working in the Word

As I was preparing a devotional post this morning the thought came to me that the teaching involved was a hard one to accept by the nominal Christian. On the heels of that I wondered how many people would really sit and read with concentration when the teaching hit too close to home. The tendency might be to skim it quickly and when it prickles the conscience say to ourselves, “I don’t have time to read this today.” So we page on past to something that is warm and fuzzy.

We read a few days ago about Jesus’ hard words. (“Are We Resistant In Following?’) In that devotion it was pointed out to us that often we simply don’t hear the hard things Jesus speaks to us. We seem to feel that “what we don’t know won’t hurt us.” And we keep ourselves from knowing by turning a deaf ear.

We not only do that when the still small voice speaks to us in our study time or when the pastor preaches a sermon about one of our little pet habits, we also do it when we should be studying the Word to discover what God has for us. We avoid reading those scriptures or devotionals that will make us feel our willfulness or disobedience. The flesh is very clever at finding ways to avoid knowing and doing God’s Will. Unfortunately, with a Just God, this simply isn’t acceptable. He requires that we demonstrate His good and acceptable and perfect will. (be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God Romans 12:2) To demonstrate that perfect will requires that we seek it out. In many, many pulpits today the message is one of social platitudes and love for our fellow man. The hard things of the Word are never mentioned or even consciously avoided.

Following God and doing His Will requires a dedication and conscious application of our mind to finding out His ways and His desires for us. We often speak of the injunction “Work for the night is coming.” (John 9:4)
Work, for the night is coming,
Work through the morning hours;
Work while the dew is sparkling,
Work ’mid springing flowers;
Work when the day grows brighter,
Work in the glowing sun;
Work, for the night is coming,
When man’s work is done.

We think of this as laboring in the harvest field winning souls for Christ, but I suggest that before we can labor in the mission field we must first labor at making ourselves totally familiar with the Word and all God has for us to do. We can not preach the message of salvation to others if we have not fully submitted to it ourselves.

We must work to show ourselves approved unto God, an able workman. This comes by studying the hard words as well as the warm fuzzies. If we consider the hard teachings as the meat and vegetables of our literal diet and the warm-fuzzies as the desserts and sweets we see the comparison immediately. We all love the sweet stories of love and goodness displayed by God toward men. We love hearing the charming stories of someone displaying the love of God to his fellow men. But just as we cannot grow and prosper as a human being on a constant diet of desserts and sweets, even though they are pleasing and good, neither can we prosper spiritually on the sweets of life. We must have the meats and vegetables if we are to be healthy. Spiritually we must study and consume the hard things of the Word—the teachings that point out our shortcomings and the places where we are falling short of God’s standard. The things that we may not have known before cannot remain ‘unknown’ because we are instructed to search the scriptures to find out everything God wants of us.

pickled beets

Okay, I'm giggling this morning. A friend of mine posted a recipe on her blog for 'stove top meatloaf." It was a great idea. You just make your regular meat loaf recipe, but instead of putting it in a pan and roasting it, you flatten it out to almost a hamburger thickness and then cook it slowly in a skillet! Is that fantastic or what. For those of us that cook for one or two people it saves those couple hours of hot oven. And besides, when I was working all day, no matter how much I wanted meat loaf, even if I remembered to make it early in the morning, (yeah, like that happened when the moon turned blue!) I didn't feel like cooking it at five o'clock in the afternoon. This way you can make as much as you want and cook it on top of the stove in two jiffies!

That got me started thinking. My son-in-law loves boiled eggs pickled in beet juice. I love pickled beets. Now my mom used to make the best pickled beets in the world, but it took ALL DAY and required a garden row of beets and skinning and quartering and boiling vinegar and spices and sugar and packing them in jars and then cold packing again to seal the pints. A lot of work. And she always had a garden to produce the beets. I don't have a garden so I don't have beets. Or fresh tomatoes. Or corn. Or cucumbers. Or string beans. Or fresh lettuce. Or green onions. Or peas. sigh*****

So how to get pickled beets without all that work-that was my dilemna. I rolled it around in my brain probably for years and one day inspiration hit. You know those bread and butter pickles you get at Krogers, or Stop n Shop or where ever you buy your groceries. You eat all the pickles and pour out the juice.... I mean, what else can you do with it. My inspiration was to make pickled beets with it!

