What do you have in your hand?

It's a new day...and everything belongs to the Lord

"Unemployed" or "Underemployed" are the unwelcome monikers for so many of us during these wearing and difficult days. Even those with jobs are experiencing shortfalls in their budgets, as raises are almost non-existent, although the cost of living continues to rise.

When we find ourselves in such circumstances, we have choices to make.

We can either sit down and lament our situation, like the Israelites who pined for "leaks and onions by the Nile", or we can rise up like Joshua and Caleb and believe God, by whom, "We are well able to overcome them!”

Fear and worry are our worst enemies and must be avoided at all costs. These emotions will lead to anger, which will lead to destructive reactions and habits. Families and individuals have been destroyed because of the anxiety of losing a job, home, etc. Some turn to alcohol or other addictive and destructive escapes. Others turn on their own families, causing a root of bitterness to develop which can devour all the love in their homes like a cancer.

Jesus calms our storm

We need to stay strong in our belief that God will provide and bless us even when times are hard, when there is little concrete evidence things are going to "turn out all right". We must learn to rest in the Lord and allow Him to lead us.

The Bible has a very clear, practical method for banishing worry,

Trust in the LORD and do good. (Psalm 37)

So, for those of us tempted to give in to fear and feelings of being "poor", here are some remedies:

As the Lord said to Moses, "What do you have in your hand?" What has the Lord already given you? Instead of being led by every advertising campaign to believe we need to buy more in order to have a quality life, how about enjoying what we already own? Ask the Lord to give you a creative idea that will bless your family and meet your immediate needs.  He is faithful—He will never leave you or forsake you.

Instead of going to the movies, how about sitting in the still of the evening and listening to the crickets. My grandmother told me that, during the Great Depression, the children in her family would sit and be as still as possible so they could hear the corn grow! Learn to exercise a godly sense of humor.

A family counts their blessings at mealtime

Instead of giving in to all of the things in our lives that have demanded our attention and our money, slow down, learn to seek the Lord and embrace those simple things that are subtle and profoundly meaningful, not to mention cheap. My husband and I did not own a television when our oldest children were tiny, so we used to sit in our living room and watch them chase each other around the couch—we laughed until our sides ached! My dear husband also used to read the local adds backwards—he can make just about anything fun!

God is making us slow down enough so that we will begin to notice all the blessings that He has already provided us that we presently take for granted. Think about all of the books we have accumulated, the DVD's, the craft projects we were going to get to "someday". Most of us own a closet-full of board games just gathering dust. Why not have a family "game night" and have some old-fashioned fun! While you are working through a difficulty—learn to live modestly!

A home-made happy birthday party!

Use it up,

Wear it out,

Make it do,

Or do without—so the adage goes.

Giving less time to being a consumer gives us more time to maintain and repair the things we already own. We can darn those socks instead of tossing them and buying new ones. We can clean up our appliances and fix anything broken, even buttons and trim—this is much less expensive than buying new!

We can take the time to polish the car, clean the interior, and change the oil so that it lasts longer. We can put some sweat-equity into the yard, paint the interior, and fix things that have been broken.

I'll never forget the lesson I learned from an elderly lady who had raised children during the Great Depression and WWII.  We were about to throw away an empty tub of margarine, and there was a tiny bit left on the lid. She grabbed it up and spread it on her bread, scolding us for wasting. She had learned to "use it up."


When we do have a bit of money, we can invest in tools and raw materials. For the homemaker this would be things like basic kitchen equipment that could make it easier for us to produce things from scratch. When we do our grocery shopping, we can eliminate the expensive “pre-made” items and purchase things such as whole onions, potatoes, sacks of flower and beans (or a grist mill and wheat berries), baking supplies, whole grains, and even can goods, etc.

A home-crafted beautiful dress!

When we learned that our oldest son was planning to have a formal wedding, we realized we did not have the money to purchase nice dresses for our oldest daughters. Since we had recently maintenanced our sewing machines and had quite a stockpile of cloth (even a few pretty bed sheets) and notions for sewing, this investment enabled our oldest daughter to practice her seamstress skills on two beautiful dresses for her and her sister for this very special occasion!

As for homeschooling, I have taken this year's homeschooling budget and invested in the Internet, a good printer, paper and ink, as well as some book-binding materials. I took advantage of the back-to-school sales and stocked up on crayons, scissors, composition books, etc.

My core subjects are all covered by using the Eclectic Education Series (McGuffey Readers, Ray's Arithmetics, et al), and some books I had purchased in previous years, others I have found through the Dollar Homeschool, Google Books, Internet Archive, Project Gutenberg, etc. I sorted through things I already have on hand for the other subjects, such as the study of good literature (many of these were garage sale finds).

