Tag: rest

Posted in Good ol' days, Inspiring, Scripture, Wisdom

Sunday Scriptures – Lines

Posted on by Katharine

In honor of the 400th anniversary of the translation of the Bible into English, commissioned by King James of England in 1611, and originally published by Robert Barker, printer to the King, I will use this version for the rest of this year in these posts. Hope we can enjoy the quaint differences we find here and appreciate all that went into it.

The lines are fallen vnto mee in pleasant places; yea, I haue a goodly heritage.  –Psalms 16:6

The heauens declare the glory of God: and the firmament sheweth his handy works.
Day vnto day vterreth speach, and night vnto night sheweth knowledge.
There is no speach or language, where their voyce is not heard.
Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world: In them hath he set a tabernacle for the Sunne.
Which is as a bridegrome coming out of his chamber, and reioyceth as a strong man to runne a race.
His going forth is from the end of the heauen, and his circuite vnto the ends of it: and there is nothing hidde from the heat thereof.  –Psalm 19:1-6

Whome shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to vnderstand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milke, and drawen from the breasts.
For precept must be vpon precept, precept vpon precept, line vpon line, line vpon line, here a litle, and there a litle.
For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speake to this people.
To whom he said, This is the rest wherwith ye may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing, yet they would not heare.  –Isaiah 28:9-12

Posted in Inspiring, Scripture, Uncategorized, Wisdom

Sunday Scriptures – Home

Posted on by Katharine

How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord Almighty!
My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the Lord;
My heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.

Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may have her young–
a place near your altar,
O Lord Almighty, my king and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
they are ever praising you.

Psalm 84:1-4 (NIV)

Posted in Blessings of Habit, Homemaking, Inspiring, Wives

Spring into Cleaning with Efficiency!

Posted on by Katharine

As promised, here is the 30-minute way to keep your house “Spring Clean” at all times. Well, almost—so close that eventually you are going to love your house and love this method, okay? Here we go:

  1. Commit one-half hour per day to this method. (This truly is all it takes. Use a timer. More about the time aspect in a few minutes.)
  2. Before you begin, gather what you need for that day’s job. (The half hour is for cleaning, not fetching.)
  3. Start at the front door. (First impressions mean a lot to you and to all who pass your way.)
  4. Hurry. You get more done that way. (You can blitz for 30 minutes—sweat never hurt anyone.)
  5. Scrub, scrub, scrub. Clean, clean, clean. Conquer all mold, dirt buildup, dead bugs, cobwebs, and anything else you find that you don’t like. Accept nothing less than squeaky clean. (Make it like new.)
  6. Repair. Fix that nagging thing that bothers you every time you look at it, if you can. Make note of anything you need to buy or get help with fixing. Don’t let this step slow you down! (You’ll need a notepad in your cleaning supplies.)
  7. If you finish before the half-hour is up, great! Move to the right or left and begin another area. (When the timer stops, you stop.)
  8. Repeat, tomorrow, beginning where you left off. (Rest from all this busyness, one day per week.)

Get it? I hope so. This is all there is to it.

Just pick a starting place, go around the circumference of your house (except the kitchen, which we will discuss next week), and clean like lightning for ½ hour per day. If you will faithfully quit after 30 minutes, you will begin again the next day.

After about a month, you will have a new and wonderful habit. After about a year, you will have a house that has been thoroughly Spring Cleaned.

I know, it is not the conventional Spring Cleaning, but I also know, if you are like me, you will hardly know what to do with such a clean house. And if your house is so big, or your arm is so slow, or your interruptions are so abundant, that it takes you two years to make the rounds, tell me: Did your house ever get Spring Cleaned every two years, before? Hmm? This method is not conventional, but is so much more do-able, that it works.

I’ll have company this weekend, so won’t have time to research famous sayings. What I will do, instead, is take you on a visual tour of a couple days of Spring Cleaning at my house, so you can see exactly what it takes.

See you tomorrow!

