10 Ways to Love

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Old Memories, New Realities

"I Just Love Jesus and He Wants Me to Help You"

I love Proverbs 31 devotions! I receive them on my smartphone and sometimes I don't have the time to read them. So I save them for when I have some waiting time - like at a doctor's appointment. Yesterday I read this one and ended up re-reading it at our evening dinner devotion time. I love the reason that she gave for helping and had to share it here! (thank you to my faithful readers - sorry I haven't updated - somehow life always takes over and blogging gets put at the bottom of the to-do list!) D

Lumping and Loving
Karen Ehman
“Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.” Philippians 4:5 (NLT)

I usually cringe at generalizations … stereotypes. Lumping an entire group of people into a confining box. Like “The ________ (nationality) are so ________ (bad character trait)” or “Those ________ (age group) all are so ________ (strange habit or behavior).” However, every once in a while a compliment is paid in the lumping.

Recently, as I waited in line at a coffee house, a frail, elderly woman stood in front of me ordering a meal. She seemed distressed as she fumbled for her change, paid the worker, and then gathered up her bag of food and her drink. As she headed for the door, her large purse began swinging off of her shoulder, nearly knocking her, and all of her lunch, to the floor. “Oh … how am I going to do this? Oh my … oh dear … I can’t …” she mumbled to herself, trying to shift her weight and her cargo while pushing open the door at the same time.

Though I’d just finally reached the front of the line, God used today’s key verse to tap me on the heart and shift my momentary schedule. I quickly hopped out of line. “Here, let me get that for you,” I uttered as I held the door open and steadied her drink. “Would you like me to carry your food to your car?” She stopped in her tracks, her bright blue eyes looking up at me with gratefulness. “Oh dear … you must have a grandmother living that you’re so kind to an old woman.”
“No ma’am, I don’t,” I answered. “I just love Jesus and He wants me to help you.”
Read the rest here: http://devotions.proverbs31.org/?s=lumping+and+loving

Power Verse:
Proverbs 31:26, “She opens her mouth with wisdom, And on her tongue is the law of kindness.” (NKJV)

Christmas Wish for My Children

My Christmas wish for MY children! A favourite!

Mercies in Disguise?

Laura Story - "Blessings"


We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It's not our home

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise

A Message from My Hubby!

Not So Dear Investigation

1st clue: a hoof-print in the mud

the calling cards

some of the evidence - hostas almost gone

more hostas eaten up

and more again

hopefully not the "next frontier"

my rose bush - buds all eaten (by a chipmunk)

my rose of sharon - still budding and so far safe

where the critters come from

Friend Therapy

Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their work:
If one falls down,
his friend can help him up.
But pity the man who falls
and has no one to help him up!
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

Encouragement: pouring courage into someone who needs it.
Yesterday, while driving, I heard Dr. David Jeremiah and "Friend Therapy". It was great to listen and meditate on these verses for a while and then to connect with a good friend this morning on the phone (she called me)!

Listen to "Friend Therapy - Pt. 2" also.

