Monday's Musings: Take Joy

Greer, AZ May 2010, photo taken by Kara Haberstock, all rights reserved

This world is broken.
“Don’t be surprised if you see a poor person being oppressed by the powerful and if justice is being miscarried throughout the land….matters of justice get lost in red tape and bureaucracy” (Ecclesiastes 5:8).
We are broken. We all know that we are. There are parts of us that are empty and just ache so. You can try to fix your own brokenness with money or people or things that make you feel good for now. It won’t work.
Money runs out.
“Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth- expect perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers!” (10-11)
And everything else eventually passes away. Possessions wear out and break. People leave. All falls to pieces.
“We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born. We can’t take our riches with us” (15).
And all of this seems quite hopeless. We seem quite trapped in our fate. But there is one who has come to give life, abundant joyful life.
“To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life- this is indeed a gift from God. God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past” (19-20).
I want to be so busy enjoying the life God has given me that I have no time to bemoan what has passed. This I think is what it looks like to seize every moment. I want to live in celebration. I want to live in joy.
It seems like the appropriate spirit with which to begin the New Year.

Merry Christmas!

St Louis, MO December 2010, photo taken by Kara Haberstock, all rights reserved

In the beginning the Word already existed.       

  The Word was with God,

      and the Word was God.

He existed in the beginning with God.

God created everything through him,

      and nothing was created except through him.

The Word gave life to everything that was created,

      and his life brought light to everyone.

The light shines in the darkness,

      and the darkness can never extinguish it.

 God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light. The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
 He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
John testified about him when he shouted to the crowds, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.’”
From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart.

He has revealed God to us.

John 1:1-18

And this is the story of Christmas.

Weekend Reading

Last Gift Guide of the season! Here's the In Honor of Design Holiday Gift Guide Catalog! It might be a bit late for these sorts of gifts....but there's always next year. Have a very merry Christmas!

Open publication - Free publishing
By Anna of IHOD

Photos for Wednesday

Only a few more days till Christmas! I thought I'd share a few pictures from last year's Christmas, which I spent with family in St. Louis, MO. These are a few of my favorites:



All photos taken by Kara Haberstock, December 2010, all rights reserved

Living with Lewis: Another's Pain

The only thing worse than being in pain is watching someone you love in pain. Or at least that’s how it is for me. And now I’m dating someone with a chronic illness that sometimes flares up, causing incredible pain and agony. It’s excruciating to watch, to sit there and not be able to do anything except hold a hand and pray. Another flare means another trip to the unfortunately-familiar local emergency room. And as I sit there, I know I would do just about anything so that I could take the pain away. I wish I could take it myself. But I can’t.
One thing I’ve found is that sometimes it’s not your own pain but the pain of others’ that is hardest to bear. From the midst of pain, I may cry out in frustration, I may question God’s goodness, but I can endure. I know that good will come from it. I trust that this too shall pass. But when it’s another, someone else, not me, and I sit there, wishing I could take the pain and crying out to God for relief on their behalf, trust is harder. The small voice in the back of my mind cries out, “God, if you are good, how can you bear this? I am selfish, imperfect, and not good, and yet I would give anything to take this pain, but I can’t. You can. How do you not act? If you are good, why don’t you do something?”
I came across this the other day in A Grief Observed:

“Yet this is unendurable. And then one babbles- ‘If only I could bear it, or the worst of it, or any of it instead of her (Lewis’ wife).’ But one can’t tell how serious that bid is, for nothing is staked on it. If it suddenly became a real possibility, then, for the first time, we should discover how seriously we had meant it. But is it ever allowed?
It was allowed to the One, we are told, and I find I can now believe again, that He has done vicariously whatever can be so done. He replies to our babble, ‘You cannot and you dare not. I could and dared.”

I think sometimes that he has done more than we will ever be able to imagine.

Monday's Musings: Mouth Shut

Rome, Italy, July 2008, photo taken by Kara Haberstock, all rights reserved

“As you enter the house of God, keep your ears open and your mouth shut. It is evil to make mindless offerings to God. Don’t make rash promises and don’t be hasty in bringing matters before God. after all, God is in heaven, and you are here on earth. So let your words be few” (1-2).
So opens the fifth chapter of Ecclesiastes.
I know that I often deny God the reverence he deserves. It’s easy to think of him as a friend, the One who never leaves, a lover, a father, and to forget that he is the Sovereign God of all creation, who holds all things together, who deserves all glory and honor, who rightfully demands that all things bow before him. He does not exist for my benefit; I exist for his. And thus, that what I do in his presence, especially when I come before him to pray and to worship, should not be done thoughtlessly. I serve a God above all others, a holy, righteous, perfect, infallible, unfailing God. Yes, I should be honest before him, I should be myself in his presence, I can be confident in his perfect love. But this does not mean being insincere or irreverent. And it does not mean that it’s okay for me to ramble and prattle on. I know that God loves me more than anyone will ever be able to, I know that he loves me in the midst of my quirks and shortcomings, and I even like to think that he smiles at the little tics of personality that I have (such as fumbling over words and tending to rant on certain issues). But I must remember just whose presence I am sitting in. (With this comes one of the other major themes of this passage. Don’t make empty promises to God. If you tell him you’ll do something, do it. Otherwise, don’t make that promise at all.)
In addition, when I think about it, I often fail to give God even the smallest bit of consideration that I give to my friends. By this, I mean that I fail to listen. So often my interactions with God consist of me talking to him for a short or long period of time, then saying goodbye and going on my way. Sometimes I’m talking about how great he is, sometimes I’m making requests, sometimes it’s a mixture of the two. But I don’t stop to sit and listen to him. If I treated any one of my friends like that, our friendship would fail. It’s not too much of a stretch to think that God doesn’t take kindly to that either. He wants to speak into my life, to tell me about himself, about what he is doing, to give me guidance, to give me missions for others, to show me how he wants to use me. But he can’t (or at least it’s much more difficult) if I don’t listen. I like the way Solomon puts it:
“Talk is cheap, like daydreams and other useless activities. Fear God instead” (7).
So I will come into God’s presence, mouth shut and ears open. It’s time to listen.

