christianity

fast falls the eventide

/ abby hummel

Abide with me: fast falls the eventide
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide
When other helpers fail and comforts flee
Help of the helpless, Oh abide with me.

Swift to it’s close ebbs out life’s little day
Earth’s joys grow dim, it’s glories pass away
Change and decay in all around I see
Oh Thou who changest not, abide with me.

My plan of waking up early this month has not gone very well.  Even though Aaron and I both agreed this was something we would work on together, it’s been basically one big flop. It’s humbling to realize how helpless we truly are. This week, with the spring ahead time change looming in the near future, we’re trying to get back to our roots and have a bed-time. This new goal is a bedtime with a bedtime routine that doesn’t involve computers or heavy activity or distraction. And like the days of yore where we got tucked in and had “reading time” before lights out, we’re trying to tuck ourselves in for a little quiet time to wrap up the day. Just some collection of things like a tall glass of water or a mug of peppermint tea, my journal, a hymnal, a Bible, a book, a card to send to a friend. I need this intimate little compline to finish the day with rest, balance, reflection, gratefulness, peace and reverence to  start afresh with a clean and willing heart.

I need Thy presence ev’ry passing hour
What but thy grace can foil the tempter’s pow’r?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through clouds and sunshine, oh abide with me.

Words by Henry Lyte. Hymntune “Eventide” by William Monk.

as a door turns on its hinges

/ abby hummel / 1 Comment

… so a sluggard turns in his bed.  Proverbs 26:14.

We’ve been reading a chapter of Proverbs nearly every evening before bed, and I’ve been procrastinating for nearly a week on something Aaron and I discussed on the 26th of January: getting up when my alarm goes off.  If my feet hit the floor at 6:01, I can do quite a bit before sliding off to work. I can usually start off with a quick workout or some devotions. Or if I’m rusty, it’s both: “Dear God, please help me finish this 30-second plank before I die!” I can take care of a shower, delicious breakfast, and do some laundry or set up for dinner before leaving. But it’s cold outside, and I’ve been staying under the warm cozy covers for up to an hour extra. Now, it’s kind of awesome that I can get out of bed and make it to work on the other side of town both clean and professionally coiffed within 40 minutes. But it’s not funny how far this is from an ideal morning. So for February I have a goal of getting up within one snooze cycle M-F. And that snooze concession is just because it’s nice to cuddle and pray a little before hopping out of bed. This morning I was up at 6:23, which is not the goal, but it was much better than the last two weeks so I’m not too distraught about messing up from the get-go.

In January I gave up sugar, and with just a few little slip-ups and a purposeful splurge for Aaron’s birthday, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. I did purposefully have a whole 32 oz of Coke while staving off a migraine but I don’t think that counts. And I’ve got to say that I feel awesome. I figured I’d probably give up sugar again for lent, but I’m just going to stay off it for now. I don’t know that this is something I’ll do “forever” or as a lifestyle, but it hasn’t been that difficult and I can tell it’s much better for me! Not sure if I’ll get to my $100 goal for January and February, but I have been crafting and making gifts for birthdays with what we have around the house… we’ve probably saved $40 so far, so I’m telling myself that counts, too.

these have i loved

/ abby hummel / 2 Comments

I’ve rediscovered Rupert Brooke’s poem The Great Lover this weekend. No, it’s not scandalous. It’s about finding delight in the simple details of life. I read it in college and now I tend to think of the line about “the strong crust of friendly bread” when inhaling the yeasty aroma of baking bread and slicing into a loaf of fresh whole wheat.
Along with re-reading this poem, I’ve been considering the importance of contentment, choosing to be happy and joyful in the midst of the life I have right now. It’s a life with lots of house work, job work that I don’t particularly enjoy, frugality/scrimping, and I’m often very far away from people I love. At times it is easy to focus on what is “missing” from my life, like new clothes, a remodeled bathroom, babies, a master’s degree, chances to travel as much as I prefer, ministry opportunities, a housekeeper (ha). But I am so very blessed; I have much to be thankful for; and I’m so much more joyful when I focus on the delights of the life I do have.

