They say to be careful what you wish for, and my goodness “they” (the infamous “they”) are right! On Monday I wished that this week would hurry by – we have plans this weekend that I am looking forward to, and there are things I need to do to prepare for it. Tomorrow is Wednesday already and the things I wanted to check off my list have NOT happened yet! For crying out loud! Tonight, I have to make a Costco run, which of course, severely cuts into my evening time. I think I’ll ask Hubby if he will start the steaks and mushrooms, so dinner is ready when I get home. What a wonderful thing to come home to, right?
Verse of the Day
January 23, 2019
For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
Thoughts on the Verse of the Day
What motivates you to do what you do? What drives you to accomplish, to achieve, and to pursue even more? Paul said that love was his compelling force. What would happen in our lives if love was truly THE compelling factor in our motivation and behavior? What if our desire to love those who do not know Jesus’ saving grace became our all-consuming concern out of love? He died so that it would be! Let’s not disappoint him.
Food for Thought
My Mom gave me a daily devotional of gratitude book for Christmas, and I’ve been reading every morning before I leave for work. One of the things it said is to greet God first thing upon waking, give Him the time it takes to get ready to leave for work. As I fix breakfast and lunch, I give Him thanks for this food I am preparing for us. When I leave the house, I ask for His protection both at home and on our way to work. As I arrive at work, I thank Him for my job, and as I leave, I pray for His presence while driving home. You get the picture – giving all things, all times, all activities to Him, while being grateful for all of them. Yesterday my Hubby asked me for a special dessert that sounded good to him. This isn’t something he does very often, so I’d feel really awful if I said no. I had things I needed/wanted to do last night, and we all know baking takes time, but, I found a recipe and came home to make the dessert. While I was making it, I found myself smiling and feeling so joyful with the task at hand, knowing that I was doing something for my husband, who does so many things for me. Joy can be found no matter where you are, what you are doing and regardless of if your day or life is going according to your plan. God’s plan is always going to be better, sweeter and more fulfilling.
Measure Your Feet Day – This is a day set aside to, for whatever reason, measure your feet! Question marks are sort of floating around in my head, but it’s probably best not to delve too closely into this one. The only way to celebrate this day is to measure your feet! Both of them, length, then width. Maybe for fun have any little kids trace around their feet on paper, then color them! Aw, those cute little foot prints are so precious. Do it now before they grow too big – and that happens far too quickly. The size of our feet may not seem like a big deal in our country – but for women in China it was, and still is a symbol of status and refinement to have really tiny feet. Food binding was a common practice as recently as a few decades ago. It is rare to find a woman over the age of 60 in China with feet that are longer than 4 inches. I think this is awfully sad- how deformed and painful their poor feet must be. Makes me wonder at the horrible people who decided this was beautiful and wonder why they thought that at all? I’ll take my size 9’s and be happy about them! At least they can support me wherever I go.
Did you know???
* One human foot contains 26 bones, 33 joints, more than 100 tendons, muscles, and ligaments, and 250,000 sweat glands.
* In America, the most common shoe size for women is 8 1/2 and for men it is 10 1/2. These are both up one full size from 30 years ago!
* Stinky feet aren’t caused by sweat. They are the result of odor-causing bacteria that get trapped by socks and shoes. The bacteria then thrive in the moist, warm environment and begin to stink.
* Foot fetishes are relatively common. Several celebrities have admitted to being attracted to feet. Among them are director Quentin Tarantino, rapper/actor Ludacris, and rocker Tommy Lee. (ewwww!)
It’s probably a good thing that Congress didn’t take the time to declare this a “national” day . . . but with the way things are going with Congress, I suppose it could happen. Stranger things definitely have in recent months and years.
National Handwriting Day – this is an opportunity to reintroduce yourself to a pen or pencil and a piece of paper. The art of handwriting is becoming a lost art in this age of computers, tablets and phones – more “written” communication is done in cyber form than in actual handwritten form, and this is a sad thing! I remember endless hours of handwriting practice when I was in school, and I learned to love the written word as a result. Seeing those words, my words, appear on the page in front of me was magical in a way. I admit that I also use the computer for many things, but I do keep my day planner in written form, I make a LOT of lists by hand that I carry with me in my purse, and I keep a daily journal for activities I am participating in. A great way to celebrate this day would be to write a note or letter to a friend or a relative – make their day when they get it in the mail! National Handwriting Day was established by the Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association in 1977. Their motive is obvious…to promote the consumption of pens, pencils, and writing paper. January 23rd was chosen because this is the birthday of John Hancock, and of course, John Hancock was the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence.
What does your handwriting say about you? Check out these interesting handwriting interpretations:
* If you round your “s’s” you like to please people, would make a great politician and are good with relationships. (have to disagree with politicians liking to please people – the ones I’ve seen are slimy, lying, pieces of dirt who only care about their own ambitions – just saying)
* If your “s’s” are pointy you are curious and like to explore. These are the first people who get killed off in horror movies.
* If you make large loops on your “y’s,” “g’s,” and “j’s” you have a vivid imagination and are prone to exaggeration. You are rarely bored.
Regardless of whether you can tell someone’s personality traits by their handwriting, it’s an interesting concept and makes me wonder what a handwriting analysis would say about me? Not sure I truly want to know.
Snowplow Mailbox Hockey Day – Now THIS is an interesting, and somewhat destructive holiday. Not one I would hope anyone would truly celebrate in earnest – but more tongue in cheek over something happening accidentally. This day was created by the good people at Wellcat Holidays and gives all the snowplow drivers the chance to have some fun competing to see who can knock down the most mailboxes. I’d hope they’d complete the game by replacing them later, but that’s just a mailbox owner talking.
This Day in History –
1556 – The deadliest earthquake in history strikes Shansi, China, killing 830,000 people.
Food Celebration of the Day –
National Pie Day / National Rhubarb Pie Day – Oh my goodness, how I do love pie. Pie can be SO many different things – it can be fruity, custardy, nutty, cold, warm, pizza pie, meat and potatoey pie (is that a word? It is now!) . . . And of course, I’m eating low carb these days to I’ll have to come up with one that works for that. I didn’t even know that today was pie day, but made Hubby a Peanut Butter Chocolate Pie yesterday (see picture), so we’ll be having it again tonight for dessert. This is a day that is set aside to bake and cook all of your favorite pies (though I admit I always thought that was Thanksgiving) and try a few new recipes. Most important though – it’s a day to EAT pie! A wonderful way to celebrate is to bake some pies and give them away to friends, relatives and neighbors. It could be the start of a great new pie giving tradition in your family! The American Pie Council sponsors National Pie Championships. Some of the best pie makers in the world enter their pies. It might be fun to enter to try to win the “American Pie Council’s Best Pie in America” award! Hmmmm.
I’m heading out for my busy Wednesday, hoping to check a lot of things off of my to-do list so I can reach the weekend ahead of schedule. A girl can dream, right? God bless you and I’ll see you tomorrow!
Celebration list sources:
www.verseoftheday.com www.brownielocks.com www.holidayinsights.com www.thenibble.com www.foodimentary.com