Organizing Life: Part 5 Smile

 I hope you have enjoyed the adventure of organizing life. Now it is time to sum it all up with part 5: Smile. It is kind of ironic that the  last post in this series has stretched my organizing "capacity" to the maximum.
In the midst of organizing my life we have sold our home. It is a good, but that is another story to come soon.  The selling of our home has meant that every daily activity we simplified , scheduled, strategized, and systematized, has been put on hold and applied towards packing, cleaning, and organizing a move.
So, to write about smiling in the midst of organizing life has truly been easy simple okay let's face it, tough. Life doesn't always happen according to our schedules and this is only proof of that fact. I can however, say we have fared through it with some learning lessons to go with it.
SMILE, n,

1. A peculiar contraction of the features of the face, which naturally expresses pleasure, moderate joy, approbation or kindness; opposed to frown. Sweet intercourse of looks and smiles.

2. Gay or joyous appearance; as the smiles of spring.

3. Favor; countenance; propitiousness; as the smiles of providence.

 It is easy to smile through anything when we stop and truly evaluate the situation in relation to the big picture in life. The hard part is knowing when to stop the negativity roller coaster. Our emotions can get so involved with our rational thinking skills it can cloud over many problems that could be fixed rather expediently.

 

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.  

(Psalms 42:11)

 

The light of the eyes rejoiceth the heart: and a good report maketh the bones fat.  

(Proverbs 15:30)

 

Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. (Acts 2:28)

 

 

Our countenance is said to be a "window of the soul" to be more precise it is a quote from Marcus Tullius Cicero a Roman statesman born in 106 BC who said "The countenance is the portrait of the soul, and the eyes mark its intention."

Cicero by: Martin Knoller 1775

Organizing Life is shown in our countenances to be sure. Our faces will reflect our attitudes towards what we are doing.  If it is a chore to organize everything right now, stop and re-evaluate why and how you are working towards your goal.  If your goal is to just get by, than it will be reflected in your countenance. Smiling has some great health benefits read this article Health Benefits From Smiling. Sharing a smile may sometimes be harder to do, but it sure goes much farther than a scowl or a frown. Think about what you are multiplying by a smile: joy, happiness, laughter, warmth and beauty.

 

 

Photo Courtesy of: Beauty Begins With A Smile

 

Father's Day Is Here: Let's Celebrate Dads

Dad Appreciating New Life

Any man can be a father, but not every father is a dad. Let's celebrate and honor those men who are dads and pray for those who are fathers but not around to be dad.

I am blessed to have a man who is not only a great husband and father, but an awesome dad. Part of the help is having  him knowing Jesus Christ as his savior and seeking to honor Him first. For those who may not have such a loving, caring husband and/or father remember this promise:

1 Peter 3:1-2 "Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear."

There is so much that can be done through our actions that does more to bring a man to Christ than any amount of preaching could ever do. It's a great promise and it saved and healed our marriage!

There is so much to praise a husband/father for. Is he a hard worker providing for the family? Does he spend time playing and wrestling with the children? Is he showing the children what it means to be a godly man or woman, directing them to Jesus Christ? Does he instill an ethic of work and diligence? These are just a few examples of how my husband interacts as a dad. There are many more qualities I didn't add, but I sure am grateful to be able to celebrate my man for Father's Day.

Testing Out A Raft The Boys and Dad Made
(note: fresh wet wood doesn't float)

Hiking Through The Woods

Building Our Home

 Thank you Lord, for a husband and father that our family can celebrate this Father's Day! May all the fathers out there trust in this promise:

Malachi 4:6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

Searching For The Right Words

There are moments in time when we try in vain to find the right words to say. The death of a loved one is one of those times. We search in vain to try to muster up just the right thing to say, and if you are like me, sometimes we feel we have nothing good to offer. That is why I like the picture I found above. It is an acronym that aptly defines the scripture Proverbs 25:11 "A word fitly spoken [is like] apples of gold in pictures of silver." Having a fitly spoken word (well timed and placed) does more to encourage a soul than trying to fumble over figuring out the right words we think someone wants to hear.

