I no longer "Choose Joy"

I Choose Worship.

So why Choose Worship? Why do I no longer "Choose Joy"?

Choosing joy sounds like it is from within me that I am working to find joy. Choosing joy sounds like I am working to find joy in a struggle or situation that might not have joy.

Worship puts the focus on God. Worship focuses on who God is and his character. I am no longer dwelling on me but looking to God.

Worship takes my eyes away from my situations and struggles. It is easy to look at our situation and the struggles and not see God in the midst of it.

So a few months ago I was struggling. Things were difficult. I did not choose joy. In fact I did not have any joy. I was not even looking for joy. I was crying out to God to work in the situation, praying, reflecting on how God has worked in the past.

I love reflecting on Exodus and how God rescued his people in his time and in his way. He heard their cries and acted.

Anyway, my prayer turned to worship and worship gave way to joy. I had not planned to have joy. I was worshipping. The situation had not changed. It was still difficult but I had focused on God. I looked away from my struggle and saw God.

Paul and Silas where in prison as recorded in Acts 16. They found themselves in a difficult situation. They were active in worship though praying and signing hymns. This worship was directed to God. They did it not expecting an earthquake and to be released. The response to difficult situations was to worship. Joy came but as a result of worship.

David had this same understanding of praise and worship. In the beginning of Palm 69 David cries to God, "Save me." (verse 1) He further describes the situation with words like I sink, come into deep water, the flood sweeps over me, and many others words that describe a difficult situation and a struggle. But as we look at the end of the Psalm David is saying, "I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving." (verse 30) David's response is one of praise and worship.

So worship does lead to joy but it comes from focusing on God, what he has done in the past and with confidence of who he is in the midst of our struggles.

How can you worship God in the difficult situations and struggles of life?

Begin by singing hymns and songs that focus on who God is and what he does. Hymns like "Amazing Grace", "How Great Thou Art," "It is Well," and so many others can begin to draw our focus away from our situation and focus on God.

The other aspect of worship is praise and prayer. Praise God for who he is and what he has done.  Recall through both in your own life and through the Bible the many wonderful things that God has done.

As you worship, you will find that you have joy.

How about you today, do you have a difficult situation, can you choose to worship.

Beth

Jesus, the Fulfilment of our Desires

There are two scripture passages that are foundational for A Fruitful Year. One is John 15:1-17; this is the passage where Jesus says, "I am the vine." The other passage is Galatians 5:16-25 which is the passage with the fruit of the spirit. My plan is that once a month I will just focus a bit on either one of these passages giving encouragement from there to keep going.

Let's start this month with John 15:1-17. We are jumping in the middle of a book and so let's quick get some context. The author, John, was one of Jesus' 12 disciples. He refers to himself as "the one Jesus loved." He is writing from his own experience with Jesus, listening to him teach, seeing the miracles, and writing so that people might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (John 20:31).

This specific passage in John is part of a longer passage when Jesus knew he was about the die (John 13:1). This is part of that last teaching, the words that Jesus wants to leave with his disciples.

Jesus begins by saying, "I am the true vine." There are not many vines where I live in England but to the disciples listening to Jesus it was something that they understood. They walked through the country and saw vines. The disciples knew that vines were for growing fruit. That is the purpose of the vine. Even more then just that bit of gardening knowledge they had an understanding of the vine in the Old Testament. The desire of everyone in Israel was to have a house with a vine (I Kings 4:25). A bit like the house with a picket fence that we might dream of today. The disciple knew these references from the Old Testament.

When Jesus said those five words, he is telling the disciples that Jesus is the fulfilment of the desire for a vine. What they desire and long for can be found in Jesus. Jesus is the true vine.

What does a vine do? The vine is the source of life for the branches. Our source of life comes from Jesus. It is because of what Jesus has done that we have life. The nutrients for the branches come from the vine. The nutrients allow the branches to continue to grow.  The branches are nothing without the vine.

"I am the true vine," 

Do you see Jesus as the fulfilment of all your desires? Are you running and desiring other things? Can you find fulfilment in Jesus? As we begin this year, I challenge myself and you to find fulfilment in Jesus. Sent your priorities to finding fulfilment in Jesus and not in getting things done.

