Jehovah Jireh!

This is more of a rambling post about nothing in particular. Just some thought.

I was thinking of all the Lord provides us, and thanking Him for His many blessings. You know, like in the hymn, Count Your Many Blessings? Well, this morning in Sunday school part of what dh was teaching was on keeping the Sabbath. I had just read this morning in Mark, about how "God made the sabbath day for man, not man for the Sabbath." (paraphrased). God doesn't want us to keep the one in seven formula just to obey Him. He gave us that command (and yes, its a command, not optional) for our own good! A bow that is never loosened will loose its strength to shoot arrows. We are supposed to have one day a week to unwind and rest, and yes, go to church. That is a spiritual and physical refreshing. But notice the flip side of that... the 6 days of work. Not 5 days, He says 6 days. Once in a forum I was in, I was posting a thread about homemaking, a "to do" list, if you will, for a Saturday. Some chirpie youngster mom came in with a comment "Oh, I get everything done during the week so I we can just spend time together on Saturdays and have fun!" Well, 'Rah, for her. I got thinking about that wondering if I should be endevouring the same, but realized for our family, and our schedule, that would be impossible. Then I remember the Scriptures saying 6 days shalt thou work. Well, okay then!

I have heard that many times... "Oh, the weekend! We can do lots of stuff together as a family!" I agree. We do yardwork, stack wood, cleaning, make bread.. etc. But what I mean to say is that Saturday isn't necessarily "Play day". If you can do that, fine. And yes, we do that every once in a blue moon. But usually Saturday is a very busy day for us. Dale goes out in the morning with one of the older kids soul winning. The rest of us clean, bake or whatever. Any yard work like weeding or mowing or what have you we try to catch up on on Saturdays as well. Now I also give piano lessons in the morning to some pastor's kids (no, not ours) in exchange for some math tutoring for one of our daughters. Saturdays are our busiest day of the week many times. I play catch up as best I can on things that got pushed aside during the week, we clean (I like the house nice for Sundays), do any preparation for Sundays I can, etc. When the Lord's Day comes, I am SO thankful for a day of rest! It is good to get up Sunday mornings to some coffee, with my Bible, knowing the day will be refreshing spiritually and physically.

That brings up the question on what should or shouldn't be done on Sundays. I think that is something each family needs to decide for themselves. That is one of those gray areas. I can say what our family tries to hold to, however. Basically, I plan healthful meals, that aren't hard to prepare. We use paperplates sometimes to help cut back on dinner dishes. We try and keep things as low keyed and simple. No horse play, no tearing around outside. We do what I call "quiet time" activities. The kids can read, nap, play games quietly. I have let them go outside to read, but today was too hot and we all stayed in by the AC. Sometimes I go for a leisurely walk. I do allow handwork, but not mending (that is work to me LOL). Sometimes we have company over, and that's fine. We try not to purchase anything on Sundays, though we do eat out once a year when Dh takes us out for Mother's day (his version of "cooking"). If someone is in the hospital and he needs to visit them, then he goes without hesitation. And of course, he preaches 3 times on Sundays.

Something else the Lord provides is our sustenance. We had a wonderful dinner today, and we were commenting on how many times the Lord provides a whole meal, or part of a meal for free. For example, a couple weeks ago when we had salmon, that was a very, very cheap meal for us. The fish was given to us. So was the zucchini, and part of the salad. A meal fit for a king, and it cost us very little! Today we were, just for the fun of it, figuring the cost of our dinner. We had a sausage/rice/ cheese casserole, a huge bowl of homemade cabbage salad, and yup, more zucchini, and peanut butter bars with frosting for dessert. The sausage, cabbage, and sausage were given to us. The whole meal, for 8 of us, including milk, cost around $4. And there were leftovers.

Tonight as we were leaving church the kids were asking for a snack when we got home, which is normal procedure for us. Just then our neighbor came over and said that they had lots of roasted corn leftover from a hot dog roast they had at their church tonight, and the family that grew it wanted to give it to us. Two, humungous bags of roasted corn, still hot, were delivered to our door. Guess what we had for snack?

These are the things you can't budget in. You just never know what a day may bring forth. The Lord provides as He sees fit. While I am all for financial responsibility, there are some things, some times, you just have to have faith about. Having children, for example. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard "But how can you afford all of those children?". I just say, "We can't, but the Lord can. We do our best with the money He provides, then trust Him for the rest."

Here is a little thing the Lord provided for us. I have been wanting to try to make our own kefir, but never knew how to begin. A friend online posted one day she was over run with kefir grains, and would anyone like some? Now that is a little thing, I know, but it just goes to show you that God truly cares for us, even in our little wishes that don't seem to make an impact on the big picture of things.

Those are just a few examples of how the Lord has provided for us in the last day or so. Try keeping track of everything, and all those "little" things that do add up, and you'll be counting your blessings from sun up to sun down!