I'm listening to Anthem Lights and I'm loving the harmonies and the words that they are using in their original songs. I love the sound they have and would count myself among their fans, though probably not as hardcore as some. But as I was listening to their song "Follow Your Heart" after listening to their latest cover, I was struck by the question of whether the Light Bulbs are living up to their name. Anthem Lights songs are really inspiring and we probably listen to them multiple times because they're so good, but are we rising to the challenge that is being put forth? I know that I have trouble living up to the challenge, and I would imagine that a lot of other Light Bulbs are too. We love the sentiment of the songs, but when it really comes down to it, we're not really willing to step out in faith and "Follow [His] Heart" or "[Not] Shut Up" about what God has done in our lives.
Light Bulbs, we need to stop shying away from the judgement that might be heaped upon us for believing in Jesus and go out boldly to share the Good News with everyone we talk to!
Tuesday, 29 October 2013
Monday, 9 September 2013
Cottage Weekend with the Ladies
I've been so blessed to work with a wonderful group of ladies over the past two years in the chiropractic office that I am a receptionist at. The work environment is pretty great. We have our ups and downs just like any workplace would have, but in general, it's a wonderful place to work and I would put that down to the fact that our boss is a Christian and so are we all. We are all serving the Lord as we work each day. We always struggle with human problems, but we can talk to each other about them and discuss the way that God would have us tackle our problems. We can talk about the things that we read about and figure out what God is teaching us through them. The time we spend working together is precious and I look forward to it.
This summer, we tried several times to figure out a weekend where we could go up to the cottage of one of the ladies for a weekend of relaxation and rejuvenation. We tried to work it out, but everyone seemed to have obstacles coming up left, right and centre. The things that were coming up were not bad things, they were good things, like a wedding that one of us was part of the wedding party and another was a guest at. One was an anniversary celebration with a whole family. Another was being on the food team at church for a month. Another was the writing of a book. We all seemed to have something going on whenever a suggestion of a weekend came up.
Finally we all managed to find a weekend where we could all manage to come together and go to the cottage. Though we would have liked to be able to go up on a Friday night and stay till the Sunday evening before heading home, life jumped in again with family celebrations and work obligations, but we enjoyed our wonderful time together and I believe it was all the more sweet for the short time that we had.
Three of us were heading up from Oshawa and Belleville on Saturday morning and we had a wonderful trip just talking and listening to worship music. We discovered a little coffee shop in Madoc called "Amazing Coffee" and though none of us actually had coffee, their hot chocolate and tea selections were also extensive, though not quite as much as their coffee. We enjoyed talking about what was going on in our lives and before we knew it, we had arrived at the cottage to join our other co-worker.
Almost as soon as we arrived, we two younger ladies(in our late twenties) went for a canoe ride on the small private lake and discovered a "crocodile" and rescued a pool noodle. When we docked, we were treated to a tour of the small area of the farm where the cottage is. There's a sugar shack for maple syrup making and a root cellar dug into a hill. There's also these wonderful pastures for the cows with rocks and trees and hills. We took a short hike through the woods around part of the lake and then returned to the cottage before we younger ladies and one of our "office moms" went to pick blackberries so that we could make jam.
We had to go to the blackberry patch by car and we were given a small tour of another part of the farm, again with lots of rocks and trees and just these beautiful views. We parked the car and walked up a path toward the blackberry patch and were soon picking some good sized berries, but within ten minutes my companions, who were a little further down the path than me and together, heard a sound that they didn't want to know the source of. We were very soon headed back down to the car with a fun story to tell but very few berries. We didn't think we were going to have enough berries to make the jam and so, we were keeping our eyes peeled for more blackberries as we drove back towards the cottage. We did find a few spots and managed to fill a small bucket halfway full.
Once we got back, we started making the jam. I have never made jam before in my life. I haven't done cooked jam or freezer jam so I was glad to just have someone telling me what to do as I went along. We got the berries crushed and discovered that we only had about half of what we needed to get a batch of jam, so we added a few blueberries to the mixture. We managed to get a total of ten half pint jars of jam made and we tested it. The jam was delicious!
We cleaned everything up from making the jam and then it was time for dinner. I think that the meals were definitely some of the most wonderful times of our weekend because we talked a lot while we ate, or rather, the "office moms" talked quite a bit and we younger ladies listened a lot. I know I listened a lot because I like to hear what they have to say. We talked about so much and it was such a wonderful time.
Once we'd had dinner, we had a campfire and roasted marshmallows with Cadbury Secrets in the middle. They were pretty delicious and I only burnt two. We spent some time staring up at the stars and sang a verse of How Great Thou Art. The only reason we finally went in to watch Sense and Sensibility was that all three of the others heard something land in the bushes by the lake and were a little concerned and decided we were safer inside. We never did figure out what it was even after investigating the next morning.
