Things that Keep Me Humble

As a homeschooling Mom of two pre-teens and a SAHM of a toddler, there are multiple means utilized to keep me humble.  Here are but a couple of examples to preserve for posterity sake.

The toddler is developing quite a vocabulary.  Which is good.  He speaks in typical baby speak, which is not always so good.  The scene is the church foyer where I am visiting with a friend and he is watching out the window.  The room is fairly packed with parents waiting for children.
Tree:  a taxi. Mom a taxi. Look!
Tree: dere a bus! itsa bus!
Tree:  Blue car, geen car, are there lellow cars Mum?
Tree:  (jumping up and down)  (insert R-rated word near the name of another mode of transportation)
(witness one of the dad's almost fall over laughing)

After church we always spend time discussing what the girls learned in Sunday Club and what we heard in the sermon.  Jewel has just finished telling us about Timothy and some of the characteristics young people can learn from him.  Flower has talked about the Israelites disobeying God (agaaaain!) and what we should learn.  German tells the girls that we heard a sermon on the Fruit of the Spirit.
German:  So, what is the first fruit of the Spirit?
Jewel:  Is it grapes?
(witness me attempt to pick my jaw up off the table)
(yes I told her that this would get blogged!)
Guess what we will be studying this week in Bible time?

 

Keep smiling!  Have a great day! 

photos downloaded www.morguefile.com

Five Minute Friday--Garden

A reminder of the Five Minute Friday "rules"
1.  Write for 5 minutes (set the timer!) on the topic at hand
2.  Link your post at www.lisajobaker.com
3.  Go back and encourage the person who linked up just before you did

Simple. Get's the creative juices flowing and allows for encouraging others.

This week's topic is:  GARDEN

I grew up on a farm.  I spent more hours than I like to think of helping to tend the garden.  I.hated.it.  I am not an outdoorsy kind of gal.  I don't like getting my hands dirty. And (then) I didn't really like the taste of vegetables.  The melons, yes. The squash, never.

Besides that I have definitively non-green thumbs.  My mother used to say that my brother needed to tend the houseplants, because I would kill them.  Experience taught this lesson well.

So, why then, do I sometimes wistfully dream of growing my own?  As I eat another tasteless cucumber from the market and remember how good home-grown was. Or I remember the winter taste of my grandmother's preserved black-eyed peas.  There is a part of me that dreams of growing my own.

But then I look at the pitiful houseplant attempting to survive its mistress' benign neglect and remember that I am no gardener.

I guess I'll have to settle for not-so-perfect veg from the shop. And be thankful that God has made others into gardeners.

(time's up)

Thanks for dropping by today.  Please visit LisaJo and read about her amazing gardening project!  Have a blessed weekend!

Sustainable

In discussions recently about a new ministry opportunity, one of the participants commented that they first wanted to know that it would be sustainable. I think it was probably a pointed remark about whether or not we would be here long enough to invest time in an endeavor with us. (That happens a lot as an expat that moves around, not everyone wants to invest in a friendship that they see as 'short-term'). I let the pointed end of the comment slide, but the thought continued to bounce around in my head. I could not put my finger on why the word "sustainable" was bothering me so. Then, a single quiet thought pierced my confusion,

"I'm so glad God did not wait until I was sustainable before offering me salvation."

God didn't say, "When she stops being prideful, I will forgive her." Nor did he condition any of my multiple returns to the throne with, "Prove that you will change this time." To the contrary, "while [I] was still in my sin" he forgave. (Romans 5:8)

Nothing that is in our control is truly sustainable. This is especially true of ministry.

We had a discussion with Jewel this past week where she asked if it was okay if "witnessing doesn't work".  Of course, what she meant was if someone does not immediately make a decision. We however took the path of how do we know when ministry "works".  We may only be the seed-planters, or the waterers, or the encouragers along someone's path to faith.  Who are we to say that it works or doesn't?  Judgement should not be our role.

The ministry opportunity is moving forward.  It is such a joy!  I'm in a position to teach again after a long period that seemed like a drought but was more God preparing me.  Is it sustainable?  I can't say.  Will I be here to see it to fruition?  Yes.  Because God's fruition is for me to be faithful in serving when he opens opportunities.  Will it be all that the group hopes to happen?  Probably not, because we often dream differently than God plans.  But I trust that it will all be good.

"Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn’t been so weak, we wouldn’t have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him" Romans 5:7-9, The Message

Is there something in your life you are waiting to do because you are unsure if you can sustain it?  Let go and let God sustain what he has destined.  Be blessed this week!

Goal Review and Setting

It is time for a monthly review of goals and to set some new ones. January was pretty successful!

January Goals:
1. Complete 1/2 block on AAHRH--Yes!
2. Complete 1/2 border on Tea Sampler--Yes, plus a little more!
3. Read 2 books--1/2 way through Bloody Foreigners: Immigration in Britain, 1/4 way through JB Cranfill's Chronicles
4. Post 8 blog posts--Yes!
5. Write 2 letters--Yes!
6. Find missing cross stitch to frame--no, but it was too cold to go through boxes in the garage

February Goals:

1. Complete 1 block on AAHRH
2. Complete border on Tea Sampler
3. Write 8 blog posts
4. Finish 2 books
5. Write 2 letters
6. Help Jewel plan large research project

photo credit: purchased at istock.com