Category: Musings

What is Womanhood? A Conversation with Caddie Woodlawn

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Lived by a grandmother and passed down over the years, it’s a story that beats with real life. It’s the story of a redheaded, spirited girl growing up in 1860s Wisconsin where she and her family work and play together and learn what is important to them. It’s the story of Caddie Woodlawn. 

This story came to life for me via the television screen and later through the pages of the Newbery-Award-winning book by Carol Ryrie Brink. The two are different in some big ways. Overall, I have to say that although the film captured my imagination and I absolutely loved the costumes, the book is, by and large, better, both worldview-wise and for learning about life in 1860s Wisconsin. But, of course, you could check out both versions for yourself! 

Main Characters (in the book):

Caddie – A red-headed explorer who loves spending time with her brothers and learns many lessons.

Tom – Caddie’s older brother, a kind heart

Warren – Caddie’s younger brother, a jolly soul

Hetty – one of Caddie’s sisters, a chatterbox reporter

Mr. Woodlawn – Caddie’s father, a hard-working Brit who loves America

Mrs. Woodlawn – Caddie’s mother, a Bostonian lady who occasionally misses city life but loves her husband more

Annabelle Gray – the Woodlawns’ Bostonian cousin

While the book is full of exciting escapades like a prairie fire and Caddie’s race to protect the Native Americans, one quiet scene stood out to me. It seeks to answer a question every girl (or parent of a girl) faces at some point: What is womanhood all about and is it something a young girl could be excited to claim?

After a particularly miserable experience, Caddie and her father talk. Within that conversation, Mr. Woodlawn shares with his daughter what he thinks womanhood is:

“It takes nerve and courage and patience, but good women have those things. They have them just as much as the men who build bridges…A woman’s work is something fine and noble to grow up to, and it is just as important as a man’s. But no man could ever do it so well…I want you to be a woman with a wise and understanding heart, healthy in body and honest in mind. Do you think you would like to be growing into that woman now?” (pg. 244-245) 1

How does Caddie answer? How would you answer? Whether we are girls or we are raising girls, I think we could agree that being “a woman with a wise and understanding heart, healthy in body and honest in mind” who also has “nerve and courage and patience” is a worthy goal. 

After you’ve read the book and/or watched the movie, perhaps you’ll be a fan of Caddie Woodlawn and her conviction-driven spunk. Do you know you can still visit her home in Wisconsin? Check out the Dunn County Historical Society website. All you will find in the park  now is the log cabin and the small white house (pictured above), but, as another redheaded heroine of children’s literature says, there’s plenty of “scope for the imagination” in that. 

[1] Carol Ryrie Brink, Caddie Woodlawn (New York: Aladdin Paperbacks, 1990), 244-245. 

Unbound: Thoughts on The Power of Written Words to Speak over Time

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Have you ever come across something in a book written years ago and connected with it? I recently experienced this when I skimmed through The Journals of Jim Elliot. On page 364, Jim wrote,

“Overnight on the hook off San José, Guatemala…If I ever travel here I must make sure to see Antigua, the third largest city, thrice destroyed by the volcán ‘fire and water.’ It is Spanish colonial….” [1]

That paragraph caught my eye because I know that place. While, I think Jim Elliot never did get to Antigua, Guatemala, knowing that he was so close and wanted to go there gave me a connection to the man who wrote these words more than half a century ago.

That’s the beauty of books, isn’t it? They – especially the great ones – are unbound by the shackles of time. Long after mouths are voiceless, words written may still touch the lives of thousands or hundreds of thousands or even millions. 

On the one hand, that’s a huge blessing. We can reap such encouragement from reading the wise words of those who have gone before us, who faced what we face, who learned the lessons and are willing to help us escape needless pain, who recorded the faithfulness of God and so remind us that He was and is still working. Much of The Journals of Jim Elliot could be described by those statements.

On the other hand, the reality of this power of written words could give us pause before we pen our thoughts. Of course, it’s fine to ink ideas that are not meant to be shared, but what if your journal were unbound to the reading world like Jim’s? What would the words you – or I – wrote in our reflections say? If someone read them, to what (or whom) would they say you or I was most connected? And to what/whom are we linking our readers? 

