Scripture and a Snapshot - Always Giving Thanks

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.

Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

~Ephesians 5:8-9, 15-20~

Happy Thanksgiving!

This post is linked at Scripture and a Snapshot, at Sunday Scripture Blessings, hosted by Peabea's Photos 'n Scribbles; and at Selah, hosted by A Spirit of Simplicity.

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Wordless Wednesday - Color on the Creek

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These photos are from the Sailing Through the Winter Solstice display by Color on the Creek in Frederick, Maryland.

This post will be linked at Pictorial Tuesday, hosted by Peabea Scribbles.

Pictorial Tuesday

 

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Share Four Somethings - November 2020

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As each month draws to a close, I join in with a blog hop that encourages us to share Something Loved, Something Read, Something Treasured, and Something Ahead. Here is the November edition of my "Four Somethings" a few days early, since I expect I'll be pretty busy by the end of this week! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Something Loved

Last month I gave a shout-out to the brewed chocolate I was loving. This month I'm giving the shout-out to Black Rifle Coffee Company. Are you seeing a pattern? Coffee. Hmm. Well, that is part of the tagline for this blog and my homeschool blog too, so I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise. So Black Rifle has been on my list of coffees to try for awhile, and at the beginning of the month I ordered a Freedom Roast and a Blackbeard's Delight. Both are outstanding, so I went ahead and joined their coffee club and will be getting a couple of coffees every month with that subscription service. This is in addition to my first loyalty coffee club - Furnace Hills Coffee, which happens to be where I work. So I mean, obviously I get that coffee regularly, as in at least a pound every week. If you're a coffee lover too, I suggest you check both out. Black Rifle is one you've probably heard about. Furnace Hills is probably new to you, but we are a small batch roastery with a commitment to employ people with developmental disabilities. 

Something Read

I completed four books so far this month, and have a couple more that I'll be finished soon if all goes well. You can see more about my reading in my Monthly Bookshelf Review for November 2020, which will be posted in a couple of days.

A Stroke of Malice by Anna Lee Huber

The Gold Digger by Liz Tolsma

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

The Calm I Seek by Christina Lourens

   

   

Something Treasured

Spending time with family and friends, date nights, lots of laughter and fun. 

  

Something Ahead

The Christmas season will be different this year. The church services and the activities we do as a family will be different. Our son and his family were planning to come to us for the holidays but we've changed those plans. That means we won't be with our granddaughter at Christmas. First Christmas we haven't all been together and I'm not happy about it. I imagine most families are in a similar situation this year, at least to some extent. The holidays are already a stressful time for many people, and with our governments imposing restrictions and stirring up fear, I think this year will be harder than most. May we all focus on our blessings instead of annoyances, and not give in to fear or despair.

This post will be linked at Share Four Somethings hosted by HeatherGerwing.com

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Scripture and a Snapshot - A Good Measure

But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

Do to others as you would have them do to you.

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

~Luke 6:27, 31, 35-38~

Let's be generous in the measure we use for loving others, doing good to others, being kind and forgiving. God has been so good and given so abundantly to us, and living generously is a natural expression of gratitude to him.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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I also link up at Sunday Scripture Blessings, hosted by Peabea's Photos 'n Scribbles; and at Selah, hosted by A Spirit of Simplicity.

©2008-2020 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

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Recent Reads - The Calm I Seek

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The Calm I Seek by Christina Lourens - Rebecca has spent the last few years recovering mentally and emotionally from her late husband's abuse and his violent death. She is determined to keep herself safe, and that means no relationships. But her younger sister asks her to plan her wedding - Rebecca owns an event planning business - thinking Rebecca must have all kinds of time on her hands. Their domineering older sister and a couple of coworkers chime in and Rebecca discovers they all think she has a boring and empty life. She decides to take her coworker's suggestion and signs up for salsa lessons. She enjoys the lessons more than she expected to, and she finds herself drawn to the charming teacher, Gabriel.

As Gabriel and Rebecca spend more time together, she agrees to enter into a casual relationship with him, reasoning that she is lonely but that she doesn't want to be emotionally involved. It's too risky. The trouble is that her heart is already involved. The relationship develops into something more serious.

But when she discovers Gabriel hasn't been completely honest with her, she shuts it down. Then her teenage niece turns to Rebecca for help, putting her in a very difficult situation. She doesn't want to betray Emily's confidence, but pushes her to get help and to talk to her mother, Rebecca's older sister. The dilemma intensifies when tragedy strikes the family. Rebecca must deal with her own guilt and decide whether she is willing to seek redemption by opening up her heart to God. Can she move out of the past to reconcile with her family members and give Gabriel another chance?

Rebecca narrates her own story, so everything is seen through her viewpoint, but even so the personalities of Gabriel and of the older sister come through very well so that I felt like I knew what they were thinking even though Rebecca didn't seem to. It's very well written, with believable dialogue and interactions, and I liked the rawness and reality of Rebecca's reactions and decisions - even the unreasonable and foolish ones. Although the book is written from a Christian perspective, and the characters wrestle with spiritual questions and their personal responses to God, it is real and experiential, and not preachy.

From the publisher:

With love, betrayal and grief disrupting her perfectly peaceful life, will she fight for the happiness she deserves?

After the violent death of her husband, Rebecca Holmes is content leading a quiet life spending time with her sisters and niece. When her younger sister Hannah asks her to plan her wedding, Rebecca discovers her friends and family all think her life is empty. Determined to prove them wrong, Rebecca takes up salsa lessons where she meets the charismatic salsa teacher, Gabriel Rodriguez.