Beth

Slow and Steady

I have decided that Friday will be a bit of a more personal post just so you have an opportunity to get to know me more and know a bit about me. I want it to be a time that I just share so you know. My goal is that this will help you as you follow along with A Fruitful Year.

I know it is Saturday and this just didn't happen on Friday. This morning I delivered newspapers for my son. The past few days have been snow and a bit of freezing temperatures. That meant that I had to go a bit slow. I did not want to slide down the hill.

As I was out for a longer walk than normal, I had time to think. I thought about how going slow at times can be good and the safe thing to do.

I have had a slow start in writing my goals this year. I had a number of ideas but just did not really get the time to think through things. I was taking it slow. I need some extra time this year. I decided that is fine, take your time but there does come a time that it needs to be finished. You have until the 31 of January to finish your goals for this year.

I had time yesterday and a bit more today and I think I have my goals for the year. I will share them with you next week.

Beth

Logistics and Biblical Counselling - Combining Two Different Things

I thought I would pause in all the instructional information posts and just share a bit about me and my heart as to why I am writing A Fruitful Year. I am not sure that this is necessarily an easier topic to write about but it will give you a break from feeling like all I am doing is telling you what you need to do. I shared a bit of the story behind A Fruitful Year here. Go read that and hopefully I will not repeat myself.

Grab a cup of coffee or tea or just a glass of water. Coffee is my drink of choice.

I am a planner. I love having a plan.  I spent a number of years working in manufacturing logistics which included scheduling production and shipping finished goods to meet orders. I was a logistics manager. Most of that time I was working in an office in Asia. Part of my job was to consider capacity, lead-times, demand, all with the goal of getting a finished product to the retailer in a timely manner.

So that is a bit of my planning background. I love to do lists and being able to tick off the things as they are finished. Planning and goal setting is a big part of A Fruitful Year but the deeper part if our relationship with God.

It was while I was living and working in Asia that I took my first Biblical Counselling course. That was the beginning of my Biblical Counselling studies. I have since done further studies. The hardest part about that are the difficult things I learn about myself. The best part about that are the difficult things I learn about myself. Learning these things helped me to grow in the Lord. I want to encourage women to grow in the Lord.

I write from my experiences. I write from what I have learned about God. I write because I need this. I feel that A Fruitful Year brings those two things together.

My prayer is as you follow along this year you will be encouraged to grow and also get things done.

So if we were sitting having coffee, what questions would you ask me?


Beth

Teaching Special Needs Children to Work

Miss K has a long list of professions she wants to do when she grows up. She wants to be a doctor and work at Children's Hospital. I think that is because she loves the Children's Hospital except the time when she had to go there to get her tonsils out. She also wants to work at Costa. I like that as she can make coffee for me. She wants to be a bus driver. She wants to work at McDonald's. She wants to be a ringmaster at the circus. We just went to the circus last night and so she decided that was what she wants to do.

The list of places where she wants to work is long and varied. I know that most of these are not possible but some with modifications might be possible.

One of the things that I have found in my special needs parenting is that Miss K tends to stay at a level while a normal child for various reasons moves on. It requires that we push a bit to move her on to age appropriate things.

We decided that this summer we would spend some time focusing on teaching Miss K to work. We gave her a goal for her work, hoping that would be some motivation -- earn money for tap shoes and uniform. She wants to take tap lessons so we decided she can earn some of the money.

The perfect opportunity came -- fill in for a friend's newspaper route.

Some of my goals in teaching her to work are the following:

1. Willingness to work - the fun jobs are easy to fill but the not so fun, every day jobs are just not as easy. I am focusing on the attitude when I say it is time to go. Miss K would rather listen to music or read a book. My goal is when I say it is time to go that she is willing and ready to go. This also applies to jobs around the house.

2. The attitude at work - I have so say for the most part while on the newspaper route she has had a good attitude. One lady told her "thank you" which inspired her to make a card for that lady. She was sad that #18 didn't get a paper for a few days. I have talked about how this is a good job and we are helping people.

Saturday's papers are thick so we use a cart.

3. Excellence in work - Doing a good job, being neat, those are some of the things about having excellence in work. This is more something that we work on with jobs at home. We clean the dishes with excellence.

4. Finish the job - Sticking with the job until it is done is a skill that is needed. Keep going until the end. It could be just finishing that day's job or finishing the time that we have committed to.

