Sally Clarkson's Blog, page 95

Avoiding Thanksgiving Martyrdom, and a Recipe for Thanksgiving Relish--Cranberry style!

One of our family's most anticipated time of year is autumn. We are thrilled by the ushering in of crisp, cool air, of reading soul-filling books by the crackling fireplace and remembering the many blessings God has given us throughout the past year.  One favorite part of the fall festivities was the planning and preparations for our Thanksgiving celebration.

Often because we have moved a lot, we found ourselves alone around Thanksgiving. Beginning with our years overseas as missionaries, we began to ask all sorts of people over to our home on Thanksgiving. I know that even this year, Joel and Joy are celebrating at least 3 different thanksgivings with friends in Scotland.

But I am now quite sure that trying to do everything perfectly by myself creates stress for everyone around me. So even though my sweet ones prefer my cooking (Isn't that how it often is?) I knew that I would be more pleasant to live with if I delegated a lot of the work to others. It is not worth wrecking a special day if the mama is a martyr and punishes everyone for all the work she is doing. I decided to have a good attitude about the work I would be doing for my family, and to delegate some of it so I would not be under the weight of too many ideals. (Of course, there are grocery stores and restaurants if your season requires having some of the food catered! Mary verses Martha, you know.)

I learned to start early. I would make corn bread a week or two before the day and freeze it so my stuffing would be easier to make. Pies and bread are made on Tuesday and Wednesday. Children's crafts would be prepared the week before—usually those cute turkeys that decorate the table! 

My dear friend Brandee passed this recipe on to me, and I held on to it as a simple favorite! It can be used throughout the year.  While Brandee was still in college, she worked as an aide for a kindergarten teacher named Connie Fritch and every year she made this recipe with her students for their Thanksgiving Feast. She just so happens to be the same lady who started the Honey Baked Ham stores, so as you can imagine, it was a fabulous recipe then and still is every year at our house.

The boys in my family actually prefer the plain cranberry jelly right out of the can "like Mimi used to do," — can you believe it?— so we have all sorts of varieties of cranberries on our table. Here's Brandee's recipe.

Cranberry Relish

Ingredients:

2 pkgs. fresh cranberries (rinsed and sorted)

2 Cups Orange Juice

2 Sticks cinnamon

2 Oranges (cut in wedges)

2 Apples, chopped

2 Pears, chopped

1 1/2 Cups Honey

1 Cup Sugar (Optional)

Strawberries, sliced (Optional)

Add cranberries to large/extra large pot.

Add O.J. to pot and boil medium high heat.

Boil cranberries in O.J. until popping stops.

Add other ingredients.

Cook until thickened.

Turn off heat and add honey or sugar. May need additional sweetener to taste.

Before chilling, remove orange wedges. I usually keep the  cinnamon in until just before serving. Voila! How easy was that! Enjoy! This is amazing on a turkey sandwich or used with a pork roast, or simply poured over your first slice of Thanksgiving turkey.

Enjoy this relish throughout the year by freezing small batches!

Best of Sally: Life is Harder Than We Expected, Part 2 (and a podcast!)

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Life in a family with children is often messy. It is one drama after another if you have teens. One mess after another with all ages, as they always seem to keep eating, creating dirty dishes and making messes. Children fuss no matter what method you use and no matter what book you have bought--especially with personality differences rubbing against the grain. All in my family are sinful— including me!—which means there are moods and attitudes and ups and downs. There are illnesses, mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual, that make relationships a challenge. Most of us carry baggage from our past lives that creep into our marriage, the way we view life and treat our husbands, and the way we view and treat our children. Oh, if we could only take some of the things we said back or start over again, we could do a better job!

I remember often thinking as I learned new things about myself and repented from some bad habits and ways of dealing with my family, that I needed to have more children so that at least on one child I could get it right!

