Why I Cover

The symbol representing that Adam was created first, then Eve; that the man was not made for the woman but the woman for man is the hair on a woman’s head, with long hair on the head of the woman disclosing to humans and angels that the woman understands she remains, in or out of marriage, as a disciple’s body is to its inner self. Therefore, since the woman’s long hair relates to the relationship between the inner self and the body, the fabric covering with which the wife covers, or should cover her long hair shows that the wife is under the authority of her husband.

Two coverings, one physical, one spiritual, with both coverings on the head of the woman where they function as one covering.

Because outward circumcision made the head of a male naked, short hair on a man’s head represents circumcision of the heart; for the foreskins of hearts—the sack holding the heart—cannot be removed and the person still live. Hence, a man’s short hair and a woman’s long hair, both, symbolize that these two Christians desire to be obedient to Christ Jesus, their spiritual Head. But the hair on neither the husband’s nor the wife’s head says anything about the wife being obedient to her husband as the body is to obey its head, the inner self. And for this reason, the wife is to have a fabric covering that covers her hair.

As the Lord God communicated with ancient Israel by giving or by withholding rain in its season (Deut 11:10–15), the Lord communicates with Christians through both the groaning of the spirit and through giving or withholding blessings—and a man communicates with the Lord through both his hair length and through his desire to keep the commands of God, whereas the woman communicates by her hair length and by whether she chooses to obey her husband, disclosed to all by the woman covering her hair with a fabric covering.

Thoughts on Tea …

As I look around me in this wonderful country I call home, I see my fellow countrymen ensnared in slavery, slavery to the almighty dollar. Either they don’t have enough or they have too much, both of which are deadly. In ancient Greece, the rich man lived on the same street as the poor man, and conspicuous consumption did not mar the rich man’s abode—it would have been unseemly to display more wealth than his poor neighbor (5thC BCE theatre).

Today many are consumed with either the acquisition of goods or the holding on too tightly to what we may already have. Concern about jobs, the lack thereof, or the desire for better jobs, devours our waking hours and fills our dreams. Will we ever get ahead or are we constantly dropping behind? Our conversations are filled with sighs or rants about the economy and politics and we will follow, sometimes blindly, anyone who will promise to get us out of the «fix» we’ve found ourselves in. But jumping from one political party to another, or coming up with a new one (The Tea Party) will not cure the ills of this country. Our President and his administration seem hell bent on destroying this country … but wait, Moses is on the way to lead us out of Egypt, out from the bondage of Pharaoh and his onerous taskmasters. "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."

An Example of Low Cost Design Ideas

image from 30 Low-Cost Cabinet Makeovers, Better Homes & Gardens

As mentioned in a previous post, using a painting, or in this case a poster from which to draw your design inspiration, shows how an old kitchen can be modernized with just a coat of paint. Adding just one mug in the same sunny yellow ties the entire «look» together. Again whether you are just starting out or simplifying your life, using color choices to weed out, replace or renew can create harmony and peace.

A Treasure From the Past …

Love God...

Reverence your parents.
Submit to your superiors.
Despise not your inferiors.
Be courteous to your equals.
Pray daily & devoutly.
Converse with the good.
Imitate not the wicked.
Be always desirous of learning.
Study virtue & embrace it.
Provoke nobody.
Restrain your tongue.
Covet future honor, which only virtue & wisdom can procure.

In 1834, the Massachusettes Sabbath School Society borrowed from a book called The School of Good Manners, which had been around for over a century, to publish a few rules of behavior for their children.

This message was shared on Barbara Sarudy's blog, It's About Time. Barbara shares many photos, paintings and architectural wonders of the American past through her several blogs--living in the East does have it's advantages.

