Prayers are often answered in the most unexpected ways. Preconceived notions can cause us to miss the answer when it comes. Therefore, we must always be receptive and alert. Most especially, we should be grateful, regardless of how the answer is delivered or by whom. The Lord will send us angles and answers to our prayer, but we must be willing to receive them.
And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
Success can be measured in many ways. Today’s homeschooling success came in the form of the following quote by my son.
“In the end it is the individual who will decide whether he will succeed by writing his own story rather than continuing to believe in a myth.”
After hitting a writer’s block, actually two (my son’s and my daughter’s) I came up with the following analogies. Unconventional and a bit barnyard, but they seem to be effective. Both kids are now writing pretty cool essays.
A recent media blitz has centered on whether men or women have been more adversely affected by the current U.S. recession. It is just the latest in a long line of discussions about unemployment and the slow economy. Democrats have pointed to the fact that the bad economy began during the Bush years. Republicans have pointed to the fact that Obama hasn’t “fixed” the economy during his three years. It seems everyone has an opinion about rich people’s taxes, rising gas prices, and the ineffectiveness of government.
With all of these opinions, is it strange that there is confusion on what the candidates believe?
So when a candidate actually speaks about what they plan to do if they are elected, I like to take notice.
“I’m going to take a lot of departments in Washington, and agencies, and combine them. Some eliminate, but I’m probably not going to lay out just exactly which ones are going to go,” Romney said. “Things like Housing and Urban Development, which my dad was head of, that might not be around later. But I’m not going to actually go through these one by one. What I can tell you is, we’ve got far too many bureaucrats. I will send a lot of what happens in Washington back to the states.” Mitt Romney 15Apr2012
It is important to remember that for every “bureaucrat” who works in D.C., there are dozens of regular support staff who are simply trying to earn a wage. It won’t be easy for them to find replacement jobs, even if jobs get sent “back to the states”.
While I agree that the federal government is too big and could use some serious pruning, I wonder if a recession is the right time to be talking about large scale downsizing.
It does make for a dilemma…
When the day ends sadly no matter how hard you tried, hot cocoa and a warm quilt acts as a hug for the battered soul.
The following is a common saying in our household.
How do you eat an elephant?
One bite at a time.
Well today we modified this saying.
How do you eat an elephant made of chocolate?
One bite at a time – one bite every day.
Why the change?
First, chocolate seemed much more pleasant than thinking of eating a real elephant. Second, to make it through something as big as an elephant, one needs to be consistent in the task. Eating too much too fast can bring on all sorts of complications. Taking too large of breaks between bites could cause problems as well.
So when you have an elephant of a task to tackle, daily bites will get the job done. Plus it never hurts to eat some chocolate along the way.
Do I accept the quiet of my mind, or do I try to form a thought? I think I will allow the quiet to win…
New Year’s resolutions are made during a nighttime of boisterous revelry when merry making is more important than real reflection. Maybe a better time for making a change might be on Easter morn when the spring sunshine invites calm introspection and the abundance of new beginnings is evident all around.
They say the early bird gets the worm, but not if the worm store doesn’t open until 10am.
Pithy Ponderings 