Author Archives: Becky Pliego

About Becky Pliego

I am grateful because God, in His grace, called me out of darkness and into his admirable light. When I did not look for Him, He found me. When I was in a pit of sin, He rescued me. I am not walking this road alone, my family is always with me, and we love Him, because He loved us first.

>New Year’s Name, "Living in the Sacred"

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I did this last year for the first time; I gave the year a name. I walked through 365 days thinking of the name of the year, its theme, “Yes, I am Listening”, and how much I learned from it! How many times I came into my prayer closet asking my God to help me. In order to listen I had to learn, to practice being quiet; in order to say yes to others, I had to say no to my own desires more than often.

This year again, after praying and thinking, and talking with my husband; I have decided to do it again. This practice has worked for me much better than writing “New Year’s Resolutions”.  So here it is, my new year ‘s name (or theme):

Living in the Sacred

The last chapter on the book The Holiness of God by RC Sproul was decisive for me into choosing this theme (actually the whole book was!) I need to live purposely, knowing that  because of Jesus, I live in Holy Space and Holy Time, every day, every moment; I am living naked before a Holy God.

C.S Lewis said,

“Where, except in the present, can the Eternal be met?”

I want to live fully aware of this truth. Whatever I do, I want to do it for Him, because of Him, to bring glory to Him. I want to meet Him in my daily journey through continuous prayer; I long to live praying without ceasing (I Thessalonian 5:17)

This is a year in which we are expecting many big changes in our family, changes that will certainly make us grow. The only way I will be able to walk through them glorifying God and not being anxious is knowing that I am living in the Sacred. He has written our life’s story. He is the Author. He holds me and my family in His hand. Our times are indeed in His hand. I don’t want to miss this awareness.

Living in the Sacred, means living before God in prayer.

J.R Miller says,

“Think what it would mean to have every word that passes our lips winged and blessed with prayer—always to breathe a little prayer before we speak, as we speak. This would put heavenly sweetness into all our speech! It would make all our words kindly, loving, inspiring words—words that would edify and minister grace to those who hear.”

“Think of a woman amid her household cares—taking everything to God for His blessing, for His approval, for His direction. These are not by any means impossible suppositions. Indeed, this is the way a Christian is to live, should always live—doing all in the name of the Lord Jesus!”

This is what I long for this year; to Live in the Sacred; to live breathing out prayers.

May God help me.

Living in the Sacred… What it means? A Reflection on Psalm 63, A desire to be in the Holy Place.

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Related Posts Around the Corner:

>Planning a Menu for Many -Great Tips-

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> Today I am so happy to introduce you to my friend Kay, she is our sister in Christ and a great cook. Kay is a  “professional caterer turned Church Cook finding a great joy feeding His sheep, literally!”  You can follow her at her place, The Church Cook, where she shares great recipes, cooking tips, her favorite kitchen gadgets and much more.

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It is such an honor to be able to do this for Becky. This is my very first guest post; we’ll see how it goes! Thank you Becky for giving me this opportunity.

After 15 years of large-volume cooking, I have done things instinctively. So, I had to stop and consciously think about each step that had to be written down. This is a long post but I hope it will be helpful to you all!

(IPC’s Ladies Luncheon for 100)

                                               

(Wedding Reception for 150)
                                                     

Whether I am planning my children’s birthday party for 20, my church’s ladies tea for 100, or a wedding reception for 450, the planning and food preparation method is the same.

1. Plan a menu: 

 This is where it begins. Here are some guidelines for planning a good menu.

*Choose a menu which are appropriate for your guests. It’s not about what you want to cook to impress, but what your guests would enjoy.
*Choose one or two food items which can be frozen ahead: breads, cakes, many baked goods can be frozen before baked.
*Want to try a new recipe? Try one new recipe at a time. This way if the new recipe flops, you have your tried and true dishes to back you up.
*Write on the menu the quantity and size of serving dishes and platters and serving utensils you will need
*Don’t have too many last minute to-do food items, like sushi for 150, unless you can hire someone to do it for you at the party.

2. Gather recipes

*Copy all the recipes on the menu on 8 1/2″x 11″ paper and make a folder

*In the folder, have all the contact numbers you will need for the party: bakery, florist, rental company, etc.

*Have an envelope to keep receipts for food/supply purchases

3. Convert the recipes : 

 This is the hardest part for many novice event planners. Making too much food is the most common mistake. Here are some hints to avoid excess food .

