Do What's RIGHT!

Who doesn't love a good party?!
You can find me here linking up with these great blogs.
Monday           Amaze Me Monday     Coastal Charm    The Dedicated House
                     I Should Be Mopping the Floor     The Hankful House     The Modest Mom
Tuesday        A Delightsome Life    A Bowl Full of Lemons  
                                    Titus Tuesday  A Stroll Through Life
Wednesday   Raising Homemakers        Savvy Southern Style      
                              The Thrifty Home   A Wise Woman Builds Her Home
Thursday    Between Naps on the Porch    Katherines Corner 3D Lessons for Life
           Hope in Every Season     Lamberts Lately
Friday      Rooted in Thyme  The Thrifty Groove   Farm Blog Hop   Flea Market Friday   Missional Women
 Best of the Nest  Anything Blue Friday   French Country Cottage  The Girl Creative
Sunday    Nifty Thrifty Things   Simple Saturdays    Sew Many Ways

My Word for the Year & 2013 Book List

Well, here we are ... the last day of January 2013.
One whole month down.
Already.

I am super stoked to say that it was a month of accomplishments!
I made this month count!
Yay me ;)

I do, however, want to share just a couple more things to put the final wrap
on the 'beginning of the year' stuff.

Choosing a 'word' for the year seems to be trending right now, so I've jumped on the bandwagon.
It kinda goes along with what I shared on Tuesday about James & I choosing
our motivational phrase for each month.
{January's phrase was POWER THROUGH!  Check it out here.}

Now, for my word for the year, well, I didn't even have to think more than a second about that!
It seems it had already been on my mind & heart for a while.
I actually chose 2 words:  INTENTIONAL & PURPOSEFUL.

Intentional living.
That's what I want from each & every day of 2013.
I want to live intentionally.
No 'whatever' days.
No aimlessly 'going through the motions'.
No life lethargy.
{Ok ... maybe some 'whatever' days, but not several of them in a row ... or whole months of them.}
None of that.

This year, I want to live on purpose!
I want that Joie de vivre, the joy of living, that zest for life!
I want to suck every little tidbit of life out of every single day.
Life is too short ... too precious to be squandered.

I believe in the magic of ordinary days ... in fact, I love ordinary days.
But, I want to look at each day as being full of possibility.

I've lived long enough to know that the day-to-day pressures & demands all too often
determine our course ... & can make our lives feel mundane, IF we let it.

Sure there's a lot to being a wife, full-time homeschooling mom, & home manager, 
not to mention all the other hats that we moms wear.
There will always rooms to clean, laundry to wash, & groceries to get.
But those things are inconsequential if I am not connecting with the hearts of the ones 
that I'm doing all this for.
That's what matters.
That's what will last.
That's where I have to get this right.     
I want my family to get the very best of me, not what's left over.
 
Here's where I must be intentional in writing my own story.
I must be purposefully choosing the best things to incorporate into my days ... into my life. 

My goal in 2013 to nurture myself spiritually, physically, mentally, & emotionally because 
these are necessary ingredients in order to be the best ME I can be!

 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. 

Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

Psalm 139:14

 
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, 

which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:10

Lastly, I wanted to share with you my book list for this year.

I am excited about these!

In keeping with my intentional living, 

I decided to make a list of the books that I'd like to read throughout this year.

I will make more time to read ... something I love, but I just don't set aside enough time for.

And ... I'm happy to say that I have finished one book this month!

I read Simplify Your Time by Marcia Ramsland.

It went right along with January's theme:  Simplify!

I bought it for my friend, Jody, a year or so ago ... & she loaned it to me to read.

It's full of easy ideas to make life simpler.

Here are two of the quotes that I loved:

"Life is a journey, a process.  Every day you must deliberately make the effort to take a few steps.

Learn, grow, become better than you are today.  The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine."

-John Maxwell

A high-quality life has a lot more to do with what you remove from you life than what you add to it.

-Cheryl Richardson

Aren't those good?

My plan for the reading is... well, no real plan other than to read these books!

