Making the Most of...

I am participating for the third year in the April A to Z Challenge. Each day of the month, minus Sunday, we blog on a certain topic that begins with the designated letter from the alphabet. Today is 'M' and I chose to make the most of it. 

We have reached the halfway point. So I thought one way to make the most of the challenge was to again thank Arlee Bird for creating the challenge for all of us to enjoy. It is amazing how it has grown. Well over a thousand people are participating this year. Thank you to all of those involved in making the most of this blogging experience.

A to Z Challenge

Making the most of: An idiom meaning to use to full advantage, to enjoy to the greatest degree possible, to maximize one’s experience, to get as much out of something that we can.

Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Ephesians 5:15-17 (NASB)

I encourage you to check out what the therefore is there for in this verse from Ephesians. But even if you don’t, the point that is made about being wise in the use of your time if you are going to make the most of it is worth pondering. We are constantly in a state of making choices from the littlest thing to the monumental. Do I stay in bed an extra 5 minutes? Should I take the job? Do I marry him? Many little decisions we don’t even realize we make. Will I smile at the cashier or remain preoccupied? What kind of an attitude will I have today?

I believe the more purposeful we are in these little decisions, the more likely we are apt to make the most of…(fill in the blank.) Deciding to have a good attitude, to have a positive impact on one’s environment, to be a blessing and to receive the blessings from God gratefully, all these little decisions have monumental consequences and lead to making the most of our lives and everything in them.  

Here are a few articles to help make the most of your life, talents, and even less than happy circumstances.

Making theMost of Your Christian Life 

Make The MostOf Your Talents 

Making theMost of a Breakup 

Maria

A to Z Challenge: G is for Gratitude

A to Z Challenge:  G is for Gratitude

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The power of gratitude cannot be understated.  It promotes well-being in all areas of one's personal life:  physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual.  It will help one face those most difficult of circumstances, and it makes the joys of life all the more joyous.  The positive effects of a thankful heart permeate to the very depths of who we are reaching out to impact our sleep, our health, our grades, and our approach to life in general.  

Our relationships will be stronger if we learn to appreciate as a way of life.  Forgiveness comes easier and grace flows in both directions more fluidly when gratitude is the river on which we sail.  Though slumps do come, they are overcome more quickly and with greater success when one is cultivating gratefulness. The sun shines brighter and life is just downright better with an attitude of gratitude. 

There are a number of studies which investigated the power of gratitude, all objectively verifying measurable positive reverberations from taking positive steps toward changing ones thinking and developing a more grateful attitude.  Here are a few of the suggestions.

1.  Count your blessings.  Don’t just think about or even just speak about what you have to be grateful for.  Write down 5 things a day and watch your attitude change and your health improve.  

2.  When you catch yourself complaining, stop.  Examine where that complaint is coming from.  Pull out the weed of complaining and find the flower of what you can be thankful for to plant in its place.  (Remember the old saying:  For every cloud, there is a silver lining.)  Be aware of your thinking and learn how to put off the destructive and put on the healthful.

3.  Find someone to help.  No I don’t mean to help you; I mean find someone you can help.  The act of giving of oneself has the added benefit of growing gratefulness for what you have.

In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.  

                                     1 Thessalonians 5:18

Here is an anonymous poem on gratitude found in many places:

Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire.

If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don’t know something,

for it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.

During those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations,

because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge,

because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes.

They will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you’re tired and weary,

because it means you’ve made a difference.

It’s easy to be thankful for the good things.

A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who

are also thankful for the setbacks.

Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive.

Find a way to be thankful for your troubles,

and they can become your blessings.

~Author Unknown 

I wish you, today, a day filled with many things for which you are thankful.  

A to Z Challenge:  G

A to Z Challenge: F is for the Freedom of Discipline

A to Z Challenge: F is for the Freedom of Discipline

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To some freedom and discipline will seem like a mismatch, but I hope you will think again.  Any musician, athlete, performer knows the freedom that comes with the discipline of their craft.  The reason they have the freedom to be excellent in their ability, to do what they are able to do with joy, is because they have taken the time to employ discipline in their learning.  If they had not done so, they would be free to play well.

Discipline is training, practice, immersion in the facets of and obedience to the rules of a system of learning of an activity or of life in general.  Without it, we never develop depth or expertise in a particular area of interest.  We will always be limited and lack the freedom that comes with  knowing something fully.

• Discipline as a life skill helps us develop healthy habits and resist those which lead to addictions.  Again the avenue to freedom is discipline.

• Any employer will tell you how liberating it is for them to have an employee they can count on to arrive on time, get the job done as expected, trust to finish what he has set out to accomplish.  These are all marks of discipline.  

