And They’ll Know We are Christians by Our…

By our?

 

We just got home from a long and relaxing vacation.  We relaxed on the beach, we wandered through malls, wended our way through the streets of Solvang, pondered the beauty of the Monterey Aquarium, visited friends and had lovely pictures taken of our family.  It was wonderful.

 

One of the first things Kevin and I did was go to a nice quiet dinner.  Just the two of us.  The restaurants in Ventura I knew as a child were either closed for the day or no longer in existence so we went to Black Angus.  A nice safe option!

 

However, this trip to a quiet restaurant was also educational.  Inspirational.  And sad.  Our waitress was the perfect waitress.  She had that lovely quality of being able to be there whenever we might want her, attend to our every whim, without hovering or interrupting.  She was honestly the best waitress I’ve ever had.  I’ll never forget her, but not because of her excellent service.  Her parting words will haunt me.

 

“You guys were just so nice!”

 

I was astounded.  I quite honestly didn’t treat her any differently than any other waitress, stranger on the street, or acquaintence in my life.  Common courtesy is all we showed.  We said please.  We said thank you.  We understood when the corn took longer to cook than my veggies so the meal was delayed 2 or 3 minutes.  It honestly wasn’t a big deal.  We were polite but we weren’t exceptionally so.  It was what we call ‘common’ courtesy.  Common because everyone is supposed to use it.

 

It made me wonder.  Christians are often wanting ways to stand out to the world without looking, in their minds, freakish.  Many don’t want to wear Amish-like clothing or avoid modestly trendy styles.  They want Christs love to shine through their actions or their attitudes.  They want to ‘love’ the world to Christ.  While I’m not sure that is our job… the sinner is brought to Christ when he recoginzes his utter lostness without Christ. 

 

However, this trip taught me something.  If Christians want to make a HUGE impact on the world, it is really quite easy.  Simply be courteous.  To everyone.  All the time.  Whether you feel like it or not.  Whether they deserve it or not.

 

Just imagine what would happen if people started commenting on how POLITE Christians are!!!!!!!!!

 

Inspirations?

A dear cyber-friend posted this on HK and gave me permisssion to share.  I was so tickled I had to put it up here for everyone to enjoy.  Thank you Becky!

I was enjoying my devotions tonight..which is another post..but I was writing..and for some reason… Everytime I write I think of you… So then I was being a bit goofy… and flipped this one out… so..here it is in all of its non-literary genius.. 

Dedicated to my writing mentor… Dear Miss Chatty 

Ready..I know you are on the edge of your seat, right??

Okay..already..Pure stroke of genius here..  Just for you…Btw, I am praying for your heart and health.

Not very bright
still
I like to write,
often
I interpret life
through
paper and pen; Rife
with personal thoughts and intuition
or maybe
forward thinking and premonition
Anyway,
This is a way
to
fill the end of my day
-writing-

Greetings from the Armchair

I almost didn’t write this post.  You see, tomorrow I go to the cardiologist where I pray he tells me that my initial symptoms were viral related which sent me to my chair and then when the virus had passed through my system I was so weakened by just sitting around all day for three and some odd weeks, my body kept fighting to get me normal.  I further expect (or hope anyway) him to say that I am to go home, slowly begin exercise, and resume my normal life.  I really want to hear him say that I need to try, at least for a week, to move as much as possible, rest until my heart/lungs resume normal and then get right back upon that hor- um, off of that chair!  This is my dream, my prayer, my hope- Ok, ok, I admit… this is my WHINE.

So, I wasn’t going to write this.  After all, if I am going to be out of the chair as of tomorrow afternoon, I don’t need to think about the topic of this blog.  Oh, I didn’t mention the topic now did I?  Ok, the subtitle for this blog is…

How to fill your time productively and serve your family lovingly from the confines of a recliner.

Yep.  That’s the topic of this blog.  I am writing, in order to remind myself that my life can’t sit on hold indefinitely, a list of things that one can do when one can hardly move around the house.  I am writing this list tonight so that tomorrow, if for some horrible reason God doesn’t answer my prayer in the affirmative, I  have no excuse to sit around and mope any longer. 

