Twelve Days of Thanksgiving — I

Twelve Days of Thanksgiving

I is for Idolatry

Everyone has heard of the 12 Days of Christmas.  I thought I would do my version of the 12 days of Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving:  the act of giving thanks; a prayer of gratitude to God.

Idolatry: The worship of idols or gods supposedly dwelling in images or represented by them; excessive admiration or devotion.

Ephesians 5:5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

I had to look into myself to effectively write this article.  As I looked around my desk area I was exposed to some of the items that would be considered idols; zebra knick-knacks, a huge pen collection, different colored stationary, to name a few.  They are items I can do without by all means, but they are things that I surround myself with at my desk and I seem to collect and hold value to.  Not something I am in any hurry to get rid of.

It is easy for me to look at people and presume what they idolize.  Men that spend their Sunday afternoons camped out on the couch obviously have a high regard for whatever sport they are watching on the boob tube.  Women that are adorned with oodles of jewelry and smell like they bathed in the latest new scent of perfume either have a self esteem problem or are trying to impress someone.  The teenager following his parents around in the grocery store clicking away at the device in his hand clearly would rather be somewhere else.  The three year old sitting in the shopping cart screaming at the top of her lungs for the green stuffed frog instead of the pink stuffed bear is providing her parents a teaching moment regarding idolatry.  The parent fails the test, idolizes the child’s desire, gives into her demands and thus the little girl learns in order to get her way, all she needs to do is scream.

Anytime we go against the Word of God, we are giving into idolatry.  The second commandment instructs us “You shall not make for yourself a carved image — any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth, you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.  For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God…” Exodus 20:4-5  I remember when I first learned the Ten Commandments I was so proud of myself for the ones that I hadn’t committed.  Then I learned what Jesus said about the commandments and I came to realize that if we are completely honest with ourselves we have broken every commandment created.  The law was created so that we could see how we are sinners and recognize the need for our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

What do you idolize?   Is it an I-gadget: I-phone, I-pad, I-pod, or maybe it is a television show or a movie star or a singer or an athlete, or maybe its food or a diet or exercise, or how about your job, your car, your reputation in the community, or it could be as modest your spouse, your parents, your children?   Anytime something other than God is put first it is considered idolatry.  God is jealous and hates all types of idolatry.

1 Corinthians 10:14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

© Crackerberries 2011

Twelve Days of Thanksgiving — G

G is for Grace

Everyone has heard of the 12 Days of Christmas.  I thought I would do my version of the 12 days of Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving:  the act of giving thanks; a prayer of gratitude to God.

Ask some people what grace means to them and these are the kinds of answers one might get, “She’s my Aunt from Alabama” or “it’s what you say before supper, ‘God is great, God is good and we thank Him for this food, amen’” and still others, “it’s how a deer runs through the forest, you know, with grace.”  All good answers and all correct in a sense.  I was looking for the definition that most people can’t fully understand and appreciate until they have gone through the conversion process of being born again.  Grace: a delay granted for payment or obligation.

When I really thought about this, I came to realize how truly blessed I am. My payment for sinning is death.  Before my conversion and my relationship with Christ I could have died and spent eternity in hell.  Just thinking about that wipes me out.  When I hear the song, “Amazing Grace” I cry every time because I totally understand how true it is and how amazing God’s grace really is.

I think this song pretty much sums it up.

© Crackerberries 2011

Twelve Days of Thanksgiving — S

S is for Self-_________

Everyone has heard of the 12 Days of Christmas.  I thought I would do my version of the 12 days of Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving:  the act of giving thanks; a prayer of gratitude to God.

A wise man fears and departs from evil, but a fool rages and is self-confident.  Proverbs 14:16

Self: the identity or character of any person; one’s own person as distinct from all others; one’s own interests or advantage.

There are 74 “self-blank” words in the dictionary that I use.  I have incorporated 36 of them in this blog.  That has to say something for how important the word is itself.  Isn’t it so easy to look at a person and see how they are wrapped up in their self-importance?  They talk all about what they’ve done, what they are doing and what they are going to do.  Do you know people like that? 

When I first began this Twelve Days of Thanksgiving challenge I was not expecting the acronym to be so self-revealing.  I have learned so much about myself and now that we are on the “S-word” I don’t think there is a better word than “self-something” to plunge into. 

It is self-evident that I have been self-absorbed with this challenge.  I see how other people are self-occupied with their own self-conceitedness, but once I turned the word around on myself, I am guilty of the same self-centeredness that I blame others for.