Posted in Good ol' days, Inspiring, Sayings, Scripture, Wisdom

Saturday Sayings – REFUGE

Posted on by Katharine
  1. Rocks, dens and caves, but I in none of these find place or refuge. –Milton
  2. The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats. –Psalm 104
  3. This last old man—their latest refuge was to send to him. –Shakespeare
  4. Light must be supplied, among graceful refuges, by terracing any story in danger of darkness. –Wotton.
  5. Bred to disguise, in public ‘tis you hide. –Pope

On this date, in 1951, the Unites States adopted the Twenty-Second amendment to the Constitution, stipulating that a president may not serve more than two terms.

Posted in Inspiring, Sayings

Weekly Photo Challenge: Refuge

Posted on by Katharine
My Woods
My Woods

These are my woods.

In spring, these woods beckon to me. I leave housekeeping, planting, and writing, and walk alone through my woods. I can feel the presence of those who have gone before. I think ancient people walked my woods. They were welcome.

In these woods is a small, natural chapel. Pines bent by ice storms form arches over a deep bed of straw. A trickling spring interrupts the palpable hush. Surely the wild things growing here have waited, their beauty unnoticed for ages.

Paths through these woods lead to a gravel road, which leads to town. No one coming from town would be able to find the outlet, the access to the paths; a charming privacy. There are no sounds except the ones God created; a calming quiet.

I go to these woods when they call to me, when housekeeping, planting and writing weary me.

Then I come back. I have promises to keep, and miles to go . . .

Posted in 'Tis the Season, Home School, Inspiring, Wisdom

It Has to End Someday

Posted on by Katharine
Layers of snow on webwork
Layers of snow on sagging webwork

Mr. Snowman is sagging. Snow art propped on cars is sagging. The beauty of it all is slowly passing away.

Well, not all. The beauty of the memories is with me, still. The last hurrah of my life as a mommy is still resounding.

I did it. I raised a whole passel of kids and we all thrived.

The promises all were true.

I love this life. I love that we homeschooled. I hope everyone who casts off from the shores of tradition will carry along plenty of life preservers, because this homeschool trip is worth the finishing, no matter the storms.  And HMS Homeschool is a tight vessel, a beauty, she is, and laden with the stuff dreams are made of.

I think the thing I love best about homeschooling, though, is snow days. From a small child, I have always loved snow. I would stand by our back door and look out the half window at sun on the snow, when I was just tall enough to see out. It sparkled yellow, over mysterious blue shadows. I could hardly bear it. I always knew no one could really capture that sparkle in painting or photo.

Only experiencing snow really tells the things snow has to say. Its gleam is like the gleam on dew, only brighter and rarer.

I like to think I own that gleam. We all do. It is the gleam we scatter onto our children as we handle their lives when they are too little to handle it themselves. Now they sparkle, like snow, only brighter, rarer, more mysterious, and even more impossible to capture.

But I have experienced them and I know what they have to say.

And I am glad.

Posted in Believe it or not!, Blessings of Habit, Inspiring, Scripture, Wisdom

An Anatomy of Pain – Conclusion

Posted on by Katharine

What then are we to make of suffering?

Keep calm means never lose calm.If we are The Called, in Christ Jesus, everything that happens to us is for some higher purpose, even when life DOES go our way. We can know for sure that the pain of suffering unfair treatment, like all other things, works for good. The Scriptures promise this.

  1. Suffering at the hands of an enemy gives us rare opportunities to extend forgiveness to people in Jesus’ name.
  2. It can draw His precious ones closer to Him, if that’s what we want, not like those who move farther away from Him when they face suffering.
  3. It can quiet us from our boasting, give us peace within our limitations, and explain mourning to us in a way we can understand.
  4. Suffering can make us open our Bibles with new earnestness, and oftener, too.
  5. It can teach us new heights of patience with those who watch us and try to help us.
  6. It can cause us to acknowledge God’s authority over us, and to accept His working in our lives as the highest good.
  7. Finally, suffering can cause us to rest in our trust in God, full of His Holy Spirit, and to see His hand in everything that happens around us.

I pray these blessings on you all. They are the whole reason He came, anyway. Right?