Psalm 47

This is the passage that the students had to recite today (if you've never seen a little four year old recite Scripture, go out and find one to teach it to. They are so dear!). As I read it and listened to it (6 times:-) I was so blessed and wanted to pass it on to you.

Psalm 47

Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples!

Shout to God with the voice of triumph!

For the Lord Most High is awesome;

He is a great King over all the earth.

He will subdue the peoples under us,

And the nations under our feet.

He will choose our inheritance for us,

The excellence of Jacob whom He loves.

God has gone up with a shout,

The Lord with the sound of a trumpet.

Sing praises to God, sing praises!

Sing praises to our King, sing praises!

For God is the King of all the earth;

Sing praises with understanding.

God reigns over the nations;

God sits on His holy throne.

The princes of the people have gathered together,

The people of the God of Abrahom.

For the shields of the earth belong to God;

He is greatly exalted.

The Wit and Wisdom of C. S. Lewis

"To sleep under the stars, to drink nothing but well water and to live chiefly on nuts and wild fruit, was a strange experience for Caspian after his bed with silken sheets in a

tapestried chamber at the castle, with meals laid out on gold and silver dishes in

the anteroom, and attendants ready at his call. But he had never enjoyed himself

more. Never had sleep been more refreshing nor food tasted more savory."

Prince Caspian

A Brand New Year

"All this time the Lion's song, and his stately prowl, to and fro, backward and forward, was going on...When a line of dark first sprang up on a ridge...[Polly] felt that they were connected with a series of deep, prolonged notes which the Lion had sung a sceond before. And when he burst into a rapid series of lighter notes she was not surprised to see primroses suddenly appearing in every direction. Thus...she felt quite certain that all the things were coming (as she said) 'out of the Lion's head.'"

The Magician's Nephew

C.S. Lewis

This is a new year. I'm oddly excited about this new year. Not that anything particular is going on (well, there is the trip to England, but anyhoo...), I'm just excited at this "new beginning" we've been given.

It's like the beginning of an adventure...I have no idea what's going to happen in it. But the journey of discovering it will be exciting!

Tiffany

The Wit and Wisdom of C.S. Lewis

"There's nothing to beat good freshwater fish

if you eat it when it has been alive half

an hour ago and has come out of the pan

half a minute ago."

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

C.S. Lewis

How True It Is

"It is a very funny thing that the sleepier you are, the longer you take about getting to bed."

C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair

How true this is! I've been ready to go to bed for a couple of hours now, but I was working on posting wifdee. Now that I'm done, I'm having a hard time making myself get up and go to bed. Hmph!

Tiffany

Quote of the Day

Sam turned to Bywater, and so came back up the Hill, as day was ending once more. And he went on, and there was yellow light, and fire within; and the evening meal was ready, and he was expected. And rose drew him in, and set him in his chair, and put little Elanor upon his lap.

He drew a deep breath. "Well, I'm back," he said.

~ The Return of the King, J. R. R. Tolkien ~

Quote of the Day

Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart; so shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

~ Proverbs 3:3,4 ~

Quote of the Day

"'Master Meriadoc,' said Aragorn, 'if you think that i have passed through the mountains and the realm of Gondor with fire and sword to bring herbs to a careless soldier who throws away his gear, you are mistaken. If your pack has not been away his gear, you are mistaken. If your pack has not been found, then you must send for the herb-master of this House. And he will tell you that he did not know that the huerb you desire had any virtues, but taht it is called westmansweek by the vulgar, and galenas by the noble, and other names in other tongues more learned, and after adding a few half-forgotten rhymes that he does not understand, he will regretfully inform you that there is none in the House, and he will leave you to reflect on the history of tongues. And so now must it."

~The Return of the King, J. R. R. Tolkien

I love the way that Aragorn is sarcastic with Merry, and still manages to show that he cares for him.

Tiffany

Quote of the Day

Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. This story is about something that happened to them when they were sent away from London during the war because of the air raids.

~ The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, C. S. Lewis ~

Quote of the Day

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

~ Proverbs 4:23 ~

Quote of the Day

If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book. In this book, not only is there no happy ending, there is no happy beginning and very few happy things in the middle.

~ The Bad Beginning, Lemony Snicket ~

Quote of the Day

"'I shall not keep you long. I have called you all together for a Purpose.....Indeed, for Three Purposes! First of all, to tell you that I am immensely fond of you all, and that eleventy-one years is too short a time to live among such excellent and admirable hobbits. I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve....

