Category Archives: Christian Living

Friday Findings 2

The Pursuing Purity Project is a three-book Bible study and resource for women. What captures me about the project is that it goes beyond the usual defining of purity in sexual terms. Author Keiki Hendrix draws her premise from Matthew 5:8–“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”–and she asks, “If this is the formula for seeing God, to be pure in heart, then shouldn’t we pursue that? Shouldn’t we set our hearts on path to have this purity of heart?”

The site offers a 6-part downloadable Bible study (free!) as well as devotionals on the subject of purity. I haven’t investigated the studies yet, but they’re definitely on my list.

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Reflections is a new-to-me blog by Shannon Leibold, on seeing and reflecting the glory of God in our daily lives.

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Every Saturday there’s a roundup of book review links at Semicolon. It’s a great way to discover new reading material, and to share a link to any books you’ve posted about in the previous week. Sherry, the blog owner, posts reviews through the week too.

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I like to support my local Christian bookstores, but I was happy to learn about BooksforChrist, which bills itself as “Canada’s Discount Christian Bookstore” and offers free shipping within Canada on orders over $50. (Amazon.ca and Chapters-Indigo give free shipping on anything over $40.) My local stores are happy enough to order in books for me, but it’s always good to have options. In the US there’s Christianbook.com, and some of my Canadian friends use them, but I’ve always wondered what the shipping and customs fees would be. They have super-low discount prices on some of their books, though.

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Tea lovers will appreciate the lyrics in this song from Canadian jazz singer/songwriter Teresa Doyle: “You’re My Cup of Tea“. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbB-ltjE4hI] You can grab a free download of “You’re My Cup of Tea” from ejazznews.com.

Multi-tasking and Silence

I read a post from The High Calling blog network this week about multi-tasking: Multitasking Fast, by Charity Singleton of the Wide Open Spaces blog.

As she says, a lot of the time we’re not multi-tasking so much as single-tasking with other tasks running in the background, and we’re switching among them as needed. This can work really well, as long as what you’re switching in and out of doesn’t involve investing total concentration. Even then, some people can pull it off. Others lose valuable time and mental speed by reorienting to each new task.

The part of Charity’s post that made me stop and think was the list of things she identified as multi-tasking. Listening to the radio while doing dishes? I’d always thought of it as keeping myself amused while doing something boring. The music will definitely stay on while I’m doing chores. (Sometimes I even do extra chores so I can hear another song….)

But check out her Multitasking Fast and see what she gained in the silence: time to pray. I suppose that’s multi-tasking too, but it’s not the same. All the other things are external. Prayer is internal communication with God.

Charity’s fast reminded me of a somewhat-similar one an acquaintance tried a few years ago: a silence fast. She turned off the music, the TV, the phone, any source of noise she could. I think she still spoke to her family, or maybe she’d gone on retreat.

I remember her describing how hard the silence was to bear at first, and then how she began to appreciate it and to enjoy communion with God in the minor routines of her day.  It was definitely a short-term experiment, but it sure made an impact.

I wonder if I could do a silent fast.

I wonder which of my family members would laugh the loudest at the concept. Silence? Me?

Even I giggle a bit inside at the idea, but something deeper still whispers of peace. Stillness. Wholeness.

We’ll see.

High Calling Blogs Network

HighCallingBlogs.com Christian Blog NetworkI don’t remember how I found the High Calling Blog Network a few weeks ago, but I decided it’s a good place to be. I’m glad to be a new member there, and have added the site to my blogroll here. (You can also reach them by clicking the image in the sidebar.)

I love how the network is described on its Facebook page: “Our desire is to help people connect with God in every part of their daily life, including their work.”

Living our faith means more than going to church. The hard work comes in the daily grind, and I’m looking forward to spending time in this community of faith and work.

Six inspirational links plus a fitness bonus

Stop by Devotional Christian for daily devotionals from Our Daily Bread, Max Lucado, My Utmost for His Highest, Charles Spurgeon, The High Calling and more.

I’ve been enjoying Duane Scott’s Scribing the Journey, especially his post on “Dreaming With a Troubled Heart“.

Flickers of a Faithful Firefly shares beautiful photos and inspirational thoughts. I especially appreciated her post, “Cultivating Stillness“.

I’ve mentioned Free2Soar before. This blog has become one of my favourites, with its short, poetic insights into faith and relationships.

