Friday Fitness & Funny!

Thoughtful Thursday: Weight of the World

I clean when I feel stressed.  I figure it's at least productive.  I'm usually listening to music...which equals one of my favorite games, the dissecting and musing over said music...Keeps me listening and thinking...And an old song by The Hollies came on the radio...

So on we go His welfare is of my concern 

No burden is he to bear We'll get there 

For I know He would not encumber me 

He ain't heavy, he's my brother

If I'm laden at all
I'm laden with sadness
That everyone's heart
Isn't filled with the gladness
Of love for one another

It's a long, long road
From which there is no return
While we're on the way to there
Why not share And the load
Doesn't weigh me down at all
He ain't heavy, he's my brother

I'm feeling this way about people lately...so disappointed.  Laden with sadness because people's hearts aren't filled with gladness and love for one another.  Mine included.  Been struck upside the head with a load of selfishness and pride.  Perhaps it's always more disappointing when we see it among Christians.  We should BEAR WITH ONE ANOTHER because of all that Christ has done for us!!...instead, it seems no one cares...at least not for longer than a few weeks....then they grow weary of it all.  We should be saying, "He's not heavy, he's my brother!  His welfare is of my concern."  I think the reason we stink at this so badly is because of our selfishness.  If we focused our eyes on Christ and saw Him as our source of power and strength...where the ability to bear up and support people comes from...than we would be renewed.  And, we'd do the right thing.

Sorry to be a downer but every post can't be sunshine and rainbows. 

On a happy note...my kitchen is now very clean...cupboards too!

Yellow Iris Hodgpodge

 

 

1. When is your next big deadline? What's it for?

Being a Domestic Engineer, most of my deadlines are self imposed...and I am my own worst boss.  I feel a sort of deadline with the school year ending and the summer starting.  I have things I'd like to get done without the kids...and prep for things to do with the kids!  May always feels crazee to me.
2. May is National Barbecue Month. Do you prefer cooking indoors or out? What's the best thing about a barbecue? What's the last thing you cooked on an outdoor grill?
I love cooking outside...less mess usually.  My husband would say that my grilled Salmon recipe is the best but I'm not a big fan of fish...so, I'd say my favorite is a nice, juicy steak with grilled zucchini and a crisp side salad.  I feel so much healthier this time of year...need to move somewhere where cooking outside year round is more possible!
3. What is one thing on your "never again" list?
I think that Loverbrains and I have agreed that we are NEVER AGAIN attempting the "get up at midnight and drive into the day" method of travel.  It ruins the first few days of vacation and is just downright scary to drive that tired.  Call me old or whatever but NEVER AGAIN.
4. What's something that annoys you about people your own age? Something you love about your generation?
This complete idolization and preoccupation with sports annoys the snot out of me.  That might be every generation but it seems like we can't have a conversation about anything else in life with people our age...especially the men.  Where do they find that kind of time?  My husband couldn't if he wanted to...he works long hours and then spends time with his kids before crashing into his pillow.  Sorry...will end rant now.  Something I love...that they're finally getting old enough to start taking life seriously.  Almost everyone has settled down...finally.
5. Lilac, iris, hyacinth, pansy...your favorite purple flower?
Lilacs...it bums me out that you can't cut them and bring them indoors.  Trust me...they wilt almost immediately.  I love their smell!  I have fond memories of playing under huge lilacs growing up in Upstate NY. 
6. Whats a song that always calms you down?
Jazz... with no words.  My husband teases me...but it really does calm everyone down.
7. What's the last thing you donated?
Clothing...to Goodwill.
8. Insert your own random thought here.
I split my irises between my neighbors and myself.  They do not garden (understatement of the century) and theirs are blooming gloriously.  Mine...one little bud.  That is all.  I hope they are just late.  Strange.  It figures.

Monday Musings: Sin Mortified...

 

 Here's another article for you to muse over with me...

The Practice of Mortification by Sinclair Ferguson...and link.

My musings...

1.  I am so convicted that I must go to Scripture first.  I am so guilty of reading devotions and pastor authors before or in lieu of Scripture.  Oh, how very wrong I've been.

2.  The Colossians were where I often am...the "already" of grace and discovering the painful "not yet" of ongoing sanctification.

3.  Without a firm grasp of the gospel I can be tempted to quick fixes that look like deeper holiness but are false teaching.

4.  I will have NO SUCCESS unless I go back to the point of action from which I can gain energy for the strenuous effort of dealing with sin.

5.  I must KNOW, REST IN, THINK THROUGH, and ACT UPON my new identity in Christ!

6.  ALL sin must be dealt with...ripped up by the roots.  Mortifying sin is WHOLE LIFE change.

7.  I must rip the mask from self deceit...which I'm super good at...and admit my sin for what it really is...not call it by pet names.

