Today we celebrated with minor explosives a holiday commemorating our independence which took some major explosives to achieve. Major explosives that still echo throughout our world today making, “the rocket’s red glare” and “bombs bursting in air” all too real for some people. Achieving this independence also took sacrifice, dedication, intelligence and cooperation. In the intervening centuries this independence has been used to squander wealth, abuse power, divide people, and indulge self. The peace and freedom that allows us to enjoy decorative explosions is a blessing paid for by others. So what are we doing with our independence? Just some thoughts :) Happy Independence Day.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
Six Months In
I made it!...more or less. Six months of at least one blog per month, excepting June which I missed by about 15 minutes. My own fault, of course, since I had the whole month to do it in :) But I'll count it as my June post, just for my own score keeping. This beats my previous attempt by 3 months. And I actually managed 2 or more per month for most months, with the most being 4, bringing my total number of posts this time around to 14, which is two more than my first attempt. Grand total of 26 posts; still manageable for anyone wanting to catch up ;) Not that this matters much to any of you, more just encouraging for me.
In these few months I've learned a lot - besides just that I can do this. Writing on a regular basis is good for me. Even if what I'm writing has nothing to do with the craziness of life at the time, it seems to ease the chaos in my head. Therapeutic some might call it. I think maybe it just gets out some of the thoughts running around my brain, thus making more room for other things :) Whatever the reason it's something that will keep me going with or without responses.
Unfortunately, one of my hopes for this blog was that it might spark some thoughts and conversations. However, beyond a handful of comments from a few people nothing much has sparked. Apparently conversation isn't my strong suit, even in writing ;) If anyone has tips or comments that might help in this area, please do share (really, please...I'm begging you - share! ;)
So, moving on. New things coming up (hopefully):
1. Something that may help garner readers is that you can sign up to receive emails of posts. In the left column where it says "Mail Call!" just type in your email address, click the "Submit" button and follow the instructions. I've tested it and all you'll get is an email for any day I post. So if I do two posts in one day you only get one email. The email shows the blog title, the post title, and a few sentences of the post. Both the blog title and the post title can be clicked on to get to the blog. That's it.
2. Having easily achieved my at least one post per month for the most part I'm upping the ante to at least five posts per month. But for those getting emails I'll try to keep it to four days per month. Four of these posts will be parts of two regular features I'd like to do on alternating weeks: "Songs to Share" and "Words to Share". The fifth will be my at least one post of before. As always it will be a jumble of whatever is on my mind - some serious, some silly, some pointless, some pointed.
However you have supported me, thank you. This is fun for me, so it's encouraging when people take an interest :)
In these few months I've learned a lot - besides just that I can do this. Writing on a regular basis is good for me. Even if what I'm writing has nothing to do with the craziness of life at the time, it seems to ease the chaos in my head. Therapeutic some might call it. I think maybe it just gets out some of the thoughts running around my brain, thus making more room for other things :) Whatever the reason it's something that will keep me going with or without responses.
Unfortunately, one of my hopes for this blog was that it might spark some thoughts and conversations. However, beyond a handful of comments from a few people nothing much has sparked. Apparently conversation isn't my strong suit, even in writing ;) If anyone has tips or comments that might help in this area, please do share (really, please...I'm begging you - share! ;)
So, moving on. New things coming up (hopefully):
1. Something that may help garner readers is that you can sign up to receive emails of posts. In the left column where it says "Mail Call!" just type in your email address, click the "Submit" button and follow the instructions. I've tested it and all you'll get is an email for any day I post. So if I do two posts in one day you only get one email. The email shows the blog title, the post title, and a few sentences of the post. Both the blog title and the post title can be clicked on to get to the blog. That's it.
2. Having easily achieved my at least one post per month for the most part I'm upping the ante to at least five posts per month. But for those getting emails I'll try to keep it to four days per month. Four of these posts will be parts of two regular features I'd like to do on alternating weeks: "Songs to Share" and "Words to Share". The fifth will be my at least one post of before. As always it will be a jumble of whatever is on my mind - some serious, some silly, some pointless, some pointed.
However you have supported me, thank you. This is fun for me, so it's encouraging when people take an interest :)
Life Lessons Entry #2: God Meets Our Needs
Life Lessons will be a series of posts about what God has been teaching me of recent years. That’s not to say He didn’t teach me before that, it just has never seemed so easy to define. So #1 doesn’t mean that’s the first God taught me, just where I started recording it. Initially they were intended to be chronological, but that quickly fell through; so I’ll try to date them if possible :)
In my previous Life Lessons Entry, I wrote about God's provision. Mixed in with realizing how well God had provided for us, at about the same time I also realized how He had been meeting our needs. Those may sound like the same thing, but it was something I deeply felt was distinct from God’s provision, but have been hard put to explain the difference.