When the pickles are gone put the jar of pickling solution back in the fridge until you get a can of beets. The sliced kind work best, but the little baby whole beets work too. When you open the can pour about 3/4 of the beet juice off and then pour the beets and remaining juice in the pickle jar with the pickling solution. Put the lid back on and park it in the fridge for a couple days. Voila! A jar of pickled beets my mom wouldn't be able to tell from her own. (Well, maybe if I forgot to peel the bread-n-butter pickle label off she could guess...)

I made pickled beets this way all the time I was living alone in Dover. When I moved here with R&M I kinda forgot about it.

Since I started getting up and making sure Michael had hot coffee and something hot for breakfast, I've also been packing his lunch.... hmm. (Well, phooey. He'd been packing his own. What man packs a decent lunch? Ho-ho's, cold French fries and bag of cheetos..oh yeah.) Oh well. Anyway. Last week we ran short of 'extras' for his lunch. We had sandwich materials, but that's not much for a guy who works with iron all day. Then I remembered the pickled beets and eggs!

As luck would have it we had a jar of bread-n-butter pickles that was almost empty. Problem solved. I made sure we had the pickles out as dinner time and like magic the pickles were gone. I snagged the juice jar. We already had canned beets so it took about two minutes to make 'pickled beets.' I also added two boiled eggs to the beet jar. The next day after that I sent a pickled pink egg in Michael's lunch. The result: one surprised and happy son-in-law. How easy.

Leave the eggs in the beets for at least two days if you like the pink to penetrate to the center of the egg. One day doesn't make all the white pink.

Like I told my friend, sometimes I wonder why it took me so long to come up with a great idea!

...and in the morning it shall be light

Notah took this series of photos early one morning in New Mexico. They are a sequence of the sunrising over the Manzano Mountains. The top one is the earliest and they progress to the moment the sun pops over the mountains. The focal point changes slightly from one to the next since he snapped them over a span of several minutes and didn't stand at exactly the same angle each time. But it's easy to orient yourself to the pictures.

I picked them off his photobucket account and attached the scriptures to them. I hope everyone else gets thejoy from them as I have.

oh I want to see him

I love living for the Lord. I love having a Savior that you can meet with any time. I'm not sure what it was that started my mind down this road, but here I am, sitting in my nightgown having "church." Isn't that great! Isn't it great we don't have to be in a beautiful church to meet with Him? Isn't it great we don't have to go through a priest or a minister? He is as close as a quiet petition or a dip into the Word of God.

So, here it is, just after one in the morning. I was asleep from about nine oclock, then about forty-five minutes ago, I woke up and got ready for bed. lol And now that I'm read for bed, I'm wide awake and having "church"

I've been thinking on the song, Oh, I Want to See Him!

Oh, I want to see Him Look upon His face,

there to sing forever of His Saving Grace,

On the streets of glory, Let me lift my voice,

Cares all gone, home at last, ever to rejoice.

How fantastic will that be.

I never remember the first verse until after the fact for some reason, but the second verse goes:

When in service for my Lord, dark may be th enight.

But I'll cling more close to Him, He will give me light.

Satan's snares may vex my soul, turn my thoughts aside,

But my Lord leads me on, leads what ere betide.

What's great about serving the Lord is that we don't have to wait to see a counselor or a priest or until we can get to a hushed and sacred church building to pray, He is right there with us. No matter how dark or sad or confusing life might be, we can just pull up closer to Him and we can see our way through. I think the reason we see so many "Christians" in difficulty with their walk is because they are still relegating the Savior to a specific building or service. And when Satan's snares spring up in their path, they are at a loss because suddenly they need help but the church building is across town and the preacher is not at home. How great is it that Jesus can be with us constantly and we can converse/commune with him all the time! Even in the middle of the night when the church buildings are closed up and the pastors, and preachers and priests are all gone to bed.

And another verse says:

When before me billows rise, from the stormy deep,

Then my Lord directs my bark, He doth safely keep.

And He leads me gently on through this world below.

He's a real friend to me Oh! I love Him so!

