Borrowed Entry...

The following landed in my email box a couple of days ago. I know our family is struggling this Christmas and apparently a lot of other folks are, too. Here's one woman's thoughts on this Christmas...

December 4, 2008

Credit Crunch or Christmas Contentment?
By Lynn Cowell

“Owe no one anything except to love one another for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.” Romans 13:8 (NKJV)

Devotion:
The TV blared the news: the economy is tightening and a credit crunch will definitely affect Christmas spending this year.

Credit card companies are lowering credit limits and raising interest rates. Gone are the days of zero percent interest for your first few months on a newly opened card. As I watched the news, I imagined many families would share similar concerns of mine. Will we have enough money to celebrate and give Christmas gifts? Can we be content with less than usual? Is there any possibility this could be a good thing?

Overspending during the holiday season winds up being a joy-robber. Many of us spend our December evenings and weekends searching frantically for that perfect gift or worrying over keeping everything “equal” (this is my personal worry with my three kids). The more I shop, the more I spend, and the less joyful I become. Sometimes, I find myself wishing the holidays would hurry up, get here and get over! There has got to be a better way to celebrate the birthday of Christ. Isn’t there?

Yes, there is! Romans 13:8 encourages us to owe no one anything except love. This verse brought to mind my sister’s special Christmas last year. Her family practiced the very gifts of love this verse speaks about. They all chose one family member to buy a gift for. In addition to this gift, they wrote a letter of love to the receiver. Their letters included words of encouragement and appreciation. They asked for forgiveness of past wounds and sought renewed relationship with one another.

My sister told me that reading these letters outloud before they opened gifts brought tears of love, healing, and restoration. She never gave the gifts a second thought after this wonderful experience. As the tears flowed from her family, in her heart she celebrated their best Christmas. The boxes may have been the fewest ever, but the love was the most! She was content.

My sister inspired me. How can I encourage my family to focus on spreading God’s love to each other and those we come in contact with this holiday? How can I encourage others not to “keep up with the Joneses,” but instead to “keep up” with Jesus’ idea of extravagantly given love?

How about your family as this Christmas season approaches? Is the tight economy exactly what your family needs to prompt you to rein in your traditional spending and refocus this year? I know it is for me and my family.

Dear Lord, may the tough times so many of us are experiencing financially, point us back to You. Help me hear Your voice this season and truly demonstrate what this precious holiday is all about. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Related Resources:
Do You Know Him?

Celebrating a Christ-Centered Christmas by Sharon Jaynes

Pampering Gifts: Crafting a Ministry of Treating People Well for Less by Lara Krupicka

See Dave Ramsey’s website for sound financial advice.
Application Steps:
Sit down with your spouse and make a strategy for staying within a budget this Christmas. Check out financial expert Dave Ramsey’s website. Follow this link and scroll down to find special savings on his “Budgeting Bundle.”

Can you plan one gift for each of your children that costs very little, but says so much about how you love them?

Sit down with your kids and set the expectation for this Christmas if it is different than what your family has experienced in the past.

Reflections:
What motivates me to give at Christmas more than I can afford?What is one thing I would like to receive this year that money can’t buy? Is this something I can give to another?Power Verses:
1 Timothy 6:6, “But godliness with contentment is great gain.” (NIV)

Proverbs 19:23, “The fear of the LORD leads to life: Then one rests content, untouched by trouble.” (NIV)
Job 36:11, “If they obey and serve him, they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity and their years in contentment.” (NIV)


© Lynn Cowell 2008. All Rights Reserved.

Proverbs 31 Ministries
616-G, Matthews-Mint Hill Road
Matthews, NC 28105
www.proverbs31.org

These Dreams...

Ahhh...sleep. My entire life I have used sleep as an escape from stress, worry, depression, and anxiety. It was a safe and comfortable place. Lately, though, that's all changed. For several months now I've had dreams disturbing my once comfortable place.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about nightmares; nothing frightening. Just dreams dealing with people I knew 30 years ago. Yes, thirty! 3-0. I'd like to think I'm too young to have dreams dealing with things from thirty years ago, but hey, that's another blog entry!

No, these dreams are often in current, real-time settings, but once I'm awake, I find myself drifting back to difficult and painful times.

