a little bit of this, a little bit of that

I have all these little slips of register tape under the corner of my laptop. Scribbled on each one are ideas I had for blogging, while I was busy cleaning toilets at work. You may have thought that one cannot be inspired by toilet cleaning - maybe its the fumes, maybe its my attempt to go to a "Happy Place"....whatever the reason, I come up with a lot of stuff.

Because the past week was not so conducive to blogging, I have a backlog of topics....so I am going to go through them really briefly, with the possibility of returning to them later. Or not. Who knows - all I know is that I don't want to throw out all these little nuggets of wisdom/wit/lunacy without writing them down somewhere permanent - so here goes - the CAPS statements are exactly what is written on the paper....may take some time to remember exactly what I meant in my toilet-fume induced haze:

1. TIME TO PRAY - for those who, like me, struggle in this area of their spiritual life, I heard a very interesting idea. Until it becomes just a part of your life (as it should), what about scheduling it in? Like say, every day at 10:00 am for 15 minutes? And if 15 minutes seems like too long, start with 10 or 5 even - the point is, get started somewhere. Once you start, I am sure that it will develop into longer and longer periods or more often every day. And then once you have decided on the time, what do you pray for? I know there are formulas and setups and techniques all over the place, but this is supposed to be a relationship, not a religion, and I am sure God will take whatever you give Him over nothing at all, right? Why not make a list? Sit there with specific people with specific needs. And pray for specifics, so that you know when He has answered. And if you know He has answered, wouldn't it make sense to thank Him?? Just some thoughts. Anyways - schedule it in, like any other important thing in your day and you won't end up lying in bed at 11:00 pm cursing yourself in the darkness for forgetting.
2. SORE ARMPITS - I have taken on the 100 Pushups challenge. http://hundredpushups.com/ Yeah, crazy, huh? well here's the thing. I have always been a legs girl - in school, when they would do those fitness test things, I would ROCK anything to do with legs....but when it came to arms or abs - MASSIVE FAIL. The flexed-arm-hang continues to be the topic of many a nightmare. This is the year I change all that - by the time I am done the 6 weeks of training, I should, in theory, be able to do 100 pushups, and 200 situps (yep, another challenge). The only problem with this? Going from flabby spaghetti arms to Kelly Ripa arms (YIKES) is a long arduous journey. That journey involves pain. Unfortunately, the pain is in my armpits. Never knew you could actually say- Man, my armpits are sore. Apparently, you can. And I do - often
3. WE ARE MORE LIKE TODDLERS THAN WE REALIZE - WE'D RATHER SIT IN OUR OWN STINK THAN PUT DOWN OUR TOYS - My son, the Joker, has this rather frightening ability to sit in his own stink. He has NO PROBLEM sitting in his own poopy diaper for up to an hour if I am not in the vicinity to smell it. And even when I do and I say - oh buddy, it's time to change that bum....put your toys down and come over here for a sec....he immediately screams - NO! and plays on. This got me to thinking - how often we do the same thing. We have some issue plaguing our lives - say laziness or clutter or negativity or an addiction or whatever. We all agree that the issue stinks. And some well-meaning person comes by and says - hey, I see you are in a bit of a mess, how about you come over here and I help you with that - and we yell NO! Sometimes it's easier to just sit in it. Even if it reeks, and we know it.
4. IDEAS TO FOLLOW UP ON: Once a month cooking (sounds like MY type of cooking!!!), 10 best decisions any parent can make by the Farrells, How to become a student of your child, Emily Barnes on how to clean up your life in 15 min/day. Common Traits of Gen X'ers, Common Traits of a Firstborn child
5. FRUIT FINDERS, NOT FAULT FINDERS: If we all spent more time searching out other people's fruits rather than their faults, we would be a formidable force to be reckoned with. Why do we immediately look for the faults? How horribly we can treat each other should be in the forefront of our brains at all time. Look for the FRUIT, and you will be a blessing to everyone you meet.
6. LET THE GOAT STARVE - In the book of Leviticus (yes, I am reading OT) there is a section on the origin of the day of Atonement. In it, they discuss the "scapegoat". The scapegoat was an actual goat, onto which all the sins of Israel were placed. The goat was then led out of the camp, into the desert, and left there alone. When discussing this later, I came to the realization that not only was the sin placed on this goat's head, but also the guilt for that sin. And then the sin was removed from their presence. Guilt, however, takes time to die....just as the goat was not led out and slaughtered - it withered, it remained for days....and then slowly, when starved, it would die. Our guilt must be treated like the goat (once sufficient confession and repentance have been made) - we must take it out in the open, not hide it away. We must stop feeding and tending to it. And of course, we have to wait patiently for the thing to die. Slowly....but yes, it does die. And once it is dead, for heaven's sakes, don't go digging up the GOAT!
7. SQUIRRELS - I hate squirrels, with a passion. They dug up all my flower beds and stole all my bulbs. And no matter how much repellent or cat hair or whatever I put on the garden, they keep on coming back. Someone in this neighbourhood is feeding the squirrels. I am sure they think they are doing a good thing, but seriously, stop it - cause your tree-rat friends are burying their whole peanuts all over my yard. I am reminded of Caddy shack and the chase of the gopher.
8. THIRD AND FOURTH GENERATION - what does it mean in the Bible when they say that God will punish to the 3rd and 4th generation? I mean I come from a family of atheists. I am a 1st generation Christian. But does this reference mean that I will suffer for the sins of my parents? Does anyone know?
9. GOD MIGHT HAVE CHOSEN YOU - funny thing when you talk about Election as a doctrine, it makes people uncomfortable. Why? because if God chose some, that means he did not chose others. And the Bible says that we seek Him because he chose us first. SO I also believe that when we seek Him, we will find him, Those he has not chosen do not seek him. SO here is a thought - for those so adamantly against God, what if they were one of the chosen? And they refuse out of stubborn will. Does God choose some who never seek him? MAN my mind is spinning now.....such big concepts to think about.

Well folks, that sums up all my little lists - interesting, eh? Who knew cleaning could be so thought provoking.

I need to wrap it up here, the kids are starting to conspire and plan a mass attack while my back is turned - I can see them whispering and pointing, this is NEVER a good thing.

God Bless!