Everyone but Mr. Darcy...

Anyone who knows me very well can tell you that I like Jane Austen.  I like Jane Austen movies (and Bronte and anything in between those two).  Well, I saw a post on Facebook today that went something like this:

In my life, I have a Lydia, a Wickham, a Collins, 

a Mrs. Bennett, a Bingley, and a Lady Catherine.  

The only thing missing is my Mr. Darcy.

So, my life isn't as bad as all that.  I would have to say:

 I have a Jane, a Mary, several Charlottes,

a Lady Catherine, a Mr. Collins, an Aunt Gardiner, 

and a Wickham. A Bingley would be nice.

But no Mr. Darcy.

Jane and Wickham are pretty self-explanatory if you think hard enough about it.  In fact, I probably better move right on along to my Charlottes.  My Charlottes are my close friends.  We may not always be on the best of terms, but I know they are there for me when I need them.  None of them are married to a Mr. Collins (or my Mr. Collins), thank goodness.  I probably better not say too much about my Mr. Collins either.  Although I have received no better offer, I have no regrets about the rejection of the original offer.  I think about what road that offer might have led me down and I have no doubt that I am happier where I am.

I cannot see Dame Judi Dench as Lady Catherine without thinking of the Lady Catherine in my life.  In fact, several of their mannerisms are exactly the same, including the looking-down-her-nose-at-you-while-looking-at-you-at-the-same-time look.  It's uncanny.  I wish you could see what I was talking about.  Unfortunately though, there are moments when I can act like a Lady Catherine.  There have been a few too many of these moments here recently.  The people on the receiving end of my Lady Catherine act usually need a Charlotte instead of a Lady Catherine.  That is something that bothers me.  The woods are polluted enough without more Lady Catherines.  The woods need the fragrance of more Janes and more Charlottes.  

How thankful I am that I do not have a Mrs. Bennett in my life.  My mom is more down to earth and not as attention-grabbing as Mrs. Bennett.  Thankfully, her energies are focused on better things that trying to marry me off.  She's more like Mr. Bennett.  She has her moments, as we all do.  I'm sure she would say the same thing about me.  :-) Finally, Aunt Gardiner.  My Aunt Gardiner has not taken me on a trip to find my Mr. Darcy, but that may be a plan for the future.  Hint hint if you are reading this Aunt Gardiner.  Maybe we can look for Uncle Gardiner while we look for Mr. Darcy.

Or just let me drive, I'll get us lost, and maybe we'll find them both by accident.

Ft. Worth Botanical Gardens

The beauty of the creation of our Father is astounding, awesome, and amazing.  I got to experience it in more than one way last weekend.  Here is a short way you can experience some of it too.

"Deep Water Faith"

Anytime I buy a new Christian CD, there is always one or two tracks that speak to me more than others.  This is the song that gets put on repeat.  If there is a performance track, I may download it and sing it at church. My most recent CD purchase was Casting Crowns Acoustic Sessions.  My favorite song off this album is Somewhere in the Middle.  Part of the chorus talks about "deep water faith in the shallow end" and makes me think of someone getting ready to go swimming, complete with life jacket, arm floaties, a floatie for the waist, and a couple of other flotation devices just to be safe.

It also makes me think of the storm when the disciples were in the boat, and Jesus comes walking on the water out to them.  Peter tells the Lord that if it is really Him, let Peter walk out to Him.  So Jesus said, "Come."  Peter gets out of the boat.  While He's looking at Jesus, everything is fine.  But the minute he sees the wind, he starts to sink and Jesus has to take Peter by the hand to get him out of the water.  I feel this way many times.  Only instead of getting out of the boat, I'm too busy looking for something else to keep me afloat in case I start to sink.   I'm sitting in the boat right now.  I'm afraid to step out.  I don't know if I have the faith to stay afloat.  I know I'd be fine in the shallow water.  I know I can touch bottom there.  It's the getting farther out that bothers me.  He's kept me afloat before, pulled me out when the outside storms started to rage and I started to sink because I forgot to look at Him.

So, am I going to step out of the boat?  Maybe once I find some arm floaties at least.

Sixty Acres and a Bride and Love in the Balance by Regina Jennings

This blog is about being positive, and almost nothing puts me in a positive mood like a good book can.  I like historical, Christian romance the best.  I recently downloaded Sixty Acres and a Bride by Regina Jennings and it didn't take me very long to finish it.  The main characters in the book are Rosa and Weston.  Rosa is a young widow who moves to Caldwell County, Texas with her mother-in-law.  Weston is a rancher in the same area, a relative of Rosa's deceased husband.  He too had suffered the loss of a spouse.  Rosa is a stranger in a new country, trying to learn the ways of how things are done which is quiet different from the way things were in her home town.  To complicate matters, she is trying to do it with just the help of her mother-in-law (they have some help but are mainly on their own).  Weston tries to help out as he can.  The reader gets to experience life with Rosa and Weston as they survive life in Texas in 1878.

