Two for the Time of One

In lieu of a real post, today you are getting treated to two mini-posts, because I am thinking through what I hope will be a real post in the next few days; but in the meantime I want to share two brief things.

First, have you ever been curious about this scripture, and what on earth it means?

Psalm 24:7-9

"Lift up your heads, O you gates!
And be lifted up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The LORD strong and mighty,
The LORD mighty in battle.
Lift up you heads, O you gates!
Lift up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of Glory shall come in."

I have a CD of Celtic Psalms that includes a hauntingly beautiful song based on this very passage. And I just bought another CD of scripture set to music last week that included these verses too. I always kind of wondered what they meant with all those doors and gates being lifted up. I just figured that maybe it was an allusion to the doors and gates of our heart needing to be "lifted up" in order for God to come in.

But the following footnote from my Bible has helped me immensely:

heads-the city or temple gates are personified.

shall come in-The return of the King of glory implies that He has gone out to battle and returns in victory.


OOOOOOHHHHHHH! So next time I have struggled (gone to battle) with a sin, and returned victorious, I can say this verse to myself.

For example: I really wanted to repeat that salacious rumor that another woman told me (before I could stop her of course!) It was a great battle with myself, and believe me, without the help of the LORD mighty in battle, I could never have been victorious over my own desire to gossip. But, because the LORD is strong and mighty, He made me victorious, and I kept my big mouth shut!

Now, que the music, I'm going to sing Psalm 24:7-9 in my heart.


And second, I took a gamble in the kitchen last night and it paid off.

I love beef stew. It is one of my favorite dishes when it is done properly. But, I'm trying to lose those five pounds I gained during my pig-out at the end of 2007. (Most of you would call this the holidays, but in retrospect, I think it was just one long culinary indulgence for me.)

And those potatoes that are traditionally included in beef stew? Well, they are not on my diet. So what to do? I have used rutabagas in place of potatoes before, with delicious results. But my local grocery store has an annoying habit of running out of rutabagas (of all things! really! are they that popular?) So I gambled and diced up some turnips instead. I highly recommend it--turned out tasty.

Hmm, for those of you who have read my Hot Pot post, we really do eat things besides beef around here, I promise.