Don't Wait...

I was just reminded of this verse…

Ecclesiastes 11:4 (NIV) - "Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap."

In other words… "If you wait until the wind and the weather are just right, you will never plant anything and never harvest anything."

It's a nice reminder… we can sit around and wait until conditions are just perfect before we do anything… or we can step out, make plans, take risks and watch God produce the results.

That's pretty cool.

~Krista

Principles

"I will keep the law given by God; sanctioned by man. I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad - as I am now. Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth? They have a worth - so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am insane - quite insane: with my veins running fire, and my heart beating faster than I can count its throbs. Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations, are all I have at this hour to stand by: there I plant my foot."

Charlotte Bronte, in "Jane Eyre"

Reason

"I can live alone, if self respect and circumstances require me so to do. I need not sell my soul to buy bliss. I have an inward treausre, born with me, which can keep me alive if all extraneous delights shoud be withheld; or offered only at a price I cannot afford to give. Reason sits firm and holds the reins, and she will not let the feelings burst away and hurry her to wild chasms. The passons may rage furiously, like true heathens, as they are; and the desires may imagine all sorts of vain things: but judgment shall still have the last word in every argument, and the casting vote in every decision. Strong wind, earthquake-shock, and fire may pass by: but I shall follow the guiding of that still small voice which interprets the dictates of conscience.'"

Charlotte Bronte, in "Jane Eyre"

The necklace

I received this forward today and thought it was worth archiving. :)

The cheerful little girl with bouncy golden curls was almost five. Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw them, a circle of glistening white pearls in a pink foil box.
"Oh mommy please, Mommy. Can I have them? Please, Mommy, please?"
Quickly the mother checked the back of the little foil box and then looked back into the pleading blue eyes of her little girl's upturned face. "A dollar ninety-five. That's almost $2.00. If you really want them, I'll think of some extra chores for you and in no time you can save enough money to buy them for yourself. Your birthday's only a week away and you might get another crisp dollar bill from Grandma."

As soon as Jenny got home, she emptied her penny bank and counted out 17 pennies. After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and she went to the neighbor and asked Mrs. McJames if she could pick dandelions for ten cents. On her birthday, Grandma did give her another new dollar bill and at last she had enough money to buy the necklace.
Jenny loved her pearls. They made her feel dressed up and grown up. She wore them everywhere, Sunday school, kindergarten, even to bed. The only time she took them off was when she went swimming or had a bubble bath. Mother said if they got wet, they might turn her neck green.

Jenny had a very loving daddy and every night when she was ready for bed, he would stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to read her a story. One night as he finished the story, he asked Jenny, "Do you love me?"

"Oh yes, daddy. You know that I love you."

"Then give me your pearls."

"Oh, daddy, not my pearls. But you can have Princess, the white horse from my collection, the one with the pink tail. Remember, daddy? The one you gave me. She's my very favorite."

"That's okay, Honey, daddy loves you. Good night." And he brushed her cheek with a kiss.

About a week later, after the story time, Jenny's daddy asked again, "Do you love me?"

"Daddy, you know I love you."

"Then give me your pearls."

"Oh Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have my baby doll. The brand new one I got for my birthday. She is beautiful and you can have the yellow blanket that matches her sleeper."
"That's okay. Sleep well. God bless you, little one. Daddy loves you."
And as always, he brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss.

A few nights later when her daddy came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed Indian style. As he came close, he noticed her chin was trembling and one silent tear rolled down her cheek.

"What is it, Jenny? What's the matter?"

Jenny didn't say anything but lifted her little hand up to her daddy. And when she opened it, there was her little pearl necklace. With a little quiver, she finally said, "Here, daddy; this is for you."

With tears gathering in his own eyes, Jenny's daddy reached out with one hand to take the dime store necklace, and with the other hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet case with a strand of genuine pearls and gave them to Jenny.

He had them all the time. He was just waiting for her to give up the dime-store stuff so he could give her the genuine treasure.

