A Lesson from the Pomegranates

--from Hannah Hurnard's book "Mountains of Spices."

"Love is the one basic law on which the whole universe is founded, and by obeying that law, everything abides in harmony, perfect joy, and perfect fruitfulness. But when it is broken, disharmony immediately results and then come miseries and evils of every kind."

"We are one in needing love,
(Let us true love show)
Only love's sun from above
Makes our spirits grow.
'Love us!' this is our heart's need,
'Let us love' - and live indeed!

We are also one in this,
We must love or die,
Loving others is true bliss,
Self-love is a lie!
Love of self is inward strife,
Love turned outward is true life."

Hannah Hurnard's two books Hinds Feet on High Places and its sequel Mountains of Spices are my two favoritest books in the world, next to the Bible. I re-read them every so often, maybe once a year, and always always always, without fail, I learn something new from them.

Today, I was pricked by this lesson from the Mountain of Pomegranates: true love turns outward. See, I practiced self-love this last weekend, and it did indeed produce "miseries and evils of every kind."

I find that whenever I allow my pride to dictate my emotions or my responses to a given situation, I always get myself in trouble. It's true. Satan would like me to believe that self-love is the road to happiness. But it's not. I am most unhappy when I am trying the hardest to live for myself.

You'd think I'd have learned this lesson by now. But no . . . Jesus must keep reminding me again and again that "self-love is a lie!" (sometimes I wonder if the apostle Peter was an ancestor of mine; we certainly share the same stubborn short-sightedness). But praise God! His grace is sufficient and my Lord is a very, very patient Man. =)

If you're wondering where I've been this last week, well, I've been right here. =) Right at home, right at my desk, just not on Blogger. Here's what's new:

On the teaching front, my boss informed me (after my last post) that Starbucks would have to be an extremely "once in a while" thing, because too many other kids were being left out and whining to her about not getting to go. Soooo, I am doing my best to adapt and still keep the classroom alive and effective. So far, so good. We played Life last Friday after lessons; the students loved that! And Wednesday, I'm going to have them watch a fragment of "Ratatouille" and then answer a question sheet on what they saw.

Here at home, I continue my abstinence from WoW (mostly). Jason and I were on quite a bit this weekend for the annual Brewfest event, a holiday that happens Sept/Oct in game. Blizzard put in a special holiday boss this year that drops a rare kodo and ram mount. =) Other than that, I haven't been on the game because . . .

I am scrapbooking again!!! I have officially taken my hobby digital; Jason helped me find a good software and then, of course, I spent some time shopping for digital supplies online. =) I am lovin' this! Whenever I have time, I just sit down at the computer, press a few buttons, and wallah! I have scrapped a page or two! No mess in the livingroom, no fighting with Caleb to stay out of my paper, stickers, etc. No nuthin'! I've started working on my senior year of college photos and already I have that album half done. As I said, I'm lovin' this. Don't know why I didn't go digital years ago . . .

That's pretty much been life around here lately. Now that the fall weather is finally settling in, I will probably get out my baking pans and plan some cookies and muffins soon. Boy, do I love this time of year!!!

Happy Monday to ya'll!