And I encourage you to reach out and give some "friend therapy" out yourself. Not to the friend that you usually reach out to - to someone else. Someone who doesn't have as many friends to reach out to them. Maybe a lonely neighbour. Maybe someone that you don't usually connect with at church or work. Give out some "friend therapy". "Minister concern for one another" today!

~~~

Thanks to Rachel for showing me how to post online pages... ;) I figured it out!

A Fascinating Read

A friend recommended this book to me and I hope to use it for our grade 12 homeschool this fall. Amazing!

The book contains some rough language and information - however, the story itself is a must-read. Henrietta's contribution to science has helped us all through the years - although she and her family had no idea of her important contribution.

Written by Rebecca Skloot.

Been away from Church?

I saw this the other day while casually reading the newspaper with my cup of coffee in hand. How sad!

"Whether you are the most active member of your parish, a Christmas-and-Easter Catholic...you will always be welcome."

Wow.

I always thought the "Christmas-and-Easter Catholic" was something that wasn't condoned. Just a situation that others have observed. People calling themselves people of faith - and yet never paying any attention to their faith in day-t0-day life.

"Connect with your faith and your heritage." In death?

How about connecting with your faith ... while you're alive?! It won't help you after death. Sorry to say.

Spring Glory

My Mother's Day 2010 from Andrew Rose of Sharon - so far no critters have
gone "buffet" on it...
When I was younger, spring was my least favourite season -

but it has become one of my most cherished!

I love the newness of spring - the wonderful smell of spring -

and even the rain in spring.

But this year's rain has been a bit too much!

I love my flowerboxes this year - every year I try something newish, and hope to love it...

but some years I like the colour combinations more than others

Alyssa's garden is coming along - see my lupin in there? It's in solitary confinement - away from the bunnies and deer until it's multiplied a few times, THEN I will let SOME of it out...and see!
Same with my Mother's Day 2010 rose bush from the kids - lovely pink - but in solitary confinement...until it's big enough to be a bit of a critter buffet AND enjoyment for us!
the lilacs have been gorgeous - but they have also been waterlogged
and haven't lasted as long as other years :(

Marigolds and peas - waiting to be planted...maybe I'll eat the pea sprouts - have you ever

tried them? YUM! (I'm hoping a deer doesn't find these before they get dealt with)

a few herbs - nothing like fresh chives or tomatoes...

My Prayper Route

Kind of a strange photo here, but I was trying to get a pic of my hair after coming back from my paper route last week. It was -27C outside when I left home at 7:30am - brrrr, and my hair ended up frosted. It looked like solidly gray hair!

Anyway, as you know, I have a paper route. In fact, I've had my route for over 9 years now. Most of the people in my neighbourhood know that it's my route, but once in a while I still get a comment like "doing your kids route?"

What started out as a way to exercise AND make a little bit of money (originally it was my scrapbooking money) has turned into exercise and making a bit of money as well as contact with neighbours. I know most of them and have seen many of them through good and bad times in their lives - and they also have shared my burdens. I shared a while back about Joanne, and I have good news to share again with you.

Joanne is doing quite well, although she hasn't heard back from her doctor's about her prognosis and health plan. She'd like to leave the cancer as is and go without treatment, especially if it's a slow-growing cancer -- but she doesn't know for sure if it is a slow cancer. I hope to hear more soon. But even if it's a faster cancer, she may end up opting out of treatment - since, as she says, "I could die of something else before cancer takes me!"

Joanne moved to a senior's residence not too far away and my husband and I went to visit her last week. She was so excited to see us! She looks good (she's 90 years old), never takes the elevators (stairs only!) and finds that the "old people with walkers" are quite slow! haha She seems to have a much happier attitude now - and is enjoying having her meals made for her and access to all sorts of activities and entertainment at her fingertips!

~~~
But back to my paper route - as I was walking the other day, I realized how I pray for those who I know are living with difficulties. I don't know their names many times - but I do know some of their "woes". At one home in lives a couple about our ages with kids around the ages of our kids. I know they're a Christian family because I had some contact with the husband years ago but he wouldn't remember me (he used to chair an organization that I was a part of). When I saw him and his wife at the store a couple of months ago, it was obvious that his wife is going through chemotherapy. I have no idea what type of cancer she has, but I pray for her and their family every week as I pass their home.

At another home - a man just lost his wife suddenly just before Christmas 2010. I pray for him.

A neighbour family is very strange - I don't know why or what's going on, but instead of trying to figure them out, I pray for them instead now.

There are two people on my route whose spouses have left them. They are each hurting and alone.

I just heard from Joanne that another family - one living across from her old home, is going through a cancer diagnosis. The wife has some sort of brain tumour. They have three young boys.

An older man on my route is busy as caregiver to his sick wife.

