Scheduling Matters

Today I went and spoke at my church to a group of wonderful ladies about creating sanctuary in our homes. Most of the material that I used was borrowed from what I have learned from Rachel Anne over at Home Sanctuary. What I realized as I was putting together my notes last night for my talk today is that I have virtually taken everything that I have learned from her about peace, order, and beauty, and adapted it to be my own.

Over the years I have read many books on organization. I've tried lots of different "systems" and developed my own methods by trial and error. What I have arrived at (at least for this season in my life) was not something I came up with over night. I spend time on it every year (at least once a year) evaluating what still works for me, and what needs to be changed.

If you're reading this and you're thinking that it's time to take some steps of your own to work out a reasonable housekeeping schedule, then I would recommend visiting Rachel Anne over at Home Sanctuary. Don't try to do all the steps in one day. It will just seem overwhelming. Walk through them one step at a time, one day at time. It's worth the initial time investment to arrive at a doable, "real world" housekeeping schedule.

Thanks, Rachel, for all of your inspiration and encouragement!

Puzzling Matters

I have a husband who is a puzzle addict. It started small. 500 pieces or so. No big deal. A nice family activity as we sat together and completed the puzzle in one sitting. Then, one day while he was on vacation, he came home with a 1500 piece puzzle that took over our table and lives. Honestly, 1500 pieces! Well, we finished it (with the help of some friends on New Year's Day) and it felt good. There was a sense of satisfaction when it was all done. We put all the pieces back in the box and reclaimed the table for other activities...or so I thought.

The same friends that helped us with that puzzle brought us a new one! This one had the same amount of pieces and was by the same person, only it was a lot harder. That's it in the picture...a big mesh of buildings and trees! Everything seemed to blend together with many of the pieces similar in color. But oh, we were determined.

We settled in last weekend and finally finished it last night. That is, all but one piece. See it, missing in this picture? My DH looked and looked, but it is nowhere to be found. Our friends bought it second hand, so the piece could have been gone from the start, or it could have been lost somewhere here. (I do have 5 kids, after all.)

Why would I blog about such a insignificant subject matter as puzzles? I'm glad you asked! Yesterday when we were in the final stages of the puzzle, I was reminded of a sermon that our Pastor gave one day. As we walked into the sanctuary, each of us was handed a piece of a puzzle. He explained himself by sharing how ONE piece in our hands doesn't mean much, but all of them put together makes a beautiful, complete puzzle. (No, he didn't make us put it together, he just showed us a picture of it on the overhead.)

Anyway, there we were last night, trying to make some sort of sense out of all the green pieces we'd been staring at for hours, when my husband just smacked a piece down on the table and said with humor "There! It fits!" We both laughed as he tried to force the piece into the gap. As funny as that sounds, don't we do that with life sometimes? We come to a place of uncertainty, where everything looks fuzzy, and try to make - no, try to FORCE, something to fit? Not knowing where the pieces fit in can be very unsettling.

Other times, we pick up just the right piece and presto! It fits just perfectly. Regardless of whether the pieces seem to come together easily, or take a little more time and patience, (maybe with the help of a friend and some new perspective) there is one thing that I know to be true of life. God knows the big picture before we even begin to see it. He is like the picture on the box that we have to keep looking to in order to see the final picture. Look to Him when life seems puzzling. Things will fall in place eventually. Unlike our puzzle with one missing piece, God has all the pieces. And eventually, they will all come together to make the beautiful picture that He has created just for us to enjoy.

Psalm 139:16 (Amplified Version) "Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days [of my life] were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them."

10 at 10 for 2010

I'm not really one to make New Year's Resolutions, so we'll call this one a fun mommy son activity instead. :)

After looking at my schedule and trying to fit in exercise, I decided to take 10 minutes to do some form of Yoga, cardio, or strength training on my Wii Fit Plus three days a week. My youngest son is a big fan of boxing on Wii, so I told him that three days a week we would exercise together. It's a fun way to get some of his energy out while the weather is poor, and in a strange way, it holds me accountable to keep moving.

I'll start with 10 minutes and increase the amount of time I spend from there. Why 10:00am? Because I watch a 1 year old and that's when he goes down for nap. There you have it. 10 minutes at 10:00am to become more fit in 2010.

What do you do to fit exercise into your schedule?

Comfort, comfort my people...

