If you could change one thing about your life what would it be?
If you could change one thing about your life what would it be?
If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?
Now: What if the first was the secret to the second, and the second the secret to the first?
And what if the key to life-change, to breakthrough and transformation and extraordinary growth, is just waiting for you within the ordinary life you already live?
What if it’s been right in front of you all along?
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A Surprise Birthday Podcast
Today on Kari’s birthday we have a surprise gift for her: as Kari will hear from some family and friends who love her and cherish her presence, friendship, and care in their lives. Every episode is her talking to each and all of us; this time she’s invited to listen along.
Notes welcome » podcast@karipatterson.comRead More
Declaring more than Happy Birthday over Mrs. Sacred Mundane
Kari’s husband here, seeking to share some words about my wife. Today is her birthday, and while this woman doesn’t seek the attention, she is worth celebrating.
You see, Kari is the same in public as she is in private; she harbors no secrets. Humility and integrity have married together with creativity and authenticity in this woman. Today we celebrate her — WHO she is — above her works, and words. Her worth is in being a daughter of God.
The words belong flow because there is little editing when it comes to portraying Kari’s character. Sure, there are many aspects of our lives that she keeps private, and rightly so. Not once has she shamed our family in writing or speaking the true stories she shares. Kari routinely asks for my input and permission before going public with a private aspect. (I did not however ask her if I could post this.) But the point is, she’s the same person at home as she portrays in public; except for here at home she’s mostly adorned in sweatpants and a favorite tattered fleece. *smile*
June is a month of reflection for both of us, with birthdays and our anniversary. And I am learning it is a moment to consider the future. Kari is consistently future-oriented; I wake up daily in the past. So the declarations I pray today over her life, some of which I share below on her birthday, have an already-not-yet quality to them. There is the power of the Gospel over her past (absolution and forgiveness and so much more through justification by grace), God eradicating the presence of sin and selfishness (sanctification), and she is becoming who she already is in Christ and will be forevermore (glorification). My bride knows theology well, and lives it better. In the Renew family we say we want to embrace and embody the grace and truth of Jesus. Kari, whose name means “the pure one,” seeks to live up to this standard, imaging the pure hope of the God of all Grace.
These truths are vital to share, for the “secret sauce” of Kari’s life is no mere talent or special opportunity. She has tasted and seen that the Lord is good (Psalm 37), and responds to His goodness — and greatness, and grace, and glory — with her whole heart and life. This woman shows up, serves everyone, is found faithful, perseveres through discouragement (hupomone!), and receives the fruit of wisdom only ours through following Jesus. She wanted “nothing” for her birthday, since she’s living beyond herself. I say there’s a gift we could give.
You’ll find this blog has no monetized ads, for we’re prayerfully seeking to give away the Gospel. We want you to learn to live unstuck through the good news of Jesus. Yet there is one gift you could give Kari, by way of clicking.
Will you pre-order a copy of her new book Sacred Mundane?
(Perhaps to give away. All her ebooks and this new book described here.)
You’ll receive the gift as it releases July 25th, and I guarantee the message will serve you on the path to freedom, purpose, and joy. Sacred Mundane will guide toward hope as you let your days transform your life. Kari has labored over that message for more than a decade — all the while living the sacred mundane life. Her soul and our home spills over its pages; it gets a little messy. God is so good.
There’s something more to this gift: for your purchase goes beyond her. It’s our joy to give all our proceeds from Sacred Mundane for the flourishing of women and children in developing whole communities globally. We happily give this to and through World Vision.
