At Home in Wyoming

Too Much Stuff!

After a few weeks of cold weather, Cody is warming to the 70's and 80's for the rest of the week.  There is still time to brush those fall leaves off the table and enjoy meals outside again...

I can remember the day that my parents told me that my grandmother (we called her Nanny) and grandfather (Grampy) were going to move from the house that they lived in ever since I could remember, into a house much smaller.  I remember Nanny saying that her house was too much to take care of at this stage in her life. 

Now, I loved that house.  I can still see the swing under the apple tree in the back yard, the deer that would come through checking out the garden.  I remember that the bottom floor of that house always smelled like apples...I can smell it in my mind to this day.  I remember thinking that they were making a terrible mistake, because some things were just worth working for.  I thought maybe the move was because Nanny had such exacting standards of housekeeping...

Now, I am in my 50's and I know better.  Nanny must have been pooped!  Although we did not use the word back then, Nanny and Gramps were downsizing!

Somewhere in your 50's, when your children are on their own and it is just your husband and yourself, you get tired of caring for belongings...and rooms...that you no longer use.  You start to realize that life on this earth is not endless, and do you really want to spend your remaining time and precious energy cleaning and caretaking things that you probably won't use anymore?  In Ecclesiastes 3:1 the Bible says,

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:"

and verse 6 states:

"A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;"

Guess what, folks?  I think I have hit my time to cast away.  Each day I have a goal, and that is to fill up a plastic trash bag with belongings that I no longer find to be useful or beautiful, and I am giving away what is still usable, and throwing away what is not.  I am ruthless...if I have not used that vase in 5 years than it is history.  The wooden rocker with the broken arm that I thought maybe I would get fixed is gone, along with kitchen gadgets that I never used and books that I cared to read once, (and once was enough). Stuff that I have been storing for the kids I am in the process of packing off to them.

I can't tell you how good this is making me feel.  I am bringing order to closets and drawers, and I have room now for items that I treasure or still use.  I feel lighter somehow...probably the way Nanny did when she downsized and knew that she was no longer the caretaker of stuff that no longer fit her life.  Now there is more space in my life, more time to spend having coffee with a friend, or watching my grandchild.  I am not ready to downsize to the point where I sell this creaky old house...yet... but the day will probably come when I realize that, like Nanny, it is just too much for me.  And that doesn't scare me the way it used to.  There is a time 'for every purpose under heaven'.

All this to say to you younger woman readers...the seasons in your life will change.  Change is hard for a lot of people, especially me.  But when you embrace the change, it can be freeing.  And a lot less cluttered!

I am excited about my 'time to cast away'.  If you get a chance, read Ecclesiastes 3 and try to figure out what season you are in, going into...or heading out of.  And know that whatever the season, God will be there with you.  Everything else in your life will change, but God never does.  His constancy will anchor you in the shifting sands of the seasons of your life.  DLB 

A Perfect Day for Calico Beans

I have had my furnace on since the last day of August.  It has been downright chilly and sometimes even cold, but today it is clear and in the 70's.  A virtual heat wave!

I have begun to decorate my house for the Fall season.  You can't really see it in this picture, but tucked around the autumn leaves on top of the piano are tiny little orange lights.  At night, they make the room look really cozy and cheerful...sort of like candy corn for the eyes!

Today is the perfect day for Calico Beans.  My husband loves this recipe.  I love that it is easy to make...

                               Calico Beans

1 lb. hamburger

1/4 lb. bacon

1 medium onion, diced

1 large can of pork and beans

1 can butter beans

1 can kidney beans

1/2 cup catsup

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp vinegar

1/2 tsp salt

Brown burger and onion in skillet.  Drain.  Cook bacon.

Combine meat and all beans.  Pour into a greased casserole.

Combine catsup, brown sugar, vinegar and salt.  Pour over the meat and beans.

Bake at 350 for one hour.

I usually just dump all this in the crockpot instead of a casserole to cook, and it tastes just as good if not better.  Have a great weekend!  DLB

The Irma Book Club

Our 'Book Club' booth this morning at the Irma

I have a friend who moved out of state recently.  BUT incredibly, she is back weekdays for the next few weeks due to her husband's job.  We are taking full advantage of this gift of time by meeting for coffee several mornings a week at the Irma to discuss books.  We are reading two books..."For the Family's Sake" by Susan Schaeffer Macauley, and "What is a Family" by Edith Schaeffer.  We read two chapters and meet over endless cups of coffee (we took their advertised 'bottomless cup of coffee' literally!

Something that struck me yesterday in "For the Family's Sake" was a referral to Luke 8:4-15.  This is the parable of the seed, and please read the whole passage, but what kind of made me think was verse 14:

     "And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and RICHES AND PLEASURES of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection."  (I added the capital letters as I wanted to highlight them).