I know in many of these ways these are the same skills you teach any child but at least for me I have found that as Miss K learns slower and needs more teaching it requires that I think through these things and have a bit of a plan. While she is old enough for a newspaper route, she is not capable of doing it on her own so I go with her.

I measure based on progress. Are we making progress? In some ways we are, today she delivered all the papers even the ones with cars. For some reason she did not like to deliver the paper to a house with cars in the driveway. That is progress.

I can't say that she is willing to go. That is something that we are still working on.

She does enjoy having a bit of money to spend.

She is showing me the money she earned not giving it to me.

I will say it can be hard work to teach a child to work. It requires patience. It requires a plan. It is worth it.

Beth

I did it!

I completed Race to the Stones which is 100km or 60 miles. I walked it over two days so if you do the math that is 50km each day.

I shared a bit about the race here.

Our starting time was 8:45. We got to the start early to drop off our register, drop off our luggage, get a cup of coffee and be ready to go.

This are my feet ready to do serious steps. I had a small rucksack with me that had a bunch of things half of which I didn't use.

The path was clearly marked with arrows and signs saying, "not this way".

This is called the "field of dreams". At this point it is single file. It was raining a bit and we had to be a bit careful that we didn't slip in the mud.

There were pit stops approximately every 10km with food and drinks. The base camp was just over 50km. I made it there in 11:00 hours. Dinner was delicious and the shower refreshing. Then we had small tent to sleep in. The next morning we were up and on our way.

The trail was varied with woods and tree roots, to paths along fields to along the road. We walked along the Thames.

This was Sunday as we were walking. I loved the contrast. The clouds look like it might rain but thankfully on Sunday it didn't rain.

We did our training here and it is full of hills. Somehow I had it in my mind that it would not be as hilly when we did the Race but there were hills. The weather really was perfect for the event, not too hot.

On Saturday at the last pit stop I was tired and just wanted to get to the base camp. I walked through the pit stop, got a drink and kept walking. My friend was going to run and catch up but ended up enjoying a cup of tea. I was afraid that if I sat down I would not get up.

There were times that I was just putting one foot in front of the other. Doing that I had over 75,000 steps each day. One foot in front of the other is progress.

At one km before the pit stop there was a sign "Pit stop 1 km". I decided that km was the longest km ever.

The Race to the Stones did pass by the stones and we got a photo there but the race didn't end there. We had 1.5km to go to get our medal and a hot meal.

I did it. I walked 100 km over two days. I took a challenge, trained and prepared and completed it. I learned "more is in you".

On Saturday morning someone asked me why I was doing the race. I think one of the reasons was -- I wanted to take a challenge that might be a bit different from the normal things I do.

On Sunday the question was, "would you do it again?" I am not sure that I would. It took quite a bit of time to train and prepare. Most Saturday mornings we were out for 4-5 hours walking. It also took quite a bit physically and emotionally.

I decided that I can go the distance. Now I need to work on the cardio to be able to run so my next goal is a 10K run. I can walk 10K in about 1 hour 40 minutes.

Over the next few weeks I am going to share some of the lessons that I learned as I reflect on the walk.

Beth

Hygge

Have you heard of the word hygge? It is a Danish word that is one of those words that cannot really be translated into a single word. It means cosy, comfort, soothing things, creating intimacy and warmth.

I know summer seems like the wrong time of year to write about hygge. The days are long with the sun rising at 5:00 and setting after 9:00. The sun is shining and the sky is blue. The reason that this is on my mind is I just finished reading, The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking. My reserved copy finally came in for me at the library. I think I must have reserved it months ago.

I think I heard the term about a year ago. About the same time I read an article online about Norwegian winter and the attitude that helps to fight winter blues. My summary of this is it is the attitude and instead of dreading winter, embrace what you can do at that time of the year and enjoy it.

I was interested in hygge as our winter is grey with short days. I wanted to read about this and see if I could get some ideas to help during the short days of winter. The book was easy to read with lots of pictures. A bit of a picture book for big people. The photos were warm and cozy, candles, fire in the fire place, hot drinks.

So what did I take away from the book. Hygge in Denmark is about comfort and creating it together. Some of this can take time but it is about the atmosphere.

What can I do to help during our short days?