I decided to take a look at myself to see how self-involved I was.  Once upon a time I was self-serving and my self-confidence was at a high level.  I was self-aggrandizing and I didn’t care who I stepped on.  I didn’t need anyone; I was self-sufficient and very self-satisfied.  Eventually my self-will and my self-interest became lonely and I realized that my self-made situation was all well if I wanted to spend the rest of my life by myself.  I started to get involved in self-abusive behavior and my self-catering began to take a toll on my self-control.  I was self-indulging more than I should have been and my self-seeking lifestyle was not healthy.  I needed to stop the self-deception and self-justification I created and gain control of my self-respect.

The first thing that had to happen was to lower my self-esteem and practice a little self-denial.  This was not self-acting on my part and although it took some self-determination, it all started with self-reproach.  After that the self-preservation process started and I became aware of self-abnegation and self-sacrifice. 

Today’s “S-Word” is somewhat self-opinionated.  I didn’t want to write it in a self-righteous tone but I think that it is important to step back and look inside ourselves.  We should always remember where we came from and how we got where we are.  And every once in awhile it is good to ask ourselves, “Self, what is your self-confession? What is your self-worth?” 

Deliberating ourselves at all, we should always look to the ONE who gave Himself for us.  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to die on the cross so that who ever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.  John 3:16.  That is the ultimate “S-word” self-sacrifice.  Thank You, God.  Amen.

© Crackerberries 2011

Twelve Days of Thanksgiving — K

K is for Kindness

Everyone has heard of the 12 Days of Christmas.  I thought I would do my version of the 12 days of Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving:  the act of giving thanks; a prayer of gratitude to God.

Kindness: The old English ancestor of kind = gecynde which meant “natural, inborn, inherent” and was used for fearsome things such as death and thunder.  In the 13^th century it went through a melioration and kind was meant to mean “well-born” and “of good nature”.

I like to think that I’m a pretty good judge of people and their character.  I can usually tell if someone is doing something genuinely out of kindness or if they are doing something because they expect something in return.  Maybe I’m a good judge of character because I remember how bad my own personality used to be.  Isn’t it true what they say, that a good convict used to be an ex-cop?  Or maybe it’s the other way around; an ex-convict makes a good cop.  People sometimes do nice things in hopes of gaining stature or prominence in the society or maybe advancing themselves in wealth.  Then there are people that do things genuinely out of the kindness of their hearts. 

Where we shop there is a person that is all about kindness — warm-hearted, friendly, generous, always has a nice word to say.  When ever we shop if that person is working he is always in an excellent mood and I really believe he would give us the shirt of his back if we needed and we don’t even know his name.  We would all be in a better world if more people acted like that.

I thought about that this morning as I reflected on my own kindness.  I like to consider myself a kind person.  I do nice things out of the kindness of my heart and think that I always have been “well-born”. After I recalled an incident that happened yesterday morning at church, I am somewhat convicted.  Following the first song our pastor encourages us to “meet & greet” — say good morning, hug or high-five someone we haven’t spoken to.  Some mornings I don’t feel like being a social butterfly, but obediently I do as the pastor suggests.  Yesterday I came to this one old southern woman whom held out her hand for me to shake and I pulled her in for a hug instead and said, “Good morning, how you doing’?”  As she responded with “Oh, I’m alright, I guess.” I was already looking for the next person I could greet.  Ouch.  How many times in our show of kindness do we miss the opportunity to demonstrate the real sincere kindness that God has put in our hearts?   The “Oh, I’m alright, I guess,” clearly indicated this woman could have used a kind ear to listen to what she may have had to talk about.

Kindness is not something we are born with.  In fact we are born selfish and spiteful.  If you don’t think so, watch a couple of two year old boys with one Tonka Truck.  Unless they are taught to share and play nice they will fight tooth and nail for that truck.  Even though a child can be taught to share and be kind, only the Holy Spirit can fill your heart with the fruit of kindness.  Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.  Against such there is no law.

The next time I do something kind, I am going to be sure that I am doing it genuinely out of the kindness in my heart and not because it is expected of me or because I am doing it out of obligation.

© Crackerberries 2011

Sweet Potatoes — Bread Machine Yeast Bread

Sweet Potato Yeast Bread

We are on week #7 of the sweet potato challenge.  Can you believe Thanksgiving is almost here?  EMAIL me your favorite sweet potato recipe and you can see it right here next Friday.

