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

January 29, 2025

LIFE IN THE FOLD

Jon and I were gifted a 1,000-piece puzzle for Christmas. It was a hard one to put together! There wasn't a lot of variety of color. Lots of trees that were the same colors; then the blues of the sky and a waterfall; as well as a snowcapped mountain. It took us a few weeks to get it put together.

Honestly, Jon did more work on it than I did. I did a lot of the edge pieces, then he tenaciously worked on a lot of the rest of the puzzle. But I was pretty good at finding missing pieces that were hard to find. When we were getting close to finishing, we couldn't find the correct pieces, and found that we had put some together wrong. So we had to find the errors, in order to finish up. Even after we thought we were finished, we noticed an area where it wasn't laying quite right, and Jon was able to find the error and get it corrected.

After we worked so hard on it, we hate taking it apart! We have it lying on our kitchen table, trying to decide what to do with it. One of us needs to be the one to break down and take it apart and put back in the box.

Another present that we each got was a paint-by-number picture for adults. I've started on mine, but Jon has been working on another project. It's fun, but very tedious! It has some really small areas to paint, and sometimes it's hard to read the numbers or see distinctive lines. I'm probably about a third of the way finished with my picture and thankfully you can tell what it's supposed to be! At first I thought that I'd paint all spaces for one number at a time. It didn't take me long to discern that I needed to change my strategy. I started working on one section at a time, which makes it easier, because you can tell more what that area is supposed to look like, to check whether or not you're getting the right colors in the right spots.

When you are working on something, like the puzzle or paint-by-number, it's difficult to see what it's going to look like when you finish. You may have the cover on the box to go by, but until you really get started working on it, you're unsure of the difficulty level or how it's all going to fit together or look upon completion.

If we chose to say, "This is going to be too hard and take too much time," and never get started, then we will never have the satisfaction of seeing progress. We would never know what it would look like, once it is finished. It would just lie in the box and we'd not have the pleasure of using the gift.

Honestly, the puzzle we put together was much prettier once we had it completely put together, than it looked on the box cover.

Years ago, my sisters and I would buy our step-mother gifts for Christmas, and although she was appreciative, she was pretty blunt about letting us know if she didn't like it.

One year I had picked out a really pretty cardigan for her, that I really thought she would like. I had seen her wear them, so was pretty sure that it was something she would like. After she opened it, she said that it was pretty. Later she told me, "I don't think I'd ever wear that, so if it's okay with you, I'm going to take it back and get something different." Okay!

Other time, one of my sisters had bought a joint gift for her and Daddy. When they came back for a visit that summer, she saw it sitting on a shelf in the utility room, still in the box and it had never been taken out or used. I can't remember for sure what it was, but it was something that we really thought they would like, if they had only used it. But they didn't think they'd like it, so never even tried it.

Sometimes in life, God may place something in our life that He knows we would like and enjoy. Perhaps it's something that He knows we could do well, but we don't think we would, so we refuse to even try. It may even be something that would be hard for us and take time, but God knows that we would feel great satisfaction and joy upon completion.

But we "leave it in the box", so to speak. We may even think, "That's nice," but never choose to utilize what God has given us.

God has given us promises that we neglect to use. Promises of peace that surpasses all understanding; the joy of the Lord that will give us strength; power, love and a sound mind -- instead of a spirit of fear. He promises that He will never leave or forsake us. He promises that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. These are only a few of the numerous promises in God's Word!

Yet, instead of holding fast to these promises of God, we worry, fret, fear, hold onto unforgiveness, seek revenge..... We have access to precious gifts, yet often don't fully utilize them. We either forget about them, instead focusing on how we've always done things, or we give up when things become too difficult.

Let's take time this year to read the Word of God. Remind ourselves of what His promises are. Be reminded of how God has intervened and done miraculous things or done something completely different than what was expected or was with individuals when they went through hard circumstances. Let's unwrap the gifts that He has entrusted to us.

JON'S PERSPECTIVE:

When we started the puzzle, Loretta divided out all the edge pieces she could find. Then she sorted those by ones that looked right together. Then we both started fitting them together. At one point, I started collecting other pieces that looked like they would belong together. We started fitting them in, too. Eventually, we finished the entire thing.

With the paint-by-number projects, it is similar. Loretta first started by picking one number/color and painting that wherever she found it belonged. Later, she focused on one section & jumped from one color to another to get that section done.

There is an old proverb or riddle, depending on how it is told: How can one person eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

All this is to say that we might have something huge we want to accomplish. But we can't do it all in one bite. So just take one bite out of it, and work on that. If that doesn't feel rewarding for a time, try taking a bite from a different direction. We can all accomplish huge things, if we do it a bit at a time.

ON THE MENEWE:

Russian Cabbage Soup

Brown beef chunks in pot, remove and set aside.

Saute vegetables until softened.

Return beef to soup pot. Add in broth and simmer for 1 hour.

Add in chopped cabbage or sauerkraut; add in potato chunks. Cook for 30 minutes.

Season with salt, pepper and garlic.

Serve hot with a dollop of sour cream on top of each individual bowl.

NOTE: I just added everything to the crockpot and cooked together. I cooked the meat first until it was just starting to get tender, then added in remaining ingredients. Next time, I will go ahead and brown the meat chunks before adding to crock pot; as well as sauteing the vegetables first. Instead of adding in 8 cups of beef broth, I used a 32 ounce container, which I thought was the right amount of liquid. You can add or subtract ingredients to your liking.

I also saw where many serve with rye bread, which I will try next time.

THIS, THAT AND THE OTHER:

(Jon) Sometimes the memories that stand out to kids are completely different from those of parents. I'm sure that I remember things completely differently from my mom. I remember the Bambi sheets that mom bought me one time. She was convinced that Bambi was my favorite storybook character, and I couldn't convince her that I really didn't like Bambi; and I honestly didn't like Bambi. I think that was something she liked and thought was cute, so thought I should like it, too. Others things that stand out in my mind are the corduroy pants Mom bought me that went zzit, zzit, zzit when I walked. I hated those pants! But I was told that she had paid a lot of money for them, so I had to wear them. Then there were the green jeans! What can I say about them?! And I also remember the infamous cowboy boots, that hurt my feet when I was about 8-9 years old. My cousin, Matt, and I were racing across my grandpa's garden after he had plowed it. It had rained, and the garden was a giant mud pit. We were attempting to race across it, and my boots got bogged down in the mud and I couldn't get them out. I had to pull my feet out of them and leave them behind to get out of the mud, and was so happy to be rid of them! By the time we got across the garden, we were dragging ourselves through mud that was about waist high. Later when it dried out, Grandpa dug my boots up but they were in such bad shape by that time, Mom agreed that I didn't have to wear them anymore.

THOUGHT TO PONDER:

God never grows two people the same way.

The Creator is a hand-crafter, not a mass producer. - Luke Lang

OUR HEARTFELT THANKS TO YOU:

We love you!

Loretta & Jon

http://www.graysheep.org