So here is my too-short list of the small and significant delights of my heart:
warm cowls and recycled yarn to make a sweater
celebrating Aaron’s 26th birthday
letters and cards ready to be mailed
friends H and B coming for dinner tomorrow evening
summer sausage from Aaron’s big deer
gray nail polish on my toes and fingers
finding new jeans with tags on from the gap at goodwill for $5.00
singing “Be Thou My Vision” in D-flat after dinner
writing in my journal
preparing birthday gifts for Aaron, N, E,  and others
reading my new ESV Bible from JB. This makes me feel extra spiritual. It is purple, which makes me feel extra special.
being married to someone who loves guacamole and fine cheese as much as I do
learning/trying to love Lord of the Rings
humming “Morning Has Broken” as the sunrise streams into our bedroom
fresh snow on our yard
Prairie Home Companion
bananas and greek yogurt
our fireplace
friends A and J, who share good news with tact and consideration
anything and everything by gf handel
heavy blankets over me in bed
cute stickers and stamps
handwritten letters
soaking tired feet in a bathtub full of hot water
the light of the lamp in our living room
freshly wiped counters
tablecloths
finishing projects; anticipating the day I will be a finished project (he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it)

He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and merciful. …The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy. -ps 111.
Lord, cause your wondrous works to be remembered in our hearts this day. Give us grace that we might trust in your precepts and your faithful work on our behalf for salvation and sanctification. Make us great lovers – of others, of what you have given us, and of you.

The poem is such a worthwhile read: The Great Lover
This article is also wonderful, along the same line of thought, and written by a dear mentor and professor from college: The Romance of Domesticity

the weary world rejoices

/ abby hummel / 1 Comment

It’s been a year of weariness for me in many ways, and I have been very comforted by the lyrics of O Holy Night during Advent and Christmas.  Striking lines like “the weary world rejoices / for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn” are sung glibly because we hear them so often, but are still very meaningful. I love that the second verse talks about the King of Kings lying “thus in lowly manger / in all our trials born to be our friend” – Almighty God experiencing humility that he might be a friend and comforter in our trials! The last verse, beginning with “Truly He taught us to love one another,” is such a reminder of how the afflictions of this year have brought a new sense of reliance and companionship in my marriage, too. This has been one of the greatest blessings of the year.

For the 2010 holidays, we were very grateful to have a few short days with both sides of the family during Christmas. I have such a short amount of time off work each year and we have to calculate the vacation hours carefully to make the most of it. There’s always so much to decide between – beyond family visits, there is also the option for time with friends, projects on our house, and adventures with just the two of us! We had great weather for our eight-hour drive and enjoyed some long chats in the car on both ends of a very action-packed trip. Unfortunately we took almost no photos of our own, but my sister got a camera so we have lots of lovely pictures from that part of our trip. Here are a few highlights:

After this next one, my Grandma so politely said “Um, Beth… I think everyone else was trying to look good for this shot.”

Also, in that deer-in-the-woods sculpture (we all want it and tell Grandma to pass it on if she’s ever changing her decor), I just discovered a unicorn.  Who puts a unicorn in the same scene with deer?

My soul will boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice
 Ps 34:2

a valley exalted

/ abby hummel

Every Valley Shall Be Exalted

 

Last week I had the privilege of singing Handel’s Messiah with a community orchestra. I love the entire Oratorio and we listen to it frequently at home, but what a powerful experience to be there in the midst of it all. Just feet away from soloists and a small orchestra – oboes! violins! a harpsichord! And the astounding way Handel expresses the scriptural text with his masterful composing! I can barely describe what a fabulous, moving, spiritual experience this was.

 

I’ve heard this all many times, but I was richly blessed by the very opening:
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness: prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill made low; the crooked straight and the rough places plain.

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

How beautiful that this is the first statement we hear in a work written to tell the story of the Messiah. Comfort. He came (and is coming again) to comfort His people.

How appropriate to consider the voice crying out in the wilderness during Advent! And is not this “wild desert” so often an apt description of my own heart? Yet in those times of seeming desolation, He always comes. So as we celebrate the season anticipating Christ’s arrival – both the remembrance of his birth and the glorious revelation all flesh shall see together when he returns – I cling to Him. This is my prayer:

Cry out and be heard in my wilderness.
Make straight in my desert a highway.
Make what is crooked in my heart straight.
Exalt me in my valleys and make my rough places plain.

