The Big Move

The time has come for me to move–  to a new website.

I will not be posting here any more, which is crazy to think about, but I will be posting at NicoleDeVries.com and I'd love for you to join me over there.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Why You Should Listen to Christmas Music this Summer

Context is usually dangerously important; without it we make wrong conclusions and decisions. Seasons offer an important context to music, but what if they also, indirectly, swallow the meaning?

Rubbing Off

Every couple of weeks I assessed the reading abilities of my Kindergarteners. I called individuals to my desk and had each one read a set of five words with various special sounds we have been learning. Towards the end of the year, I called a student to my desk and as he came near he shook his head and half-whispered, “I just really don’t want to do this.”

I looked at him, frowning to hide my amusement, and asked, “Hmm, is that a good attitude?”

His eyes widened and he responded right away, “No—that was the Old Me. The New Me doesn’t complain.” And he went on to read all five words.

I was astonished at his response. Sure, our memory verse for the week had been 2 Corinthians 5:17. And sure, I had been teaching them about the Old Self and the New Self, and about how Christians can only live the New Self through Jesus. But I had not believed they were actually picking up on it. It’s amazing what happens, what the kids pick up on, when they listen. And, sometimes more amazing, they listen a lot more often than I realize. And things were catching on.

The question is, what else is rubbing off on them?

Books that Accompanied me through May

The Problem of Pain by C. S. Lewis
academic and philosophical. It had never before occurred to me to think half of those thoughts. Having thought through some of them, now, I feel more comfortable with C. S.'s conclusions, though they still feel beyond me.

A Grief Observed by C. S. Lewis
a small book brimming with emotion and imagery and beautiful language. A book of true, bitter mourning and loss. It leaves me feeling both full and empty.

The 5-minute Plantar Fasciitis Solution by Jim Johnson
helpful and effective. The 5 minutes of stretching are explained in only two pages, near the middle of the book, but having read the rest of it as well I understand plantar fasciitis better than I did before, and am hopeful for improvement. The long-term effectiveness of the stretch I do not yet know, but short-term it does seem to be providing relief- especially first thing in the morning.

You'll Get Through This by Max Lucado
Lucado's mantra through his book is his title, drawn from the principles in the account of Joseph as well as many modern stories of pain and suffering. Not only, Lucado says, will you get through this present struggle, Christians can expect to come out stronger and more prepared.

Confessions of a Prayer Slacker by Diane Moody
Moody's style left me feeling comfortable. She wrote about her prayer journey with lessons applicable to all. Overall: get up early and pray and read your Bible as if Jesus is sitting right next to you. Make a commitment and actually meet with God every morning. And don't succumb to guilt about the occasional missed day. (author unrelated to D. L. Moody)


This month, I started a book called Walking with God through Pain and Suffering by Timothy Keller, but I could not get into it much less finish it. I have returned it to the library.

I also started:
the Simply the Story Handbook
Tea with Emma by Diane Moody
Brisinger by Christopher Paolini
Where is God When it Hurts? by Philip Yancy

The Thunderstorms Bring Spring

The earth trembles and the sky shatters. The thunder falls with a crack so packed with power it is felt in walls and floors and ground. The lightening splits and careens with the electricity of life and the speed to illuminate the world.

The rolling tremors wake the trees. Starting in their very roots, shaking the heavy sleepers. Groggy and chilled and wanting to stay tucked in their moss blankets until summer, they finally stir and put out buds.

Side Effects

When I came-to, I was on the floor in the atrium at church surrounded by people. As my hearing slowly faded in, I heard a kid ask, "Did you die?" No, kid; I fainted.

Worship

The sun. The quiet whispers of the sun, the sky that lightens in anticipation, before it is quite ready to rise. Harsh and searing, penetrating sun glasses and not high enough in the sky, yet, for the visor. Distant, but intentional; yellow and cool and preparing for spring. Glorious and valiant as it sets, trying to get the last word in over the night by scattering rays into the clouds.

Air, oddly warm, begging for deep breaths, filling one's lungs
to the point of satisfaction. Snow, melted by the sun, that smells something like rain.

These Aren't My Words

If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that theyobey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips! If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Death and life are in the power of the tongue.

Fruit Growers

I tried to grow a strawberry plant over the summer. It took a long time, and lots of weeding and watering and pruning, but eventually it sprouted a few exciting berries! The squirrels may or may not have gotten to them before me, but that's beside the point.