[1] The Journals of Jim Elliot, edited by Elisabeth Elliot, (Grand Rapids: Revell, 1978), 364. 

A Petal for Your Thoughts: Doing and Being

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With my vase full of flowers, I’m thinking of Anne of Green Gables and her opinions about the feelings of flowers. 

Whether or not flowers actually have personalities and might argue with each other, I think there is a truth we can learn from these spring blossoms. A truth besides not to worry so much, that is. (Matthew 6).

Have you ever recognized that flowers are good at both doing and being? They grow, they produce roots. stems, petals and pollen and they blossom. Some do this year after year. But then they can stand in a garden or vase and just be. They can be cheery and beautiful. We love them for this being. Then it comes back to doing because they are cheer givers, sunshine sharers and beauty bearers. 

For us people, it can be easy to value doing, can’t it? It’s fun to check off a list of accomplishments! Doing is important. God thinks so, too. There are plenty of verses in the Bible about doing. Like this one from Galatians 6:10,

“So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” (ESV) 

But sometimes it is easy to overvalue doing, isn’t it? To value it more than being perhaps? 

Just like there are verses in the Bible about doing, there are also verses about being.

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted…” (Ephesians 4:32)

“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2, ESV)

When I pray for people I care about, I have prayed that we will be doing the things God wants us to be doing, but maybe I should pray more that we will be being the people He wants us to be. The cool part about this is that no matter what our physical capabilities, by God’s grace, we can be.  And I would venture to say that – like with the flowers – we appreciate other people’s doings, but we love most their beings. 

Still, like with the flowers, doing and being are intertwined as much as mandevilla on a trellis. For example, being kind and tenderhearted leads us to “forgiving one another,” (Ephesians 4:32, ESV). One leads to the other and back again. Interesting, eh?

Well, while you’re doing something out of being a kind friend like arranging a vase of blossoms to brighten someone’s day, you may want to put some thought as to whether such-and-such bloom really would appreciate being with such-and-such…just in honor of Anne. 

A Tale with Tea and a Certain Tall Clock: When It’s Time to Dream – and Live!

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Spring. 

Bird songs. Flower blossoms. Sunbeams. 

It’s a time of new life and growth. A time when it just might feel like anything is possible…even dreams that have been hibernating.

Have you ever had a dream? Not the “head-on-your-pillow” kind, of course, but the “tucked-in-your-heart” kind? Have you had a dream that stayed buried for years and years? 

Then you have something in common with Liz, Kellie and Opal – the three main characters of Sisterchicks Go Brit!

Let’s take a look at this trio. 

Liz  – a tender-hearted, cautious soul with a deep passion for British literature and dreams of meeting a “tall, dark and handsome” someone face to face. 

Kellie – a go-with-the-flow yet organized woman who loves creating beautiful environments and dreams of doing it as her work.

Opal – a late-seventies lady who specializes in inspiring others to live their God-given dreams – even if it means taking risks – and has a dream of her own.

But these women are – one might say – in the autumn of life not the start-something-new spring!

Opal is the one who makes the inspiring point,

“[My] dear, do you know what the dearest kindness is that a woman can offer herself in the autumn of her years?…It is the gift of giving herself permission to take risks.” ~pg 2 Sisterchicks Go Brit! by Robin Jones Gunn

Here’s a glimpse of the story from Liz’s perspective.

Ever since she was fifteen, Liz has wanted to go to England and see the fellow of her dreams – Big Ben himself. Years later and joined by her best friend Kellie and an elderly Opal, Liz’s dream comes true in extraordinary ways. But will time run out before she gets to “meet” Ben face to face? Even more importantly, will she realize and live out her truest dream of all? Come along with these Sisterchicks across the pond for a heart-lightening adventure pf merry cabbies, identical twins, castles, hot air balloons, cups of tea and the joys of unfolding dreams. 

Even from this short peek, I think we can learn a few things about those tucked-in-your heart dreams. 