• A child who has been disciplined, has manners, can interact more freely and comfortably with those of all ages.

The Christian life is no different.  However, many of us who call ourselves Christian have become lazy in the spiritual disciplines of the faith.  Without practicing these disciplines, we become flabby and ineffective just as one does in any area of life that requires discipline.  What are these disciplines?  

• Spending time in the Word of God - including reading, memorizing, and meditating on the Word

• Prayer - spending time with God both alone and corporately with other members of the faith

• Worship - which would include church attendance as well as the state in which we live our lives

• Evangelism - sharing our faith as ambassadors for the kingdom of God

• Service - having a servant’s heart to be the hands and feet of Christ within our community and to the world

• Stewardship - realizing everything we have belongs to God, the earth, what we own, our relationships, all belong to God and so we should care for it as such and be willing to give back to Him at least the portion He lays on our hearts to give

• Fasting refraining in some way from something to more fully focus on Christ, the direction of the Holy Spirit, and a life of holiness and selflessness

• Surrender - putting the Lord’s calling on our lives in all areas above our own desires, in fact making His good pleasure the main desire of our hearts knowing that His good pleasure is really meant for our good as well

• Fellowship - meeting with others in the faith involves being with like-minded people at play, in study, in worship, for encouragement, for accountability, and more

• Gratitude - giving thanks in everything and in every circumstance as a practice of life.  This discipline would turn our lives upside down and get rid of the need for a number of medications

There are more but how many of us even practice these regularly.  If we who call ourselves Christian would practice these disciplines, oh the freedom and joy we would unleash.  Could it be that we do not see a vibrant impact of the Christian church today because the world does not see the freedom we have in Christ without the discipline of the faith practiced among its members?

... On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; 

1 Timothy 4:7 

Three good books on Spiritual Discipline:

Christian Disciplines: Building Strong Christian Character by Oswald Chambers 

Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth by Richard Foster

The Disciplines of the Christian Life by Eric Liddell 

A to Z Challenge

A to Z Challenge: B is for Balancing The Budget

A to Z Challenge:  B is Balancing the Budget

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The United States is headed in the direction of other countries that have allowed their appetites to exceed their funds.  What is the purpose of government?  Is it to give us all we want?  Is it to take care of us from cradle to grave?  Well, unfortunately and sadly many Americans have come to believe and expect that government is there to give them whatever they need or want.

This thinking is not good for the country, for those who think this way, or for those left footing the bill.  It is time to educate our people in economics and the Constitution.  It is time to inspire our people to pursue their own happiness and not to expect the government to provide it.  It is time to bring our countryman together to appreciate one another and the abundant prosperity we can create if we seek to be the best we can be and to bring out the best in each other.

We have got to bring our expenses as a nation under control in the same way we must control our personal finances.  Let’s get together and support a balanced budget.  If you would like to find out more or are willing to get involved, then check out these websites:

The Path to Balance the Budget Petition

Heritage Action for America 

National Priorities Project 

Americans for a Balanced Budget Amendment

A to Z Challenge

Ride Out Depression

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Dealing with depression is like being out in the sea without a boat and no sign of land.  It seems to be never ending all around you without hope of escape or rescue. 

Focus - A Personal Pep-Talk

Five Minute Friday prompt:  Focus.

Philippians 4:8

Focus.  I know your feelings are hurt, but focus on what’s important.  Get out of your own way, and focus on what’s important.

Physical Fitness in Home School

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“Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”  (1 Corinthians 10:31 KJV)

No matter when we start our school year, most of us tend to have a sense of beginning or or transitioning to something new in September.  Children usually move to a new grade, classes gear up, new programs begin.  Even as home schoolers we have many patterns ingrained in us that adhere to the common cultural norms like this and there is nothing wrong with that.  Having standardization works in a number of ways.  However one area that I hope we can break out of standardized thinking is in ‘the check in the box’ mentality to learning in general and physical fitness in particular.  

There are some subjects we want our children to learn simply to have a familiarity with the information, to help them be well-rounded, or to give them a taste of it to see if it might be something that would help them find their bent.  Exposing them to that subject matter and moving on works fine.  Other things we know we have to build upon like reading, writing, and arithmetic.  In the early years these are foundational for what will come later, and most of us understand that these are not learn and dump studies.  Spiritual development is a category all to its own.  As Christians we should train our children to have their faith inform all of their studies and not fall into the trap of  just exposing them and laying it aside. Bible study is more than a separate compartmentalized subject which may be foundational for more Bible study, but rather it is applicable to all of life, throughout the day, across all subject areas.