Hide and Seek

We used to play hide-and-seek-in-the-dark with the whole family, nowhere in the house taken off limits. We found some fantastic hiding places-- like when my dad stashed my youngest sister into the space between the top of the cabinets and the ceiling. Or hiding the trash  can somewhere else, and tucking oneself into that cabinet it belonged in. Or just standing so flat and so still between a wall and a door. Or behind a dresser that had just enough space behind it. Or under a bunk bed, pulling everything back into place under the bed behind oneself, careful to breathe quietly.

It sometimes took quite a long time to find each other. On occasion, we've even given up looking, and the hider came out when we all had our eyes closed, and they got to keep that hiding place.

Sometimes, like Adam, we hide from God. (Gen 3:8-10). Perhaps, like Adam and Eve, we hide out of shame, or perhaps there are other reasons. But God loves us and comes lovingly looking for us. And there's no where we can hide that He won't be right there with us. It's like God doesn't understand how hide-and-seek works... how you're supposed to let the little kids think they've got a fantastic spot and wait for them to pop out and scare you.

"Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you." (Psalm 139:7-12). 

But, do you know what I consider more wonderful than God always finding us? When we seek God, we'll always find Him. God, who created the whole universe, probably knows some pretty epic hiding places. But he doesn't use them. His goal isn't to be undiscovered, as in our little game, but to be found.

"You will seek me and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD." Jeremiah 29:13-14a.

And God decided that just being found by us wasn't enough. He ruined his best hiding places. He came right to us, right into this world, right into our hearts.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Autumn. Fall. Any other name, might smell as sweet.

The genuine colors of fall.

Music wafting through the air,  like comfortable and familiar memories.

Books. Books that walk the tightrope between tragic and lovely. Books that open a chasm, a craving for words.

Smooth, rich, sweet honey. Dripping gently, soaking softly, sticking determinedly.

Cider thick with flavor and warmth. Comforting cider on the early-morning drive to work.

Sitting, whispering, talking, giggling with sisters home for a visit.

Autumn, the poetic and sing-song name. Fall, the casual and trite name. Connotation is incredible. Roses might smell the same even if they had an ugly, disagreeable name-- but would we approach them for the smelling?

Cleaning nooks and crannies, diligently. On a mission to avoid grading, avoid bedtime, avoid the busy next day.

But always the brisk air, the sky crowded out by clouds, the leaves cut off from water and falling from the trees. Expendable leaves. Always the sweaters and scarves, the thick leg-warmers and wool socks. Always the ticking of time, the predictable switch of seasons, the patterns. The patterns that, year by year, look a little new and a little familiar.

We know what comes next in this pattern: figid air, snow, Christmas.
But it's not here yet. Don't let this present pattern piece pass before squeezing out every single thing it has to offer.

Don't ignore this autumn.

Using your Eyes

I haven't seen a Blue-jay in months, until the other day. Because I hadin't been looking. Well, now I'm looking.

real-life sunsets

fall-shaped sugar cookies

Doctor Who magnets 

sewing project

a settled morning mist

Simplicity

The simple life has its roots in obedience.

Our lives-- at least, my life -- gets chaotic when we pile up clutter. Too many things to do, think about, and fix. Too many irons in the fire, not enough focus. And a lack of obedience to God.

I've posted about obeying immediately, completely, and without complaint before, and I want to take it a step farther because I'm learning that obedience simplifies life.

I tend to try to think things through before I act on what God seems to be telling me to do. I try to think it through, to figure it out, even talk God out of asking me to do something so out of my comfort zone. Some of the time I do obey, and some of the time I miss the opportunity.

This summer I heard a sermon on Luke 17:1-19. This section is divided into four, and I usually read it as such. But this pastor connected the dots, contrasting the disciples with some lepers. See, Jesus tells the disciples to rebuke the brother that sins, forgive the brother that repents, and continue forgiving even if they keep sinning. Their response? "Increase our faith!" or, "I don't know if I can do that!". But when Jesus tells the 10 lepers to go show themselves to the priests, they go. And they still had leprosy when they went. But Jesus told them to do something, so they obeyed, even though it didn't look like it'd work. Yet as they went-- as they obeyed-- they were healed.

Our response to a command from God ought not be to theorize, to justify, to consider how to apply, to marvel at the impossibility of it, but to obey. Anything short of, "Yes, Lord," followed by obedience is disobedience.

