Hearts in Service Blog

"Tedium is the granddaughter of despondency, and the daughter of slothfulness. In order to drive it away, labour at your work, and do not be slothful in prayer. The tedium will pass, and zeal will come. And if to this you add patience and humility, then you will be rid of all misfortunes and evils." ~St. Ambrose of Optina My friend, Tina has this quote on her blog which I really like. Of course, because it's in language we don't really use today, I had to read it a few times to understand the meaning. I have found this to be true in my own life. There are days when I don't feel like doing anything. I fritter my time away on the computer. I find it hard to get motivated and generally things don't get done around here if I continue in this mode. It just breeds even more of a feeling of lethargy. I feel like I have no energy and the more I continue this way, the more down and gloomy I feel too. However, if I make myself get up and get moving, I find that ...

A friend of mine hosted a cookie swap on Sunday afternoon. I always enjoy going and it is a lot of fun. She has various prizes available for the first to arrive, best tasting cookie, most festively dressed person and the most creative packaging. This year, I made these little sleighs with marshmallow elves. I ended up coming in second. However, the thought occurred to me at how dumb it is to spend so much time putting together packaging just to have it thrown out! My competitive nature always seems to take over. ;-) Next year, I'm going to stick them in a baggie and tie a ribbon around it! LOL!!!

"Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10a Be still. I thrive on keeping busy. I am extremely active. I'm usually moving from one project to the next without much breathing space. My thoughts are always racing, planning, and thinking ahead. Being still is difficult for me. However, this week is a week where I need to be still. Still to hear from God. Being quiet to rest my mind and body. Solitude to listen. Know that I am God. We look for God in the activity. In the bigness of life. In the miracles. More often, however, God is in the stillness. In the quietness. In the silence. Turning down the shouting of my thoughts and activities is not something I'm accustomed to. Yet, this week that is my plan. I want to talk less and listen more. To stay home and quiet my mind and body. To just be still... And know that He is God. I am thankful this week for Blessings #768-780 ... ♥ Pumpkin pie, a yearly treat. ♥ Flowers from a friend. ♥ A family who helped m...

We had a full, but busy Thanksgiving. We were able to invite over a few people who would have been alone and that always makes me happy. Nathan put his cooking skills to the test and made a beautiful apple pie. As for me, after making 17 pies, I would be perfectly happy never looking at another pie again! :-) Friday is our traditional "Decorate the Tree" day and the kids did a great job with it. The only thing I do is put the lights on and they take care of the rest. It's nice now that they are older because I just turn them loose on it and they do it all. A funny story - Dan and the children also helped decorate the church for Christmas for me. I was so busy getting ready for Thanksgiving plus selling the pies that much of the time they were by themselves. I went down to decorate the front of the sanctuary and couldn't find the advent wreathe anywhere. I looked through all the boxes and it was nowhere to be found. Then I happened to look up on the wall and ...

Day after day, counting our blessings. One by one they have piled up. Small ways we see God's hand in our lives over the past month. We are called to a life of thanksgiving. A life of joy. A life of practicing the presence of God. Our blessings have accumulated throughout the month. Today is the day when we pull them out of our thankful jar and review the many little blessings that have accumulated. This month, our family is thankful for Blessings #726-767 ... ♥ Electricity ♥ A good time with a friend at the movies ♥ Grades that went up ♥ The gift of life ♥ Animals ♥ Clothing ♥ A family that helped Mom out ♥ Our church family ♥ Warm blankets ♥ Guitars and music ♥ Family ♥ Teens that went to a nursing home ♥ Autumn ♥ People who love us ♥ The ability to help a friend ♥ Jesus ♥ The encouragement of a friend ♥ Eating together as a family ♥ Christmas ♥ Mommy & Daddy ♥ Good pie sales ♥ Finishing up a project ♥ Our church reaching out to the fire department ♥ The gift of a new di...

This is what I have been doing the past two days. Yesterday I made dough for 27 pie crusts, made them into rounds, wrapped them in plastic wrap and refrigerated them over night. Today, I've made 12 pies, 7 dozen potato rolls, and 3 loaves of rye bread. I still have another 4 pies to go. The reason? I had a silly idea to add pies to my bread list and post it on facebook so that local friends could purchase them. I'm not even that thrilled about making one pie, let alone 16. There is only one reason for it. I am certifiably crazy!

Thank you. Two little words. They mean so much and yet are used so little. How often do we go through the day and forget to use these basic words of courtesy? Do you thank the person at the grocery store when they bag our groceries? Do you thank your husband or child when they hand you something? Do you thank the person who holds the door open for you at the post office? Do you thank the person at church who takes care of your child in the nursery? Do you thank people at church who do a job no one notices? Just two little words. Why is it so difficult to remember to say thank you? Last night our church hosted a dinner for the local fire department. We wanted to say, "Thank you." To show them they were appreciated. We gave them a certificate of appreciation from our church for their dedication and service. The president of the fire company said that this was the first time in his 20 years of service that a community agency had ever said, "Thank you." That makes ...