Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves.
Matthew 7:15NLT
I return again this week with another story from my grandparents and the library!
The first time I remember my grandparents taking me to the library was to see a magic show! I believe I was 5 or 6, as they took me and urged me to sit with all the other kids. I watched in rapt amazement as the magician performed feat after amazing feat—amazing to a 5 year old at least! I don’t remember most of the tricks that he did, but there is one that I remember even after all these years.
For his closing act, the magician performed an act with which you may be familiar. He placed a piece of white rope into a wooden box, closed the box, and placed a large square of material over the box. He then said “abracadabra,” before pulling off the material to reveal a lovely white dove! I was amazed! I love animals and I fell in love with this white dove—we were allowed to carefully reach out and touch it and it was so soft.
I thought about that white dove miraculously appearing the whole way home and by the time we reached my house, I had a plan. I went into my room, emptied out a wooden box, found a piece of white string, and grabbed a blanket. I had paid close attention so I knew what to do. I held the box with my left hand while saying “abracadabra,” and slowly waved my right hand over the box. I held my breath as I pulled off the blanket waiting to see a dove that would be my new pet—nothing. I tried again, but still nothing so I paused to evaluate. I had a white string and the magician had used a piece of rope—that must be the issue! The string was probably too little to turn into a dove. I found a small piece of string that was just thick enough to be considered a rope in my book and I tried again. And again. And again. I’m not sure how long I spent trying to turn this bit of rope into a dove but it felt like all afternoon, with no luck.
I was fooled by the magician’s magic trick that day and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one. Of course, in this case, my knowledgeable grandparents had taken me to a harmless magic show but I was unwittingly taken in! That is somewhat the purpose of these magic shows. We put ourselves in front of it willing to be deceived and taken in by the magician’s tricks but what about false teachers? Not every deceiver is as easy to spot as these magicians!
This is why the Bible tells us to beware of deceivers and false prophets. Many times these false prophets can look like legitimate teachers of the Word. So how are we to know? By spending time in the Word and getting to know God as a dear friend. If we invest time getting to know Him as we would one of our friends then we can spot the false teacher a mile away! But if we don’t invest in a relationship with Him, we can be easily deceived. If you had big plans for spending a lot of time in the Word and you find yourself getting derailed, I urge you not to give up! This is the most important relationship you can invest in and it’s worth pushing through the challenges that might get in your way in order to get to know Him better!
It is that time of year again, the time of year I think of as the lonely season… because when I take down my Christmas tree(s) it just feels so lonely in my home! Not to mention the festivities have calmed down, and I have a week or two to catch my breath. As I am in Pennsylvania I look around and think, “Gee, how many more months of this till we get to summer?” However, that’s really not all this season has to offer—I love the fresh start of the new year and I enjoy doing what I can to reflect some of that freshness in my home. Usually, I leave up as much of my wintery decor as possible: sparkly branches, winter trees, every greens—whatever reflects what is going on in nature. This year I was ready for more bareness. The holidays seemed more rushed and chaotic than normal and I just felt like I needed more room to breathe after the holidays. Can you relate? I don’t want my home to feel depressing though; I want it to feel cozy! Here are some things I am doing to refresh my home for winter and to enjoy this new time of year!
Purge
Nothing says new year like a good purge! Usually, I do an audit of our home the week in between Christmas and the New Year and do a quick purge. Seeing as our family was sick that week this year, I am carving out a little bit of time each weekend to do a purge and reorganize. It’s funny, every year I think I’ve paired down as much as I can bare, only to come across something the next year and wonder why I ever kept it!
Organize
You really can’t organize without having first purged so don’t skip that step. After you’ve done a light purge, take a step back and think about what I call the hot spots in your home—what areas are you always scolding your spouse for cluttering? What problem are you habitually having to deal with? Look at these problem areas and think about how you can solve them once and for all! For me this was getting a rack to hold the lids to my pots and pans. While my kitchen isn’t crowded for storage, these big lids weren’t as accessible as they could be, making it a pain to move all of them when I needed one for cooking. Moving all these glass and metal lids didn’t seem to be too much of a problem—till I had a napping baby in the other room and then the noise seemed major! Getting a lid rack solved this problem.
Here is the link to the lid holder I am currently very thankful for!
Missing Your Tree?
Are you missing your Christmas tree? While this could be because of all the fun the tree represents, it could also be the other elements that your room is missing. Does the room seem dark and bare? Does your room now seem boring? Does your room seem lifeless? Here are some possible remedies.
Add Light
Your Christmas tree can provide a lot of light. If your room feels dark, try adding a new lamp, candles, or a lantern. You could try incorporating a strand of fairy lights into a winter vignette to get a cozy glow going!