½ cups mashed sweet potatoes

1 cup warm (75º) half & half

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp butter, softened

1 tsp salt

3¼ cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup pecans, finely chopped

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

2¼ tsp dry active yeast

Place all ingredients in bread machine in order given.  Set to basic 1½ loaf.  Remove from bread pot immediately.  Let cool completely before slicing into 14 portions lengthwise and then cut each slice in half.  Each half slice equals 68½ calories.

© Crackerberries 2011

Twelve Days of Thanksgiving — N

N is for Necessity

Everyone has heard of the 12 Days of Christmas.  I thought I would do my version of the 12 days of Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving:  the act of giving thanks; a prayer of gratitude to God.

Necessity:  something that cannot be done without.

Lots of “N” words came to mind for today’s Twelve Days of Thanksgiving challenge.  I decided to lounge on “necessity”.   Our basic necessities are food, shelter, and clothing and then of course that need for companionship.  God, Himself said, “It is not good that man should be alone”.

Obviously to write this I had to consider my own necessities and it became very convicting and difficult to write.  It is always a challenge to look at something that is very comfortable and routine and make changes to it.  How does that old saying go, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”? 

Recently taking a look at our finances we recognized we are falling behind and need to take a look at areas where we can cut back.  Our biggest expense is food.  Not your typical “eating out” kind of expense.  In fact, we have only eaten out once in the last two years and my BFF and her husband treated us in celebration of my birthday.   Food is one of the difficult areas in our life that we have recently tried to change.  I love to cook and my husband loves to eat what I cook.  And although we don’t waste food (leftovers go in the freezer for another meal), some of the meals are a little more extravagant and mucho calories than we need as a regular meal plan.  The past three weeks have been grueling but I am seeing a huge change in how much we need to buy at the grocery store.  Changing from super sized quantity to single portion amount can make a big difference, not only on a waist line but in a wallet as well.  Making these subtle changes I realize what cooking for necessity is and what greed is.  We are blessed to have the luxury of not digging food out of a dumpster like some people do to survive. 

Speaking of waist lines, clothing is another area of need verses greed.  At one point in my life my closet was lined with 52 skirts, 28 pairs of jeans, 8 leather jackets, 3 wool coats and more pairs of shoes than I could count.  It has taken five years, but I am down to 8 skirts, 8 pairs of jeans, 1 leather jacket and I am working on the shoes.  I had a wicked shoe fetish.  I have not bought clothes in over five years.  I have found that if I wait long enough, the fad will come back and the jeans that were out of style eventually will be back in style.  Going to the storage unit was kind of like going to the mall, (which I have not frequented since November, 2006).  When I see people in third world countries that are wearing everything they own, it breaks my heart and I realize how spoiled I am.  I know a friend of mine whose husband recently took on a challenge to clean out his closet and bureau and keep only 100 articles of clothing.  I am seriously considering doing just that.

The storage unit was another luxury that we decided to cut out and use the expense toward something else.  It was rough to part with items that we had not used in the past five years.  Some items we did not want to part with, therefore we moved them into the small house that we rent.   Our living area is a little overcrowded but still cozy.  Better to be cozy and overcrowded than to be vacant and formal.  We have been to houses like that…just not very inviting.

Shelter; the house we rent is 150 years old.  It is not insulated so when the sun shines just right we can see the ground in the cracks of the wood floors in the bedroom.  Slippers are very handy in the winter time but not a necessity.  The cold floors in the morning tend to help with getting us motivated to move and start the day to keep warm.  We do not have the typical heat or air that modern houses have so it isn’t like we can just turn the thermostat to 68º in the winter time and to 78º in the summer time.  We chop, split and lug wood for a woodstove to heat the house in the winter time.  Wood will warm you up three times over…try chopping, splitting and lugging and you will know exactly what I’m talking about.  In the summer a window unit air conditioner cools the combo kitchen living room where we spend most of our time.  The cool air is nice; however the electric bill that comes after running it for a few weeks is not as nice as the cool air.  At least we have that option… it is not a cardboard box that some people find refuge in.  Try to imagine a family of five living out of a cardboard box that once held a refrigerator. 

Companionship:  one that accompanies another.  I know some people might argue that companionship is not a necessity.  I beg to differ.  God’s word tells us in the very first book of the Bible that it is not good that man should be alone. (Genesis 2:18)  God made woman for man to be his helper.  In our society men and women alike take this way out of context and turn it into something that they want it to be.  This subject is a whole other blog to dig deeper into.  Let’s just leave it at this:  if you have been blessed to marry as a man and a woman do not take it for granted and treat each other as the king or queen that they are.