8.  New men live new lives.  Anything less is a contradiction of who I am in Christ.

9.  Sin...refuse it, starve it, reject it, and abort it!

10.  I can't mortify sin without the pain of the kill!!

Fitness Friday!

 

 

Chill Pill Bible Reading

 

I decided to make an odd attempt at flexibility.  I am not following a bible reading schedule this year.  Gasp...yeah, I know...it staggers the mind.  Seriously though, I realized that due to my work with certain ministries and my rather intense Type A personality, Bible reading was becoming a duty...something to be checked off...something I could get behind in...and something that I was failing.  Until I'd give up all together.  I'd read only to complete the work I needed to get done each week.  Work...no joy.

Now, let's not get crazy...I'm still me.  I still love organization and fun paper sorting ideas.  I like to make lists and record what I'm doing.  I am that person that writes it down so they can cross it off.  Hee hee.  So, I found a simple Bible Reading Chart that just has a slot for a start and end date....with the books listed out with little circles for the chapters.  It's cute and modern art-ish.

And, it's working.  I'm reading and delighting...to each day say...what would I like to read today.  The whole book of John?  Ok!  It's been liberating...and given me new joy in God's Word.  I find I read more and flip from book to book via my nifty margins, something fierce.

I suppose life and the process of progressive sancitification will mean that I always need to be conscious of what is duty and needs to be turned to delight.  I'll always need to be checking that my heart is right and my eyes are fixed on the eternal.  Always...until someday...when I'll be there with the WORD.

I think I'll probably read the Bible in order again next...I see the benefits of placing things together that you get when reading front to back.  Hmmm...there's an idea...reading back to front.  The possibilities are endless...and there's no wrong...as long as I'm reading and applying it.  As my Grandma said recently,"if you're not going to apply it to your life...you might as well just read poetry."  

So, here's my permission to take a chill pill and read your Bible.  Really.  It's okay.

Hodgepodge Ridiculum

 

1. Have you ever had to wear a uniform? If yes, tell us more. Did you love it or hate it?
The summer of my sophomore year of college I had to wear a uniform while working for McDonald's.  The uniform ALWAYS smelled of grease...even when freshly laundered.  The black shoes were the WORST...big, clunky, sticky black...and I slid around all over the greasy floors in them.  I got more adept at it with practice.  The hat was not fun either.  On a sidenote...I think medical scrubs are cute and look super comfy.  Am I the only one?
2. April 22nd is Earth Day. What is one thing you do personally to be a good steward of planet Earth?
I don't litter.  I reuse plastic bags A LOT.  We are teaching our kids about walking in parks...hiking out what you hike in...

3. Brown rice, quinoa, or couscous...your healthy grain of choice? How often are one of the three on your menu at home?  Given a choice between white rice, brown rice, wild rice, and fried rice which would you go for?
Quinoa is a fan favorite around here.  I usually serve it with fish...which I try to put on the menu once a week.  I recently made a spinach salad with quinoa, pecans, dried cranberries and citrus vinegrette.  Yum.

4. In your opinion, who has the best job ever?
Whoever names Crayola crayons has a pretty neat job.

5. What's a situation in your life currently requiring patience? 
Raising children...redemptive discipline isn't for the faint of heart.  Sometimes I don't know whether I'm coming or going.  The dictionary defines it as the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.  Yup.  Pretty much right on it.  I need to do better.  *sigh*

6.  Do you live your life around days of the week? Explain.
Currently, and for the last several years, my life has been planned around Mondays and Tuesdays.  I hadn't realized it until recently...as I step away from that thing...and anticipate life without it.  I'm sure there will be new focuses...but it is interesting to ponder.  I'm hoping I'm not the only one.

7. In a nod to the A to Z challenge happening around town this month, what 'R word' best describes your April?
Ridiculum....the pretty new flowers I bought for my big pot out front.  Life has been Ridiculously busy and hectic...and the name of this flower and it's beauty just tickled me...and reminded me that my Creator God is in control...and even provides me with humor when I least expect it.

8. Insert your own random thought here.
Per the advice of my green thumbed neighbor I planted my garden this week.  He says that I am not realizing Indiana has a earlier growing season and that's why my tomatoes never ripen.  Since my thumb has proven to be rather brown and he always takes pity on me and shares the bounty of his glorious garden...I figured I'd listen to him.  So, I planted big boys and early girls (tomatoes) and four different kinds of peppers that my son says are 'his'...I also have a lone cherry tomato plant, cilantro, chives and lavender.  Oh, and rhubarb, of course!!