We live in a beautiful world - filled with great things - and filled with lots of sad things like sorrow and sickness. And God has given me a huge compassion gene - which I don't like many times, but I know that He has a reason for how He made me. For now, I'll just reach out to those who surround me, help when I can, and I will certainly pray for them!

Prayer might not seem like much - but I know that God works in amazing ways. He may not choose to heal those who are going through these times, but I know that He will comfort them and be there for them. Maybe even through me. Use me, Lord.

From now on I'm going to call my route my prayper route!

Winter Art

There's another gorgeous design on our window today - as Ontario is in the midst of a blizzard. Thought I'd post a pic, referring to this post in 2008! Can't beat God's artwork!

"How could I say there is no God,

when all around creation calls?!"

(Brian Doerksen)

Incredible Basement

I received this from a friend who always sends a lot of emails...you know the type! Usually most emails end up in the deleted file, but I took a peak at this one and I'm glad that I did! Pretty neat - take a peak.

Grass

As you know, I have been a "paper-girl/woman" for quite a few years. What started out as some outdoor walking (and getting paid for it) has turned out to meeting neighbours that I normally wouldn't meet and growing relationships. It's been good, but also difficult, because those who I usually meet are people who have no one else or those who have family but come from very broken relationships. One such lady is Joanne.

I met Joanne quite a few years ago - I'd say at least 8 years. She was an elderly woman at the time (in her 80s) but she was so active. She'd be outside cutting the grass (seriously!) and even trimming her hedges. While her face looked like she was in her 80s, her body and movement did not. She kept active and loved being outdoors. We'd often chat.

Sometimes we'd chat about God. She was very angry at God. She had no use for God. But I'd still tell her that I was praying for her (and I was) and I showed her the hands of God through my life. She never shied away from me when I mentioned God - but a wall definitely came up.

I learned that her husband passed away almost exactly when my dad did, in 1990. He died of cancer. Joanne and her husband had one child - a son - and that son passed away a few years later. He lived in Europe and his wife (her daughter-in-law) and children stayed in Europe. They had contact over the years and sometimes they'd come to visit Joanne. But Joanne tired of taking them to the tourist attractions (or so she said) so they stopped coming. She said she encouraged them to spend their money on the places that they'd like to visit, rather than visiting her. I wonder if she really meant that.

While Joanne was a nice woman, she was also bitter in many ways and knew exactly how things were. Or how she thought they were. A lot of the people that I meet are like this.

Anyway, a few years ago Joanne told me that her daughter-in-law had cancer. It wasn't long before she told me that her daughter-in-law died. She was quite sad. The only family left were her grandchildren.

A little more than a year ago, Joanne took me aside to tell me that she had been diagnosed with cancer. It was a rare form of a "woman's cancer" and she had a hysterectomy (at almost age 89). I still remember her fear, asking me if I could Google her cancer and find her some information. She'd been given various websites to check out but did not have access to the internet. I sat with her and went through her sheets from the doctor, trying to calm her down. It must be tough to live alone and have no one to support you at such times.

Joanne was healthy enough to go through the surgery so she did. Everything went well and although it took quite a bit out of her, Joanne kept at it. She had someone cut her grass for her (which drove her crazy) but she got back at the hedges. She didn't open her pool last season, because she knew she wouldn't be able to keep up with it. She missed her swims.

I rarely saw someone visiting Joanne. But I was happy to see that her closest neighbours were able to take her to her radiation appointments (she'd asked me but I wasn't able to) and a couple neighbours were taking turns cutting her grass. It was encouraging to see neighbours supporting one another in an old-fashioned (not seen a whole lot today) way.

A couple of months ago Joanne again took me aside. Her cancer had come back. She was angry. I tried to encourage her. But she told me that fear had taken over. Fear of cancer (she'd watched her husband and son die of it), fear of dying alone, fear of dying. I tried to console her. I tried to support her.

I saw her about 6 weeks ago and she looked good. I thought she must be doing well, despite her sadness.

