reads for your weekend

This time last week, we were finishing brunch (and dessert) at Max Brenner in New York City. And while Max Brenner (not a person, by the way, but combined names from the two owners) is known for chocolate, we were more than impressed by our meals.

Today, though, we've settled back into routine from a week in a very hectic city. Our time there was spent soaking in almost every possible experience, and it was good, but we love home. So we greeted the weekend in our pajamas, moving from bedroom to living room with big mugs of coffee and bowls of fruit crisp topped with spoonfuls of maple yogurt. And we watched an episode of The Daytripper. This is our Saturday routine.

Today will be a day of errands. Thanks to leftovers from Jeremy's mom and my throwing together a pot of soup from frozen foods and pantry items, we've only had to grab some fresh fruit from the store. No major trips. Yet. I'm working on our meal plan for next week. After a week of some major splurges, we're craving simple, real food.

So here are some things floating around the internet that I thought you might like. (Remember I've been MIA for about a week, so these things may not be super new.) Enjoy!

engagement party | the macs
I love the parties that Jess at The Macs organizes. They're simple, but full of charm. Her tables are always so very cute with signs and mason jars and striped straws. And she always uses bunting. Always. It adds so much to a party, don't you think?

diy leather pillow tutorial | vintage revivals
I have a sewing machine, but I am not a seamstress. Somehow, though, I have a deep desire to recreate this leather pillow. The blogger actually stripped the leather from a couch destined for the dump. And it's so cute! It totally wouldn't matter if the leather is in bad shape. The pillow would look even better! So, if you're local and have a leather couch you want to discard, call me. Or text me. Or facebook me.

maple butter recipe | clinton st. baking co. via martha stewart
I'm planning to do a couple of posts on our trip to NYC. No doubt, at least one will be devoted to restaurants. We had this maple butter at Clinton Street Baking Co., poured over pancakes and again with cornbread. I would have been happy sipping it instead of coffee. If you're planning pancakes or waffles this weekend, you should make it. It's super easy and only two ingredients. Basically: melt butter; stir in maple syrup. And use real maple syrup. It's worth it. (And though I hate WalMart with all my heart, I sometimes hit up Sam's Club for a good deal on maple syrup.)

reads for your weekend

• the only thing more important than what you say is how you say it | henry cloud

"Your 'tone' is the way that you talk to someone, especially when they are doing something wrong, or not doing something that you want. We all have a tendency at some level to get aggravated and amped up a bit, depending on how much we are hurt, frustrated, or afraid. But, the kicker is this: the more our tone is negative towards someone, or angry, or escalated, the less chance we have of getting the outcome we desire."

• sara's broccoli game-changer | shauna niequist

If you haven't tried roasted broccoli, do it. And then do the same with cauliflower.  

•  on materialism + contentment | her southern charm

This post really hit a nerve. I buy way too much stuff. Target gets me every.time. Every time. 

• rick warren's grief: the comfort & cruelty of speculating on suicide | rage against the minivan

"When we hear about grieving parents it can be so tempting to try to assign blame, because if they aren’t to blame, then we have to grapple with the reality that sometimes, tragedy is senseless. This is an uncomfortable truth: awful things happen to children that parents cannot prevent.  It’s a truth so painful that we would rather throw grieving parents under the bus than face it."

• a new approach to the table | shauna niequist

"I want you to stop running from thing to thing to thing, and to sit down at the table, to offer the people you love something humble and nourishing, like soup and bread, like a story, like a hand holding another hand while you pray. We live in a world that values us for how fast we go, for how much we accomplish, for how much life we can pack into one day. But I’m coming to believe it’s in the in-between spaces that our lives change, and that the real beauty lies there. "

reads for your weekend

In light of the goings on this week, here a few reads that made me think. Some of these are new reads; some I've read in the past months but find them appropriate for this week. As we remember and celebrate this Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday, I pray that God stirs your heart and draws you to Him. He's a great God, even though His followers aren't good. But some of us are trying. Even then our sinful nature pokes through. We try to do good, but we don't. This is nothing new.

For those who are hurting or feel ashamed or don't know what to believe or have been called an unbeliever or just want to go to the basement until the storm passes:

• The Basement Manifesto | Jen Hatmaker

(A follow-up to In the Basement, a favorite read.) 

This isn't some Christian commune. This is a way of representing the Gospel. It is about our hearts and words, reaching across party lines and believing that love is the most excellent way, even in the hard stuff. It's about becoming slave to everyone to win anyone to Christ--quite the opposite of "defending our rights" all the time. In the basement, people matter. All of them. And we've discovered that kindness and dignity do wonders for forging healthy dialogue, especially the difficult ones.  