Yet now, as I get older, I have collected some perspective. God has used the humbling circumstances of having a family and being married to bring me to my knees. He has used these very circumstances to humble me, and to thus develop more compassion for others who also struggle. What good would I have been to myself, my children, or my husband to have remained a self-confident, pompous Pharisee who was assured of right philosophy?

God's ultimate desire was to do heart surgery that I didn't realize I needed--in order to little by little make my heart and character more like Christ's--and so He sovereignly used my family and children to chisel the blemishes and deficiencies away. 

I have realized that part of my problem is that I am a faint-hearted and conflict-resistant at heart; I do not like difficulty or challenges, and tire of the process. Yet, God somehow knew that deep in my heart, I truly want to hold fast to faith and trust Him and persevere rather than to get my own way in areas which would lead to my destruction.

Yet, the advantage I have now is perspective, from having lived through so many seasons and seeing that in spite of my fretting, stresses, and fears, God was there all the time, working, showing faithfulness and being patient with me in the process.

Join Misty and I here, as we discuss the ways life has been difficult, and what we’ve learned along the way.

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Best of Sally: Life is Harder Than We Expected, Part 1 (And A Podcast!)

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."       1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

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Lately, I have been working through a bit of a heartbreak that has been going on for many years. I think I thought If I was mature or became older and seasoned, I would not struggle so much. Yet, the battle against a broken world where we can be hurt, disappointed, lonely, discouraged is what all of us are up against every day. Western cultural messages often lead us to believe that we should expect happily ever after, love that is easy, riches that will just miraculously drop out of the sky.

Yet, everyone I know has to work hard every month to keep paying bills. All the people that I know are subject to illness and calamity and tension in relationships, because all of us are in a world separated from God’s goodness from the beginning. I wish I had better understood this when I was younger. I wish I had know better that God is not picking on me when life is hard, but that He is so humble and generous, He is with me through every day, every tear, every disappointment.

And my part? My part is to be honest, tell him how I feel and what is hard, just as the psalmists did. And then to move to a place of worship, that acknowledges that, because He is faithful and good, “All things work together for those who move Him.” Note that it does not say all things are good, but all things will eventually, over time, work together for us as we walk by faith and allow Him to lead.

There is no Scripture that I know of where God says it is okay to grumble, pout or complain as a way of life. I sure would like to find one, but it's not there (I'm still looking!) There are, however, plenty of verses where God says to be thankful and to learn to be content. But what I have learned is that it is for my best that I learn to move from pouring out my heart to choosing to honor His presence by choosing to be thankful.

When I'm facing difficult circumstances, that verse at the top of this page can be a very annoying! If I consider the alternatives to being thankful, though, I can readily see God's point. When I pout instead of being joyful, grumble instead of praying, and complain instead of giving thanks, I am in effect telling God that He is mishandling my life and I don't like it. At that point, I have ceased to put my faith in my sovereign Lord, and have chosen to put my faith in my circumstances. In other words, I am telling God and myself, that if my circumstances change, then and only then can I be happy. Until then, I have nothing to be thankful for. And that, according to Paul, is when I step out of God's will.

Embracing the Lord's will for my life means accepting the exact set of circumstances He has handed me, one day at a time. Sometimes, I have to remind myself to accept them one moment at a time! Today, I have a choice to make. Will I grumble and complain? Will I stomp and lament and wonder why He isn't changing things?

(I do that, sometimes.)

It takes an act of my will and the grace of the Holy Spirit to pull myself back into line. I have to remind myself that God is for me; He loves me; He knows what is best for me and He is able to take everything that affects me and work it out for His pleasure and my good.

Our children are watching our responses as we walk through difficulties. They want to know if we really believe the things we teach them. They need to see us lean into Jesus in those times.

Will we drink the cup He has placed before us? Many years ago the Lord asked me this question. As Jesus prayed in the Garden ...

"Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done."~Luke 22:42

I think it's important to see here that Jesus did ask for the cup to be removed! We are not offending God when we ask Him to change our circumstances. But when we pray and He doesn't change them; when the fires rage or the waters rise ... it's there we find the question remains: Will I drink this cup? Will I do it with grace?

How about you? What cup is the Lord asking you to drink? Let's pray for one another.

If you are listening to this podcast, know that we care for you, for your struggles and are praying for you today. May you have the grace to find strength and to bear your cross well, with His strength and love.

We hope you’ll enjoy this podcast, where Misty and I talk about some of the ways life has been more difficult than we expected—but God is good.

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1 Thessalonians 5 PDF
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The Art of Crafting the Life of Your Home

As women, one of the defining qualities intrinsic in being made in God's image, is the divine ability to create, to cultivate, to subdue, and to take all of the raw materials of our lives and to craft them into something beautiful.

When God laid the foundations of the universe, the splendor and magnificence of vibrant color, eye-captivating beauty, resilient, melodious sounds, the spontaneous response of the shimmering, sparkling morning stars was to celebrate with heavenly choruses singing His praises and worth, while the sons of God shouted and celebrated wildly with joy. (Job 38:6-8) What on overwhelming display of vibrant, heart-filling celebration of His glory it must have been.

So, when we want to display just a small bit of the divine through the beauty of our home, it must encompass all of the moments of life. We must rule over our domains in such a way to have order, rhythms, traditions, and anchors in our schedule that provide for this divine reflection of what God has done.

I love fall the best, I think. Chill air begins to fill the nights so that we must close our windows and snuggle under covers. Warm, simmering, pungent soups bubble on the stove while scents of herb-crusted bread waft from the oven. Fireplaces and candles dance with flames, music notes float into our subconscious to please and soothe the rough places of our souls.

The Spirit of home, stands at the doorway to compel those outside to enter into a place of life, comfort, rest, beauty.

But, you say, "My life is already so busy, I don't have time to add one more ideal."

The challenge, then, is to find a way to weave beauty, color, celebration into an already busy life.

Be sure to get a copy of The Lifegiving Home for more on this topic!

The Lifegiving Home: Creating a Place of Belonging and Becoming

By Sally Clarkson, Sarah Clarkson

Best of Sally: Becoming A Friend Worth Having (And a Podcast!)

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I was recently remembering how many times I have felt alone or dry both spiritually and emotionally, but when I entered into the company of several particular friends, I always left feeling stronger, encouraged, with more true thoughts about life and the Lord to feed on. These women have an intentionality about their spiritual lives and so I know when I invest time with them, I will be investing in my own spiritual well-being. God created community to be a regular part of our lives, and yet it doesn't just come about by fate--community in this time of history is always precious and has to be developed by planning and intention.

One summer, twelve women bedecked with scarves, sparkling earrings, and glossy lips, gathered in a garden gazebo deep in the mountains of Colorado. Polite chattering and soft laughter rang through the cluster of women introducing themselves to one another.

As we moved through a tea buffet, piled high with chocolate strawberries, cream scones, raspberry jam and tiny heart-shaped finger sandwiches, we began to ease into the grace of the morning.

Gathering us on her nearby covered porch around wicker chairs and patio couches, my friend said, “I have invited all of you here today because you have a story to tell.”

Seems that two of her old high school classmates from 40 years before had stopped in town, and my friend wanted these old friends to hear the testimonies of a number of her godly friends (us!) who had been invited with a purpose. All of us were women of differing ages, but have been involved in groups or Bible studies or ministries with my friend, and she wanted these friends, who were not believers, to have an opportunity to hear of the love of God in a way that would touch their hearts.

“I want each of you to tell a story from your life of how God has been faithful to you, something that is dear to your heart.”

As we circled around each other, life stories began to spill out. Stories of childhood, during World War 2; illnesses from which women had recovered; money that had been provided in the nick of time for a down payment on a home; newlywed stories of love and romance. Two hours of story-telling filled our hearts and made such a sweet memory.

