Afton Rorvik's Blog, page 9

Blogcation

Hanging on to a Story

As 2015 comes to an end, and we move beyond Christmas celebrations, I want to linger with you just one more moment on a Christmas story that I hope will shape my 2016 and perhaps your year as well.

During the month of December, I returned again and again to this story.

After they [the Magi] had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. (Matthew 2:9-11)

These Magi didn’t claim to seek the Jewish Messiah. They were, in fact, Gentiles. They fancied themselves intelligent men who studied stars—much like astrologers. Their curiosity sent them on a hunt. Something about finding a king. So they traveled from their eastern country to Jerusalem and started asking questions there, trying to get the full story.

It all started with a star. The Magi saw it in their home country and thought they knew what it meant: “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” (Matthew 2:2)

You know the rest of the story, I’m sure. The Magi followed the star and arrived in a humble stable to find Jesus—not a king, but a savior.

God, with his way of grace, sent these men a beacon to lead them to Jesus. They weren’t looking for Jesus. I’m sure they didn’t think they needed a savior, and I would guess they probably felt fairly competent in their own abilities.

But God sent a star. He could have sent them a host of angels. A prophet. He choose a star. Why?

I believe God sent the Magi a star because He knew they cared deeply about stars, and He knew they spent much of their time staring at them. They might have dismissed a prophet’s words or tuned out a host of angels. But a star? They wouldn’t miss a star.

So why do I cling to this story moving into 2016?

It reminds me that God wants to communicate with people. He wants to make Himself known. His methods today are just as creative as sending a star to a small group of Magi centuries ago. I’m sure many of you could tell stories.

I can’t wait to see how God reveals Himself in 2016.

Joy?

Rosemary, now dressed in her Christmas finery, proclaims it: Joy.

The stocking holders on my mantle do too: Joy.

As I added these decorative touches to my house,  I remembered a Christmas when I found that word joy repulsive. Every time I saw it, I felt as if someone had slapped my face. Joy, really? Will I ever really feel joy again?

I deeply missed my mother who had died the year before. I felt overwhelmed by just getting through the day, a symptom of depression. I could not read Christmas cards. Frankly, I just wanted to join my mother in heaven. No more tears, no more aching heart or body, no more challenging people and situations.

Over the next few years, God brought a host of women into my life, Storm Sisters, who helped me learn to embrace joy again. I will always thank God for these women, but I will also always thank God for that time of grief and pain. Because I lived it, I now recognize and understand it on the faces of others.

As I decorated with JOY last week, I prayed for the women I know who may find that word repulsive this year. A friend grieving the death of her mother. A friend grieving the death of her marriage. A friend grieving the death of a dream. A friend grieving the death of a spouse.

May they, as I did, discover Storm Sisters. And may they have a glimpse within their season of grief and pain of the loving hand of God, who in His great love for humanity sent us a savior—Jesus.

My friend Linda Washington says it well in a piece she wrote for her church. Let me close by leaving you with her encouraging words.

Picture in your minds a light erupting in the darkness, a light that shreds the dark shroud of sorrow. A joyous image. But for many people, finding joy in the holiday season can be challenging, especially when weeping has endured for many nights. But in this season of Advent, we rejoice in the Savior whose coming brings healing and light. As we read in Zephaniah 3:14-17:

Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! For the Lord will remove his hand of judgment and will disperse the armies of your enemy. And the Lord himself, the King of Israel, will live among you! At last your troubles will be over, and you will never again fear disaster. On that day the announcement to Jerusalem will be, “Cheer up, Zion! Don’t be afraid! For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.

Lord, the birth of Your Son reminds us that sin no longer has victory over us. We rejoice in the hope of His coming and the new life He provides. Amen.

Grace with Skin on

I keep bumping into angels in my reading of the Christmas story in the Gospel of Luke. And these angels always seem to bring a message of something miraculous—an old woman (Elizabeth) will have a baby. And then another angel appears to a teenage girl and promises another miracle.

But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end. (Luke 1:30-33)

“Don’t be afraid…“ Yikes! Really? While standing and talking to an angel about giving birth to the Son of the Most High?

