Et Cetera

Posted by Lori Freeland on Jun 4, 2012 in Christian living, Guest Posts, Homeschool | 3 comments

I have the privilege of sharing a new friend with you today.

Meet Lori Hatcher.

She found me and we’ve bonded over the similarities in our lives beyond the sharing of our first names.

We both homeschool and we both love to write and use our writing to encourage others.

So–here’s the other Lori!

Lori Hatcher is a transplanted Yankee living happily in the south with her husband, David, a youth minister, and faithful four-footed friend, Winston. A 17-year homeschooling veteran with two young adult daughters, Lori has written a devotional book, Joy in the Journey — Encouragement for Homeschooling Moms, available at www.lorihatcher.com. A Type-A personality who is learning to be still and sit at God’s feet, Lori writes from the overflow of her heart as God speaks to her.

The editor of South Carolina’s Reach Out Columbia magazine, her feature articles and devotions have been published in P31, Evangel, Columbia Metropolitan, The Mother’s Heart, and Inspired Women. She is a lead writer for the WOW (Writing on the Word) blog and a featured blogger for Inspired Women and Mardel’s homeschooling website. Author of the blog, Be Not Weary www.lori-benotweary.blogspot.com, Lori writes to challenge and encourage believers to “be not weary in doing good, for you will reap a harvest if you do not faint” (Galatians 6:9).

 Et Cetera

 et cet·era  noun

Pronunciation: \et-’se-te-ra, Etymology: Latin

Date: 12th century

Definition: and others especially of the same kind : and so forth

We were thanking God together, my daughter and I. As we ran down the seemingly endless list of blessings God had provided for her — health, financial provision, a place to live, a job she enjoys, and the opportunity to study what she loves, we listed the intangibles–a relationship with God, a family who loves her, a bright future ahead.

We listed the simple, like the ability to laugh, to walk, to worship. We enumerated the complex–the unconditional love of the Father, the sacrificial love of the Son, the daily presence of the Holy Spirit. We smiled over the gifts that bring us joy–friendship, worship, significance. The list of things to thank God for was endless.  We concluded the list with the words et cetera, et cetera, et cetera . . .  Et cetera is of Latin derivation and simply means “and others, especially of the same kind:  and so forth.” How fitting an “ending” to our list of blessings that never ends . . . et cetera . . .

The Apostle John understood et cetera. He too found it impossible to end a story that has no ending. He concluded the New Testament book of John with these words, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the world would not have room for the books that would be written” (Jn. 21:25). Et cetera.

The hymn writer Frederick Lehman, too, was seized with a profound sense of et cetera when he penned the words to “The Love of God.” ”If we with ink the ocean fill, or were the skies of parchment made, if every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry nor could the scroll contain the whole when stretched from sky to sky.”

The Apostle Paul referenced the concept of God’s et cetera when he prayed for the believers at Ephesus. He prayed that they “may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height — to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge” (Eph. 3:18-19).  Such broad words that barely hint at the span of God’s limitless love. He ended his prayer with the reminder that he was directing his prayer, “to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think,” (Eph. 3:20). A grand et cetera to be sure.

I encourage you today to take a moment (or more) to begin a list of those marvelous blessings that have come to you from the hand of God. I am convinced that once you begin, you will find the list endless and can only conclude with the all-encompassing et cetera.

You can find Lori’s book below. The link will take you to her website.

You can find Lori’s book here: http://lori-benotweary.blogspot.com/