Whom Will You Serve?

 

This Scripture was mentioned in the book I'm reading for my small group this semester. I'm leading a group of 7 ladies and we're reading and discussing Divine Disruption.  As I highlight key parts that jump out at me, I began to meditate on the Scritpures that the authors were using in the first couple of chapters. 

This one really jumped out at me because the discussion was about people choosing sin over following God.  That there's evil in this world, even though God is good and powerful and almighty and could stop it if He desired.  But...

He gives us free will.  We have the chance to either accept His Son Jesus and believe in Him, confess we need His saving grace and mercy, and then ask for His forgiveness. And God is still good while all this evil continues to reign in this world. 

The Bible is clear that we cannot serve two masters. One Master (Jesus) brings us eternal life!!  

The other master (Satan) brings death and destruction. 

Eternal life is a home in heaven where everything will be perfect. 

A life with out Jesus is  a home in hell for people who don't follow Him. They will face death and destruction and torment. 

The reading of these Scriptures today remind me of when I was in college out at Roberts Wesleyan in western NY. My work-study job, as an undergraduate student, was serving food in the main dining hall.  I typically worked the lunch shift. When the board of directors had their annual meeting and banquet I would waitress. I did this all 4 years! 

Not only did the board come to this banquet, but so did the President of the college and his wife; most administrators and some of the department heads. 

Now, a friend of mine always wanted this one table that was not as full of people and was closer to the food line. But I wanted the table that had my childhood pastor sitting at it and my older friend's father in law.  These two men were good tippers! Yes, the table was harder to serve:  it was furthest from the food line so I had to carefully balance the trays of food and drinks all the way across the room. They typically sat close to the mini stage where the musicians were performing.  It seemed like she had the easier job......I had the harder job.  BUT....I received good tips because one of the men was very wealthy. 

 I served what everyone else thought was the harder table.  You had to be very professional, keep their glasses full of water, etc and basically meet their every need.  The other tables weren't as full of people, and were closer to the food line and the dish cleaning crew. My friend would serve and then her duties were done. My table, the people lingered. I had to work as long as they were there. But I received the greater reward:  one year the man (his first name was Paul)  slipped me a 50$ bill!!  I kid you not. I was over the top excited. Each year, I did the "harder" job but always had a lot of tips!!  And I could keep any tips that were given to me. We didn't divide them among the other workers. 

This is like eternal life vs hell. We get to reap a lot of benefits when we serve Almighty God.  

We will reap some very bad consequences when we serve Satan/evil.

Which will you choose?? 

2025 Book Review #44: Little Night

 

I first read this author years ago in the early 1990s and loved the one I read (Sandcastles).  I don't think I've read any others by here until this past week. This was a wonderful "feel good" story without being sappy. 

STORY SUMMARY

Clare Burke is one year younger than her sister Anne.  She and Anne were raised in NYC, the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, which is where Clare lives now about 20 years after Anne married Frederik Rasmussen, a glass artist.  Frederik is a controlling as well as  physically and mentally abusive husband. He is also physically abusive to their two children Grit and Gilly. 

Clare works for an organization that deals with the study of urban birds.  She is a nature blogger as well.  Her boyfriend Paul is a park ranger who also loves birding and nature. 

When Grit and Gilly were just preschoolers, Clare went out to Montauk on Long Island to visit Anne one winter day with Valentine cards and gifts for her niece and nephew whom she had never met because Frederik never allowed Anne to stay in touch with Clare. When Frederik gets home, he begins to strangle Anne and Clare moves in to protect her sister and the children by striking Frederik in the head with a log from the fireplace. She calls 911 to report him but he manages to push her into a wall and demands the police come as he claims Clare tried to murder him. Her sister sides with Frederik and Clare goes off to prison for 2 years on an assault charge.   Anne and her family move to Denmark and they are not allowed to ever see Clare or talk to her. 

Then one day...about 20 years after Clare gets out of prison, she receives a letter from Grit who is now in college at Emerson in Boston and is 21 yrs old.  Anne per Frederik's demands, has "disowned" Grit. Gilly, when he was just 15, walked into a bog in Denmark and was never seen again. He did this while Anne and Grit were there but Anne was unsuccessful in pulling him out. Grit has some major wounds in her heart from her childhood years. 

Clare and Grit long for a relationship together so Grit stays in Clare's apartment (Which is the brownstone where she and Anne grew up) and they get to know each other. They both will have to dig into the family's past in order to build a new one. 

They have to face the wounds that were inflicted on them both by Anne and Frederik. And in their new connection to one another, they find a place of healing. 

But...one evening, Clare begins to suspect that Anne is back in NYC. Clues begin to appear and then one night.....they are reunited! And then Grit learns the story of what Anne did before she left Denmark. 

