It's That Time of the Month Again...

Over at the Girl Talk blog the ladies are in the midst of a series entitled "PMS Prep." They are addressing the difficulties of various physical trials that women face and discussing how Godly women can still glorify Him through those times.

"We know they’re coming (most of the time, anyway): PMS, morning sickness, postpartum depression, menopause. Yet these predictable, physical trials of a woman’s life still tend to catch us off guard. When they show up, we feel like we’ve been hit from behind and struggle to keep steady amidst physical and emotional challenges....
You know it’s coming. But take heart: God’s grace is already here to help us prepare to glorify Him and serve others. Let’s consider how. "

Check it out here.

Lord's Day Quote and Thought

Today in church we sang one of my favorite hymns:

Who are these like stars appearing,
These before God’s throne who stand?
Each a golden crown is wearing;
Who are all this glorious band?
Alleluia! Hark, they sing,
Praising loud their heav’nly King.

Who are these of dazzling brightness,
These in God’s own truth arrayed,
Clad in robes of purest whiteness,
Robes whose luster ne’er shall fade,
Ne’er be touched by time’s rude hand?
Whence come all this glorious band?

These are they who have contended
For their Savior’s honor long,
Wrestling on till life was ended,
Following not the sinful throng;
These who well the fight sustained,
Triumph through the Lamb have gained.

These are they whose hearts were riven,
Sore with woe and anguish tried,
Who in prayer full oft have striven
With the God they glorified;
Now, their painful conflict o’er,
God has bid them weep no more.

These, like priests, have watched and waited,
Offering up to Christ their will;
Soul and body consecrated,
Day and night to serve Him still:
Now in God’s most holy place
Blest they stand before His face.

Whenever I sing this song, I think of the saints that I know who are, even now, standing in God's presence. When I sing this song, I'm not thinking about some generic saint that's dressed in white with a halo on his head, but rather I'm thinking about my mom, my grandparents, etc. And if these real people that I knew well are enjoying their reward, then I, too, can look forward to my reward. And just as they strove in works and prayer, then I, too, need to do the same.

Just to Make You Smile

You can't help but laugh along.

It's amazing what a little packaging tape can do.

Pray

Please pray for my brother Jonathan and my sister-in-law Carrie. They are struggling through a rough time right now. Carrie has had back problems for a long time, but recently it's become almost unbearable. Jonathan writes about it here.
Please join with me in begging our good God to relieve Carrie of her pain. Even if you don't know her, please pray anyway.

Just a Thought

I don't feel well today. I've had the same headache for a few days now and it seems to like me more than I like it. But you know what? Someday I won't ever have headaches again. That thought is hard to process, but that thought helps me live better today. Even with my headache.

Adiel's Words of Wisdom (For Women)

Never go bra shopping on the eve before Valentine's Day. You will encounter an absurd number of middle-aged men awkwardly browsing the lingerie section. This makes the already unpleasant task of bra shopping even worse and makes for an embarrassing time for everyone involved. The awkwardness is heightened if the middle-aged man has children with him helping him to pick out "something nice for Mommy."

Ladies, heed my words: Never go bra shopping on the eve of Valentine's Day.

Ah, The Memories!

Gaby, this one's for you!

Possibly the greatest song ever written.

Haven't You Heard?

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.



I just wanted to remind you of this.

I Met a Murderer Today

I met a murderer today
I hid my face and looked away.
His face was too grotesque to me,
His gleaming teeth a fright to see.
I saw the people that he killed-
Their bodies bruised, their breathing stilled.
I heard the screaming, felt the tears,
Saw the culmination of his victims’ fears.
Oh, what horrors this man wrought!
I uncovered my face and for some comfort I sought.
The murderer does the same, I see
And now I know it’s only a mirror in front of me.


We Christians like to think that we’re better than other people. But the only difference between “us” and “them” is that we are forgiven for the horrible things we do.

The Waggle Room is Now Open!

The conversation has begun over at the Waggle Room. Go check it out and feel free to join in whether you've watched the movie or not.

The Art of Dance

As some of you well know, I am a dancer. I haven't actually danced a choreographed dance in quite some time and since having kids my body doesn't move in quite the same way that it did when I was a teenager, but nonetheless I still consider myself a dancer. I feel music and I express myself through dance.

This last December I went to a performance of the ballet The Nutcracker and it was then that I realized that I don't really like ballet. This is significant because ballet was my first introduction to dance and I took ballet lessons for several years. So I started thinking about dance and what it is and what its purpose is. And now I just have a bunch of questions about dance and no real answers. Is there an ideal form of dance? Are some forms not as "true" as others? Does dance have to be visually appealing?

I thought it'd be interesting to search YouTube and see different styles of dance. I wanted to share my findings with you all. I realize it would be quite time consuming to watch all these videos in their entirety, but I do hope you'll watch enough of each to get a real feel for that dance.

First, right here is why I don't like ballet. Yawn. If I were to watch or dance ballet I'd much rather it be more like this. It looks much more fun and much less stoic.

Something that I have been enjoying lately is break dancing. My one qualm with it is that it tends to get very "show-offy" and the performer ceases to dance and just starts to display his skills. I think any type of dance can fall into this and it really, really, bugs me when it does.

Here is one example of this showing off mentality. I don't think this Chinese ballet counts as true dance, but if you skip to a little before the six minute mark you'll see a woman balancing on one leg- on pointe- on top of her partner's head. Wow. I have to ask why anyone would want to do that, but hey, it's still impressive.

My search for dance led me to a kind of dancing that I had never heard of until a few months ago. It's called house dance. When I first saw it, I totally didn't get it, but when I saw this video, it made much more sense to me. It is a freestyle sort of dance that seems like it would allow the dancer to feel the music and flow with it. When someone house dances well they are intimately involved with the music. This video show several different house dancers-each with their own particular style.

Just how would you describe this type of dance to someone? It's a Japanese tribal hip hop thingy, I guess. I don't know what to say about it except that I like it. I think.

Gaby introduced me to Parkour- The Art of Movement. (this video gets very good at around the 2:45mark.) These people are celebrating the joy and freedom of moving. They don't use music, but does that make a difference in dance? I think parkour is the closet thing I've ever seen to man learning to fly.

And now we come to Robam Joun Por. This dance is so foreign to me that I have trouble appreciating it. But if you look closely at the way the dancers move their heads ever so slightly, you see that they are dancing to a strange melody that is almost beneath the music we hear. It looks so stiff to us Americans, but in watching it a few times I was able to see how that, too, is a beautiful style of dance. Though that doesn't mean I like it.

So now you've seen a small, but very diverse collection of dances. It's amazing to me to watch them all back to back- my neck still hurts from the whiplash. God created our bodies in such an intricate way and has given us the ability to dance. In some way, all these dances show us something of the beauty of our God. I'm overwhelmed with the magnitude of this thing called dance. Just imagine, what would dance look like if it was done by perfect, sinless bodies? Someday we'll find out.

So now that I've rambled on and posted a plethora of links that I don't even know if anyone will watch, does anyone have any thoughts about dance?