Susan Schaeffer Macauley stated, "Just as a seed can be "choked with weeds" so that it cannot mature, our home life can be "choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures".

I know that a satisfying home life can be choked by worries, troubles and anxiety.  What I had never really thought about before was how our life at home can be choked by riches and pleasures.  Sometimes riches and pleasures can be weeds.  How so?

Susan explains..."We might not be acutely aware of this, as we live in a society of "too-much".  We struggle to keep our body weight within healthy limits as we greedily gorge on too much too-rich food.  We stimulate our senses with too much entertainment, excitement, information, travel--the list is endless.  Likewise, there is a pressure to have too much of everything in our home--the biggest and newest only will do, say the advertisements.  We can lose ourselves in serving this luxurious home base, seeking to display our success through unnecessary show.  I believe both extremes are like the weeds in the parable--struggling with too little that is safe and decent and good in the home on the one hand, or suffocating under the weight of too much of everything on the other.  By the way--trying to provide too much can cause considerable stress--a trap in itself."

A perfect example of 'too much' is Christmas celebrations.  I have begun to plan and budget for Christmas, so this is on my mind.  There is so much, church activities, decorating the home and tree, holiday gatherings, shopping, baking...the list goes on and on.  All good things in and of themselves...but by Christmas Eve I am just exhausted and want the whole thing to be over.  God becomes second place because just trying to survive the festivities becomes the priority.  When I worked full time it was worse, but it is even overwhelming now that I am home full time.  I kept thinking that if I were better organized, I could manage better...but now that I think about it...all the activities at Christmas can be too much of a good thing.  They can choke out God just as much as the cares of this world.  What is needed is a balance...with God back to being the priority.

Christmas is just a tiny little example.  But I encourage you to look at your life, as I examine mine.  What in your life is too much of a good thing?  And what do we intend to do about it so that the Good Seed in our life is not choked out? 

A book club.  Thought provoking books.  A good friend.  Not a bad way to prod your mind toward things that are actually worth thinking about!  DLB

 

Oh No! First Frost

Before I got one ear of corn out of my garden, we had our first frost this week.  Luckily, some of the corn was sheltered by lilac bushes, so all is not lost...yet!  To compensate, I have begun to decorate this shabby old house for Fall!  For those of you who are interested in that sort of thing, more pictures next week.

I have been thinking a lot this week about the the verse in James 4:8.  It reads...

"Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you."

I have a new job where the only pay is a lot of hugs and smiles and spit up on my back!  I have the privilege of watching my 4 month old grandson while his mother has taken a part time job, and every minute is a new discovery.  I wouldn't trade this precious time for anything!  But...it has been a long time since I have cared for a baby, and I am a lot older now than I was when my son was born.  I had forgotten how time involved caring for an infant can be.  As is so often the case, some of my daily activities were thrown overboard this week.  Writing this blog was one (although hopefully I am back on track now) and the other was my time alone with God.

I have been thinking that the extent of our Christian walk, the close relationship with God, is really all up to us, isn't it?  He has already done His part when He sent Jesus to die for our sins.  It amazes me that He also wants our fellowship.  It is our privilege and our responsibility to draw near to Him.  Seek His answers for our daily problems and concerns, refresh ourselves in His word.  Sometimes I wish that He would be like an old mother hen, and come after me when I think I am to busy to draw near to Him.  To remind me that I am missing out on all that He has for me each day...nag me into doing what I need to do.  But God is not a nag, he is the great I AM, and He states in His word that if I will draw nigh to Him, then He will respond by drawing nigh unto me.  Imagine.  Sinful old me, He desires fellowship with me.  What a God we have!

This week I have felt far away from God.  Yet God never went anywhere...I was just to busy doing admittedly good things, to walk with Him and talk with Him.  And so I have had to figure out my life on my own, with the disaster that I usually make of things.  Until it hit me, I have not been "drawing nigh" .  God didn't move, I moved!  And I didn't like it much!

So starting today I am making time for my highest priority, my relationship and time with God.  I may have to get up earlier, or stay up later, or give up something else, but do this I must...because it is scary out there, and God is patiently waiting to tell me that I don't have to deal with life on my own.  Thank God!!  DLB 

Brrrr....

I had to turn on the furnace this weekend, we had two days of drenching rain, and low temperatures.  When I got up this morning, the mountain showed a skift of snow on top...although no snow in town yet. 

The rain itself was very unusual, but the good news is that the Gun Barrel fire is now 70% contained...so we may be able to take a breath of clean and bracing mountain air, instead of coughing up smoke!  DLB