So it is, with our Heavenly Father. He is waiting for us to give up the cheap things in our lives so that he can give us beautiful treasures. Isn't God good? Are you holding onto things that God wants you to let go of? Are you holding on to harmful or unnecessary partners, relationships, habits and activities that you have come so attached to that it seems impossible to let go?

Sometimes it is so hard to see what is in the other hand but do believe this one thing
God will never take away something without giving you something better in its place.

Tranquility is Overrated

"It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquillity: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it."

-Charlotte Bronte, from "Jane Eyre"

Well... at least I know I'm not in a coma!

I completely smashed my finger on Wednesday night. Somehow I got it caught under the edge of my chair at dinner. The padded portion of the seat had come loose from the metal chair frame at the right front corner. So, as I was sitting down, and scooting my chair in, somehow my finger got in between the "padded" portion and the frame. It probably wouldn't have been near as bad if I hadn't been in the process of sitting down. I wasn't expecting it, so I think I wasn't sure what had happened... just that my finger was in incredible pain. It happened so fast, and yet it seemed it took forever for me to realize I had to stand up to get my finger out. Talk about pain! I honestly don’t remember the last time I was in pain like that. Surely I’ve been in more pain than that, but honestly… that could be about the worst (physical) pain I’ve ever had. I was just sitting there a few minutes not talking, because I didn’t think I could talk… particularly without crying. Then finally I tried to squeeze out a few words. I was slowly regaining my composure until someone asked how I was. Then I just pretty much lost it. Tears started streaming down my face. That continued for several minutes. Finally the throbbing dulled enough for me to continue on fairly normally.

I have a nice little bruise spot showing through my fingernail. A friend of mine has kindly suggested that the nail will probably fall off. :( I'm hoping that's not the case, as I don't think the squishing had any direct impact on the nail bed. But, I suppose only time will tell.

I did talk with a doctor-friend of mine today. She said that one of the tests to determine whether a patient is in a coma is to take a pin (pen?) and add a good deal of pressure to the fingernail (due to the fact it's such an intense pain). So... at least I'm thankful to know I'm not in a coma.

Frozen Grapes

They are my new favorite delicacy. :) I hadn't really ever thought about it, but a lady in the grocery line recently noticed that I was buying grapes and asked if I ever freeze them. So, I now bring them home, wash them and throw them into an old plastic ice cream container. It seems to meet a need... good healthy snack, refreshing, etc.

They come with my highest recommendation.

Blog Spam

I've been annoyed lately with the spam comments I've had on my blog. It's somewhat a challenge keeping up with them. But, I just discovered an option under my settings that turns on a "word verification." It asks someone leaving a comment to verify a word. This stops the spam and annoys any friend who wishes to leave a good-hearted comment.

So... friends.... please let me know if the word verification is so burdensome as to cause you to stop making comments. I would rather delete a thousand useless spam comments than miss one sarcastic comment from you. :)

Thanks!

My first time

Well... I ran my first 5K this past Saturday. I knew I could run the distance, but I was still a bit nervous about it. A friend of mine had talked about running but decided not to. So, I was half relieved and half nervous that no one would be running with me. I was a bit disappointed in that I stopped and walked part of the race. I attribute that to two things...

1) The course was very, very flat. Without the variation of inclinations, my left shin was experiencing a good deal of pain.

2) There was a 10K race as well, so I kept seeing the 10K markers... thinking I was much further along in the race than I really was. So, when I thought I was nearly done and saw the 2K marker, I was fairly overwhelmed.

But, I did finish the race, and I finished under the time I expected (barely). I won't post that here, though. Maybe when I improve my time significantly I'll start publicizing that information. I should mention... it will do you no good to look for the results. I actually paid for someone else's registration. So, I ran under a pseudonym. And if that's not enough, for some reason, even the pseudonym didn't make it into the race results. :)

True Love

I think the sign of true love will be when someone spends his hard-earned cash to play ridiculous games at the fair in order to win an unusually oversized stuffed animal for me.