Sixty Acres and a Bride also introduce us to Molly Lovelace and Bailey Garner.  I was really excited when I received Love in the Balance in the mail, eager to hear more about their story.  Molly and Bailey have just crossed the threshold of adulthood, and are trying to find their way in the world.  They each want to follow their heart, but they are beset on many sides by the opinions of others.  Molly appears at first to be a very shallow and selfish woman.  Bailey tries to do the right thing and puts himself aside so they will have a better future.  Molly and Bailey's journeys take the reader on a myriad of very unexpected twists and turns.  Their love hangs in the balance, teetering back and forth on the scales of life.  What will it take to balance out the scales and bring their love to a balance?  You will have to read the book to find out.  I highly recommend both of these books.

I'm even more excited to read book #3 in the series, but I will have to wait patiently for that one.  :-)

PS  My positive reviews have nothing to do with the fact that Mrs. Jennings is a fellow OBU grad! I just love the fact that a fellow Bison alum is impacting the world in such a positive way.  

Preoccupation with Positive Pessimism

I don't even know if I spelled that right.  You all know how preoccupied I can be with my marital status.  Well, I decided to be preoccupied with the marital status of someone else, and I've decided to start a blog about it.  I'm not really sure if I should advertise as I really don't want people to know it's me, but I know there are like only two of you that check in here so here goes....

My greatx3 aunt (I believe ancestry calls it second grand aunt or something like that) never married.  When I found out about her a couple of years ago through my dad's cousin, I was fascinated.  I have been fascinated ever since.  The fact that she was a Miller like me (or rather Mueller) fascinates me even more.  I know how I feel being a single in this date and time, I can't imagine what it was like in the 1800s.  This is why I decided to start a blog about it.  I don't think I will be able to find out much about her, so I'm going to use my imagination to fill in her "dash" - mainly for my own enjoyment but you are welcome to join in if you want.  The new blog is here.  I'm still working on the layout and everything so bear with me (and the picture is not my aunt but actually my great grandmother who married into the Miller family - see below).  

This is my great-grandpa Miller.  I think I have his eyes.

This is my great-grandma Miller.  I've been told I have her chin.

Good night, and Happy Resurrection Day!

Growth

This is my prayer plant. I got it from my grandmother. Sadly, it used to be a lot bigger when my grandmother had it. I've managed to almost kill it a couple of times, but it's been hanging in there. This growth of this prayer plant is a mirror image to my own spiritual growth.

I think my prayer plant needs two things to grow really well. The first thing my prayer plant needs is lots of Sonlight. If I forget to open the curtains a couple if days in a row, my leaves get all wilty. It only takes a little Sonlight to get them vibrant again.

Second, my prayer plant needs water. I equate the water the bread of the Holy Word. When I forget to water, the plant starts to shrivel. It's really starting to grow now. How long this will last, I don't know. But it's a lot like my life. When I don't have Sonlight and living water, I start to shrivel.

Bitter waters

How can a group of people see the hand of God at work to set them free and then later want to return to the very captivity from which they had been set free?  I've wondered this many times.  Then I take a look at my own life, and see the very same thing.  God's hand has been very visible many times during my life.   There have been times, that I have not been able to see it, but yet I know that it is still there.  So what do I do most of the time? Grumble and complain because my life is not going the way I want it to, weep and wail because my future looks empty.  I read a passage of scripture that kind of hit this on the nose last night.  And what do you know, it was about the Israelites on their Exodus. 

 

²² Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. ²³ When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.^[a]) ²⁴ So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”

²⁵ Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink.

There the Lord issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test.

Exodus 15:22-25 NIV

 

The translation I read last night referred to the piece of wood as a tree.  The word "tree" made me think about another tree, a tree very crucial to our belief.  The tree on which our Lord died.  (so I may be getting out of historical context or whatever, that's not the point I am trying to make).  So I was kinda thinking of this whole scripture and applying it to my life.  There are times I feel like I'm travelling through a desert.  The sips of water I get are bitter and don't seem very satisfying.  I grumble and complain (making me wander around in the desert some more).  There has been more than one Red Sea in my life, and God has brought me through on dry ground.  So why do I grumble and complain?  Because I don't take time to remember the "tree" in the water making it sweet.  What is the purpose of my whole life anyway?  To point others to Christ and to bring God glory.  The "tree" in the water shows that and reminds me that the waters are not bitter at all.