The dreams are vivid and detailed with the same main characters but a variety of story lines. People important to me for a season, little more. So why are they back now? This occurs a few times each week. There are times I even awake from a dream, get up, use the restroom, go back to bed, and the same people will be back in a continuation of the previous dream or in a new setting.

Once up for the day, the dreams stay with me - almost like a physical thing carried around with me. They can feel so real that they seem more like something that actually happened than something that was only in my dreams.

I'm perplexed. I'd like my peaceful sleep back. I'd like nutty, wacky dreams back. Silly, crazy ones - or at least ones that I don't remember when I wake up.

I love my life. I have good friends and am blessed to be making new ones. My family is wonderful and I'm very happy where I am.

So, dreams, go away. It's Christmas and there's much to be done!

Sweet Dreams, Everyone!

Random Thoughts

I have a lot of random thoughts from time-to-time. The only problem is that when I start to write about them I tend to write a lot - and not just the random thought. So, for what it's worth, I'm going to give it another try...

Random Thought #1 - My GPS unit is smart - I'm just glad it doesn't tell me how stupid I can be! Particularly when Darrell and I are using it to get somewhere and still refuse to do what it says (but should have!).

Random Thought #2 - Abigail is a little girl with a purpose. She believes our family was one huge mess just waiting for her to come along and straighten us all out.

Random Thought #3 (or a continuation of #2) "Go ask Abbey" - that's the response to any question anyone has about the location of anything in our home. She has made it her job to know where everything is. Now she's started finishing our sentences for us.

Random Thought #4 - Every woman should go away for a weekend with her girlfriends. I'm sure we all missed our husbands and families, but what a great weekend we had together.

Random Thought #5 - Today starts a new chapter in my life - Elisa went back to work today. Christopher, Abbey and I are holding school here at Elisa's where we can babysit Zachary. It will be an adjustment for all but one I'm looking forward to.

That's good for now.

'Tis the Season...

Happy Holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love Thanksgiving.

Planning the menu and preparing the meal. Spending the day among family and missing those who are absent . Reminiscing of prior Thanksgivings and savoring the one at hand. A day devoted to focusing on all we have to be thankful for. Realizing, too, that we only scratch the surface when counting our blessings, for there are too many to count.

Lest you think me a modern-day Pollyanna, I confess there's plenty I pray about, hurt over, rue, mourn, miss, oppose. etc. I just pray fervently that no matter what the world throws at us, we'll never lose sight of those countless blessings and thus keep the world and our perceived woes in perspective.


Today is the day after Thanksgiving. A great place to be for reflecting on the day just passed and the official start of the Christmas season and all that it entails. As I write this I'm sitting at my kitchen counter, listening to incredible music, and of course, reflecting. I hear Christopher and his cousin Andrew playing downstairs (I love 10-yr old exuberance!), as well as Abbey and Kenneth getting Christmas lights ready for outside, and all the while Trudy is scampering a circuitous path among us. Next to me are my Christmas cards. A tradition that is bittersweet. I probably blogged about it last year.

Just so you have the correct impression, a vision from Currier and Ives we're not. My phone has been going crazy with texts from my older kids asking how shopping is, what time we got out, etc. Actually our weather is expected to turn bad tomorrow so we decided to postpone or cancel shopping today and put up outside lights instead. The kids are aghast! They remember being woken up at unbelievably early morning hours to go out amongst crowds of like-minded bargain shoppers all because their dad used to work in retail and he likes to be on the other side of the counter now. They really never minded the cool electronics they would usually receive at Christmas from those early-morning jousts, um, I mean jaunts, though.

Life Lessons... It's taken me way too many years, but I am finally learning a few life lessons. I'm learning that life has to be lived in a more deliberate fashion and less by the seat of one's pants, so to speak. I'm not always good at explaining what I'm thinking so I'll just say that Andy Stanley explains it well in his book "The Best Question Ever." There are also great lessons in Beth Moore's 'Daniel' Bible study. Using exercise as a brief example, it seems we (people in general) never find time to exercise because we don't intentionally plan for it or add it to our busy calendars as we would any important task or appointment. We usually just try to work it in to already busy lifestyles. Or, final analogy, people rarely plan on becoming overweight but don't intentionally take steps to prevent it. We don't plan on a lot of things but don't intentionally take preventive steps. Anyway, I don't know how I started on this tangent but it's been on my mind so I guess I'm sharing - or maybe venting?