As the year draws to a close I have been feeling a little restless. This morning I happened to read Isaiah chapter 40, and somehow, I feel peace again. I believe I am going to make this my inspirational chapter for 2010. I can't think of a better way to conclude my 2009 blog posts than with Scripture, so I thought I'd share it here with you.

¹ Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.

² Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the LORD's hand
double for all her sins.

³ A voice of one calling:
"In the desert prepare
the way for the LORD;
make straight in the wilderness
a highway for our God.

⁴ Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.

⁵ And the glory of the LORD will be revealed,
and all mankind together will see it.
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

⁶ A voice says, "Cry out."
And I said, "What shall I cry?"
"All men are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.

⁷ The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the LORD blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.

⁸ The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God stands forever."

⁹ You who bring good tidings to Zion,
go up on a high mountain.
You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem,
lift up your voice with a shout,
lift it up, do not be afraid;
say to the towns of Judah,
"Here is your God!"

¹⁰ See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power,
and his arm rules for him.
See, his reward is with him,
and his recompense accompanies him.

¹¹ He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.

¹² Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
or weighed the mountains on the scales
and the hills in a balance?

¹³ Who has understood the mind of the LORD,
or instructed him as his counselor?

¹⁴ Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him,
and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge
or showed him the path of understanding?

¹⁵ Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are regarded as dust on the scales;
he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.

¹⁶ Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires,
nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.

¹⁷ Before him all the nations are as nothing;
they are regarded by him as worthless
and less than nothing.

¹⁸ To whom, then, will you compare God?
What image will you compare him to?

¹⁹ As for an idol, a craftsman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and fashions silver chains for it.

²⁰ A man too poor to present such an offering
selects wood that will not rot.
He looks for a skilled craftsman
to set up an idol that will not topple.

²¹ Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood since the earth was founded?

²² He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

²³ He brings princes to naught
and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.

²⁴ No sooner are they planted,
no sooner are they sown,
no sooner do they take root in the ground,
than he blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

²⁵ "To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One.

²⁶ Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one,
and calls them each by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.

²⁷ Why do you say, O Jacob,
and complain, O Israel,
"My way is hidden from the LORD;
my cause is disregarded by my God"?

²⁸ Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

²⁹ He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

³⁰ Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

³¹ but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! God bless you in 2010!

I Heard the Bells...the Story Behind the Song

As I was reading my Advent Devotional this morning, my heart was touched by the story behind the song "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." The song was written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on Christmas Day, 1863. He wrote it out of heartache and anger.

In 1861, His wife died in a tragic accident. Her gown caught fire one night and she died the next morning. Longfellow was also badly burned in effort to put out the flames. That same year the Civil War broke out. Two years later, his 16 year old son that had run away to join the Civil Army was severely injured in the war and sent home.

Here is the poem that he wrote in his despair:

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound the carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn, the households born
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

You can see how the sorrow and gloom of the war and the loss of his wife lingers in stanzas two, three, and four.

But he didn't stop there. Catching an eternal perspective and the real message of Christmas and Christ Himself, he wrote two more stanzas:

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men."

Till ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Maybe you too, are mourning this Christmas as Longfellow did many years ago. Perhaps you may have a son or daughter in the military that is absent from you, or someone close to you that you have recently lost. Or maybe you just need to feel the peace that comes from celebrating Christ's birth. Whatever your situation, I pray that you will capture the true meaning of Christmas, and hear the bells ringing in your heart "peace on earth, good will to men."

Merry Christmas From our Household to Yours!

My friend recently created this card for us and I thought it was perfect to share here. Thanks, A!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

Emmanuel, God With Us

For the past 5 weeks our church as been doing a series called "Moments with the Master." It has been all about moments in scripture where different people had life changing encounters with Jesus. We started with the scene of Jesus on the cross, and worked backward to today, the Birth of Jesus. Each week everyone was handed a circle as we walked into the sanctuary, and each week we wrote on them our own moments with the Master and posted them up on the wall.

Today, we were shown how God can take all of our hardships, our prayers, and our brokenness, and turn them into something beautiful. During the message, all of our post-its were transformed into something marvelous. The giant murals were finished and we sang the worship song "God With Us" by Mercy Me. I took a picture, but it hardly captures the moment. Look closely. Can you see the picture of Jesus on one wall, and the star on the other?

Matthew 1:22-23 "Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,

'Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.'"

God be with you and bless you this Christmas and in the upcoming year.
~Melissa