Its Just A Simple Chalkboard !!

Last weeks blog was about getting ready for our big garage sale.  Today it is over!!!  Let me say it again...today it is over!!!  yeah!  It went really well. We sold most of it and what we didn't sell, someone came and took it away.  :)  I really do hate the process of getting ready for one of these sales.  Can you say "lots of work"?  We hired movers to bring things down from our third floor, otherwise it would definitely still be there.

I have to admit I enjoy the actual sale.  We had so many great people show up, lots of conversation,connected with a couple of long time ago classmates, and made a  couple of new could be friends.  In the end it was really a good sale, with lots of people and lots of sales.

Today it is back into the routine of everyday life.  Funny how fast things come and go, you find yourself right back where you were.  Joyce Meyers in one of her teachings says, that people are always thinking the grass is greener on the other side, always looking for something better, but that life is made up of 90% mundane everyday stuff.  We have our daily routines and yes they do get mundane at times, but we have so much to be thankful for in our every days.

  
I have a large chalkboard hanging in my kitchen, so that I can write scripture on it and read it when I pass by.  I had just changed the scripture last week to read...Isaiah 40:31  but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.  As the woman in charge of the movers came into my kitchen to go over the moving contract and have me sign the papers, she stood there staring at my chalkboard.  She looked at me and said in a very serious voice "I love what that says, can I take a picture of it with my phone so I won't forget that"?  Of course, I said.  I told her it is a bible verse.  She has not read the bible and didn't know.  As she helped with the move she kept talking to me about a lot of things, her life, job, kids, then she said..you are a really nice customer, I really like you, your fun to talk to.  I thought what a great opening and suggested that maybe we could do a bible study.  To my surprise she was saying she would like that.  She asked me what church I go to..and said she would like to come with us sometime.  I really love those divine appointments!!!

Who would have thought that the chalkboard in my kitchen would become the light in someones everyday life.  God is so good!!!

Psalm 33:4  For the word of the Lord is right and true; He is faithful in all He does.

Have a wonderful week!

Linda   

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To Sell Or Not To Sell..That Is The Question

Is the week-end over already?  This is just too soon for it to be Monday.  Looking at the pile of items in front of me, I have to think.....where did we get all this stuff and why did we keep it?  You see its pre-garage sale week at my house. UGH!

Rick (my husband) and I have been threatening to do this for a few years, never had the courage to tackle it. This is tackle week.  Our home has four floors if you count the basement, that's where I spent the entire weekend. UGH!  My work office is there plus my sewing/craft room.  A storage room (looking kind of empty) Yeah!  and Ricks office.

Why do we keep things we haven't used or seen in years?  The biggest question is why when we find them we have to decide whether they will go or stay?  Hmmm!!!!  I thought this was a girl thing, but after the weekend I see it is not.  I guess men have their sentimental what in the world is that, haven't seen this for years, I better keep this stuff too.

We did make progress and we still have the rest of the week to go.  Our next project is the third floor, which has been our storage area.  I don't even know what is up there.  Rick asked me if I was going to sell all the Christmas trees....I said "No, you never know when we might need all 15 of them.  Since our house has large rooms, one year I had five trees throughout the house.  I forgot you have to put it all back after the holidays.  Haven't done that one again.

Through all this digging out and putting a value on my stuff, I have realized how blessed I am. ( I think that quite often) but as you go through things you have accumulated you see how often we take "stuff" for granted.  How wasteful we can be and how "stuff" is so important.

I think the word the Lord has placed in my heart is SIMPLIFY get rid of those things you don't need, be thankful for all that you have.  I'm sure that Saturday after my "stuff"  has found a new home, I'll never even know its gone.

Psalm 100: 4  Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.

Happy Garage Sale Week!!! :)

Linda

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How Does Your Garden Grow?

Last fall I decided that in the spring I was going to plant the beginning of a vegetable garden.  I contacted several seed companies, requested their catalogs and e-mails.  I was ready to dig in (no pun intended) and find out what would be best to start with since it would have to be a raised garden.

Our house is 100 years old with a double lot.  Years ago there was (according to neighbors) a beautiful in ground pool on that lot.  The people before us had a son who liked to roller blade, so they filled in the pool and put a large cement pad in its place so he could skate.  We call it our "cement pond."

It's  on our cement pond that I thought would be the perfect place for a raised garden.  As the months of fall turned into winter, the seed magazines started rolling in.  I would glance at them and put them on the shelf.  Winter turned into spring (where does the time go?) with not one veggie planted or one catalog even looked at in a serious what do I plant way.

My first tendency was to be totally upset with myself, I was disappointed that I had not even taken the time to plan a garden let alone plant one.  At times my ideas are bigger then the time frame.  It wasn't that I was sitting around doing nothing, but I was very unrealistic in what my priorities would be.

Life can be overwhelming, so many things to do, not enough hours in the day.  It's like those spinning plates on the stick, trying to keep them spinning so they won't fall.Or if you've ever watched a hamster running on his wheel, he goes really fast but never gets anywhere.  Ever feel like that?

That's what happens when we put unrealistic schedules in our everyday lives.  We run from one place to the next, always in a hurry to get what needs to be done, people where they need to go, responsibilities taken care of....running, running, running...never getting anywhere.

Life is like a garden, to have balance it needs time, some planning with realistic goals and schedules.  The people in our lives need to be nurtured and cared for with OUR time.  Like my raised garden without planning you get an empty cement pond with stacks of useless catalogs.

Don't let your life speed out of control..take some time to appreciate the people and things around you.

Psalm 46:10  Be still, and know that I am God.

Have a wonderful and peaceful week! :)

Linda

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