What Is Truth?

Jan19

truthWe have been inundated lately with ‘fessers; those who now feel the need to come clean on some sin of the past about which they have been silent heretofore. Lance Armstrong comes first to mind. I supported the guy. Never failed a drug test, yadda, yadda. Remember O.J? I didn’t think there was any way he could have committed the terrible crimes of which he was accused. I’d seen him run with a football. I knew him. I have a Barry Bonds bobblehead on my shelf. I’d like to believe him. Recently we’ve been hearing about Notre Dame football player Manti Te’o. He is denying having a role in the dead-girlfriend hoax. I don’t know him at all, but I’d like to believe him. I’m all for the “innocent until proven guilty” way of doing things.

Those are some athletes I can think of.

Don’t even get me started on politicians.

Movies that depict the good guys, like police officers or firemen, going bad make my blood boil. I was a faithful watcher of the TV show “24,” but I was always so irritated by the traitors, the evil infiltrators who lied and schemed and made people trust them. Made ME trust them. It’s just not right.

There is something deep within us that wants truth. We want to be able to trust people. Those who lie to us break our hearts down deep inside. I don’t want to become a cynical person, but the plethora of public liars puts us at a disadvantage. Who, really, can we trust? If my spouse says he’s not cheating on me, can I truly believe him? If my sons say they aren’t looking at pornography on the computer, do I take them at their word? (Yes, but I also have a filtering and accountability program on all the computers.)

Where is the integrity? Who can we really trust?

In John 14:6, Jesus declares, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Phew. Finally. And how can we know that we can trust Him? Look at His track record. Has He ever not followed through on something He said He was going to do? Has He ever told us anything that wasn’t true? That’s what got the pharisees so upset: He told the truth, and it didn’t reflect well on them.

Try Him; test Him. He is trustworthy. His followers died painful deaths for what they believed to be true about Him. I believed Lance Armstrong, but I wouldn’t have died for him. I didn’t trust him that much. He is human, after all.

Ah, that would be the difference: human vs. divine. One you can never fully trust; one you can bet your life on.

Thankful today for:

774. Giggling girls

775. flowers in January

776. grades nearly done

777. people I can trust

778. old friends

779. new growth

780. scented oils in a warming bowl

781. service projects

782. shadows

783. orange juice

784. natural health care

785. my sisters, who make me smile

786. my brother, even though I never hear from him 🙂

787. worship music

788. warm sunshine streaming in my windows

 

 

More Productivity Hints

Jan12

shoveling-snowTo add to my list from my last post, A Lazy Person’s Guide To Productivity, I thought of something else:

Never leave your dryer unattended. Pull things that matter out before they sit there and get wrinkled and you end up having to — shudder — iron. That goes against every lazy person’s law there is. Ironing is one of those tasks that just shouldn’t have to happen. I’ve been known to dry things with other loads because they’ve gotten left in the dryer. In fact, as I write this, there is a load just like that drying. I hate spending time ironing.

Don’t spend most of your time doing stuff you hate. Set aside time to do something you like. It will energize you. There are days when I spend all my free time in administrative household stuff. I’m the bookkeeper in my home, so I have to keep the budget, enter receipts in ibank, fill out forms, pay bills, make phone calls, etc. While I’m doing that, which I don’t actually hate, but isn’t the most fun, I watch a movie or catch up on a television show on Hulu. Of course, I can’t do that while I’m on the phone, but the pause button works for that. 🙂

Keep your house clean enough to be healthy and messy enough to be happy. I won’t ever be Martha Stewart, and I won’t have a showcase in Southern Living, but people are welcome and feel comfortable in my house. I won’t pass any white glove tests, and please don’t look under my bed, but my kitchen is clean and my eating surfaces are sanitary. I don’t like clutter, so things generally get picked up, but with three kids and multiple animals living here, there is some degree of mess that I just put up with because I love them. As some wise pundit put it, “Cleaning the house while the kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk while it’s still snowing.” Amen.

That’s all for now. Hope that helps!

Thankful today for:

764. new fishies

765. a birthday celebration

766. a spontaneous lunch date with my husband

767. my son’s first real job

768. another licensed driver in the house

769. my animals

770. a sweet, warm, dry January

771. good return policies

772. opportunities

773. life

A Lazy Person’s Guide To Productivity

Jan8

to-doI have two what you might call “real” jobs: I am the copy editor for a magazine and I am a 6th grade teacher. Both of these jobs come with mandatory deadlines. I have to have things done at a certain point: procrastination isn’t an option.

In all of my other roles–wife, mom, housekeeper, etc.–I have some wiggle room, and that’s where my innate laziness kicks in. So I’ve come up with a few tricks so that things actually get done around here, but I’m not forced to manipulate my round self into a square hole.

One caveat: this doesn’t work if you have small children at home. Mine are all 10 and up, so they can do so much for themselves, plus they’re at school a good part of the day. I also start the day talking with my Creator and making sure I’m on His page. That’s the only way I’m going to get anything done.

