Love is Patient

I have wanted to go through the definition of Love found in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 for some time, and really dissect each meaning. I'm not writing sermons, just small anecdotes for each subject, expressing my views and finding a way to write with them. 

Another exercise I would like to take up is writing small persuasive paragraphs inspired by many songs I hear on the radio daily. They make me think. I'd like to share the songs and do a short write-up along with them. We'll see where it goes. 

But for now, let's begin with the first installment of Red Grace: Love...

Love is... Patient.

We tend to assign two meanings to the term being patient: 1) the ability to wait, and 2) the absence of frustration. In the case of waiting, patience refers not only to the act itself, but also to the attitude with which one does so. To wait with patience is to remain in a state of peace, of humility, of calm, and total surrender to the cause... the absence of worry and the presence of faith- Faith in God and trust in His plan and timing. The spirit of Patience is the opposite of haste and the embrace of peace. It is truly one of the ultimate tests, and the greatest element in life to direct our focus to the bigger picture, to God and His purpose for your story, rather than your current circumstances.

As for our second definition, Patience is the ability to remain placid and understanding in frustrating situations. Patience is perseverance under pressure, and the willingness to do so. Coping with opposition, instructing a frustrated child, remaining willing to listen and understand when a person or situation completely confuses you: these are times our patience is tried, and times when this fruit- or the lack there of- in a person is most evident. Patience is the drive to teach, to learn, and to wait, all with meekness and humility.

But there is a third definition we may overlook in this case, because our minds are focusing on the verbal part of being patient. What about being a patient? When you are a patient, you are under the care of a doctor or healer, someone who is looking after you and nursing you back to health. Your body is being strengthened and rested, being prepared for the return to health and every-day life.

When you are patient, you become a patient. God is working in you to heal your hurts, to bind your wounds, and to prepare you for what is ahead. Unlike a physical doctor, you are not being mended back to how you were: you are being built up even better than before. You are surrendered to His care, to let yourself be molded and shaped and infused with all you will need in the journey ahead. There are many things over that next hill in the road, and we must admit to ourselves that we can never fully know or be completely prepared when we rely on our own knowledge and strength. There is always a way that we deem right, that makes sense to us, and it is often our downfall, for we make no allowance for the bumps and wrinkles that we did not plan on. When something goes wrong, we are thrown completely off track and search for someone to blame. And that is usually God.

Patience is an element of Love. God is Love. And, oh, how patient He really is with us. Can we not stop and grant Him the same courtesy? The results are only good.

We should to be patient, not rush ahead. We should be patients, committed to God's care and fashioning so that every step of the way is guided by Him.
In some versions of the Bible, instead of "Love is Patient," we hear "Charity {Love} suffereth long". Patience is endurance. It is denial of self and strife, it is the "no" to the ill urges of the world, the personal desire of satisfaction in the coveted moment of NOW. It is self-control and sacrifice of "my way".
What else do we often see defined as sacrifice? Love is Sacrifice. Like a math problem, we work the numbers backwards to make sure our result connected with our original value. It works right back around in a circle, a proof. It checks out!

Patience- true patience- is thus an act of true Love.

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Well, that came out longer than I intended.
Please leave me a comment, let me know what you think. And if I said anything wrong or left something out, correction is welcome.

Homesteading and Housekeeping: A Cook Book

Another project I intend to make serious progress on this year is my scrapbook-cookbook.
I purchased an empty scrapbook at Hobby Lobby this Autumn along with paper and stickers to create the style I wanted.
I didn't care for the cover of the book, so the first thing I did was measure and cut out a more likable front and back, and slipped in beneath the plastic, over the original cover. I added the tags Happiness and Summertime, too. These were cut out from an old book of pre-made scrapbooking pages from Debbie Mumm...

I cut out tags, pages, and labels to write recipes on. Then little accents such as stamps, stickers, decals, and borders make it look artsy. ;)

I call it Homesteading and Housekeeping, and though it is primarily a cookbook, it also has basic guidelines to housekeeping techniques. I have three sections: Housekeeping, which is the cooking and baking part; Homesteading, which has tidbits on gardening, herbal information, animal-care, and household tasks such as the laundry soap recipe, cleaning tips, etc; and lastly Heartwarming, which is more like the scrapbook part of the whole collection- pictures, quotes, memories, and words of wisdom to remember. 

When I'm not working on this book, everything gets stashed in a bin that slides right under my bed. And when I am working on it... my whole floor is a mess. XD 

The Someday Jar

This is a little project I have wanted to do for quite some time. As you can see, today I did!

The Someday Jar~ 

There are many things that have come up along the way in day-to-day life and/or conversation that have either inspired or reminded me of something, and I didn't want to forget them. 

So today I got out some note cards and scissors. This jar I have had for a while, and at last I had a clever use for it!  I went through various sources where I have written things down about things to do in the future, things I want to remember, etc, and the scattered bits were brought all together in this one central place.

It was fun reliving memories and conversations. Now I have them sealed up for a rainy day in the future. I'll stow it away in my hope chest and add to it when necessary. Someday I'll get it out again and go through it... Maybe with a special somebody. ;)

Cinnamon-Nutmeg Scones

This recipe I came up with after fiddling around with another recipe I found online. This is the second time I tried, and this technique was definitely best.

Cinnamon-Nutmeg Scones

Preheat oven 400 degrees

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 pinch of salt

1/2 cup {1 stick} butter

1 egg yoke

3 tablespoons honey

1/3 cup cream

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Combine all dry ingredients and cut in butter. Separate egg yoke from white and keep the white. Add the yoke, honey, cream, and lemon juice to your mixture. Combine. It will be a little crumbly, just form it firmly into a ball with your hands and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll out to 1/2 inch thick and as circular as you can manage. It doesn't have to be perfect. 

