Love Covers a Multitude of Sins

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

1 Peter 4:8

Lately, I've been reading and studying 1 Peter, reflecting over the sermon series we had a year or so ago. The Timberline series notes are still posted on the website, so I've been reading through them as I go. It's good stuff... my margins are now full of scribbled notes, with underlined verses and circled words all throughout.

But this verse in particular keeps standing out to me. Love covers over a multitude of sins. Sometimes, it's just not practical or wise or prudent to confront someone... sometimes, we just have to let love do the work. The sermon notes say, "It means we consciously choose to let it go... Many times love can just cover over the offense." It doesn't matter how far in the past or into the future... Love covers over a multitude of sins.

After all, isn't that how the ultimate act of love and sacrifice came about? Jesus' love covering a multitude of sins. We are called to live like Christ, and it doesn't get much simpler than that. 

Love covers a multitude of sins.

5 New Year's Resolutions You Should Definitely Keep This Year

I don't usually make many (if any) New Year's resolutions. 

I think I've come to realize that in many ways, they are a waste of time. Historically, I haven't fully followed through--usually I get halfway and then got distracted. Why make a resolution if I'm not going to keep it? I also have come to the conclusion that I often make resolutions throughout the rest of the year. Whenever there's something I feel the need to work on, I do it then and there instead of waiting for the new year.

But I do recognize the value in setting aside specific time to make changes in your life and change the things about yourself that you don't like. And if the turn into a new year is what gives you the motivation to finally get it done, then that's great! Even if you aren't making any official New Year's resolutions, here are five things we could all do a little more in our lives.

Laugh more. It's scientifically proven to improve your life and make you live longer. They even say that faking your laughter eventually leads to real laughter. If you don't think you have a reason to laugh, force yourself to laugh at lame jokes or dumb cartoons, and you just might find yourself feeling happier and laughing for real.

Help others. It just takes so little effort, and it leaves you feeling better about yourself and the world and life. Of course there will be times when helping someone isn't within your financial or physical or emotional grasp. But often it is, and we should jump on those chances. Helping someone carry their groceries, make someone a casserole, assist in setting up for an event... the possibilities are endless.

Learn something new. This one is so EASY you might have already done it. Here's the secret: learning something new doesn't have to be a huge undertaking or a big consumer of your time! It can literally be ANYTHING. It can be as simple as looking up facts about your favorite historical vacation site or learning how your french press actually works. You might learn something about a coworker or friend that you never knew before. If you're feeling ambitious, you could learn a new skill at work or figure out a new hobby. Learning enriches your life, and it makes you feel good about yourself!

Make something. Again, so easy you probably have already accomplished it. But there's a huge sense of satisfaction in making something for yourself. Making yourself dinner once in a while instead of always going out to eat totally counts! If you're up for it, dive into the DIY world and pick a project that you can use in your house. There are endless ideas out there, and chances are good that if you can imagine it, someone has already tried it and written a tutorial for it. If not, experiment for yourself and then write your own!

Invest. Especially in things that make you happy. Take the time to truly invest in the things that are worth it. Spend a few extra moments with the kids in your life or work a little harder to complete your projects. Don't forget about the little things. Don't let your life pass by without putting in the time and reaping the benefits. Invest.


My one, actual resolution this year is to blog more. So hopefully we will all enjoy the fruits of my labor. :)

Why my children will be allowed to read about the Baudelaires

I was very fortunate when I was younger to have parents who encouraged me to read. And I took full advantage of that... I read just about anything I could get my hands on. They had some rules about what I could read when I was younger, and it didn't take me too long to get to the point where I pretty much knew whether or not I'd be allowed to read something.
*I should make the disclaimer that I completely respect my parents for the beliefs they hold and the rules that they had in place*

Now, I don't remember my mom ever saying to me, "You may not read A Series of Unfortunate Events." I think I just always assumed, from reading the titles and synopses of the first few books, that she probably wouldn't let me read them. So I didn't. Although, to be fair, I never asked. Guess that should teach me a lesson about assuming.

But anyway, after filing them on the "Probably not allowed to read" shelf of my brain for a good 10+ years, I finally decided to read them this past winter. And I was hooked from the very beginning. I'm sure it was an amusing sight... I'm twenty-two years old and was obsessively checking them out at the library, 3 or 4 at a time. The series by Lemony Snicket focuses on three siblings, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny who are shipped from one guardian to the next after they are orphaned in the first chapter of the first book. The sinister Count Olaf is after them (and their fortune) throughout the entire series, and he keeps sneaking into their lives, despite their efforts to hide from him. There are thirteen books in the series, each with thirteen chapters, and the siblings experience misfortune after misfortune, as nothing seems to go right for them. Ever.

