Five Minute Friday: "Respect."

Acts 10:34-35 (NIV) - "God is no respecter of persons. But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him."

Acts 10:34-35 (MSG) - "God plays no favorites! It makes no difference who you are or where you’re from—if you want God and are ready to do as he says, the door is open."

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What is true respect?  Unlike humans, God does not base His love on socioeconomics, gender, ethnicity, political party, or anything else so trivial.  He loves all whether all love Him and bases it on the blood of Christ shed for all (1 John 4:19, John 3:16,  Romans 2:4).

I know that the world is not capable of unconditional love and true mercy, but what is most hurtful is to see professing Christians act like they aren't capable of it either.  We who claim Christ should be fully equipped to show the unconditional love and mercy of God to all who are hurting.

And who isn't hurting?

Don't let people's facades of success and independence fool you.  Their hurts are well-hidden behind fake smiles, the fog of substances, locked doors, gated communities, or Pinterest pages.

We.  All.  Hurt.

How do we break through the hurt?  Not by arguments, vitriol, separatism, violence, or insults.  We break through the hurts by respecting people as God's hurting children, throwing out the world's divisive idea of respect, and sharing the goodness of God with all.

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Make a Move: The Weekly Hodgepodge

Join the fun! 

Come on over to 

From This Side of the Pond 

for the Hodgepodge link-up!

Last time you moved house? Something you've learned in moving house?

In 2017, I moved house four times in one year:  from Miss Sue's house to Miss Merrell's to get ready for my move to CO, then from Miss Merrell's to my friends who graciously let me live with them until I could get my own place in CO, and finally from there to my own apartment.  What did I learn?  That I never want to move that many times again.  Lord willing, the next time I move will be to my own house!

Move mountains, move along, make a wrong move, moved to tears, get a move on, move up, move over, move out of the way, move the deck chairs on the Titanic, move it!...pick one and tell us how it fits your recent circumstances.

Moved to tears.  I already talked about why in my last Daybook, so I won't rehash it here.

What have you been doing to make yourself move (aka stay fit-active) during these strange times?

 The Green Hornet is lonely.

Not enough.  I'm hoping that like my creativity, my inspiration to work out will come back in full force.  All my attempts to get restarted have not fared well.  I'm either sick or simply exhausted. Because I do better with outer accountability, last year, I used a membership at the community centers as a motivation to get out and move, but since there's so many restrictions (only one center open, have to make reservations to enter, have to wear a mask, have to social distance in fitness classes) plus, they jacked up the prices, so it's just not an option right now.  I've got plenty I can do at home.  I just need to string together a few of days where I feel well so I can restart.

This week's calendar includes celebrations for the following foods- National Coffee Milkshake Day (Sunday), National Creme Brûlée Day (Monday), National Milk Chocolate Day (Tuesday), National Chicken Wing Day (Wednesday), National Lasagna Day (Wednesday), National Cheesecake Day (Thursday), and National Avocado Day (Friday). Which one on the list would you be most inclined to celebrate? Which would you be most inclined to skip?

I enjoy avocado on a regular basis, so that wouldn't be much of a celebration.  I would definitely say yes to Cheesecake, lasagna, chicken wings, or milk chocolate.  I don't like cold coffee and I honestly don't know what creme brulee is, so they do not appeal to me.

Next week's Hodgepodge lands in August! I know!! Raise your hand if you feel like July flew by in the blink of an eye? Now bid farewell to your July acrostic style. If you don't know what that means click here.

J - July, goodbye!

U - Ugly was your treatment of me.

L - Living through you was not fun.

Y - Yay! August is on the way.

Insert your own random thought here. 

A photo from my day...

* My latest 2020 It's the Hardback Life book review is here. It's an older review, but I read the book again last week.

* My latest Five Minute Friday post is here.

* My latest Simple Woman's Daybook is here.
* My latest Auntie's Workshop post is here.
* My Auntie's Workshop summer card collection is here.  Note:  I am now accepting PayPal.  Contact me for details. I'm working on my fall collection, so STAY TUNED.

Beans and Greens: The Simple Woman's Daybook

If you would like to join in and post your own Daybook, please head on over to visit Peggy at The Simple Woman's Daybook

 

For Today: Sunday, July 26 , 2020

Looking Out My Window ... More pictures of the beauty that is around me.  I met up with my friend Amy this week at Union Square Park.  These photos are from that trek.

I am Thinking...

• I'm wondering why food companies create resealable packaging that you have to destroy to get the package OPEN!
• Winter is heavily on my mind lately.  Yes, I know we're in the middle of summer, but this whole season of isolation has not been good for me. I've mentioned before that I battle Seasonal Affective Disorder every year.  Colorado was at the tail end of the winter season (we can get snow into May) when mandated quarantine was put into effect.  Then the whole George Floyd incident happens and now I've got too many more reasons to stay inside than venture out.  Getting back to my church or working a few days in the office don't look like they're going to happen for several more months.  Colorado's first snow usually happens in October. My psyche hasn't recovered.  I had a brief period where I thought I was getting well, but I've had a relapse.  I just don't think I can handle winter on top of all this.
  

I am Thankful...

• For the fun walk with Amy and her sweet Eleanor.  It's hard to grasp that she'll be two years old this winter.  I hadn't seen her since she was an arm baby.  Now, she's walking and saying discernible words.  Many, they grow don't they?
• For hope.  I bought this in the hopes there will be a reason to use it.
  

From the Workshop... 

Along with completing my latest Dollar Tree Challenge and prepping for the next ones, I've been slowly working on a couple of painting projects.  I reorganized my craft supplies.  My plan was to buy another one of those 9-cube shelves and the fabric drawers to put the supplies in.  However, Wal-Mart is doing their "let's discontinue things people actually want and buy" thing they do every year.  So, I rearranged my other shelves to accommodate. Hopefully this will make things easier to find.

One of the fun things from the Workshop this week was my friend Diana found a cute fall wreath idea online and her Dollar Tree happened to have the supplies plus, she had the fabric for it. We got together Saturday and put them together.  Here's mine:

From Auntie's Test Kitchen... In short, I conquered #43 on my 50 for fifty list.

For just a little background, my mother almost always cooked beans from dry.  I tried it once years ago and got B. B. pellets instead of beans. I figured it was my less-than-stellar cooking skills, so I never tried it again.  When I told Susan I was putting this on my 50 for fifty list, she said that my lack of success before may not have been my fault; I may have gotten old beans and didn't know it.  Well, the one good thing about everyone clearing the grocery store shelves is that all the dry beans I bought were new off the truck.  I followed the instructions on the packaging (except I cooked mine in the crock pot) and they turned out fine.

I am Reading...

Eat This Book by Eugene Peterson

Holy Scripture: A Dogmatic Sketch by John Webster

Theological Interpretation of Scripture by Stephen Fowl

Breaking Free by Beth Moore
Tactics by Gregory Koukl
Christian Apologetics by Douglas Groothuis
The Story of Christianity, Volume 2 by Justo Gonzalez

Favorite Quote(s) of the Week ...

"If God chose for you to have physical children, prepare yourself.  They will grow up!  Then it's time to enlarge your tent and invest in spiritual children!  If God chooses for you never to have physical children, He's calling you to a far bigger family!  God purposely placed the dreams of fruitful lives in our hearts." - Beth Moore, Breaking Free, p. 160.

Now For Something Totally Different ...

Five Minute Friday Word of the Week:  Smile.