Luke records that shortly after the angel appeared to Mary, she gathered a few belongings and traveled to see Elizabeth, her relative. By the time Mary arrived, Elizabeth was probably about six months pregnant.

After the initial exchange at the door and the confirmation to Mary of God’s divine plan, don’t you wonder what else the two women talked about over the next three months?

“How do you sleep at night?”

“What do you do when your stomach just can’t handle food?”

“How do you handle the comments from people?”

“How does your faith in God help you navigate this life-changing event?”

In her book, The Gospel of Christmas, author Patty Kirk writes, “…God—having first challenged Mary’s faith with a virgin pregnancy as well as the prospect of giving birth to and raising God’s Son and the probable repercussions of these developments in her personal life—immediately thereafter helped her believe by providing someone like Elizabeth. “

A friend in a similar situation, just a bit ahead on the journey. A friend who loved and trusted God. A friend on the lookout for the Messiah.

Sounds like a Storm Sister, don’t you think?

I don’t know how many times I have read this story, but only this year did I really see this tender story of God’s grace to both these women in the form of friendship. Grace with skin on. What a gift.

Take a moment this week, would you, and join me in thanking a Storm Sister in your life for being grace with skin on for you.

Oh, and here is a photo of my advent wreath. And that pink candle in the middle? That represents our daughter and her December birthday.   

Celebrating Advent?

Every time I check my email these days I find at least one more offer for an advent devotional. Each one looks interesting and encouraging, but I feel, truthfully, a bit Advent-material weary. And I feel a bit as if I’m not doing Advent right. Advent guilt?

Lately I’ve remembered that every Advent my mom created a wreath for her dining room table. It contained four tall, red candles with one green candle in the middle. She told me one year that the green candle in the middle represented my youngest brother and his December birthday. Mom tucked each candle into a hole made in a one-inch thick foam circle covered with aluminum foil. Then she covered it all with some cut pine branches and pinecones from our yard. And finally, she placed a little, carved wooden nativity scene in the middle of everything.

Nothing elaborate. And even a bit unorthodox with the addition of the birthday candle.

But today as I sit and think about that wreath, I see that it offers me wisdom in celebrating Advent and letting go of my false Advent-guilt.

Keep it simple.

Let it feature both faith and family.

As I poked around the Internet to read about why Christians celebrate Advent, I came across this answer on gotquestions.org (a helpful website for answering questions related to faith in God):  

“Are Christians required to observe Advent? No. Does observing Advent make one a better Christian or more acceptable to God? No. Can celebrating Advent be a good reminder of what the season is truly all about? Yes, and therein lies its greatest value.”

Remembering.

I can do that. And I can keep it simple.

I have decided this Advent to sit in my favorite living room chair every day in December and read through the Gospel of Luke with repeated readings of the Christmas story as told in the first two chapters.

And, I just bought a foam circle and candles to construct my own Mom-style Advent wreath (photo next week). I will keep my wreath in my kitchen where I can see it every day and remember both the birth of Jesus and the life of my mom who nurtured within my soul my love of Jesus. Oh, and I’m adding a pink candle in the center of my wreath.

What about you? How are you celebrating Advent? How do you keep it simple?

Savoring the Moment…

Seasoned with Gratitude

Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, Costco rolls, green bean casserole. . . . I know these will appear on our Thanksgiving table. Still working on dessert ideas. Pumpkin pie likely won’t make the list since I think i would eat it alone. Sniff! I’m wondering if our son still likes mustard with his turkey. Hmm. . . .

Still thinking about how to season my preparations with gratitude and working on the coloring project I mentioned last week.

I do want my table to look beautiful. And I hope that this year I don’t forget something in the oven. (That has happened more times than I like to admit.) But I also think a lot about how to foster a grateful conversation around the table as we pass the food.

I discovered a printable resource for facilitating conversation around the table. You can print them out from my Pinterest page: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/415175659378643802/.

Lately, I have returned again and again to these verses in my favorite book, words I plan to read at our Thanksgiving table because they sum up for me what lies at the core of my gratitude.

Psalm 103

A psalm of David.