Will their relationship be repaired??  

MY THOUGHTS

This was a really good drama story. There's a tiny bit of mystery to the plot in regards to how Anne navigates her way to NYC.  There's also the puzzle as to why the book is titled "Little Night" which is initially what drew me to take this book out of the library. 

The character development and setting were very well written. 

I've been to many of the places in Manhattan that the author describes and it was fun to read about them in a fictional setting. 

I liked how the relationship unfolded between Clare and Grit and I also loved how Clare and Paul reconnected after years apart. There was something sappy about the romance part of this book. 

There was one quote that really jumped out at me and it sums up the book so well:

"The truth of a person is in her secrets." (pg 109, Little Night by Luanne Rice c. 2012) 

This was a family who learned early on in life how to keep secrets.  

The main themes in this story are: domestic violence; secrets; sister-sister relationship; mother-daughter relationship; childhood trauma; family ties; anger; emotional healing; nature and the healing benefits of it. 

I did a little research into this book and there was an interview on the author's website about her own experience with domestic violence (Hers was psychological and emotional not physical and she never had children) and how nature is healing. Although I personally have not experiened domestic violence in my marriage, I am a survivor of childhood s*xual abuse as well as some emotional abuse from  a long ago boyfriend that might have turned into physical abuse if I hadn't gotten out of that relationship in time. This book is a powerful look at how domestic violence affects the entire family, not just the spouse/partner. 

I did find quite a few editing errors. 

In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 17 and older.

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 9. 

Sunday Meme

 

I'm participating in the Sunday Stealin'  meme as I wait for my French Press coffee to cool a bit. 

Liked the questions this week. To play along, head here. 

1. Name five songs that you have completely memorized:

In college, I was a piano major and had to memorize all the music for my junior level and senior level recitals.  Junior level was a 15 min piece by Liszt.  Senior level was 35 min of pieces from each major musical era.  That said, the only parts I still have memorized are the first page of the Haydn I played and the first few measures of the Beethoven. Somehow though I doubt the creator of the questions meant this kind of music.  So I'll share five vocal songs I have memorized:

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Anti-Hero (by Taylor)

Jesus Loves me this I know (cause when you used to teach sunday school this just sticks with ya!)

Amazing Grace

Goodbye Yesterday 

2. What takes up too much of your time?

Facebook.  not really....I've limited myself to just posting my pics and getting off but man....it sure is a time waster if you do that scrolling down the home page thing. 

Seriously:  mopping my floors. I feel like it's a waste of time because they honestly don't get that dirty anymore now that we don't have children living at home but yet I feel the need to clean them weekly. why??? 

3. What TV show or movie do you refuse to watch?

any kind of reality show.  Fox News and CBS news

4. What's worth spending more on to get the best?

hiking clothes and hiking gear

5. Share something you did last week.

hiked a very rocky small mountain in the Berkshires
that's me in the navy blue shirt with some of the SoulSteps members
the hiking group I founded and lead/organize 

HAPPY SUNDAY EVERYONE!  Time to sip a coffee and get my butt off to church and then  choir rehearsal!

Late Summer Faves

 

This was a busy, but good, week!  I honestly can't  believe it's Friday already. 

And since it is, I'm sharing FIVE of my FAVE blessings from the week with other thankful bloggers and we all link up at our host's site, Susanne of Living to Tell the Story.   

new swivel armchair
for the living room

• DELIVERED!  I'm thankful our new armchair was delivered on Monday afternoon at exactly the time the store said it would be. I'm also thankful they were careful when they brought it in and set it up.  They even complimented my house and said "it smells so good in here...what is that?" I said I was in the middle of baking cinnamon banana nugget cookies for my book group. If they hadn't seemed in a hurry to get to the next delivery, I would have offered them one!(they were still in the oven when they arrived). I'm always grateful for courteous service people. 

time for book group!

Intro night always includes Desserts and drinks

Tuesday evening about 7 pm 

Tuesday evening about 8:30 pm
the bright light is from the deck lights

• INTRO NIGHT! Before the start of each semester study with some of the church members who join my book groups/Bible studies, I offer an Intro Night where we get to know one another, learn how to order the book, and enjoy some desserts and drinks. Tuesday night was perfect for a bonfire and out of the 8 of us, I had 5 of us here .  One hadn't officially joined yet  and two were out of town  This Autumn Semester we will be discussing the book Divine Disruption.  4 of the ladies have been in previous small groups I've led and 1 is a young woman who is the big sister of my oldest daughter's good friend.  The other younger woman is rather new to our church and is super excited to be in the group.  The other member I know from a class I took last year and who is also in my hiking group. In fact, out of the 8 of us, 6 of us  are in the hiking group!  I'm super thankful it was cool enough to have a bonfire (plus I was able to burn more brush!!) and that everyone seemed to enjoy the desserts and various teas/drinks. I'm thankful I can lead this study group!

