Scraps

How many of you save "stuff" because you never know when you might be able to use it or part of it again? I imagine a lot of you reading this will have to say Yes!

I was making a card this afternoon and needed a very narrow piece of ribbon to finish my project. I rambled through some ribbon I have purchased and remembered that I have a box of ribbons and asundry items that my Mama used when she was working on some of her craft projects.

My mama loved to sew. When she first started sewing, it was pretty much from necessity. It was cheaper for her to make our clothes than to buy them and because she did like to sew she didn't consider the cost of her labor. Many evenings my sister and I would wash and dry the dishes after supper so Mama could get to her sewing machine and finish something she had cut out during the weekend.

I was one blessed girl. She sewed for me and my sister right on up until we married and then some. She made both of our wedding dresses. Now, you gotta love to sew to do that. I did some sewing when my girls were in elementary school but I didn't have the passion for it that my Mama did.

One thing she did was to save her scraps - scrap material, thread, buttons - you name it and she kept it because she never knew when she would need it for another project.

My Mama's love for creating things continued but turned more to making porcelain dolls and yes she dressed them too! You see some of those scraps came in handy.

When my Mama passed away five years ago, I brought home some of her scraps along and along. So I have my little stash of stuff that I am using as I create some of my cards. As I rambled through this little tin can of scrap ribbons, it brought back such special memories of her.

We might think hanging on to scraps may be a lot of clutter and sometimes it is. But sometimes it's just pure joy to find what you need among scraps. I found sweet memory scraps of my Mama hidden away in the most unusual place - a tin can on my card table. Thank you Mama - it was the perfect color and size.

Busy As A Bee

Have any of you ever really watched bees? It is not my number one choice of entertainment. Specifically, have you ever watched carpenter bees? They get their names because they use wood bits to form partitions between the cells in the nest. A few species bore holes in wood dwellings.

We have a swarm of carpenter bees at our house. The male bee is harmless because he does not have a stinger. And did I mention they are huge which makes them even more intimidating stinger or not! However, that does not make me anymore comfortable when I hear them. And that is the point. They make the loudest noise when they are buzzing around. They are forever busy - buzzing and flying around. I know they are around but I don't always see a lot of results from their activity.

I have to ask myself am I like that - buzzing and flying around and no fruit from the labor. Would my friends be more likley to describe me as a Martha or a Mary? Now don't get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with being busy as long as I am productive. But to be honest, sometimes I am just busy being busy - you know what I mean? Lots of actions and no results. There is an old expression: "Don't just stand there, do something." Well, if the truth is known sometimes we just need to just stand there and do nothing!

I have been studying some of the Psalms in a book written by Lisa Harper, A Perfect Mess. Yesterday's Psalm is probably one of the most memorized - Psalm 23. Truly one of my favorites because it sums up completely how I am to live.

In the busyness of my world, if I do not rest in the Lord then I will be of no good to Him or anyone else. The scripture says: "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters." (Psalm 23:2) You know sometimes He just has to do that - "make" me lie down. The making part is the part I don't like because that usually means I have come to the end of myself and I am feeling pretty hopeless. But when I am lying down then I am looking up - to Him. When my body is weary, I am not good for anything or anybody. That's why I need to rest and by the way so does my spirit.

I encourage you after you read this to read Psalm 23. Go find your own green pasture and spend some time with Him - listening to Him speak to you through the stillness around you so that He can restore your soul. Hang out with Him for a while and your cup will run over!

Psalm 23

1The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Attitude of Gratitude

Tumbled glass, Broken china, Chip sapphire, Peeled paint. What do those words remind you of ? A house renovation gone wrong?

They are actually ink colors that I use when I make cards. I had a sticky note on my desk with these colors listed as possible combinations. I'm thinking I am going to have to change the names of the colors so I will not feel so depressed when I am using them. The names remind me too much of how I could feel if I concentrated on the implications of their names.

 Attitude. It is a choice. I can choose to live in the gloom and doom that 24 hour entertainment news provides us every day or I can choose to live in an attitude of gratitude. What are the top five things (not people) you're thankful for right now?

