A Tale of Two Households

"I got two A's," the small boy said.

His voice was filled with glee.

His father very bluntly asked,

"Why didn't you get three?"

"Mom, I've got the dishes done,"

The girl called from the door.

Her mother very calmly said,

"Did you sweep the floor?'

"I mowed the grass," the tall boy said,

"And put the mower away."

His father asked him with a shrug,

"Did you clean off the clay?'

The children in the house next door

Seemed happy and content.

The same things happened over there,

But this is how it went.

"I got two A's," the small boy said.

His voice was filled with glee.

His father proudly said, "That's great;

I'm glad you belong to me."

"Mom, I got the dishes done,"

The girl called from the door.

Her mother smiled softly and said,

"Each day I love you more."

"I've mowed the grass," the tall boy said.

"And put the mower away."

His father answered with much joy,

"You've made my happy day!"

Children deserve just simple praise 

For the tasks they're asked to do.

If they're to lead a happy life,

So much depends on you!

~Author Unknown

as quoted in The Power of a Woman's Words by Sharon Jaynes

Do You Want to Build a Snowman?

"...if you've got young kids, it doesn't take long to realize that there won't be many Christmas seasons when the little ones will race downstairs in the morning to see what Santa brought. They won't always be eager to bake with you, spilling flour on the counter in their excitement. Eventually they won't care if you don't put up a giant tree or go caroling or make hot chocolate. They'll allow you to beg off making a snowman because you're tired. But there are only a few winters-and only a few days each winter when it's snowy and you all are home together-that your children will ask to make snowmen with you. Someday, perhaps, you will be staring at the snow from the too-simple room of a hospital or nursing home, dreaming of the days when making snowmen with your children was an option. This realization leads to a different question than that suggested by all these tips on simplifying the holidays. Namely, what are you saving your energy for? This is all there is. Anything could happen and you are not guaranteed another snowman. So make a fuss. Make a show. Spend your energy now."

~taken from What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast by Laura Vanderkam

The Touch of the Master's Hand Poem

'Twas battered and scarred,
And the auctioneer thought it
hardly worth his while
To waste his time on the old violin,
but he held it up with a smile.

"What am I bid, good people", he cried,
"Who starts the bidding for me?"
"One dollar, one dollar, Do I hear two?"
"Two dollars, who makes it three?"
"Three dollars once, three dollars twice, going for three,"

But, No,
From the room far back a gray bearded man
Came forward and picked up the bow,
Then wiping the dust from the old violin
And tightening up the strings,
He played a melody, pure and sweet
As sweet as the angel sings.

The music ceased and the auctioneer
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said "What now am I bid for this old violin?"
As he held it aloft with its' bow.

"One thousand, one thousand, Do I hear two?"
"Two thousand, Who makes it three?"
"Three thousand once, three thousand twice,
Going and gone", said he.

The audience cheered,
But some of them cried,
"We just don't understand."
"What changed its' worth?"
Swift came the reply.
"The Touch of the Masters Hand."

And many a man with life out of tune
All battered with bourbon and gin
Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd
Much like that old violin

A mess of pottage, a glass of wine,
A game and he travels on. 

He is going once, he is going twice,
He is going and almost gone.

But the Master comes,
And the foolish crowd never can quite understand,
The worth of a soul and the change that is wrought
By the Touch of the Masters' Hand.

~Myra Brooks Welch

Life Filled With Excess

     When I was about eight years old I was driving in the car with my dad. Out of the blue I told him that I wanted to donate my appendix to someone that didn't have one. He said that's not something you donate...it's not even something you need to have in your body to survive! I was bummed. I thought I could sacrifice something of mine for someone else. 
     However, I've had a recent revelation that there is a lot of other things that I can cut out of my life or trim down, in order to experience a closer walk with God and a heart more focused on others.

     Speaking of getting rid of excess in our lives, I read the book Seven by Jen Hatmaker and was left speechless. Seven is the account of Jen Hatmaker’s journey of “seven months, seven areas, reduced to seven simple choices. I’m embarking on a journey of less. It’s time to purge the junk and pare down to what is necessary, what is noble. 7 will be an exercise in simplicity with one goal: to create space for God’s kingdom to break through.” The seven areas she focused on per month were: food, clothes, possessions, media, waste, spending, and stress. Her desire to fast in each of these areas was “an intentional reduction, a deliberate abstinence to summon God’s movement in my life. A fast creates margin for God to move.” She also included why people fasted in the Bible. Jen said, “according to Scripture, fasting was commanded or initiated during one of six extreme circumstances: mourning, inquiry, repentance, preparation, crisis, and worship”.