So… I posted on Hearth Keepers today and asked for ideas.  I was really hoping to get some amazing ideas that I hadn’t thought of yet  but alas, most were things that I had.  This isn’t due to any amazing brilliance on my part, you understand.  Whereas these industrious ladies have spent the last three weeks going about their normal routines, I’ve sat around the house waiting for a chance to do that.  What a waste of three weeks of my life!  No more!  I shall conquer this in one form or another.  If I am to be resigned to this chair for an undetermined period of time, I want it to be meaningful, productive, interesting, or at least less than soporific.

Activities for a Rich Life as an Arm Chair Critic Resident

Computer Activities

• Edit the numerous novels awaiting my inexorable editing muse.
• Finish one or more of the several novels awaiting their riviting conclusion.
• Organize the thousands of digital pictures tossed in the “shoebox” of our various computers.
• Create digital scrapbook pages for aforementioned pictoral evidence of our lives.
• Finish creating Braelyn’s Photography website.
• Organize this blog by sorting posts in a more detailed fashion.  (Less “Daily Ramblings”)
• Update the story Diaretic on my writer’s blog.
• Finish my latest Blogelle post… maybe write more?
• Complete the cookbook and home school pages for Hearth Keepers
• Write childhood memory book.
• Learn more about photo editing.

Family Activities

• Plan children’s fall wardrobes and buy/plan for them to make.
• Teach Jenna and Kaylene to sew.
• Finish Christmas Shopping
• Plan stockings.
• Read aloud to the children.
• Let Braelyn drive me around to get her driving hours in.
• Plan Morgann’s 18th birthday party.
• Plan Morgann’s graduation.
• Create a family newsletter with the kids for the Christmas cards
• ADDRESS CARDS NOW!

Household Activities

• Oversee deep cleaning of living room.
• Oversee Nolan sanding the dark spots from living room floor.
• Decorate for fall/oversee decoration
• Teach each child a different level of cooking.
• Sort through all totes with the goal of reducing by 50%
• Keep menus going and shopping regular.
• Oversee Nolan’s Bathroom project to completion.
• Sell off all the eBay stuff!

School Activities

• Teach Ethan to read.
• Teach Lorna her colors.
• Make drills a daily goal.
• Finish Science early.
• Plan history for after Christmas
• Assess each child’s school portfolio and plan for adjustments, improvements, and long range goals.

Hobbies

• Smock
• Hand quilt one of the many quilts waiting to be quilted.
• Crochet afghan.  (finish anyway)
• Make cool baby hat.
• Make gifts for HK moderators.
• Take up beading if necessary.

Personal Improvement

• Continue with improvement course.
• Blog about improvement course.
• Redirect my sleeping patterns.
• Create the habit of taking supplements on a regular basis.
• Create and develop a new more fulfilling routine.
• Reread every encouraging book I own.
• Learn to use a calendar and a “to-do” list effectively.

Giving

• Write notes of encouragement to everyone who needs to hear how they’ve blessed you.
• Plan ways to make blessing others regular as well as spontanteous.
• Get over your hatred of the phone and call those you love and tell them so.
• Remeber to bless Kevin.  He deserves more than he gets.

And of course, enjoy that grandbaby of mine when Jr. Muffin finally arrives!

I’ll add to this as I think of things.  I’ll try to post pictures of any progress.   Who needs to get out of the chair?  I have more than enough to keep me busy. 

I’ll end with Philippians 4:11-13

Not that I speak from want, for I ave learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.  I know how to get along with humble means and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have lerned the scret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.  I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Lessons from the Recliner

Did you know-

• When you don’t get any exercise from basic movements you want more sleep than normal but can’t sleep as much as usual?
• A racing heart is frustrating but a fluttering heart is actually uncomfortable?
• You can write 20,000 words in a day on you novel without any difficulty?
• Photo editing is less accurate at night?
• Digital Scrapbooking is fun and much more efficient than paper?  Less bulky too.
• It’s easier to sleep on the couch than in bed when you can’t breathe?
• Having the perfect set up for doing what you need to do isn’t a guarantee that you will do it?
• There really are silver linings- you just need to love silver to appreciate them
• My husband is the world’s kindest and most selfless man and I’m blessed beyond measure to have him in my life?