And then a couple of weeks ago a "for sale" sign went up at Joanne's house. I could see that someone was still around because I saw her tire tracks in the snow (coming out of her garage) as well as her garbage/composting/recycling being put out and put away again. So I knew that she was still around. On December 17 Joanne had her 90th birthday. I didn't see her but I left her a card and note. I never heard from her again.

Last week I saw that the house was "sold" -- and a few trucks were in her driveway. A dumpster has now joined the trucks. I see Joanne's "life" in the dumpster. I went inside Joanne's house a couple of times and it was like a timewarp. The 1950s all the way. Panelling everywhere, chrome everywhere, various shades of yellow and orange everywhere. It even had a musty smell. Joanne said it wasn't worth it to update anything. It would be a waste of her money.

So I haven't seen Joanne, and since she doesn't have any family here, I don't know if she's okay. I haven't seen a death announcement but I don't know who would put one in for her anyway. (I hope to talk to one of her neighbours soon.) I'm hoping that she's in a senior's home now, getting some tender-loving-care. I miss seeing her - and seeing her house be demolished has been quite an analogy for me. Of how fleeting this life is. It is here and it is gone.

I hope most of all that Joanne has a loving person beside her, showing her of her need of a Saviour.

You sweep people away like dreams that disappear or like grass that springs up
in the morning. In the morning it blooms and flourishes, but by evening it
is
dry and withered. ...
Seventy years are given to us! Some may even
reach
eighty. But even the best of these years are filled with pain and
trouble; soon
they disappear, and we are gone.

Teach us to realize
the brevity of
life, so that we may grow in wisdom.
Psalm 90:5,6,10,12

Is this for Real?

This just came to my attention via Facebook. I really don't know what to think.

First of all, the blog address is birthornot so that would mean that when this couple started this blog, their intent was to bring this discussion to the forefront. Obviously they weren't a couple who was excited about their expected baby and then were faced with a difficult pregnancy and began to think about whether or not to abort the baby.

Which makes me wonder why they started the blog - is it a publicity stunt? Is it for information? Is it a genuine quest for guidance?

If it's a genuine request for guidance, I can't believe that they have stooped this low. Is there not anyone that they can trust - who will give them guidance?

I haven't read all of the posts here, but I have read quite a few and looked at their ultrasound pics. This obviously isn't a "blob" but a human child being formed in his/her mother's womb. He/she is fearfully and wonderfully made.

How can a parent kill their own child?

I just don't get it. I know there are always "reasons" - and in certain circumstances, these "reasons" might seem legitimate...but they are never right in my opinion. I know this debate brings out the worst in people, but there are so many options available to couples today. So many families wishing for a child - so many homes open for an unwanted child.

How will this child think about him/herself when/if they are born and find out about their parents pregnancy blog? WOW.

I pray that these parents will see the truth for what it is - abortion isn't an "answer", it's killing a viable human being. I pray that God will have mercy on them, and that they will have mercy on the child that is growing.

Children are a GIFT.

No Impact for Me Too

No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process, by Colin Beavan.

I just completed reading this book and I have to share some quotes with you. These quotes are just some points that struck me - there's a TON of info in this book. Hopefully they will encourage you to read the book ... and think about what YOU can do to help preserve the world around us!

I'm not a tree-hugger. I don't think that we can actually "save" the planet because God says that it will eventually be burned up. But that doesn't relieve me of any responsibility. As a Christian, I believe that it is my responsibility to be a good steward of the world around me - and the resources that I choose (or don't choose) for myself and my family.

I do what I can because of my responsibility to God. Simple as that.

This is not a Christian book - and it contains some swearing as well as some meditation-zen stuff. It also contains a lot of questions and biblical questions. It made me see my world in a different light.

I recommend this book. The following quotes are from the many pages that I dog-eared...lots and lots to ponder and glean from this experiment. It has made me look even closer at what purchases I'm making and how I can improve my "footprint" in this world. (Note: the quote titles are mine.)

