Waiting Room

And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You.

~Psalm 39:7

In waiting rooms, in doctor's offices, there are always wallpaper borders and paint colors that make me question the mental heath of the doctor I am visiting. The chairs are always just uncomfortable enough to remind me that I am not at home, and the prints on the walls always look as though there had been a sale on framed posters nobody wanted at an art museum gift shop. Dentists have only slightly better taste.

The entire experience seems designed to remind patients that they are ill, feel uncomfortable, and need help. The fact that we sit and wait in these awkward chairs staring at dusty silk flowers and flipping through magazines six months old, shows our faith in the physician. We believe that by waiting here there will come a moment when our name is called and we will be ushered into a different room. We will see the doctor, and we will be told what to do to feel better. We will be healed because we waited.

There are moments when life seems designed to remind us that we are not at home on this earth, life is awkward and uncomfortable and just plain not fun. In those moments let us remind ourselves that we are waiting. Waiting with faith that, here on this earth there will come a moment when each of us will hear our names called, and we will be ushered in to see the Healer of our Souls face to face. And we will be healed and taken home, because we waited and trusted in the Lord.

I believe that I shall
look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living!
Wait for the LORD;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the LORD!
~Psalm 27:13-14

I wait for the LORD,

my soul does wait,

And in His word do I hope.

~Psalm 130:5

Purple Fabric? -- I thought I had some

I have boxes of fabric. Hoarding, stashing, stockpiling -- that's what I do with fabric, you know, before I make it into quilts. So when I was tagged to participate in a purple charm quilt chain letter I thought it would be no problem. I went to my closet -- the one overflowing with fabric and quilts and wips and ufos. Would you believe I haven't got two pieces of purple fabric large enough to cut out four sets of 6" blocks?

Inconceivable!

Not even if I'm generous with the term purple and allow shades from lavender to magenta.
Not even if I count fabric that's mostly purple but with sploshes of other colors in it too.
No purple.

How do things like this happen?
So much for stash-busting, I guess it's off to the store for me.

No More Ads

Thank you to those of you who were clicking on the google ads, formerly in the sidebar, I hope you found the information useful and worthwhile.

I was dubious about putting up the ads in the first place, because of the potential to link to websites which I might not agree with. But last September I decided to try it anyway. Earning money's not a bad thing.

In January and February I seemed to have a surge of readers and an increase in clicks on seemingly higher paying ads, the $100 payment threshold was almost reached.

Evidently the prospect of having to mail me an actual check sent Google AdSense into hysterics and they decided review my blog history, and declare my clicks invalid (actually they said "pose a risk"). The money will supposedly be returned to the advertisers.

Although I really could have used the money -- I think I'm mostly relieved not to have to worry about what sites the ads might be linking to. In the end, it has been SO NOT WORTH the hassle.

Afternoon Photos

I wanted photos to go with my post yesterday. It needed photos. I felt I owed you photos of:

Witch Hazel flowering, and

Pussy Willows budding against the bare blue sky.
So my camera and I headed out yesterday afternoon, two small dogs in tow, to snap some photos of these hopeful signs of spring. My efforts were repaid with interest.

I had not realized the Dutch Iris would be blooming.

These grow on a south facing slope, in a sheltered location, the rest of the gardens (other than the snowdrop bed) are still very dormant. But this small surge of Spring poking holes through winter-faded fall leaves, oh, that makes my heart sing with certainty of the coming season.

Morning Thoughts

This morning the sun rose in a mist of contrails where last night only a few wild geese strayed across blank blue. Twenty-three I think I counted before the clouds, confused by water vapors not their own began to merge and fold the eastern sky in on itself. Maples in filigree black against the frosted hour tipped themselves in rising sunshine and beckoned me to observe silence. To watch as no motor pulled morning into the sky. To see the way nature quietly grew, slowly grew from bare branches to budding branches. Soundlessly life stirred. The pussy willows arched and stretched budding out their soft paws. The witch hazel uncurled yellow streamers of flower on leafless branches. Sunshine greeting yellow rays. And the day began.