Musings on Gluttony~

There is a message board persona.  We’ve all met her.  Most of us have been her at one time or another.  Every board has one or twenty.  Let’s give her a dossier of sorts.

Name:  Brunhilda Weinerbourgmaan  (aka- Hilda)

Age: 36

Sex:  Yes- um, er I mean female

Marital Status: Married

Number of children:  Five

Educational Position:  Homeschooler

Political Position:  Conservative

Religion:  When I remember.

Theological Pursuasion: First Method-ical-Bapti-costal-Assembly-Orthodox-Luthi-tarian-Mormon-Witness-Non-Denominational

Annual Income:  Not nearly enough but too much to keep track of.

Health:  NOT ANOTHER SCHOOL SUBJECT! Oh wait, you mean mine.  Yeah, I’ve got some somewhere.

Personal Commitments:  Do you want that in alphabetical or chronological order?

Ok, so it sounds like I exaggerate.  Unfortunately I don’t.  So what does this have to do with gluttony you ask?  Isn’t gluttony about eating too much?  Well, yes, it is but unfortunately you can over indulge on other things than food.

Take Hilda for example.  She posts often about her struggles with home organization, child training, and keeping on top of her responsibilities.  She’s always looking for a new and better way to solve her problems whether it’s a new laundry system, a week of bootcamp, or keeping the beds made.  While her children run amok, she struggles to keep their heads above water.

However, Hilda, in spite of her lack of home skills, has more on her plate than it seems.  In addition to her own home, which she confesses is ill managed, she also teaches classes at the local church, to a homeschool co-op, or to the moms at the homeschool support group.  Often, ironically enough, she teaches on organization or homemaking skills.  And she’s usually very good.  The ladies who learn from her are blessed and go home and apply the excellent skills she has shared with them.

It breaks my heart though.  Hilda takes several hours out of her week to help others do what her family waits to see accomplished in their lives.  She helps others plan their school lessons while her children flounder in their own books because mom hasn’t had the discipline or taken the time to actually ensure that their lessons are completed.  Or maybe she spends two hours a week teaching new moms how to train their children while her own run wild at home.  She may teach whole grain baking to eager crowds while her own family gets burgers from Mc Donalds.

Yes… she’s ever learning… and teaching… but never coming to the knowledge of whatever it is that she is learning or teaching.  If we replaced that with eating what would we get.  “Ever eating but never being satisfied with food.”

Gluttony.  It comes in many guises.

A New Ministry for Girls and Women

The nursery worker.  The song leader.  The custodian.  The Bible class teacher.  The woman who makes the communion bread.  The man who fixes the widow’s car.  The missionary.  The missionary supporter.  The prayer warrior.

What do they have in common?  They’re servants.  They serve the body.  In very tangible and recognized ways, these people are servants to the body of Christ.  They’re all well loved, needed, and appreciated.  There are more of course.  From curriculum writers to pulpit committees, from AWANA directors to a deacon, the church is full of servants, and well it should be.

Some areas of service aren’t generally recognized.  In one congregation that we attended, a woman served me in ways she never knew.  Riddled with pain and several debilitating diseases, she came, week after week, and was just THERE.  It was service to the body.  When I’m unwell, I don’t want to go anywhere no matter how badly I want to BE there.  Then I remember Dena and I realize that it’s not about me.  Can I go?  Will I be able to sit there?  Will I infect others?  Will I need to be taken home?  Of course with those things in the negative, I shouldn’t go.  But staying home and being miserable or sitting there and being miserable is just geography.

Another woman served me at another congregation.  Diana was an example to me and I don’t know if she’ll ever truly realize her service to the church even though I did try to tell her a time or two.  She loved her sons.  She had such an amazing closeness to her sons.  It sooooo impressed me.  I wanted that.  I emulated anything I saw in her that I could because I saw the root of it.  She served me.  She taught me to “… love their children” by example.

There is an area in the church that I think we’ve gotten lazy with our service.  Women have busy lives.   We live in an instant society with expectations of instant results.  We’ve forgotten that service can require inconvenience.  In this one area, we really need to reconsider serving our bothers in Christ.