PS Read the book first. I haven't watched the DVD yet, but I do have it and hope to watch it soon. I'll keep you posted.

Life:
"The happiest people, the shrinks discovered, did not live their lives on this perpetual loop. Rather, these folks had raised their baseline mood in ways that did not require repeated doses of new stuff. The people most satisfied with life, it turned out, had strong social connections, found meaning in their work, got to exercise what they considered to be their highest talents, and had a sense of some higher purpose." (pg. 26)

Garbage:
"According to the Environmental Protection Agency, food packaging makes up 20 percent of our solid waste nationwide [US]. The archaeologist studying our nation's trash, it seems, would see that it's not just the city folks who don't have time to cook. A lot of suburbanites aren't exactly finding the time to peel a carrot, either. It's just that instead of getting their throwaway packaging from takeout, they're getting it from the frozen-food section." (pg. 39)

"Think of the grocery store. If you're lucky, in the aisles around the edges you'll find some fresh produce -- some food you can actually cook. But every other aisle -- the aisles in the store's heart -- has shelves crammed with cereal in boxes and vegetables in cans and frozen food in plastic trays. That's the stuff that's destined to become, after a couple of minutes in a microwave and a couple more on a table, or a lap, a full 20 percent of our nation's trash.

However much my grandparents' ghosts might cluck their tongues at my way of life, it is not that my family alone had turned into some sort of monstrous, garbage-making machine. It's not that I'm a marred human being who took a wrong turn, or that I've turned bad in the twenty-five years since my grandparents wielded their influence over me. It's not that I'm the lazy ingrate I thought I was. But it may be that, as a member of the crew of the huge steamship that is our culture, I had acquiesced to some decisions that caused the whole boat to take a wrong turn, and possibly sink." (pgs. 39-40)

"Sure, it was just one piece of tissue, but the problem is, as Heather Rogers points out in Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage, some 80 percent of our products are made to be used only once. As trivial as that paper towel might seem, it points up a multitude of individual and cultural choices we make every day, choices that mean we are sucking resources out of the planet and sending them to the landfill or incinerator, having barely used them.
As long as we're talking about waste, it's worth noting that, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, 4.8 million tons - nearly 10 billion pounds - of disposable paper napkins, towels, cups, and plates is what the United States sends to landfills every year. I don't know why it never occurred to me before, but what we're talking about when we talk about 10 billion pounds of trashed paper products is 10 billion pounds of dead trees." (pgs. 47, 48)

Plastic Bags:
"Every year, we junk some 4 to 5 trillion plastic bags worldwide, according to the Worldwatch Institute. Around the globe, plastic bags, used for a matter of minutes and then thrown away, leave stores and markets in quantities hundreds of times greater than any other piece of merchandise. They are the world's most ubiquitous consumer items and, not coincidentally, its most pervasive throwaway product.
We recycle plastic bags at a rate of less than 1 percent, and thrown-away bags formed some 4 million tons of municipal waste in the United States in 2006. They poison the air when burned in incinerators, or leach nasty chemicals in our landfills for hundreds of years. And thanks to their lightweight aerodynamics, the wind carries an estimated 1 percent of plastic bags out of trash depositories. These renegade bags end up billowing from trees, hanging from fences, or, worst of all, floating in the ocean.
In 1988, across a span of just two weeks, fifteen leatherback turtles, an endangered species, washed up dead on the beaches of Long Island. Alarmed by the deaths, marine biologists performed autopsies. They discovered that eleven of the fifteen dead turtles had ingested plastic bags that blocked their stomach openings. Leatherback turtles, you see, have the unfortunate twin qualities of a taste for jellyfish and bad eyesight. To these nearly blind turtles, it seems a submerged plastic bag looks simply delicious." (pgs. 53, 54)

