I am starting this on Thursday night, as I usually do, and I am hoping I’ll be able to finish it. The wind is whipping around outside, and the anxiety we are feeling from it is pretty high tonight. It isn’t as if it’s blowing as hard as it has in the past, but after a very dry summer, the trees are weak, which makes things exceptionally stressful. I am working on having faith and giving it to God, but He understands my fears and I’m sure is also understanding of the difficulty I have releasing them. I guess we’ll all know if it gets finished by whether or not it is posted in the morning, won’t we?
** Update ** It was a really rough night. We spent it listening to the wind blow, hearing things hit the roof – thankfully just small things. This morning there is a large branch down in the back yard and it looks like a branch snapped off and is hanging from a tree – fortunately not OVER the house. A good deal of the evening was spent thumbing through the book of Psalms and praying.
Verse of the Day
November 2, 2018
Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Thoughts on the Verse of the Day
Excluded. Rejected. Discarded. Abandoned. Forgotten. Pushed aside. Not picked. Each of these describes an aspect of feeling like you are a nobody. Satan gives our sinful flesh the tools and the opportunities to speak these words of self-condemnation to ourselves. But God — two of the greatest words in the Bible — loved us in Christ and brought us into his family and gave us a purpose. We are now part of the people of God! We have been chosen for the victorious team of teams. We have received mercy! Grace has washed over us, and the love of God has adopted us in his family. Peter is giving maligned and persecuted people the reminder that they can choose to see themselves as “nobodies” or they can choose to see themselves by their new identity. Thankfully, Peter’s words speak to our hearts, too. You, dear friend in Jesus, are God’s child. You are part of his eternal and conquering people — like Moses, Esther, Paul, and Mary Magdalene. Mercy has reversed the power of sin and failure and put grace in place empowered by the Holy Spirit’s presence in you. So, don’t live today as you once “were”: live today as you are in Jesus!
I Am Thankful For . . .
My children are amazing people and because of them, I became the woman I am today. I feel strongly that the kids showed me how to be compassionate, firm, loving, strong, responsible, forgiving . . . the list goes on. Motherhood changed me from a child – since I was barely more than a child when I became a mother – to being a woman who recognized hopes and dreams that were hiding inside. It turns out that my biggest hope and dream was having healthy, happy children, who became wonderful parents themselves.
All Souls Day – I am writing about this one for information only, but I will add a disclaimer. All Soul’s Day is a Christian holiday, but it is not one that the doctrine I was raised with follows. The purpose of All Soul’s Day is to pay respect and remember the souls of friends and loved ones who have died and gone to heaven. Upon death, some believe that the souls have not yet been cleansed of sin, so prayers for the souls are said in the hopes of removing the stain of sin, thereby allowing the souls to enter the gates of heaven. This observance started in the year 998. OK, now for my disclaimer: Anyone who is a Christian accepts that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. In the Bible it clearly teaches that we are responsible for our own salvation and seeking forgiveness for our sins is something we can only do for ourselves. Nobody else can pray for, and get, forgiveness for our sins on our behalf. Celebrating this holiday may make the living feel better about those who have died, but we won’t know if they took care of their own salvation needs until after we have also passed away and made our way to either our reward, or our punishment. Daily communication with God, persistently seeking His grace and asking forgiveness for our sins should be as automatic for the person who follows Christ as it is for us to breathe.
Fountain Pen Day – Have you ever used a fountain pen? There is something that is very elegant about how a document looks that has been written with one. A regular ball point pen is awesome when filling out forms or doing day to day work, but when writing down important memories, creating poetry or stories, a fountain pen does it with a sense of class and timelessness that a regular ball point pen just cannot. When ink was first created a tool was needed to get the ink from its source to paper, so the quill pen, a bit of feather – usually goose – had a carefully cut nib put into it designed to draw the ink up so it could be transferred over to the paper. People were pretty happy with the quill pen for quite some time, but eventually they needed a new creation that didn’t require constantly dipping and that didn’t have them re-cutting the nib so often. Because of this, the fountain pen was created in 1636, combining a reservoir of ink with a metal nib that didn’t need to be recut. It changed the world of writing forever, and took 300 years before a new innovation came along that came to be more commonly used. You can still buy fountain pens, so if you haven’t ever used one, celebrate today by going to your local office supply store and finding one to try out. They are pretty cool.
Look for Circles Day – I suppose it is pointless to ask why this one was created. I tried to follow the pointless road though, to see if there was any explanation anywhere for this one and all I ended up with was a waste of time, right back here to write about something that doesn’t seem to have a purpose. However, as we’ve seen many times throughout the year, celebrations don’t always have to have an obvious purpose – it is enough that the person who took the time to create them thought there was a purpose. Circular shapes are all around us . . . drink coasters, drawer handles, light fixtures, the moon, the centers of flowers . . . well circles are everywhere. In ancient Rome circles were worshiped. They were thought to be divine and holy. Circles are symbols of infinity – a line that never ends. Sitting right where you are without getting up, how many circular things do you see? Sitting right where I am I can see 44 different circles. Interesting!
Love Your Lawyer Day – Lawyers really have a bad reputation, don’t they? Even from before Shakespeare’s time they have been thought of as being pretty soul-less folks. There are unflattering jokes told about them, and horrible stories. This celebration was created by attorney Nader Anise in 2001, who decided that there needed to be one single day without lawyer bashing or negative joke telling. They may have a bad reputation, but seriously, who is the first person you call when there are legal troubles? Yep, a lawyer. Let’s give them a break today, OK?
Plan Your Epitaph Day – It’s a good thing to always be prepared, and there’s nothing MORE prepared than already planning or writing your own epitaph! How do you want to be remembered? Here are some funny ones that have been found on real gravestones in the United States:
* “I told you I was sick!” (Found in a Georgia cemetery)
* “Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake. Stepped on the gas instead of the brake. (Found in a Uniontown, Pa., cemetery)
* “Here lies an Atheist … All dressed up and no place to go.” (Found in a Thurmont, Md., cemetery)
So, how do you want to be remembered? This is a tough question!
This Day in History –
1721 – Peter the Great becomes Emperor of Russia.
Food Celebration of the Day
Deviled Egg Day – I love deviled eggs. They are a feature on our table at many holidays and gatherings. I don’t have a specific recipe, but just know what I want to throw into the eggs to make them delicious. There is nothing sinister about the term “deviled eggs” since the “deviled” part refers to the original signature spice mix in the stuffing. Deviled eggs, or forms of them, have been found in Medieval cookbooks, but those recipes describe a much more difficult process to make them than we have today. If you have always made your deviled eggs the same way over and over, maybe try something different – maybe add bacon if you haven’t before, or something with a zingy spice!
The late night landed me with a major headache that is turning into major nausea. My hopes to get a lot done this morning have become hopes to just feel better. There really is a lot to do today and it’s not going to do itself. God bless you and I’ll see you tomorrow.
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Celebration list sources:
www.verseoftheday.com www.brownielocks.com www.holidayinsights.com www.thenibble.com www.foodimentary.com