Life's Lessons

I started a grad class last week and thought I finally hit my stride when God handed me other plans - my aunt passed early Friday morning at about 6:00 AM. I miss her terrible, she was like a second mom to me. She was sick enough though that I am glad she is not in pain anymore.

Commitment to family

And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me. (Ruth 1:16 - 17)

Ruth has always made me feel so comforted. I look at her and see such a commitment to family, a lover and respect for others. Ruth provides a way for her mother-in-law to survive, to what could have been her detriment (not returning to her family, not remarrying, etc). What lessons can we learn from such an unselfish person? What can we take away from such a complete act of love, charity, and caring for others? Where do I even begin answering that question?!?!?! :)

The more I follow God and the more I look to Him for guidance in my day to day life, the more I see how this type of commitment is necessary in everything I do. I need to be able to commit myself to everything I can do with heart, mind, and body, so that I can feel comfortable in being able to turn over it over to glorify God. If I look at how Ruth carries herself, shows love for her mother-in-law, respect for the owner of the field, I can get a great example of how to live. Any thoughts?

Modesty Survey

I came across this survey about young people and modesty. It provides an interesting perspective. I am putting it up to allow for thoughts to start flowing, no matter if you agree or disagree. Think about it. Post about it. Talk about it.

Soft Pumpkin Cookies

• 1 (16 ounces) can pumpkin, 2 cups
• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup (8 ounces) butter, softened
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon maple extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup chocolate chips
  

Preheat oven to 350°. Into a large mixing bowl, measure all ingredients except pecans. With hand held mixer at low speed, beat ingredients until blended, scraping bowl occasionally. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat for 1 minute longer.

Using 2 tablespoons of batter for each cookie, spoon batter into mounds on ungreased baking sheets, keeping mounds about 2 inches apart. Press a few chocolate chips into the center of each cookie dough mound. Bake cookies for 18 to 20 minutes, until golden brown. Loosen cookies with spatula and move to wire rack to cool. Store in tightly covered container for up to 4 days. Freeze in portions, if desired. Makes 6 to 7 dozen cookies.

**You may be able to mix chips in to batter after using the mixer and hand mix them in - I've never tried. A friend likes it with a pecan half placed in the middle instead of the chocolate chips.**

Age

Being a fourth grade teacher, I appreciate what young people have to offer. Of course, at this time of year, I also appreciate having a break to de-stress! That point aside, I see a lot of good in youth and what they have to share. Don't get me wrong, respect is shown towards those who are older. There is much that age has to offer that youth can not give. Years on Earth often does bring a lot of wisdom. I have such respect for my parents, my church pastor and elders, grandparents, etc. They have seen so much and experienced so much and those experiences have taught them how to handle a lot. What I think people need to avoid though is that youth means that you have less to offer. There is hardly a week goes by that a student of mine didn't teach me something or give me a different way to look at something that I thought I was the 'expert' on. I sometimes need to work at remembering that just because I am older, doesn't mean I have the end all and be all answer to something. Even when a students knoweldge of a subject is limited (or sometimes when there may be no knowledge), they ask a question or rephrase something in such a way as to give me a new perspective and open a whole new way to approach the subject. Don't discount me because I am yonger, please!

The Weight of Prayer - Author unknown

I am not sure where this story came from, but it was passed on to me recently and thought it was wonderful. Has anyone seen this before? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Louise Redden, a poorly dressed lady with a look of defeat on her face, walked into a grocery store. She approached the owner of the store in a most humble manner and asked if he would let her charge a few groceries. She softly explained that her husband was very ill and unable to work, they had seven children and they needed food. John Longhouse, the grocer, scoffed at her and requested that she leave his store. Visualizing the family needs, she said: 'Please, sir! I will bring you the money just as soon as I can."

John told her he could not give her credit, as she did not have a charge account at his store. Standing beside the counter was a customer who overheard the conversation between the two. The customer walked forward and told the grocerman that he would stand good for whatever she needed for her family. The grocerman said in a very reluctant voice, "Do you have a grocery list? Louise replied "Yes sir!" "O.K." he said: "Put your grocery list on the scales and whatever your grocery list weighs, I will give you that amount in groceries."

Louise, hesitated a moment with a bowed head, then she reached into her purse and took out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it. She then laid the piece of paper on the scale carefully with her head still bowed. The eyes of the grocerman and the customer showed amazement when the scales went down and stayed down.

The grocerman staring at the scales, turned slowly to the customer and said begrudgingly, "I can't believe it." The customer smiled and the grocerman started putting the groceries on the other side of the scales. The scale did not balance so he continued to put more and more groceries on them until the scales would hold no more.

The grocerman stood there in utter disgust. Finally, he grabbed the piece of paper from the scales and looked at it with greater amazement. It was not a grocery list, it was a prayer, which said: "Dear Lord, you know my needs and I am leaving this in your hands." The grocerman gave her the groceries that he had gathered and placed on the scales and stood in stunned silence.

Louise thanked him and left the store. The customer handed a fifty-dollar bill to John as he said, "It was worth every penny of it." It was sometime later that John Longhouse discovered the scales were broken, therefore only God knows how much a prayer weighs.

A calling

How do we know what we are meant to do? Ok, tough question, or maybe not written well, but how do we know where God wants us to go and what to do? I realize that someone's going to answer that when we are quiet enough, we will hear what God wants. I know that's true, but sometimes I have trouble making the step to understand if that's my mind imposing something that I think is a calling. How do other people discern what's a real calling versus their mind just "playing" with them?