My Quiet Time Thoughts on Proverbs 15:16-17

 "Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure with trouble.  Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a fatted calf with hatred."  Proverbs 15:16-17


We have been in the beautiful North West for almost half a year now and I can't tell you enough the beauty that surrounds us.  I feel like I'm on a three year vacation to Hume Lake.  The incredible difference between here and that little dusty Central Valley is that most fun things here cost one arm and maybe two legs.  I can't put A back in ballet because than we couldn't buy food.  I can't put any of them in music lessons because than we couldn't buy food.  How are they going to be famous if I don't give them the training when they are five!  This is serious stuff.   Fatted calf around here is literally twice the price now that we don't live down the road from Harris Ranch!  After a couple of months of searching for cheap recreational classes (and cheap beef), I sat down with the Lord and brought Him my disappointment.  He brought me to this verse and said something like this....

A loving child is not created in violin classes.  A loving child is not created in correct classical ballet training. 

A loving child is created in your home...often while building tent forts.  Through the daily, and FREE, goings and comings of a day, a child is learning to love...learning to prefer others...learning to respect authority. 

We have VERY HAPPY dinners of herbs.  We have love not hatred.  I would love a steak right about now but more than that I love listening to the comings and goings of my children playing "cowboys."  Did you know playing "cowboys" is free?  I do want to warn you about something...if you tell them they can put syrup on there cornbread, you will look out the window at one point and see them drinking it.

Okay everybody...have a good day. Finish off you coffee, and go be a good mommy.

Irritation Is A Tablespoon Away From A Glass Of Angry

I kept telling my husband "Honeycakes, please pray for me.  The kids keep irritating me and I just don't know why.  They ask so very many questions.  Food, water, shelter, candy...and on and on.  Can't they tell that when I'm sitting on the couch drinking my coffee I'm doing some really important thinking?"

.....weeks go by and I'm still getting dressed in grumpy pants. It NEVER dawned on me in all my important thinking that I, THE MOTHER...THE BEEN-SAVED-LONGER-THAN-YOU'VE-BEEN-ALIVE....was...heaven forbid...

Sinning.

You see.....irritation is just a smidge shy of being angry.  As I gracefully (yeah right) accepted this fact I formed a Three step attack plan to kick irritation in the butt and then maybe sit on it until it dies. Repeat after me...

Step uno: Agree with God that you are sinning. That's called confessing.

I____________, am a irritable brat. I am sorry, Lord. I will try ever so hard to quit the brat stuff.

Step dos: Assertain the cause of irritation.

Sleep deprived? Hungry? Somebody drop Legos in your coffee? Usually for me, it's a lack of instruction that I need to teach the kids so we won't hit any more potholes as our day goes by. "You don't have your shoes ON YET?" (then my eyebrows go lower than my nose and I start growing horns) So I wrote out clear instructions called "Getting Ready to Leave the house In Three Months Or Less"....it's working so far.

Step tres: I can't really think of anything else so let's just stick with repeating the first two over and over.

Well I feel better how about you? Pretty basic stuff....confess, problem solve, repeat. Quiet time is over. Be a good mommy.