Back to the birthday girl… my prayer over her soul, and longing for her life, is that she enter into the grace and truth of Christ, clinging to the honor and justice that truly belongs to our Creator. So I declare these truths from Scripture over her life:
Kari, you are loved by God, and me. You are a daughter, born again, and adopted into the family of God, chosen before the foundation of the world. The Creator chose you as His own! Being rescued and remade into the image of God’s Son, you reflect His glory, and bear the fruit of His Spirit, according to all the creative means God desires. He will complete the good work He began in you, and in us, through your trust, honor, and obedience. He will sustain you to the very end, kept blameless until the day of Christ Jesus. Though you were once without hope, but God because He is rich in mercy through the gift of His Son has saved you forever. You were ordained to live in the good words God planned for you, that you shall walk in them all the days of your life, and this new year especially. For you are set apart for righteousness, bringing God’s creative solutions to order the chaos all around you. As one of His called people you can rejoice that all things are working together for your good, to the glory of God. For no good thing does He withhold as you walk uprightly. I am convinced you are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct others. Your life serves God’s purposes in the whole world, and this small part of it. You are also full of faith, humility, and love, and can do all things in love, through Him who strengthens you. For nothing is impossible for God. You have all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Jesus. You are chosen as his vessel to declare His excellencies — His perfections! — and display His goodness and glory. You work with all your might, as unto the Lord, and surely goodness and mercy shall follow you all the days of your life. Then you will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. You are blessed beyond measure because Jesus Christ our Lord, who took our sin and sickness and shame, who bore them away forever, on the cross. He has defeated all enemies in your life, absolved all your sin, set you free to live as He intended. Jesus has endued you with power and kindness to use the spiritual gifts and unique calling He chose as you fulfill your role as a significant minor character in the big Story.
May this new year continue deeper in His truth, wider in His grace, fully in His joy. In God’s glorious plan, where Jesus is the Hero of the Story, as the One who moves the plot forward, you participate in the renewal of all things, the redemption from the curse, and the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. You are loved with an everlasting love, and nothing can separate you from the love of God, through Christ Jesus our Lord. It is pure joy to be in this goodness alongside you. Amen!
We pray this over you on this day. Happy Birthday, Kari!
It is a joy to walk alongside you, following Jesus together as a family. Now to finish your present, cleaning out the shop.
—Jeff (@deTheos, @renewjeff)
p.s., Kari will return to write next week, so if you’re longing for her take on things, you can subscribe by email here to receive all new posts as they’re published.
Create a Crisis for a Change
“Is it okay that I read your wife’s blog? Her writing challenges me every time I read.”
—recent comment from a man friend
Kari’s husband Jeff here. She’s off at another commitment and under my watch right now our kids are scurrying from the yard to driveway pretending to be a peregrine falcon and Thompson’s gazelle, respectively, so we’re safe to write for a few minutes. Until a playful predator comes. That would be a crisis to their uninterrupted play time.
That’s what I want to talk with you about: crisis. Crises in fact. Lots and lots of mini-crises, created from our own hands.
A crisis is when you need God to come through, because otherwise you’ll fail. You don’t have what it takes, so you take what He alone can give.
Of course, we cannot create anything ourselves, but all of our creative powers — our creativity — is on loan from the Creator, borrowed to be used well. Whether we steward these powers for good or spend them foolishly on self, we better know what kind of power we’re dealing with. Too many people use their supposed “power” to play it safe, seek comfort, take no risks. That’s some kind of tragedy. (Others create all sorts of drama for themselves and every moment seems like a crisis. That’s sad but not in view here.)
Humanity has been made in God’s image. We may not look like Him in outward appearance, or take a representative form too often, but our essence, our createdness, is in the similitude of God. Makes sense, since He’s our Father.
God has created us for crisis. We were made to shine brightly in dark situations. Yet a person will only know if he or she is ready to trust Him in the inevitable big, unplanned crisis, if they’ve first learned by experience to trust Him with many mini-crises.
That is one secret to Jesus’ life. He is the definition of true humanity, coming to recreate what has been broken lost in us. Yet He did not do it by Himself. Jesus the Son depended moment by moment on the love, approval, and power of God the Father. He imaged the Father well. Perfectly, in all manner of crises. Never hurried, ever-present, calm and collected to unleash the power of God on the situation of Their choosing.
~~~
I hope soon Kari can tell you about the many mini-crises she encounters each week, and as you can consider yours, each one can find perspective to keep on creating these crises and growing as people. It is because of her steadfastness in the face of these crises, forged in fact by each crisis itself, that each us gets to read on the Sacred Mundane. That’s why many men I know read her blog. There’s meat here, substance more than mere style. Using the mundane moments of each life, what seems at first so unspiritual, she makes connections to the Gospel. Every man, woman and child can benefit from that. Kari makes public many private details, though each is processed in prayer and with her husband (me), and together we sense the Spirit’s leading for her to share. Frankly, it would be easier to not share anything personal. Just “write about God,” but while the words would be true, they would not be real.
Realness is where the crises happen. Realness is what we’re after.
