Tag: wisdom

A Little Letter Play

Posted on by Karyn Jeffrey

Travel and garden produce preservation projects have kept me from my studio in recent weeks. Today was a “free day” so I dug out my inks, pens and practice paper. I played with an alphabet learned from well-known calligrapher, Barry Morentz. (Here’s his website: https://acornarts.org/barry-morentz-gothicized.html  or you can find him on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/barrymorentz/ His “Gothicized Italic” letters are his hallmark. I admire them very much. I used the Speedball Textbook with his exemplar to guide my letter play today. Also used my Westwind practice pad, calli red ink and walnut ink and a size 2 Mitchell nib to do this lettering.

Here is my “dinking around.” LOTS of mistakes, but it is fun to get back in the calligraphy saddle after a long time away.

practice lettering using “gothicized italic” letters developed by Barry Morentz

Hidee-ho, off I go. Time to get ready for “Girls’ Night Out” with a gaggle of friends.

QUESTION:

What have you neglected to do that would be fun and “good for your soul”? Will you carve out a bit of time to do that fun thing this weekend? Hope so!

Every Good Thing

Posted on by Karyn Jeffrey

Every good thing comes down from God. What good am I enjoying right now? Fresh air? A sound mind? A good night’s rest? The delight of my pet? Good, safe nutritious food to eat? Friends? Hot and cold running water? Indoor toilet? A lovely park in which to stroll? My eyesight? Hearing? The list goes on and on and every item on it is from my Heavenly Father.

The source of all this good is our amazing God, who never changes. His Being is unshifting. His character is perfect and will never change—not even the hint of moving. Think of the subtle change in shadows as the day opens and closes. Even though we must watch carefully to see it, there IS movement.  There is change in every aspect of our world, but God is not like that. His Word assures us “The LORD will bless His people with Peace.” Psalm 29:11 He has set His love on me and so I will be kept by the Unchanging One.

Wherever I turn, physically and mentally, I can see His amazing hand —the Great Giver of All Good. This season of thanksgiving brings me to a renewed sense of His blessings that abound beyond numbering.

I am rejoicing and thanking Him for His good gifts to me. The greatest is His unchanging and loving choice of me to be one of His children. What is on your list of things to thank God for today?

Perplexing Political Problems

Posted on by Karyn Jeffrey

There are two people running for the highest office in our land. I am utterly horrified at the criminal activities and immoral stances of the one, and the boastful, careless and immoral behaviors of the other. How can I as a Christian, in good conscience vote for either one? I am perplexed. There is no parallel in Scripture for the situation that faces our nation. But I believe we can know what to do in November and today, and tomorrow and the next day.  Here is how I think that is possible.

First: pray for wisdom (James 1:5).  This requires spending time reading His Word.  You need to read in other places than Daniel and Revelation in an effort to “know the times and the seasons” Act 1:7 to the exclusion of seeking to “know Jesus” 2 Peter 1:3. You need to read other places than just a verse or two that accompanies a daily devotional booklet. (That is like eating one saltine cracker in the morning and thinking it will suffice for all your nutritional needs for the day.)  You need a well-rounded understanding of who God is and what His thoughts are. That requires time and diligent effort. Read Isaiah 55:6-13 for a powerful encouragement. This passage will give you some helpful perspective.

Wisdom doesn’t come in one “ahha!” moment that is a specific answer once-and-for-all solution. Gaining wisdom is a lifelong process. But God has promised to lead those who keep seeking Him. No time spent reading His Word is wasted. EVER!

Seek the LORD while He may be found...

Second: realize we live in a time that, to us, looks utterly out of control. But God is still sovereign and is working out His plan. He says in His Word that He will deal with boasters, liars, and wicked people of every kind. Read the first 5 Psalms. This is a short but very comforting read!

Third: don’t throw up your hands and just fatalistically say, “I can’t do anything about the political mess and God is going to rapture me out of here and I won’t have to deal with it anyway…” That is not what Scripture says about the end times… but that is another conversation altogether.

