March 30, 2010

Verse of the Day
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13

Song of the Day
Immanuel by Michael Card
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-vTQqbofuM&NR=1
Oddly, this is one of my favorite Christmas songs, so why I am sharing it now, I am not quite sure. But I never hear it on the radio during the Christmas season, even the Christian stations, and I wonder why? It is so beautiful. This was the best clip of the song I could find.

Food
The food continues to go well. The toughest sell throughout this season has been Mr. Fix-it. I am quite sure he can't wait to be face first in a hot fudge sundae. I did make some oatmeal raisin cookies. I used the recipe on the Market Pantry oatmeal container, except that I took out the two sugars and replaced it with 3/4 cup mashed banana, 3/4 cup applesauce, and 3 packets of Stevia. The good news was that Mr. Fix-it didn't throw it away. The bad news was that he never had another one. They did all disappear and quite honestly I didn't care how many they ate. There really wasn't anything bad in them, oatmeal, bananas, unsweetened applesauce, butter, vanilla, eggs, raisins, Stevia.

"Stuff" Detachment
I have to come clean and confess that I was not religious about getting rid of my three things a day while on my "blog break". But, I did make up for it today by filling up another garbage bag full.

Spiritual Growth
Today was a beautiful day filled with many twists and turns. I hosted a Lenten Tea this morning with two other wonderful families. One mother just had her 7th baby. Although most of her children were able to come, she couldn't make it as her newborn ended up going to the hospital. Thankfully, baby will be okay. The other mother is in town visiting her family. She brought her 4 beautiful girls. So, excitement and noise were not absent.

I set my table as beautifully as I could. Since we were actually doing the Good Friday tea early, I had red candles, but the rest had more of a lilac theme. There were several foods present all representing a part of Christs' passion. So, the older girls took turns reading scripture out of the Bible, then they were able to taste the item that went with the reading. It is kind of hard to explain. Here are two links that show pictures and everything. This is what we followed today.
http://showerofroses.blogspot.com/2009/04/lenten-tea-on-good-friday.html
and
http://alice.typepad.com/cottage_blessings/2006/04/a_second_lenten.html

Then after that fun morning, I had more frustration with my neighbor boy and his friends. They are about 12 and think it is okay to drive their conversion van in and out of the driveway, backing in way to close to our fence. Also got to enjoy their ACDC music cranked. This happens every spring. I hate it, yet the other night when one of the friends yelled something to me as I was driving by, I realized something.(Keep in mind, I have never even talked to this kid, so why he is yelling I have no idea. They have no respect for any of the neighbors.) I realized that this is what the Lord is talking about. It is easy to love my family, but He is calling me to love them AND pray for them, which I really haven't done much. So, this has been added to the nightly prayers.

Book Discussion
Book: Searching for and Maintaining Peace
Author: Fr. Jacques Philippe
Section: Attitude When Confronted With the Suffering of Those Close to Us

"We sometimes feel more troubled and preoccupied by the suffering of a friend or a child than by our own suffering."

"How much excessive anxiety sometimes reigns in families when a member is tested in matters of health, unemployment, depression, etc. How many parents torment themselves over a problem concerning one of their children, for example."

I witnessed this just today, when I saw a behavior in Artsy that was completely out of character for her. She is my "love to dress up as a princess and play tea party" girl, so while some of the girls were playing dress up, out of nowhere she pretends she has a gun and is getting Joke-A-Lot. Now, this caused a lot of anxiety at first. My poor friend who had to listen to me lament about what was going on with my daughter, helped me figure out where this came from. The little boy across the street. She certainly didn't learn this in our home. But do you know when the anxiety departed from my soul? When I realized that this happened for a reason, an early signal of sorts. It was as if God was opening my eyes, so that I could take some action. I am not sure how much, but I am going to significantly reduce the amount of time they spend together. To be honest, I wanted to do that anyway. When I see just my four kids in the backyard playing, it is fabulous. I see them usually doing so well together, always watching out for and playing with the little guy, Curly. And when I have other close families over, there is this same camaraderie. But when the other little boy is over the dynamic is completely different, it is like someone set them on fire, there is no cohesiveness, just wild craziness, with Curly on his own. Mr. Fix-it says that all little boys play war and stuff. And we do have water guns which I always enjoyed as a kid. He still thinks there isn't a problem, but I am going to go with my gut on this one since I am home with them all the time and witness far more than he does. Curious if anyone else has any thoughts on this one?

I am going to end this section with a fabulous quote from this section. It is long, but it is good.
"On the contrary, our compassion for ourselves is often disturbed and anxious. We have a way of implicating ourselves in the suffering of others that is not always correct, that sometimes proceeds more from a love of self than from a true love of others. And we believe that to preoccupy ourselves excessively with another in difficulty is justified, that it is a sign of the love that we feel for the other person. But this is false. There is often in this attitude a great, hidden love of ourselves. We cannot bear the suffering of others because we are afraid of suffering ourselves. The reason is that we, too, lack confidence in God. . . if we torment ourselves to the point of losing our peace, this signifies that our love for the other person is still not fully spiritual, is still not in harmony with God. . . In order for it to be a true Christian virtue, compassion for others must proceed from love (desiring good for others) and not from fear (fear of suffering, fear of losing something)."

He closes by saying that we should persevere in prayers and petitions for healing for these people and help as possible, but always in a spirit of peace and confident abandonment into the hands of God.

Next section: In All People Who Suffer There is Jesus

Prayer
Dear Lord,
You know the things that wear at our soul and try to steal our peace. Please fill us with strength and confidence in you. Help us to pray for those who persecute us and love our enemies. So many times Lord, I just get mad instead of turning to you in prayer and seeking your guidance.

As I am coming to the end of my Lenten journey, I also ask for your guidance with this blog. I am sure that this blog was your will. I have grown immensely and hope others have too, but please make it abundantly clear what you would have me do after Easter Sunday.

Help us to know, love and serve you in this world, so we can enjoy you forever in the next. Amen.

Today's Menu
Breakfast: Since the lenten tea was this morning and Curly slept late, everyone but Artsy skipped breakfast. She made herself peanut butter toast.

Lunch: Peanut butter sandwiches, strawberries

Dinner: Chili, tortillas with melted cheese, strawberries and fruit cup (grapes, oranges, and grapefruits)

Not the best day nutritionally. I'll try to do better tomorrow.