Be Careful What You Say

Today in my language lesson I was learning about what to say when some pays you a compliment.  I wanted to come up with examples so I said to my helper, "Like, what if I said 'I like your jacket'."  She replied, "Then the other person would say, 'Oh, would you like to have it?'" and might try to give it to you.  Wow, cultures are so different.  Can you imagine an American doing something like that?  The way that the compliment can be appropriately given is to say, "It suits you."  And then I guess they won't try to give it to you.  So I need to learn how to say that.  Along with a lot of other things... :)

Sparrows

Today I begin a new year with the Lord at my side.  He has grown me in so many ways over the past year and I know this year I will be changed even more.  This time of language learning, settling in, and building foundations in relationships is difficult.  This morning a million questions were spinning in my mind and I looked out my kitchen window and saw a flock of sparrows perched on a tree.  I opened the screen and as they flew away with a flutter I thought, "God sees each sparrow.  He sees me.  He sees my pain and confusion and sin, and He knows.  He knows what I'm thinking and feeling better than I do.  "So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." (Matthew 10:31)

Psalm 84
 ¹How lovely is your dwelling place,
   O LORD of hosts!
²My soul longs, yes, faints
   for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
   to the living God.
 ³Even the sparrow finds a home,
   and the swallow a nest for herself,
   where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O LORD of hosts,
    my King and my God.
⁴ Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
   ever singing your praise!
                         Selah
 ⁵Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
    in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
⁶As they go through the Valley of Baca
   they make it a place of springs;
    the early rain also covers it with pools.
⁷They go from strength to strength;
   each one appears before God in Zion.
 ⁸O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer;
   give ear, O God of Jacob!
                         Selah

⁹ Behold our shield, O God;
   look on the face of your anointed!
 ¹⁰For a day in your courts is better
   than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
   than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
¹¹For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
   the LORD bestows favor and honor.
 No good thing does he withhold
   from those who walk uprightly.
¹²O LORD of hosts,
    blessed is the one who trusts in you!