Too many times we want to put the Lord off somewhere in the heavens or relegate His Presence to a special holy place. But when we do that He is too far off when we need Him, Yes, He is 'high and lifted up.' Yes, He is the Creator of the Universe. Yes, He is the Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Yes, we call Him Wonderful and Counselor. And yet, and yet, He desires to dwell with us, to be in us! The old covenent that put a separation between Man and God has been done away with by His blood. WE can have what the patriarchs only dreamed of and yearned after!

Now He has established an intimate relationship with His People. He writes His law in our hearts and our minds. Now it is not recorded on some tablet of stone, sitting in a tabernacle waiting to be read by a priest. NO! Now it is with us constantly. And the very Savior of All Mankind comes in and sits down and we commune with Him and He with us on a constant and daily basis! We don't have to wait for a special place or service or sacrifice by a certain priest to have fellowship or petition for help. He is right there with us! Or at least He wants to be. If we will allow Him to be.

And when we wake up at midnight and focus our thoughts toward Him and His Word, He is right there to bless us and give us the fellowship of communing with Him.

See why I love this Life for the Lord!

how to fake a clean house

I just read the cutest website. I'm not sure if it was serious or teasing, but it might come in handy some day... Every once in a while we find out someone is coming and panic because our house isn't quite what we'd like it to be. Here're are a few hints. I'm not posting it all, but some ideas are kind of handy.

How To Fake a Clean House by Kathleen Squires
When you're short on time here's how to give your living spaces the illusion of cleanliness.

IN THE LIVING ROOM

~Reserve one side of the sofa cushions to be shown to guests. Just as guests arrive flip the cushions over to show the 'good-as new" fabric. When the guests leave flip them back down and keep them clean.

To rid the sofa and chair backs of pet hair, wear a rubber glove. Dampen the fingers and wipe the upholstry. The pet hair will cling to the damp rubber.

~Stack scattered books and magazines in a neat pile or in a basket at the end of the sofa.

~Pull the sheer drapes closed over the windows to disguise kiddy smudged window panes. Other times leave them pulled back.

~Fold a clean blanket and put it over the stained cushions on chairs or sofa.

IN THE KITCHEN

~ If the sink is full of dirty dishes, stack them in a stew pot or roaster and put them in the cupboard until the company is gone and then you'll have time to wash them. Drape any dirty dish cloths or towels over the pot.

Hang clean dish towels over the oven handle or on the bar. Fold the stained side to the back. Tidy and clean-no effort.

~Cover any lingering aroma of cooking by boiling a spoonful of nutmeg or cinnamon or cloves or orange peel in a small pan of water! Instant aroma-therapy says 'welcome' !

~De-clutter your refrigerator by scooping all the notes, photos, coupons and magnets into a ziplock bag and put it in a drawer. Later you can put it back. Instant neatness!

THE BATHROOM

~Glide a sticky lint roller over the bath mat to pick up any loose hair or lint fluff.

~Pull down any damp towels. Use them to wipe flat surfaces that collect dust, then hang them on the hook behind the door. Hang a fluffy robe over them. Clean and neat.

~ Put clean guest towels out. Instant neatness.

~Any scattered brushes, or cosmetics can be heaped in a basket on the back of the toilet. Neat and decorative.

~Turn the light off but light a couple candles. Candles are pretty and everything looks nicer by candle light. Neat and cozy.

*************

Now I know we all try to keep our houses clean and straightened up. And I'm not a proponent of sloppy housekeeping, but be honest, sometimes we get surprise company when we wish we'd had time to clean before they came. It happens to all of us.

These few hints can be accomplished between the time we see them pull up outside and they get to the door. Especially if you plan your route sometime when you're really cleaning. You can devise a plan of action that involves the shortest way through your house.

This certainly won't substitute for good housekeeping, but it will help us relax a bit when somebody comes unexpectedly. Wish I'd thought of it about 30 years ago when I had two kids and a dad to take care of and a full time job. There were plenty of times when people came and cleaning day was two days past. These ideas would have helped me feel a lot better. LOL We had a long walk and about 15 steps from the pull-off to the front door. I could have accomplished a lot!

six in the morning

Well, lookee here! It's six o'clock in the morning and I'm all bright eyed and bushy tailed! Today appears that it will be more profitable than yesterday. Now don't anybody think I'm gonna move mountains or shake the world. My busy days usually consist in letting the dogs in and out, having Bible study and posting on the devotional and study groups where I'm a member, washing a few (a very few) dishes. If Rachael brings me a basket-full of clothes, I'll fold them or do a little hand sewing, but it is never anything that requires standing or walking around for very long at all. I can walk to the kitchen, get Rachael's eggs set to boil, turn on the coffee pot and assemble the makings of Michael's lunch.

