Close to His Heart

This is one of my favorite verses. When I am sick or struggling with issues, I remind myself that if I let Him, He will carry me in His arms. I don’t have to bear the pain and burdens alone. I tend to get stressed when I wander off into the land of “what ifs”. I need to stay next to Him so He can scoop me up when I need help.

Today I went to the dentist to have my temporary crown removed and the permanent one fitted and put in place. It should have been fairly routine, but somehow one of the tools pinched my bottom lip. Half of my lip is twice the size of the other half, has a bruised place, and if I don’t distract myself I realize how much it hurts. At lunch, I found it awkward to drink out of a glass with such a fat lip. Not a traumatic situation, but I don’t mind a few reassuring and loving pats on the head by the Shepherd.

Who’s Watching?

With each subsequent post, I learn something new about blogging: inserting photos, establishing links, using the Dashboard to edit or correct existing posts, etc. Two days ago, I explored the statistics section of the Dashboard on Blogspot.
I had thought few people were viewing my posts, but I was wrong. You can click on “Audience” and see in which countries those who looked at your blog are situated. Most in the United States for mine, quite a few in France where I have a known follower, but then there were all of those from Russia, China, and at the beginning (you can look at stats for the day, week, month, or from start) Malaysia, Latvia, Indonesia. It doesn’t take much imagination to realize what the purpose of those unsuspected readers is. I had debated about using my name in the public profile. Now I am glad I didn’t. I have had a few viewers from UK, Denmark, and Germany, and perhaps they are also “mining” for personal information to exploit; but when your second-most viewership is in Russia, it reminds you that blogging has its risks.
Using the Dashboard, you can also see how people arrived at your blog by using search terms. That has been an encouragement. Though there haven’t been a lot of word/term searches, the most oft-read post is the Pricklies and Smoothies; I think because of the Telikin as there have been many searches about it. The one that surprised me and I find most gratifying was the search for “glass basket with initials DB”. Somebody had their questions about Indiana Glass Company and Tiara baskets answered thru my post. That rewards the “librarian” and researcher in me. I went back and added “labels” to more of my posts in response to the fact that people do reach my blog when looking for information.
Thank you to my friends and family who come to From a Beggar’s Bowl out of love and caring. As to those other readers, I now know you are out there.

Home

It’s not too late to enter to win a copy of Gretchen Rubin's  new Happier At Home. She is giving away a copy a day until September 4th when the book hits the market.
I have been going to some links from Carolyn Aiken's blog. Today, one is from a lady in Sweden. I usually go mainly to see the photos, but I noticed at the top that there is a translator button. I clicked on it; rather awkward English phrasing, but I understood the writing. It pleases me to see international sites (Carolyn lives on Prince Edward Island, Canada; this Swedish one; an earlier one in France) because though there are cultural differences, all of these blogs feature their homes. They show how they incorporate seasonal changes and collectables into the décor and add beauty. Most of them have gorgeous photos of flowers. Whether they are creating sanctuaries (introverts) or a platform for hosting and entertaining people (extroverts), they have enhanced life.