OK, here goes, a lazy person’s guide to productivity:

1. Once you’re up, stay up. An object in motion tends to stay in motion; an object at rest tends to stay at rest. Don’t sit down until you’ve accomplished something. If you sit, all is lost.

2. If you find yourself feeling like completing some task, do it! Even if it’s in the middle of something else you were doing. Don’t let those feelings pass by; you may never get them back again!

3. If you’re doing something, and, let’s say you walk into another room to get something and see something else that needs to be done, do it! If your distractions are productive, go ahead and get distracted. For instance, if you’re looking in the refrigerator for lunch and see a bin that really needs washing, wash it! Lunch can wait. That kind of goes against the grain of every organizational, productivity guru you’re ever going to meet. They’ll tell you not to leave things half done. But, I almost always go back to what I was originally doing, especially if it involves eating. I don’t like leaving things half done either.

4. Multitask! If you’ve got laundry to fold, watch that show that’s been on your DVR forever. I always have my laptop with me when I’m watching a baseball or football game on TV. The game doesn’t need my undivided attention, and there’s always something I need to do for work or school on my computer. This only works if you’re a good multitasker. If something needs your full attention in order to be done well, don’t divide yourself.

5. If you’re going to sit down, take everything with you that you need for several different projects: mail that hasn’t been dealt with, a button that needs to be sewn on, correspondence, your laptop computer :-), a junk drawer that needs to be organized. Because once you’re down, you’re not going to be getting up for awhile :-).

6. Whenever you feel like accomplishing something, do it. Don’t talk yourself out of anything that takes energy, because you never know when that energy is going to be there. There was a day that I decided to paint one of the walls in my living room as an accent wall. I went to the store, got samples, chose a color and then did it! I think I got it accomplished in two days. Then I had to rest for a week. Just kidding.

7. Combine errands. I almost never go out for just one thing. Not only does that waste gas, but it wastes energy! Grocery shopping is one of my least favorite chores. I don’t know exactly why, but it just is. So I procrastinate that job all the time. If I have to be out for any other reason, I will get groceries then. Today, in fact, I will be combining three trips: one to my chiropractor, one to pick up my son from an after-school activity, and then to the grocery store. Of course, that means bringing my son along with me, but he doesn’t usually mind. Getting off this comfortable couch today was just too much work!

I might add to these pointers as I think of more ways to be productive. Truth is, I’ve fought against my laziness in my head for years, but I realize that I really do get a lot done, maybe just not in the traditional ways other people do them. I hope this helped!

Shared on: Death By Great Wall

Thankful today for:

753. a newly licensed driver in the house (that’ll really help with those errands)

754. movies that make me cry

755. gift cards–I just love them

756. warm January weather (I will have a lot of disagreement to that one)

757.  a still-green Christmas tree

758. people who keep their word

759. accomplishments

760. acceptance

761. music

762. books

763. cameras

13 Things You Might Not Know About Me

Jan2

horses by oceanFollowing the lead of These Grace Filled Days, a blog I follow, I’m going to start off the year by telling you 13 things about myself that you may not know. I don’t think any of them will be shocking. Ready? Here goes:

1. I love animals, and if I didn’t have my husband reining me in, our household would probably be over run.

2. I’m a Californian, and although I’ve lived in Florida for 21 years,  whenever anyone asks me where I’m from, I say California. I just happen to live in Florida.

3. Although I consider myself an extrovert–I love having loads of people in my house–I’m not good at all at making small talk, and other people’s parties are usually uncomfortable for me. I’d rather have a small group of close friends that I can talk to than scads of people that I barely know.

4. I’m married to a reluctant vegetarian (he eats that way to help alleviate symptoms of his ulcerative colitis), and I have a child with a dairy allergy, so cooking is a challenge around my house.

5. I really don’t have a crafty bone in my body. I look at what other people do, and I think, “I could do that.” Truth is, I can’t. If I try, it never turns out looking right.

6. I’d much rather text and email than talk on the phone. I guess that’s the writer in me. Texts and emails can be edited. What you say just comes out the way you say it. No take backs.

7. I’m an adult orphan. My parents died within 16 months of each other. My dad had a heart attack in April 0f 2006 and I lost my mom to pancreatic cancer is August of 2007. There’s rarely a day that goes by that I don’t think about something I wish they could experience with my family.

8. I’ve always wanted to own a horse. Once, when my dad was between jobs, he applied for a position in Oregon. He said if he got it, we’d get a place where I could have a horse. Never happened. My dream home is on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean with a pasture of horses around it. A view of the ocean and horses is my idea of paradise.

9. I hate being cold. It seems to affect me more than others. I get chilled all the way through. I’d much rather sweat than shiver.

10. My mom was a concert violinist, but I never heard her play. That makes me sad. By the time I came along, she had long since put away her instrument to raise, at the time, three kids. Then my younger sister was added to the brood, and my mom sold her violin to help pay for the piano that now sits in my living room.