There is a gap for each of us between the ideal and real, between what we say we believe and how we really live it out.
Most men I know … scratch that: every man I know likes to do things he feels confidence about it. Some only do the things they feel confident about. It’s why some don’t search for a better job, and why others like to fish. Confidence makes one work on their own car, and for the same reason others take it to the dealer to get serviced. Confidence. One can have the appearance of confidence with mere talk, yet to truly reveal one’s confidence, a crisis has to do it’s work.
Jeff and the Turkey-Hat Girl (Because we each run our own race)
Hello!
It’s so good to be back here. You probably didn’t notice, but I’ve been gone for 2 weeks, on a 3,000 mile road trip to visit family for Thanksgiving. I’ve had a guest post and reposts and what not, but I’ve been mostly unplugged for two weeks straight.
It feels good to sit down here, now, and say, Hello!
One of my favorite parts about family trips is that I get to read. I always take with me the really delicious books like fiction, memoirs, or just highly recommended reads that I know I’ll want to crawl right into and lose myself in the pages. I can’t let myself read these during “normal” life or no one would get fed. So I wait for trips, and then … devour.
My two favorite reads from this trip were The Spark and The Homeschool Experiment. I’ll review each of these later, but one small reflection I made, as I finished the final pages, was that both of the moms represented in these books were similar to me, but oh so different too. Often I felt like I was reading about myself. But then there were other parts where we differ vastly. In some ways, their lives made mine look SO EASY. Oh my. My life looks like a walk in the park compared! In other ways, I have some life circumstances that make a lot more challenging, or at least different, for me.
So what struck me about these two great books written by two great moms, was just this: We’re each running our own race. I don’t have to run their race and they don’t have to run mine.
On Thanksgiving morning, Jeff ran a Turkey Trot race.The race has a 5k option and 10k option and both run at the same time, together. More than 4,000 people ran this race, so the place was swamped.
Now, Jeff is fast. He ran the 10k race, and he began 10 minutes after everyone because it was so crowded. Because of that, and because of running the farther distance, he came across the finish line at the same time as … well, people who are running a whole different kind of race altogether, let’s just say that. So my hard-core husband comes sprinting across the finish line next to … look to the left. Do you see her?
That’s a tutu. And a turkey hat. Yes, dear Turkey Hat Girl is directly to his right, finishing her own little merry race, grinning ear to ear, as Jeff is striding it out for his Personal Record.
And there they are … crossing the finish line together.
Because isn’t that it? She doesn’t have to win Jeff’s race. She’s winning her own. Jeff’s 10k PR is completely irrelevant to her own happy adventure.
And there they are, side-by-side at the finish line. Sure, he ran farther, faster, but there they are, both champions because they both got out there and ran their own race the best they could.
I’m not Kristine Barnett or Charity Hawkins or you. You are not me. But what a joy it is to run together, amen?
I’ll do my race, you do yours, and we might just cross the finish line together.
{Happy race-running! Thanks for reading.}
Week's end with thanks
Family Night Funny-Face Competition. Hard to choose a winner …- Mary & RJ who changed my life. Praying God changes theirs.
- Reevaluating. Over and over and over.
- Trusting.
- Believing that the yucky uneasy feeling is good. The Holy Spirit is at work.
- Leaning wholly in His sovereignty.
- Pouncing tigers jumping on the couch. Love my little blurs…
- Elisa. Such a gift in my life.
- Change by Lystra’s Silence. Grips my heart every time.
- Good anger.
- Coming alive.
- Courage.
- Friends.
- Invitations. The real kind, paper, mailed with a stamp, carrying the scent of a friend.
- Family Night. More than one this week. 🙂
- Canby Lego Store.
- Goodwill.
- Painting our bathroom cabinets white, letting the kids paint bright Picassos on the backs. I will grin every time I reach for a clean towel. 🙂
- Baking cookies with my girl.
- Hearing His voice in the little stuff.
- Call from Candi.
- Spray paint.
- Just letting it go.
- Dear, dear Janae. There aren’t words…
- Trusting.
- Bus Stop 32.
- Dark places, His light.
- Jesus.
Have a blessed weekend; thanks for reading.