Food, clothing and shelter are the basic necessities of life that most people take for granted.  I know I did and sometimes I still do.  Things like electricity, indoor plumbing, running water and appliances are all luxury items.  Items we can live without but choose not to.  I just made a cup of tea with my tea kettle on my electric stove… luxury items.  As I type on my antiquated laptop and wait for the lengthy upload for my internet connection I take into account that it is a lot slower and archaic where there is none.

I like to think that I have become frugal and have learned to give up a lot of the luxuries that I thought I needed before Christ took over my life.  Things like make up and hair spray and curling irons and blow dryers were all things I thought I needed.  I needed them because they helped me change the appearance of the person I saw every morning when I looked in the mirror.  I didn’t like who I was so I covered her up. Once Christ got a hold of my heart He made me realize that all the Mary Kay and Avon in the world could change my outside appearance but it was not going to change the person inside.  He was the only One who could make me into someone that I liked.  It doesn’t matter what other people think.  I like the person I see now and I realized that I don’t need to cover her up and make her into something she is not.

Need verses greed; an interesting concept.  Internet, cell phones, computers, Laptops, IPods, I Pads, Notebooks, Kindles and so many other technological things that I can’t even begin to pronounce are all luxury items.   How many vacations do you take a year?  How many vehicles do you have sitting in your drive-way?  How about boats and jet-skis and hot tubs and swimming pools and campers and motor-homes and dirt bikes and four-wheelers and snow mobiles?  What is in your closet that you don’t wear?  How many times do you go out to eat or stop for a coffee or a soda and a bag of chips a year, a month, a week, a day?  What kinds of luxuries can you give up?  Living down to our need instead of up to our greed can make a huge difference.  Think about it.

© Crackerberries 2011

Twelve Days of Thanksgiving — A

A is for atonement

Everyone has heard of the 12 Days of Christmas.  I thought I would do my version of the 12 days of Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving:  the act of giving thanks; a prayer of gratitude to God.

Atonement: the reconciliation of humankind with God through Christ’s self-sacrifice.

There was a time back in high school only driving on my learner’s permit, which back then there could only be one licensed passenger in the vehicle with the person on the permit and there could be no driving after dark.  My father used to take me out driving in an old scout that we had.  Him and my mother never used it because it needed work on the brakes, which as I recall in order for it to come to a complete stop the brakes had to be pumped once straight to the floor and then another two quick short pumps.  The long pump would slow it almost to a stop, but the two quick pumps made it come to a complete stop. 

It was a Friday or Saturday night and my mother and father were going out to visit some friends.  I don’t remember all of the details but I do remember this one very important detail.  My father specifically said, “BEHAVE”.  Well “behave” meant not to do anything that would make him yell, mad, embarrassed, discouraged, outraged, you name it.  It meant to be the perfect little angels my parents thought my sister and I were.

They left and we (I say we because my sister did go along with it, whether she had anything to say about it or not) being the disobedient teenagers that we tried to be, decided to go pick up a few friends and head down to the gravel pits.  Now that I reminisce about this whole incident I can see so much wrong with that bad choice.  God definitely had a guardian angel looking over so many of us that night.

1.    Learner’s permit

a.    Driving after dark

b.    Driving without a licensed driver

c.     Driving with more than one passenger

2.    Bad brakes on scout

3.    Gravel pits (sex and drugs and rock & roll)

4.    Father said, “BEHAVE”

Well we picked up our friends and I tested the brakes and just as always when I had been out driving, if I pumped the brakes once hard to the floor and then two quick little pumps the scout would stop.  No problem.  When we arrived at the gravel pits there were lots of kids already there.  A bunch of our friends came running over to the scout and were slapping the sides of the doors and windows and hooting and hollering that we came. 

One boy, John, jumped up on the front bumper and really started banging on the hood of the scout hard.  I yelled at him to stop it and get off the bumper but he just kept beating on the hood.  (This was the worst of the bad choices that I made all night).  I had watched plenty of movies and seen how it happens so being as brazen as I thought I was, I decided I could drive forward a little, fast and then stop quick and John would fly off the bumper.  Just like in the movies.  Apparently in my moment of thinking I was going to be really cool, I forgot about the brake issue and John went flying off the front bumper but the scout didn’t stop.  I had neglected to do the two quick short pumps and instead of coming to a complete stop it dragged his leg completely under the front tire. 