As I left, I realized that my friend had set the parameters for a tea party, but because of her intentional planning, the Lord had showed up and filled each of our emotional cups.

Often, women say to me, “No one ever invites me over or calls me.” If we wait for others to invite us, we may wait for a very long time. An isolationist culture where we don’t know our neighbors and attend big churches where we do not even know most of the people sitting next to us in the pew, has left many people feeling lonely and empty emotionally.

Having moved 17 times, 6 times internationally, I have learned that friendships really don’t usually just happen. Most of the community I now have, have happened as a result of me calling people, having gatherings in my home, making memories with women who inspire me. It is like planting a garden. When I till the soil and plant the seed of love, encouragement, thoughtfulness and reaching out, the seeds of friendship just naturally grow.

I have looked for women who are above me in age, who are wiser and cultivate in me a desire to love God more. I call them, take them out, invite them over—because I know what I sow in the garden of my soul, I will reap. And so I sow times with these women.

Next, I look for peers, those women who are at my stage of life, who share the same issues and needs. I have two prayer partners in the same stage of life as me. One calls me every day and we just pray for each other and find out how each of us is doing. The other friend comes to my house once a week and we go walking along a beautiful trail near my house, and after we have caught up on life, we pray for one another.

Finally, I love spending time with women who are younger than me. Young women who are cultivating their ideals bring fresh and vibrant beauty to my soul.

All of these wonderful friends started with a plan—to invite them into my life with a purpose, because I needed accountability and love along with a blessing, because I needed to be loved!

This is the reason we are cultivating mom heart groups. We want women to meet around the Word, cultivate friendship, encourage each other in their ideals and to develop long term strength for themselves within their ideals.  Pray for God to show you who you might invite over and try my friend’s trick— ask them to tell their stories as you share your walk with God, your family and your wishes and hopes with one another.

Girls' Club: Cultivating Lasting Friendship in a Lonely World

By Sally Clarkson, Joy Clarkson, Sarah Clarkson






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A Season of Simplicity & a New Podcast

A Season of Simplicity & A New Podcast

After the constant demands of writing books, blogs, podcasts and speaking all over the world, I find myself so very grateful for all that I have seen the Lord do. And to have partnered with Him by faith and see Him work is nothing short of miraculous.

But now, I find myself reevaluating once again. What is most important? What is sustainable for my life? How can I make sure to have time for real people, to be at peace and rest, to be present even amidst the swirl of a busy life? Living life with a plan, on purpose, is what it means to build on the rock—a house that will not fall, that will last through all the storms, a house that gives stability and comfort. That is what I want my story to show every day.

In light of my pondering, I am so very thankful my friend, Emily Ley, my dear friend, has written a book that helps me think through the essential, the things to keep and the things that drain. Look at these chapter titles alone. They have helped me begin to simplify my plan ahead. (I will be sharing more of that I the weeks ahead.) But I thought if it helped me, it might also be of great encouragement to you. Just look at how relevant these are to those of us who live a busy life!

I had the privilege of talking with Emily last week to discuss why we all need to constantly take a step back, to plan what really matters, to invest in the real—in real love, real conversations, real food, real rest, real faith.

I hope you will be greatly inspired by our conversation, but even more, I hope her book will be of great help to you as you seek to live sustainably, peacefully, joyfully.

And we will both be with many of you in Atlanta on Wednesday at Barnes and Noble at a celebration of both of our books. So sorry but the event is sold out, but we can’t wait to see many of you there.

Emily designs beautiful, simple planners that seem to go along with my own personality. You can find all things Emily Ley at Emilyley.com

When Less Becomes More: Making Space for Slow, Simple, and Good

By Emily Ley





















Only You Can Be You: What Makes You Different Makes You Great

By Sally Clarkson, Nathan Clarkson































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Best of Sally: Bringing Order and Cultivating Home Life (and a Podcast!)