  1. Sometimes dreams take time.
  2. Sometimes dreams take risks.
  3. Sometimes dreams are achieved when you help someone else live their dream. 

Now I will say that I think sometimes God gives us dreams that He intends to keep as dreams. Maybe they’re meant to be that little inspiration – that happy thought – that keeps us going through a tough time. I’ve had a few of those, so I don’t want to give the wrong impression and make everyone think all their dreams are going to come to fruition someday. Still, there are those other dreams that are simply meant to be, and God simply lets them steep for just the right amount of time.

Do you know someone who needs to live in spring even though her years put her in a different season? Perhaps you can share this story. Then you could have your own little high tea together. Or maybe you are the one who needs a little encouragement to dream – and then live!   

A note for all of my British-literature-loving friends: Within the pages of Sisterchicks Go Brit! are some fun connections to both C.S. Lewis and Tolkien. Yes, I thought you should know!

Note by Note: On Being Consistent

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Playing piano in an evening-dark sanctuary. It’s just me and the music and my audience of One. Since my real audience on Sundays is an audience of One, this kind of practice works. 

Practice. I’ve been grateful that my teachers over the years encouraged me to take on the music one note at a time. Right hand measure by measure. Then left hand measure by measure. Then together measure by measure or line by line.

I’m not always very good at taking things one step at a time. I’d like to dive in deep now.

I want to place that prelude full force right off the bat. Be fluent in a foreign language next month. Write my novel(s) lickety-sizzle. Start a business. Earn my certifications. Oh, did I mention achieve new exercise goals?

And I want to do all of those simultaneously.

But it hasn’t worked out that way.

Not many of these things happen overnight. Most of them take small but consistent efforts to bring them to fruition…at least for me!

Consistent. That’s the challenge.

How good are you at being consistent? Me? Well, not as good as I’d like to be. Maybe I can blame it on living the missionary life. If you’re a missionary and your days are consistent, I’d love to hear from you because my experience tells me that the only thing consistent in missionary life is the inconsistency. 

But I’m done with excuses because consistent doesn’t mean rigid. Apparently, it comes from the Latin and (according to the New American Oxford Dictionary) signifies “standing firm or still, existing”. 

Now that sounds like something I would like to be! “Standing firm”, “existing” in these goals I have before me, even as I hold them with open hands before my audience of One. 

Now I’ll never be perfect at it. That’s the role of my audience of One. Like the verse that one of my classes is learning says,

“Jesucristo es el mismo ayer, y hoy, y por los siglos.” ~Hebreos 13:8 (RVR1960) (“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today and forever,” ~Hebrews 13:8, ESV)

But when I am consistent, I reflect (albeit in a shadowlands kind of way) an aspect of the Consistent Christ.

That’s an even better reason to be consistent than achieving my goals.

So here we go. Note by note. Word by word. Sentence by sentence. Step by step. Level by level. Mile by mile. Consistently.

Reflections on My “Sixty-Six Love Letter Challenge”

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A year ago on Valentine’s Day I wrote a post called “Sixty-Six Love Letters”. In that post I shared this quote,

“Read the Scripture, not only as a history, but as a love letter sent to you from God…” [1]

That quote inspired me to read all sixty-six of God’s love letters to me by Valentine’s Day 2016.

Well, I’ve had a couple of months to reflect since February 2016 and so am ready to share what I learned from my “Sixty-Six Love Letters Challenge”.

  • As I kept going through the challenge, I discovered I could read a lot more Scripture than I thought I could. When I started, a couple of chapters seemed like a lot. Then I found I could read 5 pages in a sitting! (That’s when I needed to catch up.) 🙂
  • Reading bigger chunks of Scripture in a sitting often made the story come together better. However, I’ll admit I do still like those three-chapter books that I could read through and feel like, “Hey, I just read a whole book of the Bible!”
  • I was awed by the poetry in the Bible and the power of God: 

    “He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the Lord is his name….” (Amos 5:8, ESV)

What a blessing it is to not worship or fear the stars or the sea but to worship the Lord Who not only made the stars and the sea but also directs the sea and names the stars (Psalm 147).

