January is my least favorite month of the year. Maybe it's coming off the holidays and the hustle and bustle of Christmas to the "nothing happening" month of January. Maybe it's the realization that there is a long haul to the next holiday. It could be that January is dreary, cold, and colorless. The trees are bare and the grass is brown. There are no pretty flowers to be found blooming. It could be that I work in finance and January is filled with deadlines; closing the books for month end, quarter end, and year end. So basically, January = more OT for me. More stress for me.
January does has some redeeming qualities. January marks new beginnings. A new year can bring hope to someone who has had a particularly rough year. It is a time to reflect over your triumphs, failures, and mistakes from last year and hopefully learn from them. January offers hope to some just by promising change - but honestly, any day we wish, we can change our lives. Any day we wish, we can start trying to full fill our dreams. Any day we wish, we can start back to school or start a new hobby. Any day we wish, we can learn to play a sport or learn to play an instrument. Any day we wish, we can put our failures behind us. We can start today, tomorrow, next week, month, or even in January.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:2
December 31, 2010
December 29, 2010
New Year Resolutions
I am not one to make New Years resolutions. Oh, I did when I was younger with every intent on carrying them out. Some years, I even stuck to them for a week. Over the years, you just realize that you really don't need a new year to make changes in your life. I think it is not a bad idea actually to evaluate things in your life at the close of a year. Here are a few things I would like to improve in my life in 2011:
Eat healthier. Not dieting, just try to make better choices.
Improve my prayer life. All it takes is one look around and you see the desperate need of more prayers.
Take up running. I have never been able to run even when I was younger and in shape. I have been told that it is because I am not breathing correctly. Also, my pace in everything is always full speed ahead. I have been told to find a pace that I can run and keep it steady. I need to learn that I don't have to be the fastest.
Learn to respond instead of react. Nuff said.
Think on good things. Nip those bad thoughts in the bud when you get them. It really does work.
Complain less.
Hand out more gospel tracts.
Buy less.....of everything.
Read more books - I did a lot more reading before FB came along.
Get completely out of debt.
Try new recipes. I have a habit of cooking the same old thing every week.
Drink more water.
Save more money.
Send out cards to encourage others.
Learn to sew. I want to learn really bad!
Learn to grocery shop better. I buy and buy and stuff in my pantry without really knowing what I have.
Last, but not least .....figure out why my blog has so much empty space. Everytime I try to fix it, it just gets worse!
Well, I could go on and on, but that is enough to keep me busy for a while.
Happy New Years!
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before. Philippians 3:13
Eat healthier. Not dieting, just try to make better choices.
Improve my prayer life. All it takes is one look around and you see the desperate need of more prayers.
Take up running. I have never been able to run even when I was younger and in shape. I have been told that it is because I am not breathing correctly. Also, my pace in everything is always full speed ahead. I have been told to find a pace that I can run and keep it steady. I need to learn that I don't have to be the fastest.
Learn to respond instead of react. Nuff said.
Think on good things. Nip those bad thoughts in the bud when you get them. It really does work.
Complain less.
Hand out more gospel tracts.
Buy less.....of everything.
Read more books - I did a lot more reading before FB came along.
Get completely out of debt.
Try new recipes. I have a habit of cooking the same old thing every week.
Drink more water.
Save more money.
Send out cards to encourage others.
Learn to sew. I want to learn really bad!
Learn to grocery shop better. I buy and buy and stuff in my pantry without really knowing what I have.
Last, but not least .....figure out why my blog has so much empty space. Everytime I try to fix it, it just gets worse!
Well, I could go on and on, but that is enough to keep me busy for a while.
Happy New Years!
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before. Philippians 3:13
December 28, 2010
Maturity
I came across this today while doing some cleaning up. It is something I had printed awhile back while doing some research on a Bible lesson. Grade your own report card.....
Maturity is the ability to handle frustration, control anger, and settle differences without violence or destruction.
Maturity is patience. It is the willingness to postpone gratification, to pass up immediate pleasure or profit in favor of the long-term gain.
Maturity is perseverance, sweating out a project or a situation in spite of opposition and discouraging setbacks.
Maturity is unselfishness, responding to the needs of others.
Maturity is the capacity to face unpleasantness and disappointments without becoming bitter.
Maturity is the gift of remaining calm in face of chaos. This means peace, not only for ourselves, but for those with whom we live and for those whose lives touch ours.
Maturity is the ability to disagree without being disagreeable.
Maturity is humility. A mature person is able to say "I was wrong." He is also able to say, "I am sorry." And when he is proven right, he does not have to say "I told you so."
Maturity is the ability to make a decision, to act on that decision, and to accept full responsibility for the outcome.