A Song for Sunday: Ellie Goulding

Ellie Goulding has one of the most unique voice, and I find her quite intriguing. In honor of the holidays, here is her cover of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas."


Ellie Goulding, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, for Sun Sessions

Weekend Reading

I've got another fabulous holiday magazine for you with lots of gift ideas! Check out the Holiday Guide by Emily Henderson. I love all the DIY decor ideas.

Open publication - Free publishing - More christmas

Friday Links

I hope you all have had a wonderful week! Finals are finished and I am more than ready for the holiday break. I've got all sorts of lovely art links to share, full of films, mapcuts, photography, and more. Enjoy!


The film I posted yesterday is actually one of a series of films called Parallel Lines sponsored by Philips Cinema. Check out the rest of these films here. This one is my favorite.

These mapcuts are amazing.

I like this illustration; it seems appropriate for this time of year.

Check out this artist. This infographic is one of my favorites.

These Christmas pics are adorable.

Montana is such a beautiful state.

I love this print.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Short Film Thursday: The Gift

This week's short film is a brief sci-fi thriller with a bit of Christmas theme. It's not what I usually watch, but it's set in Russia (a place near and dear to my heart). And the suspense is fantastic. I couldn't help but share it:


The Gift from BLR_VFX on Vimeo.
Directed by Carl Rensch

DIY Special: A Bubble Chandelier

These are some picture of a lovely light fixture I made for myself before moving into my new apartment two years ago. The original inspiration was Jean Pelle's Bubble Chandelier, and I loosely followed some DIY instructions she published in ReadyMade magazine. The total cost is $75 dollars, but I used clear glass ornaments instead of the CB2 glass balls and saved a bit of money. Overall, it cost me a few hours and about $40, and I still love it two years later. It can be a little tricky to clean, but since I used the clear glass ornaments, I just buy new ones every year and swap them out. The effect in the photos comes from filling some of the ornaments about halfway with water. Here's the tutorial from the February/March 2009 issue of ReadyMade that I based my project on. Enjoy!

Made by Kara Haberstock, photos by Kara Haberstock, all rights reserved

Photos for Wednesday

I took these on a trip to Kyrgyzstan in the summer of 2010. We spent a week on the shore of Lake Issyk-kul, one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world, and one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen...

All photos taken by Kara Haberstock, July 2010, all rights reserved

Pinterest Picks: Red and White

It's almost Christmas!!! (And I still have so much shopping left to do....)
Anyways, red and white has always been one of my favorite Christmas combinations, so here's a few of my pinterest finds:

Photo Credits

 Berries in a porcelain vase from A Creative Mint 

Japanese fabric patterns from  Tarte Advertising, Inc

Coconut snowballs from. Framed Cooks

A Norwegian house in winter from  Bonytt

Trader Joe's wrapping paper from A Creative Mint 

A lovely white wreath from Design is Mine

Living with Lewis: A Good God

For most of my life, I’ve struggled with the question of whether I truly believe that God is good. There’s always that question in the back of my mind, the voice that asks, “Then why so much suffering?” If God is truly good, then how could he let such things happen? To me? To others? To the already struggling in Port-au-Prince? To the already broken who are hit again and again when they’re already down. I cannot fully understand this. But I’m beginning to discover a few things I haven’t considered before, things that I’ll probably be wrestling with a while, but things that bring some progress, I think.
First came the realization that my definition of good might be faulty.
Lewis writes in A Grief Observed:

“The terrible thing is that a perfectly good God is in this matter hardly less formidable than a Cosmic Sadist. The more we believe that God hurts only to heal, the less we can believe that there is any use in begging for tenderness. A cruel man might be bribed- might grow tired of his vile sport- might have a temporary fit of mercy, as alcoholics have fits of sobriety. But supposed that what you are up against is a surgeon whose intentions are wholly good. The kinder and more conscientious he is, the more inexorable he will go on cutting. If he yielded to your entreaties, if he stopped before the operations was complete, all the pain up to that point would have been useless…What do people mean when they say, ‘I am not afraid of God because I know He is good’? Have they never been to a dentist?” (60-61)

What if good means that the suffering is necessary?