The Good Portion

Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement, begins at sundown this Sunday. In observation of this holy day thousands of Orthodox Jews will purchase chickens, wave them over their heads three times, praying for their sins to be transferred to the birds. They will then witness the slaughter of the bird on their behalf. According to New York Rabbi Shea Hecht, pictured at left, "The main part of the service is handing the chicken to the slaughterer and watching the chicken being slaughtered. Because that is where you have an emotional moment, where you say, 'Oops, you know what? That could have been me." I'm a notorious animal lover, one who cried for hours after her two pet laying-hens were killed by a dog. But let me assure you, my motivation in addressing this story today is not my compassion for chickens, it is for the subjects of the article that brought this story to my attention. My heart is not breaking for the birds, though I abhor cruelty to animals. My h...

Many thanks to Tim Challies , from whose blog I lifted this quote in its entirety: "There are two ways in which one can own a book. The first is the property right you establish by paying for it, just as you pay for clothes and furniture. But this act of purchase is only the prelude to possession. Full ownership comes only when you have made it a part of yourself, and the best way to make yourself a part of it is by writing in it. An illustration may make the point clear. You buy a beefsteak and transfer it from the butcher’s icebox to your own. But you do not own the beefsteak in the most important sense until you consume it and get it into your bloodstream. I am arguing that books, too, must be absorbed in your blood stream to do you any good. Confusion about what it means to “own” a book leads people to a false reverence for paper, binding, and type — a respect for the physical thing — the craft of the printer rather than the genius of the author. They forget that it is possi...

I was a driving instructor here in Northern California in those days (yes, the kind that teaches teenagers to drive), but I had Just accepted an occasional job with an interior design company, doing installations in model homes. Accessorizing model homes sounded like great fun. September 11, 2001 was my first day. I was up before dawn - not my normal habit - but we had to drive some 80 miles to the job site and needed an early start. My then-husband dropped me off at the company's office. It was still dark. I waited for everyone to arrive. I wrote my name on a sign-in sheet and clocked in. I stood in a building stacked with carpet and wallpaper samples in the pre-dawn hours, drinking Diet Pepsi and milling around among strangers. There was nowhere to sit except the curb outside, which is where I went and smoked a cigarette, alone. I overheard a woman's voice from an interior office say a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. My mind reached for a vague recoll...

I've been reading about heaven. In particular, I've been reading about the characteristics of the blessed ones who dwell there. I've also been busily going about my days here on earth. Yesterday desperation finally drove Paul and I to make a trek to a certain grocery store in town where prudence demands I shop for certain items. "Desperation," I say, because my husband and I leave there every time feeling as though Sodom is the only place with an affordable bulk food section. I'm sure all but my wealthiest readers have experienced such places. Whenever we leave, one or the other of us will comment: "Life wasn't like this when we were kids." And to some extent that is true. Social custom used to dictate certain behavior patterns of which the last generation (or two) of parents apparently neglected or forgot to inform their children. We called them "manners" or "common courtesy" back in the day. It is always a good hour (...

Our lives tend to be very full and there are times, I've found, when a few simple reminders are more effective than an entire book ( assuming you've read the entire book first, of course). I've been through the Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment four times in the last five years and still need steady reminders. The following is the handout each lady received at the close of our study of The Rare Jewel. I think of it as a contentment cheat sheet. This first list is from a wonderful and very accessible book by Linda Dillow called Calm My Anxious Heart. This simple little list has helped me over and over to overcome discontentment. Whenever you find yourself discontent you will most likely be able to trace it's origin back to one of the following thought patterns. Think of it as a diagnostic tool. Never allow yourself to complain about anything - not even the weather Never picture yourself in any other circumstances or someplace else Never compare your lot with anoth...

The following is the final installment in Tim Challies ' series Reading the Classics Together - The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. I've tried to make each post readable on its own, however I highly encourage your own study of this Puritan classic by Jeremiah Burroughs. (Chapter 13) Burroughs here closes his lessons with some final instructions to help us " come to attain this grace of contentment ." 1. "All the rules and helps in the world will do us little good unless we get a good temper within our hearts ...there is nothing outside us that can keep our hearts in a steady, constant way, but what is within us: grace is within the soul, and it will do this." In short, apart from the grace of God at work in our hearts, we can never attain true Christian contentment. No matter what rules we set up and try to follow, they cannot change our heart. We need Christ. Without deep love and trust in Him, none of this is possible, and likely none of this w...

The following is the next installment in Tim Challies ' series Reading the Classics Together - The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. I'll try to make each post readable on its own, however I highly encourage your own study of this Puritan classic by Jeremiah Burroughs. (Chapter 12) Finally, if you've been following along, this is the moment you've been waiting for. We're going to begin some positive instruction. Though I think we've been learning all the way through, Burroughs is finally, in these final two chapters, going to sum up with some practical application. As you move forward in life, I would recommend referring back to these chapters from time to time for review and encouragement. Having the foundation already laid, I'll be covering a lot of ground, and will only devote a brief amount of space to each point. Each point simply builds on our previous lessons and so this section has the feel of a review, or a summing up. I. Considerations to ...

The following is the next installment in Tim Challies ' series Reading the Classics Together - The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. I'll try to make each post readable on its own, however I highly encourage your own study of this Puritan classic by Jeremiah Burroughs. (Chapter 11, part two) IV. One that is discontent may say, "I think I could be content with God's hand so far as I see the hand of God in a thing.... I can bear that I should be in God's hands, but not in the hands of men." 1. "Though they are men who bring this cross to you, yet they are God's instruments." Consider for a moment the story of Joseph and read Genesis 50:15-21. "The heart of a man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps." Prov. 16:9 "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand." Prov. 19:21 "The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the p...

The following is the next installment in Tim Challies ' series Reading the Classics Together - The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. I'll try to make each post readable on its own, however I highly encourage your own study of this Puritan classic by Jeremiah Burroughs. (Chapter 11, part one) We are nearing the end of our readings in this Christian classic. By now, if you've been following along, you've begun to see the importance of contentment in your life, and begun earnestly striving to attain it. By now you've also likely found yourself inventing "good excuses" for not being content in this or that circumstance. And when I say "good excuses," I mean spiritual-sounding ones. Our author, anticipating our immense capacity for spiritualizing our sin, addresses the "spiritual" excuses of the "spiritual" among us, has devoted this entire chapter to shooting them down one by one. "But now, my brethren, because this di...