Month One: Food

 Jen fasted all foods except: chicken, eggs, whole-wheat bread, sweet potatoes, spinach avocados, and apples (and salt, pepper, and olive oil)…and only water to drink. 

 “He can heal me from greed and excess, materialism and pride, selfishness and envy. While my earthly treasure and creature comforts will fail me, Jesus is more than enough. In my privileged world where ‘need’ and ‘want’ have become indistinguishable, my only true requirement is the sweet presence of Jesus.” And Jen concluded, “This held me fast to the heart of Jesus.”

Month Two: Clothes

Jen assessed her family’s closets and came away realizing how much they spend on clothes.  She decided to go with these seven clothing items for one month: “one pair of jeans, dark wash, kind of plain; one long-sleeved solid black T-shirt, fitted; one short-sleeved black ‘Haiti relief’ T-shirt with white print; one short-sleeved gray ‘Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop’ T-shirt with yellow print; one pair of gray drawstring knit Capri pants; one long silk brown dress shirt; shoes: cowboy boots and tennis shoes” (they are one category).

“We cannot carry the gospel to the poor and lowly while emulating the practices of the rich and powerful.”

Month Three: Possessions

In month three, Jen commits to “give seven things away that we own. Everyday.” 

“Please, don’t miss it because the American Dream seems a reasonable substitute, countering the apparent downside to living simply so others can live at all. Do not be fooled by the luxuries of this world; they cripple our faith. As Jesus explained, the right things have to die so the right things can live-we die to selfishness, greed, power, accumulation, prestige, and self=preservation, giving life to community, generosity, compassion, mercy, brotherhood, kindness, and love.”

Month Four: Media

In Month four, Jen shuts down: TV, Gaming, Facebook/Twitter,i phone apps, Radio, Texting, and Internet (texting and internet only for time saving, job, or life related)

“These don’t enrich my life in the slightest. They do, however, steal energy from my home and family, substituting face-to-face time with screens. We’re losing on this exchange, and we won’t revert to the plugged-in family we were before.”

Month Five: Waste

Jen focuses on gardening, composting, conserving energy and water, recycling, driving only one car, shopping thrift and second-hand, and buying only local

“What does it mean to be a godly consumer? What if God’s creation is more than just a commodity? If we acknowledged the sacredness of creation, I suspect it would alter the way we treated it.”

Month Six: Spending

Jen’s family only spends money for the entire month in seven places: The Sunset Valley Farmer’s Market, HEB gas station, online bill pay, kids’ school, limited travel fund, emergency medical, and target

“I’ve discovered reduced consumption doesn’t equal reduced community or reduced contentment.”

Month Seven: Sabbath

Jen honors the “Seven Sacred Pauses” written by Macrina Wiederkehr everyday: The night watch-midnight, the awakening hour- dawn, the blessing hour-mid morning, the hour of illumination-noon, the wisdom hour-mid afternoon, the twilight hour- twilight, and the great silence-bedtime

“Is it coincidental that God named every person included in the rest? Sons and daughters, servants and animals, guests and visitors; we all need this. My neglect of the Sabbath doesn’t just affect me but my entire household, my extended community. The pace we keep has jeopardized our health and happiness, our worship and rhythms. We belong to a culture that can’t catch its breath; rather, we refuse to catch our breath.”

My Thoughts:

Seven is a radical book. It presents a radical way of living. It encourages a radical overhaul of everything that is excess in my life. I realize I have so much of everything in my life.

I found Jen's book to be incredibly challenging. Really, how pathetic to realize that it's so hard to go with less, or just not as much as I'm used to (or would like to go without).

Although Jen's book was thorough and well written, I felt that there was an area that Jen didn't cover in her book that I personally could use a fast from...negative words and thoughts (words or thoughts that are negative, hold doubt, lack faith, or don't think the best of God or other people). I realized it is so easy for me to live without limits on my thoughts and words. But, God wants me to take every thought captive.

What if I only lived with 7 kinds of words? How would it change my relationship with God? How would it change my relationship with others? Maybe God would have a chance to talk?!

Jen's desire to rid her life of excess has convicted my heart. STUFF permeates my day, my thinking, my decisions, and my life. I really admire Jen’s passion to empty herself, in order for God to fill her life with Him!



*I need to include that I don't agree with the author's choices regarding alcohol. However, the book is still very challenging, and I believe it's a great read.

A Week Without God

I saw this on Pinterest and thought it was so powerful!

The Master Weaver

"My life is but a weaving, between my God and me,

I do not choose the colors, He worketh steadily,

Oftimes He weaveth sorrow, and I in foolish pride,

Forget He sees the upper, and I the underside.