But in thinking back to why I had never read them, and after a discussion with my mom where she didn't really remember ever telling me that I couldn't read them, I made a decision: My kids will be allowed to read about the Baudelaires. And here's why.

Vocabulary
These books have an astounding use of vocabulary, including some words that I didn't even know. Like who uses the word ersatz?! I don't think I've ever heard that word used in casual conversation before, but there it was, on the cover of book 6: The Ersatz Elevator (it's a word that refers to an imitation or substitution, usually something inferior). Any phrase or word that might be unfamiliar to a child is followed by a definition, often quite humorous (spring in her step defined as "in a surprisingly cheerful manner considering she was in the clutches of a ruthless villain on top of a mountain so cold that even the nearby waterfall was frozen solid") or only relevant to the situation at hand (perfect unison defined as "reciting a list of very odd words at the very same time"). But it gets the point across, and it expands the reader's vocabulary.

Engaging 
Maybe it's just me, but I was hooked from the very beginning. From the moment the kids found out that their parent's had died and they were going to live with their closest living relative, I had to know what was going to happen next. There were moments when I was literally sitting on the edge of my seat, frantically reading as fast as I could so that I could finally find out what the heck VFD stood for.

Written for Kids
The series is clearly meant for kids. Everything happens on child's level. The heroes are kids, and everything is happening to them. Violet is an inventor, Klaus is a researcher, and Sunny turns out to be a great cook. Using their specialized skills, they do all of the problem-solving, and get themselves out of every tight spot they are in. They learn pretty quickly which adults they can trust and which ones they can't.

Imagination
My imagination was going crazy trying to figure out what was going to happen next. I had so many different scenarios in my head. At some point I was convinced that the Quagmires were actually related to the Baudelaires somehow, long-lost siblings or something. I found that the books stimulated my imagination because it was pretty obvious that many of the events couldn't actually happen (there's no way that a baby could climb to the top of an elevator shaft using only her teeth--no matter how sharp and pointy they were). Since I had already accepted that the limits of our world didn't exist in the Baudelaire's world, the sky was the limit! Anything could happen. And anything did.

Good Life Lessons
There were some pretty solid lessons along the way... Practical lessons like "If you're lost, stay put" and "In a fire, stay low to the ground." But also classic ones like "Family is the most important." Normally I'm not a big fan of moral-heavy books... they usually feel too cumbersome to me. But I found these to be subtle and thought-provoking, in no way hindering the story itself.

Genius
There are little strokes of genius just hidden throughout the series. The plot is wonderfully twisted and complex and everybody is connected somehow. I imagine all the characters pinned on a story board, with different colored yarn connecting them all, a wonderful web of relationships. Sunny's words (only understood and translated by her siblings for most of the series) start out as mostly nonsense, but end up being quite understandable, whether it's through cultural references, words from another language, or phonetic clues (like defining Unfeasi as "To make a hot meal without any electricity, I'd need a fire, and expecting a baby to start a fire all by herself on top of a snowy mountain is cruelly impossible and impossibly cruel"). Seemingly random sentences are actually code phrases for a top-secret organization. Events from the beginning of the series seem unimportant until the final book, when suddenly they seem like a very big deal.

Needless to say, I was a big fan. This series is a masterfully woven story of grand misfortune, repeated disaster, and the never-ending love of a family. And my kids will be encouraged to read it.

"The Man Test"

So my dad has this test that he has been threatening to make all potential husbands pass. He claims these questions involve the Really Important Things that all men should know something about. Now. My dad has made it very clear that failing this test does not mean you can't marry one of his daughters. It simply means that we shouldn't let you do any home repairs.
And simple Google-acquired answers are not acceptable, apparently. He's looking for great detail, because our basic household functions are on the line. My dad drives a hard bargain.

The Man Test

1. What is the relationship between the pistons and the crankshaft? ("If he can answer this question, then he knows about cars.")

2. In an outlet, what color is the hot wire, the neutral wire, and the ground wire? ("And if he knows this one, then he won't get shocked if he tries to do some electrical work.")

3. What is the purpose of the pressure tank? ("Also, if he thinks PVC is a college, DON'T LET HIM NEAR THE PLUMBING!!")

So good luck, boys!

But of course, we all know that to really Be a Man, you must be swift as a coursing river, with all the force of a great typhoon, with all the strength of a raging fire, mysterious as the dark side of the moon!