So, getting back on track, I hope your Thanksgiving day was warm and wonderful. I pray you have many things to be thankful for. With Christmas fast approaching I particularly hope the season brings you JOY and WONDER. Finally, that the New Year adds to your blessings and perhaps a resolution to live and love intentionally.

Weekend Smiles

Don't you just hate new grandmothers? In this picture taken about a week or so ago Zachary was sharing this handsome smile...in his sleep.

I got the text yesterday, however, that Zachary smiled - really smiled - awake smiled - two or three times even!

Now our little Kaitlyn has help lighting our worlds with beautiful smiles.

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

Speaking of smiling... Have I mentioned I love autumn? Oh, I have? Well, sorry then. Anyway, we slept with the windows open last night. It was great because there was a slight drizzle and a cool breeze and it was so nice to be lulled to sleep by.

Today, while walking Trudy, Abbey and I were treated to an autumn shower - but this one was a shower of leaves instead of rain. They floated, twirled, danced and spun; from the tree-tops 'til they touched the ground. I was reminded of a video my kids had about Pooh and the Blustery Day; that was a nice memory.

Have I mentioned I love the mountains? Oh, I have? Well, sorry then. Anyway, I have a special treat next week. A group of us from Bible Study are heading to Gatlinburg for the weekend. These are wonderful women and I'm really looking forward to the time away with them and the chance to get to know them better.

Hope you have a chance to take a walk on a beautiful autumn day, and hey, if it's with a little weiner dog, all the better!

Welcome, Trudy!

This is Trudy.

Trudy is our newest family member. She's a full-blooded dachshund who will be a year old on Christmas day.

Like us, Trudy is a former Floridian. Her owner could no longer take care of her and gave Trudy to a daughter who is a homeschool mom here in the upstate. That family loved Trudy but already had a lot of pets (including chickens) but no fenced-in yard. This little explorer liked to visit with the neighbors. Trudy's new family was sad but felt Trudy would do better in a family who had children and pets (NOT including chickens) and a fenced yard where Trudy could run, play, and explore.

So their loss is our gain and Trudy is getting settled in our home. She does enjoy exploring outside in the wee-hours but we hope that will be a sleepy-memory in the very near future. Trust me, it's a bit chilly at 3:00 in the morning!

So, from our whole crew here, a whole-hearted "Welcome to our family, Trudy!" We're big, and loud, and full of love. We hope you'll love us, too.

On My Mind...

Here's a sampling of 'what's on my mind' today...

• Tomorrow's Election - scary


• Yesterday's Sermon - it was a good one


• 'Daniel' Bible Study Homework - I'm behind


• Upcoming Travel - travel is always stressful


• Upcoming Holidays - ditto


• Mary Kay Bookings - need some


• Homeschooling Through this Month - more challenging but looking forward to it

But...our kids and their kids are all doing well.

Feeling especially stressed today. Stomach in knots and very tired even with the extra hour this weekend. Good days or bad - it really doesn't matter; I'm blessed beyond measure. Here's a poem a speaker shared a few weeks ago that really struck a chord with me...

Drinking From My Saucer

I've never made a fortune

And it's probably too late now.

But I don't worry about that much.

I'm happy anyhow.

And as I go along life's way,

I'm reaping better than I sowed.

I'm drinking from my saucer

'Cause my cup has overflowed.

I haven't got a lot of riches

And sometimes the going's tough,

But I've got loved ones around me

And that makes me rich enough.

I thank God for His blessings

And the mercies He's bestowed.

I'm drinking from my saucer

'Cause my cup has overflowed.

I remember times when things went wrong.

My faith wore somewhat thin,

But all at once the dark clouds broke

And the sun peeped through again.

So God, help me not to gripe about

The tough rows that I've hoed.

I'm drinking from my saucer

'Cause my cup has overflowed.

If God gives me strength and courage

When the way grows steep and rough,

I'll not ask for other blessings.

I'm already blessed enough.

And may I never be too busy

To help others bear their loads.

Then I'll keep drinking from my saucer

'Cause my cup has overflowed.

---Author unknown

A new week ahead...new adventures await!