Mullings and Musings...

• "A Lifestyle of Enough" (Found this super convicting... how about you?)

"We want the bestest, the fastest, the  strongest, the mightiest, the largest, the mostest, the most horse powerest, the most blazing CPU processer-est, and the list goes on and on…Even as I’m typing this on my lethargically slow netbook, I want…I need…I lust…for the new MacBook Air.

But I digress.

Upward mobility never stops because we go through this cycle constantly.

Jesus?

The incarnation is the story of Jesus who gave up the glory of heaven to descend upon this world; he gave up total divinity to be consumed by flesh and bone and to simultaneously assume full humanity.  Born in a manger to commoners, he assumed a simple lifestyle as a carpenter and throughout his life, he owned nothing except the stuff he traveled with.

It’s the story of downward mobility."

•  "Embodied Theology" (This article goes along so well with one of the devotional/Bible study books I'm presently reading, "Heaven," by Randy Alcorn.)

"I have to affirm creation in its wholeness — undivided body and soul included. My theology is embodied because spirituality encompasses all creation, not just the parts I happen to prefer."

• "A Small Step Towards Literacy" (How I pray the church here develops a similar vision, because the mosques already are moving this direction.)

"Khadija never attended college or high school, and only learnt to read in primary school. Like most of the girls in her village, she was married at a young age and spent most of her time at home. Now 42, she does not have children, which she says left her feeling stigmatized in this traditional rural society.

But she wanted to do something more for herself and for the women of the village. In 2008 she set up an NGO, Aleswa-al-hasana (“the good example”)."

• "A Beautiful Conversion Story" (We saw this video the day after we received word that EBM was closing. It was so encouraging and then the words of the one who shared it, another missionary, were so convicting.)

"This reminds me that no one is too old, famous, or sinful to share the Gospel. I need to open my eyes... and my mouth." (...added by me, for effect!)

• "when perfectionism & to-do lists overwhelm" (This is the second time I've read this post... both times I wondered, at the beginning, "Is she talking about me?")

“'God doesn’t ask me to be perfect; He asks me to praise.'

I don’t have to have smudgeless windows and empty laundry baskets and gleamy toilet bowls! I don’t have to have a perfect life, all problems solved! I think I hear the Hallelujah chorus!

I simply need have a grateful heart to give Him glory.

Gratitude in all things is the only thing God asks.

Can I take each seeming problem and turn it back to praise?"