So here we go...

I am endeavoring to finish my study of Proverbs, so today I will share with you my thoughts on Proverbs 6:6, which reads in the NIV
Go to the ant you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!

In studying the bible it is imperative to not just look at verses by themselves, but to look at whole passages and contexts. Verses by themselves can be twisted to mean entirely different things than what they were intended. In our modern day, a good example would be sound editing and the "sound bites" they create. But here, I think it is safe to look at the verse by itself, although the passage of Proverbs 6:6 through 6:11 gives greater depth and clarity to this first verse. However, I digress.
When I read this verse, I am overcome with guilt. I know I can be lazy. The number of hours I have logged with the tv and internet are testimony to this fact, as are my weight, dishes in my sink, and piles of dirty laundry. Granted, I am pretty busy, and you moms and especially home schooling and working moms know where I am coming from. The job we have is a 24/7 thing and just when we think the laundry is done, there on the bathroom floor are this morning's outfit and dirty socks. Just when the dishes are all done and put away, there also magically appears a cereal bowl and drink cup. So am I being lazy when I steal away to watch my recording of Gilmore Girls? Sometimes. Sometimes not. The ant eventually rests too. His work is for a season. The summer is his time of gathering. In the winter he can not work and must use the fruits of his labor. The ant also does not work alone, he is part of a team. If the team members did not do their work, there would be no winter food supply either. What can we glean from this? If we look at the example Christ set before us, we see a couple of very interesting things. First of all, Jesus rested. He was fully God, and fully man. He got tired and he also needed downtime. Of course, His choice of downtime activities(there's an oxymoron for you) were what we should be choosing too. When He got to be alone, which was almost never, he spent that time with His Father in prayer. We mom's can relate to the never being alone part. There are days when I really don't understand why solitary confinement is considered to be such a drastic punishment. Those are the days when I wish my husband would make good on the threat to call in the men with white coats, xanex shots, and a nice padded room just waiting for me. Maybe if I followed Christ's version of downtime, I wouldn't feel that way. Or at least not as often. The other thing I notice in the life of Christ, was that He chose not to do his work alone. Just like Mr. Ant. Does this mean that like the ant He needed the team members in order to get the job accomplished? No, but He chose to have a team and to not do it all Himself, so that we would understand that He doesn't expect us to do that either. I think we probably all need to ask for help a little as well as be a helping part of the team more often, whether in our home, community or church. We also need to make better downtime activity choices. At least I do.
One other thing I think we need to remember, that we need to also choose our work wisely. The ant does not engage in any activities that are contrary to achieving the mission goal of adequate winter food supply. Christ did not engage in any activity that was not part of His original purpose in saving humanity and glorifying the father. There is this demonstration of priorities. First you start with a large jar.
In it you place water, then sand, then rice, then lots of rocks. What will happen?
If you guessed that the jar would overflow, then you guessed right. Now let's take the same jar, same ingredients, but let's change the order they go in the jar. This time we add the rocks first, then the rice, then the sand, and then the water. Guess what, it all fits! How is this possible? Without meaning to be trite or cliche, when you start with the rock the rest will be added unto you. It all comes down to prioritizing. As I was just looking for a video somewhere to embed in this post to illustrate my previous demo description, I saw this man on God Tube. He said that we actually need to quit trying to manage time. Time belongs to God, it is His to control. What we need to do however, is to manage ourselves within that time. Back to the ant, I bet he doesn't have a date book.

PS I just found this object lesson. It is worth checking out. Life is like a jar of rocks.

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Two and one

...turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding... Proverbs 2:2

How often do we really understand something or someone? For that matter, how often do we really hear something? There is a game used to illustrate the dangers of gossip and how the human race as a species should not be trusted to relay accurate information. "Telephone" is an excellent and enlightening method to show what poor listeners people really are. In case you are not familiar with it, it goes something like this... A line of people are put together. At one end a person is told a bit of information like "The blue cat jumped over the log". By the time it gets to the last person in line it might sound more like "The Bluetooth was eaten by a cat in the fog."
Our brains are like supercomputers. We can process ten times more information as we can hear. That means that every seconds worth of information we hear, our brain has nine seconds left to fill in. Depending on how well our thought life is captured to the obedience of Christ and our knowledge of the Word of God, Satan has a great big playground to get a foothold in. Many of us are so busy formulating what we are going to say next, we don't even really process what we just heard.
What if however, we purposefully use our ears to really listen? To repeat the words in our minds. To summarize them every so often back to the person who spoke them. To make sure we get the clear picture. To hold the message up to God's wisdom and to answer in love and understanding, the understanding that comes from knowing Jesus personally.
Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Colossians 4:6
If we do those things, then Satan's playground gets a little smaller doesn't it? It also makes putting our foot in our mouth a little harder since a foot can't go into a mouth that's not opened so big. Remember, God gave us two ears and one mouth- so listen (at least) twice as much as you speak!

