What I learned in July
I appreciate my age. I love being the age I am, which is a year older this month. I am honestly grateful not to be young anymore. I spent ten days with our youngest son (fourteen), taking care of two of our grandchildren, ages seven and a year and a half. Came home exhausted. But we had a blast together, just had fun, played games, goofed around without any of the usual to-do lists. Love that about being a grammie.
Goldfish s'more crackers are yummy. GrandaughterK and I stacked them, grahams on top and bottom, chocolate and marshmallow "fish" in the middle. MMMmmm!
On being a princess. In general, my blog is not for scriptural Bible studies. Others do that vastly better than me. This month, though, the Lord led me through a study on being a princess, a daughter of the King. Don't roll your eyes - I saw that. I am a blue jeans, flannel shirt, boots gal. No tiaras and lacey phoofey outfits. Please! I started the section in Can We Talk? by Priscilla Shirer, the chapter called, "My Pink Princess Slippers" with a pink pen. As a joke. No way I was going to play princess and dress-up and strut in diamonds, demanding whatever whim I wanted. Nope, not me.
However. This month I am also reading Daring Greatly, by Brene Brown, How to Think like Leonardo da Vinci by Michael Gelb, and One Thousand Gifts, by Ann Voskamp. These three, along with Priscilla's Bible study wove together a beautiful tapestry and fresh understanding of strength and power and position as a daughter of the King.
I have unique outfits to wear:
- put on grace
- put on power
- put on courage
- put on a quiet spirit
- put on enough
- put on the Spirit
- put on Light
- put on Love
- put on strength
I made up a mind-map, centered with a drawing of a castle, the Lord, my stronghold of strength. (Psalm 18:3)
From the stronghold, each "put on" branches out, listed with sub qualities and Bible verses.
There is still much to learn, much to grow into in my understanding. Having the visual mind-map made a big difference, giving me a scene, so to speak, in my mind, as I walk through my days. My concept of a spoiled bratty princess is gone. It helped, this month, watching Princess Kate walk out the door of that hospital, twenty-four hours after delivering Prince George, calm, confident, graceful, glowing, standing sure and beautiful beside her husband. I sat in awe in the airport terminal, struck by her demonstration of a modern day princess. Wow.
At the beginning of the month, we visited a castle. Interesting, isn't it, how the Lord takes bits and pieces of daily life and weaves it all together.
And what will I be learning in August? A zillion things to do with cream cheese. Our son arrived home from working as staff for two months at a summer camp with some of the left over food. A three pound box of cream cheese, 25 packages of strawberry cream cheese, and 38 packages of cream cheese like you would get at a restaurant to go with your bagel. Any suggestions?
loving the clothes He gives us to wear
ReplyDeleteeven when the world sees denim and flannel!
Cheesecake! Potato soup with cream cheese; a yummy dip with bacon perhaps? Share with your neighbors? Bagels with strawberry cream cheese for breakfast every morning..I'm sure pinterest has several ideas for cream cheese. Can you tell I love cream cheese? It does not always love me back though.
ReplyDeleteLoved reading about your princess experience. I found you via Emily. I haven't posted a what I learned for July yet. Not sure I will this month. Maybe later. I haven't been in the writing mood lately and I have got to get back on track. Maybe I need some strawberry cream cheese for inspiration :)
Put your princess on. Sounds like you could spend some time on Pinterest looking up cream cheese. If we can think of it, someone has pinned it.
ReplyDeleteGreat list! I just finished Priscilla's Gideon study -- it was fantastic.
ReplyDeleteStopping by from Emily's tonight.
I have to agree completely about Princess Kate. Her appearance outside of the hospital was truly remarkable!
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing to me how the Lord takes bits and pieces of things read and learned and puts them together into a perfect picture. It is the discerning heart that listens.
ReplyDeleteHere's a way to use 8 oz. of cream cheese:
Put frozen boneless chicken in slow cooker (as much as you'd like).
Add a jar of salsa
Rinse and drain a can of black beans and add.
Cook on high about 5 hours.
Cut cream cheese in small pieces and stir in. Add a half bag of frozen corn and cook about 15 minutes more.
Serve over rice.
Leftovers are great served in taco shells.
This sounds really good, the guys would love it - added the ingredients to my shopping list. Thank you!
DeleteWhat a fun post! I love your attitude about age... and really, it's the only attitude to have :) Am also intrigued with the princess, the mind map and the many "outfits". I'm feeling the need for a deep bible study- - sounds like a great one to check out. A friend once microwaved a large can of chili with a block of cream chees and used it as a dip with tortilla chips. Extremely yummy!!
ReplyDeleteI love your mind map. Great way to process what you are learning and help you remember what you learned.
ReplyDeleteGood luck using all the cream cheese. A great fruit dip is a thing of cream cheese with a bit of brown sugar and vanilla. It goes best with apples but can be used for other fruit. Can't wait to here next month some of your favourite uses. (stopping over from Emily's)