Check This Out!!!

Hi y'all!  You need to go check out this website.  My close personal friend Angela (okay, so we have never met in person, but I love her anyway!), who has impeccable taste in art and fashion and decorating... has begun a new venture!  She has started this blog/website that is chock full of inspiration, color and pizazz.  I am in love with it, and I know you will be too!

Check it out: The Painted House.

Have fun!

Restored

It seems like Peter is often the topic of the pastor's sermon on the week after Easter. Poor Peter! He was so enthusiastic about how he would never EVER deny Jesus... as in "I will never do that, Lord, even if all of those other guys do!" And then what does he do? Denies knowing Jesus 3 times, just like Jesus told him he would.


So the topic of the pastor's sermon last weekend was restoration. These are the passages of scripture he used:

John 18:15-27
John 21:1-19
Psalm 51
Psalm 32


His 3 bullet points were:


*Brokenness can be a platform for usefulness.
--God wants restoration after you sin, not retribution -- He takes no delight in sin or the effects of sin. He doesn't want to make our lives miserable, He wants to make our character beautiful. Pastor Mike also pointed out that God doesn't want us to walk in comparison to other people, he wants us to walk focused on Christ.


*Love is the motivation for enduring faithfulness.
--Peter's brothers (the other disciples) were there with him on the boat (they all chose to go fishing with him and not leave him to fight his inner battle by himself). They loved him, and this made it easier for Peter to be faithful to the Lord. Jesus asked Peter "Do you love ME?" Not "Do you love the church?" or "Do you love serving?"... just "Do you love ME?" He then said...well, if you love me, "Feed my lambs...take care of my sheep." Not because of some sense of obligation, but just because he loved Jesus.


*People are our most significant investment.
--We need to "share the love" with other broken people. People can be "broken" for many reasons. Sometimes it is because of their own sin, and sometimes it is because of the effects of this sin-filled world that has affected their life in some way (cancer).

I don't know if any of this made sense to anyone reading it, but I know I was affected by this sermon and wanted to remember it, so I thought I'd type up my notes here so I would have them to look back on later. Read the passages of scripture. That might help! :-)

Fall Porches

http://theinspiredroom.net/2008/10/19/front-porches-a-fall-drive-by/

Check out this link for some great pictures of porches decorated for fall! We haven't gotten our pumpkin yet; we'll pick it up next weekend. We're getting a free one from Hen House for being CSA members! Yippee!! I can't wait. This will be the first year the boys have decorated a pumpkin. We may carve it, or we may paint it, or a little of both... should be fun!

You Tell on Yourself

You tell on yourself by the friends you seek,

By the very manner in which you speak,

By the way you employ your leisure time,

By the use you make of dollar and dime.

You tell what you are by the things you wear,

By the spirit in which you burdens bear,

By the kind of things at which you laugh,

By the records you play on the phonograph.

You tell what you are by the way you walk,

By the things of which you delight to talk,

By the manner in which you bear defeat,

By so simple a thing as how you eat.

By the books you choose from the well-filled shelf:

In these ways and more, you tell on yourself.

---Unknown

Originality

"Originality is not doing something no one else has ever done, but doing what has been done countless times with new life, new breath." -- Marie Chapian


I think this means that every time I fold a load of clothes or load the dishwasher for the third time today I can do it with originality. But how does one achieve originality?


Is it found by buying new things that make me happy to look at them? My new little white and green sauce cups from Crate and Barrel do that.


Is it found by doing my chores a different way each time I do them, or on a different day of the week every week? I have never kept a cleaning schedule, with the excuse that I could be more flexible if I wasn't tied down to doing a certain thing on a certain day.


Or is it found by just being happy and content in the midst of my chores, and letting the routine become a soothing part of my life? I believe that the men in my home would appreciate some order and routine.


I tend to lean toward the last option as the "right answer", if there is such a thing. It is the right answer for me, anyway. People are different, and I know that not everyone has my tendency to wait until something absolutely has to be done before doing it. Some people thrive on schedules, lists, routines, etc.


I have always believed that I would not be able to stick with a routine. And perhaps that is why I never have. Believing something about yourself changes many of the choices you make in life, and that can impact your life positively or negatively, depending on the belief.


Say I believe I am overweight. My thought pattern tends to be "Oh, I can't shop at that store, I'll never find anything that fits." But if I *believe* that I am losing weight, there is a smorgasboard of new opportunities that await me (and not just in the clothing department). I will say "Yes, it is a bit tight now, but I am losing weight, so it will fit perfectly in not too long!" or "My stomach is shrinking, so I'll pass up the triple bypass burger today because I couldn't possibly eat it all." Or maybe even "I need to go to the gym today because I really wouldn't want all of the work I've put in so far to go to waste!"

Wow, that was pretty motivating, huh?

Beautiful

Love the way
Winter's chill disappears into the sunny breeze.
Laughter rings as little ones skip lightly across chalk-colored driveways.
Grass softens and strengthens for the coming green.
Buds emerge from tree branches long held silent.

Love the way
Friends grow closer every day.
Husbands and wives find new ways to love.
Children learn new things about their world.
Distant relatives discover electronic communication.

Love the way
Warm whole wheat cookies smell fresh from the oven.
Small boys sleep away the afternoon.
Windows show tiny handprints.
Dishes are all clean and put away.

It's a Wonderful Life

Wow. I just got back from www.wilhoite.blogspot.com, and was reminded of my mortality. This young lady, who is married and the mother of a just barely one-year-old little boy, is struggling for her life with leukemia. She was just diagnosed in 2006. The doctors say she has only two months to live. Eight weeks. What would I do with only eight weeks to live? I think I'll go spend some time with Griffin now.

True Worth

"True worth is in being, not seeming -- in doing, each day that goes by, some little good -- not in dreaming of great things to do by and by."

Alice Cary