UFO promoted to WIP

Three years later this homespun scrappy quilt has finally made it into the quilting frame. Known as OddFellow's March or Odd Fellow's Star (for the secondary pattern it forms) the block has a pleasing variety and lends itself well to scrappy quilts. I love it.

Baby Hat and Socks

Usually I get out the quilting supplies when a friend is having a baby, but as you know I've been knitting recently and I found this yarn:

100% wool (but washable)

handspun

softer than soft

in baby girl pinks.

Perfect for knitting up a baby shower gift.

Grapefruit not included.

Soon and Very Soon

( Bouquet from last Spring. )

90 Years

Happy Birthday to my Grandfather.

He won't read this, of course, since manual typewriters don't get the internet...
... but Happy Birthday to him anyway.

1929patch

One thing we can learn from the fabrics of the Great Depression: Although all was bleak around them, many people chose to be happy anyway. The bright cheerful colors and whimsical designs of 1930s fabric reminds me not to look at the Black Fridays (like in 1929 when the stock market crashed) but to focus instead on the things that are still good in life. The happiness of welcoming a new life into the world, the laughter of children, the dearness of friends and family, the faithfulness of God in dark times. These are all bright spots, cheerful colors in the patchwork of our lives.

Flying Geese

Predating the American Civil War, the quilt pattern known as Flying Geese is often said to have been used as a signal in the code quilts of the Underground Railroad. In theory these quilts would either be used directionally when hung out (as arrows) or would be symbolic of following the migrating geese and continuing North to freedom.

In construction the block is simply three triangles. Two smaller right angle triangles perch on top of a larger right angle triangle to make a rectangular bar/block. While there are many variations, the traditional arrangement is to stack those "geese" in columns alternating with solid stripes.

In the above quilt I have reversed the standard color selections putting scrappy brown, rust and gold "geese" against a light "sky." The historical quilts I've seen have had mostly dark skys with light geese... but I could not bring myself to make a quilt that implied the migration of domesticated white geese, so I made my geese wild (dark) Canadian geese. It just seemed more logical.

This quilt block will be included in our For the Birds Quilt Sampler Series. I plan to have a tutorial up and ready on it soon.

In His Own Words

In the Book of Matthew, Chapter 6, verses 1-4 Jesus prefaces the familiar "Lord's Prayer" with this piece of advice:

"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them,

for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others.

Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret.

And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. " (Matt. 6:1-4)


Have you done something good today? Don't tell anyone. God already knows.

Heads Up

Brin, over at My Messy Thrilling Life brought this article on the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act to my attention. There is no sense filling up landfills and putting American crafters out of business just because China can't keep a lid on the lead paint, but it looks like that's what we're about to do.

It seems that in our efforts to protect children under 12 the government plans to pass laws requiring prohibitively expensive testing on anything and everything. That sweater you knit from handspun yarns, the baby quilt I made from fabrics at my local quilt store, the organic wooden toy hand carved by the old guy down the road -- these products will all be subject to required testing before being sold OR GIVEN to children. Even used items sold in thrift shops could open the thrift shops to fines for not meeting code, and children's sections of Libraries will find that their books might be considered hazardous to the health of children.

For anyone concerned, write a letter, make a phone call or two, but please feel free to contact your Senators and your State Representatives in Congress and let them know you think this new Act is going too far.

Living Debt Free

Every act of kindness, every good deed, every right action we take in this life could be said to be worth something. Let's measure in terms of money. Let's say that we could earn as much as $5000 a week in good deeds and righteous living.

For 52 weeks a year... well, let's say 50 weeks a year, that's $250,000 a year for being good. If we lived to be 100, we might have $25,000,000 worth of good works saved up. In today's economy that's really something.

Oh yeah, what about today's economy? Did we have a mortgage to pay off; were there costly sins in our lives? Ooops! Our sin debt is massive.
How massive?
Well, for the moment let's just look at what we call "petty sins."

Perhaps each white lie costs 50 cents. How many of those do we tell in a day? ("You look very nice." What is that hideous outfit? ... "No, really I love it. Thank you so much." I've always wanted a scented candle that smelled like puke.) Maybe an average of 10 a day.
Gossip might cost $1 for each person we repeat it to.
Bitter feelings, jealousy, or anger we don't even look at the price. Just put it on the credit card and charge ahead with animosity or resentment.