Since we are using notebooking as a means to the understanding of our world, I am also using our local library and the Internet for much of our studying and research activities.

Don't forget your duct tape!

Invest in knowledge. Do it yourself books, manuals, videos that teach practical skills, these are all good ways to spend time and money. You can find many of these items at the library or online for free.

Most of the things we purchase are expensive because of the labor costs. Learning how to change the oil, fix the heating coil in the dryer, or even fixing the vacuum cleaner can save a family a lot of money.


Barter and dicker. My dear son had a beautiful wedding, and paid for it himself, without any debt. He did this partially by bartering his services for other niceties he would not otherwise have been able to afford, such as hiring one of the best rated photographers in our area!

"I love it when a plan comes together!"

My husband negotiates with everyone. He has negotiated a cheaper price for Internet service, to have our lawn and sprinkler system winterized, and even auto maintenance and dental work! When we called and told our cell phone company we were going to have to disconnect our service, they gave us one month's free service and pointed us to a lower-priced plan (we do pay-as-you-go, no contract). This alone garnered an immediate $60 savings toward this month’s budget. If necessary, we can discontinue our service next month.

Give. Be an answer to someone else’s prayer by giving to others in need.

My first Titus 2 mentor spent some sparse times during her first years of marriage. She and her husband were attending Bible College, and so their income was extremely small. Instead of feeling sorry for themselves, they decided to bless their next-door neighbors, who were also college students just as strapped as they were. They scrimped and saved until they could afford a bag full of special goodies and treats. Then they set the bag by the door of their friends, rang the bell and ran home, clandestinely peeking out their window to watch. It was one of their cherished memories, even ten years after.

Even if you can't give in goods, you could give of your time. There are so many who are lonely—why not a sweet visit, just to listen, or a call to an elderly relative?

An attitude of thankfulness for all that God has given

Practice thankfulness. Sure, you could lose it all some day in the distant future, or you may not lose a thing. What will it matter if you do not enjoy today? Will it make things any better to allow gloom-and-doom imaginings to cloud the blessings of today?

I begin thanking God before I even open my eyes. I thank Him for my bed, my pillow, the baby sleeping next to me, my wonderful husband. I don't neglect the greatest things—the privilege of God, knowing He loves me, and realizing the multiple blessings found in Jesus, and the precious ministry of the Holy Spirit in my life! It isn't long before my batteries are charged and I'm ready to go—it is much easier to face the challenges of the day when filled with the joy of the Lord!

Pray and keep a prayer list. This has been so much fun over the years. I first started this practice when I had just three children, and I lived in a basement apartment without windows. I can remember specific items and how the Lord provided to this very day.

Since then I have kept numerous prayer-request journals. It is a ritual I use to unburden my heart, since when I write each item down, I determine to leave it with God in faith that He will either answer it directly, or He will deny me in lieu of something far better. It is so fun to revisit these lists periodically and place a smile next to each item that has been provided!

I don't waste ink and paper with silly requests such as "world peace" or "to win the lottery". Some requests are too broad, some too vain, others would ruin me (having money all at once would ruin most of us). I try to keep these as precise as I can. I read once that, the more specific the request is, the greater the glory God receives, and the better His personal love and care is expressed to us.

For instance, instead of writing down, "make enough money", I write down, "have mortgage paid this month", or "items for birthday gifts" or "three winter skirts for each girl". It is amazing to see just how God will specifically meet each need—a bag of free clothes, a special garage sale, some rebate money coming in the mail at just the right moment. This is the fun of the faith-filled life!

At day's end God's promise endures, He alone is faithful!

Now that six of my children are grown, my specific prayers for them are more meaningful than ever! I write down detailed requests for them, too, and then leave my concerns with the Lord, where they belong! I often find that even these petitions are met, one-by one! Remember to cast all your cares upon Him because He cares for you!

Many of us are going through a time of chastening or pruning by a Father who dearly loves us. It is so important that we take His correction with grace and humility. In it we will find far more blessings than we ever imagined, and our light will shine even brighter as the days grow dark. In all, may Christ be glorified, and may His kingdom come to our homes and our hearts like never before!

My own fireside

Home Sweet Home!

In our medium sized community, an experiment was begun.

Folks reminisced of a day gone by—a day in which neighbors sat on covered porches and greeted each other—a time when children could play throughout the neighborhood without fear.

People decided that the reason they didn't enjoy the friendliness of the past was because of the design of their homes. Somehow the decay of neighborhood relationships was blamed on having garages in the front of the home.

So the city planners brought some clout, and perhaps a bit of public money, into creating new "communities" with the garages positioned in the rear—access from the back only, with porches facing the "streets" which no one traffics, except to get to the back so they can use their automatic garage-door openers, and then close them and enter into their new homes.