A wordless week's end with thanks
Photos by my husband
A special Week's End with Thanks (a surprise birthday post for Kari)
Hello Readers! Today is a very special day. It is Kari’s Birthday. The two of us (her friend Janae and husband Jeff) have been secretly planning this blog post with the help of many of you. We wanted to stick with the theme of thankfulness since she shares her weekly thanks with us on Saturdays. Enjoy!
Happy Birthday Kari!
We are so thankful your birthday landed on the day you post Week’s End with Thanks. Now we get the chance to share our thanks with you! J
One thing we are all tremendously thankful for is that you challenged yourself to write daily. Where would we be without your blog? You inspire us, stretch us, teach us & point us toward Jesus. Thank you!!! Thank you for your honesty, your conviction & your desire to pour all of yourself into every little thing you tackle. Thank you for standing firm, for showing the way & for never losing hope. Always know that we appreciate your dedication & hard work. We are cheering for you & the future of Sacred Mundane. And most of all—know that we are thankful for you.
Some words of thanks from friends, family and loyal readers, for you on your birthday [names removed on this public version]: Read More
Making a home that shall continue in love and peace.
Thank you for your patience as Kari pauses from writing for a few days during our move. Until she gets back on-line, here’s a quick glimpse into our shared life. She has no idea I’ve written this 😉 And I promise she will be back on-line soon! —Jeff
We have no idea who the couple is in the picture above. The photo arrived as a random bookmark in a used book, one we read together in the months before getting married (Strike the Original Match, admittedly a hokey title for a great book on marriage dynamics).
Every time Kari and I look at that photo we chuckle, and notice some new feature of it. The faux wood paneling on the wall, the black leather couch, the off-center painting, lamplight shining from the side, the water stain, or the knit something-rather near the husband’s elbow. The only thing missing is patches on that sweet suit jacket of his.
The morning of our wedding I sent Kari a card and included the photo. Every since then it has appeared in our gifts to one another, trading it back and forth when the moment seemed right. It’s always perfect every time. As I cleaned my office in recent weeks I found the photo again.
This time I noticed something new: the husband is gleefully smiling, while the wife is almost wincing. Seems about right.
When a faithful wife endeavors to follow her man, he cannot help but smile. She sometimes winces, because the truth must be told: we husbands have no idea what we’re doing. We fake it a lot, and often run up against challenges we haven’t been adequately prepared for, either by our dads or in our culture. Guys pretend quite a bit.
There are at least two things one cannot fake, at least for very long: love and peace.
I almost called this post “The Good Wife” (and here there is a new show on TV these days that belies its title). It just didn’t fit. Kari doesn’t just appear to be a good wife, or go through the motions. She’s not pretending in any way. She’s good, but won’t promote herself as such. But I shall. Kari is the most godly, intelligent, wise, and faithful woman I know. And because of that I cannot help but smile.
Love and peace make us all smile. In our wedding vows, Pastor Paul Hunter led us through a statement of intent and ‘I Do’ vows, before getting to the official wedding vows and ring exchange. As a pastor now I include it in every ceremony I officiate:
Jeff, do you come here freely to take Kari as your wife, according to the commandments of God in holy marriage?
(I do.)
Jeff, do you promise to honor and uphold her, and to join with her in making a home that shall continue in love and peace? Do you affirm your purpose of a deeper union with her, whereby you both shall know joy and fulfillment of love? Do you pledge to her your complete faithfulness through all the changing experiences of life? And, do you now give yourself to her completely, body, soul and spirit, that from this day forth you shall be hers alone, so long as you both live?
(I do.)
Lots of great questions in there, but this line always sticks out to me: “making a home that shall continue in love and peace.” Amen. Right relationships, being generous and gracious with one another. That’s what we are committing to doing and becoming.
Four years ago Kari began writing daily in the public eye, on this blog. It’s been an incredible journey, about which she reflects often with gratitude and humility. She notes how there are times when she truly does not know what she thinks on a subject until she writes about it. Not everything goes “live” and get’s published for all to read. Yet writing gives her permission to think deeply, feel deeply, and reflect on the truth as it is in Jesus. It helps the mundane activities of life take their sacred shape.
We talk beforehand about each family dynamic she shares with her readers. Kari’s good about checking with her man before clicking ‘Publish.’ So, when we chose to sell our home, downsize our lives, and hopefully reorient our real lives around our already stated core values, we knew there would be parts she would share in this space. I simply want to use this brief opportunity to write that the woman you read about here is only a glimpse. Yet real life Kari and online Kari are the same woman. No pretending here.
