Photo by Erol Ahmed on Unsplash
I had to remake something in the shop today because it didn’t come out perfect. And what you need for a show is perfect. “I’ll make yours perfect even if this one isn’t!” just doesn’t cut it. People want to see what they’re actually going to get.
I’ve called myself a recovering perfectionist for a number of years now. The trap of perfectionism is performance-based acceptance, and that is not what I am called to as a follower of Christ. He bestows on me the performance of Another, in order to wipe out my futile attempts to follow his commands under my own power, and to restore right relationship with the Father.
I’m not all the way there yet – not even close! – hence the “recovering” part. Days like today are a gentle reminder from a kind God.
In other news, the left side of my left hand continues to be pseudo-numb, increasingly so when my arm is bent in any way. I must have something pinched in my elbow but I have no clue how to go about getting it addressed. Open to advice on this one.
Today:
things read.
from actual books
Anytime, anytime while I was a slave, if one minute’s freedom had been offered to me, and I had been told I must die at the end of that minute, I would have taken it – just to stand one minute on God’s earth a free woman – I would.
Elizabeth Freeman
In “adopting” us, God has taken no half measures; we have been made full members of the family and partakers of all the privileges belonging to members of that family.
Douglas Moo, The Epistle to the Romans
tbr.
add it to the list
- Harrison Scott Key’s How to Stay Married – thanks to Ashlee Gadd and Abigail Murrish
snippets.
just a line or two
The pagans deified Maternity… We’ve gone the other direction; we treat it like a disease or an obstacle.
Matt Walsh
the interwebs.
a link list
Are Sinners Worthless? Thomas Brewer explains an oft considered false dilemma. "The very judgment we deserve speaks to the dignity we’ve compromised."
He Leads Me Beside Still Waters Jacob Crouch encourages us to look at God's sovereignty through another lens. "God is with us in the valley, but He leads us by the stream too. He is kind in His sovereignty."
The Lowly Servanthood of Motherhood "The world often tells us we were meant for greater and better things, but God created us for the very place he has us right now."
5 Ways the Digital Age is Transforming the Way You Think Samuel James provides some helpful insights on the digital life.
The Telos Group on Facebook I've been struggling with where exactly to land on Hamas's latest assault on Israel. I reached out to an old friend who's done some work in the area and he shared this organization's release regarding the attack. "We long for a day when this violence will be no more. When Israelis and Palestinians can live together, side-by-side, collectively or confederationally, and flourish. That future—a future of dignity, security, and freedom for Israelis and Palestinians in equal measure—cannot happen until this spiral of ever-deepening violence is interrupted, and the underlying sources of injustice are addressed." He also shared releases from his organization, Churches for Middle East Peace, here and here. Would love some more dialog on this.
the IG.
story-worthy
It could be worse... Let's just stop. "He knows exactly how to lift us up and carry us on in the wake of it all."
soundtrack.
in my ears
Good for the quiet moments.
If we consider the law as a vessel that had some water in it before, [Christ] did not come to pour out the water, but to fill the vessel up to the brim. Matthew Henry
In View 
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