“Frodo was now safe in the Last Homely House east of the Sea. That house was, as Bilbo had long ago reported, ‘a perfect house, whether you like food or sleep, or story-telling or singing, or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all. Merely to be there was a cure for weariness, fear and sadness.”

~The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

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As a lover of great literature, the setting of Rivendell in Lord of the Rings captivated the attention of all the girls in our family. Picturing our home as a place that remembers all the great life from eras gone by and that captures its beauty has been one of our goals, giving us hours and hours of collecting and crafting and nurturing over the years.

A library that holds the great books of children's literature and classics and great thinkers, biographies and writers is a must. And now, due to Clay's kindness to move his office to the basement, I have our library as a tea room of sorts. With comfy chairs, a tea set, art and paintings from my background all over the walls, with candle light and music--it is a lovely getaway where I can share heart-to-heart with all in my wake.

A well-stocked kitchen with all sorts of home-made recipes crafted over years of testing, with all the holiday food; food for those who are ill; birthday fare; winter-cold-night soups and breads and all sorts of healthy variety in between …

Fireplaces where stories are told and ideas discussed and children are cuddled …

Bedrooms with comfy chairs and piles of books in baskets to encourage reading and quiet times and of course candles galore .l..

Piano, guitars, drums, flute, dulcimer--all collected over the years--some more used than others, but all for practicing producing music of all sorts …

Games and book baskets and art books and cd's and Pandora and dvd's from all imaginings to instruct, inspire, soothe, comfort and to stoke the imagination …

Clusters of chairs, grouped together to encourage great and close conversations--rockers on the front porch; setees and big chairs on the back deck; gatherings of chairs in 2's all over the house to make a close meeting and discipleship time for all who are there …

And of course a bookshelf in every room, with each child collecting his own library.

A suitable place for traditions celebrated and momentous occasions retold and the Bible read, over and over and over again--to remember Him and stories of faith and heroes and courage and holiness.

This is what I have had in my heart to shape--a home that breathes life and truth and love into all who would enter--

To make sure my home, for my family and friends, is indeed the last homely house and that all that has been excellent and worthwhile over the ages is celebrated in its walls--

because everyone needs a place to belong and a home where welcome is always fresh with all who cross the doorway.

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Leave an iTunes Review These are so important as they help our podcast reach more women with messages of encouragement.

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Share with others. My prayer is that this podcast brings encouragement to women and families, and I would be honored for you to tell others about it.

Join my friends and me in membership at Life with Sally, a place for me to share more teaching from the Bible and messages on education, motherhood, discipleship, and more!

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How Are You Cultivating Your Life, Mama?

Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.

Proverbs 4:23

Many years of my life I thought, “When this is over, then I can get more control of life.” But the time never came when life was slow and balanced. Somewhere along the way, I began to realize that I had limited strength, limited emotional cash, limited brain space. When you are spent, the warning lights will come on!

I have seen many women, over the years, burn out and become either a victim of their own lives by feeling a failure or become cynical and lose their ideals. In a culture where very little supports the role of mother, where we are often taxed 24/7 for years on end, we often do not even know that this is not how God created our lives to be.

When a woman can glance down at her heart and see doubt, fear, bitterness, anger, or self-doubt, it is time for heart surgery. No one can make us be responsible for the well being of our hearts—we have to do that as an act of our will. Wisdom teaches us that there is a time to give out and a time to restore. But in this frenetic culture, we have to learn to close off the noice and activity, to design rest, peace, restoration, so that we can finish the race of our lives well.

When you are taxed by your children, your friends, or your husband, what flows out from the depths of your heart? What you are pouring in will surely spill out in your words, your eyes, your attitudes, your actions. Filling our souls with beauty, goodness, humility, faith, and the love of Christ must be intentional so His life will be what spills over onto others when we are “squeezed.”