Karma
Claire's cat

• DONE! I had a list of things to do each day from Monday-Wednesday of this week.  Things like grocery shopping, cleaning floors/bathrooms/laundry; prepping the backyard/deck for company; PT;  practice our vocal music for the upcoming worship night; return emails and phone calls; interview new hiking members/send paperwork and try to get in some good cardio workouts outdoors in the glorious weather. It was a nice relief to get everything on my two lists checked off!!  I even managed to squeeze in a 20 minute visit with my youngest daughter and her cute kitty on Tuesday morning before she left for work. I was bringing her some vegan banana oat cookies I had made as we didn't want the entire batch in the house after my book group took some. It was so nice to have coffee with her while we chatted and she got ready for work. What I was  thankful for is that every single item was accomplished this week and that I got to hug my youngest.

heading up Monument Mt via the Hickey trail
to the summit which only stands at a little over 1600 '

me and other members of the hiking group:
behind me: Maureen, Joan, Jay
missing from the pic: Karen, Evelyn
photo courtesy of Karen

do you see  the two red blazes?
We had to hike through that spot over the granite rocks
this entire region used to be Mohican land 
and is considered "sacred lands"
This is also the spot where Herman Melville was inspired to
write Moby Dick 

from the summit of Monument Mt
overlooking the Berkshires and further back,
the Green Mts of Vermont

Walking over the mountain and back down 
towards the blue trail
entire hike was only 3 miles! 
back to front: Joan, Karen, Faith
photo courtesy of Maureen

we were up there?!
This was taken from below "Devil's Pulpit"
which is to the side of the summit proper
We had been sitting behind those trees on the upper ledge
Monument Mt Reservation
11 September 2025
Berkshires of MA

• MOUNTAIN HIKE!  Thursday was the last official "Summer season" hike for my SoulSteps group. I had 7 of us signed up for this hike.  6 of us ended up going.  There were 5 of us ladies and one brave man.  He likes taking his time so tended to linger behind us.  We  all hiked at our own pace. I had climbed this little peak about 6 years ago and it wasn't as difficult as I remembered although my heart rate really got up there  going up all the stone "steps".  At one point, we did have to do a bit of rock  scrambling but it's mainly because you need to go right up the middle due to the sheer cliff drop off. I highly recommend this hike if you're ever in the Berkshire Mountains of MA. I'm so thankful we all had a great hike, we were done by 12:30 and I was home by 1:30!! 

image courtesy of website

• GIRLS NIGHT OUT: My youngest sister Joy retired the end of July and we had planned to go out to celebrate and finally found an evening when our youngest sister Jill and her oldest daughter Emma could join me and my oldest daughter. (my youngest was old enough but had a Chem lab for her apprenticeship last night). We went out to dinner and drinks last night at this place in Saratoga which is a good half way point between our 3 homes. Our other sister Hope lives further away in central NY so obviously she wouldn't be joining us. I wasn't impressed with my meal (it was tasty but I ordered the beet salad with arugla and chicken and no feta cheese and instead got the salad minus the chicken but with a ton of cheese. But I didn't wanna complain as they were busy so.....at least my glass of Reisling was awesome). We all had a great time and I was able to also give my sister Jill her birthday gift as she turns 50 next week!  It was a fabulous night out. I'm grateful we could get together. 

Beet salad....delicious but wrong!

me, Joy, Jill, Emma, Courtney 

And last but certainly not least: I'm very thankful I identity as a born again Christian and not with any political party. My citizenship is in heaven and I'm so thankful for the saving grace of Jesus. It makes hearing all of this devastating news much easier to bear knowing that one day....one day....Jesus is coming back to wipe away all sin and evil. Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. Yes, even all the Democats and Republicans. Every knee. the Bible says it and I believe it. 

My heart breaks for the family of the young conservative debater who lost his life by gun violence. I don't care who it is......but NO ONE should be gunned down in this country...NO ONE. I'm not super conservative but I do know this man was a born again Christian (you can see the fruit of his life and the legacy he left) and although I didn't agree with everything he said or did,  he was a brother in Christ. Even if he wasn't, my heart would be sad due to the gun violence. Something has got to be done in this nation where guns are so easily acquired.  But that's for another topic. And add to that, yet another school shooting. 

I'm thankful I can pray and have peace and show kindness to all....even those I disagree with. 

I'm thankful Jesus showed us a better way. I'm thankful that although we will never see a world of peace until He returns, that I can do my small part and love my neighbor as myself to the best of my ability and put God first in everything I do. I'm not perfect but I'm leaning into those truths. Let's model this for the world to see!