Add Scale
There is no doubt about it—your Christmas tree is a big statement piece in your home! If your home is feeling a little dull without it, closely look at your room and see if you have any statement pieces in your home. Do you have a large statement lamp? A show-stopping plant? A large mirror or piece of artwork? Your room needs a little drama! If you have been wanting to add a statement piece but just haven’t gotten there yet, this would be a good project to work on in these slower months!
Add Life
As I mentioned above, plants can add life to a dead-feeling space. If you don’t have any green in your room it really is time to add some. If you are not one for keeping plants alive, I hear you! Check out my post, Plants That Even I Have Kept Alive, or go for faux, but you’ll be amazed at how much style a little plant can add!
Cozy Up!
We already talked about adding candles and lights to your home, but don’t stop there! Pull out your warm, fuzzy throws! If you’ve packed up any throw pillows, pull them out. They will add warmth to your home and provide more comfort for the times when you are hopefully playing games, reading, or doing a puzzle.
Bedding
Most of us in the north have different bedding for our home for winter and for summer. Pull out your flannel sheets, swap out your lightweight comforter for a heavier one, and layer your throw blankets onto your bed.
Brighten Up
If you live in an area where winter can just be gray, try to brighten up the inside of your house by adding some touches of white. Treat yourself to a few white flowers—either as a plant or a bouquet.
To brighten up other rooms of your home try swapping dark drapery for white.
Enjoy!
So now you have refreshed your home with a purge and added any organization that you might need, you’ve pulled out your throws and your pillows, added lights and candles, and added some touches of white, if your home was lacking. Now it is time to enjoy your home! Here are a few ideas of how to enjoy your home this winter:
Make some soup. Nothing tastes better than hot soup on a cold day! Check out soups to warm you up! Play board games Do a puzzle Read Work on a craft Relax with an adult coloring book I hope this helps to give you some ideas of how you can enjoy this winter!
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Commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed, and when you are getting up.
Deuteronomy 6:6b-7 NLT
I was not a big fan of reading early on—I liked being read to but not when it was myself doing the reading. It was hard! I didn’t pick it up right away and it took effort! This was probably why as a 7-year-old I would get a little annoyed with my grandparents when they touted the advantages of reading; how it keeps your mind sharp, and how you can learn about other times and places, people, and travel.
Even though they talked a lot about reading when I was very young, it didn’t make a big impression on me. Around the age of 7, I started spending Fridays with them. Every Friday around 10 in the morning Grandpa would take me down to the library. They loved their local library which was a decent size library and they visited it frequently. He would send me off to the children’s section for me to pick out my books and, after selecting his books, he would open up the newspaper, settle into a chair, and wait for me. These Friday trips to the library are some of the best memories I have with him.
What made an impression was living out the example in front of me. Grandpa wasn’t just encouraging me to read, he was teaching me his values through the time we spent there each week. It was all those trips to the library that started to get me interested in reading. It was the cozy times when I would spend the night at their house, when they would pull out their books and recline in their easy chairs, and not a sound would be made except for the turning of pages. These were the things that caused me to fall in love with reading.
The Bible speaks again and again about instilling our values into our children. Instilling our values into our children isn’t just about talking to our children about the Bible—it’s about living out these examples on a daily basis. As parents and role models for the children in our lives, it’s not just about what we say, it’s about what we model. We can talk all day long about how wonderful having a relationship with God is, but if we act like going to church every Sunday is such a drag, then our children are not going to believe us.
It is not enough for us to just say all the right things, we have to live the right things as well. Let us always remember that the children and young people watching us are taking in way more than we probably wish they were about how we live our lives. We will mess up and there will always be things that we could have done better, but let us always be trying to model our values for our young ones, out of a place of love, not drudgery.
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I always like to do a year review of the previous year and of course that includes looking over all the books that I read and determining which ones stand out as really good books. In 2021 (see my post favorite books of 2021 here) there was a section of time when I fell down the rabbit hole of reading revolutionary war spy historical fiction—now that was good reading! This year I didn’t have any fantastic stretches in which I read 5-star books, yet there were some books that I particularly enjoyed. If you are looking for great titles to kick off your 2023 then continue reading to hear 5 of my favorite historical fiction titles that I read last year! These were some of my favorite unputdownable books that I read in 2022!
The Flight Girls by Noelle Salazar
This was a story about the women pilots who helped the war effort in WW II. This book opens on Thanksgiving Day in Hawaii, 1941, right before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It is a story about the women pilots as well as the fictional story of Audrey Coltrane who is focused on saving her money and buying an airfield near her family’s home one day. She cannot allow herself to be distracted from this goal, even as she starts to find herself falling in love with handsome….