Design for Life -or- How to Save Money

"Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." — William Morris

The fame of Morris during his life was probably somewhat obscured by the variety of his accomplishments. In all his work after he reached mature life there is a marked absence of extravagance, of display, of superficial cleverness or effectiveness, and an equally marked sense of composition and subordination. Thus his poetry is singularly devoid of striking lines or phrases, and his wall-papers and chintzes only reveal their full excellence by the lastingness of the satisfaction they give. wikipedia

In college in East Texas I was on the cleaning crew sent to spiff up the Vice-Chancelor's home prior to his arrival for Fall classes. The foreman of the crew showed me the ceramic rooster, whose colors had been used to decorate the entire house. It was my first experience in seeing a color-coordinated home--every item, no matter how small, had been chosen from the rooster's palette. Later in life I have come to see that it costs no more to choose a blue item than an orange item. The question is--which will go with everything else already in one's possession.

If you are just starting out in life, or training your daughters, gain exposure to beautiful things; china patterns, quilt designs, paintings, carpets and fabrics. Walk through designer homes, showrooms, and store displays and stand at the magazine counter and look through the magazines for months before you buy the one that has the items or overall look that has come to be you. Then consciously build your trousseau and hope chest with only those items that suit you. Not only will you save money, but you will be able to learn how to make many of the items you need and want; you'll be able to buy them on sale, saving not only money but frustration in having too much and not enough of the best and right things.

If you're older and stuck with a lot of mis-matched stuff, educate your eye and get in touch with your heart and choose what's really become you and sell or give away what isn't you. Simplify your life and keep or acquire only those items you need and love. Plain living does not have to be sombre to be simple, but it does mean living without excess. Enjoy getting to know yourself …

Never judge a book but its cover …

Overnight singing sensation, Susan Boyle, is truly the wakeup call we've all been needing. She is the embodiment of the failing of judging by appearances «for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).» What a shame it would have been for Susan to go to her grave never to have shared with the world her amazing voice.

Thanks be to God that He has allowed the technology of the internet and YouTube--and now, even after 10 years in obscurity, we can all hear Susan sing again in a resurrected rendition of Cry Me a River.

«*Boyle has shattered prejudices about the connection between age, appearance and talent. She has proved that you don't have to be young and glamorous to be talented, and recognised as such.

Lisa Schwarzbaum, writer for US celebrity magazine Entertainment Weekly, said the performance was a powerful reality check.
She wrote: "In our pop-minded culture so slavishly obsessed with packaging - the right face, the right clothes, the right attitudes, the right Facebook posts - the unpackaged artistic power of the unstyled, un-hip, un-kissed Ms Boyle let me feel, for the duration of one blazing showstopping ballad, the meaning of human grace.
"She pierced my defences. She reordered the measure of beauty. And I had no idea until tears sprang how desperately I need that corrective."


"Susan Boyle is the ugly duckling who didn't need to turn into a swan; she has fulfilled the dreams of millions who, downtrodden by the cruelty of a culture that judges them on their appearance, have settled for life without looking in the mirror."»

But Boyle herself also said she wouldn't want the instant fame to change her.
"I wouldn't want to change myself too much because that would really make things a bit false," she said Friday in an interview with CNN. "I want to receive people as the real me, a real person."

*quoted from BBC article.

I dreamed a dream …

My cap is off to Susan Boyle … never give up!

Today, while the promise still stands … choose life … be a doer

When the sons of God mature sufficiently that they are no longer interested in playing pretend with the Lord but are interested in actually understanding the mysteries of God, then these sons of God begin to peel back the deception of the Adversary (who has deceived the whole world — Rev 12:9) and reveal previously unknown levels of linguistic precision in Scripture. But this can only occur because meaning is assigned to linguistic icons (i.e., words). Thus as the person matures and is no longer an infant or small child, the meanings that the son of God is able to assign to already familiar words change and become more complex … if words had hard-linked meanings, then the first time a passage is read all of the meaning contained in the passage would be grasped. There would never be the need to reread a passage for there would be nothing further to be gained by rereading the words. But as any Bible student knows, this is simply not true concerning Scripture (or any other literary text): every time a passage is read, more is taken from the passage for the person doing the reading is not then the same person mentally as the one who read the passage before. The person will have grown in some way—unless of course, the person continues to play pretend with the Lord and is too young to actually read the words on the page but must rely upon someone else to tell this small child what the passage says.
    Age old questions resurface when one reads more than the panel of the cereal box on the kitchen table or the "only approved" literature list from one's current affiliation. As the Apostle Paul noted in Romans 7, verses 15-21 … “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.” (ESV)
    «The(se) paradoxes are present in Hamlet, where they have been raised to the power of so many tragic truths: tragic because they point directly to as many appalling contradictions in the nature of things. Appearance contradicts reality, words contradict deeds, behavior contradicts purpose; nothing is what it appears to be, and nothing endures, least of all the high dedication of a passionate moment.