With interest rates set at 10% like tithing, and each unforgiven debt (sin) compounding annually.... by my calculations just 7 years of little white lies alone would use up $1,225,565.83. It only gets worse each year after that, and that's not accounting for any gossip, anger, lust, or moral decay. Then there's theft, adultery... One count of "taking without leave" might cost $2.5 million, and you don't want to know what a compounded interest will do to that debt. Put in monetary terms, sin debt looks something like a dollar sign in front of an infinity sign. There's no way to pay it off.

Even if we could be good enough that our good deeds paid off our bad ones (which we can't but let's pretend for a minute), how much does it cost to buy an all expenses paid trip to the cheaper side of heaven? Well, to quote a lady I know "If you have to ask how much it costs, Honey , you can't afford it."

So who can afford heaven, then? Well, there was one truly wealthy guy who lived a long time ago... You saw this coming didn't you? But it's true, His name is Jesus Christ and He said He'd be willing to pay off our debts and buy our ticket to heaven. We even have it in writing (the Bible). All we have to do is ask. We have to each go to Christ and admit our poverty, our sins, and ask Him if He will help us.

He will.
He will forgive our debts caused by sin. He uses this thing called Grace, it's debt forgiveness at it's best. And then He gives us a personal, non-transferable ticket to heaven, first class.

Are you living debt free?

Whig Rose Wreath

I do, very occasionally, hand applique. And I can prove it:

This block is an historic reproduction quilt block (done in c.1860 reproduction fabrics). It's known as the Whig Rose Wreath.

Having accomplished one block I then decided I'd done enough of that and framed it out, set it on point, framed that. Set that whole deal on point again, and put a final border around it.

I did add a "Whig Rose" flower in each of the four outer corners, since I had optimistically cut out enough flowers for another wreath block. I didn't want to waste them, but I really don't seem to have the patience yet to do a whole quilt of all hand applique blocks.

Of course, there are only so many borders you can put on a 14 inch block, so the finished size is not large enough to be a bed quilt. But it's the perfect size for a table topper.

One Necessary Thing

Things have to be gotten ready.
The church doesn't clean itself.
Who put those tables there? That's not where they go; now I have to move them.
Didn't anyone remember to buy grape juice this week?
Can you visit...
Did someone fix the...

Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him [Jesus] and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me." But the Lord answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things...
Luke 10 -40-41

Forget Martha's sister Mary for a minute. We all know about Mary, how she got to sit and listen to the Lord while Martha did all the work. But as I was reading this passage I suddenly realized something about what the Lord was saying to Martha.

He never said stop working.

But He did say stop worrying. He told her to relax. Calm down. Focus on what's important.

Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary...
Luke 10:41-42a

There are so many things that "need" to get done, so many opportunities for service, and we each need to do the work of the kingdom, as we are asked. But we don't need to panic about how much work there is to do. We don't need to complain that others ought to help us but aren't. And we don't need to allow service to get in the way of our relationship with the Lord.

The most important thing is to know Him, If getting to know Him better is the only thing we can accomplish in a day... well, that's all we really needed to do. That's the one necessary thing. The only necessary thing. Oh, we've still got work to do and we should do it, but let's not be distracted or overwhelmed by it.

Relax. Calm down. Let's focus on what's important, what's necessary -- our relationship with Christ.

Monarch

Snowdrops

Let there be spring.

Let the seasons shift and slide

from the grey glinting white of snow and ice

to the green fragile white of flowers.

The air is soft and greening.

Pussywillows are budding,

the sugaring-sap stirs in the maples,

and the snowdrops are up and blooming.

Two Blogs

You may already be reading these two great blogs... I just found them and wanted to share.
Sheep to the Right and Absolute Truth

Casa Blanca Lily

These flowers looked wonderful last summer blooming in my white garden.

I've been hunting for green tips in the gardens. And although the snowdrops are budding and the iris are even peaking up, there's nothing yet for these bulbs.

I hope they survived the winter.

They're so pretty.

...and they smell wonderful...

Questions

And we have known that to those loving God all things do work together for good, to those who are called according to purpose... ~ Romans 8:28 (Young's Literal)

When we say "God is in Control" how often do we mean "God is going to do this my way"?

