You just gotta go....

Well, I had to go to Wal-Mart today.  I really hate WM.  Maybe hate is  not the right word.  Maybe despise, or dislike?  Maybe it depends on the day you ask me. I do not judge other people who do like to shop there  and  I won't go into all the reasons why I do not like the place.........but I do try to avoid the place whenever humanly possible.  My previous boycotts included about a 3 year span with only one visit.....and that was only because our visitors from out of town really needed to go.   Today it was my husband who needed to go.  He was looking for something that he only found online at WM.  Whenever I go to the WM, I see STUFF.  Stuff I do not need paid for by money I don't have, and  Made by people who don't care.    So.....I just don't go.  It's a personal problem......I know.

I agreed to go today however,  And in a good natured fashion I might add.   Hubby even threw in a "Hey, can we go eat at the Whataburger?"  It was an outing!!  Together!!  No way was I passing up this opportunity for quality time!!   So I tried to take off my negativities for a while and we took the baby and enjoyed ourselves.  It was his first trip into a WM.  I enjoyed watching his reactions to "all that glitters".....he's 10 months old.  AND my bacon cheeseburger was really good!!

Still don't care much for the place,  but I guess my point to this   blog is ......sometimes,  you just gotta go to Wal-Mart.     And sometimes ........my husband just has to go to the mall, or the shoe store.........(insert really big grin here).

Random thoughts...

There is a house in my neighborhood on a corner that catches my attention.  I noticed it again today.  On many an unusual spring-like day, the wife and mother who lives there opens up all her blinds and  even sometimes her windows.  She lets the light in.  She lets the breeze flow through.  It is as if she is asking for refreshment and renewal.  Welcome spring! Welcome light!  Refresh my home and my soul!

 Whenever I drive by her house I often think, "I like her. Look what she does, she's not afraid to open up her home to the world",  It always makes me smile.  I love to open my windows and french doors.  I bet if I had the chance to know her we would get along well.   I've  only met her once, while walking with our children.  

I feel the same way  about 2009, as she must feel about those open windows.   I am thankful for a new year, despite it's unknowns.  I am thankful for a renewal.   My husband is safely home from his deployment.  My time and my home have been restored.   Time to run, time to excercise, time to slow down, time to do everything. (and nothing if I choose:))  I am thankful for a God who will refresh and renew my spirit with his Word, a God who is faithful. ALWAYS.  A God who delights in our praise as we lift our faces into the breezy sunlight to worship Him with our whole hearts.  Welcome Lord!!  Won't you just go there with me?.......

I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. 

 My soul will boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. 

 Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together.  I sought the

 Lord and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.  Those 

who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.

Psalm 34:1-5

Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away,

 yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ... 2 Cor. 4:16

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 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 be faint. 

  Isaiah 40:30,31

Wordless Wednesdays

Broken bowls and Half-eaten cornbread

Yesterday I was rushing around with my to do list  organized in my head.  I was entertaining my little one and preparing to take him to his 9 month check-up;  I  had an appointment with a neighbor to get some "feed the fish" instructions as she was preparing to travel out of town; and I was making cornbread so that I could take some food to a sweet friend on my way to the Doctor's office.  All of this of course had to be worked in around  baby feeding and naps and baths and such.  Certainly a manageable list, but I was becoming more and more harried as my "must depart by this time"  was quickly approaching. (Type A-just a little)

The first batch of cornbread was finished,  Nicely and warmly wrapped in foil and sitting on the very back of my kitchen counter.  The second batch was almost done. (is batch the right word?)   I turned the oven off,  bundled up the baby before he could fall asleep, and headed to my neighbors for the instructions.  I knew that even if the bread in the oven got just a little crispy, it would be ok.  This was the batch I was keeping for my hubby and myself and there were only 9 minutes left on the timer.

I returned home less than 15 minutes later to find my dog looking for a way to escape and a nicely wrapped foil full of cornbread ripped open and half eaten.  My favorite batter bowl was also lying shattered in the floor!!  I was stunned.  My bowl!!  I let out a long drawn out whiney cry (you know the ones?) "Wriiggggleeeeeyyy" along with a big sigh. Wrigley just dropped his head.   I wanted  to just sit down in the floor.   Broken bowls and half eaten cornbread........ever feel like that?  ever just have one of those days?  I know I've had worse than this but  Now I would need to give my friend the less than perfect:) cornbread from the oven  and hope that one day I  could replace my batter bowl with another art festival find.  

 While cleaning the mess I considered my daily bible reading.  Luke 12 has a lot of good stuff in it!!!   There is the part about not being anxious, and the part about how we are not about our possessions.  And how God even provides for the sparrow etc etc. LOTS and   LOTS of good stuff!!   My favorite batter bowl does not really mean that much in eternity and the stuff that does matter doesn't ever shatter.  I truly hope on some other day, when I feel a bit broken or half eaten, that I will remember that big bowl of God's good unbreakable stuff  he has waiting for us.  It's way more filling than cornbread!!

As an added note.  I made hubby some biscuits instead, lest anyone was thinking he suffered.:)

A NEW HOBBY

Recently, I was watching an episode of Sesame Street.  My 9 month old of course was not.  Everyone on the show had a case of "mineitis" and no one was sharing, not even Big Bird!!  It had spread from person to person like some terrible virus.  Needless to say it was a brutal world, this world where no one was sharing.   I have thought about that episode for weeks now, while considering to do this blogging thing.  I have been prayerfully considering this "new hobby" for several months now and shame on me for taking so long.  Usually when God has given you a "nugget" it is meant for you.....but ONLY you?? I know the answer...

My friend recently and lovingly called me "a mystery".  What she meant and  what I heard were probably very different.  I am introverted and a few would call me quiet:)lol,  but I would hate to think that I went through this life as a complete mystery to people.  Christians are not mysteries.  At least, they shouldn't be.  

I am reminded  that even Christians are also vulnerable to this "mineitis".  2009 belongs to the Lord, just as 2008 and 2007 and so forth.   We forget that EVERYTHING belongs to God, and God SHARED his Son with us out of Love.......

and so I'm putting my self  "out there"  and I pray that in the sharing, the One who created me is glorified.  The One who knows me better than anyone else, not as a mystery, but as HIS child.