What to ourselves in passion we purpose,
The passion ending, doth the purpose lose. (III.ii.206-7)

… Ironically enough, it is the other King, the one of shreds and patches, who has the final comment on this matter, which involves nothing less than the need so urgently felt by the tragic protagonist throughout the play, for suiting the action to the word, the word to the action.

That we would do,
We should do when we would, for this "would" changes,
And hath abatements and delays as many
As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents;
And then this "should" is like a spendthrift sigh,
That hurts by easing. (IV.vii.118-123)»

Hamlet, William Shakespeare, ed. Cyrus Hoy. W. W. Norton, New York, 1963, xi.

New Cap

I am trying out a new cap, the Matron, from Plain-n-Simple Headcoverings, which is made from Kannik's Korner Mob Cap pattern. It is made of cotton organdy, and I wore it for several weeks before I sat down the other night and removed the top stitching and rolled and hand-stitched down the edges all around. Now it doesn't catch in my hair and the edge around the face is taken in just a bit and fits better. I have reached that advanced age when having a covering over my ears is comforting, much as that kerchief or shawl I often wear around my shoulders.

Even though I sew myself quite well, I was more than happy to pay Bayley for making the cap. Her workmanship is excellent, as there is a long strip of fiddly organdy around the edge of the cap. I highly recommend Bayley's skills with a needle and am very thankful that she offers so many styles from which to choose. I intend to purchase two more Matrons and one of the Maidens; I already have one of the Madres. Both the Madre and the Maiden can be held in place with a coif, an 18thC style, that adds warmth,as well as saving one's bonnet from the wind! Here I am demonatrating knitting wearing a coif over s Sophie cap and a Lappets cap for warmth at Fort Massac, IL.

Sarah Brightman - Symphony

I wish that I had been in another room to only hear the concert last night on my local PBS station, but I was watching--and I couldn't believe my eyes. Sarah Brightman's voice, the highest selling soprano of all time, was filling Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral), Vienna--with ethereal sound, usually drawing pictures in my mind of an angel singing--but I was appalled at what I was seeing. As I watched the remainder of the concert, I realized that in the back of my mind was a picture from my childhood, an Adventist painting of the whore of Babylon, scantily clad in purple with flowing black locks, but the whore was more tastefully clad than was Brightman--who appeared in diaphanous, nude-colored chiffon topped by a corset in white satin with what appeared to be garters holding up outer layers above her knees.
As she walked up and down the cathedral's aisle, her clothing suggested nakedness. Sitting along the aisles were many people of all ages, men and women, among whom I saw two women with hats of sorts. No one--in the audience and, especially Miss Brightman--appeared to be dressed appropriately for appearing in a cathedral, normally a place of worship, normally a place of decorum and respect, not only for oneself, but for the "sacred" place.

As a teenager I sang in the Motet Choir in St. Michael's Episcopal Cathdral, in Boise, Idaho; I've sung an aria from Handel's Messiah in Jewett Auditorium, College of Idaho--I know what singing sounds like echoing among the vaults of cathdrals, sounds heightened by wonderful acoustics--I can understand the appeal of singing into the vaults of Stephansdom. But I cannot understand the complete lack of propriety in Miss Brightman's appearance. The voice of an angel should not proceed from the lips of a woman dressed like a whore in a sacred space.