Do we assume, because we have prayed about a situation, that God is going to do what we ask (what we tell) Him to do? How often are we tempted to say "If God was listening..." or even "If He really is God..."?

Do we sometimes think, "Well, I'm a good Christian so God should reward me and make this turn out the way I want it to."?

When we read that verse (Rom. 8:28) do we hear "for good" or do we hear "for the result we want"?

So...
Did Christ want to die on the cross?
We read that in the garden of Gethsemane as Jesus prayed for "this cup" to be removed.
But He also prayed "Thy will be done." He trusted God enough to obey.
In obedience to the Father, Christ suffered but then He rose again, and that suffering created Salvation for believers.
I would say that was for good wouldn't you?

Is there something God is asking us to trust Him on today? Can we let Him have control?
Do we have the faith to obey and believe that He will use it for good?
Do you?
Do I?

Love is in the Air

Ah, the scents of spring...
The chocolate aroma of Valentine's Day and a dozen red roses...
The whiff of skunk...

That's right, skunk. For those of you not aware, February marks the beginning of the mating period for that distinctively black and white, near sighted, nocturnal, North American mammal Mephitis mephitis.

The male skunks in search of affection range out of their territory and, on unfamiliar turf in their highly excitable state, tend to spray their signature cologne about in a reckless manner. Even a leaf blowing in the wind could startle some of these poor fellows into spraying. It's peak skunk smelling season. The female skunks are not blameless in the matter of this lingering aroma. Less excitable but more particular, they tend to reject unwanted advances in a rather noticeable way by spraying the undesired suitors.

My guess is -- just under my window -- some poor skunk just got rejected (or startled by the neighbor's free-range dog).

Wander away little striped Cyrano. The grubs are better in other yards, the dens are cosier on other hillsides, and the lady skunks are friendlier near other houses. Go, and ... well, just go.

Nine Patch Chain

In this quilt I played with the nine-patch variation known as cat's in the corner, using chain blocks and pieced sashing to create the pattern. I did it in a reproduction navy with tan print and a modern metallic gold paisley with a metallic gold oriental print (fussy cut, for scenes). I think the combination was successful. Don't you?

Afternoon Tea Parties

Invite Guests -- Use Pretty Note Cards

Set Table -- With the Good China and Flowers

Boil Water -- Do Not Microwave

Steep Tea and Pour -- Sip Slowly

Take Time to Be Content with This Moment --Laugh

And Do Serve Yummy Things

Just Around the Corner

I like to self-bind my quilts (usually back to front) because I can never get my corners to come out smooth with bias binding.

So here's what I do. I trim down the top two layers of my quilt sandwich to the same size, and leave the backing about an inch larger. It's no problem to fold the raw edge in and fold the backing over the front along the sides then; but the corners still take some maneuvering.

The first step is to clip the corner. That point will just get in the way and make things bulky. Snip it off.
Then you can fold over the first side using binding clips to secure it. (Or pins -- pins work too.)And then fold in the other side. Just in case you're not certain what I mean... we're bringing the raw edge of the back to the raw edge of the front by folding it. Like this:Then folding it again. This time that fold line is the spot where the raw edges met; the backing will come over the front of the quilt and neatly hide all the raw edges.
At that corner I use the tip of my pin to make sure everything gets tucked in smoothly and neatly. And then pin it firmly in place.

There are several different choices for how to sew the binding down. In this case I'll use an applique stitch, the nearly invisible surface of the stitch works well for the front of a quilt. If I had folded the front of the quilt to the back, most likely I would simply use the faster whip-stitch. And with a project that's going to see heavy use -- a utility quilt -- I tend to machine sew the binding in place.

Cold Weather Quotes

"Every man looks at his wood pile with a kind of affection."

~ Henry David Thoreau

"Chop your own wood, and it will warm you twice."

~ Henry Ford

"That wood pile is getting small."

~me

Free Desktop Photo with Psalm

I've been editing photos in Photoshop again.
Every time I looked at this one photo of the sun setting behind the mountain, I kept thinking of one of my favorite Psalms. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills... Psalm 121
So I put the words (KJV) together with my photo to make a desktop or add to a slideshow screen-saver. If you click on the photo here it should open an extra-large format, and you are welcome to save and use for your own desktops or screen-savers.