Maturity means dependability, integrity, keeping one's word. The immature have excuses for everything. They are chronically tardy, the no-shows, the gutless wonders who fold in the crises. Their lives are a maze of broken promises, unfinished business, and former friends.
Maturity is the ability to live in peace with that which we cannot change.
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
I Corinthians 13:11
Maturity is the ability to handle frustration, control anger, and settle differences without violence or destruction.
Maturity is patience. It is the willingness to postpone gratification, to pass up immediate pleasure or profit in favor of the long-term gain.
Maturity is perseverance, sweating out a project or a situation in spite of opposition and discouraging setbacks.
Maturity is unselfishness, responding to the needs of others.
Maturity is the capacity to face unpleasantness and disappointments without becoming bitter.
Maturity is the gift of remaining calm in face of chaos. This means peace, not only for ourselves, but for those with whom we live and for those whose lives touch ours.
Maturity is the ability to disagree without being disagreeable.
Maturity is humility. A mature person is able to say "I was wrong." He is also able to say, "I am sorry." And when he is proven right, he does not have to say "I told you so."
Maturity is the ability to make a decision, to act on that decision, and to accept full responsibility for the outcome.
Maturity means dependability, integrity, keeping one's word. The immature have excuses for everything. They are chronically tardy, the no-shows, the gutless wonders who fold in the crises. Their lives are a maze of broken promises, unfinished business, and former friends.
Maturity is the ability to live in peace with that which we cannot change.
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
I Corinthians 13:11
December 27, 2010
Love
Love. It is a word that is thrown around a lot today. Sometimes the meaning behind the word is anything but real love. I looked up the word love in the dictionary and this is what I found:
1- a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person
2- a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection
3- sexual passion or desire
4- a person toward whom love is felt
5- direct address as in term of endearment
6- a love affair
7- copulation
8- a personification of sexual affection
9- affectionate concern for the well being of others
10- strong predilection, enthusiasm, or liking of anything
11- the object or thing so liked
12- the benevolent affection of God for His creatures
13- a score of nothing, zero as in tennis
Is is just me or is it odd that the basis of real love didn't make the list until number 12??? The only way we can truly love someone the way God intended it is to model the way we love after Jesus. He set us an example of how to love.
Real love always begins with a decision. It is also maintained by decisions we make. We may be attracted to someone apart from that decision, but that is not love. Attraction may initiate a relationship, but it will never sustain it. A real loving relationship is made by a commitment and a choice to love and give. Love is never based on an emotion or feelings. Those things can change day by day or even hour by hour. It is not based on whether it is deserved or not. It does not set conditions. It just loves. No matter what. The feelings of love are wonderful and there is nothing wrong with them. It's just those always follow behind deliberate decisions to love. People throw the word love around a lot with nothing to back it up. I like to hear my husband tell me that he loves me, but to be quite honest, I love when he shows me how much he loves me. This past summer we planted a bunch of new shrubs and flowers. It literally took me about an hour every night to water them. He came in one night and told me he bought something to make the job easier. It totally blew me away. It was not a big grand gesture, but he was thinking of me and trying to make my life easier. The old saying "you can give without loving, but you can't love without giving" is so true. 1 John 3:18 tells us "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth." Love requires deeds, not just words. Our words can sometimes be just that- flat empty words. When we love this way, it is a selfless love. Selfless love is what drives a man to get up and work to support his family or a mother to get up countless times at night with a sick child. It just gives and gives out of that love with no expectations. Sometimes those small acts of love can get lost in the busyness of life and go unnoticed. I will be the first to admit that the few times my husband has had flowers delivered at work, I loved to show them off. I loved to hear the women ooh and ahh over them. I just don't want to measure how much my husband loves me by the amount of flowers I get. Real love does not always produce a bouquet of flowers or a piece of jewelry. What real love gives is so much more - it is that secure feeling deep within your heart that you KNOW you are loved. That you can rest in the fact that someone has got "your back" and your best interest at heart.
Most of the love we see today is based on a selfish love. Just look at how Hollywood defines love. Basically, they are saying I love you until: a) I find someone better or b) you do something I don't like. Selfish love wants to call it quits when their needs are not getting met or maybe their love is not being appreciated or reciprocated in they way they feel it should be. Selfish love always, always, always put their own needs in front of the other person. Our nature is to be selfish, but selfishness is the greatest enemy of love, and will destroy any relationship given the time. Selfish love can't weather the storms in a relationship. And take it from a woman who has been married 28+ years, they will come. I would like to say that I have always loved in selfless way, but I have not. I don't think any married couple can say they have. Along the way, I have let my emotions, selfishness, and expectations determine what kind of love I demostrated toward my husand. He would probably say the same thing. Come March of next year, I will be married 29 years. I always say I love him more today than I did in 1982, but it could be that I understand more of what real love is.
Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
I John 4:11
1- a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person
2- a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection
3- sexual passion or desire
4- a person toward whom love is felt
5- direct address as in term of endearment
6- a love affair
7- copulation
8- a personification of sexual affection
9- affectionate concern for the well being of others
10- strong predilection, enthusiasm, or liking of anything
11- the object or thing so liked
12- the benevolent affection of God for His creatures
13- a score of nothing, zero as in tennis
Is is just me or is it odd that the basis of real love didn't make the list until number 12??? The only way we can truly love someone the way God intended it is to model the way we love after Jesus. He set us an example of how to love.
Real love always begins with a decision. It is also maintained by decisions we make. We may be attracted to someone apart from that decision, but that is not love. Attraction may initiate a relationship, but it will never sustain it. A real loving relationship is made by a commitment and a choice to love and give. Love is never based on an emotion or feelings. Those things can change day by day or even hour by hour. It is not based on whether it is deserved or not. It does not set conditions. It just loves. No matter what. The feelings of love are wonderful and there is nothing wrong with them. It's just those always follow behind deliberate decisions to love. People throw the word love around a lot with nothing to back it up. I like to hear my husband tell me that he loves me, but to be quite honest, I love when he shows me how much he loves me. This past summer we planted a bunch of new shrubs and flowers. It literally took me about an hour every night to water them. He came in one night and told me he bought something to make the job easier. It totally blew me away. It was not a big grand gesture, but he was thinking of me and trying to make my life easier. The old saying "you can give without loving, but you can't love without giving" is so true. 1 John 3:18 tells us "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth." Love requires deeds, not just words. Our words can sometimes be just that- flat empty words. When we love this way, it is a selfless love. Selfless love is what drives a man to get up and work to support his family or a mother to get up countless times at night with a sick child. It just gives and gives out of that love with no expectations. Sometimes those small acts of love can get lost in the busyness of life and go unnoticed. I will be the first to admit that the few times my husband has had flowers delivered at work, I loved to show them off. I loved to hear the women ooh and ahh over them. I just don't want to measure how much my husband loves me by the amount of flowers I get. Real love does not always produce a bouquet of flowers or a piece of jewelry. What real love gives is so much more - it is that secure feeling deep within your heart that you KNOW you are loved. That you can rest in the fact that someone has got "your back" and your best interest at heart.
Most of the love we see today is based on a selfish love. Just look at how Hollywood defines love. Basically, they are saying I love you until: a) I find someone better or b) you do something I don't like. Selfish love wants to call it quits when their needs are not getting met or maybe their love is not being appreciated or reciprocated in they way they feel it should be. Selfish love always, always, always put their own needs in front of the other person. Our nature is to be selfish, but selfishness is the greatest enemy of love, and will destroy any relationship given the time. Selfish love can't weather the storms in a relationship. And take it from a woman who has been married 28+ years, they will come. I would like to say that I have always loved in selfless way, but I have not. I don't think any married couple can say they have. Along the way, I have let my emotions, selfishness, and expectations determine what kind of love I demostrated toward my husand. He would probably say the same thing. Come March of next year, I will be married 29 years. I always say I love him more today than I did in 1982, but it could be that I understand more of what real love is.
Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
I John 4:11
December 25, 2010
Sounds of the Season
I just love the sounds of the season. No, I am not talking about the Christmas music that plays during the entire month of December. I am talking about the sounds that fill my home during the holiday season. Both of my girls are grown and have homes of their own. I see them both on a regular basis...but surprisingly, I don't see them a lot when we are all together. I see some of my family members at different times during the year, but hardly ever at the same time. The same thing with my in-law family. Christmas brings us all ( most of them anyway ) together for some food, fun, fellowship, and gift giving. It is the one time of year that all our schedules are in sync and time is set aside for family. My favorite part of our get-togethers is not the eating ( seriously ) and not the gift giving. It is the time we sit around afterwards just talking. Reminiscing about memories made with our families. Jokes that outsiders would not find funny or even get because they are not part of the memory. Not only that, but we are making new memories that we will remember at a later date.
The time I cherish the most is on Christmas morning. I love this time when my girls come over and after eating breakfast and exchanging gifts, we all sit around and talk...and laugh. I normally have to make the girls stop talking and get ready for Christmas lunch. While I am scurrying around trying to get the living room back in order, the girls will get ready in the bathroom. I can hear them chatting away and laughing. Talking the normal girly girl stuff. Just a moment between sisters. That is one of the things I miss about the girls being home...of course it wasn't that peaceful when they both lived at home and shared a bathroom. But some of those times are memories now that they can laugh about.
I read this somewhere and it is so true!
To the outside world, we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were. We know each others hearts. We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live outside the touch of time.
