Raisin Cakes

Hello all! Can I tell you more about my dancing lessons? Will you still listen? Perhaps those of you who know how close dancing is to my heart, how it is one of the ways I am moved to such joy that it can only be from the Lord, perhaps those of you will read on.

I have had several lessons by now, and Lance and I have narrowed the dances I wish to learn to the following four: waltz, tango, cha-cha and salsa. Lance said he was surprised I chose the waltz and tango because people my age tend to chose the dances you can do in clubs. But, I chose them because they are very aesthetic dances, and when I did them for the first time, I fell in love with them. Lance turned on this really beautiful waltz song and we floated across the dance floor, I was transported.

But enough of that. Meanwhile at home I'm just here helping out. I'm eagerly awaiting my paperwork to arrive from Lincoln so I can start subbing at the very least (so I can pay for more dance lessons). I am living a very quiet life, and that is okay because sometimes you can hear the voice of God better in the stillness.

In my quiet time book (yes, I am still doing that with occasional breaks in the Psalms) we have moved onto Hosea, and God's heart for His people, and how deeply He loves them. The chapter opens with Hosea 2:14 which says, "Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her." I have been led into a desert (quite literally), and God does allure me. In studying Hosea, He nearly terrifies me with the depth and steadfastness of His love for His people, a group in which I am included.

There is something about knowing (in your mind) and hearing that God loves you and will never cease to, and then there is something altogether different about reading about it. But not just reading about it. There are times in the Word when I am not reading anymore, but have put myself in the shoes of the Israelites (or whoever it may be), and am brought face to face with the reality that God is trying to communicate. His huge, all-encompassing, never dying, passionate love for a people who would sooner worship and love sacred raisin cakes then the God of the Universe. Yet how can I condemn them because I love raisin cakes too, they just look less like raisin cakes and more like entertainment, convenience, and any other number of things I turn to for my life.

Then, if I can wrap my human, finite mind around His love for even a moment and move under His banner, there is, perhaps, the greater issue of His plan for His glory. Once I am on my knees submitting and moved by His great love I begin to want to live for His glory. God has also laid out how He wants us to live. In peace, and harmony with love for others because when we are under His banner, we can see others the way He sees them. We can love others the way He loves them. And so, the question I have been grappling with this week (and will probably be grappling with for much of my life) is how can I love my family so that they don't see me, but God? Or see Christ in me. However you want to say it. How can my actions and words show to my family the love and grace bestowed on me by God?

I think that is all for now, thank you for listening. Or reading, as it were.