And to determine for yourself that you have no alternative to obeying God's commands makes your life incredibly simpler because you know exactly what you're going to do. You don't have to come to each command and determine how exactly and to what extent you're going to obey, you just obey.

Now obeying God sometimes doesn't look like it'll work, or like it's worth it. I'm sure it's going to be difficult in the coming days and years, and many things won't make sense, but I'm determining to obey-- with God's help.

And you know what else? Not only does obedience simplify, it frees. I've heard it before, and experienced it, but I'm looking forward to living it.

A Strawberry and Fresh Chocolate Mint Tea

I still don't have a teacher's immune system, and other kindergarten observations

The five-year-old and I both have cold-induced headaches. She gets to go home: I get to keep teaching.

There's a lot more to putting a classroom together than bulletin boards, desks arrangements, lesson plans, and welcome notes.

I taught a math-science connection cutting open a peach, an apple, green grapes, and a red pepper. We talked about the seeds being inside, or outside (after I removed them, of course). The grapes happened to be seedless. Oops.

But the next day, a student was cleaning up his lunch and showed me what was in his fist. I let him share with the class. He explained that he was excited when he saw that his mom packed him red grapes and he carefully ate one open and searched for seeds. Which he found. The whole class was enthralled. (Win!)

Teacher's Aides are miracle-workers. They are blessings from God. My aide is the only reason I get half the things done each day. She's also the result of prayer (thanks, everyone who prayed for that last student!)

I hate taking :)s away from students, even though their behavior warrants it. But it makes the day that they keep their smiley ten times better!

I dance a little inside every time the kinders remember how to do a procedure, or return to the classroom quietly, or correctly execute a routine. Yay! They listen!

As I teach kindergartners to print, I'm getting extra practice, too. I write notes on their printing practice extra slow and neat, because it just wouldn't be right to use my 'normal' chicken scratch...

I really need to finish this Sub- Binder, in case this cold escalates...

Spiritual Growth

Take a look at Moses in Exodus 3: 6

And he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

and 3:12-13

Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak." But he said, "Oh, my Lord, please send someone else."

Now look at Exodus 33:15, 18

And he said to him, "If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here"... Moses said, "Please show me your glory."

And be inspired.

Why I Love Thunderstorms:

Photo of lightening over Magician Lake, in MI. Taken by Ruth Irons

In his old age, king David reflected on how God had rescued him time and time again, and he used the imagery of a thunderstorm to try to explain how God heard his prayers and came to save him, stopping at nothing.

 There are so many things I appreciate about this poem (while the whole passage is a favorite, I underlined parts that stick out to me), but I particularly appreciate how, now, every thunderstorm I experience is a reminder of God's concern, power, and determination to rescue me (us).

It's recorded both in 2 Samuel and in Psalms (with slight variations).
Below is the one from 2 Samuel. It's chapter 22 and verses 7-20 to be precise.

In my distress I called upon the LORD;

to my God I called. 

From his temple he heard my voice, 

and my cry came to his ears. 

Then the earth reeled and rocked;

the foundations of the heavens trembled

and quaked, because he was angry. 

Smoke went up from his nostrils, 

and devouring fire from his mouth;

glowing coals flamed forth from him. 

He bowed the heavens and came down;

thick darkness was under his feet. 

He rode on a cherub and flew;

he was seen on the wings of the wind. 

He made darkness around him his canopy, 

thick clouds, a gathering of water. 

Out of the brightness before him

coals of fire flamed forth. 

The LORD thundered from heaven,

and the Most High uttered his voice. 

And he sent out arrows and scattered them;

lightning, and routed them.

Then the channels of the sea were seen;

the foundations of the world were laid bare,

at the rebuke of the LORD, 

at the blast of the breath of his nostrils. 

He sent from on high, he took me;

he drew me out of many waters.

He rescued me from my strong enemy,

from those who hated me, 

for they were too mighty for me.

They confronted me in the day of my calamity,

but the LORD was my support.

He brought me out into a broad place;

he rescued me, because he delighted in me. 

Obviously

The clouds are resting on air, and have flat bottoms like mashed potatoes on a glass tabletop.

The groaning honk of a goose dissolving into the air above the pond.

Decisions are not inherently good or bad; they either pan out the way we expected or they don't.

