Mama Always ~ L.A. Brown, Author

Kintsugi is an art form believed to have originated in Japan. It is said that it has similarities related to wabi-sabi, or the embracing of the flawed or imperfect. I have always loved the pieces that I've seen that have had this technique applied to it, the gold (I've only seen the gold, but silver and platinum have been used as well) seems to set the piece off, bringing a new brilliance, and the sight of the broken pieces reminds me that not everything is worthless when broken. That brings me to a thought I had this morning, and I've contemplated it before. The Bible says that God uses the weak to confound the strong, that broken vessels are used for His purpose. Examples of the weak to confound the strong bring to mind David and Goliath, Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. The broken vessel? There is a story, not in the Bible, about a man who used a broken vessel to bring water to his master's house. Every day, he went, with two pots on a yoke, to

Faith, they say, can move mountains, and I believe it. I've seen figurative mountains in my own life move. I say I have faith, and I do, but when the rubber meets the road, and the potholes and sink-holes, and detours pop up, faith is called into question. We grow weary, dodging the holes, we complain about the detours. We whine when the road seems longer than we wanted it to be or even expected. We say we have faith, but here's my question...when it comes right down to it, how much faith do we really have? Is our faith on sinking sand, or the Solid Rock? This actually brings to mind Abraham and Isaac - Abraham was instructed to sacrifice his only son on Mt. Moriah. This was roughly three days journey from where he had encamped, and during that journey, Abraham had every opportunity and option of calling it quits, but he didn't. He knew, by faith, that God had it handled. When the last stick was placed, the fire lit, and the last knot made, and he placed his son on the a

Good morning, all! A very cloudy start to the day, to be sure, but a glorious day, nonetheless! This morning, I was able to have quiet time...not even the cats were bothering me this morning, and I was studying the Book of Daniel, chapter 4. Now, the study that I'm using was originally printed in 1965, but I still found that the writer has hit this modern day on the head. If you are familiar with the 4th Book of Daniel, you will know that it has to do with Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian King...the one who threw Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego into the fiery furnace. Well, by this chapter he has come to see the error of his rule, and is working to change it...sort of. Nebuchadnezzar at this point has proclaimed that the God that Daniel and his friends serve is THE GOD, and He is mighty above all other gods. This is good, but then comes the dream. He dreams of a massive tree, that its cut down, but, it's stump is banded for "seven times," or in our vernacular, seve