  • The Old Testament and the New Testament go together like Oreo cookies and cream filling – you simple cannot have one without the other. That may seem like a simple truth, but sometimes I think we like to value one or the other more. Of course, I’ll be the first one to admit that reading through the history books of the Old Testament was rough, but there is a profound truth in those books that ties into the New Testament: People cannot save themselves; we need a Savior. Then the prophets point us to Christ in so many ways. As Acts 10:43 (ESV) says, “To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
  • Truly, “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword…” (Hebrews 4:12, ESV) Reading God’s Word changes your life. Sometimes it jabs and slices into areas that are uncomfortable. That’s called conviction. Don’t read these sixty-six love letters unless you want to come away looking (and living) at least a little different. 
  • Reading through the whole Bible in a year was great, but I didn’t delve into passages that left me with questions. This year I want to be about that delving deeper – even if it’s only into a handful of books. Like I tell my Spanish students, “It won’t really help you if you know it, but don’t really know what it means!” (Something like that!) So that’s my new goal for this year. Lord willing, sometime after Valentine’s Day 2017, I’ll be reporting in on how it went.

What about you? Did you take up the Sixty-Six Love Letters Challenge? How did it go? What did you learn? If you’re in the middle of it, how’s it going? I’d love to hear your thoughts, so type in a comment or send me a message. Blessings!

[1] Watson, Thomas: A Body of Divinity, http://thomaswatsonquotes.com/?s=love+letter

I Love to Tell the Story

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From Potter’s House: A Little of What I Carry with Me

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Potter’s House, Guatemala City

I’d like to share with you a bit of this place that is part of my story. Would you stop by for a moment?

When you think of a “potter’s house” you might think of a potter sitting at his potter’s wheel, turning cool, soft clay into pots, mugs, bowls and other useful treasures.

Sometimes you might see him reworking vessels that started to go wrong. He refashions them carefully and then – ta-da! – the piece of artwork is ready for service. 

Just like in Jeremiah 18:1-4 (ESV) – 
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
“Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.”

Well, at this Potter’s House, there is no wheel and there are no newly-made pots. But you can still see the work of the Great Potter turning clay into useful treasures. He has many helpers who work hard themselves, but when it comes down to it, they stand in awe of the Great Potter’s handiwork.

You’ve figured out, right? The Great Potter is the Lord God, and at Potter’s House in Guatemala City He is in the business of forming and shaping lives – even reworking lives that were getting bent out of shape. His people are His vessels of clay as well as His treasures.

If you want to read more about the story and work of Potter’s House, you can at www.pottershouse.org.gt. The site does an excellent job of explaining more about the ministry.

What I want to share with you is a little of what I carry with me from Potter’s House…

1) There are no social barriers to God. The people Potter’s House serves work and live in the garbage dump. They don’t have wealth, position or possessions to make them “valuable”. Yet God cares about them as His special creation. He cares about them as much as He does middle-class and wealthy people. (Vice versa, God cares about wealthy and middle class people as much as He does poor people.) One story that’s been told at Potter’s House is about two little girls who prayed for a long time for three people. Those three people were a) an alcoholic from the garbage dump, b) one of the Guatemalan leaders of Potter’s House – for his English to improve especially; and c) for a particular President of the United States! Talk about stretching across social boundaries!

2) No one is out of God’s reach. Those people in the garbage dump may feel forgotten at times, but thanks to the work at Potter’s House, for thirty years they have had an opportunity to see that God has not forgotten them. Remember the alcoholic those two little girls prayed for? What were the “chances” of him ever giving up drinking there along the edge of Guatemala City’s garbage dump? It certainly couldn’t be said that he had a great support network. However, the Great Potter touched his life and made him a new vessel in His hands!