'Secondly, to celebrate my birthday. I should say: OUR birthday. For it is, of course, also the birthday of my heir and nephew, Frodo. He comes of age and into his inheritance today. Together we score on hundred and forty-four. You numbers were chosen to fit this remarkable total: One Gross, if I may use the expression....

'Thirdly and finally,' he said, "I wish to make an ANNOUNCEMENT....I regret to announce that-though, as I said, eleventy-one years is far too short a time to spend among you-this is the END. I am going. I am leaving NOW. GOOD-BYE!'

He stepped down and vanished. There was a blinding flash of light, and the guests all blinked. When they opened their eyes Bilbo was nowhere to be seen. One hundred and forty-four hobbits sat back speechless....It was generally agreed that the joke was in very bad taste and more food and drink were needed to cure the guests of shock and annoyance."


~The Fellowship of the Ring, J. R. R. Tolkien

Quote of the Day

Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.

~ Proverbs 11:14 ~

Quote of the Day

The Road goes every on and on

Out from the door where it began

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

Let others follow it who can!

Let them a journey new begin,

But I at last with weary feet

Will turn towards the lighted inn,

My evening-rest and sleep to meet.

~ The Return of the King, J. R. R. Tolkien ~

In Honor of the U.S. Open

Golf:

An attempt to place a small white sphere....

in a slightly larger hole....

with utensils totally unsuited to the task.

Woodrow Wilson

Tinned Food

I found this quote in a Hercule Poirot book I'm reading and thought it was delightfully expressive of what our family is trying to do with our eating.

To set the quote up, Hercule and some others have been trapped in a hotel high in the mountains without any hope of getting down for a few days.

"His wife, the cook, was more forthcoming. Fortunately, she explained to Poirot, there was a large reserve of tinned food--but she herself thought little of food in tins. It was wickedly expensive and what nourishemnt could there be in it? The good God had never intended people to live out of tins."

Tiffany

The Fool

"The fool hath said in his heart, 'There is no God.'" Ps. 53:1

My dad used this passage in a sermon a couple of weeks ago. It immediately brought to mind a quote from The Magician's Nephew.

Digory, Polly, the cabby, the horse, the White Witch, and Uncle Andrew have landed in a Narnia that hasn't been "sung" into life yet. They watch Aslan bring all the creatures, vegetation, and landscape into being with his song. Uncle Andrew refuses to believe that the lion is actually singing, although it's obvious from the beginning. Lewis comments and says:

"Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed."

Uncle Andrew manages to convince himself that Aslan can't sing and the animals can't speak. Which reminds me of the verse at the beginning.

God created all of us. God has shown Himself in everything around us, and yet, fools may convince themselves that there is no God. They are making themselves to be stupider than they really are and, unfortunately, as Lewis points out: "that [they] very often succeed." Fools usually succeed in their quest to be rid of God, but not to any benefit to themselve, in fact, quite the opposite.

How glad I am, that God chose to not let me be a fool, but to allow me to see Him for Who He is: Our Lord and Savior and our GOD.

Tiffany

Quote

I have made a habit of reading "The Chronicles of Narnia" at least once a year. I love doing this, one, because the stories are so delightful and bring many memories of the first readings, and two, because each time I read them, I see something new in them (even after 18 years, oh my:-).

I just finished re-reading "The Silver Chair". (For those of you who care I read them in the published order, aka. LWW, PC, VDT, SC, HHB, MN, LB) I have always loved this quote and it has always been a comforting one somehow:

"'The boy is safe. I have blown him to Narnia. But your task will be the harder because of what you have done.'

"'Please, what task, Sir?' said Jill.

"'The task for which I called you and him here out of your own world.'

"This puzzled Jill very much. 'It's mistaking me for someone else,' she thought. She didn't dare to tell the Lion this, though she felt things would get into a dreadful muddle unless she did.

"'Speak your thought, Human Child,' said the Lion.

"'I was wondering - I mean - - could there be some mistake? Because nobody called me and Scrubb, you know. It was we who asked to come here. Scrubb said we were to call to - to Somebody - it was a name I wouldn't know - and perhaps the Somebody would let us in. And we did, and then we found the door open.'

"'You would not have called to me unless I had been calling to you,' said the Lion."

--The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis.

How typical of "us humans" to think that we are always in control of everything. I think sometimes we could you use Someone reminding us that we wouldn't be doing what we are doing if it weren't for Him.

Tiffany