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6 Being thankful instead of anxious isn't as easy as it sounds. It is a choice. When things happen in my life that are not smiley, feel good events, my tendency can be to focus on the negative. I really don't know why I am like that but I am. How about you?

I am reminded of an old hymn "Count Your Blessings" that I have much to be grateful for.  I just need to turn off the "gloom/doom" news and focus on my blessings: I have a loving family, a home where I can lay my weary head at night, a car that can transport me where I want to go, food on the table, clothes on my back, shoes on my feet and money to pay my bills. Thank you Lord for your blessings on me! "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Gratitude can change my attitude. (I love verse 19-20 in Psalm 34)

Psalm 34

1 I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.

2 I will glory in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and rejoice.

3 Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together.

4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.

6 This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.

7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.

8 Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

9 Fear the LORD, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing.

 10 The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

11 Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

12 Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days,

13 keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies.

14 Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

15 The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry;

16 but the face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to blot out their name from the earth.

17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.

18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

19 The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all;

20 he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.

21 Evil will slay the wicked; the foes of the righteous will be condemned.

22 The LORD will rescue his servants; no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.

You're In Good Hands

I'm not usually scared of being by myself but sometimes there are things that go "bump" in the night that will make me second guess my safety. I start thinking about where the closest thing is that I could use as protection. I don't particularly like walking around in the dark when I am in new surroundings either. The fear of the unknown can be quite intimidating.

Fear can keep us from enjoying life. Oh to see life through the eyes of a child! Most of them see no fear. They frolic and play. They get so excited anticipating visiting new places. They do silly things. They have tea parties and imaginary friends. When our four year old granddaughter Anna was two, she use to talk about a friend of hers a lot. Her name is Sally Boola. Don't you just love that name! She was always expecting Sally Boola to come to her house or she always had plans to visit Sally's house. As Anna is growing up, she doesn't talk about Sally Boola anymore. That makes me sad because we had such fun talks about Sally. I think I miss Sally more than Anna does. I love the imagination of a child! I love their freedom.

I need to be free. I do not need to be afraid. Sometimes I lose sight of God's glory and forget what I have to look forward to. I do not need to be so consumed with trivial inconveniences of everyday life that I forget that one glorious day all our trouble and pain will vanish. I need to live each day knowing that I am in good hands and that each and every day He gives me should be an anticipation of joy!

I'm thinking I may just have to call Sally Boola and ask her to come to my house for a tea party. Would you like to come too?

Righteous Anger

When was the last time you got really mad because of someone else's meanspirited behavior? It's one thing to get mad because of something someone has done to you but when someone else gets hurt because of another person's meanness then it makes me even madder. The kind of instances that come to mind quickly for me are bullying. I despise seeing someone being picked on.

Psalm 83 is a call to God to take action against those who are banding together against (picking on, bullying) Israel. He even suggests how God could bring the bad guys down.

However as people of God there are too many scriptures that remind of us of how we are to behave when we are hotheaded. (Romans 12:19, Colossians 3:8, James 1:19-20)

We should be angered at something unjust or wrong. We should do something about it. We should take action against these wrongs and in so doing being a part of the restoration of people. God permits us to express anger, but we aren't to sin in the process. "In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry and do not give the devil a foothold." Ephesians 4:26

Lisa Harper, A Perfect Mess, writes: "God's love frees us to express righteous indignation and anger, then channel that emotion into redemptive action."

I know there have been times when you were red-in-the-face furious and lost your temper and you wanted to get back at somebody. It is hard to walk away from a situation like that and not say something.  Let God take care of it. "Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”says the Lord." Romans 12:19  

It is really hard to walk away from a situation where you or someone you love is being unjustly accused or berated about something. We always want to get in the last word. According to scripture: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Romans 12:20 In other words, kill them with kindness. That is mighty hard to do too.

In the end those who have hurt you usually realize it but it takes a change of their heart and God is the only one that can do that. Do not let the anger and bitterness overcome you. There are too many examples in the bible where God's team wins!

Psalm 83

1 O God, do not remain silent; do not turn a deaf ear, do not stand aloof, O God.

2 See how your enemies growl, how your foes rear their heads.

3 With cunning they conspire against your people; they plot against those you cherish.

4 “Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation, so that Israel’s name is remembered no more.”