Then I have to sit down for a while and make the sandwich, etc. This isn't because I'm tired or breathless, but only because that is about as long as I can stand until my knees begin hurting badly enough that I have to allow them to rest.

I watch Rachael running around here after work, straightening and vacuuming, carrying laundry, getting supper started, shooing the dogs, doing all the myriad of things necessary to keep a good house, step, step, step, bend, stoop, stoop, bend, up and down, step, step, run. I can remember the days when I used to do that, but those days are past. We take the functioning of our bodies so much for granted when it all works right. I am a little in awe when I see people hustling around on knees that are working smoothly, it seems almost like a dream or imaginary story.

Michael has a pair of pants laying on my dresser that he wants me to put another button on. Only I don't have a button that is large enough or the right color. I have a night gown that needs the seam stitched back. Maybe I'll get to those today if I can track down a button. I keep thinking I'm going to ask Rachael to get me a couple extra spools of thread so I can match the material a little better. I have gray thread and white--I really can't fix black buttons on blaack pants with gray thread...hmm it will look a little strange. I don't care that much about the nightgown, if I watch what I'm doing I can conceal the gray thread among the gathers and lacy parts. And after all, the point for me is to keep the nightgown together, not to have any one admire the color match. lol

You know, hand sewing is almost a thing of the past--in fact mending is almost a thing of the past. People today don't fix things; they just throw them away and get something new. When I first moved down here with R & M within just a few days I had a pile of things that they asked if I could mend for them. Michael had saved his things because they were his favorites. (I think he was hoping that a clothes fairy would wave her magic wand and they would be miraculously whole again! He certainly had no idea of how to fix them!) Rachael had saved hers because she knew they were repairable but she was too clumsey with a needle and thread to do it.

When Mom came the problem was solved. I had seams on t-shirts and pretty blouses, snagged and torn sweaters, jackets with torn pockets and a pile of jeans that each needed a button on the waist. Rachael's sewing box consisted of her grandma's little antique compact with two needles and a half dozen straight pins and a couple spools of thread. Mine was packed away. But I made do. If you stitch carefully enough even mismatched thread can be hidden when you repair a seam. Of course, Rachael still doesn't sew very well because Mom's here to do it. Maybe she's hoping it will just ooze into her pores if she watches me.

Well, in a very few minutes I have to go and have a bite ready for Michael to eat so I'd better get off here for the time being. Don't get the idea this is a 'have to' kind of thing. I do it because I enjoy it and it's one of the few things I can do as far as housekeeping is concerned. When I say "have to" it is a time constraint kind of thing not a response to anyone's demands.

lazy day

I've had the laziest day today, didn't do diddly. Now granted I don't usually rush all around. It isn't possible to rush around on crutches, but I generally do something profitable! I woke up early as usual, and trekked on out to get Rachael a bite to eat and fix Michael's lunch. I DID stay up until Rachael got going, then I left Michael's lunch pak on the counter--all packed--and put his strudel in the toaster. All that had to be done was pour the coffee and push the handle down on the toaster. And here is the pathetic part, I went back in my sitting room and sat down and snoozed! That hardly ever happens.

Notah called a little while later on his way to work. That is a big red highlight to my day. We never talk about earth moving things but I love when he calls. Thank goodness for verizon wireless and their network. the hours I spend on the phone with him and Kerra would break my very small bank. I have to feel so sorry for mothers in the days before cell phones and even regular telephones. I think of my mother-in-law whose children scattered all over and she only got to be with them when they came home. Louie moved to Ohio and she went months without seeing him. Others moved to Arizona and Colorado. Of course, with no phones on the reservation she could never talk with him. And not just her but all the mothers who must have grieved to think about their kids so far out of touch. My heart would truly break if I couldn't talk with Notah regularly--three or four times a week. Thank the Lord for verizon wireless and their free minutes to other verizon customers!

