Clearing out the “Giving Tuesday” Temple

Am I the only one who finds the “Giving Tuesday” concept a whole lot of backwards? The culture dictates your Thanksgiving holiday weekend goes like this:

Thursday--“Thanksgiving Day,” gorge yourself out of gratitude. Scour the ads for what you “need” to buy, develop a strategy for getting to the stores at the stroke of midnight in order to ensure what you want to buy is available. Possibly even commence shopping before the leftovers are put away.

Friday--“Black Friday,” run yourself ragged with shopping. Let your greed run rampant, buying things for others that they may or may not want or actually need. Spend more than you anticipated, or just spend without giving it any thought whatsoever. Use a credit card to avoid facing the reality of how much you’re spending.

Saturday--“Small Business Saturday,” trip around your town with your not-quite-maxed-out credit card and purchase items from local “small” businesses to “maintain” your local economy. Pat yourself on the back because you helped keep your community strong. Keep spending.

Sunday--watch TV and football and create a plan for your next spending episode, allow the commercials to convince you that there are still things out there that you or your kids need, and they’re found online.

Monday--“Cyber Monday,” warm up that credit card again folks! There are ONLINE DEALS that are ONE DAY ONLY and you should not take time to think about them before you purchase them!

Tuesday-- “Giving Tuesday,” Okay, after 3 or 4 days of spend, spend, spend, it’s NOW time to give from what may or may not be left. (Nothing left to give? Oh well, maybe next year...)

People! This. Is. Backwards! From the beginning of time, God has asked for the firstfruits. Not the spoiled scraps of the leftovers.

Genesis 4:3-5 says, “Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor.”

I am assuming that, somewhere along the line, God gave instructions about offerings made to Him, though it isn’t recorded for us to know for sure. Cain gave some from the soil, Abel gave from the firstborn of his flock--the best. We don’t get to know specifically what Cain’s offering was, but I suppose it wasn’t the best, and I assume his heart wasn’t really in it, based on God’s response. (1 Samuel 16:7—People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”) So while some may get upset about God’s  perceived “pickiness,” at the end of the day, He is Lord, he sees our intentions.

But I digress. My point here is to say that “Giving Tuesday” is backwards simply because it comes AFTER a bunch of selfish spending (even if you are buying for “others”) and encourages a “what’s left” mentality rather than a godly mentality of giving FIRST out of gratitude to God for all he has entrusted to us.

As someone who is working at modeling handling personal finances with God’s instructions as a guide, I find it really difficult to get excited about “Giving Tuesday.” Let's bump it up a week and  start the giving before all the spending. Perhaps that way we’d experience the satisfaction of doing good before we go out and make a bunch of foolish spending choices, and avoid making bad spending choices in the first place.

God doesn't want our leftovers. That's why He commanded—and told the Israelites to TEST HIM—that they bring the whole tithe (the first 10% of EVERYTHING) into the storehouse. (Malachi 3:10)

Messy

 

Yesterday while singing Gungor's song "Beautiful Things" I was struck by something.

The song's lyrics were placed over a series of photographs of a potter working at a wheel. The photos were all close-up pictures showing just the hands of the artist and the mass of clay being worked on. As I watched the pictures and sang the words, I noticed the hands of the potter.

They. Were. Filthy.

And there were a lot of pictures where it was nearly impossible to distinguish which was the pot, which was the excess clay, which was the hands of the potter, and sometimes where the wheel started.

Does the potter mind that it is so messy? No, because a potter knows that the mess is necessary to achieve the the final product. Whether the piece will end up in a museum, a showroom, or just in someone's cupboard, the mess is part of the process.

And when the pot is "finished," the potter steps back, wipes off the clay that got everywhere on him (if you've ever watched a pot being thrown, you know the clay gets on more than just the potter's hands), then goes and washes away whatever is left. The potter is clean again, and the creation is there, beautiful, ready for its intended use. The excess is taken away as the potter masterfully works to create what is intended.

It got me to thinking. God is right there in the middle of the mess. In the middle of MY mess. And He's getting messy right along with me.

Is the process painful? Yes, but all during the process His loving hands are surrounding me, keeping what I need and stripping away what I don't. And much of the time, I hope, where I stop and He starts is indistinguishable.

A nod to my creative & practical side

I've long been a fan of using a bag of rice heated in the microwave as a heating pad for whatever aches and pains one might have. The beauty of luscious heat on whatever random pain I may have and the ability to fall asleep with the "heating pad" on, because it isn't electrical to begin with!

So, recently I came upon a genius idea for making these little bags for practically FREE! And virtually no sewing either!

You know how sheets & pillowcases are starting to come in their own little storage sacks? I don't know about you, but for the life of me I can't refold the sheets small enough to fit them back into that bag for storage, but neither can I force myself to throw away such a handy little bag! (Are you starting to see where I'm going with this?) One use I've found for them is using them as a in-machine laundry bag for my delicates, the drawstring feature makes them perfect for this!