Stuff:
"Everybody says I want this and I want that. If our assumptions about happiness and the fulfillment of desire are true, well, then, so be it: the economy is rightfully predicted on the fulfillment of desires and it will burn along until there's nothing left to burn. But if that is so, why did Jesus say that a camel can fit through the eye of a needle more easily than a rich man can get into the Kingdom of heaven?" (pg. 115)

Chemicals:
"Corn belt fertilizer washing off the land into the Mississippi River, meanwhile, ends up in the Gulf of Mexico. It turns out what when you fertilize the ocean you get a massive bloom of oxygen-hogging algae. The results if a 7,900-square-mile dead zone in the Gulf that is so depleted of oxygen that it suffocates fish, shrimp, crabs, and all manner of marine life. The EPA estimates that 210 million pounds of fertilizer end up in the Gulf every year." (pg. 122-123)

Light:
"...I read that people without artificial lighting often experience a phenomenon known as "second sleep." They go to sleep when it gets dark, wake up halfway through the night, light a candle, get up for an hour, and then go back to bed. They supposedly end up more rested than people who go to bed later and sleep through the night." (pg. 166)

Water:
"In the United States, for example, the average single-family household uses some seventy gallons of water every day. A full quarter of that we use to flush our toilets. In other words, while 1 billion people in the world don't have access to clean drinking water, Americans are flushing 2.5 trillion gallons a year down the toilet." (pg. 193, 194)

Children:
"More children have died from diarrhea than people have been killed in war and conflict since World War II. A child dies every eight seconds from drinking dirty water." (pg. 194)

Simple Steps:
"To keep toxins out of the wastewater, around the house we use nothing toxic. Pretty simple. We learn to make our household and personal cleaning products from a combination of borax, white vinegar, baking soda, and Dr. Bronner's vegetable-oil-based liquid soap. Baking soda, it turns out, makes the world's best underarm deodorant. A vegetable-oil-and beeswax moisturizer made by a local person is better for our skin than anything we've ever used before." (pg. 197)

Thoughts:
"When I take my last breath, will there be a wish that I had more stuff? ... This life is so short and it will soon be over. What will we use it for?" (pg. 210)

"I'm just suggesting that we should at least wake up long enough to make it an active decision. And yes, it's our decision. It's a decision that belongs to us. Not to the government. Not to big business. It belongs to us." (pg. 215)

"I'd hear criticisms like this constantly throughout the No Impact project. What difference can one person make? Well, absolutely none if that one person doesn't try to influence a difference. But who among us knows how much we will influence the people around us? Which one of us knows which of us, by applying their talents and efforts to what they believe in, may not become a Martin Luther King, Jr. or a Bobby Kennedy or a Betty Friedan or a Nelson Mandela?" (pg. 219)