I didn't take my shower until two oclock and just a short while later Rachael came home from work!

Tomorrow will be better.

see what I can do!

For a long time I have been a little envious of those who can create graphics 'out of thin air.' I know how to copy and paste and I have a group of friends who create these neat graphics and post them to be "snagged" into my album. Yeah, yeah. I can "talk the talk," but I haven't a clue how to 'walk the walk" Give me a pencil or paint and I can create picture from scratch, but I can't do it on the computer...

Not until I found this website, FotoFlexer. ( http://fotoflexer.com/ ) Different people had recommended sites to me, but they all required that you pay to download the program. I didn't want to pay for something I wasn't sure I would be able to use. I know the computer geeks tell us that anybody can work their program, but I have news for them. I can't even follow their simplified directions. Part of it is that I'm a complete illiterate at understanding computers. And part of it is that they know computers so thoroughy that even when they try to simplify the directions, they are still assuming I know things that I don't. And all those letters- URL, http, jpg- what is THAT all about. For them these basics are so common that they don't realize that the stupids of us have never even dreamed of them.

Anyway, I found this free use site, FotoFlexer. And very timidly I worked thorugh their first "edit a sample photo" with one of the three photos they supplied. I could do it! Then I got a little braver. The button below the sample pictures said, "edit photos from your computer." I have a wealth of photos on my computer so, brave one, I tried! How fantastic! Now I know how to take one of my photos, add a text, scripture, saying, or greeting and save it to post here, there or the other place.

I was so excited that I lost the very first one I did. I forgot to save it before I went on to try again, but here is the second.

While I'm thinking about it.. I used the phrases talk the talk and walk the walk earlier. I've heard this used so frequently by religious folks. They say you have to talk the talk and walk the walk. But they have no idea what walking the walk means. They talk about salvation and how Jesus can change our lives and make a difference. They know all the pat phrases and you can almost recognize their denominational background as soon as they open their mouths. But then when we look at their life, it is no different from their old life except that every chance they get they begin quoting scripture and encouraging you to 'be born again' and 'accept Christ as you personal Savior'

Now even sinners can tell the difference between a hypocrit and a true child of God. In fact they are probably much better at it that many Christians. The problem is some individuals make so much noise talking the talk, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth of the sinner who says to himself, "Why should I accept Christ when they don't live any different that I do?" And you know, they have a point.

Living the life (walking the walk) has a much much greater impact on people than all the talking anyone could ever do. One of the scriptures that has always impacted strongly on my life was Peter's admonition: be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. The phrase that my that holds my attention is being ready "to give an answer" for the hope within us. This to me, implies that walking the walk comes first. If we are walking the walk, then sinners are going to want to know why.

We get all wrapped up in the fact that Jesus sent the disciples into all the world to preach the gospel. We get involved in the thought that we are to witness. We are supposed to testify of Jesus power. What we neglect to notice is that with the apostles and Christ and all the great ministers of God through the ages, the witnessing, the preaching, the testifying have followed their living a life for God.

We cannot get so involved in witnessing that we neglect to walk the walk. If we are to have any impact for the Lord in this world, we must live the life, walk the walk that is pleasing to God. Trust me when I say, that godly life will be a witness without your ever saying a word.

It is a beautiful day here today. After days of humidity and heat, we had 68 degrees last night. When I opened the door for the dogs this morning they bounced out like they were on springs. Last night Michael played with Maxim and his frizbee in the yard. He chased it but it was so humid it seemed like he couldn't pant fast enough. This morning it was different-- cool and pleasant. I think I may have lunch on the deck today. It is so pretty.

Tomorrow is Michael's birthday. Rachael says things have improved over the years. He used to celebrate the event for the entire month. Then he gradually reduced it to a week and now they have it down to one weekend! His sister bought him tickets for a music concert in Cincinnati tonght. They are leaving as soon as he gets off work and showered to attend the concert and spend the night so they can come home fresh in the morning. THEN they are going to Zoombezi Lake on Saturday! It's a water park with slides and splashes and wave pools. How old did I say he is??? Hmmm. Ten maybe? LOL

So the dogs 'n' I will be holding down the fort by ourselves for a couple days.