Satan's foothold,
A nine second playground.
Truth's one second old.
The tongue's unbound.
I know what I heard.
Do you really?
Or did that "little bird"
Create your reality?
In the playground,
It's all about me.
My opinion,
More than understanding.
Words already formed
Before the last one spoken.
A blank page already torn,
Your thoughts only a token.

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Proverbs, Particulars and Possibilites...

The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding. Proverbs 1:1,2


Start at the beginning for the beginning is a very good place to start. I believe that is from the Sound of Music, and though it may seem trite, it is in fact very true. These beginning verses in Proverbs do at least two things for us, they let us know who is giving us this information and why. This is more information than some of us get before we agree to a date with someone. All joking aside though, these are two very important bits of information that actually give us more information if we look a little closer. Because the author is identified as Solomon, we get a general idea of when the book was written, and if we know that, then we can also ascertain other events that were occurring during the writing of this text. Solomon reigned as King over Israel during a time of peace. Because there were no battles to wage or kingdoms to defend against invasion, introspection was allowed. When you're busy fighting a war and trying to survive you don't often get a chance to look inward and examine the motivations of your soul. Likewise, if you're so busy that you wonder why solitary confinement is supposed to be a punishment, then Satan has got you right where he likes you to be.(B.U.S.Y.- Being Under Satan's Yoke) It is these times of introspection that often lead to edification and spiritual growth. Even in the history of civilizations we can see that a people did not become great until the times of peace where education and culture were cultivated as much as the crops needed to sustain it's population were.
So it was during this time of peace that Solomon chose to instruct his readers as to where and how they could acquire wisdom and understanding, and who better to disseminate these vital truths than the wisest man ever known. I wonder if his purpose were not partially self-serving as well. If you have read the banner at the top if this blog, you know why I write much of what I write, which is not to instruct others so much as to remind myself what I still need to learn and put into practice. It is through writing about these subjects that I meditate on what they truly mean and in so doing I come to an understanding of sorts.
So as you begin this proverbial journey with me. let me give you my version of a road map. For each of the next thirty days, I will post a devotion that I have written based on a verse in Proverbs. Each chapter and verse will correspond with the day of the month. For instance, today is the first of the month so I chose to explore Proverbs 1:1 and 2. Sometimes, I will explore more than one verse like that so as not to take important material out of context. On the second I will look at Proverbs 2:2, the third, 3:3, etc. Please know that I hold no special theological degrees, I am simply writing about what these verses mean to me. I do try to do my homework though before I write here, but as I am a very busy homeschool, art teacher, mom, I am fallible and I make mistakes. I do however welcome comments that offer gentle correction and criticism if warranted.
Thanks for taking this little road trip with me, and I look forward to exploring these proverbs, particulars, and possibilities with you! :)

Word count: 618

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NaNoWriMo!

What is NaNoWriMo?

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and—when the thing is done—the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.

In 2007, we had over 100,000 participants. More than 15,000 of them crossed the 50k finish line by the midnight deadline, entering into the annals of NaNoWriMo superstardom forever. They started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists.

So, to recap:

What: Writing one 50,000-word novel from scratch in a month's time.

Who: You! We can't do this unless we have some other people trying it as well. Let's write laughably awful yet lengthy prose together.

Why: The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era's most enchanting art forms! To write without having to obsess over quality. To be able to make obscure references to passages from our novels at parties. To be able to mock real novelists who dawdle on and on, taking far longer than 30 days to produce their work.

When: You can sign up anytime to add your name to the roster and browse the forums. Writing begins November 1. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach the 50,000-word mark by November 30 at midnight. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the partying begins.

Still confused? Just visit the How NaNoWriMo Works page!

This is a reprint of the NaNoWriMo homepage. I will be undertaking this endeavor this month. I am going to finish my Proverbs devotional! So some of this months posts will be familiar to you and some will be new. I guess using previously written material may be cheating a bit, but I am really want to finish this project and I am using NaNoWriMo as an excuse to do it! When it is done I plan to self publish it and make it available for sale to any one who might want it. Like most of my other projects it will be philanthropic in nature as part of the proceeds from Proverbs, Particulars, and Possibilities will go to a kids mission in Ecuador.
So stay tuned in November, it is bound to be an exciting month!