Remember the little blue glass basket I shared with you? I became curious whether it had any manufacturer’s marks. All I could find were the initials BM where the handle attaches to the body of the basket. Isn’t the internet wonderful for solving mysteries? I found two identical baskets on ebay, one still up for auction, the other a completed sale. I learned these are from Indiana Glass Company. Once I had that information, I could go on a search for historical facts.
Actually, it appears the little baskets were part of Tiara Exclusives which technically was a subsidiary of Lancaster Colony Corp., the parent of Indiana Glass Company since the 1950s. Tiara did not manufacture items, but was a selling company for the home-party market which was so popular in 1970 when Tiara was created. The most valuable commodity for companies like Indiana Glass Company was the pressed-glass molds and patterns they had developed thru the years. They reissued some of these in new colors for Tiara. These were unavailable elsewhere, thus the “exclusives” label. You can read a good description of Tiara’s history at this website.
To diversify its product line, Tiara had other glass manufacturers make some items. Therefore, it is possible that my little basket was made somewhere other than Dunkirk, Indiana. But I am inclined to think it was made at Indiana Glass Company. One of the internet sites said:
The only permanent marks one may find on a piece of Tiara glass are initials from a few of the Indiana glassworkers. At one time, Tiara requested that the glass finishers initial one item - the handmade baskets. This was to add an extra prominence to the popular product. It also made for easy employee identification. If a flaw was noticed on this difficult, yet popular piece, the correct glassworker could be questioned. I am listing name which correspond to the initials you may find on some of the Tiara handmade glass baskets. M.D. Milford Davis, T.W. Tom Walker, M.B. Marlene Baker, P.W. Paul White, J.C. Jim Clay, B.M. Benton McCowan, D.B. David Bales, M.R. Mike Robinson, J.T. John Thompson, J.D. Jim Dunlavy, E.T. Ed Templeton, D.T. Darrell Templeton. When I tried to find information about Benton McCowan, I discovered very little. However, there was another older person listed on a Rootsweb family history from Dunkirk who worked at Indiana Glass Company. He was Jerry McCowan. Benton was born about 1930 re the entry and that is all it says. He was the son of Levi McCowan.
I have reason to believe my little basket was made in 1991 or 1992. If so, Benton would be close to retirement age. Hopefully, he was no longer working at Indiana Glass Company in 2002 when the glassmaking facilities were closed down after a prolonged labor union dispute. The closing devastated the small town of Dunkirk, Indiana. A few people who could fix broken molds remained as the molds were kept by Lancaster Colony who moved the manufacturing to Oklahoma, a free-labor state. Finished products from Oklahoma also were stored in Dunkirk for distribution.
I plan to look at a book about Indiana Glass Company at my local public library next week. I am convinced my purchase was manufactured by them. I bought the basket because I like it and felt it would add to my home décor, but I am happy that it was not “made in China”, but has Hoosier roots.

Introverts In the Church

I had mentioned earlier the blog and book by Adam McHugh about how introverts fit into today’s evangelical Christian community.
Introverts In the Church  discusses how many introverted Christians struggle with ways to find balance between their own natural tendencies and contemporary evangelical perspectives on community and evangelism.
Many churches emphasize overt emotional, demonstrative, experiential displays of devotion and public verbal expressions of faith. This is sometimes equated with piety and spiritual maturity. It can devolve into shallow clichés, hollow sound bites and repetitive song lyrics if not countered by the quieter contemplative deeper thinking of the introverts in the body of Christ.
Introversion is not shyness and reclusiveness, but a way of processing information and relating to others based on temperament. Since the Christian faith is relational, introverts do need to move out of their comfort zone and be involved in Christian community. However, the Sunday morning “meeting and greeting” during the worship service, the verbal sharing of testimonies and prayer needs, the fellowship hour or potlucks do thrust introverts into an awkward position. There needs to be some understanding and appreciation of the effort it takes to partake in community in these ways.
McHugh hopes his book will provide some perspective to non-introverts. Extroverts need to realize that introverts are going to be involved in certain aspects of the church in a limited way because of discomfort and dwindling energy from public interactions. That doesn’t mean that they are less spiritual; rather they have a different kind of “spirituality”.  Introversion is more of a contemplative spirituality than the active demonstrative spirituality for which the modern church has designed itself.
Introversion involves an introspective orientation, wherein a person finds primary energy within the self. Extroversion consists of an outward orientation, wherein a person finds primary energy outside of self in the surrounding world and from other people. Introverts are not anti-social, but they need alone time to recharge, while extroverts thrive on social interaction and lots of stimuli. Extroverts process ideas and opinions externally thru conversation and interaction with others, depending on external feedback to shape the final thought. Introverts like to be removed from external stimuli and people to process ideas; for them, thinking precedes verbalizing the end product to others. Introverts’ learning style centers around observation and contemplation, not external feedback.
What other ways differentiate introverts from extroverts? Introverts consider books and authors as “mentors”, midwives to their ideas as they mull over what they have read. They prefer depth over breadth. They find lots of small talk to be tiring. They like to observe more than participate; don’t like being rushed; desire private time and space; treat homes as sanctuaries; prefer working on their own rather than with a group; do not share private thoughts with many people; do not consider acquaintances to be friends.
Introverts have layered personalities, and they prefer to slowly unpeel those layers as they bond with people over time. Goal-oriented socializing such as specific group tasks and projects that require repeated interaction fosters the atmosphere introverts need to get involved in community.
I hope this is a fair representation of McHugh’s work. The book has much more for people involved in vocational ministry, who surprisingly are often introverts, and must set boundaries on activities and social interactions to conserve energy for reading, thinking, solving problems to be effective in their employment.