Move your dough to a greased baking sheet (I used coconut oil!) and cut into 8 equal slices, like a pie.

2 teaspoons nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons sugar

1 egg white

Now, these proportions are really just to your taste. First I whisked the egg white, then used a rubber pastry brush to gloss it over the dough. Use as much of it as you can: coat the top and sides well. Now give it all a sprinkle of nutmeg. I used about 3 or 4 dashes from the shaker I have: an estimation of 2 teaspoons. For cinnamon and sugar, use 1 part cinnamon to 6 parts sugar. Adjust proportions and quantity to taste. 

Bake for 12-15 minutes

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2-3 tablespoons milk 

Combine above ingredients in a small bowl to make glaze. Drizzle on glaze right after scones come out of the oven. 

Wednesday Morning + Biscuit Recipe!

For the most part, the sunrises have been gray and overcast this Winter. I haven't seen half as many brilliant dawns as I do during the other seasons, and I miss them! But today was spectacular, as you can see...

So, with the sunlight warm and colorful and the birds chattering, perched atop the power-lines (:P), I realized that I wanted biscuits. With honey. It was just something about the day that cast that homey mood over me. Thus, when the cows were all milked, I went to the house and whipped 'em up...

Oh, by the way, here is the recipe. 

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)

Sift together dry ingredients.

2/3 cup milk

6 tablespoons lard

Cut in the lard and combine all the ingredients in a bowl. The dough will be slightly sticky.

Sprinkle flour on a *clean* counter top and knead the dough lightly. Roll it out to about 1/2 inch thick and begin cutting out your biscuits.

It should make 20 if you are making them small, but I got 11 since I was using the larger cutter: 2 1/2" diameter, I believe.

Place them on an ungreased cookie sheet and just let them sit for as long as you can. They'll be fluffier after they have baked this way. I was hungry, so 5-10 minutes was enough for me. Hehe. Make sure you have preheated the oven to 450 degrees and bake biscuits for 10-12 minutes. Enjoy!

Calf Modeling

This is the little gem in the back-barn right now. She's a sweetheart. ;) She nuzzles me and enjoys being scratched when I go back to fill the water troughs after milking. 

Cozy Collages

Tiny white flakes

Fall softy down...

Spiraling, dancing,

Fall to the ground.

Chill Winter morn',

A deep forest scene:

Frost on the earth,

White on dark green.

Sparkling new stars

Glint on dark pines

A galaxy of feathered flakes

Herald memorable times.

Silver ice glitters,

Shivers 'neath sun.

Birds blue and red:

Add these, then done...

A frozen artwork

Of frosty jewels,

Vivid colors on white,

Varied thread spools.

The forest alive

With colors so bright,

Crimson and indigo,

Evergreen, snow-white.

~Snow by Hannah Scarlett~

I own none of these photographs, I simply gathered a group of my favorite cozy, winter, vintage images on Pinterest and spliced them together. Stay warm this Winter, my friends. :) And enjoy the snow, for soon we shall pass into Spring....

Let the Blogging Commence

I have taken up blogging again.
Perhaps some of you follow my Peace Through Poetry blog. Well, it is the only real active blogging I have done recently, and definitely the only blog I have ever remained faithful to, without letting fall into idleness. Back in my "tweens", I was an enthusiast of day-to-day blogging. It just sort of faded off, though. But now I am re-inspired, and here I am, with hopefully a new post every few days or once a week.

To begin, I will explain a bit about myself and about my intent with this blog...

I am sixteen years old (oh my- almost seventeen!), I am homeschooled, in my Junior year of high-school. I live and work on my family's dairy farm. Milking the cows is a daily chore I take part in usually twice a day, as well as other duties about the farm with my five younger siblings. I'd love to bring my farm-life aspect into this blog more strongly than I have ever done before with previous blogs. It is such a dominant part of me, yet tends to fade to the background in my "internet-life". Which is odd. It will be rectified.

Secondly, I'm an avid writer... poetry, which many of you have seen, but in addition to that, my head is usually full of stories and characters that I try desperately to justify on paper. I may or may not be a little bit A.D.D., because it's so hard to stick with something and have the patience to get past the slow or hard parts. One nice thing is that I'm constantly developing more depth and getting better ideas to add to the stories, so I trust that when my tale is fully developed and ready to be told, I'll be able to devote full care to it. As a matter of fact, yesterday I went back to a story that I began 2 years ago. This book is without a doubt the must dear-to-my-heart one I've ever written. Someday, it will be completed.
But the purpose of all that was to say that another thing I want to share on this blog is my writing. Excerpts and whatnot.

Well... family life, home adventures, discoveries, all the small and large joys of learning and mishaps along the long road of life: these are what I hope to share and laugh about here. Care to join me? ;)

My Yo-Yo Quilt

I've been working on my yo-yo quilt for over 4 years, ever going through little phases of progress and inactivity in turn. Among the prints I use are scraps left from clothes my mother has sewn for my sisters and me, fabrics I've been given by friends, and bundles I've splurged on from Walmart or Joann's whenever I got a little cash. 

I am not sure what will become of the quilt when I decided it is finished. Probably I will end up putting a backing on it, and then either cover a bed with it, or use it as a drape or curtain for a wall. 

Currently, I believe the count is 44x46. I have many photos of the progression of the quilt that I can post some other time, in order.