We had planned to go into the church on Sunday morning, but in the end, we decided to stay at the cottage and have our own time of worship on the patio overlooking the lake. We started by thanking God for the things He has done and then praising Him for who He is. Once we had spent some time doing that, we started to talk about the things that God has been teaching us. Both of the "office moms" have been going through some difficult things in the past few months and years and it is so encouraging to know that even when things look bleak, God is still strong and will bring you through the tough times. We were so engrossed in sharing heart-to-heart that we talked for two and a half hours without realizing it.
One of the passages that was read after some of the discussion that we had was Isaiah 43:1-7. My mom showed me this passage back when I was in South Africa and she had called from Canada to tell me that she had been diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemeia. God isn't going to keep us from going through trials, but when we go through them, He will be there with us and He will protect us.
I was so blessed to spend time with these godly ladies this weekend and have an opportunity to talk candidly with them.
This summer, we tried several times to figure out a weekend where we could go up to the cottage of one of the ladies for a weekend of relaxation and rejuvenation. We tried to work it out, but everyone seemed to have obstacles coming up left, right and centre. The things that were coming up were not bad things, they were good things, like a wedding that one of us was part of the wedding party and another was a guest at. One was an anniversary celebration with a whole family. Another was being on the food team at church for a month. Another was the writing of a book. We all seemed to have something going on whenever a suggestion of a weekend came up.
Finally we all managed to find a weekend where we could all manage to come together and go to the cottage. Though we would have liked to be able to go up on a Friday night and stay till the Sunday evening before heading home, life jumped in again with family celebrations and work obligations, but we enjoyed our wonderful time together and I believe it was all the more sweet for the short time that we had.
Three of us were heading up from Oshawa and Belleville on Saturday morning and we had a wonderful trip just talking and listening to worship music. We discovered a little coffee shop in Madoc called "Amazing Coffee" and though none of us actually had coffee, their hot chocolate and tea selections were also extensive, though not quite as much as their coffee. We enjoyed talking about what was going on in our lives and before we knew it, we had arrived at the cottage to join our other co-worker.
Almost as soon as we arrived, we two younger ladies(in our late twenties) went for a canoe ride on the small private lake and discovered a "crocodile" and rescued a pool noodle. When we docked, we were treated to a tour of the small area of the farm where the cottage is. There's a sugar shack for maple syrup making and a root cellar dug into a hill. There's also these wonderful pastures for the cows with rocks and trees and hills. We took a short hike through the woods around part of the lake and then returned to the cottage before we younger ladies and one of our "office moms" went to pick blackberries so that we could make jam.
We had to go to the blackberry patch by car and we were given a small tour of another part of the farm, again with lots of rocks and trees and just these beautiful views. We parked the car and walked up a path toward the blackberry patch and were soon picking some good sized berries, but within ten minutes my companions, who were a little further down the path than me and together, heard a sound that they didn't want to know the source of. We were very soon headed back down to the car with a fun story to tell but very few berries. We didn't think we were going to have enough berries to make the jam and so, we were keeping our eyes peeled for more blackberries as we drove back towards the cottage. We did find a few spots and managed to fill a small bucket halfway full.
Once we got back, we started making the jam. I have never made jam before in my life. I haven't done cooked jam or freezer jam so I was glad to just have someone telling me what to do as I went along. We got the berries crushed and discovered that we only had about half of what we needed to get a batch of jam, so we added a few blueberries to the mixture. We managed to get a total of ten half pint jars of jam made and we tested it. The jam was delicious!
We cleaned everything up from making the jam and then it was time for dinner. I think that the meals were definitely some of the most wonderful times of our weekend because we talked a lot while we ate, or rather, the "office moms" talked quite a bit and we younger ladies listened a lot. I know I listened a lot because I like to hear what they have to say. We talked about so much and it was such a wonderful time.
Once we'd had dinner, we had a campfire and roasted marshmallows with Cadbury Secrets in the middle. They were pretty delicious and I only burnt two. We spent some time staring up at the stars and sang a verse of How Great Thou Art. The only reason we finally went in to watch Sense and Sensibility was that all three of the others heard something land in the bushes by the lake and were a little concerned and decided we were safer inside. We never did figure out what it was even after investigating the next morning.
We had planned to go into the church on Sunday morning, but in the end, we decided to stay at the cottage and have our own time of worship on the patio overlooking the lake. We started by thanking God for the things He has done and then praising Him for who He is. Once we had spent some time doing that, we started to talk about the things that God has been teaching us. Both of the "office moms" have been going through some difficult things in the past few months and years and it is so encouraging to know that even when things look bleak, God is still strong and will bring you through the tough times. We were so engrossed in sharing heart-to-heart that we talked for two and a half hours without realizing it.
One of the passages that was read after some of the discussion that we had was Isaiah 43:1-7. My mom showed me this passage back when I was in South Africa and she had called from Canada to tell me that she had been diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemeia. God isn't going to keep us from going through trials, but when we go through them, He will be there with us and He will protect us.
I was so blessed to spend time with these godly ladies this weekend and have an opportunity to talk candidly with them.
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