5 things I'm thankful for

I took a couple days break from blogging to enjoy the holiday with my family. I hope everyone had blessings this week.

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Colossians 3:16

1. Food to eat -- especially wonderfully delicious food!
   
   
2. Good friends -- old and new
   
   
3. Joy in contentment
   
   
4. Joy in the ridiculous
   
   
5. Scripture -- especially encouraging and instructing scripture

(Photo: Library of Congress)

Playing catch up

I just passed an enjoyable three hours.

I made some country bbq ribs -- mom's recipe -- yummy.

While I was cooking ribs, I caught up on all my e-mails, readers, etc -- my dad has had my computer for the last couple days -- and watched a couple television shows I recorded.

A nice end to a dreary day.

Here comes winter

We had flurries and sleet here yesterday.

Can you believe it? Flurries and sleet.

Granted, it wasn't a measurable amount but it dusted the grass.

And it was cold enough that my car still had some on the hood this morning when I left for work.

I don't think I'm quite ready for winter to be here.


I am ready for . . .

hot cocoa

kitties that warm my feet

hot tea

kitties that cuddle

the end of lawn mowing season
(although this leads to snow shoveling season which I am NOT ready for)

Christmas :-)

There will be some things I miss (until next summer) . . .

the smell of freshly mown grass
(I know that sounds slightly demented due to my previous statements but it's the truth)

being able to step outside without a jacket, parka or snowsuit

a warm breeze blowing through my window

So I guess I'll be trading one set of joys for another. :-)

What lies behind and what lies ahead

I have been reading over the past couple week's posts. It is amazing to me how many emotions and moods I have had in such a short time.

And now a compilation of this week presented Wordle-style:

That took me and hour and a half to complete. I probably could have messed around with it for another hour, or two, or . . .

Anyway, my point was the highs and lows of the past two weeks have brought me to the place I am today. A little weary, hopefully a little stronger, and possibly even content.

That's all for the looking back portion of this post.

Looking ahead . . .

Tomorrow is my day off (YEA!) and since it is the last Friday of the month it is also Bookspot Friday. I am going to have an insightful book review (I hope). :-D

The next couple weeks will be filled: going to work, teaching my class, enjoying the fall weather, cleaning my house (bleah), getting my yard ready for winter, participating in church functions, and who knows what else will pop up along the way.

I have a lot to be thankful for and blessed by.

On the right foot

Well, I had a pleasant weekend! It was busy too! Friday I did dinner and movies at a friends house. Saturday I had to work for a few hours but then a friend and I visited with friend of ours who was in the area for the weekend.

That was great -- we got to catch up on each other's lives and visit with her kids!

Yesterday, of course, was Mother's Day and I had dinner with Mom & Dad after church.

I even started out the week right getting up at a early enough to get some yard work done this morning before going to work and now I'm going home to mow my lawn.

I hope I can keep my momentum up for the rest of the week!

Rejoice

Rejoice always. I Thessalonians 5:16

One of my favorite scripture passages to read and meditate on is Philippians.

The book of Philippians was written by the apostle Paul to the believers in Philippi (a city in Macedonia – now ?) around A.D. 60. During this time Paul was far away from his friends in Rome awaiting trial. He was under house arrest, kept imprisoned by military guards.

Knowing this, I find it amazing that Paul could speak of his joy or rejoicing at least 16 times throughout this letter.

It forces me to question how my heart would respond in a similar situation:

• Would I dwell on the joy in my life in the midst of frustration, disappointment, and unforeseeable trials?

• Or would I wallow in my own self pity?

• Would my focus be on Christ my Savior, my Friend?

• Or would I focus on myself?

• Would I “Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I will say, rejoice!”? Philippians 4:4

The missing piece?

I have been thinking a lot lately about the way my life gone so far. I think that if I would have asked my self 15 years ago, "What is your life going to be like in 15 years?" I would have responded with an answer that in any way resembles my life today. I haven't decided if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

My 15-year-old self probably would have said:

• married
• kids
• maybe a job but not necessarily
  

I don't think I ever had a notion as to what I wanted to be when I grew up. (I still don't. Course I don't consider myself grown up either.)

Out of the three items listed above I (almost) have one. :-)

I am happy, I am content most of the time -- infrequently I have those niggling "what ifs" pop into my brain.

I wonder what my 45-year-old self ::cringe:: will say about this post and about my life. Think I will be a grown up then?

Contented?

So much emphasis, these days, is on happiness. Do it if it makes you happy. Are you happy with it? I'm not happy so I need to change something so I am happy.

I believe this is the wrong way to look at things. There is no way that everyone will be happy all the time. There is no way you or I will be happy all the time. Look at kids. They may not happy because they want that candy bar right now and will let you know it in the middle of the grocery store. Loudly. Yet just because they get that candy bar does not mean it is good for them physically, emotionally, etc. They may regurgitate that candy bar all over the back seat on the way home. Or realize that, yes, I can control my parents by embarrassing them with loud tantrums in the grocery store.

Same with our lives, just because we fix something because we aren't happy at the moment doesn't mean we are making the best decisions.

Ah, enough of that now. Just thought I would throw out a little extra since I missed Friday's posting. I will probably talk about this more as I try to become more contented.

Contentment seems the better thing to strive for. Harder, maybe. Not the norm, definately. But worth it.

Searching for a way to make what we have (marriage, career, family, spiritual life) is not always easy. We have to confront some issues or people that we (and by we, I mean I) have been putting off. Possibly because we (I) really hate confrontation, conflict, contention, etc.

Contentment is realizing what we have now is worth it. Worth the effort, worth a little unpleasantness, it takes to enjoy what we have to the fullest.

Ah, enough of that now. I will probably share some more in my effort to become more contented. But I think I have more than made up for Friday's missed post.