Ever feel overwhelmed with your tasks and responsibilities? I do. Check out Susan Stewart’s post, “Psalm 23 – according to me“, at Whatever He Says.

Kimberley Payne offers a free monthly electronic Fitness & Faith Matters newsletter..

Deskbound? Here’s a 10-minute video on Staying Fit While Sitting All Day. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN5IG4tuLSM]

New Places I’ve Found on the Web

Here are some of the new or new-to-me places I’ve found on the Internet:

My Utmost for His Highest provides daily devotionals by Oswald Chambers

Under the Cover of Prayer shares insights, revelations and stories that will show the power of prayer.

Kyria is an online, subscription-based magazine for Christian women. You can check out a free sample here: Kyria: December 2009: Rest.

Listening to My Hair Grow is a new blog from Rose McCormick Brandon with posts on various topics that arise from “a search to regain quietness in my life”.

Live Green, Live Better is a garden-related blog by Kim Burgsma, offering “tips, tricks and true confessions from a landscape designer”.

Heartfelt Devotionals offers a variety of “Thoughts for Common Sense Living” from Brenda Wood.

Return Home and Tell is a new blog from Kimberley Payne, acting on Jesus’ words in Luke 8:39, “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.”

Free2soar offers flight-themed poetry and Scripture.

Talk on the Way is a website “dedicated to helping our generation know more than just facts about Jesus–to know Him personally” with articles and conversations to deepen personal spiritual growth and relationships.

Maureen’s Musings is the art-and-words blog of Nova Scotia folk artist and writer Maureen Newman. Maureen’s Rural Moments site will let you see all of her paintings.

Dreaming Big shares “reflections about identity, freedom and dreaming with God” from Christian speaker Heather Boersma.

And a hearty thank-you to Ann Voskamp of A Holy Experience, whose blog is not new to me but whose Write! Canada workshop on blogging challenged Christian writers to remember Jesus’ upside-down definition of success and to serve with our words.

Sacred Spaces

One of Elizabeth Laryn’s posts at From Mountain Tops describes a spirit-renewing walk on the beach. It’s worth taking a few minutes to read the entire post and vicariously renew our own spirits.

She closes by asking, “Where will you find a sacred space today? Where do you gaze upon God’s beauty and know that He is God?”

Some days we can make a pilgrimage to spots that have a personal, spiritual meaning for us. Other days a special prayer corner may be our space.

Let’s keep our eyes open, because God can make a sacred space anywhere: the goldfinch that flits past your window, a drop of rain that glistens on a flower petal, a hug from a friend… the possibilities are endless.

Five for 5

Are you familiar with Five for 5? It’s part of World Vision’s Global Child Health Now campaign.

The premise is “Five years is not a child’s lifetime,” and the goal is to influence world leaders attending the G8 summit this June in Canada.

The site offers some disturbing global statistics:

8.8 million children younger than 5 died in 2008 from mostly preventable health issues such as pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, malnutrition and complications at birth.

Another 500,000 moms died in pregnancy, and during or after childbirth.

And in North America, we complain about our health care. I can’t get my head around this, and I can’t imagine what we’ll offer in explanation when we’re facing the Lord.

Click either of the two links above to visit the site and learn how you can help.

How do we deal with suffering?

The other week on the Canadian Authors Who are Christian blog, Canadian singer/songwriter and writer Carolyn Arends wrote:

I recently asked friends online what words and actions had been the least helpful in trying times, and I got a passionate and prolific response. I recognized many of the platitudes listed as things that had come out of my mouth.

If you read her full post, “Allow for Space in the Music: Acknowledging the mystery of pain,” I think you’ll be encouraged and better equipped to offer comfort. If nobody around you is hurting today, someone may be tomorrow. And if you’re hurting today, this may be something you can share with your friends to help them know how to not make it worse.

Introverts and Extroverts

If introverts recharge their strength by being alone, and extroverts draw their energy from being around others, aren’t Christians designed to be ‘God-verts’? Theo-verts, if we want to keep with the Latin theme?

Drawing our strength from God, whether alone or in a group…. He’s an unending power supply.

Isaiah says “…those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.” (Isaiah 40:31a, NIV)

Gladwell Musau of Rainbow Gulf of Love shared some key insights this week in her post, “Encourage Yourself in the Lord“. Check it out–you’ll be blessed.