That last sentence probably gave away what I mean.  Modesty.  I hear it all the time. 

“It is almost impossible to find clothes that are in style and still modest”  Difficult, but not impossible.  In almost any store in the country you can find SOMETHING. 

“I shouldn’t have to work so hard at just shopping for clothes.”  Well whether or not you should have to isn’t the issue.  The issue is that the difficulty of the task doesn’t negate the need for the task. If you had to find a blanket for your brother in Christ or he’d die, woudl you  not search until you found him one no matter how long it took?

The statements and answers are numerous. Do we die to self and serve the body of Christ or do we demonstrate a lack of love because loving them in this way is too inconvenient?  It isn’t impossible.  It may be difficult but it isn’t imposible.

“… she is like merchant ships.  She brings her food from afar.”

We can and we should serve our brothers and sisters in Christ this way. 

Please note:  I am not defining what is or isn’t modest here.  I’m not saying that one particular type of clothing is immodest or not.   I would hope that it would be obvious that clothing that looks painted on, shows cleavage, most of the thigh and/or part of the rear is generally inappropriate for a Christian to wear.  Some consider slacks and jeans still showing the rear and/or thigh, others don’t.  I’m not going to play the game.  What one of my daughters can wear with absolute decency, another of my girls cannot. 

A Mary Moment!

Have you ever read a book, watched a movie, seen a play, met a new person, or in any other way come face to face with the person you want to be?  I’m not talking about the difference between being a city girl when you dream of life in the country or visa versa.  I don’t mean that you want to be someone God did not intend for you to be.  What I refer to is the realization that there are qualities or disciplines in this person’s life that you’ve desired, or worse, known God has called you to be.  The problem is, you’re not.  I can’t be the only person who has ever been introduced in some fashion to the person they should be.

 

I just had this happen to me again recently.  It happens every now and then.  I remember the first time I was aware of it.  I’d read one of Lori Wick’s books in the Rocky Mountain series.  I like two of the four books in that series but for very different reasons.  (And the other two books are worthless in my opinion.)  I love the character and storyline of Pup Jennings in To Know Her by Name.  That book never ceases to delight me but Rusty in Promise Me Tomorrow always tugs at my heart with a yearning I find it difficult to explain.  (Though I’ll grant you, the book is very drippy!)

 

I envy her love of children.  I nearly covet the ease in which she interacts and relates to them.  That probably sounds very strange coming from a woman with nine children but I assure you, it’s true.  I love the delight she has in children as people.  Her red hair and self-assurance doesn’t hurt either. 

 

I digress.  I recently saw myself in another book.  This time, the story is mine.  I am almost finished with a novel that is now a chore to finish.  Every word feels wrung from me like water drops from a half-dry dishcloth.  I don’t know how I’ll manage to finish it.  I see myself on every page.  Not only do I see whom I am supposed to be, I see who I am and it both frightens and disgusts me.  I think I struggle most with it because I am afraid if I finish it, I’ll have to do something about what I’ve learned as I’ve written it.  I don’t want to.  I like status quo.  I like it because it’s easy and I am very good at easy.

 

The funny thing is, so much of what I am convicted about cannot be changed by actions right now.  I don’t have the physical strength to do anything.  The core of the problem I can change but I don’t want to.  I feel like Paul.  I don’t do what I want to do, I do what I don’t want to do, oh wretched woman that I am, who will save me from myself?

 

Why do we do that to ourselves?  Jesus already saved us from ourselves!  I’m already free.  I AM the new creature in Christ that I want to emulate in this book.  I AM.  I just don’t act like it.

 

You know, maybe God timed things this way so that I wouldn’t be able to “do”.  Maybe I am supposed to sit at Jesus’ feet, learn, and be.  Be still.  Know that He is God.  Repent.  Confess.  Be immersed in His Word until I stop fighting and allow it to infuse me.  Allow myself to be immersed in Jesus until that which needs changed outside of me happens as an overflow of a change from within.

 

Why are all the answers simple and complicated?  Simultaneously?