Fourth: remember we are not given directions now for our actions in November. We must keep thinking, keep praying, and keep reading. We must keep expecting God to lead us because He has promised over and over to show us the way to walk. When the time comes, the Spirit will superintend our decision. In the meantime, we need to walk quietly with our God. We need to walk in the Light He has given. We need to keep reading and seeking to know Him because He is our wisdom. He is our Peace. He is our Shepherd. His being our Good Shepherd is His promise to lead us in the perfect path at the perfect time. He knows! We don’t. Trust Him.

Keep asking for wisdom. Keep seeking to know Jesus and then trust God to guide your thinking. He is faithful and will give the wisdom, reveal Himself to you and lead you in the way you should go.

WWJD in Roseburg?

Posted on by Karyn Jeffrey

live at peace

Beloved Brother just wrote an e-mail to us this morning asking about what we thought regarding the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:38-48. “”but I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on our right cheek, turn the other to him also…” His Men’s Bible study group had apparently tried to apply this to anyone who might have rushed at and assaulted the shooter in the Roseburg shootings in an effort to save lives. I assume they think Jesus requires us to not “assault” the bad guy but just let him do his evil. Hmmm. I disagree. Here is what I wrote to my brother.

Very interesting passage of Scripture your Men’s Bible Study tackled! We (Spouse, Mother and myself) discussed it over breakfast –thrashing out the issues your group must have worked over, too. “Spouse” is like you and knows if he were in a situation like the Roseburg shooting (or any of the ones in the past few years) that he would rush the shooter with the intent to stop the carnage. (He candidly admits his human instinct would be to “smash the guy’s face” in the doing.) His motive would be to defend others from the evil intent of the shooter to kill.

Turning the other cheek is often misread, I believe. Scripture teaches us to defend the helpless [Psalm 82:3, 4] and to seek righteousness [James 3:18]. KILLING IS A CLEARLY EVIL ACTIVITY in this context. [Exodus 20:13] Doing whatever you can to stop someone from killing is acting righteously.

Notice the wording of Matthew 5:39, 40. The aggressor is facing you, smacking you on the cheek. Now think about the shooting situation. To stand, watching, while someone else makes a punching bag or shooting target out of another is wrong. In contrast to this assault on other human beings, if someone smacks you they want to stir up a fight with you. It may be a verbal goad or an actual physical assault, but it is aimed at an individual trying to provoke conflict. We are called to be at peace with our fellow man in as much as possible it lies with [us][Romans 12:18]. So not retaliating (“turning the other cheek”) will make the perpetrator’s intention of confrontation fizzle. “FOR LACK OF WOOD A FIRE GOES OUT.”[Proverbs 26:20] We get to choose to live as people who are not quarrelsome and belligerent. We represent Jesus who always responded peaceably. However, if an attacker is trying to kill you or hurt you, defend yourself. But if he is only trying to pick a fight, don’t go there! Love him enough to not let him sin against his fellow man (you). Stop the fight before it begins.

Our contemporary culture has been trumpeting the humanistic idea that if we all are “nice” bad things won’t happen. But they do, no matter how pleasant we may try to be. We must stand for the right and yet must love our enemies. Sometimes love shows by saying, “I love you too much to let you continue in this evil activity. It will gather God’s wrath on your head, and you don’t want that.”

One of the most fundamental things about studying God’s Word is to remember that Scripture will never contradict itself. Scripture will interpret Scripture. Faithful study requires digging and thinking—and most of all a reliance on the Holy Spirit for the true teaching we need. Wisdom from God teaches us to hear the whole counsel of Scripture and to apply God’s wise principles on what we read and study. It is very easy to cherry pick verses from the Bible to satisfy any human idea. Probably you have heard this example of two different passages that show this: “Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.” [Gen. 4:8] and then “And Jesus said… ‘Go thou and do likewise.’ ” [Luke 10:37]. Think the Matthew 5 passage through in light of all else you hear God saying in His Word.
Hope this answers your questions about what we think.

QUESTION: Are you a peacemaker or a willing participant in quarrels and fights?