long passage or even a whole book of the Bible at one sitting, it is like eating at the buffet. There are times when it is helpful to read a long passage. If you are beginning a study of a particular aspect or book of Scripture, reading for an overview is helpful. But for daily spiritual nourishment, we need to be more moderate.

The opposite approach is also a problem. Taking one small verse (or even a phrase) and considering that adequate spiritual nourishment is rather like eating a single soda cracker and thinking you have the nutrition you need for the day or even the week.  Many Christians think that the single verse at the top of the page of a little devotional book plus the short homily that accompanies it is enough to grow on spiritually. I would challenge that notion. It is entirely too easy to take little bits of Scripture out of context and be badly mislead about what God is communicating. Think of that little story about someone who uses the “point and read” method of daily devotion. She opens the Bible and points to the verse she is going to feed herself on today. It reads: “And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed, and he (Judas) went away and hanged himself.” Matthew 27:5 Well, that isn’t terribly uplifting, so she tries again. “…then Jesus said to him, ‘go and do likewise.’ “ Luke 10:37b It is so easy to misunderstand God if we only listen to a single sentence or two of His Word to us.

Are you being satisfied by what is on your spiritual plate? Will it help nourish your inner man?

May I suggest a way to eat a more satisfying spiritual “meal”?  Get your Bible out. Now open your little devotional booklet. Find today’s verse in the selection in the Bible itself. Go digging for the context by reading the verses that come before and after the one in your devotional. It should be obvious where the paragraph or thought starts and ends.

Using the two verses I just noted, here is what I mean. Open your Bible to Matthew 27. Find verse 5 and then “back up” until you come to where the thought begins. Verse 1 starts to tell this part of the story. Begin reading there and it will be obvious that you should read until verse 10. When you have read that amount, there is much to consider that will feed you spiritually. Now try the verse in Luke 10. If you “back up” to verse 30 and read through verse 37, you will have a really nutritious spiritual “meal.” This amount of reading can be very satisfying without leaving you starved or stuffed.

QUESTION: What are your spiritual eating habits?

Are you feeding on God’s Word in a way that nourishes your soul or are you starving and spiritually anorexic?

Will you commit to reading more substantial portions of Scripture? I pray that you will be well-fed and spiritually robust because of your diet of God’s Word.

Why Weddings? Why Marriage?

Posted on by Karyn Jeffrey

Weddings are so romantic! From the small and simple to the grand and elaborate, everyone seems to think the ceremony and celebrations are the focus. Very few give serious thought to the vows and relationship the two parties are entering as they “get married.” Marriage in the 21st Century is in a really strange place. As Valentine’s Day came and went this year I couldn’t help noticing how it always brings out the “aw, isn’t that romantic?!” soft news stories on local TV channels. There are stories of unusual proposals and folks finding the lost love of their lives after years of being separated by choices and circumstances all designed to elicit warm fuzzy emotions from viewers. But an interesting turn in our local reporting the other day got me stirred up to think about marriage in America. The news anchors shared the interesting and, to me, rather alarming statistics about it. Back in the 1960’s nearly 75% of Americans were married and most married in their early 20’s. By contrast, today only about 50% of Americans are married and most are now waiting until their late 20’s or early 30’s to tie the knot. Reasons for not being married include “not finding the right person” (60%), “waiting to be financially stable” (40%), and 20-30% are “not ready to settle down.”

Committing to one person for the rest of one’s life is a sobering and daunting undertaking and we rightly are nervous about it. But despite the expected “rough spots” married people plow into, it is true that marriage has great benefits for the participants and society at large. Stable marriages develop stable families which contribute dramatically to a stable society. Shared financial efforts and tax breaks are part of the benefit package. Statistically married people have better mental health and live longer, healthier lives. So what is it about the institution of marriage that is becoming so hard, so undesirable and so avoided or abandoned?

I would lay the blame at the foot of the Church and consequently the culture. The two are inextricably linked because “ideas have consequences.” What we believe, especially about God, directs our thinking and actions in every way and that is especially true in our ideas about marriage.

I am convinced that the Church is primarily responsible for the low view our culture has of marriage. Since about the mid-20th Century the theologians and pastors have begun succumbing to the lies about Holy Scripture. Many began to depart from the conviction that the Word of God is authoritative, particularly regarding human sexuality and the relations ships between men and women. Compromise has crept into the Church regarding what is plain in Scripture about sexual purity before marriage and fidelity within it. The efforts of churches to be “seeker-friendly” has become a placation of the lost and self-absorbed by ignoring or changing the awkward words and positions the Scripture contains. Excusing ‘fornication’, ‘adultery’, and ‘homosexuality’ became more important than being willing to obey God’s Word –even in the face of scoffing and derision from the world. As a result of this subtle drift, the cultural tide gathered momentum and now we have rushed into promiscuity, infidelity and all sorts of evil and perversion. God’s boundaries for our behavior have been discarded and flaunted and the result is misery and trouble for individuals and the society in which we live.

As we became more self-absorbed we began to dismiss the value and dignity of our fellow man. We elevated our own “choice” as the standard of right and wrong. As a consequence we justified tossing out marriage vows with the shallow excuse of “I don’t love him/her anymore.” Our selfishness has given us license to kill those we deem inconvenient. One young man I encountered years ago at a Crisis Pregnancy center said he was urging his girlfriend to abort their child because he “didn’t want her to lose her figure during swimsuit season.” He and more than 54 million of us have succumbed to lies about the children we have conceived. “It’s just a blob of tissue.” “It’s my/her body.” “I can’t support a child right now.” “I will have to give up my education/job/home.” “My parents will kill me.” Notice all the focus on “self”? Satan is a liar and deceiver. He has twisted our thinking to focus it around ourselves instead of God and His standards.

So what do all these skewed ideas about sexuality and conception have to do with marriage and our society? As we have embraced immoral sexual choices and devalued the lives of our un-born, we have lost our ability to see the need and worth of a committed, one-man, one-woman lifelong marriage. We have believed the lie that we are just an evolved form of amoeba-life rather than the special creation of God Almighty—image bearers of God Himself. We have dismissed marriage that God instituted in the Garden of Eden as a legal affair that is on par with the agreement to buy a car. We fail to regard it as a mysterious union of two people designed to bring more image bearers into being, to give mutual encouragement in the difficulties of life and to accomplish a joint life-work that would be incomplete or impossible for just one or the other to do alone.

To be sure, we live in a fallen world and there are many who find themselves married to an adulterer or an abuser. Our gracious God has given us guidelines and grace in Scripture to help in these heartbreaking troubles. But for most of us, marriage should be faithful lifelong commitment. We ought to see it through God’s lens and value the purposes for which He instituted it.

God instituted marriage for four main reasons:

For companionship

Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” Genesis 2:18

For procreation

God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth…” Genesis 1:27-28

For service to God and man

…And God said to them, “…fill the earth and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1: 28

For a display of the relationship of Christ and His Church.

For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Ephesians 5: 31-32 (for context see the entire passage: Ephesians 5: 22-33)

Let us embrace the high calling of our marriages as one of the best ways to live out our love to God and man. Let us accept the challenges marriage brings as part of God’s sovereign way of “growing us up” into the likeness of Jesus.

QUESTION: What is your evaluation of marriage? Does it reflect what God says or your own (selfish) ideas, desires and “needs.”?