3) When God’s people see His work, it’s awesome. Have you ever been astounded by the skill of a craftsman as he works? That’s how I (and others) have felt as we’ve watched the Great Potter reshape lives at Potter’s House. Like I mentioned, the Great Potter has quite a few workers there who work hard and well, but – if we have our thinking straight – we know that God is directing everything. We, too, are only vessels in His hands. Of course, we know God is working all the time, but we don’t always feel like we can see it. I think this is especially true for the Americans who visit Potter’s House. In a way, Potter’s House ministers to these Americans just as much as to the Guatemalans because it is a place where they get to see the Great Potter at work. They come away with a sense of awe…and maybe with the clay of their lives reshaped a little! That’s why I say “when God’s people see His work, it’s awesome.”

There you go, my friends, that’s a little of what I carry with me from the Potter’s House in Guatemala City. There is so much more I could say and so many stories I’d like to share, but this is a start, and I’ll save the rest for another time.

Until then, I hope you know the thrill of seeing the Great Potter at work and feeling His hand on your life.

Twenty-Four Roses

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This weekend I am getting to share in a very special anniversary celebration complete with twenty-four roses.

Twenty-three of the roses represent twenty-three years since a very special day and the work of God we have witnessed during that time.  It’s definitely one of those Psalm 118:23 moments.

This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.      (Psalms 118:23, ESV)

The twenty-fourth rose represents hopes and prayers for the future as we watch God’s story continue unfolding like the petals of a rosebud. 

I am also celebrating a much smaller anniversary this weekend – my first year of blogging on “A Storyful Life” is now complete! It’s been a sweet year of pouring words and bits of my life into now 53 posts. What a lot has happened in the days since my frist post called “Endings“! Know that I’m thankful for each one of you who has shared this adventure with me, and I’m looking forward to another year full of stories, letters, poems and interesting characters!

A Schmuck Redefined: The Story of Mrs. Schmuck

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Someone once asked, “What’s in a name?” I don’t know if anyone definitively answered that question, but I do know names play an important part in who we are. Authors sometimes struggle to find the just-right name for a character. A name can tell a lot about the bearer of it. However, sometimes this can go too far. Sometimes a name simply doesn’t fit at all.

That was the story of Mrs. Schmuck. 

Schmuck! Imagine that as a last name. “Schmuck” can even be found in the dictionary with its definition of “a foolish or contemptible person”. 

But in this particular case, the New Oxford American Dictionary got it all wrong.

Mrs. Sandy Schmuck was the best English teacher I could have asked for in high school. Even if you hated grammar in your school years, I think you could have liked it if you had had a teacher like her. Day after day, she walked with us through American literature. From the journals of John Smith, John Winthrop and Sarah Knight, through the tales of Twain, Crane, Hawthorne, and Melville to the works of Elizabeth Eliot and Ray Bradbury. She also shared with us the poetry of Bradstreet, Wheatley, Longfellow, Bryant, and Dickinson to name a few. It was as if she took down the tapestry of America’s literary heritage and let us marvel at the masterpiece while also acknowledging the snags and threadbare patches. She knew her subject and made sure we got to know it, too!

Then there was the grammar, spelling and vocabulary. If you didn’t learn how to write well under her tutelage, it was your own fault. At least, that’s how it was for my class – even if no one else slept with their Handbook of Grammar & Composition under their pillow or read it at five o’clock in the morning like I did. 

Yet Mrs. Schmuck didn’t just dump knowledge into our heads. Sure, she kept her class moving right along, but she still took time to laugh with us at funny things that happened. I also remember her tearing up when we read Longfellow’s “Auf Wiedersehen” and she told us about someone dear to her who had passed away. Moments like that became the building blocks that created a sense of camaraderie. 

What Mrs. Schmuck did might seem basic. She taught literature, spelling, grammar and composition – subjects some people don’t care much about these days! Yet the spirit with which she did it was anything but basic. Just like she wasn’t defined by her name, she can’t be defined by only what she did. 

All of these things mixed together made me love Mrs. Schmuck. At the end of our last class, I cried. 

Yes, if you looked up “Schmuck” in Kristen’s Dictionary of the English Language the definition would read something like this…

Schmuck: noun; a master teacher; a person who reflects the character of Christ through orderliness, care for others and pursuit of excellence and who inspires others to do the same 

May the world have more Mrs. Schmucks, I say!