5 With one mind they plot together; they form an alliance against you—

6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, of Moab and the Hagrites,

7 Byblos, Ammon and Amalek, Philistia, with the people of Tyre.

8 Even Assyria has joined them to reinforce Lot’s descendants.

9 Do to them as you did to Midian, as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,

10 who perished at Endor and became like dung on the ground.

11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,

12 who said, “Let us take possession of the pasturelands of God.”

13 Make them like tumbleweed, my God, like chaff before the wind.

14 As fire consumes the forest or a flame sets the mountains ablaze,

15 so pursue them with your tempest and terrify them with your storm.

16 Cover their faces with shame, LORD, so that they will seek your name.
17 May they ever be ashamed and dismayed; may they perish in disgrace.

18 Let them know that you, whose name is the LORD— that you alone are the Most High over all the earth.

Hanging on to Hope

Ever had a bad day? There is a children's book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst that I used as motivation for my students. I taught high school for 29 years. And if there is ever a group of people who need motivation and hope it is high school students. The story starts out with Alexander having a bad morning with gum in his hair, then a bad school day, followed by a bad shopping experience (now ladies we can really relate to a bad shopping day) - you name it and it was bad. He kept saying he wanted to move to Australia after each experience. You know the feeling. Get me out of this mess. Just take me anywhere but HERE!

Life is filled with disappointments and hurts. When these occur we tend to reflect on the "good ole days" and wish we could go back to those days. But if the truth were told there were hurts in the good ole days. It's just that compared to what's going on now those hurts didn't seem so bad.

Because of your terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days you have a faith story. You are here now because you are hanging on to hope even when life is hard. Psalm 42 is a song of lament. It expresses sorrow and remembrance. The writer is having a pity party. Ever had one of those? Well, the best thing you can do is admit you are having one and pour out all that messy stuff instead of keeping it all in. Tell God where and why it hurts. Do what you have to do to get it out - cry, scream, shout but get it out - don't keep it in - and He will draw close to you. Then hang on to the HOPE we have in Him.

What a faith story you will have to tell! I would love to hear yours.

Let's hang on to our HOPE rope!
Psalm 42
1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
3 My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng.
5 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
6 My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.
8 By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I say to God my Rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?”
10 My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
11 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

I'm Sorry

I'm not sure how many of you reading this will remember a very popular 1970 movie, Love Story. The line that most people will remember from that movie is "Love means never having to say you're sorry."

Now love can go a long way but there are times that our trash talk gets us to a place that the only thing that will fix a relationship is to confront that issue and admit what you did and tell that person you are sorry. Henry Winkler who played Arthur Fonzarelli - The Fonz - on the sitcom Happy Days had difficulty admitting when he was wrong. The Fonz use to drag out the word wrong: "I'm wrrrooooong" because he was just too cool to ever be wrong about anything.

Some of us are that way too. Either we do not recognize when we are wrong or we are too proud to admit that we are wrong. When we do not admit that we are wrong then we are slowing up the healing process of forgiveness not only from the person we wronged but ultimately the flow of grace from God.

David wrote Psalm 51 acknowledging that he had been wrong in many things and that ultimately it was God that he had sinned against. By admitting our mistakes we are brought back into His glorious fellowship. Our sad songs are replaced with praises to Him.

Contrary to the line "Love means never having to say you're sorry", love means you do say I'm sorry so that forgiveness can begin with God and the individual you have wronged.

Why do we hold back from confessing to God and others when we know we have done or said something that was wrong? I think it is because we think that the person we wronged will not forgive us. And you know, that may be absolutely true. But when you come before the Lord and the person you wronged with a sincere heart, I know what He will do. He will forgive. Your restoration will begin from the brokenness. I can't tell you what the person you wronged will do.

Lisa Harper, A Perfect Mess, writes "God's love frees us from the muck and mire of guilt so we can walk in the sweet fragrance of the forgiven."

I want to be able to dance before the Lord in the glory of His grace and forgiveness. How about you?

Psalm 51

1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.

5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you.

14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.

15 Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise.

16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.

18 May it please you to prosper Zion, to build up the walls of Jerusalem.

19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous, in burnt offerings offered whole; then bulls will be offered on your altar.