It is, perhaps, like this: provisions are things you gather together for a journey that you think or know you will need – it is done beforehand, before you leave. However, along that journey you may find yourself in need of other things – perhaps unexpectedly. So God’s provision is what He sets out before us – perhaps before we know we need it or will have need of it. Meeting our needs is then when He takes care of problems or difficulties that arise – or what we perceive as problems or difficulties; it could be they were provisions all along and we just don’t know it ;) In my life the events that made this evident involved our cars and our finances.
Shortly before coming to MN in 2005 our good car dropped its transmission in our driveway. We had to take out a loan to get a replacement that would work well up here. It was a good enough car but a little iffy for the long trips we took to visit family. Then in December 2006 it was totaled when it hit some ice and slid off the road. Unfortunately this was just before a Christmas trip to Nebraska. However, some friends of ours were just putting their minivan up for sale and agreed to sell it to us. This let us avoid another bank loan and allowed us to get the car sooner. They set up a reasonable payment plan for us, and we paid the car off entirely with tax return money in February 2008. Eventually we decided we needed another car that would be better for trips and for me to get around in, particularly in winter. Having paid off the minivan, we found another minivan around July 2008. The car was in excellent condition, but the family was selling it for less than they could have because they wanted another family to be able to have a good car. When we decided it really wouldn’t be wise to spend even that much they lowered it some more and allowed us to make two payments. It was entirely paid off in August 2008. We have both cars still today.
As far as finances go, with me being a stay at home mom money has always been tight. Yet somehow we have always had enough. We had an unexpected insurance rebate at one point when we needed it. We’ve had friends loan us cars when ours were not working, and volunteer time to help fix ours. We get hand me down clothes and things for the girls. In countless other ways our family, friends, and church are generous in how they share in our lives. All this makes our dollars stretch further than we could manage ourselves. And we have learned, and are still learning, to manage better. Our needs are always met. Sometimes even our wants. I cannot see coincidence in all the little things that occur. To me it is a testament to God taking the time to meet the needs that concern us in our day to day lives.
In my previous Life Lessons Entry, I wrote about God's provision. Mixed in with realizing how well God had provided for us, at about the same time I also realized how He had been meeting our needs. Those may sound like the same thing, but it was something I deeply felt was distinct from God’s provision, but have been hard put to explain the difference.
It is, perhaps, like this: provisions are things you gather together for a journey that you think or know you will need – it is done beforehand, before you leave. However, along that journey you may find yourself in need of other things – perhaps unexpectedly. So God’s provision is what He sets out before us – perhaps before we know we need it or will have need of it. Meeting our needs is then when He takes care of problems or difficulties that arise – or what we perceive as problems or difficulties; it could be they were provisions all along and we just don’t know it ;) In my life the events that made this evident involved our cars and our finances.
Shortly before coming to MN in 2005 our good car dropped its transmission in our driveway. We had to take out a loan to get a replacement that would work well up here. It was a good enough car but a little iffy for the long trips we took to visit family. Then in December 2006 it was totaled when it hit some ice and slid off the road. Unfortunately this was just before a Christmas trip to Nebraska. However, some friends of ours were just putting their minivan up for sale and agreed to sell it to us. This let us avoid another bank loan and allowed us to get the car sooner. They set up a reasonable payment plan for us, and we paid the car off entirely with tax return money in February 2008. Eventually we decided we needed another car that would be better for trips and for me to get around in, particularly in winter. Having paid off the minivan, we found another minivan around July 2008. The car was in excellent condition, but the family was selling it for less than they could have because they wanted another family to be able to have a good car. When we decided it really wouldn’t be wise to spend even that much they lowered it some more and allowed us to make two payments. It was entirely paid off in August 2008. We have both cars still today.
As far as finances go, with me being a stay at home mom money has always been tight. Yet somehow we have always had enough. We had an unexpected insurance rebate at one point when we needed it. We’ve had friends loan us cars when ours were not working, and volunteer time to help fix ours. We get hand me down clothes and things for the girls. In countless other ways our family, friends, and church are generous in how they share in our lives. All this makes our dollars stretch further than we could manage ourselves. And we have learned, and are still learning, to manage better. Our needs are always met. Sometimes even our wants. I cannot see coincidence in all the little things that occur. To me it is a testament to God taking the time to meet the needs that concern us in our day to day lives.
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