“Mommy, can we have some candy”
“No, no candy in the mornings as I eye the basketful of Christmas goodies we’ve received from myself, grandparents, neighbors and friends.” They really shouldn’t eat any of it, I should just throw it away when they aren’t looking. I know they will hate me when they are fat teenage girls and can’t understand why they are hated for their bodies. Do I have the strength to disappoint them now instead of putting it off? They’ve all had their Christmas crunch for breakfast and the little one is on her second cup of milk this morning instead of real food. How many times do I tell them no before I will give in?
“Diligently keep the words of this Covenant. Do what they say so that you will live well and wisely in every detail.
“you know the conditions in which we lived in Egypt and how we crisscrossed through nations in our travels. You got an eyeful of their obscenities, their wood and stone, silver and gold junk-gods. Don’t let down your guard lest even now, today someone –man or woman, clan or tribe –gets sidetracked from God, our God, and gets involved with the no-gods of the nations; lest some poisonous weed sprout and spread among you.
“I’ll just live the way I please, thank you,” and ends up ruining life for everybody. God won’t let him off the hook. God’s anger and jealousy will erupt like a volcano against that person. The curses written in this book will bury him.
Come back to God with your whole heart and obey him with your whole heart and soul and God, your God will restore everything you have lost. He’ll have compassion on you; he’ll come back and pick up the pieces from all the places where you were scattered.
Look at what I’ve done for you today; I’ve placed in front of you
Life and Good
Death and Evil.
And I command you today; Love God, your God. Walk in his ways. Keep his commandments that you will live, really live, live exuberantly, blessed by God.
But I warn you: if you have a change of heart, refuse to listen obediently, and willfully go off to serve and worship other gods, you will most certainly die. (parts of Deuteronomy 28, 29, 30)
and I watch the kids and myself glued to their computer devices, I wonder if this is god to us?
I was wrong in my last post, chocolate isn’t where bliss is found, bliss is found in God. When I’m worshipping Him and He fills me and He takes away my burdens, and His presence is so good the joy brings tears to my eyes. He asked me to give up sugar and He would show me the wonders of His greatness, so I stopped and everytime I walked by all the Christmas treats I thought about how my God loves me and He promises me great delights and wonders, but I must first make room for Him, I must sacrifice something small for His endless promises of wonderfulness. So I keep my eyes open and I wait for His gifts, they are small but amazing. The laughter of the kids as they run through the house, the smile in my mom’s eyes to have her brood all around. The kindness on my daughters lips as she deals with her cousins.
But last night I had too many, and I woke up with a terrible sugar low and cried for at least an hour and I think this is empty. This is not what I want, the sweet taste is a lie upon my tongue that steals joy.
I want God, I want life lived exuberantly and full of Him, but I fail, we fail. We forget how wonderful He is and settle for lies. God have mercy on us, show us Your way, help us.
(note: decided to give them each 2 pieces and threw the rest away.)
Tagged: Book of Deuteronomy, Christmas, Covenant, Egypt, God, Holiday, Jesus, Religion and Spirituality
we had to get rid of the Christmas crunch cereal too…
Debt can definitely be scary and frustrating, especially with credit cards where balances can go up and not down with the minimum payment.
Maybe it’s time for an intervention?
First pray. Heavenly Father will give you the words. Sit down with your husband and tell him how you feel and that you have prayed hard about this.
Work together to put a budget down in writing. Find out what how much is going where and then look at your necessities. Don’t forget that fast food should even have its own budget because it is too easy after a stressful day to turn to.
Then look at what you have and ask the tough questions: do you need extra channels? Can the Internet be slower? Can younput more money into things with higher interest to pay them off? Can you consolidate your debt through a personal loan to wipe out your credit balances and budget in the money you would have been paying for all of your cards to pay down the loan faster?
Credit can be a huge and frightening trap, but with prayer and gumption you can work through it!
Thank you, this is really good advice.
Alot going in in this post. You sound frustrated.
That would be an apt description of my mood today, it’s good to have you back again.
Oh sis,
I am sorry that you sound like you are having a Christmas hangover…Have you talked to your husband about the finances. Have you tried a budget…what we do is that every month we put a $100 in savings for Christmas. That way, nothing goes on any cards. You could start that next month? The first year we did this, it was like a huge weight had been lifted and we actually enjoyed giving instead of stressing over it. We take the money that we know we will be able to save and write out a Christmas budget. Hope this helps…
Bea
The $100 is a great idea, I’ll see what he thinks. We just got home last night after being away for six days, it’s good to be home but the pile of laundry is intimidating.
Ah, the Christmas hangover. I’m there. Take time to refocus. I agree with the above about the hundred every month, I’m starting that today. Life has a way of weighing us down if we let it. A little prayer time can re-center you.m
Thanks Kate, i think refocus with God is exactly what I need, six days of family was a bit overwhelming for this introvert. Did you have a good Christmas?
Sounds like post-Christmas blues…I get that. I agree with putting aside some money each month. I started an envelope this summer, but it seems that I should start a new one right now. Otherwise, my husband is prone to putting a lot on the cards as well.
Don’t you miss the Christmases of childhood? Now it’s all spending and clean-up. But the holidays are nearly behind us now, and I feel fortunate when I think of happy, healthy children.