The Saturday Six

* A quick reminder!!!! Today at 5:00 p.m. ET, the drawing closes for the copy of Mended I wrote about earlier this week. It's not too late to enter if you see this before 5:00 p.m. Here is the link to the post where you enter! *

One.

Not to make anyone panic or anything, but Easter is NEXT WEEK!!! If you are working on putting together a basket for your kids/grandkids/friends' kids, and you need some non-candy ideas, this post has suggestions that are both fun and educational!

Two.

I saw this vacation rental on Twitter this week. First, it's adorable, so there's that. Secondly, ummmm, Lori? I think this house may have your version of THE perfect kitchen. (And tub.) Is it bad to have vacation location goals based solely upon the accommodations?

Three.

I think I would cry if I had to downsize (aka lose) my home office, but I have to say I love all the elements of this blogger's before (big) and after (small) office. Those lockers!!!!

Four.

For all you coffee drinkers out there: which decade are you?

Five.

Oh. My. Goodness. I don't know that I have ever before been jealous of someone's cabinet under the sink...until today. GOALS, people. GOALS. Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?

Six.

Today I want to tell you about a book that has been my daily companion for the last four and a half months. I'm not kidding...it feels almost like a breakup to close it for the last time and put it on the shelf. But oh my goodness, what a wonderful investment it has been!

Last year, as most of you probably know, Ryan and I read through the Bible together, chronologically. When we got to the Gospels, I felt like we had to read through them FAR too quickly. I had more things to learn than I could pack into each day's reading. I wanted to really marinate on their words, look at the different perspectives, and spend some time studying the life of Jesus.

So I decided in 2019, I would spend the entire year in the four Gospels. I would read through one small section a day, using the Bible divisions as my guide. (Not the chapters...but the divisions of the accounts.)

I decided to pick out a commentary for each book and read it alongside my Bible reading. I spent a long time researching different commentaries, and at last, I landed on Charles Spurgeon's Commentary on Matthew The Gospel of the Kingdom.

If you're not familiar with Charles Spurgeon, he was a preacher who lived in the 1800s. His wife, Susannah, wrote the introduction to the book and noted that he had passed away before it was published. In fact, she says, "He has left us with this last precious legacy...It is the tired worker's final labor of love for his Lord...Much of the later portion of the work, therefore, was written on the very border-land of heaven, amid the nearing glories of the unseen world, and almost 'within sight of the golden gates'."

I believe this is the only commentary on a single book of the Bible that he ever wrote. Other books, filled with his transcribed sermons, have been published, but this was the only commentary.

Obviously, living as long ago as he did, the book is peppered with occasional verbiage that we no longer use in everyday language. But it isn't so academic and theological that it can't be understood by an average student like me. (I took many Bible courses in college and let me tell you...some commentators cannot be understood by an average person.)

Spurgeon covers every single verse in the book of Matthew, and his insights opened up things to me I've never before considered when reading this Gospel. I have learned so many truths, understood concepts that before seemed to go over my head, and been reminded of things I knew but had not really thought about for a while.

I did a lot of underlining in the book and note-making in my Bible, so I can carry with me the truths I learned. I appreciate Spurgeon's take on Jesus' teachings and the events of His life, and I feel like I understand this first of the Gospels more than I ever did.

It's not a short book. 442 pages would seem a lot more daunting to me if I had chosen to sit and read them straight through from beginning to end. But reading a small portion a day of the span of four months has made this easy reading, and it's been the perfect companion to my devotions.

Since he didn't write a commentary for each gospel, I have to say goodbye to his teaching as I conclude Matthew. I already have my Mark commentary in hand, and I'm excited to start it, but I know it will be strange to adjust my reading to a new voice. I've loved these four months learning from Spurgeon, and I have to say, it reminds me of why I love books so much. Spurgeon died 86 years before I was born. I never would have been able to appreciate his wisdom if he hadn't taken the time to put it on paper and if his loved ones hadn't taken the time to publish it. I'm grateful they did.