It was terrible, it was scary. We were immature and had no idea what kind of ramifications could come from something so stupid.  We promised never to speak of it again and went home.  To this day, I never was confronted by anyone about the incident.  It was as if someone took the blame for my carelessness.

As sad a story as that is, (and wherever John is, I hope he knows that I am so terribly sorry for running over his leg), that is nothing compared to the Atonement of Jesus.  When Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge after God commanded them not to, they brought sin into the world.  They were cast out of Paradise by God and our union with Him was broken.  Everyone falls under that rule, no matter how good you think you are, how perfect you think you keep God’s laws, how righteous you live, we all have sinned and fall short the glory of God.  There is only one way back to God and that way is through Jesus.

God came in the flesh, Jesus and He lived a perfect life, He never sinned.  He was tempted, but He overcame the temptation and lived a perfect life. Then He put His arms on the Cross and He made a way for our separation to God to be reconciled.  For the sin that happened in the garden by Adam and Eve, for the sin of the very conception of our existence, for the sin of every single man and woman on this earth today, The Cross is our bridge back to God, back to Paradise.  No sin is too big or too small.  Jesus paid it all when He took upon Himself the sin of the whole wide world.   All we have to do is believe on Him.  One day we will all be judged — if we trust and believe in the Jesus who is the Son of God, who sacrificed His life for our sins — we will have everlasting life.  John 3:36 He who believes in the Son has everlasting life, and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on Him.  We are saved from the wrath of our sins through the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who paid it all upon the Cross being our Atonement.

© Crackerberries 2011

Twelve Days of Thanksgiving — H

H is for Healthy Lifestyle

Everyone has heard of the 12 Days of Christmas.  I thought I would do my version of the 12 days of Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving:  the act of giving thanks; a prayer of gratitude to God.

I am far from what you would call the poster child for “healthy”.  I’ve never been a size 6 (it just seems like everyone wants to be a size 6) — maybe in the sixth grade I was but quite frankly I think that if I was a size 6 I would look sickly.  I don’t consider myself fat, but I’m sure the powers that be in Hollywood or the rest of the world would call me just that.  Personally I like to refer to my curves as voluptuous.  When I dug out my winter wardrobe my voluptuous butt cheeks had a hard time squeezing into my voluminous jeans.  It has been a challenge to make a lifestyle change at our eating habits as well as adding exercise into our daily routine.

I can honestly say putting the extra pounds on was a lot easier and enjoyable than it has been trying to take them off.  God’s word tells us that we reap what we sow in due season.  I was a Big Mac, large fry, diet coke, super-size, please, once a week kind of girl.  I remember hitting the salad bar thinking this was a good healthy choice as I loaded up my plate with cheese and ham and macaroni salad and all those other good treats you find on salad bars that are not actually salad items.  While I was hogging it into me I had no idea that the little butt cheeks were growing into bigger butt cheeks, or I should say I refused to acknowledge that they would.

We know when we have that extra helping of mashed potatoes that we need to do a little extra work to burn the calories.  Look at the average kid today.  They are HUGE!  Yeah, you have some parents that will argue and say it’s a thyroid problem.  Most generally it has everything to do with laziness.  We live in a fast food and super sized kind of nation.  If your kid works on a farm and takes care of the animals a Happy Meal once in awhile isn’t going to make him fat — it might clog up his arteries in the long run, but how many kids are working the farm and taking care of animals?  Most kids have their butts plunked on a couch somewhere with a bag of Doritos playing a video game. 

Thanksgiving is definitely not a healthy holiday for me.  Too many temptations to deal with: egg nog, turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, squash soufflé, candied sweet potatoes, oyster casserole, stuffed mushrooms, bacon wrapped scallops, apple pie, pumpkin roll, pecan pie, oh YUM!  Even one bite of each of those goodies is way over a normal 2000 calorie plan.  It will be a struggle for sure and thank God for it only coming once a year.

Our health is important to all of us.  Some people take their health for granted.  I know I did for a long time and I still struggle with certain unhealthy temptations.  Some people do not have their health… they have diseases that cannot be controlled by man.  But then there are the ones that we do have control over and we should do everything in our power to prevent them (overeating, over drinking, sex out of wedlock, smoking, drugs).  When we take advantage of our health and give in to temptation of the bad choices that can harm our health, we are giving in to sin.  Our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in us.  When we over-indulge in anything (eating, drinking, even exercise) we sin against the ONE who created us.