As I struggle with coming to grips and the reality of my only brother, Brian dying of cancer yesterday, I realize the importance of this phrase. He was 38 and he leaves behind a 14 year old son and an 18 year old whom he raised since he was 3. His ex-girlfriend and mother of the children threw my brother out last March when she realized he was no longer a viable income source and only a drain to her life. This situation put my mother dependent on taking care of all his needs.  She even had been using her limited resources to help him get medical care and food since then.We are trying to figure out how to pay to travel on our limited budget (my husband sold off some farm equipment to get us all there and to help pay for burial costs, (medicaid pays some and my mom doesn't want to ask for help). So, if anyone would feel inclined to give, email me and I will send along my mom's address. sowinlove@gmail.com

So, this will be a very hard funeral to go to. I have to be there for my mom who is wondering why she had to bury her husband and now has to bury a child. I am trying to make decisions and don't know the answers. It is blur right now. I am searching for the right words myself. I fear going to this funeral and having to watch my brother's ex-girlfriend, she has had vicious past actions towards us and my mom. I pray the Lord will give the right words to fill my mouth with. I am also dealing with my brother rejecting the Gospel. He stated he was comfortable that he would go to hell. As far as I know, he never repented.

A good friend reached out last night with some fitting words, she watched her mom reject the Gospel and die and now her dad died 3 weeks ago, as far as she knows they both rejected the Gospel. She had to endure people's loving intentions of saying at least her dad was with her mom now. To her those words didn't help, because she knew that meant they were both probably in Hell and she knew they certainly wouldn't be together. They weren't fitting for her situation. She simply told me to have comfort in the fact that I didn't neglect to tell him. Those were the words the Lord knew I needed to hear. She gave some timely advice that were apples of gold to me.

I am praying that the Lord supplies me with those kind of timely words, I fear to even open my mouth. If I seem quiet to everyone right now,  just know that I know everyone cares and I do appreciate your prayers and sympathy.

May we all be encouragers and have some apples of gold to give

A ppropriate

P leasant

P ure

L ovely

E ncouraging

S oft

Sharing My Heart, What is Love?

Do we really know what love is?  No.  As humans we cannot even comprehend what love is. I am just starting to get a glimpse of the tremendous free gift that I have been given through Jesus Christ. It has been over 15 years since I've been saved, yet God has reached out lately and has been showing me how to get back to my first love(Revelation 2:5).
I was trying to find some more meaning in life than a feeling of just existing with no purpose and so in trying to "improve" my marriage, family life, circumstances, etc. I came across a series of seemingly unrelated events, where God has brought the love chapter(1 Corinthians 13) to my presence(people quoting it, books based off of it,blog-surfing). So, I started reading it over and over from the Bible. It was as if nothing happened, and I kept praying that I could manifest this type of love to others. Then a book I ordered arrived from where I trade books: Swap Books for Free - PaperBackSwap.com called The Way of Agape by Nancy Missler. She has a great article about it here: Knowing God Loves Us - The King's High Way Ministries.
 I have only been able to get through the first 7 chapters so far, and just beginning to know, that God's love is the only way in which I could love my husband and family more than I have. (I know this should not be a huge revelation, yet God revealed it, so I will be a little transparent here and share it.) 

I even have been given a dream from God, something I've never had done to me before. He even interpreted it to me and showed me how I had gone off course. It was so detailed I awoke almost weeping.  I am in awe of just how God has arranged all the circumstances that he has in the last few weeks, in order to very personally get my attention.
 

ἀγάπη   agape(love) Stongs G26

"He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." - {1 John 4:8 }
"As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love."  {John 15:9 }
"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity."  {1Corinthians 13:13 }
Blue Letter Bible. Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2010. 25 Oct 2010. < http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible>


All of these verses above use agape and 1 John 4:8 revealed to me about how I had been using human love to make my relationships work. It was rather startling to have that shown to me, because I thought I was manifesting Christ's love.  Somewhere in time I replaced it with a system, and I was prompted to be vulnerable here and share it on my little corner of blogdom. 

May someone else be blessed  by this testimony and the word of God, and come to know Christ in a more intimate way as well.