I often drive by these experimental subdivisions while on my way to the store and other errands. They look just as deserted as any other modern home community in our area. But these look even more forlorn because those porches, the ones meant to be full of people and bustling activity, are so incredibly empty.

Wright's Bradley House, Kankakee, Ill.

I was enjoying a “home improvement” show recently and learned an interesting fact about the famous architectural designs of Frank Lloyd Wright. He designed homes for privacy. The front room of the house was for company; and the remaining rooms in the rear were for the family—exclusively.
 
I am not at all impressed with our current emphasis on total openness. I do not believe that one of our crowning glories is the over-use of social media, and the tendency for everyone to feel an irresistible compunction to intrude into other people’s personal business.

We have become a nation that drinks deeply from the gossip monger's cup—our minds as well as our speech are rife with the very venom of this disease. It is so prevalent that there is almost no place to withdraw from it—even if you do not care to hear about the alleged misdeeds of others, they are flaunted on billboards as you drive to the store, unabashedly displayed on magazine racks at the checkout stand, and shamelessly paraded on the television while you work out at the local gym.

George Orwell’s invasive “Big Brother” has finally revealed himself. Privacy is passé—drawn curtains are immediately assumed to be concealing some deep, dark secret. No one is allowed the privilege of life outside of the public eye. Everyone is supposed to be "social" or at the very least “socially minded”. We are supposed to put superficial relationships above every other thing—almost as if the very relationships themselves are to be worshiped. We submit to the en vogue experts for the answers we need. And in contemporary, anthropological-based Christianity, relationships have long ago trumped holiness as the goal of a holy life.

If John Bunyan’s classic Pilgrim's Progress was written today, it would be booed, if not out rightly rejected, by the American Church.

Christian flees the City of Destruction

Pilgrim ran from the City of Destruction. He ran from his wife and children (while pleading for them to follow). He ran with his fingers in his ears!

It wasn't about how well he "got along" with others, no, it was about his life’s purpose—the goal to win Christ!

And the journey presented him few companions—he refused to put friendship above that holy aspiration of winning Christ. He kept on the road when others turned aside—antisocial behavior indeed!

The old Negro spiritual goes like this:

Jesus walked
This lonesome valley;
He had to walk
It by Himself.
Nobody else could walk it for Him,
He had to walk it by Himself.

Faith can be encouraged by the fellowship of others, but it can only be deepened when we are alone, in those trying times when the only One to whom we can call is Almighty God Himself.

“The man who would truly know God must give time to Him.” ― A.W. Tozer

Our neighborhoods look and operate differently than in the past for many reasons—the central one being the departure of our society away from the cohesion we felt by the almost universal adoption of Judeo-Christian values; but also because people desire and need privacy—and our homes are one of the few refuges left where we can enjoy this solace. Why are so many clamoring to give this freedom away to unworthy onlookers?

Privacy is an ingredient of family life that is non-negotiable. It is understood in the contract given to Adam at the first wedding—that the man would leave his mother and father and cleave unto his wife. It is only under the cover of privacy that human relationships can truly flourish. In the Bible, a recently married man was released from many normal obligations in order to bond with his new wife.

When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken. (Deuteronomy 24:5)

The beauty of God's creation!

How many of us have seen this played out in the lives of those in any manner of public service or ministry. The palpable strain on a family living in a "fish-bowl" existence is often too much to bear. "Preacher’s kids" are notorious for bowing out of Christianity altogether due in part to the pressure of constantly being "scrutinized".

My dear son Ryan received a long-awaited package in the mail. It was full of the tools of a serious entomologist—a net made especially for the capturing of all sorts of insects, small and great, pins and pinning boards, and a jar for putting the wonderful creatures to sleep humanely, and to eventually display.

He captured a monarch butterfly while we were on a family outing. He watched it as it tried to move its wings inside the net. But it was so hard for him to want to kill the creature—he is awed by butterflies, in particular.

Beautiful Monarch butterfly

But he waited too long. After a few days in the net, the wings of the butterfly showed wear and tear, since the delicate dust that covered it had been rubbed off a bit. During the pinning process, more damage was done.

In attempting to preserve and enjoy the beauty of the butterfly, he had blemished it. It sits on its pinning board, a lesson learned.

In our clamor to share every insignificant detail, every function, to explain and divulge everything, we are destroying all that is precious about our lives. There are things that only God should know—not just the ugly and sinful, but also the wonderful, the soft and tender, and the intimately lovely things about our persons that are reserved only for Him.

My Own Fireside

My own fireside!  Those simple words
Can bid the sweetest dreams arise;
Awaken feeling's tenderest chords,
And fill with tears of joy my eyes!