• On Gay Marriage and God | Allison Woodard 

But if we can turn our attention away from these provocative comments and come alongside those who are earnestly and humbly seeking to know how to view this issue through the lens of Scripture with the help of the Spirit, I think there can be more to the conversation.  

• An Open Letter to Members & Supporters of the LBGT Community | in parvo

I want to sit down with you today in order to offer confession and repentance on behalf of myself and my Christian brothers and sisters, because I believe reconciliation begins with confession and repentance. Please understand that many Christians will never stop believing homosexuality to be sinful, but the topic of whether or not it is a sin before God is not something I am interested in discussing today. If I were to try to begin with that discussion, I would be struggling to see around the plank in my eye in order to evaluate, weigh, and measure the speck in yours.

• The Gay Community and That One Time Jesus Called Me the N-word | Sammy Adebiyi

Wanna hear something crazy? I made a bigger difference in the gay community through that one sermon than I have in over 10 years of ministry. Why? 

Because it was the first time I really cared about gay people and they could tell.
That night I shook hands, hugged and became friends with several gay people (most of who disagreed with me theologically). I also got emails from others who admitted they’ve always felt hated by Jesus and the church until that night. 

But Sammy, (what some of you are thinking right now), how do you love someone whose actions or behaviors you find really unacceptable?  How can I love someone who I believe is living in sin? Great question. Do your thing Mr. C.S Lewis. 

“There is someone that I love even though I don’t approve of what he does. There is someone I accept though some of his thoughts and actions revolt me. There is someone I forgive though he hurts the people I love the most. That person is……me.”
(If you can’t say amen, say ouch).

• Sex | Jamie, the Very Worst Missionary

But. If you've already gone down that path, you knocked boots, you got 'er done, you did the nasty.... and now you're not sure, or maybe you feel dirty and you're rocking the walk-of-shame-face day in and day out, you need to hear this -- I mean it, you really need to hear this...

You've had sex outside of marriage? *gasp* So what! You are so much more than your sexuality. And the God of the Universe, the one who turns whores into heroes, and drunks into prophets, and liars and murderers into leaders and kings - that God? He made peace with you and me and our promiscuous, pathetic attempts at love a long, long time ago. He gave you a Redeemer. Shame is no longer your burden. 

reads for your weekend

• And Then the Conference Uninvited Me to Speak by Jen Hatmaker

"I’m hungry for a church less known for sanctimony and more for their shocking intervention for hungry babies and human trafficking and racism and injustice. Christianity is too thrilling to reduce to middle/upper-middle class First World Problems, encapsulated in issues and gauged by a nebulous moral compass that lost its bearing decades ago.

• Failure to Thrive by Brandon Hatmaker 

"Every child deserves a family. If it can’t be through unification with biological parents, then it needs to be through a more rapid process for adoption. This stands in opposition to a long drawn out process taking an average of three or more years while the child remains institutionalized during their most significant developmental years."

• What I Want You to Know About Wanting a Baby by Rachel

"So, I want you to know that I’m not jealous. When I hold your baby, I don’t wish she was mine. When I hear that you’re expecting, I don’t envy you. When I see an ultrasound picture of your little life form, I don’t wish that image was nestled in my own uterus."

•  Confronting the Life: God won't give you more than you can handle by Nate Pyle

"It is easy to spout trite Christian platitudes designed to make people feel better with bumper-sticker theology. But insipid axioms do little in the face of the actual brokenness of the world."

"This particular statement, that 'God won’t give you more than you can handle,' isn't even in the Bible. There is a statement that sounds like it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.” But notice that verse is about temptation. That’s it. You won’t be tempted beyond what you can stand up against. This text is not saying that you will not experience more than you can bear. That idea just isn't Biblical." 

• The Lord of the Rings vs. Foster Care & Adoption by Steve Rose

"...Treebeard answers, 'This is not our war.' Merry’s response is simple, and powerful – 'But you’re part of this world!'...We ARE part of this world, and as such are seen by God as part of the solution to things like foster care/adoption." 

• On Preparing for the Sabbath by Jennifer at Her Southern Charm

"I should have blocked off thirty minutes to an hour Saturday night and gotten those chores done. I should have done whatever I needed to do to pave the way for a morning of reconnecting with Him after a busy week and weekend."

• Ashamed by Rachel Held Evans 

"I am not ashamed of this great cloud of witnesses, kicking up dust ahead of me on the path. They are hermits and homemakers and sinners and saints and pilgrims and poets and mothers and activists and peacemakers and friends. They bind up wounds and stand up to bullies and offer rides and listen well and make meals and let things go and work hard and fail sometimes. But they keep telling the story--this story that sets both the oppressed and the oppressors free, this story that may even save me."