11. I cry whenever I see someone else crying. For real. Even if I catch just a few seconds of a movie or TV show, if they’re crying on screen, I cry. Hallmark commercials get me every time. Even if I’ve seen a movie or read a book 50 times, I’ll still cry. You know the movie “The Incredible Journey?” You know the part where Shadow finally shows up at the end after they had given up on him because he was so old? Yeah. Gets me. Every. Time.

12. I’m intrinsically lazy. Given the choice between sitting on the couch and reading a book, and getting up and doing something physical, I will choose the book every time.  It’s something I have to work really hard to overcome.

13. Years ago I got to be the only other voice on a demo tape that a friend of mine was making in hopes of launching a music career. I loved the experience of being in a studio and recording and had hopes of maybe being a singer myself some day. Oh well.

Can you relate to any of those? Let me hear from you.

Have a blessed new year!

Thankful today for:

743. still having the doors open in January

744. a new year

745. happy animals

746. clean water

747. leftovers

748. sight

749. my daughter’s delight in reading

750. my Christmas village

751. the bird’s antics

752. a wall filled with Christmas cards

 

Happy Birthday To Me

Dec30

ImageToday is my 51st birthday. I still haven’t gotten used to that number 5 being at the beginning of my age. I don’t feel 50-something. I’m told I don’t look 50-something. But I can’t escape the fact: I am now middle-aged.

But, whereas friends younger than I have married kids–and my eldest is still in high school and my youngest is only 10–I can get away with pretending I’m younger for just awhile longer.

But some facts just can’t be denied: the gray patches in my hair are getting more prevalent; in March I will have been married 22 years; I can remember the first moonwalk and watching it on a black and white TV. That puts me in a certain era, doesn’t it?

Getting older has never been my favorite activity, but ever since I turned 50, I’ve been trying to see the benefits. So to end my 51st year, I’m going to try to think of some of those now.

1. I am able to lead younger women and help bring up the next generation.

In my role as the lead 6th grade teacher at Trace Academy, I have the awesome responsibility of leading a young mom who serves as my co-teacher. I hope that some of my wisdom helps her along the way, though she is more than capable of carrying on herself with great maturity. Her children are still very young, so I can help shepherd her through some of the turmoil of mothering young children and having responsibilities at Trace at the same time.

2. I can take things that are thrown at me with more equilibrium, because I have seen God’s faithfulness through many years.

I trusted Christ to lead my life when I was 14 years old. If you do the math, which I try to avoid at nearly every opportunity, that means that I have been walking with Jesus longer than many of the people I hang out with lately have even been alive. He has brought me through the pain of having an alcoholic father, the trial of infertility and the heartbreak of losing three babies before they were born, and the grief of losing both of my parents 16 months apart. I have seen His faithfulness through 27 years of fulltime ministry and almost 22 years of marriage. I can attest to His faithfulness. He is good all the time.

3. I have seen a lot of changes in the world and can give a perspective to the younger generation that they won’t get from their peers.

My children often say to me, “Where do you come up with all these songs?” I frequently burst out with lyrics pertaining to something they just said, and they marvel at my repertoire. I can tell them about these big, black circular things that held songs and the days when phones had dials. I love my gadgets and enjoy keeping up with new technology, but I also find pleasure in remembering making it all the way through college as an English major with only a manual typewriter on which to write my volumes of papers. Ah, those were the days.

4. I can attest to the fact that getting older really does mean getting better.

As I watch my mother-in-law always striving to learn new things and stay healthy as she nears her 70th birthday, I can be inspired to never get lazy or let myself go just because it’s so much harder to get into shape as I age. It’s not easy, I admit, and things hurt a lot more often than they did when I was younger, but I refuse to be that decrepit old woman hobbling along. And I’ve already told my husband–who happens to be 3 years younger than I am–that he is not allowed to be a curmudgeon. We’re going to be the fun grandparents who offer to babysit, if we’re given the privilege of living close to our grandkids. Of course, by the time any of my kids get married and have kids, I may be well into my 60s, but if 50 is the new 30, I’ll just be in my mid-40s then, right?

So I’m not getting older, I’m getting better; better at loving, better at learning, better at living for Jesus and serving others. Every year is a gift given to me by my heavenly Father. I won’t cringe at being 50-something anymore.

Well, maybe only a little.

Thankful today for:

731. all the birthday greetings

732. free Starbucks peppermint mocha

733. Giovanni’s pizza

734. only a few patches of gray

735. clean movies to watch with the kids

736. celebrating Morgan’s Disney’s Dreamer and Doer award Friday

737. gift cards

738. Christmas cash

739. free lunch for good grades

740. Justin’s upcoming job interview

741. failures that bring lessons

742. memories

My goal was to get to 1,000 things to be thankful for by the end of the year. I’m not sure I’m going to make it. But it hasn’t been a full calendar year, since I started my list on February 7, I’m giving myself grace to finish my 1,000 list on February 6, 2013. So stay with me. Let’s see what God has in store for us in the new year. Thanks for stopping by. I’d love to hear some things that you’ve been thankful for this year.