*Recipe for a side dish which serves 6 will serve twice as much when serving in a buffet with other foods.
*Calculate about 1 to 1-1/4 pound of food total per person for buffet; more for sit-down dinners with multiple courses
*Main meats: 6 oz total cooked meat per person for buffet, more for sit-down dinners
*Young adults, all men groups eat 10% more

*Here is a great, helpful website: Ellen’s Kitchen (her calculations are slightly more than what I would prepare per person, reduce 20% of her recommendations)

4. Grocery List and Shopping
*After the recipe conversion, write out the grocery list. Go over each recipe and list every ingredient you will need. Check your pantry before you go to the store.
*For Sam’s Club business members, Sam’s Club has Fax ‘n’ Pull or Click ‘n’ Pull service is where you send in your grocery list and the store will gather the items and have it ready! It’s a great time saver. Check if your local grocery or warehouse store offers similar services.
*Most of your groceries (non-perishables) can be purchased a week or more ahead. Don’t wait until last minute to shop.

5. Prep List:  

This is a must to keep your sanity in the kitchen while you are prepping. A prep list also guides your helpers/staff.

*Before I enter the kitchen, I write down and organize the prep list. If you have a large event, make foods a week or two ahead and freeze. Many sauces or dressings can be made several days ahead.

6. Prep Work: 

Do it ahead! I usually do the bulk of my prep work two days prior to the event. Ideally, the day of the event should only be last minute assembly, cooking, and garnishing! I try to avoid prepping on the day of event. Click Here for more Cooking Tips from my blog.

Baked Goods: breads, rolls, and pie crusts and be made and frozen unbaked. Bake on the day of event for freshest taste.

Grate cheese ahead…

If you can’t freeze baked goods ahead, measure out dry and wet ingredients beforehand. So on the day of, you will assemble and bake without having to convert recipes and measure ingredients.

Limes and lemons can be juiced up to five days ahead.

Most veggies and fruit can be prepped two days prior. Delicate greens like herbs can be trimmed and washed early but chopped last minute.

Everything made ahead should be stored in containers or storage bags and labeled.

*Prep veggies and fruit before prepping meats. Be aware of cross contamination. Wash your cutting boards, utensils, and equipment well during prep.
*Don’t try to prep by yourself. Have a person or two to help in the kitchen.

7. The Day Before…

Don’t wait till last minute to set the table…

 
Or do flower arrangements…

or decorate the buffet table…..just make it less stressful for yourself and prep as much as you can!

8. On the day of event: 

This is the fun part! Most of the hard work is done and now it is the day where you put it all together. This is where you do final baking, heating up, or assembling of the foods already prepared.

Food is put on pretty platters and garnished

Candles are lit, and tables readied.

And your friends will say, “This is beautiful! You make it look so easy!” Of course they are seeing the result of your labor of love: numerous hours of planning, shopping, and preparing.

9. After event: 

Make a note for yourself.

*Too much, too little food?

*What can be done next time to improve?

*How much did this menu cost? Tally up your receipts.

This is a lot of information to digest, isn’t it? I wish I had this knowledge back 15 years ago! But I am so grateful to share it with you. I pray this little bit of knowledge will bless your family, friends, and your church.

Kay
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Around the corner:

Peek into My Daily Journey -through my lens- ; today St Andrews Castle, the castle where John Knox preached in Scotland.

This entry is linked to Raising Homemakers.

>The Lord’s Day – Thinking on the Shepherds-

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Advent is over, we have celebrated His coming, but we have pondered on how the story doesn’t end in the manger, it goes on, and that is what I want to do; that is exactly what I want to do. I do not want to stop in the manger; I want to walk through the Gospel; I need the Gospel in my life every day.

Today I am thinking on the shepherds; they heard the news, they went to the manger and then what? They went back to their sheep.

The Christmas tree and the lights will be put away soon… but the story, my love story with my Master will go on.

I have thinking on the last chapter of the book The Holiness of God,  on those words that keep coming back to my heart… living in the sacred. Holy space and Holy time.  Christ has come… He has come. Hear it, O my soul, the Lord has come to you! I walk in the sacred because He has come!  I do not want to miss this. I want to live glorifying God in my body.

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
1 Corinthians 6: 19-20

How is easily I forget that my body is temple of the Holy Spirit. How I easily I forget that I am standing on holy ground, on holy space, and holy time.

Calvin says that the shepherds, once they heard the news from the angels, once they saw the Messiah…

“Their earthly lot did not change, despite the fact that they had heard the angel’s word and had witnessed the birth of God’s Son. They went back to their flocks exactly as before; they continued to live as as poor men, guarding their herds. In terms of the flesh and of this passing world they gained nothing from the privilege which we read about here. For all that, they were full of joy. Theirs is a lead we should follow. For although the gospel might earn us neither wealth nor fame, and although it might not bring us gratification or amusement, nevertheless we should be glad that we are the objects of God’s favour. That is where true blessing and happiness lie, and where real rest is found”

Today is the Lord’s Day, today we enter into the weekly Sabbath, into rest. Let us find our rest in  the Gospel. In the good news: “A Saviour is Born to us, who is Christ the Lord!” (Luke 2: 9-14)

May we enter today His Sabbath knowing that we are the objects of His favour.