The Voice of the Turtle

I have a line stuck in my head, John-boy Walton saying " Is this the year spring never comes?"

As this spell of ice and snow drags on, the wind whipping temperatures back down below zero, I might be tempted to ask the same question. Except I know the God who made the seasons and I know better: There will never be a year when spring does not come, John-boy.

As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,
summer and winter, and day and night
will not cease.
Genesis 8:22

The fiddleheads will sprout ferns, flowers will bloom again.

The earth will bring forth fruit.

And dandelions will cover our lawns.

That same episode of the Walton's quotes from the Song of Solomon:

For, lo, the winter is past,

the rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;

the time of the singing of birds is come,

and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.

Song of Songs 2:11-12

I'm waiting....

The Six Month Socks

Six months old baby, that is -- these socks won't take six months to knit. For those of you who knit, I'll backtrack to the pattern in a little bit.

For those of you who Don't knit we're skipping straight to the part where, unlike the first pair that were too small, THIS PAIR FITS! Hooray!

I took a bunch of pictures of baby feet. If anyone needs some photos of motion blurred yellows socks I have plenty. In the two seconds we could manage to get the wee one's feet to hold still I managed to capture this photo.


I used the leftover wool/cotton/soy sock yarn and five size 2 (US) sock needles.
My "pattern" (which I admit is half guesswork and half borrowing from various "sock philosophies") goes something like this:

Cast on 30 stitches, knit back dividing the stitches onto three needles (10 stitches each). Then making sure you are not twisted anywhere join the rounds.
Row 1: k2 p1
Row 2: knit
Row 3: Begin k3 p2 -- continue until you have two inches (babies like to pull their socks off so a little longer is better at this stage).

Divide for Heel: knit 15 stitches onto one needle, purl back. Knit row, purl row, until you have a 1 inch heel flap.

Turn Heel:
Row 1: s1, k7, k2together, k1, Turn
Row 2: s1, p2, p2together, p1, Turn
Row 3: s1, k to one before the last turn, k2together, k1, Turn
Row 4: s1, p to one before the last turn, p2together, p1, Turn
repeat rows 3 and 4 until you are to the edges -- you should have 9 stitches on the needle. This will be needle 1. Knit a plain row across.

Begin Gusset:
Pick up stitches on the side of heel flap (should be 11 stitches if you pick up 2 at the corner), This will be needle 2.
Knit plain across the top of the foot. Putting those 15 stitches all onto needle 3.
Pick up same number (11) of stitches on the other side of the heel flap. That will be on needle 4.
Knit one round and then begin shaping the gusset.
Round 1: Knit to last 3 stitches on needle 2, k2together, k1. Knit across needle 3/top of foot. On needle 4, k1, s1, k1, psso and knit the rest of the needle.
Round 2: knit plain.
Repeat rounds 1 and 2 until there are only 3 stitches each on needles 2 and 4. Thirty stitches total.
Reposition stitches from needles 1, 2 and 4 onto just 2 needles (the top of the foot stays on one needle).

Knit plain for about an inch more -- this really depends on the length of the baby's foot, I only needed 3 inches total length. (The following toe shaping is about half an inch in length.)

Reduce for the Toe:
Round 1: From center of heel knit to last 3 stitches on the needle, k2together, k1. Begin next needle with k1, s1, k1, psso, knit across top of foot to last 3 stitches, k2together, k1. Then k1, s1, k1, psso, and knit to center of heel.
Round 2: knit
Reduce to 18 stitches and finish last round out to the side of the foot so you have 9 stitches each on 2 needles. Use a tapestry needle and a Kitchner stitch to close the toe.

Knit second sock exactly the same.

Knitting Codes Decoded:
k = knit
p = purl
s = slip
(and the number following tells you how many of those stitches to make or slip)
k2together = knit 2 stitches as though they are one stitch
p2together is the same thing but purl
psso = pass slipped stitch over. So you slip one then knit one and then slide the slipped stitch over that one you just knit.