Jesus said it is not the outside—our performance for others or attempts to do righteous works—that determines what a man or woman is like. It is possible to fool others because of our behavior, but it is never possible to fool God. He sees what we are like on the inside.

If God’s will is good and acceptable and perfect and we find ourselves expressing an over abundance of stress related attitudes, we must be doing more or giving more of ourselves to things than God wanted us to—Is your life reflecting the “goodness, acceptability and perfectness” of God’s will? It is so good to take inventory and see what is taxing us too much, what we are doing to refresh, what we need to put in place to restore.

There are those seasons when this is not possible, But we can only live stressed out temporarily and not as a way of life for years or there will be serious consequences.

Planning Restoration

The starting point for spreading inspiration and faith is cultivating our own hearts. If a mama is taking time for reading Scripture, pondering the heart of Christ, worshiping Him, and following His ways, her children will draw the love and sweetness of Christ from her every day.

If a mama is engaging her mind in great books, learning new ideas, and stretching her own intellect, her children will also benefit.

If a mama is developing her character and taking small steps to become more self- disciplined, more of a servant leader, more patient, and more generous with lifegiving words because of her obedience to Christ, her children’s souls will be watered by the strength of her obedience.

If a mama is taking time to rest, to celebrate Sabbath rests on a regular basis, to make time for friends that fill up, then she will find more emotional strength to give to her family.

If she engages herself in meeting the needs of others and reaches out with the redeeming message of Christ, her children will learn just not

Don’t worry primarily about having the right rules, the best formula, the right books. Be concerned, instead, for your soul—what are you planting there? What are you watering in the depths of your soul?

This weekend would be a great time to take some time off and to plan for cultivating your own soul.

 

Best of Sally: Training Our Children in Character (and a Podcast!)

"Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence. But we rather have those because we have acted rightly.We are what we repeatedly do.

Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

Aristotle

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This week, I will be banging on my computer, (I have 4 keys that are already worn off!) and writing a legacy book about my thoughts on education. Pray for me please! I wish I had 1000 pages to write all of my thoughts, but trying to get the best thoughts consolidated as well as possible.

I hope you will enjoy today’s podcast, another in the Best of Sally series, all about training our children to be virtuous. A number of women have asked me to speak about the area of training children, so hope it will be of encouragement to you. Of course, same principles apply to us grown up children. Enjoy!

Training a child to have character, diligence, honesty, perseverance, generosity, kindness, etc. is a long process. We think there should be a formula that “gets it done” quickly. Yet, it is the repetition over and over again, practicing, correcting, growing stronger, that creates a person of integrity and virtue.

Merely having a piano in a home and having a child bang on the instrument will not nurture a child into becoming a classical pianist. To become excellent in playing, the child must be instructed over a period of many years, hours must be given to practice and learning music.  Playing and playing and playing again is the course of action that produces skill and excellence.

Proverbs tells us that "a skillful man will go before kings." Regarding character, wisdom and soul strength, a child must also be instructed, have many years to practice and apply the teaching before an excellent character and life skills are developed.

Contemporary Culture Mitigates Against Excellent Character

Because our culture is so given to crudity and a devaluation of human beings, with secular media determining the values of children, many adults and children reflect shallow character and lack of wisdom and discretion.  Couple this with  a lack of intentional training on the part of adults, with moral compromise at every turn, and many children are at a disadvantage in their lives because they have never developed a strong moral character, or seen a strong moral character in the life of the adults around them.

A child who is not trained and taught to exercise strength in righteousness, truth, work ethic, relationships and integrity, will often be at a disadvantage his whole life, because instead of his character serving him, his lack of training and ignorance will detract from his ability to live an excellent life.

