THE NEW EWE

"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'"

Luke 15:4-6

November 16, 2022

LIFE IN THE FOLD

I've heard the phrase (usually in motivational presentations), "Be intentional." What does that exactly mean? It means that you do something on purpose. You decide what you want to achieve, then take action to make it happen. Often this is about working and putting forth the effort to make something, that is important to you, happen. It's a commitment that takes time, focus and effort to make sure you purposely keep on track in order to make whatever it is that you want, come to pass. Generally, this is in reference to careers or setting financial goals; but can also be very important regarding family and relationships.

Many times I've heard people say, "I'm going to start doing this;" but when it becomes work and is harder or takes more time than they thought, they quit. Some don't ever even get started. It sounds like a good idea, but they aren't committed enough to follow through. I've done that before!

For example, I have heard or read where people say that they are going to start writing blogs. They apparently feel as if they have something important to share and it sounds like a good idea at the time. I've seen it happen where they either never get started or they will write a time or two and then quit. It's a commitment to set aside time every week or every few days to stop what you're doing and write. And when you write and you get very little feedback or response, it can become discouraging. That's when you have to decide if it was a God idea or just a good idea that you thought up yourself. If you made that decision yourself, then typically you will quit. If it's a God idea, then you persevere and keep writing, praying that it will help and encourage someone along the way.

After our parents passed away, my sisters and I decided to be intentional about getting together. My sisters have adult children and grandchildren, and we all have things that keep us busy. But it is important to us that we take time to spend together. Each summer we go to our home place in Missouri and spend a few days together -- just us five girls. That time is precious to us and we cherish it.

About ten or eleven years ago, I decided that I wanted to start having a Christmas party for girls in my family. I set the second Saturday in November as the yearly date, before we get into the busy holiday activities. My sisters, their daughters, daughter-in-laws and granddaughters are all invited. I decorate my house for Christmas. We bring food and have a gift exchange and enjoy time together. Not all of the daughter-in-laws and granddaughters come and we generally have the same group each year, but it is a good day for those who are here. It is one of my most favorite days of the year and I always look forward to it.

I know that you can't find a day where it's convenient for everyone, so the first year I set the second Saturday in November as the date so everyone will know from year to year. I've committed to be intentional about having this party every year, for as long as I'm able and family show up. The guys will get together and go out for lunch while we ladies are partying, so it's a good day for everyone.

We, also, need to be intentional spiritually. We purpose in our heart that we are going to be faithful and grow in our relationship with God. We choose to be committed and take action to make sure that we are always growing in our faith and trusting God in all things.

Life can become very busy at times and it's easy to set aside our time with God. He becomes less of a priority than family life and work and taking care of our home and activities that fill our lives. In fact, many times God only gets any time in our day that is leftover after we do everything else that seems to need done. We fail to be intentional in spending time with Him, and end up focusing on God last instead of first.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, "Never stop praying." Some versions word it, "Pray without ceasing." We need to be intentional about making sure that we are always communicating with God. We not only make prayer time a priority, but our heart is open so that throughout the day as we hear of people in need of prayer or see a fire truck or ambulance...... our immediate response is to take that need to the Father. As we are driving or taking a walk, we spend that time giving thanks to God for the sunrise or sunset we may see... for protection... for the beauty of nature we see around us... for whatever comes to mind that we are thankful for. We always have that line of communication between us and Jesus open.

We can be intentional in reading the Word of God, too. I have found that sometimes if I'm left on my own, it's easy to get distracted when I'm reading the Bible. For the past few months, at my church, those who want to be involved have started reading through the Bible. We've already read the New Testament, Psalms, and now are reading Isaiah. We have assigned chapters to read each week. That keeps me on track so I'm not just jumping from one place to another. By reading whole books in the Bible at a time, I've learned and read things that I've never noticed before; because I get the full picture of what is going on and not just a little piece of scripture at a time.

I've been teaching on Wednesday evenings, so studying and preparing for those lessons has made me dig deeper and research than I normally would if I were just reading for myself. I've had to be intentional about anticipating questions and studying and being prepared.

I encourage you to become involved in a group or a person who will read through the Bible with you. Read the same chapters together each week, then get together to discuss what you've learned. It will deepen your knowledge of God and His Word; plus talking about it with someone else you get their insight and perspective of scripture.

It becomes easy at times to fly through life without any real direction or purpose. We become busy and involved with whatever it is that we may do, and time passes by quickly. We often look back and think, "I wish I had of spent more time with that person;" or "I wish I had of taken more time to enjoy life;" or "I wish I had of studied the Bible more and gotten more involved in church;" or "I wish I had of traveled when I was able;" etc.....

What's passed is the past! We can't change what has already happened. But we can be intentional from this point on. If there are changes that need to take place, we can be purposeful about taking action and deciding to do something about it. But we must do it with perseverance and not give up!

JON'S PERSPECTIVE:

Making a huge commitment might be daunting. It might seem like too much to tackle. Or if you make a huge commitment, it might be too hard to keep to.

So make a small commitment. Then stick to it. In time, it won't seem like such an ordeal, and you can expand on it.

We (our church) didn't commit to reading the entire Bible in some time limit. We just committed to reading a section each week. And many of us have stuck to that. Eventually, we will finish it all, but we don't need to focus on that yet. This week, we're reading 5 chapters.

It's like the old adage: "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time."

ON THE MENEWE:

Pimento Cheese

(This is really good, but does make a lot!)

Shred Cheddar cheeses with a midsize grater.

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Be sure not to over-mix and be careful to not mush the cheese into a lump (toss the mixture as much as you stir it.)

Refrigerate overnight before serving.

*Note: I didn't use as much roasted red bell peppers as the recipe calls for. All I could find were roasted bell pepper strips, so I finely diced probably half a cup and added in. But you can add as much as you prefer.

I also couldn't find 7 ounce jars of pimentos, so used three 4 ounce jars. Be sure you drain and that they are finely chopped (if you can only find sliced, you can chopped them yourself).

I prefer eating this on crackers, but have family that enjoy eating pimento cheese sandwiches. It is very good and keeps well refrigerated.

THIS, THAT AND THE OTHER:

Many years ago, when I was in my twenties, I taught preschool for 3 and 4 year olds for a couple years. The church I attended had one three mornings a week, which gave mommy's about three hours to do grocery shopping and run errands. We would do a Thanksgiving program for the parents each year. One year we had the kids dress up like pilgrims, turkeys, and Indians and they acted out a story as we read it. This was a very low budget production and the turkeys wore a trash-bag stuffed with newspaper as part of their costume. They had practiced the play a few times, but didn't actually wear their costumes until the day of the program. One of the little boys was a turkey and when we got him dressed up in his trash-bag and tried to send him out with the other kids to perform, he absolutely started boo-hooing and was inconsolable. We tried bribery and various tactics and he was having no part of it! He finally did stand up front with the other kids, but cried during the entire story. Afterwards we found out from his mother that he hated wearing costumes and dressing up. The other teacher and I both felt really bad for making the poor kid dress up in a trash-bag! Had we known, we would have given him another part where he only had to wear a headband or something simple. We thought he was just nervous about standing in front of the parents!

THOUGHT TO PONDER:

Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness.

Let the whole world know what he has done. Psalms 105:1

OUR HEARTFELT THANKS TO YOU:

We love you!

Loretta & Jon

http://www.graysheep.org