Christmas is over and the house is back in order. It is just little too quiet.
December 21, 2010
Christmas Spirit
For some reason, I just can't get into the Christmas spirit this year. My house is completely covered in Christmas decorations. I even put up three trees this year. I have been wearing my Christmas sweaters and shirts. I have been listening to Christmas music. Gifts have all been bought and wrapped and placed under the tree. Holiday groceries have been bought and menus planned. I have even made nine batches of different kinds of homemade candies. I have been to two different Christmas parties. Sure sounds like I should be in the Christmas spirit, but sadly I am not. Maybe it is the rush that seems to be my life lately. I have a job that consumes me most days. I love my job, but it can be stressful at times - especially this time of year. Maybe it is because Christmas can be a lot of work. I have always done most of the Christmas shopping in my marriage. Since I love to shop, my husband assumes that Christmas shopping should be right up my alley ....but Christmas shopping is not really shopping to me, it is a job - with a deadline. My type of shopping is browsing with really nothing in mind. I may walk out with something ( usually ) or I might just walk out empty handed. The point is that there is no pressure to find anything. Christmas shopping on the other hand is work. I put alot of thought in finding the perfect gift for each person on my list...which adds more pressure on me. Honestly, after all these years, I have just run out of ideas. Sadly, most of us don't need anything. I can honestly say that it would not bother me one bit if I did not receive one gift this year. I simply don't need anything - except maybe some Christmas spirit.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
Luke 2:11
December 19, 2010
Two Saturdays
I did something this morning that I don't like to do. I didn't go to church. I woke up at 5:00 am with a head banging headache, so I took some meds to help me sleep. They did their job and I slept until 10:30 -which meant I couldn't make it on time. When I did wake up, my headache was gone and in fact, I felt great! I decided that I would go and get the rest of my groceries for my holiday cooking. I stopped into Zaxby's to eat and all these people came in with their Sunday best on and here I was in my jeans. I know nobody thought anything of it, but I felt guilty. I felt like I should explain why I was not in my Sunday best either...that I had a good excuse. That I almost never miss church.
I need church. I need the sweet fellowship of other believers, but what I need the most is the good hard preaching. I need to walk out on Sunday mornings with my toes stepped on. I need to be reminded every week of what Jesus did for ME! I need to be reminded that I can't do anything on my own. The truth is we can easily forget all these things during the week, or at least I can. I also know that once you missed one service, it is easier to miss the next one...and then the next one. Next thing you know, you aren't going at all and your toes aren't getting stepped on, which can lead to forgetting. I have to admit that not going to church this morning gave me a second "Saturday" this week to get things done - but I didn't enjoy it because things just didn't seem right today. In fact, I would rather be faithful to my church every Sunday (and Wednesday) than to have a second Saturday every week. By God's grace, I want to be counted as faithful.
Not forsaking the assemblying of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
Hebrews 10:25
I need church. I need the sweet fellowship of other believers, but what I need the most is the good hard preaching. I need to walk out on Sunday mornings with my toes stepped on. I need to be reminded every week of what Jesus did for ME! I need to be reminded that I can't do anything on my own. The truth is we can easily forget all these things during the week, or at least I can. I also know that once you missed one service, it is easier to miss the next one...and then the next one. Next thing you know, you aren't going at all and your toes aren't getting stepped on, which can lead to forgetting. I have to admit that not going to church this morning gave me a second "Saturday" this week to get things done - but I didn't enjoy it because things just didn't seem right today. In fact, I would rather be faithful to my church every Sunday (and Wednesday) than to have a second Saturday every week. By God's grace, I want to be counted as faithful.
Not forsaking the assemblying of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
Hebrews 10:25
December 13, 2010
Deutschland, da komme ich!
I am going to Germany! That statement makes me both excited and nervous. I recently had an opportunity to come up for me and Rex to go to Germany. My (ex) son-in-law is in the military and he will be over there for 4-5 months in a rented house. He graciously offered us an invite to visit and after much consideration, we felt like it was too big of an opportunity to pass up. Booking the flight was stressful enough. Deciding when and how long to go was enough for me to give up hope in going. I have the type of job that I work OT before I take vacation and work OT after I return to make up for the time I missed. Rex has the type of job that his work is done while he is gone, but he is always last on the totem pole when it comes to taking off. I decided that I was not going to let either one of our jobs keep us from going. I bit the bullet and booked the flight - we will be gone 10 days. I have a good friend that is from Germany and she says this isn't near enough time. I am sure it won't be, but it was the best I could do. I can't believe I am actually going to go to Germany, France, Italy, and Austria. These are the four countries I am most excited about! Let the countdown begin: 122 days to go!!!!
The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
Psalms 121:8
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