Like A Tree Planted By The Rivers

I decided the other day that I would spend my daily Bible time in the book of Psalms for a while. I started at the beginning and have not moved on. There is meat worth chewing in this first chapter. It has a good feeling to read it, but it has some depth, that unless sought out, can be overlooked. Oh, the teachings that could be done on this chapter alone. I have not been called to preach (at least not in this forum), so I will leave that to those who are. I will however, note that each verse is filled with life principles. Maybe Oprah should do a 10 week online course on Psalm 1. It could change lives. I know I want to be able to "stand in the judgement". That does not say "stand in judgement"...it says "stand in THE judgement". There will be a judgement someday...ok so that is very close to preaching. I need to chew on this chapter some more. The kids are having a blast in our new home school routine. It is not totally set, but so far, they are loving it. I have had them doing some copy work to improve their handwriting. Both kids dislike writing, so what do you do about that?? You make it fun. I bought them each NEW notebooks just for copy work. 2 each actually. One is for poems, story sentences, etc. and one is for scripture. Charlotte copied the 1 poem she was asked to do yesterday, plus several more that were not required! Zachary. Well, I knew a new notebook was not gonna get it for him, so I bought a box of 24 mechanical pencils for less than $3! He is in handwriting heaven!! Here is his scripture verse for today. He did not have room for the "s" in "things" so he moved it to the next line...that is ok. His handwriting is beautiful!! He has never done better.

Since Charlotte is older, she writes in cursive and needed to copy the entire verse instead of just an excerpt. This verse came as we read the story of Joseph this morning. I love to show them how New Testament verses support Old Testament stories.

They look forward to tomorrows copy work! I have 4, yes, FOUR, different packages from Amazon that I am expecting. One order was split into 2 shipments. New books for school. It will be like Christmas here for a few days. Today the first shipment arrived. The new computer game, Math Blasters!! Zach was pacing the floor waiting for the mailman...look at that face! Charlotte is thinking..."Come on mom, I want to see what else is in the box!"

Plus a new geography book about our 50 States. Copperswife recommended this book. On a quick inspection, it looks wonderful. A classical music CD was also in the box!

We will spend some time today enjoying the new math game and looking through our new book. Speaking of time....

Here is something I need to confess. Is it sin? Well I am sure some would say it is, but that is not the point. I am making a confession because I want accountability. I am a very poor steward of my time. Everyone in the world has been given the same 24 hours. I do not use it wisely. What is it? Am I lazy? Could be. Am I unmotivated? Could be. Are my priorities mixed up? More than likely. I have been focusing on my use of time for the past couple of days. I recently read a quote by Paul Meyer that said "Time is usually wasted in the same way everyday." This was in a John Maxwell book called "Success: One Day At A Time" The quote carries a load of truth. It would appear that my life is loaded to the second with responsibilities and that free time is non-existent. This is not true. Maybe it should be, but it is not. I have lots of minutes...hours even, that are not being used wisely. So I am focusing on my priorities. What should they be? Well I know what they should be, but what are they? For a while they have been...

1) children 2)and this is a VERY close second(maybe even 1st on some days), everything else...includes sewing, tv, reading for fun, etc. 3)home 4)husband 5)God...He is usually an "after"thought...I think about Him when I climb into bed at night, so that is a thought "after" my day.

Now don't get me wrong, I think about God during the day, and I even pray as I go about my business, but I do not give Him any of my time. I was reading this post the other day and it all hit me between the eyes. THEN I read the last paragraph of a comment left on that post and I was hit upside the head! It still stings. God is merciful and long suffering, thankfully for me. So what should my priority list look like??

1) GOD 2) husband 3) children 4) home 5) church/ministry 6) everything else.

This will seriously cut into my sewing time, but if I keep my priorities in line, I will make the most of my time. Any time spent sewing (and there will be plenty once my children grow some more) will be even more enjoyable. I need to stop thinking of the next project, planning the next fabric purchase...I have enough to keep me busy for years if I did nothing BUT sew. I did not sew a stitch yesterday, yet I smiled alot. Enough that even my family noticed. I kept my priority list in my fore thoughts.

How does this effect my blog??? I am sure it will. I will still post regularly. I do my posts in little sections over small periods of time during the day. You did not think I gabbed these long posts all at once did you??? Well I could, I am sure, but I don't. I may lose some readers. There will be less quilting to share, but so many wonderful life experiences I would have missed out on. If you are a reader I will lose, I will miss you. I will leave you with a little section of an e-mail I got today. It is very to the point and jumped off the screen at me! (thanks Melzie)

"Isn't it funny how I can be more worried about what other people think of me than what God thinks of me. "

And I KNOW God will be reading...he never misses a post!!!