With each new challenge, and daily snapshot of life, we are carving out life under the good and gracious God who gave Himself to rescue us. We are at peace with Him, at home in His love. And we can live that way as a family. Dallas Willard writes about what it means to carve out a life under God in his great book, The Spirit of the Disciplines:
“It’s the responsibility of every Christ-follower to carve out a satisfying life under the loving rule of God, or else sin will start to look good.” (p. 80)
As we daily endeavor to do that, we might wince every once in a while, as in the random photo above. But with each day we grow together in making a home that shall continue in love and peace.
Many of you have said to me you greatly appreciate the influence Kari’s words have in your life. That’s humbling to hear, and only confirms what I’ve sensed since we began life together. Part of my role as husband and leader is to steward her gifts and cultivate her so she can give herself away. We know it is not great talents that God blesses as much as great likeness to Jesus. She no doubt has a gift for writing, but that’s energized by obedience to what He tells her. She’s captivated by His love and compelled to follow in His steps. (To the ancient mind, to worship is to obey.) Because He gave His life away, we can do likewise. Kari does that in part through her words.
I pray daily that I do not take her for granted. Your reading and learning with (and from) her is helping me steward her gifts and life calling. In the margins of our lives she has faithfully carved out a satisfying life, and the time investing in sharing with you seems to be worth it.
Thanks for reading. Thanks for responding to our great God. We’re with you on the journey.
Because of Jesus,
Jeff
Week's end with thanks
- Day at Riversong. Perfect sunny day full of little cousins splashing, laughing, learning to paddle arms and kick kick kick those feet.
- Pool polka-dotted with water wings and wet little heads.
- Brother’s family here from Utah. Watching little cousins grow together.
- Paddle-boat in the river: A pirate ship searching for buried treasure. Children lost in imagination.
- Visiting my 92-year-old Grandma. Four little great-grandchildren running through the yard chasing butterflies, mouths stained with summer’s bounty of cherries.
- Grandma smiling.
- Home for rest.
- Premarital counseling a dear couple. In a complicated world uncomplicated people are refreshing.
- Evening church. Children happy, running through the gym.
- More cherries. Pitting lots and lots of cherries. Stained finger-nails. Sweet summer goodness.
- Camping at Foster Reservoir!
- Our family of four in our 2-person tent. Cozy. 🙂
- Two words sum up all that is needed for a successful camping experience: Memory Foam. Anyone else have one? They are amazing!
- Husbands making coffee run.
- Nutella S’mores.
- Four little cousins eating s’mores. Marshmallow sticking on cheeks and noses, in hair, between fingers. Dirty and delicious little ones.
- Auntie Kari reading them all bedtime stories by the fire. Surrounded by the sweet smell of these precious little bugs. A rich moment.
- Putting two little monkeys to bed in the same tent while it’s still light when they have a bad case of the giggles.
- Late, dark, holding hands with my man and slipping into the tent beside our sleeping treasures.
- Day of boating. Life-jackets smooshing little cheeks. Two 2-year-olds falling alseep in our arms.
- All eight of us (Jeff, me, Kris, Nikki and our 4 kids) jumping into the lake together. Sweet moment, brilliant blue sky, surrounded by green forest, children breathless and thrilled.
- Dutch gaining courage.
- Jeff still young at heart, jumping from the bridge.
- Coming home to dinner made. Everything tastes better eaten outdoors.
- Visit from our amazing dear Aaron & Candi. Trying to fit a year’s worth of life into words. Wishing we did life together we way we once did, but praising God for His goodness in both of our lives. Inspired and encouraged by our friends.
- Kissing sleeping child’s lips.
- Home to a clean house.
- An email offering to bring us a meal, “just because.” Umm… yes! What a wonderful idea! We should take people meals “just because” more often. Who doesn’t enjoy the gift of a home-cooked meal you didn’t have to home-cook?
- Plunging my dirty little campers into the bathtub. Scrubbing ears, bottoms, toes. Shampooing hair. Clean jammies and into bed. Nothing sweeter than a deliciously clean child with wet combed hair in jammies.
- Time to myself.
- Cup of tea.
- Peace.