Move that energy!

Friday, May 31, 2024

I've been restless in the house which means a shift is coming. I hold off until after our Bali trip. I used to move with help from our kids when they lived at home. Or I'd shift a room by myself. (Moving the piano from one room to another was a bit of a stretch.) Today the living and dining areas are swapped. It starts like this.

We take the accessories away before vacuuming the carpets and the floor underneath.

We shift the dining room to the sunnier area near the sliding windows. The alternative is moving houses or stirring up trouble haha. W is grateful that IbuS and PakG do the work, rather than him or me.

Add color and we're set.

Saturday

The rearranged space feels cozy when we get up. Our guests say the same thing later in the day.

After a walk and chat with my Mom, I write a proposal for a future project. W reads, comments, and we table the proposal to pray about it over the weekend. 

Brunch with Danny is full of stories. They captured a 5' (1.6 meter) "batik" python on his farm's hill. The zoo wanted $14/mo to keep it so he rehomed it with a friend who lives away from small children. Pythons are good ratters.

We enjoy sitting and chatting - I've walked past this place cafe and wondered what was inside. Looks like a new option for tea and coffee. The rain starts in earnest so W runs home for the car. By the time he returns, it a deluge.

Back home, Shibli has packed hundreds of books into Danny's car; a few are left for the person coming next weekend.

W and I review and edit his Sunday talk. I listen to some leadership and class podcasts. 

Sunday

We talk about 2 men with the same name who make very different choices. The consequences are stark: choose God's way and leave a legacy even if you suffer or are redirected. OR choose your own way and you'll go down in history as someone who never lived up to your potential.

It's Round Table Sunday with time for discussion about the choices we make. Titik has outdone herself with table arrangements and a massive flower bouquet for the platform.

We take them home after lunch and thank God for beauty.

After lunch at Nara, we submit the proposal and rest.

Our guards are on alert while we're away. Their tail-wags say they're happy we're home.

Monday

Oh my - the day flies by. After a few online meetings, there's class prep, writing, and back-and-forth messages to schedule what's incoming. After Bible study, W posts a movie night announcement for Wednesday. The guest list fills up before noon. 

IbuS works at the posiandu (community clinic) every first Monday of the month. Taking a break from books, I learn how to make flour tortillas. Works! in time for a delicious lunch. I learn something new, which is fun. W and I test out the small table.

It pours rain and thunder flashes nearby. We have 3 anxious dogs and a happy "piglet:" our labradoodle loves to roll in the wet mud. She doesn't know how dirty she gets and wants to cuddle when I come out to pet the dogs. Um, please stay there. I'll happily touch the (hardly-any) clean parts of you... good girl.

When I look up from my desk, it's 5:00. The desk is piled high with giveaway sets of books and classroom items. I get a WhatsApp message from a high school: "Want more?" Sure. Let's see where God will send it all.

My work includes deciding when the shelves and desks from the school's renovation can be picked up from the school. They are ready for us, but it takes us until Friday to reset the house from movie night BEFORE more lands here.

Tuesday

I meet online with a friend = life-giving. W and I come back from walking the dogs. Then I'm out the door to shop for tomorrow. PakG is a big help, pushing 2 full grocery carts to the car and hauling them into the kitchen. The helpers unpack. By the time I turn around twice, the first of 3 loaves is baking in the bread maker - and they've stashed everything in the fridge or where it's ready to chop.

Tomorrow I start cooking at 4 or 5am. We expect 50-60 young people for dinner and a movie after sundown. 

Our team meeting is hybrid today. After they leave, W and the guys move furniture and rugs out of the living room and start to set up for tomorrow.

Read more:

**O Lord, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you. Psalm 41:4

*“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.

 

"I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no savior. I have revealed and saved and proclaimed--I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “that I am God. Yes, and from ancient days I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?” Isaiah 43:10-13

IPaul wrote: I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:9-10

Moravian Prayer: Holy One, we act against you every day, unfit to be your followers. We have done nothing to deserve your forgiveness. Yet by your grace, you still guide us, love us, save us. Remind us every day that we owe you our lives, our gratitude, our praise. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

Real place to play

Just saw it all: a kitchen, complete with cupboards and counters. The sink and stove are gone. The homeowner turned the whole area into her office and studio. 

What a great idea. So many lovely kitchens languish because people don't cook. Why waste the space by squirreling yourself away in a back bedroom when you could bring your work and art to the gathering place? It's somewhere to cook up a storm of creativity and plop down your chopsticks and Chinese takeout container, too.

What next? God has made us endlessly inventive, like himself. I like it. 

What room would you turn into your playroom, if you could? 

Read more:

*Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Psalm 103:1-5 NIV

*Here is another illustration Jesus used: 'The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants; it grows into a tree, and birds come and make nests in its branches.

*Jesus also used this illustration: 'The Kingdom of Heaven is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.' Matthew 13:31–33 NLT

*Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:1-2 NIV