"I'm not going to make myself a martyr. But I am going to keep trying to live my life deliberately. For most of my forty-five years I didn't try hard enough. I got too paralyzed by this question of whether I was the type of person who could make a difference. Finally, during the year of the project, I realized that's the wrong question. The real question is whether I'm the type of person who wants to try." (pg. 224)

~~~
Colin's blog link: http://noimpactman.typepad.com/

Being Perfect

27 Sep 2010
Rachel Olsen

"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence." 1 Peter 1:3 (ESV)

There's a moment I dread when going to the doctor for a check-up. It's not putting on that tissue paper rectangle they mistakenly call a "gown." It's not having my finger pricked for blood tests - though I'm really squeamish about that. It's the moment right after the nurse finishes her questions, grabs her clip board, and announces the doctor will be in to see me shortly. Pulling the door closed behind her, she leaves me alone with it.

I already know what it's going to say about me; I've read it before. It's going to say that I don't measure up. That I'm not reaching my potential. That I don't equal my ideal. It's the height/weight chart that declares the perfect weight for my height – and I'm several pounds away.

It extends no mercy. It offers no grace. It makes no allowances for how old I am, how many babies I've birthed, or the fact that my husband can eat three plates of food every night without gaining an ounce. It demands perfection.

A few years ago I heard a verse that seemed to be the scriptural equivalent of the height/weight chart. A single verse to measure my worth against, and feed my expectations for perfection: "But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48, NIV)

I figured this verse justified dressing my family in matching sweaters, in the middle of July, to take the Christmas card photo because I'd just gotten the perfect haircut. I figured it warranted pricey tooth whitening treatments because I drink coffee and tea, and it shows. And I figured it would be my defense when I drove my family nuts about deep-cleaning the entire house because my new friend said she might stop by.

While the verse came in handy when I needed to justify my quest for perfect teeth, perfect photos or a perfectly clean house, it added to my disappointment, guilt and occasional loathing when my life, body or family didn't match the ideal notions in my head. Rather than fostering perfection, it fueled my self-criticism. Surely this is not what Jesus intended!

In the years since hearing that verse, I've embraced a core conviction that goes like this: If God created life, He alone gets to define it . This conviction drove me to find out what exactly Jesus meant by "be perfect."

Matthew wrote this verse. And the word he used in the ancient Greek language means something a little different than Mr. Webster's English definition. The Greek word here is teleos and it means "complete, full grown, developing."

The first two pieces of that definition indicate something already accomplished, while the third indicates an ongoing process. So this perfection Jesus prescribes for us is already complete and yet still developing. Complete in Him; still at work in us. We're allowed to be a work-in-progress!
All parts of this definition, however, refer to maturity of character, rather than a flawless figure, immaculate home, or the faultless execution of a task. Jesus just doesn't care so much if there's dust on our mantle, a stain on our teeth, or a scratch on our car. He isn't interested in how well our bedspread matches our curtains; He's interested in our spiritual maturity. Jesus teaches I will not find my worth in my ability to reach my perfect weight or accomplish my to-do list flawlessly, but in the fact that I am learning to reflect His character. To graciously give and receive love.

That's good news for a recovering perfectionist. Plus, as John writes in 1 John 3:18-19 of The Message: "My dear children, let's not just talk about love; let's practice real love. This is the only way we'll know we're living truly, living in God's reality. It's also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it."

Dear Lord, thank You for grace! Thank You for mercy! Thank You for empowering me to be like You as I submit to Your Word. And thank You for not caring about dust bunnies or stained shirts. Help me to care less about those things as well and focus my heart more on You. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Application Steps:
Spend time reading through the gospels, noticing what concerned Jesus and what did not.

Reflections:
What surface-level thing(s) have you been worrying over lately?

If it's not about your character, let it go as imperfect and rest in God's grace today.

Power Verses:
Philippians 3:8-9, "More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith," (NASB)

3900 Saturdays

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the garage with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those Lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it:

I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band on my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap net. Along the way, I came across an older sounding chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know the kind, he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whom-ever he was talking with something about 'a thousand marbles..' I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say....

Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. It's too bad you missed your daughter's 'dance recital' he continued. 'Let me tell you something that has helped me keep my own priorities.' And that's when he began to explain his theory of a 'thousand marbles.'

'You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years.'

'Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900, which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now, stick with me, Tom, I'm getting to the important part.

It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail', he went on, 'and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays.' 'I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy. So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round up 1000 marbles I took them home and put them inside a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear.'

'Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away. I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life.

'There's nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight .'

'Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure that if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time.. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time.'

'It was nice to meet you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet you again here on the band. This is a 75 Year old Man, K9NZQ, clear and going QRT, good morning!'

You could have heard a pin drop on the band when this fellow signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to work on the antenna that morning, and then I was going to meet up with a few hams to work on the next club newsletter.

Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. 'C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast.' '

What brought this on?' she asked with a smile. '

Oh, nothing special, it's just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. And hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles.


And so, as one smart bear once said.....'If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you.' - Winnie the Pooh.

Help to Get & Stay Organized

Secrets of the Organized
by Jill Cooper

Could these 9 tools change your life?

1. Never stop picking up. Try picking up during TV commercials or while you are waiting for something to boil on the stove. You will be amazed how much you can get done in five minutes. Have the entire family spend five minutes picking up the family room or living room before they go to bed. Set a timer for young kids, so they don't get overwhelmed. If your family members go to bed at different times, then have each member pick up his or her items before bedtime. Once this becomes a habit, you will be amazed how much easier picking up becomes.

2. Stop making messes. Keep a trash can in every room. No one likes carrying one small piece of trash from the family room to the kitchen, so it usually ends up on the floor. Keep small trash cans everywhere. In our office, we have two trash cans, one next to the desk for throwing away regular office trash and one next to the shipping table for throwing away envelope tabs, extra invoices and other shipping trash. If you need two trash cans in a room, put them in there. Make it easy to keep things clean. Throw that sticky food wrapper straight into the trash. Don't lay it on the counter to make another mess that needs to be wiped up later. Don't lay that dirty spoon on the counter. Rinse it and put it in the sink or dishwasher. As you're undressing, don't throw your dirty clothes on the floor or on the furniture. While they are still in your hand, put them in the hamper, or if they're still clean, hang them up. Keep the hamper close to where you undress at night. If it is convenient, you will be more likely to use it. Before you leave the bathroom, hang your wet towel on the rod. Don't drop it on the floor or leave it in a pile.

3. Think ahead. What are you having for dinner? Are the kid's papers signed and ready for school? What clothes are you wearing tomorrow?

4. Never, Never Procrastinate. Keep straightening things all the time. For example, when you put away groceries and you see that the cans of soup have fallen over, take two seconds to re-stack them. When you put linens or clothes in their drawers, make sure everything in those drawers is neatly stacked. Pick up as you go. Each time you walk through a room, pick up something.

5. Stop thinking about it! Just do it. Train family members to rinse their own dishes and stack them in the sink (or better yet to put them directly into the dishwasher). It may take a while to develop this habit. For kids, you may want to do something like charge each member a dime for every dish not rinsed or make them responsible for doing all the dishes for a week. Remember Thomas Edison? What if he had given up after his first 5, 10, or 100 light bulbs? Where would we be now if he had thrown up his hands and quit at his first failures? The same is true with getting and staying organized. Keep practicing and you will create a productive new habit.

6. Attitude, Attitude, Attitude. Stop dreading taking care of your home and start taking pride and pleasure in it. Think of an organized home as a special gift of peace and pleasure that you are giving your family. A disorganized one causes turmoil and frustration. Besides, you probably spend more time worrying about it than it would take to clean it.

7. Use rooms for their intended purposes. Don't let kids get undressed in the family room. That's why they have bedrooms. Eat food at the kitchen table or bar, not in bed. This alone can save a huge number of messes. Fold laundry in the laundry room immediately after taking it out of the dryer and put it away immediately.

8. Be a wise steward of your time. If you see something that needs to be clean, clean it as soon as possible. If something doesn't need to be cleaned, don't waste your time. If there is no dust, don't just dust because you dust every Saturday. Don't overbook yourself volunteering at schools, churches or charities. Learn to say "no." Notice that I didn't say don't do these things at all, just control how much you do so they don't take over your life. Don't overbook your children with their activities, either. Get rid of fruitless activities. Many of us spend way too much time talking on the phone, watching TV, shopping unnecessarily or killing time on the computer. These are all time robbers when you devote a lot of time to them.

9. Keep on top of things. If you do small cleanings every day, you'd be surprised how much you can accomplish. In ten-minute increments, you can do each of the following: wash the dishes, vacuum, file a pile of papers or clean your purse. It shouldn't take more than ten minutes for each child to pick up his room before bed and to lay out his clothes for the morning. Don't let the laundry, dishes, toys and paperwork get out of control.

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