On Holy Week

As I was reading the Matthew 27 account this week, I couldn’t help but imagine which of the characters I would be or would want to be. I concluded that the most enviable would be the women. The women had front row seats, after all – they were at the foot of the cross, they were at the burial, and they were right there at the resurrection! They didn’t miss it – any of it. Neither do we?

Not only for these women disciples, but even for small children, Holy Friday – this Good Day, is a high point in the cadance of our faith. It is the pinnacle of “good news” to everyone on earth. It is redeeming news. This brilliant shock of news following the smear of darkness which had fallen across the quaking earth forever marked the day God fulfilled His promise of eternal goodness to mankind.

“For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:19)

Following those poignant, sober days, the resurrection was a surprise – a most jubilant experience for those women who believed! It proved to them, as it proves to us now that our faith is not in vain (I Corinthians 15:17).

God allows us to celebrate a Resurrection Sabbath and worship because there is hope and deliverance in the words “He is not here. He is risen.” Jesus’ resurrection empowers the gospel – it completes it. It is the power of God for our salvation.

As much as Easter was a momentous surprise to those ladies in the garden, it is also radically altering for all the children of Adam who have come since.

On Sunday His body was glorified at day break, now we pray that He breaks into our daily lives with His glory; that we grow in intimacy with God; that we are surprised by His sacredness and see Him sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up. So that we may bow the knee and proclaim: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:1-6)

He is Risen. He is Risen Indeed – that we may live.

with love, Damaris

Early Spring In Poetry

Dear March – Come in –
How glad I am –
I hoped for you before –
Put down your Hat –
You must have walked –
How out of Breath you are –
Dear March, how are you, and the Rest –
Did you leave Nature well –
Oh March, Come right upstairs with me –
I have so much to tell –

I got your Letter, and the Birds –
The Maples never knew that you were coming –
I declare – how Red their Faces grew –
But March, forgive me –
And all those Hills you left for me to Hue –
There was no Purple suitable –
You took it all with you –

Who knocks? That April –
Lock the Door –
I will not be pursued –
He stayed away a Year to call
When I am occupied –
But trifles look so trivial
As soon as you have come

That blame is just as dear as Praise
And Praise as mere as Blame –

-Emily Dickinson (1830-86)

A Light exists in Spring
Not present on the Year
At any other period –
When March is scarcely here

A Color stands abroad
On Solitary Fields
That Science cannot overtake
But Human Nature feels.

It waits upon the Lawn,
It shows the furthest Tree
Upon the furthest Slope you know
It almost speaks to you.

Then as Horizons step
Or Noons report away
Without the Formula of sound
It passes and we stay –

A quality of loss
Affecting our Content
As Trade had suddenly encroached
Upon a Sacrament.

-Emily Dickinson (1830-86)

I heard a thousand blended notes,
While in a grove I sate reclined,
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man.

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;
And ’tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.

The birds around me hopped and played,
Their thoughts I cannot measure:—
But the least motion which they made
It seemed a thrill of pleasure.

The budding twigs spread out their fan,
To catch the breezy air;
And I must think, do all I can,
That there was pleasure there.

If this belief from heaven be sent,
If such be Nature’s holy plan,
Have I not reason to lament
What man has made of man?

-William Wodsworth (1770-1850)

with love, Damaris

Family Currents: Early Spring at the Capitol

Some of you might have heard of the program called TeenPact. We were able to take Alexander this year. It is a civics program for junior high and high school students hosted at state capitals around the country. He participated in the one day political communications course and loved it so much. The students get to practice writing bills and resolutions and defend them in debates.

While we were in Lansing for Alexander to attend TeenPact at the capitol, Nathan came with us, and we spent the day with the other children at Impression 5 Science Center. The kids loved creating, experimenting, and discovering. The hands-on experience took all day with a little break to eat a packed lunch.

Nathan, his Dad and the boys boiled over 70 gallons of sap on Saturday! It was a gloriously sunny day and cold. They bottled the maple syrup, and it’s been going to happy homes. They’ll continue to make more maple syrup for the next few weeks, boiling as the collection tubs fill up. Later this month, we will have a full post on the beautiful and interesting process of making maple syrup.

We’ve been doing Whole30. We’re more three weeks in and living our best life…Who am I kidding?? It’s not any kind of fun without pizza. I’ll be writing a post very soon about the whole family’s experience, what we ate, and must-haves for survival.

with love. Damaris

Family Currents

Sometimes we let the kids “camp out” on a Friday or not-to-busy week night. They beg to sleep in the living room all the time! The children talk and tell stories far into the night, and the boys’ voices are the last noises we hear before they’ve all fallen to sleep. Of course, in the morning, there is no waking them .

My heart bursts to see all my babies asleep together!

Yesterday was National Donut Day, and we made Old Fashioned Buttermilk Donuts! We doubled the recipe because they are so good! Now you know that donuts are a favorite treat at our house! Over the years, we have made several recipes, but this Williams-Sonoma one is the best-loved. Sometimes we have dipped them in a glaze (powdered sugar and milk) – probably the kids’ preference. It is also delicious to coat them with cinnamon-sugar while they are still very hot. These donuts reheat well the next day, and they can even be frozen to enjoy another time. I think you’ll love making them!

I never realized how much I appreciate color in nature until now that my children are charmed by it. Their fresh eyes are the first to notice a blue birds feather against the green grass or these red poppies “popping” along the fence row. – God’s gift of Spring is so captivating!

with love. Damaris