Today’s Ten Things
1. We just had a beautiful snowfall in my neck of the woods.
2. I just finished a thoughtful book by Marilynne Robinson called Home.
3. Michael and I enjoyed tea and Scottish shortbread yesterday while having our devotional in our plaid bedroom chairs.
4. We will have a new window and a new baseboard heater installed on the third floor this week.
5. The dogs need their teeth cleaned.
6. I am putting up three Christmas trees this year, even though I’m feeling a tad Scroogely.
7. My daughter told me about online Pandora radio and I really like it.
8. I sometimes long to live in an Alpine country.
9. I am trying to focus on being loving, not on being right.
10. When I don’t know what else to do, counting my blessings out loud helps.
What are your ten things today?
Posted by Just Julie @
5:07 am |
Hallowed
Do you ever listen to a song over and over again because you like it so much? I do that once in a while. When I was a little girl I had a very modern and hip record player in my bedroom. I took the white poodle lamp (with an umbrella as its shade) off of my round, pink-painted metal nightstand and put the record player there, and listened to music as I read Nancy Drew books. I bought long-playing albums sometimes, but I mostly chose the smaller 45s – they cost 99 cents at The May Company, the large department store in the mall near where I lived. Some of the 45s I owned and played repeatedly were: Venus by The Shocking Blue, Angel of the Morning by Merilee Rush, and Love Is Blue by Paul Mauriat. If I hear these songs today, the seasons and views of my Southern California youth come rushing back, sometimes accompanied by warm memories, sometimes not. And the lyrics are still engraved in my mind and I can sing along without missing a beat, although these days I’m more careful about what I put into my head.
I’ve been listening to a song a lot lately, on an older CD called City on a Hill with various artists. I have it in our van, and everyone knows it by heart now because I play it so much. The song is beautifully done, truly a prayer, as you will hear. It is so far removed in scope and portent from the songs of my childhood that there aren’t words to convey the contrast. I love the song so much that I even had my web designer extraordinaire, Jen, install it on the blog recently so that it would automatically play while readers read. But I didn’t like how it started over each time a blog link was clicked. So Jen encouraged me to share it with you like this – in a regular blog post. This way you can come back again to this post if you like, turn up the volume and settle back in your chair, and let the words of Jesus call out to you again over the ages.
Here are the words, which should be very familiar to most, followed by a link so you can listen.
Hallowed
Our Father
Which art in Heaven
Hallowed be Thy name
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done
Hallowed… hallowed…
Done on the earth as it is in Heaven
Hallowed be Thy name
Give us this our daily bread,
Hallowed… hallowed…
And please forgive all of our debts
Hallowed be Thy name
As we forgive our debtors
Hallowed… hallowed…
Lead us not into temptation’s lair
But deliver us from the evil snare
For Thine is the kingdom
Power and glory
Forever and ever, Amen…
Forever and ever, Amen…
Forever and ever, Amen…
Hallowed… hallowed…
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Click on the red word, then once it opens, click on the play arrow:
Hallowed - by Jennifer Knapp, accompanied by Phil Keaggy on guitar.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
These are the words of Jesus. This song helps me grasp in a fresh and powerful way what He wants for my life, and what His desire is for the lives of my children and grandbabies. This is what is on His heart for all of us this very day.
As you celebrate this wonderful season about the birth of a King, I hope these ancient words about living in His kingdom bless you in a new way…
Posted by Just Julie @
7:28 am |
December Giveaway!
I’ve been thinking about a topic for our December blog giveaway, and I’ve come up with Little Known Facts. I think we should all share something that most people might not know about us. Nothing heinous or extremely gross, but maybe a fact or two that the average person might not know about you. Pump up your courage and get ready to post a comment on the blog, because there will be a gift in it for some of you!
For example, you might have a hidden talent and be able to knit with your eyes closed, or perhaps you have climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. It could be that you have very wretched unique tastes – maybe you like to eat pickles dipped in powdered sugar or spaghetti noodles tossed with vinegar. Maybe you refuse to wear orange, will only buy one kind of toilet paper, or are a member of the ROAR! Club.
So I’ll go first, except that I don’t qualify for the prizes…unless I wrap these nice gifts and no one posts a comment.
1. I have been invited to be on the Oprah Winfrey show. (I declined – a story in itself.)
2. I gave birth to a child at home with a midwife.
3. My husband and I were engaged before we met, and spent time together only once before we tied the knot.
4. I have flown a plane and do not have a pilot’s license (and am afraid of flying).
5. When I’m in an audience and the applause begins at the end of a performance, I have an odd habit of counting how many times I clap my hands.
There you go – I could share more but it’s your turn. And I’ll bet I’m not the only one who could use a chuckle. 
Posted by Just Julie @
5:07 am |
Rabbit!!
Today is the first day of the month, which means in our family, it’s time to say “Rabbit!”
When I was in the second grade in Southern California, my teacher, Mrs. Sarah Lokken, told our class that if you were the first to say “Rabbit!” to another person on the first day of the month, you would have good luck for that coming month. Even at age seven I don’t think I bought the good luck idea, but for forty-four years now, my friend Denel and I have been rabbit-ing each other on the first day of the month.
This strange tradition soon spread into my family, and even after I was married and had children of my own, my mom would call me on the phone on the first day of the month and as soon as I answered “Hello?” she would yell “RABBIT!” and then laugh when I would groan, “You got me!”
For almost twenty-eight years my husband has been trying to beat me to the rabbit punch. Most times he waits until just past the stroke of midnight when I’ve already been fast asleep for hours, and he reaches over to gently shake me just enough to wake me, and then gleefully whispers in my ear, “Rabbit!” The rat.
Any way our family members can be the first to rabbit someone, we’ll try. My daughter Sharon often gets me first in an e-mail. The subject line will say, “RABBIT!” and when I open the e-mail, she has written, “Ha ha ha I got you hee hee ho tee hee!!!” Keep in mind she’s thirty-one and I’m fifty-one, but what can I say?
On November 1st a month ago, I heard my cell phone chime its familiar incoming text tune. I opened the text from my friend Denel, and can you guess what she had texted across the miles to me? “RABBIT!” Ohhh! She got me, that stinker! I said to myself. But I also smiled. And a lifetime of memories came flooding back.
So far, the various in-laws have been a little slow to catch on to the rabbiting phenomenon. When my very practical son-in-law Chris first heard about this family tradition and realized his wife (and my daughter) was going to enthusiastically say “Rabbit!” to him on the first day of each month for the rest of his life, he asked, “And you all do this why?” And who can blame him? We aren’t even sure ourselves why we do it. We don’t really believe we’ll be “luckier” than someone else if we blurt out the word before they do. We just like to say rabbit. It makes us smile. It makes us feel connected. It makes us remember.
I hope that when I’m just a memory to my grandchildren, they’ll be proudly continuing the rabbit tradition. But for today, allow me to be the first to proclaim to you in print, “Rabbit!!”
Now you know about this. You might want to go and pass it on.
Posted by Just Julie @
5:00 am |
