Handout October 21, 2012, TOBSL Part 2 #1, pp 53‐58

TOBSL Part 2 #1, pp 53‐58 October 21, 2012 (From Tory and Elizabeth)

“Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.” A pure heart is the simple heart of a child, who does not know about good and evil, the heart of Adam before the fall, the heart in which the will of Jesus rules instead of one’s own conscience…. A pure heart is pure of good and evil; it belongs entirely and undivided to Christ; it looks only to him, who goes on ahead (Bonhoeffer, Discipleship p. 107).

Lust versus love

     Eve saw that the tree’s fruit was good for food, a delight to the eyes, and desirous to make one wise. Likewise, our culture tends to receive lust as something good for their bodily appetites, delighting to see another’s nakedness, and something to boast about in their hearts at the least, if not to others. In terms of the inner desires, human beings desire to see what has not been given to them by God in the lust of the eyes. In the lust of the flesh they want to experience what has not been given as a gift to their bodies. And pride of life shows forth when they want to tell others about it, sharing in unholy communication. But they disregard how that act will affect the other person’s well-being and their relationships now and in the future.

Some Holiday Excursion Suggestions in DC

     I have enjoyed gardens and gardening for many years. In fact, gardening has probably been my favorite hobby since I began raising children and staying home and homeschooling them (17 years).  But I also enjoy art museums, like the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk (beautiful architecture and collection of glass, especially Tiffany), so I’ve trucked the kids to a fair number of those too over the years. Recently, my husband and I visited the Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery of Art, but in the past we've liked the Hirshhorn  Museum and Sculpture Garden (more modern works),  the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur Sackler Galleries (great ceramics) and the Phillips Collection (modern painters, plus others).

Be the boundary

     I own a lot of individual books, but very few series from one author, only two in fact: the Personality Plus books by Florence and Marita Littauer and the Boundaries series by Cloud and Townsend. (Marita, I recently discovered, was actually another ally of mine in politics and I never put it together that she was the daughter of Florence until afterwards—a small world our God has!)