1   Let all that I am praise the Lord;

     with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.

2   Let all that I am praise the Lord;

     may I never forget the good things he does for me.

3   He forgives all my sins

     and heals all my diseases.

4   He redeems me from death

     and crowns me with love and tender mercies.

5   He fills my life with good things.

     My youth is renewed like the eagle ’ s!

Wishing you and yours a Thanksgiving celebration seasoned with gratitude.

’Tis the Season for Gratitude

My dining room will soon come alive with food and guests, including our son and his girlfriend and possibly our daughter and her boyfriend. Yahoo! They will get a chance to try out our new, well-padded dining room chairs that just seem to say, “Stay, enjoy, talk!”

I anticipate the sights and smells of Thanksgiving dinner in the oven, but over and over I return in my mind to thinking about the conversations and connection that will happen around the table.

I don’t have a perfect life or a perfect family. And I suspect you don’t either.

BUT we all do have much we can celebrate. For me, so much of that comes down to relationships. I see every day how the people in my life strengthen and encourage me. They challenge me. They make me laugh. They pull out the best parts of me. They point me to God.

As I plan my Thanksgiving menu, I want to weave into it the spice of gratitude. I want gratitude to flavor the words I speak, the thoughts I think, and the way I relate to the people gathered around my table.

Perhaps you do too.

So let me share with you a gratitude idea I discovered at http://www.plantlovegrow.com/index.html and plan to weave into our Thanksgiving celebration. I love this idea because it involves coloring. I think I will create one of these for each person at my table. If you want to do the same, you can print them out from my Pinterest page: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/415175659378643886/

Check in next week for another gratitude idea. And know that I always love to hear your ideas.

Grateful!

Some Food for Thought and for the Table

This week I want you to meet Linda, a friend from whom I have learned a lot in life and in the kitchen. Pull up a chair and a cup of coffee. Imagine yourself sitting with us in Linda’s sunny kitchen. Oh, and don’t miss the recipe at the end of the blog.

Welcome, welcome, Linda. I’m so happy to have you on the blog today. Let’s start by having you tell readers a bit about yourself and our connection.

Thanks! Afton and I have known each other since we were eighteen-year-old college freshmen. In our senior year, we shared an apartment with two other friends. We all agreed to practice active hospitality so we had almost nightly dinner guests. Oh, and we named that apartment, Bella Casa Mia (BCM). That means “my beautiful home “ in Italian. (I’m Italian.)

Having grown up in a family where we regularly shared meals with extended family, but rarely had guests outside the family for dinner, this was a something of a new experience for me. In that year, I began to see the experience of sharing a meal as an opportunity to show and receive love, to foster friendships, to welcome the newcomer, and almost always to become energized by the excitement of hearing new stories and perspectives. (Yes, I am an extrovert.)

That was almost thirty-five years ago, but I still savor the joy of sharing around a table.

Your kids, like mine, have left the nest so how has that changed your time around the table?

When my kids were young, and unenthusiastic hosts, and my house always seemed to be a mess, we did cut back on hospitality a bit. But we still did it because we believed our kids would benefit more from learning to enjoy company than from insulating themselves in their rooms. Now our nest is empty most of the time so I have less to juggle when entertaining, although for me is still is not effortless. I love offering a meal that says, “You’re worth the effort.” And I want my home to be comfortable and ready to receive guests. That does not mean gourmet dinners or a spotlessly clean house, but I do enjoy expressing love by offering hospitality as a gift.

Not long ago, after an impulse invite, a newcomer to our church came home with us. Despite the fact that I served leftovers for lunch and had made no particular housecleaning effort, we still had an absolutely fabulous time getting to know this man, who was new to the area, and whose wife would not be joining him until the next month.

What is the hardest part of food-related hospitality for you?

Sometime the hardest part is screwing up the courage to make the offer and then follow through with finding a time that works for all of us.

And what advice do you have for those of us who want to entertain over a meal but feel intimidated by all that involves?