The top 3 on the stack are devotionals, 2 oldies that I have read through several times 

& 1 new one that I am enjoying.

Along with my Bible, I try to read in one of these each morning ... & a different one before bed.

{I'll review these on a blog post next week.}

Since February is the month of LOVE, I'm planning to re-read the 2 small books by Tony Evans,

For Married Women Only & A Woman's Role in the Home.

These are both very good little books!

{James bought both of these for me & the male counterpart books for himself.}

I have another book I want to read in February ... full of fun ideas to love & romance your hubby.

It's a cute book, by Family Life Today ministries ... I think?

The problem ... I've misplaced it!  Ahhh.

That's why it's not pictured.

I got to find that little book.

And here's one more.

James just bought this book for me & one for each of our sons ...

& he also gave one to each member of the leadership team at our church.

James started reading this in December & has been so impacted by it!

He feels like this will be pivotal in helping us reach our goals 

& for our personal/professional success in 2013.

How exciting!!

I'm only a chapter in & have to agree that this book is very insightful!

So for a wrap, on January 31, I'm feeling full of purpose!

I'm intentionally planning my days & months, for my life to be happy & fulfilled ...

& ultimately to bring glory to God!

Oh! Teach us to live well!
    Teach us to live wisely and well!

Psalm 90:12 

Slang Words

Until a few days ago, I guess I thought folks like me were a dying breed.

Thanks to good ol' Facebook, a post from a friend {& lots of comments that followed}, I found that I was in good company.
How refreshing that people not only feel the same as I do, but they were willing to speak out about it.

 Here's what the FB status said:
"Really think to use phrases like 'that sucks' ~ 'dang it' ~ 'heck yea' and others
are a poor choice from a champion believer!"

I found myself saying 'AMEN' ... & after pondering about this for a day or so,
I decided to blog on the topic.

What's with Christians using words/phrases like 'What the frick'   &   'H to the no'?
'Freakin' this & freakin' that'....yes, another overly-used phrase.
These words make the FB post that inspired this blog look pretty kindergarten, huh?!
Not words that I'd deem as the best choice for a believer.

I'll call them 'slang' words.
That's how I heard them referenced when I was growing up.
You know, words that aren't curse words, but are as close as you can get.
Words that almost sound like the curse word ... or start with the same letter as the curse word ... or rhyme with the curse word.
You know those words.

The dictionary defines 'slang' as 'language at its most informal, using expressions that many would consider to be grammatically imperfect and sometimes rude.'


How my MOM defined slang as we were growing up was finding a 'word' to say {that you could possibly get by with saying} that's realllly close to a word that you knew you'd never be allowed to say!

So, in essence, you weren't saying a bad word, but everyone knew what you were insinuating.

Well, my mom was a stickler on this!
We had a very few 'acceptable' slang words we could use {like rats, phooey, oh my word ... those were alright}.
She worked very hard to teach us the importance of being God-honoring with our speech.
She wanted us to be diligent in guarding our mouths & conscious of the words that we used.
I've often heard her quote this scripture:

But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.  Matt. 12-36


The word 'idle' here {translated from the Greek} is speaking of words that are not good to the use of edifying nor are they words that 'minister grace unto the hearer' {Eph. 4:29}.

Shouldn't we as believers & followers of Christ be good examples in this area?

Seems today, in many areas of life, people desire to emulate the world, balancing precariously on that fine line of getting as close as possible, without going all the way.

I vividly remember a Sunday School lesson on this very subject when I was a young girl, taught by my pastor's wife.
Her convictions on this were just as strong as my parents' were.
She taught from Exodus 20:7.
“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain."


Only she didn't stop there ... & it was the rest of the lesson that impacted me the most.
As children, we are often told not to do something because it's bad or not nice, without a
thoroughly explanation of why.
In her lesson, she had a list of 'slang' words with the breakdown of what they meant
& from where they derived.
Every single word was derived from or was a euphemism for either God or a curse word.
It was surprising & very enlightening.
I decided right then & there that those words would never become a part of my vocabulary.
Not only did I adopt this as a personal principle when I was young, I have trained my children this same way.