Enjoy candles -- tea lights -- when is Ikea opening? I have a nice tea light holder that was a wedding gift and it is nice to light that in the evening. Twinkle lights are also nice touches. Those can be battery operated so it doesn't depend on finding a main.

Hot drinks. In my book coffee is to be hot. Iced coffee is not coffee. Coffee might not always be the best choice for the evening but hot Ribena or herbal tea would be fine.

Warm blankets and throws - I have a nice fuzzy blanket that is my hygge blanket. It had a soft warm feel. I might need to find a few others.

I am almost looking forward to winter but first I would enjoy a few more summer days. Today is in the 60's so I am sitting with my hygge blanket.

Have you heard of the term higgle? How do you enjoy winter?

Beth

Discipline

I shared last week just a bit from my study of 1 Corinthians. I am continuing that study and have made my way to chapter 9. I am now at less than seven days until the race/walk. That has been on my mind so as I read these last few verses in chapter 9 I did some thinking.

"Do you no know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? 

So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. 

They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run 

aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep 

it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified."

II Corinthians 9:24-27

I am now writing to myself as one who needs this discipline. At times I think I have a long way to go in applying this.

As I read these verses, the first thing that I see is that we are running to receive a prize. We need a goal. As I have trained for the walk, I had a goal of doing the walk. I think the same is true in discipline. We need a goal.

"So run that you may obtain it." Get out there and do it. There were may weeks that the weather was not perfect for walking, but we went out and did it. It felt good when it was done.

"Exercise self-control" - This is an area that I need to work on and improve. Self-control is from within. I need to be working toward that goal.

All that we are doing should be done for the glory of God. This is not so that we can be proud and boast of what we have accomplished.

This has given me some things to ponder.

Beth

Crossing Paths

Today was a beautiful day with the sun shining and a blue sky. It was a perfect day for a walk. This weekend is the last big training walk before the big walk. Walking 12 miles does give some time for talking but also time for enjoying the beauty and thinking.

I was walking and looked up at the sky and saw the trails from two planes. I thought about how as missionaries our lives and paths cross with others. Some of those are the people that we meet overseas and some are the people that we meet that are friends of friends. I think this is one of the blessings of living overseas.

I have a good friend that was introduced to me from another friend because my friend was moving to Hong Kong.

We had a coworker in Taiwan that we have kept in touch with and now she is in Europe so we have gotten together at various times.

The wife of a mentor of my husband's was living in Hong Kong when we were there and she became a good friend. The fun part was we connected with her when we were in Taiwan. She had come to town for some meetings and visited the church we were attending. Of course my husband knew who she was and we chatted.

About 13 years ago there were some returning students from England that we met. They began to come to a Bible study in our home. Now 13 years later we are in that city in England and we have met the people that had a Bible study with that group of students.

I remember a friend connected me with a friend of hers when we were in Ukraine and that friend connected us with a lady in her church who was kind and spent a few days with us touring Kiev.

One of the blessings of living overseas is the people you meet both the people in the host country and the other people that are living there. My life has been deepened because of these relationships. My life has broadened because of these relationships.

Embrace and enjoy the relationships you develop overseas.

Beth

Sometimes it is not what you want

Yesterday, I wrote a few thoughts on the question, What will you be remembered for? We were in Haworth which is known for the Brontes. We wandered the village, ate lunch at a cafe and poked our head in a few shops.

One of the shops we went in was the sweet shop. There is something fun about looking at the variety of sweets and the variety of colour. Some of the sweets were local things and then there was a whole display of American food which really is American junk food. There was a row of Pringles and then a  shelf with some Pop-Tarts. There was candy and chocolate. (Funny side note when I was referring to the British made I called them sweets and when I was referring to the American I called them candy. I just made that change without much thinking.)

This is about the same as the American section of food at the supermarket. In addition to all the candy there is macaroni and cheese, Twinkies, and a few other snack foods.

Is that really what we want to be thought of as American food? I don't think I want everyone thinking of these things and thinking that is all we eat. It is not what we want but it is what we are known for.

So be careful what you do and say as that is what might be remembered.

A word of caution and a tour of the American section of the supermarket all in one blog post. In case you are wondering I don't think I have bought anything from the American section of the supermarket. I didn't buy anything yesterday at the sweet shop.

Beth

What will you be remembered for?