Texture for Tuesday

The almost braille textured trunk of an apple tree covered in holes made by nuthatches(woodpeckers would have made bigger holes).

The pontille or picotage smoothness of a millstone's surface.

The crumpled terrain of a lichen's surface close-up, like a 3D map of monochromatic lace.

Fudgehogs

There they are... my microwave-fudge groundhogs with their shadows.

I decided to try sunflower nutbutter and cashew nutbutter instead of peanut butter (partly because we didn't have enough peanut butter on hand). Cashew is the lighter one on the left and Sunflower is the one on the right... there's got to be some sort of joke that can be made about SUNflower groundhogs and shadows, but right now I can't think of a good one. The shadows are Nutella, of course.

The sunflowerbutter made a droopier fudge that was harder to work with -- but I think I was trying to shape it while it was still too warm. These were a favorite though and most "ran away" while my back was turned.

The cashew butter fudge turned out smoother and easier to mold. In the end, however, it was pronounced too sweet and more of these guys are leftover than got eaten. Not too worry though, I'm sure somebody will be self-sacrificing enough to finish them off for me.

Hello Puxatawney Phil

Have you noticed the way the bare trees are beginning to look less bleak? There's a softening, the tips of branches are not so cold and dark. The swelling buds add a reddish haze to the winter landscape now.

The groundhog peaks from his burrow already knowing that the vernal equinox is still six weeks away but scenting spring in the air.

What's the best way to celebrate seeing your shadow? With the traditional Groundhog's Day Fudge, of course. Okay, maybe not so traditional now that I've found Alton Brown's microwave peanut butter fudge recipe. I'll be trying his recipe for the first time this year -- it looks so easy.

I'm copying it here:

Ingredients
1 cup butter, plus more for greasing pan
1 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pound powdered sugar

Directions
Microwave butter and peanut butter for 2 minutes on high. Stir and microwave on high for 2 more minutes. Add vanilla and powdered sugar to peanut butter mixture and stir to combine with a wooden spoon. Pour into a buttered 8 by 8-inch pan lined with waxed paper. Place a second piece of waxed paper on the surface of the fudge and refrigerate until cool. Cut into 1-inch pieces and store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Now, I do like to try to make my fudge groundhog shaped... with a swirl of Nutella to make the shadow... but if you don't have to. Squares would work just as well.

Note: For those with peanut allergies -- I don't see why you couldn't use cashew butter to make fudge just as easily. Actually, that almost sounds better.

A Balanced Diet

It is easy to think of the Christian faith as a buffet. Pick and choose the parts you like and leave the rest of it for someone else. Build your own burger, your own salad, your own tower straight to heaven. There are so many religious variations, denominations, offshoots, and non-denominational gatherings these days.

It is possible to find those who select the God of Love (New Testament only, thank you) with a helping of Buddhist-style meditations, leaving the God of Justice and some of the Ten Commandments simmering over the sterno. Some prefer the buffalo wings of their daily horoscopes without a daily Bible reading, and cover it up with a sauce of semi-regular church attendance and a "holier than thou" attitude. It is even possible to ladle up a soup of devoutly Orthodox traditions while gorging oneself on the false idols of fame, fortune, or flesh.

The buffet is open, help yourself.
Help yourself.
Can we help ourselves to a slice of heaven?
Can we pick and choose our way through the Bible?
Is that even the best thing for us?

Have you ever watched a caring parent take their child through a buffet line? Left to themselves the child will have the jello, the cookies, the cake, the ice cream... it's not exactly a balanced diet. Which is why the parents insist on helping the child make the right decisions.

Have something green. Says Mom as she scoops some peas onto the child's plate.
But I don't want any vegetables! I want cake!
They're good for you. Mom has already moved on and is putting a slice of whole grain bread on the plate beside the peas. You can have desert too but I want you to eat a balanced dinner first.

I think perhaps that's how God is. He is a loving Parent, and we are His children at the buffet. We are screaming about wanting cake and love and cookies and mercy only... and God gently reminds us: These vegetables, these acts of service, this consequence of your actions, this dicipline, they're good for you. The whole Bible, you need to have the whole meal. I want you to have a balanced faith.