As a side note, this could make a great homeschool project and they do run a kids version of this program at their site here.

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Some good news for a change, but it's not over yet.

Back in March a California Appeals court rendered a verdict that had it been upheld would have seriously threatened homeschooling in this state. Many believed, it would effectively make homeschooling illegal. It wouldn't have as I discussed in a previous blog, but it could have made a lot of trouble for homeschooling families from officials who misinterpreted the ruling. There was a lot of speculation and reaction from both sides of the argument. There was a lot of press regarding the whole issue. Maybe now, that the decision has all but been dismissed as of yesterday, the roar of outcry has been reduced to a tiny buzz. The story in the LA times was buried way back in the California Education section. Other than my notice from Focus on the Family, I wouldn't have heard anything about it. Interesting isn't it.
Here is the link to the story in the LA Times.

On another note....

HELP! I'M BEING OPPRESSED. YOU SAW THEM OPPRESSING ME RIGHT?


Sure it says repressed. But it's still funny.

Will you recognize your king when he comes?

"All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the
cheerful heart has a continual feast." Proverbs 15:15

Have you ever woken up one morning and immediately said to yourself, "This is going to be a horrible day," ?
What happened? You probably had a horrible day, right?
Very few people can tolerate a perpetual "Pollyanna" but in some ways this is exactly what God is calling us to be. Or another shiny example is Mr. Bill, that tiny plasticine character that kind can the bright side of any situation. It may be an oversimplification, but I think we need to adopt the cup is half-full mentality and toss the half-empty one, because if we are sat down and really counted each one of our blessings, we know that the cup would really be overflowing.

In this world there truly are oppressed peoples. Poverty, disease, wars, slavery, are still a very real part of this modern world we live in. Most of my audience are probably not being oppressed by any of the aforementioned issues, but what if you are? Or what if you are being oppressed by something, maybe not as bad, but the weight of oppression is still there. Is any form of oppression easier than another form to the one who feels oppressed? Probably not because when we re oppressed, whether real or imagined, it becomes easy to lose hope. And when you lose hope the oppressors win, and the job provider of those oppressors win too. You know what his name is right? Satan. If Satan can destroy someone's hope, he has just shut the door on Jesus in that person's heart, because Jesus is hope. And without the hope of Jesus Christ we are indeed wretched.
Of course there are many in this world, in this country whose idea of oppression is "I'm oppressed if I can't get what I want, exactly when I want it!" According to this definition all two year olds and most teenagers(at least my daughter) are oppressed.
How many times do we tell ourselves , "Well, I'll be happy when I get this, or when this happens.", only to see our desire come to fruition and still be unhappy and saying, "now, if this just happens, I'll be really happy." God does not promise us happiness. Happiness is fleeting. God wants us to focus on the eternal. Joy is eternal and there for the taking in every thought we have and every action we take. Of course like flowers with no sunlight, joy cannot exist without the presence of hope.
The bible is filled with verses about hope, both old and new testaments. We can find many words in Hebrew and Greek about hope. I challenge you to simply look up the word hope in a regular dictionary. It is an eye opening experience.
So to explore the second part of this verse... Many proverbs are structured this way in a comparison and contrast format. So to contrast or oppose oppression, the answer is to have a cheerful heart. How on Earth can one have a cheerful heart when they are being oppressed? There is no earthly way at all. The only way is through hope. If you accepted my challenge from above, you will have found that the word hope can be used as either a verb or a noun. In the Strong's Hebrew and Greek concordance this particular word for hope is elpis. According to Vines, we can also see this as meaning having hope in the author of hope or he who is at it's foundation. So the key to having a cheerful heart in any situation is to rely on the author of hope to give it to you because the world does not have it to give. It is hope that sustained Paul through all his trials. It was hope that allowed Peter to boldly go to his place of crucifixion on an upside down cross. It was hope that caused Jesus to die for our sins, not to receive it, but to give it, give it to us, through the resurrection.
So because He is God, He can be a noun and a verb at the same time. He is hope.
So, The next time you begin to feel oppressed, start concentrating on just how full your cup really is. Let it cheer you and bring the joy to your heart that God has promised us all through the hope that His son, the Lord Jesus Christ offers us.

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