We reap what we sow later than when we sow and more than what we have sown.  Eating at fast food restaurants might not seem like a bad idea right now, but eventually all of that grease (yes, all of it) is going to catch up with your butt cheeks.  Smoking will eventually kill you, drugs not taken under the supervision of a doctor is illegal so not only are you sinning against God, but you are also breaking the law.  Fornication is the perfect opportunity for you to come in contact with AIDS and not only that, even though AIDS is treatable in the end, fornication is a one way ticket to hell. 

I don’t write these things because I think I am better than anyone.  I am making a conscience effort to live a healthier lifestyle.  I write these things because I have experienced them all and I am full aware how difficult it is to make changes.  By the grace of God for now I still have my health and my sanity.  Hopefully I have struck a chord within some of my readers and you too, can make a healthy lifestyle change.

1 Corinthians 6:20 For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods.

© Crackerberries 2011

Twelve Days of Thanksgiving — T

T is for thankful

Everyone has heard of the 12 Days of Christmas.  I thought I would do my version of the 12 days of Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving:  the act of giving thanks; a prayer of gratitude to God.

The holiday season is here.  Everything is so festive decorated with pumpkins and turkeys.  I remember in grade school we used to pencil or crayon around our hand and fingers and then create a turkey out of it.  How fun!  This is the time of year when most people get into the giving mode and they are more generous than usual.  It is also the time of year that the non-profit organizations need help and donations as well. 

I love this time of year. It is perfect for cooking pies and cookies and cakes and filling the kitchen with the scents of cinnamon and cloves.  It is the time when Egg Nog is on the store shelves and candy cane coffee creamer and all of that other festive yummy stuff that is only available during this time of year.  It is the time of year to dig out the wool sweaters, polar fleece, flannel P-jammies and big fluffy warm slippers. 

T is for thankful, time to count our blessings and stop and think about some of the things that we complain about.  I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately because I find myself grumbling and then when I stop and think about what I’m peevish about I want to kick myself for being so absolutely self absorbed and ridiculous. 

For example, I will sometimes go to the mailbox and if there is nothing but junk mail I am upset that no one answers my letters in a timely fashion.  I have a wonderful pen-pal that I receive a letter from every week.  Bertha is truly a wonderful friend and God bless her.  I should never take her weekly letter for granted and I am thankful for having her as such a good friend and pen pal.

Another example is when I don’t hear from our kids as often as I think we should, I groan that they should call or visit more often.  They are not into drugs, they do not gamble, they are not in trouble with the law… good kids by worldly standards.  They are grown and they have their own adult lives to lead.  Some people don’t have that luxury of their kids still being around.  I am thankful that we do.

Still yet another example is when we go to the grocery store to do our bi-weekly shopping, I am sickened by the prices that we have to pay.  Everything is so wicked expensive and I find us cutting back in so many areas.  Then I realize that we have the means to go do groceries and when I find areas where we can cut back I realize we were more spending money on pleasure items than we don’t need (egg nog and candy cane coffee creamer).  I am thankful that we are able to buy groceries to prepare nutritious and delicious meals.

I remember growing up I hated, absolutely hated mashed potatoes.  My mother would always tell me to quit complaining and eat them and then she would make some comment about how children in Ethiopia were starving.  I had no problem if she wanted to box up the mashed potatoes on my plate and send them to Ethiopia.  I never realized what she meant until I had to purchase the food with my own earned money.  And then to see that food not be eaten and thrown away, finally made me understand what it meant about starving children in Ethiopia.  I think about the waste that gets thrown away everyday and I want to send potatoes to Ethiopia.

This morning when I took my shower I stood under the hot water a little longer than usual because I didn’t want to get out into the cold air. I was convicted while writing this because there are so many countries that have no water and I wasted gallons by letting it run down the drain so I could prolong the inevitable cold air.

I have a feeling the Twelve Days of Thanksgiving will be difficult and convicting.  Fridays I will save for Sweet Potatoes, but tune in the following eleven weekdays for the Twelve Days of Thanksgiving.

T is for thankful and I am very thankful for the time God has given me here on this earth to make a difference and bring glory to Him.

© Crackerberries 2011

Sweet Potatoes - Roasted Veggie Medley

Roasted Veggie Medley

Week #6 of the sweet potato challenge.  Can you believe Thanksgiving is just under three weeks away...that means there are only two more Fridays to see your favorite sweet potato recipe right here!  EMAIL me and we will surely cook it up, photograph it and eat it. 