If you have been hesitant to offer a meal, keep it simple. Don’t be insecure that your cooking or home won’t be good enough. People love to be loved. I know that when I get invited to someone’s house, I don’t care if they clean and polish or if they produce a meal worthy of the reality cooking shows. In fact, my own motto for being a guest is, “A peanut butter sandwich at someone else’s house is still eating out.”

Enjoy your company with a simple meal, or takeout, or a frozen lasagna. The important thing is that you open the door and help your guests feel welcome.

I just have to ask, any kitchen disasters while getting ready for guests?

On an evening during a weeklong power failure (Super Storm Sandy), some young adult friends stopped by to pick up something from our daughter. Since they also were affected by the storm, I invited them to stay for dinner. I had must use now Italian sausages that I would normally par-cook first, but our electric stove didn’t work. So, I put them on the grill and started talking to our young friends. The next thing I knew, flames shot out of the grill about a foot from the kitchen door. I eventually rescued the well-cooked, almost inedible sausages. Since there wasn’t much else, we all ate them and laughed.

You have given me so many wonderful recipes over the years and served as my cooking advisor on the other end of the phone so many times. My guests and family are grateful.  So, do you have a go-to entertaining recipe you can leave with readers?

Here’s a simple recipe that is one of my favorites. It’s adapted from Four Ingredient Cookbook.

Salsa Chicken: 

4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 16-oz jar of salsa (we like medium)

1 TB Dijon (or other kind) mustard (Can add up to 2 TB for stronger flavor).

1 TB sugar (Can add up to 2 TB for sweeter flavor.)

Dredge the chicken breasts in flour and then brown them on both sides in a skillet with a little oil. Add the salsa, mustard, and sugar. Stir with chicken and let it all simmer uncovered on the stove until the chicken is cooked through.

*You can also cook this in a crockpot. Simply layer all ingredients (no need to brown the chicken) and cook on high for about four hours.

You can personalize this recipe by trying different spices, taco seasoning, chili powder, sautéed peppers, onions and garlic, a drained can of beans, cheese on top, etc. It’s great served with rice and a vegetable or salad. A box of brownie mix makes a delicious desert.

Thank you, Linda, for encouraging us today with your love of entertaining and cooking. I can practically smell that chicken cooking. Looking forward to my next visit with you and lots of time sitting with you at your kitchen table.

The Gift of the Table

I have a “thing” for dining room tables. They pull me in when I walk past them at IKEA. They hold me in awe when I look at them in an Amish showroom. I drool when I watch Property Brothers and see a family getting a fourteen-foot dining room table made to seat their entire large, extended family.

So why the fixation?

Yes, I do admire the craftsmanship of a solidly-made piece of furniture.

But on a much deeper level, I love what happens around the dining room table: laughter, conversation, discussion of current events, a feisty game of Bannagrams®, dessert. . . .

In these days of empty nest, I don’t spend as much time at the dining room table as I have in years past. Most nights I make dinner for two, and often John and I just eat in the family room. (And, yes, sometimes we watch “Wheel of Fortune.”) But I keep the table covered with a tablecloth and set with candles as if to say, “At any moment, my dinner guests might arrive. I want to be ready.”

Last night we did have a dinner guest. By noon I had the table completely set and found that I kept sneaking into the dining room to take another look. Silly?! As I stood and gazed, I smiled in anticipation of our time together. Questions, answers, jokes (John’s department), and laughter. Connection.

Oh, the gift of a table.

Most of our dinner came from boxes, but it still smelled good, tasted good, and facilitated good conversation, living up to all I had anticipated.

      

And now I anticipate another gathering around the table as our son and his girlfriend just told us they are coming for Thanksgiving. Yahoo! Can’t wait to set that table and become immeresed in conversation while passing the stuffing.

Oh, the gift of the table.

I recently discovered an organization that promotes family dinner. Love it! They have some great ideas, including recipes and conversation starters: http://thefamilydinnerproject.org

And next week I hope to have my dear friend and college roommate here on the blog. She is my go-to-gal for cooking questions and hospitality. Join me here next week for a taste of Linda’s wisdom in life and food. And discover one of her favorite quick and easy recipes.

Thanks for reading and thanks for joining me on this Storm Sister journey.

Grateful!