I Love a Good Book-Burning!

The time has come for the lighting of fires. As a former resident of a national park which was prone to bushfires, I hasten to add that one must not light a fire if there is a ‘total fire ban’ in place. But here, in this colder part of the world, in a house with a lovely little wood-burning stove, it is time to get that fire lit!

Here’s a picture of my little stove:

My lovely little wood (and book) burning stove

The photo was taken this time last year by a lovely friend who just happened to be visiting and just happened to be a skilled photographer. It also just happened to be a time of great happiness and anticipation.

At that time my prayer journals read something like this:

‘Thank you, Lord, for this great joy! I’m so happy! You are so good to me! I wish that everyone could be this happy!’

I say they read something like this because I can’t be sure. Prayer journals make excellent fuel for one’s lovely little stove.

Not long after, I was writing something like the following:

‘Thank you, Lord, for being in control over all this. Please help me to trust you with what I don’t understand. Please lift me out of this sadness. Give me joy.’

Or words to that effect. Those prayers also went into the fire.

I burned them, not because the prayers were meaningless but because I’d rather not read them again myself and certainly wouldn’t wish others to read them in their repetitive whole.

The lovely thing is that God is answering those prayers. He’s proved himself to be wonderfully and powerfully good through it all. He’s shown me his love in ways I could never have planned or imagined. The joy I’ve been praying for is slowly being forged in my heart. He’s lifting me up and helping me to keep trusting him with things I don’t understand.

I was reading a book on my way home on the bus today and was up to the chapter on forgiveness. I was so struck by these words from the apostle Peter’s first letter, paraphrased by Eugene Peterson in ‘The Message’:

‘What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven – and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all – life healed and whole.

I know how great this makes you feel, even though you’ve had to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.

You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don’t see him, yet you trust him – with laughter and singing. Because you kept on believing, you’ll get what you’re looking forward to: total salvation.’

(1 Peter 1:3-9, The Message, cited in Relationships: A Mess Worth Making, p 103)

I love a good book-burning! I love the warmth it produces, anyway.

I may not love it when I’m facing God’s refining fire in my life, but I love the joy and hope it produces.

My leftover lentil soup is presently warming up on top of the stove. A couple more notebooks should do the trick!

 

 

An Elephant’s Tale

The other day, in my ongoing efforts to declutter my home, I came across one of my favourite stories. I also found my journal entry about this same story. The journal entry is copied below.

Travel with me (and the elephant) if you will…

Yesterday I finished reading a delightful and refreshing book: The Elephant’s Journey’ by Jose Saramago. It was translated from Portuguese, which is just as well because I don’t speak Portuguese.

The narrator in the story was careful to explain ‘historical’ details of life, politics and travelling in the 1550s, which is just as well because I’m living in 2012.

The author is a keen observer of human nature under the pressures of unfamiliar experiences and long journeys, which is just as well because, though I have made my own observations under similar pressures, I have no such skill as Jose’s to express it with such clarity and irony.

Aside from recommending this book to anyone who’d listen, I was delighted to read that the elephant, called Solomon, and his travelling companions passed through Verona, Trento, Bolzano, Innsbruck and even stopped off temporarily in Salzburg.

Why was I delighted? Because I am about to undertake this same journey over the next couple of weeks. Saramago’s fable is based on a true story of an elephant and his journey several hundred years ago. I love the fact that I’ll be treading in the footsteps of both an actual and a fictional elephant.

Most of my journey will be by train. I’m told, in another book I’m reading, this is considered ‘slow travel’. So though I’m no literal elephant, I’ll be taking my time as I tote my 20 kilos of luggage behind me (in addition to my own, not to be enumerated, personal kilos) on a journey I’ve not taken before. But the elephant has.

So far I’ve been staying with friends in somewhat familiar places. This next stage of the journey is not familiar and therefore a little scary. I’m trying to be brave. Several Bible verses supplied by friends these past few days make mention of the Lord taking hold of my right hand – which contains all sorts of baggage – and that he won’t forsake me.

His hands are so big and hold much more than me and my solitary travelling.

Though it is of some comfort and amazement that I’m travelling where an elephant has travelled before me, it is of much greater comfort to this timorous traveller to have God as my present travelling companion. Him and his big hands.

Which is just as well, because elephants don’t have hands and the feet they do have inevitably end up as umbrella stands.

For those who are interested, I completed the journey safely and happily. I saw places I’d never seen and learnt things I needed to learn.

‘The Elephant’s Journey’ remains on my bookshelf – a survivor of the decluttering and a symbol of my own survival as I journeyed to unfamiliar lands.

 

Daily Post – Second-Hand Stories

With Marcella #71 (of 466)

I’m feeling inspired!

I’m often feeling inspired but rarely do anything about it. This may or may not be a bad thing.

Today I made a visit to the Knitting and Stitching Show. The show was making its annual visit to our beautiful city. So I made my annual visit there. It was like a trip down memory lane – down the lane of memories of half-finished or never-started craft projects.

This time, I came away with nothing but inspiration. In my ongoing project of decluttering my house, I have given away most of the craft materials that I’d gathered over many years. I’ve kept the ones that I know I’ll use – which aren’t many.

So, how was I inspired?

I came away from a very crowded, very intense, very urgently creative atmosphere, thinking one thing.

Simplicity.

Actually I was thinking many things! I was inspired to think about how I might learn to celebrate the ordinary in life, the simple things that are already there before me. Of course, craft can be one of those ordinary, simple things but I’m talking really simple.

As I’ve removed many unnecessary things from my home, I am still left with things! I am trying to stick with the ‘Do you use it? Do you love it?’ mantra as I sift through things. As I pare down my home’s contents and think about how I can also simplify my life a little, I am finding that I am noticing afresh the things that are beautiful in my home. I am appreciating the things that are necessary.

It’s possible that I’m being a little obsessive and a little compulsive about the decluttering? But I don’t think so. A good friend wondered if my aim was to reduce the contents of my house to Marcella’s cookbook and a cafetière! I’ll let you know if it ever gets close to that.

I’m inspired to create something that will celebrate the ordinary. I’m still in the thinking and planning stages.

So you must watch this (increasingly decluttered) space!

In the meantime, I’m off to use up those lentils in the cupboard and the carrot and onion in the fridge and make the second of Marcella’s lentil soups.

About to leave my table and make: #71 ‘Lentil Soup’