Here are additional scriptures that elaborate on this subject:

Eph. 4:29  Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.


Eph. 5:4   Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.


Col. 3:8-10  But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Scripture says we are in the world but we aren't to be of the world.
We aren't to look like them, act like them, or talk like them.
There should be a distinguishing difference ... a 'city on a hill, light of the world'
kind of difference.

Psalms 19:14 says it best & is one of my favorite scriptures.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

I am so thankful for the Godly training I had in this area.
I want to daily be acceptable in the sight of the Lord.
I want to be a good representative for Him in my speech, my words, my actions,
& attitudes.
And as my FB friend wonderfully put it, I want to be an example of a champion believer!
What's a champion believer?
It's a believer who keeps getting back up!
Are any of us perfect & without fault?
No, not one.

Now, with all this being said, please do not think that I am looking down on you, frowning with shame, if some of these words are a part of your regular vocabulary.
That couldn't be further from the truth.
I am not your judge on this matter ... & the thoughts shared on this blog are my opinions.

My hope is that this may challenge you today to think about the words you use
& to examine them in light of the words of scripture.
May the ways in which we live our lives always uplift & magnify the name of the Lord!

Little Things

Isn't it funny odd how the 'littlest' injuries can hurt just as bad as the big ones?
Case & point:  burns from the hot glue gun ... & a splinter!

Yesterday, the weather was so beautiful, warm with a gentle breeze ...
it seemed to beckon me outdoors.
I decided to clean out the front flower beds.
Somewhere between the clearing out the dead leaves from last year's irises
& cutting back the holly bush, I got a splinter!

Fast forward a few hours.
I decided to try my hand at a new craft that required hot glue.
I was determined NOT to burn myself.
Don't you know that I stuck my finger right smack in the HOT glue,
not once but 2 TIMES!!

Now, granted, I've experienced pain at a much greater level than that resulting from a tiny splinter & a couple burns blisters from a hot glue gun.
But do you know what my first waking thought was this morning?
It was 'OUCH! My fingers are hurting!'

After examining my poor lil' fingers, I discovered that the splinter
I thought I'd gotten out is still there ....
AND now that the redness is gone from the hot glue, I can see my two lovely blisters!

I began to think about the pain from seemingly 'little' injuries &
how that relates to everyday life.
Little things are the big things!
People remember the little things.
Why? 
Because if they're good things, they are big investments in our emotional account.
Those little kindnesses and courtesies make huge differences in our relationships.
They are the #1 indicators to people showing that you care for them!

On the reverse token, it's the small discourtesies, little unkindnesses & little forms of disrespect make large withdrawals.
Isn't it often the 'little' things in life that hurt so badly?

The first thing that came to my mind is how our words can hurt!
Using sharp, unkind words can crush & wound a spirit quicker than anything.
And unkind words have a close companion ... a harsh tone of voice.
If it's not the words we say, it can be the way in which we say it that's hurtful.

As a wife, we should use words that encourage, uplift, & honor our husband.
We should be his best motivator & trusted confidant.

She brings him good, not harm all the days of her life. Proverbs 31:12

Blessing him with words of praise will be much more beneficial to his spiritual man than tearing down with nagging & negative words.
How we respect & treat our husbands really shows how we respect & honor God.

As equally important, how powerful are the words we use to our children!
I recently had the privilege to meet Michelle Duggar & hear her speak.
She said, "Be sure to praise your children because whoever praises
them will win their hearts."
This is such good advice!
Of course we don't praise wrong behavior, but often times the good behavior goes unnoticed/unpraised as we are quick to point out the faults/failures.
We can use positive words of affirmation & encouragement even when we are correcting!
Instead of reacting in anger, yelling, grumbling, complaining, choose to respond in a Christlike way to these precious gifts God has entrusted to us.
Praise will build their confidence & give them wings to fly.


Here's what the scripture says this about little things:

Song of Solomon 2:15  Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom."

James 3:5  Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!

Proverbs 18:21 The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

Proverbs 25:11 A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.