I believe that many moms struggle with motherhood and the burden of raising children because they have never been stretched or trained in character and are morally weak, complaining and undisciplined. An undisciplined soul reacts to pressure with complaining, anger and frustration. Often, a lack of strong character and a developed work ethic is at the bottom of depression in young women. I know that I was never trained for such hard work, and so struggled to meet the ideals I held in my heart because I had never been trained to be strong in character--I was spoiled in many ways and so had to learn character along with my children--and it was more difficult as an adult who had become lazy and self-centered--and I didn't even know it! I had been quite indulged and was unaware of my own lack of character--I wanted to blame my struggles on everything else except myself!

We are living in a culture where compromise is an accepted norm in marriage, in movies and television, in work, manners, leadership, responsibility. Also, addictions and lack of discipline of every sort are the norm and acceptable, so that lack of character is not even affirmed or valued. Addiction to food, substances, social media, pornography, television, gaming, gambling, and every sort of pleasure that eats up the beauty and possibility of life is tolerated. In surveys, it is often found that believers are just as apt to divorce, become addicted to pornography, and to live an immoral lifestyle.

I find that so many parents are mostly anxious that their children cease to have "bad" behavior. They just want a formula for disciplining their children that will make them easier to deal with on a daily basis, so that they as parents can have an easier life. Yet, as I observe many families, children, and moms in all of our travels and teaching, I find that there are fewer and fewer children who have an internal sense of composure, self-control, wisdom, and manners, because they are not receiving this kind of instruction at home. Their moms, even the stay at home ones, are busy with their own agenda and pastimes.

If we are created in God's image, shouldn't we, as believers, be the most excellent in our behavior, character and influence? Doesn't scripture teach us to lay down our lives for the sake of others--in this case, our children? Doesn't anything worthy always require great sacrifice, vision and hard work?

Books Referenced in this Podcast:























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Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app.

Leave an iTunes Review These are so important as they help our podcast reach more women with messages of encouragement.

Follow on Facebook and Instagram for the latest news and updates.

Share with others. My prayer is that this podcast brings encouragement to women and families, and I would be honored for you to tell others about it.

Join my friends and me in membership at Life with Sally, a place for me to share more teaching from the Bible and messages on education, motherhood, discipleship, and more!

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Best of Sally: Feasting and Living in Grace (and a Podcast!) For

Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat.

~Mark 6:31

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For many years, our family has secretly held that somewhere long ago, we were related to Hobbits. Eating together, no matter how simple or complex, is the break in our days that has given us relief and rest from the stresses of life and opened great friendship and community. Even Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, made space in His life for rest when things got hectic. He knew what He and His disciples needed in order for His ministry to continue.

I love that this verse says they “didn’t even have time to eat.” Haven’t you felt like this? Doesn’t this capture the feeling we have all had in times of extreme busyness? In the midst of life—discipleship, family, work, and ministry—there will be times where it will be difficult even to fit a meal into the schedule. In these times, Jesus, through the example of His own life, calls us not to give in to chaos, but to think sustainability—to create a space of rest and to tend to our needs and the needs of our family. When we do that, we are modeling for our children how to live well and take care of ourselves as well as others.

As humans, we are essentially needy; we have needs that, if ignored, will lead to severe consequences. If we do not eat, we will eventually starve. If we do not drink, we will eventually die of thirst. If we do not sleep, we will become psychotic and eventually die as well. And long before these eventualities come about, we will become depleted and unable to attend to our responsibilities. It is impossible for us to tackle the day and life before us if our basic needs are not attended to.

Our basic needs are not only physical, of course. We have souls as well as bodies, and so we also have soul needs—for friendship, beauty, peace, and communion with God. Just as we must plan meals and snacks to feed physical bodies, we must plan ways to feed souls, including our own.

We hope you’ll enjoy this podcast about the importance and joy of feasting, and how it complements a home focused on living in grace!

Books Referenced in this Podcast:














The Lifegiving Table: Nurturing Faith through Feasting, One Meal at a Time

By Sally Clarkson





















Mom Heart Moments: Daily Devotions for Lifegiving Motherhood

By Sally Clarkson






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