Song for Sunday: Trailer Hitch

First my friend over at ReInventing Silver Threads wrote a piece on the 30 Day Minimalism Challenge.

Then, I saw this on my Facebook newsfeed:

  
Then I turned on the car radio, flipped through a few channels and came across this song (starting at the second verse.)

 

I picked it for today's song for Sunday for Sunday because I think Someone's trying to send me a message. So, here's my plan: for the next 30 weekdays (leaving Saturdays for catch-up and taking Sundays off) I will clean out one box from my attic. My attic should be clear of excess stuff by Easter and my unpacking from moving three years ago will be done! I plan to donate or trash much of it. Glorious freedom.

What's your decluttering plan? Or, if you don't need to declutter, your Lent plan? 

Anyway, hope you enjoy the song and that Lent is helping you grow closer to our Lord.

Have a blessed day!

My Snow Banks Have Snow Banks

There is an awful lot of snow here in the northeastern US.






 The snow banks are over our heads.

Our lawn furniture is buried and our roofs carry so much weight that some have collapsed. (I raked the garage roof after this photo was taken -- but it's full again.

In fact, there is so much that some of us wonder if we'll ever see the ground again ... or at least if we'll see it before June. It feels like it will be a long hard road.. but summer will come sooner than we really expect.

And in the meantime there is beauty.. and sledding. 

Lent can seem like that, too. From this vantage point of the beginning this season of fasting and focusing on spiritual disciplines, of voluntary depriviation and self-evaluation feels like it will be long and dull. It can be a difficult time...and the deepest comes at the end, when we commemmorate Christ's death on the Cross.

But the joyous season of Easter will be here before we really expect it...

and in the meantime there is the beauty of a deepening relationship with Jesus and the wonder of increased maturity.

May your Lent be blessed and productive and may you grow closer to the one who sacrificed for you.

Pancake Tuesday

Pancake Tuesday is the name people in Britain give to the day before Lent. Traditionally, it was for the purpose of using up milk, eggs, sugar and other items that were not allowed during the fast. It is more vestigial for most people now, including my family.


We had pancakes today, as we do every year. Here's the recipe I used:



2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 T baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 egg and 1 portion egg substitute (1 Tground flaxseed soaked in 3Twarm water)
2 cups vanilla soymilk
4T olive oil


Mix and then cook on griddle over medium heat.


Meanwhile cut up one apple person into 8 sections and place in pie plate. Sprinkle 1/2C brown sugar over the wedges. Bake at 325 degrees for 40 minutes.

Layer pancakes and apples on each plate. Serve with maple syrup and butter or whatever you like on yout pancakes.

Enjoy!

And have a blessed Lent, focused on our Lord. 

Song for Sunday: Miss Otis Regrets

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/cole-porter/about-the-musician-and-composer/507/

One story about this song is that the great Cole Porter was having lunch at a fancy restaurant when he bragged to a a friend that he could write a song on any subject and make a hit out of it.

At the next table, a waiter approached a lone diner and impassively stated "Miss Otis regrets she is unable to lunch today"

"There's your subject," announced Mr. Porter's friend. So he wrote these lyrics and this tune.

Other stories circulate as to the song's origins, some of them detailed here.

Miss Otis Regrets -- history


However it came about, it did become a hit. Demure tune... powerful lyrics. A statement about the  passions of society's elite, hidden behind the strict etiquette of the wealthy of the 1930s.


Here's the song as sung by Ella Fitzgerald in 1956.

What songs grab your attention with an element of surprise?

Kids, Parents and Religion

"... parents from religious traditions that in general promote greater commitment and encourage discussing faith outside the sanctuary also were more likely to have children who remained active in their faith as young adults."
 

Check out this article.

Parents are top influence in teens 

remaining active in religion as young adults

Seems we parents are important to our kids faith... and that holding them accountable keeps them more interested. I wouldn't be surprised if that held true in other areas, like education and community service. If we do it, they'll do it. If we encourage effort and commitment they'll respond.

Quite a challenge. Quite a responsibility.

May we prove ourselves up to it!

Blessings on your day!



----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Christian Youth Conference at Ocean Park is very willing to help out parents by providing their teens with a two week experience of Christian community. It meets in August, on the beautiful southern coast of Maine. \Check it out... www.cycop.org