Falling in love is the last thing Rebecca wants to do, but she is inexplicably drawn to Gabriel. Opening her heart again is terrifying, especially after what happened with her late husband. With the help of the local vicar, Rebecca starts to believe that maybe she deserves a happy ending after all.

Just when she's decided to give her heart to Gabriel, a betrayal brings back demons from the past. Heartbroken, Rebecca closes herself off again, but when disaster strikes her family, she is forced to confront her past actions. Can there be redemption for her and can she forgive those who betrayed her?

The Calm I Seek is a heartbreaking novel about forgiveness and redemption.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

©2008-2020 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Recent Reads - Frankenstein

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Frankenstein by Mary Shelley -  The opening chapters of this classic are a series of letters from Captain Robert Walton to his sister. Walton is on a ship headed - as he hopes - to the North Pole, because his ambition is to explore that area and to learn more about its magnetic properties. He sets the scene and then tells her about an unusual passenger he has taken on. While attempting to sail through the ice-blocked sea, he takes on a man that has been traveling by dog sled. This is the introduction to the sickly and almost frozen Victor Frankenstein. As the two men get to know each other and Victor starts recovering his strength, he tells his story and Walton records it.

Walton's account then transitions to the first person as he records the memoir Victor shares. Victor tells of his growing up years and his family, and his eventual arrival at university to study science. He has been fascinated with invention and biology, and his ambition is focused on the emerging knowledge of electricity and whether it is possible to use electricity to reanimate a corpse. Victor secretly toils at collecting and sewing together body parts and then comes the fateful day when he activates the charge, and the oversize human-like body he has put together does in fact come to life. But instead of feeling triumph and caring for the creature as he had planned, he is instead horrified and repulsed. In fact he spends two years denying the reality of what he had begun and pretending the monster does not exist.

Exist the monster does, however, and Victor finds it out when his younger brother is murdered, and he realizes that the monster was the killer. Things go from bad to worse as the monster takes more lives, until finally Victor confronts his creation high on a mountain. There the monster pleads his case, and tells Victor his story. Upon awakening to life and finding no help from his creator, the monster flees and is met with horror and violence whenever he is seen by humans. He finally takes refuge in a little lean-to where he spends several months observing the family that live in the cottage. In this way he is educated, and he learns about human relationships. However, when he tries to befriend the cottagers, the reaction is once again disgust and violence, so the monster destroys the cottage and vows to find his creator and take revenge.

The monster demands that Victor make a wife for him, and at first Victor agrees, but after moving to a remote island for this task he fears that even more evil could result and destroys the female before she is animated. The monster retaliates by taking more lives of Victor's family, and finally Victor determines that he must hunt down the monster and destroy it himself. It is on this chase that he is found by Captain Walton, and after the entire story has been told, it also ends aboard the ship.

I read this novel and studied it along with students in my high school literature co-op class, and we had some lively discussions about Victor's actions, strengths, and weaknesses; and about whether he had any responsibility to the monster he created.

Our discussion and study was guided by the textbook Illuminating Literature: Characters in Crisis from Writing with Sharon Watson.

This is re-read for the Modern Mrs. Darcy 2020 Reading Challenge.

 ©2008-2020 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

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The Anne of Green Gables Devotional

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The Anne of Green Gables Devotional by Rachel Dodge - For anyone who has delighted in the story of Anne Shirley and the family and friends she found after coming to Green Gables, this devotional is a way to explore the spiritual themes and lessons that can be found in the pages of the novel. The devotional is designed to be read over forty days that correspond with the forty chapters of the novel. Readers who know Anne's story well will be reminded of the events of the book by the descriptions in this devotional, or it can be read as a companion to the novel. 

With charming original artwork and brief lessons drawn from the events of the novel, the devotional is suitable for all ages. Each lesson has a suggested Personal Application and a a simple prayer, and starts and ends with related Scripture. Quotes from the novel appear at the beginning of each chapter as well, and set the tone for the lesson to be learned. We learn about the importance of having someone to listen to us and being available to listen from Matthew's gentle willingness to let Anne talk as much as she likes. We rejoice in the sweetness of love and joy along with Marilla as she accepts and grows in her new role of Anne's mother. We journey with Anne as she finds 'kindred spirits' and learns about forgiveness, loyalty, sorrow, and healing. 

At the end of this little devotional book, there are some discussion questions that can be used with friends or family members, and the author offers a supplemental set of questions on her website that are more suitable for use with younger children. Since Anne Shirley is one of the most quotable characters in literature, there's a lovely collection of her expressions included as well, and these are listed by topic. 

"It's nicer to think dear, pretty thoughts and keep them in one's heart, like treasures." ~Anne Shirley

Anne of Green Gables has been a favorite novel of mine since I was young, and I've re-read it so many times that I feel I know the characters, and I never grow tired of it. What a special treat to have a devotional to go along with it and make my future re-readings all the more enjoyable! 

From the publisher:

Devotional Inspiration Especially for Kindred Spirits

The Anne of Green Gables Devotional offers lovely inspiration that explores the theme of God's love and faithfulness through the pages of the classic L.M. Montgomery novel, cherished by generations of readers. Each reading corresponds with a chapter from the book and invites you to embrace God's redemptive plans for your life as His very own adopted daughter in Christ.

This beautiful 40-day devotional includes original artwork throughout, and each reading includes examples from the novel, scripture, life application, prayers, and discussion questions perfect for groups, book clubs, or personal reflection. It's perfect as a personal read or gift for a bosom friend!

Visit Barbour Publishing for more info on where to buy.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour Publishing and was under no obligation to post a review. 

©2008-2020 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.