Until the loom is silent, and shuttles cease to fly,

Will God unfold the canvas and explain the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful in the skillful Weaver's hand,

As the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned."

~as anonymously quoted in Tramp for the Lord by Corrie ten Boom

Quote from Francis Chan

"We don't get to decide who God is."

~Francis Chan

A Book In Quotes--The Noticer

My husband read the book The Noticer awhile back and loved it. I have since read it and can say the same thing. It's a wonderful book! I jotted down in my journal some of the most profound quotes I read in the book...

• "Think with me here...everybody wants to be on the mountaintop, but if you'll remember, mountaintops are rocky and cold. There is no growth on the top of a mountain. Sure, the view is great, but what's a view for? A view just gives us a glimpse of our next destination-our next target. But to hit that target, we must come off the mountain, go through the valley, and begin to climb the next slope. It is in the valley that we slog through the lush grass and rich soil, learning and becoming what enables us to summit life's next peak."

• "Remember, young man, experience is not the best teacher. Other people's experience is the best teacher. By reading about the lives of great people, you can unlock the secrets to what made them great."

• "Remember, whatever you focus upon increases."

• "When a person is negative, complaining, and disagreeable, other people stay away. And that person receives less encouragement and fewer opportunities-because no one wants to be around him."

• "Ask yourself this question everyday: 'What is it about me that other people would change if they could?' "

• "...all people-all lives-are either in a crisis, coming out of a crisis, or headed for crisis."

• "Unfortunately," he said, "the way we feel loved is usually the same way we express love."

• "It's time to stop letting history control your destiny."

• "Well, that's why smart people get tripped up with worry and fear. Worry...fear...is just a misuse of the creative imagination that has been placed in each of us. Because we are smart and creative, we imagine all the things that could happen, that might happen, that will happen if this or that happens."'

• "From this point forward, you will focus on what can be controlled. And, you will no longer be sad or worried. You will be grateful! After all, the seeds of depression cannot take root in a grateful heart."

• "One way to define wisdom is the ability to see into the future the consequences of your choices in the present."

• "Likewise, there is no difference in the person who intends to do things differently and the one who never thinks about it in the first place. Have you ever considered how often we judge ourselves by our intentions while we judge others by their actions? Yet intention without action is an insult to those who expect the best from you."

• "If you have changed," Jones said, "show evidence of it."

• "Forgiveness is about the past. Trust and respect are about the future. Forgiveness will be in the hands of others and can be given to you, but trust and respect are in your own hands...and must be earned."

• "See, if you ever want folks to believe in you, then it really helps if they like you."

Several Ways to Make Yourself Miserable

1.  Count your troubles, name them one by one-at the breakfast table, if anybody will listen, or as soon as possible thereafter.

2.  Worry every day about something. Don't let yourself get out of practice. It won't add a cubit to your stature but it might burn a few calories.

3.  Pity yourself. If you do enough of this, nobody else will have to do it for you.

4.  Devise clever but decent ways to serve God and mammon. After all, a man's gotta live.

5.  Make it your business to find out what the Joneses are buying this year and where they're going. Try to do them at least one better even if you have to take out another loan to do  it.

6.  Stay away from absolutes. It's what's right for you that matters. Be your own person and don't allow yourself to get hung up on what others expect of you.

7.  Make sure you get your rights. Never mind other people's. You have your life to live, they theirs.

8.  Don't fall into any compassion traps-the sort of situation where people can walk all over you. If you get too involved in other people's troubles, you may neglect your own.

9.  Don't let Bible reading and prayer get in the way of what's really relevant-things like TV and newspapers. Invisible things are eternal. You want to stick with the visible ones-they're where it's at now.

~taken from Keep A Quiet Heart by Elisabeth Elliot

Quote from David Livingstone

"If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?"
 

~David Livingstone

Count Your Blessings

"Count Your Blessings

• If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head, and a place to sleep...you are richer than 70 percent of this world.
• If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace...you are among the top 8 percent of the world's wealthy.
• If you woke up this morning with more health than illness...you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.
• If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation...you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.
• If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death...you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.
• If your parents are still alive and still married...you are very rare.
• If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful...you are blessed because, although the majority can, most do not."

~Author Unknown, taken from www.iciworld.net, as quoted in Growing Grateful Kids

Quote from William Law

"The pious soul that eyes only God...can have no stop in its progress; light and darkness equally assist him. In the light he looks up to God. In the darkness he lays hold of God, and so they both do him the same good."

~William Law-1750 

Quote from John Maxwell

"I may not be able to change the world I see around me, but I can change the way I see the world within me."

           ~John Maxwell