Now, on to the rice bag. First, turn the bag inside-out. This will ensure you have a lovely finished exterior when your rice pack is complete.

Now, fill the inside-out bag with 1 pound of regular old white rice.

Next, measuring approximately 1/2 way up on the filled bag, sew a straight seam across the width of the bag, sealing the rice in the bottom of the bag.

Now, turn the drawstring half of the bag over the rice filled end of the bag and cinch up the drawstring.

Voila! Now heat your little wonder of a bag for about 1-1/2 minutes on High in your microwave, place on the achy-sore spot, and relax! You won't fall asleep with a electrical heating pad threatening to catch on fire if  you use it while you sleep!

Beautiful Video of a Beautiful Day...

My handsome hubby...

Mark's sister, Karen, her husband, Craig, and their kiddos, (l-r) Mel, Nathan & Kelly

Seeing Hannah for the first time for the DAY...

Pastor Aaron Baart's message was beautiful.

Wedding party

Leaving through sparklers!

A few wedding pictures...for now...

Our cake decorator took these pictures and graciously shared them with me...  A bit of an explanation about  the characters on the cake, they are "nods" to our sweet ring bearer and flower girl

Fasting

This Lenten season I've been fasting. But not from food. From Facebook. 


It's odd, I do feel like I'm missing out. On information. On gossip. On stuff I'd like to know about. On stuff I'd rather not know about. On laughs. On prayer needs. On the everyday lives of my friends that I've become accustomed to hearing about.


And I wonder, honestly, if Jesus were walking the earth today like he did 2000 years ago, would he have a Facebook account? I rather think he would, but not for the same reasons I do. He'd be doing his proclaiming to the people about his true identity. And he'd receive comment after comment. If you were Jesus Facebook friend, would that change how you use Facebook?

Why

Just over a week ago I had the opportunity to spend 8 hours in solitude driving to my parents house to help my mom out after hip replacement surgery.

Funny thing about being alone with your thoughts, sometimes you get some pretty big revelations.

I think I did just that.

Have you ever thought about the origin of the question "Why?" It was what was on my mind during part of my drive. I sort of came to the conclusion that without sin we wouldn't have the question "Why?" because life without sin is a life of perfect trust and obedience.

Think about it. If the serpent had never asked Eve "Why?" we would never have reason to ask it! Now, am I condemning everyone who ever says "Why?" Certainly not! But I know when I ask "Why?" of God, eventually I have to get around confessing the sin of arrogance that I actually deserve to know the answer to "Why?"

I hear people say a lot (and I've said it, too) that when I get to Heaven, I have a lot of questions for God about why... and you fill in the blank. But I wonder if we'll even be able to utter the word? Because isn't that where it all started? Questioning God's wisdom on the subject of knowledge of good & evil?

What do you think? Why?

Playground fund, paid forward...

So here's what just over $2700 bought. We had in mind something much larger, but all in all this is a huge improvement, as you can still see some of the old equipment in the background of one of these. God is good.

Playground fund still alive and well!

A few months ago I posted for the first time about the Cherokee Mental Health Institute's playground and the resulting fund to enable them to purchase new equipment for the children who need to be treated there.

Tuesday, Mark and I were honored to receive a large corporate donation on the playground's behalf. The fund is now at just over 10% of the goal. We continue to trust that God will move in the hearts of many to give, with no benefit to themselves, to this most worthy cause.

If that's you, let me know. I'll be glad to share more information on where you can send your gift.

Bright Title, Dark Subject

Brouwer's The Canary List was an easy selection for me. I was introduced to his work several years ago, and have been hooked on anything that bears his name ever since.


I wasn't disappointed with my choice. He had me from the first word of the prologue. Brouwer skillfully weaves a tale of intrigue and wonder. Making me question whether such events might truly take place within the confines of the organized church.

I'm a firm believer in Satan's attempts to deceive and infiltrate the good work Christ has accomplished, so this book wasn't necessarily shocking in it's content, but nevertheless I found it disturbing. While convincing, to discover that one of the characters was cavalier about what he was fighting for left me questioning which side, darkness or light, truly won out in the end.

I am grateful to know the end of the story, and that when the last day comes I am securely on the side of The Light.

You can pre-order the book here.

Indivisible is indispensible

Attention all suspense junkies! Get your hands on a copy of Kristen Heitzmann's Indivisible and read it without stopping, cover to cover. This is a must-read!
Heitzmann is a master of suspense, she allows the events of her novel to give the reader the insights they need, bit by bit, as the characters discover them themselves. She keeps you reading, and when you're done with the book, wondering about how the people you've just met between its pages are faring now.
Suspense being what it is, I'm hesitant to go into much detail about the book, lest I give anything away. Just get yourself a copy and get reading and enjoying this book!