What is there my wild heart can prize,
That doth not in thy sphere abide,
Home of my warmest sympathies;
My own, my own Fireside!
My refuge ever from the storm
Of this world's passion, strife, and care;
Though thunder clouds the sky deform,
Their fury can not reach me there.

There, all is cheerful, calm, and fair;
Wrath, malice, envy, strife, or pride,
Hath never made its hated lair
By thee, my own Fireside!

Whate'er my future years may be,
Let joy or grief my fate beside;
Be still as Eden bright to me,
My own—MY OWN FIRESIDE!

Taken from McGuffey's Juvenile Speaker.

Happy 29th Anniversary! Love, David

Title: The Little Woman

Author: Edgar A. Guest

The little woman who stays at home.

The little woman, to her I bow
And doff my hat as I pass her by;
I reverence the furrows that mark her brow,  And the sparkling love light in her eye. The little woman who stays at home, And makes no bid for the world's applause; Who never sighs for a chance to roam, But toils all day in a grander cause.

The little woman, who seems so weak,
Yet bears her burdens day by day;
And no one has ever heard her speak
In a bitter or loud complaining way.
She sings a snatch of a merry song,
As she toils in her home from morn to night.
Her work is hard and the hours are long
But the little woman's heart is light.

My little woman!

A slave to love is that woman small,
And yearly her burdens heavier grow,
But somehow she seems to bear them all,
As the deep'ning lines in her white cheeks show.
Her children all have a mother's care,
Her home the touch of a good wife knows;
No burden's too heavy for her to bear,
But, patiently doing her best, she goes.

The little woman, may God be kind
To her wherever she dwells to-day;
The little woman who seems to find
Her joy in toiling along life's way.
May God bring peace to her work-worn breast
And joy to her mother-heart at last;
May love be hers when it's time to rest,
And the roughest part of the road is passed.

The little woman—how oft it seems
God chooses her for the mother's part;
And many a grown-up sits and dreams
To-day of her with an aching heart.
For he knows well how she toiled for him And he sees it now that it is too late; And often his eyes with tears grow dim For the little woman whose strength was great.

 Happy 29^th Anniversary my dearest heart!

Your devoted husband,

David

Qualified?

Children are an heritage of the Lord.

A few years back, I bought a book bag from a local teacher at a garage sale. Embroidered on the front were these words:

A Teacher Touches a Life Forever.

These are amazing, profound words. Just think for a minute about the state of our culture, and start wondering about just who is touching our children.


Then consider this, taken from Best methods of teaching in country schools By George Dallas Lind, 1879 (ht: my dear friend Kim at Starry Sky Ranch):

I. MORAL QUALIFICATIONS

All men, even the most vicious, will admit that he who is immoral should not be placed in the position of teacher of youth. Popular opinion says that teachers should have a good moral character, and all certificates require it; but how often, alas, is there a failure in carrying out this provision in practice! A man may be a very immoral man and yet find no trouble in getting some one or more persons to certify to his moral character. The law can. not reach this matter, except in cases of outbreaking immorality. It rests, then, with the teacher himself and with his conscience. Ask yourself, young man, if you are a fit person to enter that sacred temple. Pause and purify yourself on the threshold. Remember, that you carry about you a moral or an immoral atmosphere, according to the condition of the soul within; and that the innocent youth must imbibe that atmosphere, be it healthful or poisonous. It is impossible for anyone to be a successful hypocrite. He may be morally rotten at heart, and attempt to make an outward show of morality, for the purpose of obtaining and holding his position as teacher; but youth is not so easily deceived, and moral instruction will have but little weight coming from such a man. The inward character of a man will crop out, in spite of himself. In his teaching, in his government, in his conversation, in the family, or on the play ground, the character of the teacher will exhibit itself, perhaps unconsciously to him but plainly to others. Says Dr. Holland: "The mind that has become a treasure house of truth and beauty speaks a world into existence, with every utterance. * * * We give what we have received—that which is in us will come out of us. Expression is the necessity of possession." If the teacher's heart is a "treasure house of truth and beauty" it will overflow, exerting an ennobling influence on all who may come near it. On the other hand, if it is a whited sepulcher, "filled with dead men's bones and all uncleanness," it will pollute all who have to deal with it.

The teacher must be not only a moral but a religious man, not of that kind which loves to "display to congregations wide, devotions, every grace except the heart," but one who loves God and his fellow man, and obeys the golden rule, not from policy but as the deep seated conviction of his soul.


Next, take personal inventory.


May God make us truly qualified!

The importance of homekeeping

You might be encouraged by what I found and posted over at my other blog, McGuffey's World—a lesson from the robins!

Ronald Reagan vs. Democrats

The wit of former President Ronald Reagan, click link below.

Ronald Reagan vs. Democrats