.

great is thy faithfulness: a reflection on thanksgiving

/ abby hummel

It seems a little backwards to post this after the holiday, but I’ve been thinking about Thanksgiving lately. Most of these thoughts really started after a sermon that touched on the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, where the Pharisee prays “Thank you that I am not like other people” and the tax collector beats his breast in sorrow and says “Lord have mercy on me, a sinner!” The passage clearly demonstrates that a thankful heart comes from a humble spirit. Thankfulness is not just about the words “thank you”, but about what is going on in my heart and how grateful I am for God’s grace to me. I mean, the Pharisee offered thanks to God and had “good habits” to go alongside his devotion, but his thanks came from the things he had done. The tax collector, in humility, recognized his great failures and sin. Maybe he was just thankful that God would even listen to him. And so our celebration of Thanksgiving should follow that example and reflect our gratefulness that God faithfully listens and cares for us.

It’s easy to lose sight of that, isn’t it? And when now, for a little while (ha) you have had to suffer trials of many kinds, it is easy to feel lost, like you are drowning in pain with little for which to be grateful.

Perhaps for this reason, scripture and Christian history give many examples of God’s goodness and provision, that we may cling to the enduring promises of His love and mercy to us. We see that Jehovah Jireh provides for the needs of his people: with a mighty hand and outstretched arm, Moses leads God’s people out of Egypt; Israelite David slays the Philistine Goliath saying “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty!”; Gideon obediently rescues Israel from the oppression of the Midianites; Complete and final victory over sin and death is in the Messiah, Jesus. And continuing from the New Testament into the present age, Christianity recounts the stories of Stephen, the first Martyr; Augustine of Hippo, turned from a life of promiscuity and philosophy to purity and devotion in leading the church and finalizing the canon of Scripture;  Countless church leaders who instituted the creeds of our faith and guided Christians in the path of orthodox belief; In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we remember the Pilgrims who found their freedom to worship at Plymouth Rock; Elisabeth Elliot ministered to the people who murdered her husband, and they all convert to Christianity! For God’s faithfulness, which extends far beyond our lifespan to the beginning of all time, we are grateful. We have these saints leaving the example of God faithfully guiding and providing for His people. He certainly does the same for us even today. So when it is hard to see what exactly to be thankful for, I look back to these stories and retrain my heart towards gratitude. The faithfulness that we see through all history is the same faithfulness he extends to us.

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father
There is no shadow of turning with Thee
Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not
As Thou has been, Thou forever will be
Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!

who makes the woeful heart to sing

/ abby hummel / 2 Comments

I have a ginormous hymnal that is in a 3 ring binder, designed perfectly for a piano accompanist. I got it for my 18th birthday. Yes, I was the nerdy kid ASKING for a hymnal for my birthday.  I had no idea how weird I was am. And tonight, after dinner as I was singing while Aaron studied, I realized that the editors of my hymnal gently suggest the 2nd verse of Fairest Lord Jesus is not as necessary as the other three listed because it doesn’t have a star by it. Nearly every hymn has the three “most important” verses “starred” for lazy worship leaders and/or congregations. When I am playing, I purposefully sing those verses louder. And yet in this hymn, that “unnecessary” verse ends by describing Jesus as the one “who makes the woeful heart to sing”,  a miracle similar to but greater than spring blooming out of the frozen death of winter. How is that not important? For me, this fall has been all about a woeful heart trying to figure out how to even want to sing again – and I’m definitely getting there. But only because He shines with all brightness and purity in the midst of our pain and darkness here.

And some of those woeful heart learning-to-sing moments have occurred in situations like this:
drinking wassail with Jaimi in Madison, Wisconsin!
of course I have no picture, but heart-to-hearts with Jenny in Minneapolis!

and celebrating the marriage of Alisa and David in New Mexico with more wonderful Hillsdale friends!

Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands
Robed in the blooming garb of spring:
Jesus is brighter, Jesus is purer
Who makes the woeful heart to sing!


O God, Our Help

/ abby hummel

O God, Our Help in Ages Past
Isaac Watts – St. Anne

O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home.

Under the shadow of Thy throne Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone, and our defense is sure.

Before the hills in order stood, or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God, to endless years the same.

O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our God while life shall last, and our eternal home.