Scripture Study

How do you study the scriptures? My own daily scripture study has evolved over the years from reading a chapter a day to reading fewer verses with greater pondering to studying the weekly Sunday School lesson with a journal nearby. After attending Education Week this year though, something clicked for me and I've been able to see the scriptures in a new light. I've been able to see the lessons the Lord has for me in a few simple verses.

I've pondered John chapter 5 verses 2-9 this week because I've been thinking about this awe-inspiring work by Carl Bloch that I was able to see at the BYU Museum of Art.



Verse 3 explains that there is a great multitude of impotent folk waiting for the moving of the water. However, Christ singled out one invalid to heal. Similarly, although He is the Redeemer for the whole world, He is still my personal Savior and is here for me individually in my time of need.

The next thing that jumped out to me was the invalid's reply to Jesus's question "Wilt thou not be made whole?" He answers "I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me." He could not heal himself. He needed a Savior. I am an invalid. I am absolutely helpless to heal myself. I need a Savior to heal my sorrows, to comfort me, to take away my sins, and to redeem me from death.

I also noticed that this "great multitude" was waiting at the pool for a superstitious angel to come and trouble the waters when they could have been looking for Christ. What "pools" do I have in my life? A cupcake to cheer me up when I have a bad day. An opportunity to get out of the house when I feel smothered by my household duties. A good book to escape the hardships of life. Don't I really just need time to remember He who has already carried the cross?

Finally, what I love about the painting by Carl Bloch is that it shows Christ lifting us from darkness to light. There is no other way to eternal life, except through Jesus Christ who has given us all.

"Rise, take up thy bed, and walk."

8/2/2010 Fiction

I haven't started any new novels lately because I've been mulling over two of the books I've recently read: "David Copperfield" and "The Poisonwood Bible." Why was I left feeling let down after "The Poisonwood Bible" and yet felt fully satisfied after "David Copperfield?" While I believe Kingsolver is brilliant in her diction and word usage, there was something missing for me that I couldn't put my finger on. After pondering this for a couple weeks I think I figured it out.

I remember reading somewhere that all great fiction contains elements of the creation, fall, and redemption (if you know where this came from, do tell!). The girls in "The Poisonwood Bible" certainly went through the creation and the fall, but then they were left stagnant. They didn't come through their trials and tribulations any better than when they started. They were not able to make something good out of their difficult life. There was no learning curve and therefore no redemption. And that is what was left lacking. On the other hand, David not only overcomes his hardships, he learns about himself and becomes a better person. Maybe it's ridiculous for me to compare my life to a piece of fiction, but after prevailing over difficulties in my own life, I have no patience for characters that cannot bring about a change in their lives.

And I can now put this matter to rest in my brain and take this knowledge with me as I start a new novel.

7/17/2010 Help Save a Crazed Homeschool Mom!!

Proceed with caution! Crazed Homeschool Mom's Rant Ahead! I need serious help before I go insane. How do you fellow homeschoolers balance homeschool with housework and everything else that needs to be done in a day? It seems like it's either/or for me. I constantly feel like I'm drowning and can barely keep my head above water. Seriously, I'm not a perfectionist so I'm not talking about keeping a spotless house or spending 6 hours a day "homeschooling", but I just can't seem to manage both. Granted, I don't feel my children are behind in anything but I would really like to spend more time sitting down with them doing our CM routine instead of unschooling ;). Truthfully we have only gotten through half of last year's curriculum for first grade on Ambleside Online. I've read of some homeschoolers' glowing accounts of how they spend their day, but my question is - when do you clean the toilets? when do the trees get watered? who takes care of big projects like window washing, and when? Yes, I do flylady and my morning and evening routines help tremendously, but other than that I feel like I don't have time. And I've even sacrificed some of my frugalities this year for homeschool's sake - I took down the clothesline and I use Cascade Complete instead of the cheap stuff so I can just pop dirty dishes and pans in the dishwasher without rinsing. Waaaaaaah!

Some things that I need to feel complete and that either take a backseat in life or that put homeschooling on my backburner are:

Reading for my own pleasure/education
home projects like organizing closets
family history
taking care of my calling
blogging :)
working on the yard/garden

End of Rant. Phew. I think just getting that all out helped me emotionally. But seriously, if you have any inspiration, PLEASE HELP!!

7/15/2010 David Copperfield

About halfway through this book I thought I'd never get through it. The endless descriptions of seemingly minor events were tedious and I was finding it hard to stay focused. But I have to say that after a couple hundred more pages (my copy was 800+ pages!) I started to appreciate those "minor" events and the descriptive language. If I had known going in to expect an epic I may not have been so unnerved. What I loved about the epic is that you really get to know the characters. By the end I really felt that David's friends were my friends and his enemies my enemies. Dickens' greatest strength is the ability to bring characters to life and I loved seeing the characters grow throughout their lives. I also like Dickens' tidbits of truths he puts in such as

"There can be no disparity in marriage like unsuitability of mind and purpose" and

"It's in vain to recall the past, unless it works some influence upon the present"
and I can't resist one more

"Never be mean in anything; never be false; never be cruel."

Housekeeping

No, not the dusting, sweeping kind of housekeeping! I decided to start a separate blog to keep my frugal anecdotes and my intellectual poverties separate. So if you'd still like to be updated on my forever frugal lifestyle, go see Prudentpennypincher.blogspot.com (so far I have only transferred my frugal posts from here over there), otherwise just stick around here for my book reports and the Hallett happenings :)

6/25/2010 What you should REALLY be afraid of

I found this blog post and thought it was the perfect follow-up to my post about worst-case thinking. The chart is a little small and the fine print is hard to read but you will get the main message of "Fear this, not that." It perfectly points out that much of society today fears things that are hyped up but in reality carry very little risk in our lives.

6/24/2010 Making Do

We haven't had family pictures taken since...2007??? SERIOUSLY has it been that long?? You know I'm frugal, but I truly wasn't trying to save a few bucks. Honest! ;) So anyway, I was trying to figure out what we could wear for the pictures that would match or at least would go together and figured that we probably all have a white shirt of some sort. Jeans and white shirts in an outdoor setting would be cute, right? Well, we did end up buying Cody a white polo at Costco but that is something that he can certainly get a lot of use out of. Wesley didn't have a white top either but we were easily able to borrow one but if we hadn't been able to borrow one I would have gotten something at a thrift store and turned it into his Sunday shirt for the next year.

We had our pictures taken at the same time as my sister-in-law's family and she took our idea and did white tops as well. She commented that if she hadn't used that idea, she would have spent a lot of time coming up with something and then shopping all over town for the right pieces. That just reminded me of how my trying to live frugally has paid off in so many ways. In the past few years my frugality has taught me resourcefulness and brought simplicity to my life. I have learned to make do with what I have. If I'm in the middle of making a cake and realize I only have 1 egg, I make do with 1 egg and no one notices the difference. If I'm out of bathroom cleaner I make do with dishsoap and everything still gets cleaned up nicely. If I wear out my sandals, I make do without them until next summer. And just today, I noticed we were out of handsoap. I only buy handsoap for pennies on the dollar when I can pair a sale with coupons and they haven't been on sale recently so we were totally out. We have lots of barsoaps but I prefer not to use those for handwashing. Then I remembered we have half a bottle of bodywash (free with coupons of course) sitting in the cupboard because it just wasn't my favorite. So that got poured into the empty dispenser and voila! I was able to make do and now we have liquid handsoap without having to run to the store.