Get Movin’

A few days ago, Beth Moore posed a question about motivations. 

I’m still chewing on the serious side of that issue, but, in the meantime, here are a few things that motivate me:

1. Motivation to teach my teens to cook:

chocolate snack cake, created on the spur of the moment by DD#1, and topped with PW’s maple icing. Yum.

2. Motivation to do 30 Day Shred:

see #1.

3. Motivation to be prepared for class:

my principal’s over-confidence in my classroom assignment next year

4. Motivation to clean house:

Hum….still working on that one.

5. Motivation for dreaming of summer vacation:

7th graders

6. Motivation to fix the basement:

spending the night with the spiders while tornado warnings blared on the radio

7. Motivation to encourage Big Red’s gardening obsession:

tender, fresh organic lettuce picked from our yard

8. Motivation to buy stock in Lowe’s:

Big Red’s gardening obsession

9. Motivation to not be motivated by perfectionism:

Galatians 5:1--It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

10.  Motivation to pick the right motivation:

Ephesians 4:1--As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

Be blessed,

Ginger

Scripture and a Snapshot: Time for a Change

For several months now, I’ve been wrestling with change.

Usually when people say that, they are thinking of changing circumstances—jobs, marriages, births.

This time, it’s heart-change.

I don’t know about you, but many times I find need for new perspective, new attitude, new thinking.

Most of the time, however, I can see the need for these things in other people.

Isn’t that the way it is?  I know you need to change, but I am reluctant to examine myself.

A while back, I knew the Lord gave me permission to ask Him for something HUGE,

something life-altering,

for someone else.

Wouldn’t you know it? 

He’s started the process by changing me.

I’m a slow learner; I have a feeling this is taking a long time because my perspective, my heart,

has been slow to alter course. 

His timing is perfect; His promise is sure.

When I took a picture the other day of our heart-shaped rock collection,

I saw the parallel with this verse.

Now that bowl of stones reminds me of the process for which I am praying

and believing.

To God be the glory.

Ginger

Linked at Scripture and a Snapshot

Midweek Motto

Money can’t buy

happiness,

but

it can buy

(Image from tinywhitedaisies)

CHOCOLATE,

which is kind of

the same thing.

Be blessed,

Ginger

Springifying

Hi!

I am back to my regular,  semi regular sporadic posting schedule since spring break has ended.

The highlight:

one gazillion tulips

at the entrance of the Biltmore House.

Pink.

Orange.

Yellow.

I want Big Red to be a groundskeeper there when he retires from teaching.

I could just wander around and take pictures.

The bad news:

no pictures of said tulips.

Not one.

Sad.

So sad.

Instead, I give you photos of my housecleaning projects.

You get what you pay for on this blog.

Anyway.

Lately, I’ve been drawn to all the lovely,

clean, simple styles

like the ones featured here:

White paint is calling my name, and I’ve got Big Red’s go-ahead on some lightening-and-brightening.

In the meantime,

I’m trying to simplify and declutter  around here.

(Ummm….is there anyone else out there who wonders where the real-life stuff

goes in the magazine-worthy homes we admire?

Where’s the bottle of ketchup?

Or the mail?

Or the coupons she forgot to take to the store?)

I digress. 

Here’s what I did accomplish.

Springifying this table…

A nest of pale eggs in a soup tureen…

My favorite tiny white pitchers….

The word of the season (and more white pitchers) on the mantel….

DD#2 and I have collected heart-shaped rocks for a few years now.  They rest in my mama’s biscuit bowl on top of the coffee table.

Notice I did not photograph any mail or condiments.

Lots of projects are swirling in my head,

most of which will not be tackled

until June.

Off to collect my head for tomorrow

and finish the last chapters

of one of my spring-break reads.

What’s spring bringing to your house?

Be blessed,

Ginger

Scripture and a Snapshot

I love this verse. 

It came up this morning in Sunday School,

and fell like sweet rain on my worry-weary heart.

I LOVE that He does not forget

or forsake

anything He has made.

Be blessed,

Ginger

Linking up today a Scripture and a Snapshot.

Glorious Day

The pianist knew one speed: fast.

She knew one volume: loud.

Loud benefited one member

of that tiny country church.

Miss Rae was about a hundred years old

(at least she seemed so to me, a child still in the single digits),

and deaf as a doorknob.

That didn’t stop her.

As the pianist pounded away at selections from the Baptist Hymnal,

Miss Rae could hear just enough to pick out the words

but not the tune.

In a voice I’m not sure was ever melodious,

she warbled along at top volume

about two measures behind the rest of us.

“Living He loved me;

Dying He saved me;

Buried, He carried my sins far away.

Rising, He justified freely forever;

One day He’s coming

Oh, glorious day!”

Every hymn was an off-key round, with Miss Rae taking up the rear.

Stifling giggles or (later) rolling our eyes,

my sister and I made fun of her

unmercifully

(at home, and in private, of course; our mother would have killed us otherwise).

When Casting Crowns recorded their new arrangement of this old song,

Miss Rae’s face (and voice)

returned unbidden to my memory.

I hadn’t thought of her in years.

Now, looking back,

I see sunlight streaming through windows

of that little church and hear her singing

and realize

how infinitely tender

those inharmonious songs

were to her Savior.

How precious

was her unashamed praise!

It was a sweet, sweet sound in His ears.

Be blessed,

Ginger

Maybe It’s Just Me…

There comes a point in every 7th grade teacher’s year

when her students turn into

mini-8th graders.

(Like, right about now.)

This means, among other things, that they get

boring.

BOR-ing.

Every amazing teaching idea,

project,

or joke

falls flat as yesterday’s pancakes.

One day they are interesting people interested in interesting things (well, some of them),

and the next,

yawn.

This year I have noticed a strange phenomenon.

As I’ve racked my brain for ways to turn

lessons on sentence structure

into something more exciting than the cafeteria’s menu,

I’ve evolved into the

World’s Most Boring Blogger.

I’ve got nothing.

Zip.

Zero.

Nada.

When I get home,

I do laundry,

cook supper,

and navigate (usually unsuccessfully)

dark waters of teenage drama.

That,

and read cozy mysteries.

(Some of you secretly watch Oprah;

I read light-weight novels.

Pick your fluff.)

Alas, right now I have no stunning posts

on any of these subjects.

All the deep stuff

isn’t for public consumption

right now.

So, for today,

the most exciting news here

is whatever is exciting

over there

where you are.

What’s happening at your place this week?

Be blessed,

Ginger