tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674016135108707034.post8243523781923149068..comments2023-10-04T07:54:09.785-07:00Comments on Growing Is Beautiful: When You're Feeling Ragged and Worn ThroughCourtneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08019187519810116317noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674016135108707034.post-57057693241234336932012-12-18T07:57:31.599-08:002012-12-18T07:57:31.599-08:00@chris: Happy to hear you've survived another...@chris: Happy to hear you've survived another semester and are coming up for air, at least for a little while.<br /><br />It's funny because I wrote that sentence about the courageous life and *still* failed to really make that connection--that the courageous life is not the one without fear but the one in which a person chooses to face the fears and work through them. Thank you for lifting my eyes up to the Truth. I have always been a fearful person but perhaps that means I am also a brave person, one who knows what it is to be afraid but who keeps making the hard choice to walk right into those fears.<br /><br />Thank you, as usual, for wise words here. You continue to be a gift to me and I am so grateful. Much Grace to you, Friend!Courtneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08019187519810116317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674016135108707034.post-91970709207619238482012-12-17T11:24:57.085-08:002012-12-17T11:24:57.085-08:00hi Courtney,
at last, a chance to catch my breath...hi Courtney,<br /><br />at last, a chance to catch my breath from the crush of end-of-semester work, and catch up with your blog... <br /><br />beautiful lace, beautiful post! you say, "i learn to knit because i am afraid", but i think the lace manifests how brave you are. that's not to deny that you're afraid of the things you say you're still afraid of (failing, rejection, being who you are). but i don't think courage is to fear as, say, hope is to despair. someone cannot be hopeful, despite her despair, but someone can be courageous, despite her fear. indeed, if the fear is greater, the courage is greater, as long as the person "keeps on keeping on", as you did, in the face of fear, with "patience, prayer, and stubborn persistence". as you say, a courageous life is precisely a life "made up of a million little steps into a million little fears".<br /><br />which is not to say that in the end, perfect love will not cast out all our fears. and i hope that, when you were close enough to the end of the knitting project that you knew it was going to be the most beautiful thing you'd ever made,it gave you a tangible sense of what that will be like...<br /><br />--chris chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16673834639722877016noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674016135108707034.post-89148780625780620082012-12-16T15:53:25.527-08:002012-12-16T15:53:25.527-08:00@tinuviel: Thank you, Friend, for kind words. Th...@tinuviel: Thank you, Friend, for kind words. There was only one stitch in the pattern that gave me quite a challenge to conquer--the rest was really a matter of getting used to working with yarn so fine. I'm kind of addicted to lace patterns now--they are just so beautiful!<br /><br />Yes, I think it is like looking at the back side of the project, or maybe just viewing it from too close--it's hard to get enough perspective on the holes in our hearts and the holes in our lives to see the overall pattern emerging. And as you wrote recently on the subject of Christ being born in us, the pattern that's emerging in all of us, as children of the King, is the image of Christ. And really, who of us can comprehend the magnitude of such an image?<br /><br />Psalm 139:13 means so much more to me now that I've learned to knit. And as you've said before, God didn't drop any stitches, even if it feels like it sometimes.<br /><br />Sending grace right back your way, Friend!Courtneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08019187519810116317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674016135108707034.post-11067316788036908432012-12-13T13:52:12.958-08:002012-12-13T13:52:12.958-08:00*So* beautiful!! It boggles my mind that this was ...*So* beautiful!! It boggles my mind that this was your third knitting project. The thoughts are beautiful, too, but that lace is quite stunning.<br /><br />Yes, it is the holes that make life and lace beautiful, although so often it seems like we're looking at the back of Corrie ten Boom's embroidery instead of lace-in-progress. We will see the beauty someday.<br /><br />You probably know this already, but Psalm 139:13 says, in many of the translations, "For it was You who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother’s womb." I love that use of the word "knit." So vivid. I often think of that when stitching a baby blanket.<br /><br />Grace, mercy, and peace to you, friend!tinuvielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06462001159262770932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674016135108707034.post-19850808296852807682012-12-13T07:57:34.918-08:002012-12-13T07:57:34.918-08:00@Bernadette: Oh, I can't wait to see my love ...@Bernadette: Oh, I can't wait to see my love wrapped around you! It comforts my heart to know that you are covered in love when I am so far away and cannot be there to help carry the burdens you are bearing right now. "How the holes in our hearts make us holy." Yes. YES. So very grateful we've been found.Courtneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08019187519810116317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674016135108707034.post-71126758839917056542012-12-13T07:53:12.849-08:002012-12-13T07:53:12.849-08:00@Rachel: And maybe this, too--that not everything...@Rachel: And maybe this, too--that not everything we see as an imperfection is really that. I've often pictured myself as the jar of clay, with holes punched out all jagged and unlovely, Christ's Light coming through and overshadowing all my ugliness. But I think we're more than that--we are fragile and broken, but He is making us into beauty. And when His Light shines through, we are not overshadowed--we are revealed as image-bearers of God.Courtneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08019187519810116317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674016135108707034.post-51715143178523758882012-12-11T19:11:05.158-08:002012-12-11T19:11:05.158-08:00Oh, Friend...you honor me, and your love wraps all...Oh, Friend...you honor me, and your love wraps all around me. I am with out words. Fortunately for me, you speak the language of my heart so that's not a big deal now is it? I'll send you a picture of the loveliest thing you've ever created...and the loveliest thing I own. (Wrapped clean around me even as I type this!) How the holes in our hearts make us holy. For that, we are thankful, Lord.Bernadettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05332663226765227179noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674016135108707034.post-84883910225683497532012-12-11T12:22:39.915-08:002012-12-11T12:22:39.915-08:00What a revelation - it's the holes that make i...What a revelation - it's the holes that make it beautiful - our imperfections that show how God comes through and fills the emptiness, making us into what we cannot be with Him...thank you friend.Rachel Schoberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09644905341466737854noreply@blogger.com