I am a bit excited. I have something to write about today. After last night's "I have no idea what to write about". I have something today.

I went adventuring today. That involved driving on the Motorway which I have done but not often. I am more confident after driving on the autobahn. So our adventure today took us to a small village. We wandered through a museum and then to the church next door.

I admit that the church was just like some of the other churches I have wandered in but we took a few minutes and walked about. There on the wall was a memorial for William Weightman who died in 1842. He is remembered for his orthodox principles, active zeal, moral habits, learning, mildness, and affability. It is an interesting list. In some ways these are related. The orthodox principles are the foundation for the zeal and the habits.

I pondered for a few minutes the list of things that he was remembered for. William was only 26 years old. I read this and knew that he was loved and left an impact.

That did make me pause and thing about what would be written on my memorial. What would be remembered about my character? I have thought about that at times. Do I want my children to remember me for nagging them to wash their dishes? Do I want my children to remember me as someone who does fun things with them? How will my friends remember me?

Now I have something to ponder what would I write on my monument? 

Beth

Greater Love

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13

Have you ever thought how one event can begin series of events that even 350 years impacts a small village? A piece of cloth arrived in a small village. The cloth had been sent from London to the small village in August 1665. That fabric had fleas, fleas that were carrying the plague. Just a week after receiving the fabric the first victim of this small village dies. The village had about 350 people in it at that time.

The plague in a small village is enough of a story but there is more to the story. William Mompresson, the vicar, convinced the people that they needed to quarantine themselves to prevent the spend of the plague. The Earl of Devonshire as well as the surrounding villages helped to provide food leaving it outside the village for the people to collect. For over a year the plague took lives and changed the village. In all 260 people died from the plague but if they had not quarantined themselves the plague would have spread.

This is a village that truly was self-sacrificing. They were willing to do something difficult and hard but knowing that it was good for others. Now more than 350 years later it is still an example to us of how an event can change a village and how that village can be an example to the world.

Here is a bit more details about this.


Beth

Beauty All Around

I find that life can easily get busy. I have meals to cook, laundry to wash, activities to take children to,  and a long list of things to do, places to be. I am busy and don't take the time to pause and look at the beauty around me. After a while, I begin to think that there is no beauty. I think that is one reason that I like the change of seasons as they are an opportunity to see beauty.

Yesterday we went to some place new. I have heard about it for a few years but just didn't take the time to go there until yesterday. It was a nice sunny day so we took a picnic and went to the Sculpture  Park. 

We wandered around the lake and some some geese. There were lots of them in the water. 

There was art throughout the park. Some of it we were able to see understand some left us wondering what we were seeing. This was rather interesting to see the face and see it at different angles.

Across the lake is the old manor house.  It looks so peaceful.

It was a nice walk as we paused and looked at various things along the way. I love the wild flower look and also the variety of colours.

Another big of flowers and water. It is relaxing to walk near water or just to sit and look at the water.

 The thistle has a nice purple flower but it also have prickles there to protect it from being eaten. Interesting how a beautiful flower has something that be painful so even in our pain there can be beauty. I took some photos but I don't think it is quite thistle season.

We did see both beauty and art around us yesterday. Do you see beauty around you?


Beth

Living the Gospel

Our small groups at church have been studying 2 Corinthians. I decided to do a doodle Bible study from Stone Soup for Five. I couldn't just begin in 2 Corinthians but decided to begin in 1 Corinthians. So I did 1 Corinthians in my own study and then in the sermon series and in our small groups we are discussing 2 Corinthians.

As I began the study, one of the verses that caused me to pause and ponder the truth.

"for Christ did not send me to baptise but to preach the gospel and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power." I Corinthians 1:17

I wrote this verse in my notebook and highlighted "preach the gospel". So what is the gospel? It is easy to just say, "Jesus died on the cross" but what does that mean? The gospel is so much more and something that we need to be living each day. As I pondered this, I thought the gospel is love, grace, mercy, sacrifice, and forgiveness. As a mom, as a wife, as a friend how do I "preach the gospel" in my relationships. Am I loving, giving grace, showing mercy, willing to sacrifice, ready to forgive. That is preaching the gospel. I have been pondering that and pondering how am Living the Gospel.

Just a few thoughts for today. How are you living the gospel?

Beth