3 potatoes, peeled and quartered

3 carrots, peeled and quartered

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and quartered

1 onion, peeled and chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp crushed rosemary leaves

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 375º

Combine all ingredients in lightly greased glass baking dish and cover with aluminum foil, bake 20 minutes at 375º.  Remove aluminum foil from vegetables, toss gently; increase temperature to 400º and bake an additional 20-25 minutes.  Serve with chicken, roast beef, pork… also the leftovers are great for a hash or pot pie.

© Crackerberries 2011

Tip the Scale

Tip the Scale

Two weeks ago when I started this journey I told myself I was not going to blog about it.  But the lesson I learned today about what I could have done and what I did seemed like a good story to share.  I set myself a small goal and I was confident that I would make it today but when I stepped on the scale I was disappointed by the reading.  Let down by the what I saw, I tried leaning a little on the scale and to my happy surprise it registered the goal I had planned to give myself a reward at. 

It has been difficult.  I am not on a diet, not using a diet plan and not changing any of the food that I eat.  What I am changing is my portion size and counting calories.  Do you know how small a single portion is?  This is such a foreign concept to me because we live in a world of “SUPER SIZE” … the bigger the better!

My reward is a small 12 oz can of Diet Pepsi.  Every time I open the refrigerator door it is there on the second shelf staring at me saying “You can do it!”  The first week was really difficult because in so many weight-loss plans a person can lose up to seven pounds in the first week.  I thought it would be effortless with walking three miles every day and eating a normal single portion size.  Not so.  The weight loss is slow.  But then I am reminded that “all good things come to those who wait.”

I considered writing down the reading that would get me my Diet Pepsi reward, you know, tip the scale a little… but it wouldn’t be honest.  Not that I am in a plan where I have to do a weigh in and be accountable to anyone.  I am doing this for myself.  I thought about that and how many times I have tipped the scale in the past.  Not being completely honest:  showing up late to work but writing down that I was there on time, writing out bills and not signing my name to the check (I don’t think that works anymore), mailing the bills out without stamps, using stamps that have already been used once but without the cancelled mark; my list is endless. 

God wants us to be honest.  He doesn’t want us to tip the scale and He knows even when we do it and then try to justify it to ourselves.  I contemplated the reward.  I could have the Diet Pepsi and make up for it this week by eating a little less and maybe losing an extra pound.  But what good is a reward that isn’t earned honestly? 

That is how God looks at charitable deeds and everything thing we do.  If a person does something for recognition or some other compensation his heart is not right.  I am not referencing a job where one goes to work and collects a paycheck at the end of the week.  I am suggesting things that we do out of the kindness of our hearts should not be done because we think we deserve an incentive.  God knows our heart and He knows if we are doing it out of compassion or if we are doing it for accolades.

This was a hard lesson for me to learn but I revert to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6 is the perfect Scripture that helps me and guides me and makes things right.  Maybe next weeks weigh-in will be rewarding and I will enjoy that Diet Pepsi.  But until then I will trust in the Lord and although it seems slow and hard, I think perhaps this is also a lesson for me in patience.

© Crackerberries 2011

Simple Things

Simple Things

It was a dark and stormy night…and then it became the wee hours of the morning.  Suddenly I was aware how important sleep was to me.  The value of it was never appreciated until it was interrupted. 

2:18 AM Chow Maine thinks she is in combat and starts doing laps around the perimeter of the bed to make sure the hatches are closed. 

2:37 AM Tall Cool ☺ne has had enough after the fourth lap pouncing on his pillow across the headboard to my pillow and then leaping to the floor with a loud plop as if she weighed 40 pounds.  He gets up and she runs out of the bedroom; he closes the door saying something about that’s enough of her.

3:01 AM I can’t take her scratching and clawing at the door any longer — it sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard.  I get up with the flash light, open the door and she peaks around the corner of the couch as if to say, “Want to play?”  I walk over to her dish and say, “Come here,” which she thinks she is going to get a treat.  I scoop her up and climb back under the covers.  Chow Maine does a little kneading with her claws and settles in under the covers, purring.  I am just about to go to the land of “La-La” when she is out from under the covers, across the bed over to the desk.  She commences to clawing the paperwork that awaits my attention.

