How many apples are in a seed?

April 18, 2013 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

1Several years ago I was at a small orchard in Illinois, on the wall of their store they had written something along the lines of:

“It’s easy to count how many seeds are in an apple, but only God knows how many apples are in a seed*”

It was a nice thought and I left it there. But recently I heard something that again made me realize that fruit carries the seed for more fruit and that it is just as true spiritually as it is horticulturally (is that a word?).

The fruit of the spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self control. When we practice patience, more patience grows from it. When we exercise self control, the seeds of more self control are sown. Love produces love.

imagesIt’s not just a small brown kernel inside the apple – it is countless more apples. And it’s not just one moment of peace, it’s the potential for a lot more peace to grow from it.

* a quick google tells me that quote can be attributed to Robert Schuller

Book Giveaway – Working Women of the Bible

April 2, 2013 in Work and Faith, Writing with 5 Comments

Working Women of the Bible by Susan DiMickele

Working Women of the Bible by Susan DiMickele

*** update*** – Lisa and Rebecca won the copies – I’ll email you gals for your addresses!

I’m reading Working Women of the Bible by Susan DiMickele. I’m really enjoying seeing these women come to life on the pages of her book and getting encouragement from how they managed their professional lives.

Susan and her publisher – Leafwood Publishers – have given me two copies of the book to giveaway to my readers! Leave a comment down below about why you’d like a copy and I’ll use random.org to pick a winner on Saturday morning (April 6th).

I’ll post a review on here when I’ve finished it, but until then – join me reading it. Pick it up at Amazon or Barnes and Noble, or enter to win below!

Stop and… Explore the Earth as Art

February 23, 2013 in Stop and... with 0 Comments

We spent President’s Day weekend with friends of Andy’s from Grad School.

While eating delicious waffles on Sunday morning one of the families brought out a book by NASA called Earth as Art. We knew our friend Lawrence worked at NASA, but it turns out he actually led the effort to create this book.

I must say – it’s amazing.

You can get a PDF of it for free, or download the free iPad App. Unfortunately the print version of the book isn’t available to the public yet.

The Zagros Mountains in southwestern Iran present an impressive landscape of long, linear ridges and valleys. In the lower right corner of this 2000 Landsat 7 image stands a feature of the area—a white-topped salt dome called Kuh-e-Namak, or “mountain of salt” in Farsi. Thick layers of minerals, such as halite (common table salt), typically accumulate in closed basins during alternating wet and dry climatic conditions. Over time, the layers of salt are buried under younger layers of rock. The pressure from overlying rock layers causes the lower-density salt to flow upwards, bending the rock layers above and creating a domelike structure. Near the bottom of the image, the Mand River resembles a lavender ribbon as it winds around the base of Kuh-e-Namak. The city of Konari and several other towns and small villages nestle nearby on the valley floor.

The Zagros Mountains in southwestern Iran present an impressive landscape of long, linear ridges and valleys. In the lower right corner of this 2000 Landsat 7 image stands a feature of the area—a white-topped salt dome called Kuh-e-Namak, or “mountain of salt” in Farsi. Thick layers of minerals, such as halite (common table salt), typically accumulate in closed basins during alternating wet and dry climatic conditions. Over time, the layers of salt are buried under younger layers of rock. The pressure from overlying rock layers causes the lower-density salt to flow upwards, bending the rock layers above and creating a domelike structure. Near the bottom of the image, the Mand River resembles a lavender ribbon as it winds around the base of Kuh-e-Namak. The city of Konari and several other towns and small villages nestle nearby on the valley floor.

Continue Reading…

Cut the Fat

February 13, 2013 in Work and Faith with 0 Comments

Today is Ash Wednesday – the first day of Lent in the Christian Calendar. Many will undertake the spiritual practice of giving something up for the next 40 days.

Yesterday was Fat Tuesday – which is the not-so-spiritual practice of going on a bit of a binge before you give stuff up for Lent.

Fasting from something for 40 days reminds us of Christ’s sacrifice for us. We forgo something we like or enjoy to create more margin, and we use that margin to reflect upon God’s generosity towards us in His Son. Many people “add” something along with their sacrifice: they give up TV and instead write a letter a day to someone who has made an impact in their life. They give up meals and give the money they would have spent on food to a food pantry. Continue Reading…

Imperfect Mirrors

February 10, 2013 in Faith with 0 Comments

 

When we examine our hearts in the light of Scripture, our lives begin to change. In 2 Corinthians 3:18, the Apostle Paul reminds us of the good news that “we are being transformed into his image.” We are mirrors of God to the world around us; it is our privilege to reflect Him to others.

250px-Větruše,_zrcadlové_bludištěEarlier today I went to my neighborhood pool. In the locker room they have those Plexiglas mirrors where you can’t quite see yourself, and when you do see yourself, it’s not quite you. We’ve all seen ourselves in funhouse mirrors where we become distorted. Likewise, the imperfections in us distort the image of God that people see when they look at us. We’ll never be able to clean off every spot with a squirt of glass cleaner and good behavior. But that’s not the point. Cleaning ourselves up so we look better to others will only exhaust us. We need to invite and allow God to clean up our imperfections so that we may reflect Him better. That’s our goal. We need to bring our distorted mirrors to Him, and let Him use his “holy” glass cleaner to remove all our blemishes.