My computer crashed-- to the ground. It makes progress on novels and editing cousin camp movies rather impossible.

The Bible does not come alive when you read it, but when you apply it. God does not seem real when you read about His character, but when you experience what you have read about.

Do we like the season of summer itself, or the things summertime allows?

"Empty chairs at empty tables."

Strawberries are sweeter when fresh.

Homemade bread turned buttered toast.

Passing Time with a Time Lord

I used to waste hour upon hour of long car-trips. Since I can't spend the time reading, writing or drawing due to motion sickness, I used to just sit there, listen to music, or try to strike up a conversation.

Recently, I remembered audio books, and it helped solve my problem. Now, I can listen to a book while along for a ride in a car trip. I've learned not to do this while driving, though, since I get awfully distracted.

I've listened to many kinds of books, often from my library's website. Sometimes fiction, sometimes nonfiction, sometimes sermons. The past few have been incredibly exciting to me: Doctor Who episodes! Apparently, they made audiobook adventures on top of the TV episodes.

And, they are read by the Doctor in the story!

The Jade Pyramid- Martin Day (Read by Matt Smith)

The Doctor and Amy Pond go to medieval Japan in response to a distress call. The tribal leader takes them to the temple, where the Doctor and Amy think the distress call is coming from. The Emperor of Japan knows there's something powerful there, too, and sends some Samurai to bring it back to him. Some people in the tribe want to resist, some want to comply, and the Doctor wants to find out what the distress signal was about.

This episode was decent. Being the first episode I listened to, it was very novel to me and I couldn't get over the fact that they actually had Matt Smith read it. Although I can't remember anything particularly unbelievable (for a Doctor Who adventure) it just wasn't one of the better ones that were able to suspend my unbelief.


Pest Control- Peter Anghelides (Read by David Tennant) 

The Doctor and Donna Noble are on a different planet in the middle of a war between two races, the TARDIS gets whisked off, and there are giant bugs. Then, a giant robot shows up having a sole purpose of destroying the bugs (and anything that gets in the way). Not interesting enough? Well, something might be turning the people into the bugs, and Donna might be next.

Somehow, putting radically impossible events like this on another planet makes it ok. I didn't particularly like the episode, but that might be because I've never really been a fan of Donna Noble.


Dead Air- James Goss (Read by David Tennant)

A recording of the Doctor's voice is found on the wreckage of pirate DJs from 1966. It starts, "Hello, I'm the Doctor. And, if you can hear this, one of us is going to die." He had tracked a weapon called the Hush to the floating radio station, and enlisted the 3 DJs on board to help him trap and destroy the Hush before it can escape the boat and destroy everything on earth that makes noise.

This was by-far the best. It was presented as an audio-recording so it made perfect sense that I would be listening to it. I loved this episode, and I've been on a sort of quest to find one just as involving, creative, and hard-to-push-pause.

Do you listen to Audio Books? Do you watch Doctor Who? Tell me about it below!

Every day.
Every day, he waits.
When the other second graders pack up their backpacks and put on their coats and wait impatiently to be picked up at the end of the day, he does, too.

Except most days, he doesn't get picked up right when school is out. Since his parents both work, he goes to the After Care program-- three or four of my students do. Maybe once a week this boy gets picked up right at the end of the day.

But every day, he puts his coat on and waits expectantly.

"Miss DeVries-- have you seen my dad yet?" He exclaims, a grin plastered on his face.
"No, but you'll be the first one I tell when I see him coming," I confide.

"Are you sure you haven't seen him yet?" He presses, after a few minutes.
"I'm sure."
"Okay," he says, some days he turns away saddened, but most days he bounces exuberantly back to his seat.

Every day he waits expectantly, prepared.

If it were me, I'd probably not put the coat on. We have heat in the building, after all, and it's got to get hot and stuffy sitting there wearing a winter coat for fifteen minutes or more.

And that's the problem. I tend to have that approach to my spiritual life, too.

Don't get tired of waiting on the Lord, brothers and sisters. Wait upon the Lord, even when it seems like he's not going to show up.

Because, I've got to tell you, the days I shake my head at him sadly and wonder when he'll give up-- those are the days his dad picks him up right at the end of the day, and that little boy's face lights up as he rushes out, calling 'Daddy! You came! I knew you'd come!".

Have confidence in our God, wait upon the Lord, and let yourself be delighted when he shows up.