3:32 AM Grrrrrr, she is driving me crazy!  I get up and she immediately runs out of the bedroom.  I toss a sweatshirt on the floor in front of the door hoping to dissuade her from digging at it.  Tall Cool ☺ne snickers and says, “She is just going to yawl”.  I get settled back under the covers and start that deep breathing that comes just before sleep and …

3:55 AM Bow Wow, Wow, Wow; it is Foxtrot.  He has a deep southern drawl type bark that almost makes me think that he is saying, “I really don’t want to put too much effort into this barking thing but I feel like I should bark.”  He has the Sam Elliot of dog barks.

4:09 AM I lay there thinking, he won’t bark that long, he’s not real loud.  He will quiet down in a minute and he does and I’m back in that mode of falling asleep when suddenly his brother, Charlie starts:  Ruff, ruff, ruff, ruff, and ruff!  He has that high pitched beagle in a big dog bark that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up.  He has the Pee Wee Herman of dog barks.

4:28 AM I drag myself out of the bed and open the window and yell for the two meatheads to be quiet, not in such a nice tone either.  Charlie, the daring one, tests me and barks a couple more times.  This time I yell just at him.  Again I am back under the covers and I am wondering why bother because the alarm is going to go off very soon.  Sleep seems to come easy and just as I am sauntering off, plunk right in the center of my stomach.  Chow Maine is back… How the heck?

Sleep is one of those things that the value cannot be truly appreciated unless it is interrupted.  As I thought about that through the wee hours of sleeplessness, I am convicted by how many things that I cannot place a value on because I have not been without them.  Food, water, shelter, clothing; all things I take for granted every day;  simple things like being able to take a shower and wash my hair, a washer and dryer so that I can clean my clothes.  It is very simple for me to look at other people and see some of the things that they have and don’t need.  Isn’t that always the way?  It is so easy to pick out the faults of others but to see our own faults, well that is a different story:  Matthew 7:3 “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?” 

I am going to think really hard about this during the holiday season.  There are so many people that don’t have the simple things that I take for granted every day. Maybe my deprivation from sleep was a wake up call.  What else is there that I can give up?

© Crackerberries 2011

Tartarmingus

Tartarmingus

Ever heard of Tartarmingus?  Me either.  I did a web search to see if I could come up with anything but I could not.  I am going to apply my own definition to it because this morning when I woke up it was in my head.  Right when I woke up I knew what it meant, I knew everything about it.  I knew so much about it, that when I made my sleepy-eyed way out to the coffee pot to pour myself a fresh hot cup of homemade apple pie spiced coffee, I scratched T-A-R-T-A-R-M-I-N-G-U-S across the white board my husband graciously installed in my office for me.  Like so many times before I thought if I wrote it down, when it came time for me to actually sit down and write about it, the memories I had when I first woke up would come back to me.  Not so; not this time.

Tartarmingus means absolutely nothing.  I cannot even begin to remember the thoughts that were on the tip of my mind when I woke up.  Isn’t that the way it goes when we wake up in the morning?  That dream we are having is so vivid and real be it good or bad, but when we wake up it is just below the subconscious, gone, never to return.  Tartarmingus: the thought that is the last thing on ones mind right before waking up.

God’s word sometimes can be like that for me.  I read something or something comes up in a Bible study and it is so fresh and vibrant right then while I am studying it.  But sometimes I loose sight of what I was taught and I experience Tartarmingus. 

For example the other day some Jehovah’s Witnesses came to my door.  Now I have nothing against them.  They are very nice people, misguided, but very nice people.  They were showing me and telling me all about this book they wanted me to read (The Watchtower) and how the Bible is inspired by God.  I knew exactly how I wanted to respond and it was right on the tip of my tongue but for some reason I was hit with Tartarmingus and I drew a blank.  Later that evening as I was reading and pondering over God’s word everything I wanted to share with them came back to me.  Then I realized that my Tartarmingus was God telling me to be quiet.  Sometimes we jump on things too soon and then we loose the opportunity to really show God’s love.

Deuteronomy 12:26-28 Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse; the blessing if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.

Whether we want to believe it or not God uses us in mysterious ways.  I wanted to blast those JW’s with everything I knew that was wrong with their faith and belief.  I had all the Scripture I was going to use (John 1:1-5, 14) and I wanted to make them see how they were wrong.   Although my heart was right and I had good intentions, it would not have been done out of love and God said, “No, that is not the way I want you to do it.”  Maybe there will be another opportunity and maybe there will not… I do not know.  I do know that God is in control of everything.   I pray for Him to work in me and use me to bring glory to Him and if Tartarmingus is necessary so be it.

© Crackerberries 2011