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Sometimes you get a good book at the wrong time and sometimes you get the right book and at the perfectly right time—that’s what happened with this book! I love a good mystery and, of course, I love a time-setting from the past. I am a little bit of a wimp… I don’t want anything too scary but, that being said, I still want to get a little scared. This is the perfect scariness for me! Ten people are stranded on a stormy island and one by one they start turning up dead which can only mean one thing—the killer is among them! If you want a goose-bump-raising mystery try this one!
The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
I read two books about the packhorse librarians last year and, while I enjoyed both of them, this one was far and away my favorite. The Appalachian Hills in Kentucky were not a forgiving region in the 1930s. Family feuds ran deep, travel was rough, and poverty was rampant. The rampant dangers of the job were hardly a deterrent to these women who took to their horses as part of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s initiative to spread literacy. But prejudices run deep and there are more than just rattlesnakes hiding in those hills to worry about.
The Chilbury Ladies Choir by Jennifer Ryan
This was a delightful little book full of quirky characters that make life come to life against the backdrop of war-worn World War II England and alternates points of view from several of the women who make up the Chilbury Ladies Choir. Kitty is 13, a very grown up 13 she wants to be sure we know, who brings a bright naiveté to the story. There is Mrs. Tilling, a widowed nurse whose son is currently overseas fighting. She is lonely though she doesn’t want anyone to know it. We meet Edwina who is hatching a scheme she is sure is going to make her a wealthy woman—but only if she doesn’t get caught! And there is Venetia who has her eye on a very eligible bachelor who is new to town; however, in getting involved with him she may also be getting in way over her head! Through the eyes of all these women we see how a town banded together during the difficult times of World War II and brought a bright spot into the war-torn gloom.
The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont
I went into this book not really knowing what the storyline was but I found myself immersed in the different characters’ points of view. I enjoy a well-done story told from the point of view of someone who we usually demonize (in this case Mr. Christie’s lover) but yet one that doesn’t set out to pit the characters of the story against each other. What could have been the motivation for this young woman to have her eye set on Mr. Christie? Could it have had less to do with Mr. Christie himself and more to do with the child that was once ripped from her arms? What else could have transpired during Mrs. Christie’s famous disappearance?
There you are—some of my favorites from 2022! What about you? What were some of your favorite books of 2022? I’d love to hear about them!
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For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good work, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10
This year has not started off quite like I wanted. Then again it might be more accurate to say that 2022 didn’t end like I wanted it also. It really was not in the plans, as far as I was concerned, for my husband and I to get the flu right before Christmas and be sick over Christmas day. It was really not my plan for my 7-month-old to get sick with the flu just as my husband and I started to recover, to then have a sick, fussy baby to worry about when I wanted to get a few projects crossed off my to-do list and play with my happy, smiley baby—not anxiously be holding my baby as I watched his fever climb higher and higher despite the Tylenol we had given him. But such is life sometimes….
Sometimes we have weeks like this, sometimes we have days, and sometimes we have years like this. This past year did not go as I had planned for it to either. In some regards it did; we had a healthy baby in May as was the plan. Other things though, did not go as I wanted it to and it messed up the plans I had for us.
I don’t know about you but when I came up with the game plan for my life, it was a pretty straight line going up without a bunch of ups and down, certainly no loops where we find ourselves back at the beginning. I remember being very little, I was still in daycare, and someone brought in Monopoly… several of the “older” kids teamed up with us younger ones and basically played the game for us. I really had no clue what the game was about, I just knew that if everyone else wanted to play it—I did too. So I sat at the table while one of the older kids moved my piece. At one point she turned to me and told me I had landed in jail. I had no idea that jail was part of the bargain of this game and I remember thinking what that cold jail cell would be like, when would the police come to get me, and would my mom be coming too or would I have to be alone. Thankfully I did not have long to ponder these thoughts as it was our turn again and I was able to get out of jail. What a lucky break! I got up from that table and have not cared for Monopoly since getting that fright of my little life! Since then I have done my utmost to stay out of jail!
Staying out of jail in Monopoly is pretty easy—just don’t play it! I like cause and effect, if you do X then Y happens. What I’m not a big fan of is the unpredictable. Which is exactly how life operates!
Life is a lot like Monopoly in some ways—we go in circles slowly making progress rather than just in one straight line. As we make our way through the circuitous journey, it is full of ‘go back to start’ and seemingly pointless loops, making slow progress toward our end. Life really isn’t about the destination—death is the final destination every single one of us will reach.
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