Usually God cleans up our mirrors by first showing us where the spots and distortions are and then by helping us acknowledge them. There are the big ones – like an affair or embezzlement. But then there are the smaller areas where we are prone not to mirror Christ and maybe not even notice it. Generally, people agree that having an affair is bad, but telling white lies is something people rarely think twice about. Or we may say we think gossip is bad, but we do it anyway. Gossip, dishonesty, complaining – all are distortions in our mirror that make us a poor reflection of Christ.

ps – I can’t think about glass cleaner without thinking of My Big Fat Greek Wedding – “just put some windex on it!” (okay – now go back to reflecting on the seriousness of the post!)

Book Review: At Work as it is in Heaven – by J.B. Wood

December 3, 2012 in Uncategorized, Work and Faith with 0 Comments

I found J.B.’s blog – Shrinking the Camel – via twitter and the The High Calling. I immediately liked his posts.

Many people who write about faith-and-work stop after they make the point that it’s important to combine the two, and that God values your work. J.B.’s blog makes those important points, but goes beyond that and includes real-life work situations. You get a glimpse of how he handles challenges, setbacks or success. His tone is approachable and conversational (and occasionally irreverent, which lets you know he’s human). Given that his book is a collection of blog posts, it follows that I really enjoyed At Work as it is in Heaven.

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Getting Back in the Saddle

November 26, 2012 in Writing with 4 Comments

Hello! Sorry about that gap in posts! We’ve had lots of things happening here in the Knox Camp. This picture sums it up:

If it’s not immediately evident: in the background are solar panels and in the foreground is a baby!

 

Over the past year, my husband and I have been “going net zero.” It’s a long, long story that I will let Andy tell, but we’ve done everything from changing our light bulbs and adding insulation, to watching as drillers put 180-foot-deep holes in our small DC yard for a Ground Source Heat Pump, and installers put 9.7KW of solar power on our roof. It’s been a big project (as most home improvement projects are) but we’re almost finished. When all is said-and-done we should be net-zero: producing as much energy as we consume.

And in addition to that, over the last 9 months I was cooking a little person inside me. Everett joined us in the second half of October. We’re all getting to know each other, and we’re even starting to sleep a little!

So that explains my long absence. But I’m getting back in the saddle with writing – keep your eye on the blog for more posts!

Here’s one more picture of him from the other day, when he was being particularly charming:

 

Looking for a new job?

September 20, 2012 in Uncategorized with 1 Comment

I ran into a friend a back a few weeks ago who shared that, after nine months of searching, she’d finally found a job! Following a lot of consideration and prayer about the future, my friend left her job last year to search for one in a related-but-different field.

Her credentials were impressive and her experience was pretty much all any organization in this new sphere could ask for. She pounded the pavement for months looking for a job: doing numerous informational interviews, reaching out to old contacts, making new contacts, submitting countless resumes and applications, going on formal interviews, starting negotiations for specific positions.

She was *this close* to an offer for the type of job she was looking for several times. It looked like everything was lining up, and yet it never quite did.

This job she finally got (and is very excited about) came through just when she was near the end of her rope and near the end of her savings account.

I was reminded of several important lessons while watching her job search: Continue Reading…

I forgot to brush my teeth

August 21, 2012 in Work with 2 Comments

Did you brush your teeth this morning? I didn’t. I could give you the list of excuses – lack of time, misplaced toothbrush, variance from my routine, etc. But instead, let me just tell you what business principle it reminds me of: hygiene.

Poster promoting good oral hygiene from the Work Projects Administration Poster Collection (Library of Congress).

It’s a word a former associate used to describe all the seemingly insignificant little stuff that, if ignored, can become a big deal. It’s things like filling out your time sheets or leave requests, or sending a weekly update to your manager so they can inform the client, or approving documents that allows someone else to proceed with their job. In your personal life it’s things like paying bills, grocery shopping, or doing the dishes. Not exactly glamorous, but necessary.

What are the parallels between bad dental hygiene and bad business hygiene?

Continue Reading…

Interview: Alyssa Miller – taking risks and starting your own business

August 9, 2012 in Interviews with 0 Comments

I met Alyssa when she was attending Howard University here in Washington, DC.  She now lives in Minneapolis, MN with her husband (and brand new baby girl!) and she recently launched her own business – Real Eyes Editing (RE). I had the opportunity to catch up with Alyssa on the phone and we talked about what she’s learning on the front end of this entrepreneurial endeavor.

EKO: Tell us about RE!
Alyssa: Real Eyes is a copy editing business that primarily services Christian thought authors. I do copy editing, copy writing and social media content.

EKO: What prompted you to start your own business?
Alyssa: Last fall I didn’t land a business job the way I thought I would [Alyssa and her husband took a year off from their jobs to travel to Costa Rica and Mexico to grow their Spanish fluency. When she returned, she didn’t find a job as quickly as she was expecting to.] Continue Reading…

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