balcony breakfast and a good talkin' to

Breakfast just tastes better in pretty dishes. It was delicious on our balcony this morning. You know that 'after the rain' smell? And the birds! I used to be a night person, but oh, the morning is growing on me, it is.

I also used to prefer reading at night, but ever since I got pregnant with the little guy, I kinda prefer to read in the morning. Not sure what happened there. Hormone changes? Maybe. Turning into my morning-loving mother? Probably. I'd love to be more like her. Though I still enjoy curling up with a book on our big, old, decrepit mustard yellow chair at 10pm. These days, I mostly 'curl up' to feed the babe, which I cherish infinitely more than a good read, mind you.

Speaking of him:



Okay, you can stop drooling now. :)

This little guy loves books almost as much as his Daddy (which is hard to do). Whenever we read something to him, or show him any of his books, he just lights up! And if he's tired or sulky, we walk him by his Dad's library, and he looks at all the shapes and colors and calms down immediately. It must be genetic.

I am reading the above book (Womanly Dominion, More than a Gentle and Quiet Spirit, by Mark Chanski) with my bookish ladies this month, and though I'm only halfway through the second chapter, I'm already a fan. Here's a favorite quote:

"As men and women, we are to flex our abilities, and with the help of God, subdue the mutinous and adverse forces of the earth under our feet. We are to take into our hands the earth and its menagerie of operations, and through forceful and aggressive effort, compel them to do our bidding. In doing this we are imitating God, in whose image we are made. In the beginning, God took hold of a newly created earth with was a "formless and void" chaos (Genesis 1:2). God premeditatedly designed a plan for its creative development in the space of six days. Then He systematically and progressively put His plan into action. The result was an orderly world bearing witness to the genius of its Designer. And so, every image-bearing man and woman is obligated to imitate his/her maker in his own miniature world. Each is assigned a lifelong plot of wild earth that he/she is to stake out, cute down, plow up, plant and harvest. We must aggressively subdue, and not passively loiter. Every week of our lives, we are to reflect our Heavenly Father. Six days we labor to subdue the earth, and on the seventh day we rest, basking in the satisfaction of a job well done, restfully praising the Lord for the work He's enabled our hands to do. The completed projects act as gratifying and comfortable footstools for our feet. We're able to say "That week of work was good, very good." (Genesis 1:31)

Now if that doesn't make you want to go clean the kitchen, I don't know what will! This branches off from the book/quote a little, but I'm going to get preachy. Just because I need a pep talk myself. If you could see my heart, you would know. As women, we tend a little (or a lot) more towards a 'victim' mentality - at least I know I do. Now here's some hard words: the root of this "victimitis" is both selfish and fearful, grounded in a heart that doesn't trust the Lord as it should. "I'm scared" becomes "I can't" becomes "I won't ever be able to" becomes "I won't." We do this with our homes, until we are overwhelmed with the chaos around us. We do this with our time, and the hours swallow us up. We do this with our relationships, and they become stifled, stagnant, and self-oriented. This attitude-turned-lifestyle (all of them are, by the way) is not a response to or reflection of our loving, mighty, masterful Triune God! It is a reflection of our idol of fear. But guess what!? His perfect love casts out that fear! It conquers it! It calls us and enables us to take dominion in our sphere, so that it would bring glory to Him...so the Kingdom is built!

^"Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:37-39, ESV, emphasis mine.

So be of good cheer! Fear not, image-bearers! Go conquer your corner of the earth through Him who loves you! I'm going to go step on the neck of my kitchen (Joshua 10:24, Psalm 110), not that it's my enemy, or anything. :)

Love,
Sarah Marie