Rachael's new assignment for Krogers is going well. They instituted a new computer program for all their stores. Lien accounting is a fairly straightforward system (as I gather from what she has said to me) from a bookkeeping angle, but it has a lot of precise steps to reach the end. And omitting one step or putting the numbers on the wrong line messes with the totals. This is one time when her dyslexia has stood her in good stead. Over the years she has been forced to be very precise and very organized in order because her mindreverses letters and numerals. To keep things straight she has learned to be very structured. And that is exactly what is required to work this system.

I'm proud of her. She and her partner/supervisor seem to be the only two trainers in the area who have the process down. They 'went live' in their own two stores and only two or three days into the kickoff period began getting calls and being sent to the other stores as trouble-shooters. They have run around to a lot of stores who had their own trainers, but who were so messed up that the store trainers couldn't get it straightened out. So my Rachael had to go do them! Yes! The other nice thing is that running to all those stores. makes for a fantastic mileage expense check!

I think I'll go get lunch and take it outside.

it's five oclock in the morning

Rachael had to be at work this morning at five o'clock. I know she is thirty years old and very capable of getting herself up and going, but hey, I'm usually awake so why not take a few minutes and make sure there's coffee and a bagel waiting for her when she comes downstairs. I know, but it's just a Mom-thing.

I did this for Rachael from almost the time I moved here. I didn't feel strange doing it for her because she was, after all, my daughter and of course I could say, "Here eat this, you can't go off to work on an empty stomach." I didn't feel quite so free about saying the same thing to Michael. He wasn't actually my real son and I wasn't sure I 'mothering him' would be acceptable. LOL

Then I found out he'd kind of like it, too! So now I got Rachael off and I have two hours till I send Michael off. I was generally up with Notah when I was in NM. Although I wasn't able to fix him breakfast. I made sure his coffee started cooking at three thirty. It was still nice to have that time with him.

Now I'm sitting here in the quiet with soft music playing, remembering old brother Runion teaching on Ecclesiastes 12 in an early morning prayer service during campmeeting when I was probably 18. He made the imagery come alive for me that morning. He must have been in his 70's then and that age seemed far away for me. Now it is only a few very few years off and I'm understanding more and more of what the "Preacher" was talking about. Especially I remember in these early mornings the portion about "ris[ing] up at the voice of the bird." After years of waking up at six in the morning and another 20 of getting out of bed at five, I'm still an early riser. In fact I wake up earlier now than ever.

It's funny. One would think that retirement would mean sleeping until ten. I guess the body establishes its own time clock after 60 years and just continues to operate on that schedule even if you don't have to get to work on time. It is nice though. I get to see my kids in the morning and know they have hot coffee and a bit of something in their tummies to start the day. but then it gives me this time in the quiet of the day.

It's nice.

showers

There shall be showers of blessing:

This is the promise of love;

There shall be seasons refreshing,

Sent from the Savior above.

Refrain:

Showers of blessing,

Showers of blessing we need:

Mercy-drops round us are falling,

But for the showers we plead.

There shall be showers of blessing,

Precious reviving again;

Over the hills and the valleys,

Sound of abundance of rain.

There shall be showers of blessing;

Send them upon us, O Lord;

Grant to us now a refreshing,

Come, and now honor Thy Word.

There shall be showers of blessing,

If we but trust and obey;

There shall be seasons refreshing,

If we let God have His way.

The day is winding down. Rachael and Michael are next door playing ping- pong. I've sitting here in the quiet, thinking my quiet thoughts, looking at some photos and remembering this song.

Sometimes my soul feels like a garden in the rain. the blessings from the Lord pour down over it and soak into my being. I don't even have to be in a "dry spell" to feel the enrichment and blessings. The showers of blessing are always welcomed and always the evidence of God's love. The times of refeshing always come and suddenly I realize I needed that! His mercy is always with us, but sometimes we need those showers.

I wish I could figure out how to do the videos here... I'd play the song for you. Meantime you can click on this...http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=1UOUfRTVJhg

oh my! it's good

Rachael came from work and brought me an Iced Caffe Americana (with cream and sugar) from Starbucks! Oh my goodness! Those are sooo good.

It is reallly ridiculous how expensive they are, but this is definitely a deal where "you get what you pay for" because they are the best coffee I've ever swallowed. It is fortunate that I don't have tons of money or I could easily become addicted.