Dwelling Redemptively

In the midst of daily living it is important to remember that we are being used by God in everything that we do especially where we live.  As we prepared the nursery for the arrival of Elliana Joy, I kept going back into both of our girls rooms to admire my wife’s amazing gift of making use of very little and creating something beautiful.  This got me thinking about how important it is to create within our home a place of peace, comfort, and beauty so that when people enter your home they feel the love of Christ and ultimately feel at home.   Edith Shaffer talks about this in her book The Hidden Art of Homemaking and says,

“Here, wherever it is, is your spot.  This place should be expressing something of yourself.  It should be communicating something of you to your visitors, but it should also satisfy something wihtin you.  You should feel at home here, because you have made it home with something of yourself.”

Another way of putting it, to borrow a term from another author, is “dwelling redemptively”.  Do you model the gospel in the way that you live your life in every aspect?  Can your neighbors testify to this?  If you moved away from your neighborhood would it make a difference?  Would your neighbors even notice?

So, let us put into practice dwelling redemptively wherever that may be.

 

Real Simple – Figgins’ Style

We are big fan’s of the “Real Simple” magazine, thanks to a sweet friend who gave it to us as a gift. Since we are on the subject of Fall, here are a few of our very own simple idea’s that we’ve been busy with over the past couple of days to enjoy the season as a family.

The girl’s and I enjoyed some Fall crafts the other day. We pulled out some scrap-paper I had sitting around in the craft closet and went to work. They had a blast with the glue sticks, scissors and crayons. I learned it doesn’t take much to make them happy!

This is what hangs above our fireplace mantel – just an old, beat up window(which we found in a pile of trash). We’ve ejoyed changing out the scrap-book paper as each new season rolls in, or just when we get tired of looking at the same thing after a while. We found this pack of paper at the dollar spot in Target. 8 sheets for a dollar and bam a whole new picture to ring in the Fall!

This wreath has been hangin’ around for a while but I made it last Fall and loved it so much I decided to keep it all year ’round. Can’t go wrong with red and teal together (which basically makes up our whole living room anyway) But these are so easy and cheap to make compared to the pricey already-made ones.

And of course, food is always what makes a new season so much fun! To celebrate the first day of Fall, we enjoyed warm rotisserie chicken, smashed sweet potatoes with brown sugar and cinnamon, green beans and macintosh apples with caramel dip. This is such a simple meal but it was so cute to see the girl’s so excited over it. They both scraped their plates clean and went back for seconds on the apples and dip.

Like I said, nothing fancy when it comes to our ideas, but our homes should always radiate the warmth of God’s love and one way we like doing that is through enjoying the different seasons God gives us and incorporating them, however simply, into our humble home.

 

Happy Fall!

Pumpkin Decorating 2007

Today is the first official day of Fall. I love the Fall. Growing up in New York, Fall meant cool, crisp mornings and the vibrant colors of changing leaves, not to mention hikes in the Catskill mountains and apple-picking adventures in the rolling orchards. I’ve come to terms with the reality that Fall looks a little different in the south and I’m learning each year to appreciate it more and more even if it will never compare to my fondest memories of what it was like growing up.

I’ve often thought about the seasons and how it so easily integrates with my life and faith. It’s nearly impossible to miss the parallel of the changing seasons to how God works in the lives of those He loves. The Fall indicates change and even newness as things begin to “die.” Realistically, as the leaves change, they die and eventually fall to the ground. But there is something beautiful in the death of the “old.” This reminds me to live my life without hanging onto anything too dearly, especially those darling sins (the ones we struggle with the most and tend to cater to a little bit more). I’m also reminded that even good things have their time and season. Humans are creatures of habit and we fight change. It’s in our nature. Just as the tree’s submit to God’s timing with their changing leaves, I’m called to submit to God’s timing in my life for whatever He has for me. It may not be what I want, but it is always what brings forth the most beauty.

I hope you are enjoying the ringing in of the Fall season as much as I am today. Along with the pumpkin bread and apple cider candles, I challenge you to let the goodness of the season bring forth change not only in your home and decor, but in your hearts as well.

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven…” Ecclesiastes 3:1

 

How We Named Our Blog

I have an amazing husband. He has the desire to always be learning and a deep love for good books. He’s always reading me pages from books and handing me articles. We did alot of reading together about the topic of hospitality when we packed up our family and moved from Louisville, Kentucky to the inner-city of Augusta, Georgia two years ago. We both shared the desire to practice true hospitality – which is not defined as opening your home to friends and family, but rather strangers and whomever the Lord brings to your doorstep. So, that became our prayer, that we would embrace any “traveler” who crossed our path with open arms in hopes that they would experience the sweet rest that only comes from Jesus. And as we prayed, people started coming!

We chose the name of our blog from a humble example of a woman who has been dead for years: Catherine Livingston Garrettson (1752-1849). In Christine D. Pohl’s book, “Making Room” (on the subject of Christian hospitality) she describes Garrettson as an “intensely devout Christian from a very prominent and wealthy New York family, she eventually married a Methodist evangelist. Their household, called “Traveler’s Rest,” was a center of hospitality where she welcomed ‘itinerant clergy’,..ecclesiastical dignitaries, and any other persons who happened by the house needing a comfortable place to stay.”

We realize we are vastly different from the Garrettsons in many ways. We are not a prominent or wealthy family and I did not marry a methodist evangelist! But we share all too much in common even amidst a large generational span and that’s the desire to welcome anyone and everyone into our home. Sure, it looks different in varying seasons of our family life and we may even be as bold to say that the “travelers” might look like a 4 year old, 2 year old and a newborn! God has indeed brought them our way and we cannot ignore the fact that they so desparately need to know the rest they can have in Jesus through a warm and nurturing home. Or the “traveler” may look like the man who knocked on our door the other day looking for money. Instead of ignoring his knock, we listened to his story and allowed him the dignity he deserved as a human. The way we helped him may have not been what he wanted, but our prayer is that when he stood at our doorstep, he sensed something different – that of the aroma of Christ.

What can you expect from this blog? Hard to say. Kevin and I hope to share in the journal entries and cover all of life – marriage, family, parenting, community, ministry, theology. Our hope is that you will walk away encouraged. We are an “average” family serving a not-so-average God. In fact, He is GREAT and we hope his greatness is reflected in our efforts to integrate everyday life with a faith that has made our every-day worth living.