>December 24th

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The Nativity; Martin Shongauer, c.1480
“For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon his shoulder,

and his name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor, 

Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, 

Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and of peace

there will be no end,

on the throne of David and over his kingdom,

to establish it and to uphold it

with justice and with righteousness

from this time forth and forevermore.

The zeal of the “Lord of hosts will do this.” 


Isaiah 9: 6-7


>The Holiness of God – Chapter Eleven-

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Yes, the turkey and some baking is awaiting for me; but I do not want to miss this last post on this last chapter of this wonderful book, The Holiness of God, by R.C Sproul, so while every one is still in bed, I will type.

The title of this chapter is, Holy Space and Holy Time; and it opens with a wonderful quote from C.S Lewis,

“Where, except in the present, can the Eternal be met?”

For me this is a very important chapter because it brings down to today, down to this moment, down to the place where I meet my God, His Holiness.

This is where we are as Christians, as believers, as seekers of His face; we are in a daily quest to be more like Him, to love Him more, to find Him more in every minute that frames our life.

“We seek a threshold that will lead us over the border from the profane to the sacred. It is a quest for sacred space, for ground that is holy ground”

We want that. We don’t want to be trapped in the moment, in the running, in the to-do list, we want to walk beyond to the transcendent because we know our God is transcendent; because we know that what we do here, today, right this moment has a transcendent consequence.

But I live here, I live in squares in a calendar, in hours made of 60 minutes, and here, in between this keyboard and baking muffins, and kissing the forehead of my children, in between teaching Spanish and the life of Leonardo DaVinci; and snapping pictures here and there; in between making beds and making love with my husband, I live in Holy Space and Holy Time, because God has come to meet me here, where I do my life.

Sproul reminds us that the “holy space Moses occupied was made holy by God’s presence” , and isn’t my home a holy space too? And it is holy not because we, this family which I love so much, is sinless, NO! it is because God has come to us. He has reached us. His presence abides in us; among us.

“Our contact with the holy is not merely an encounter with a different dimension of reality; it is meeting with Absolute Reality. Christianity is not about  involvement with religious experience as a tangent. It involves a meeting with a holy God, who forms the center, or core, of human existence. The Christian faith is theocentric. God is not at the edge of Christians’ lives but at the very center. God defines our entire life and worldview”

Am I a Christian? Do I live meeting with a holy God every day all day?

I am planning to make a nice turkey for our family and their favorite cookies will soon be in the oven; is God there? I slice an apple, and chop some chocolate; I pray to my God. I give thanks for His goodness. He is here, in the moment, in this place, my kitchen.

I wash the dishes again, and again and again… I can complain and be ungrateful, or I can pray I find in that moment, a sacred moment.

Dr. Sproul reminds us also of two holy times that frame our lives as Christians; the Sabbath and Lord’s Supper.

“Each Sabbath day, believers observe sacred time in the context of worship. It is the keeping holy of the Sabbath day that marks the regular sacred time for the Christian. The worship service is a marking of a special liturgical time. Because of the reality of the Incarnation, history itself becomes sacred for the Christian. We mark our calendars with reference to time that is B.C or A.D. We have a theology of history because we realize that there is a holy purpose to history, even our salvation”

And the our pretty wall calendar is coming to an end; and a new one is in the mail. We filled squares, we have filled until today, 357 more days under His sun. We have walked in history. We have been part of that Sacred History that He wrote. And we like to talk about new purposes for the next year… what about today? Why not right this moment?

Why not just live in Holy space and Holy time every day? Acknowledging His presence with in us, among us.

Sabbath comes not at the end of the week, but at the beginning of the week to remind us that the day we’ll stop breathing under His sun, rest will not be the last thing we do,  but the first thing of our new life not under His sun, but under His glory which shines brighter than the sun!

The second is the Lord’s Supper; Sproul reminds us that the celebration of the Lord’s Supper involves Sacred time in three distinct ways:

“First, it looks to the past, instructing believers to remember and to show forth Christ’s death by this observance. Second, it focuses on the present moment of celebration, in which Christ meets with His people to nurture them and strengthen them in their sanctification. Third, it looks to the future, to the certain hope of their reunion with Christ in Heaven, where thy will participate in the banquet feast of the Lamb and His bride”

I have a day ahead of me, I want to live it in sacred space and sacred time; I want Him to be my all in all every minute, every tic-tac; here this place, this home is sacred because He has come. I don’t want to miss Him.

“In sacred space and sacred time Christians find the presence of the Holy. The bars that seek to shut out the transcendent are shattered, and the present time becomes defined by the intrusion of the holy. When we erect barriers to these intrusions, dikes to keep them from flooding our souls, we exchange the holy for the profane and rob both God of His glory and ourselves of His grace”

May our lives be flooded with His Holy presence.

Thanks to Tim Challies, who has put together this reading group, and thanks to you who read along! I look forward to the next book!

Image from my photography blog, have you visited it?

This post is linked to Fields of Faith, because I have found that my field of faith is here, today!