Friday, March 29, 2013

Just as Christ loved the church...

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It's so easy to miss.

The fifth chapter of Ephesians is typically invoked by people who want to talk about roles of husband and wife in marriage.  (I love what it says about marriage, though I don't always agree with the way it's interpreted.)

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But then the apostle Paul slips this in:

"This is a profound mystery--but I am talking about Christ and the church."

It's Holy Week.  This year as I think about what Christ has done for us, my heart has been filled with his love for the church.  My own church is halfway into a year or more of searching for a pastor--for our future.  I love my church almost as though it were my own flesh and blood.  It is not a building, it is a family, a "body", of which Christ is the head, a body full of people whose presence in my life is more powerful than I can say.  And this body is a little weary.  We have been without our much beloved pastor for awhile, and we are still far from the arrival of the next.  It's a healthy, cleansing season.  God has cared for us beautifully in the process, but that doesn't make it easy.

This year I am thankful that when Jesus was praying right before he was crucified (John 17), he prayed for the church.  Here's how he prayed to his heavenly Father:

...that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.
...not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one.
...Sanctify them (make them distinct from the world) by the truth; your word is truth.
...that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.  May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
...Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

I have sensed his invitation to me this week to join him there and allow him to make his prayer my own.

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I love how Paul reflects on what Christ's sacrifice meant for the church in Ephesians 5:

...Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.  The church submits to Christ.

...Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

...he feeds and cares for the church, for we are members of his body.

Amen.  Make it so, Lord Jesus.  In your greater church.  In my church.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Family fix

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a.k.a spring break on the tundra.

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What do you do for fun at home with middle schoolers?

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Dinner and basketball at Pizza Ranch.

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I don't actually play basketball.  Shock, I know.

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But there is no better way I can think of to capture my family's relationships than a courtside table.  
Pure awesomeness.

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Even when the relationship is the love/hate relationship with the camera lens.

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I won't lie to you.
The tween and teen years take a little creativity.

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And patience.

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Totally worth it.

You know what else is worth it?
Laser tag.  Impossible to photograph.  A blast to play.
Middle schoolers.  Love.

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Saturday, March 23, 2013

Little Brother

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You remember Big Brother, right?

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I got to meet his Baby Brother!
Shhh!


He's sleeping!

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Their Gram came to visit this week.

Gram and boys

She is SO proud of her boys!

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It's not hard to see why she's smitten, that's for sure!

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Little Brother wasn't about to sleep through his visit with Gram.
How do babies know just who is going to spoil them from day 1?

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Big Brother's world might be a little upside down,

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but he is still busy doing his big boy stuff...
like learning the alphabet from garbage trucks!

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He is certainly not forgotten!

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Welcome Little Brother!

You are such a sweet gift from God!

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Reverse Mount Macro

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My favorite photographers

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are the ones who know you learn best by teaching others.

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Like this one who told me about reverse mount macro rings

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and linked to more information here.

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This

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was my very first try.

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I think I'm hooked.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Changing Seasons

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Photo 52, Week 12:  Changing Seasons

This week I pledged to myself that I would find a naturally occurring sign of changing seasons.
Here is Ben, fresh in from shoveling, drinking the customary After-Shoveling Cocoa.
With spring flower marshmallows.
Also, the number on his hand is from baseball tryouts. 
(Which went much better than last year.  Whew!)
Baseball season is really on the way, people!
Hopefully we won't be wearing parkas???

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It's been below zero this week.  Not below freezing, below ZERO.
So enough of the naturally occurring signs.
I had to import some.
Don't they look like they're waving goodbye to the snow?

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Funny thing is, the rabbits that I harass all summer long 
when they are in my garden eating my flowers

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are now seeking refuge at my front door.
THAT's desperation.
Fat chance bunny, but you sure are cute.

Dear Spring,
You are welcome any minute now!!

Love,
Tracy P.