Flowering Tea Pot

Thank you so much for giving me feedback on work! I took to heart every comment and felt richer for your input.  I just finished Becoming Elisabeth Elliot (thank you for the recommendation, Kim!) and her life was such a picture of work.  She (and other people) said to do the next thing which is excellent counsel, I think.

I know it sounds a bit shallow🤣 but one thing I am thinking about this morning is moving the family room furniture so that my "lazy spot" isn't so accessible.  Do you have a lazy spot?  I tend to study my Bible, knit, FaceTime, text, nap, snack, drink coffee, and write in the lazy spot, so I'll push myself and change it up a bit.  

I have a new mug obsession, Emma Bridgewater.  This isn't good because we can't buy them here, so you have to order them and that costs more than buying other mugs.  Oh well.  It will keep me from hoarding.

Look closely.  Can you see Bigfoot?  He's there and he's cold. We are having a solid winter here in Colorado.

Brad and April gave me this heart cup last year and this year they gave me a flowering teapot.  Isn't it pretty?  You place a ball of tea in the water and it blooms!  Lovely!

I share my heated throw with this one.  He loves to be warm.  It's his goal. 

I know I should purge our house of some of my favorite things but right now I am crazy about Beatrix Potter stuff and Little Women, so that's what's on the mantle.  I am going to Jenny's to stay with kids and dogs for 5 days and we are going to do Little Women things like talk about the book, have devotions, play with paper dolls, eat lime jelly beans, make soap and make beeswax candles.  I will take photos. Oh, and we might make gnomes because Christie and Jeff gave me a "make your own gnome" kit and even though it's not Little Women-y, it sounds fun, doesn't it?

My work today entails a bit of shopping, church, cooking, moving furniture, gathering things for my granny visit, maybe some ironing and reading. What have you been doing that you've really enjoyed?  Thank you for popping in to say hello, friend.
 

Work

Hello🙂 I'll get right to the point.  Do you have a word for the year?  I know this isn't a new concept, but I had to think of a word for my year because a friend suggested it in a prayer group.  She intended it as a sharing question and it was a good idea.  I mulled a few words over and couldn't quite get excited but then I settled on the word WORK.  I realized that I seem to think of work as in "I don't want to do that, but I should"and then I thought about how when God created man, before the fall, man was given meaningful and pleasant work to do.  It got hard after the humans sinned, but prior to that work was a positive thing.  I think work will be pleasant in Heaven once again!  I would LOVE to hear how you define work. 

I thought it was funny that Mary Poppins has to work at Disneyland.  She signs autographs and also meets and greets.

Hobbits work.  Maybe I'll bake some bread today, but then again I am going to meet a friend for lunch right by the bakery that sells excellent bread.  Hmmmmmmm.

Look at the beaver working on my Emma Bridgewater mug.  (Tim's cat tree is in the background and no, he doesn't use the ladder)

I think a lot of what makes work WORK is focus.  I found a few verses that address our work. 

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ." Colossians 3:23-24

"So whether you eat of drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."  1 Corinthians 3:31

I think those two verses address what I am thinking about so, I think I'll make a little plan. I've made working plans before so I want this plan to be different.  It might involve note cards and lists (because I do love note cards and lists).  I want to be creative about it as opposed to mundane.  Maybe at the end of the day, I'll ask myself (or list) what I did that was my work and I'll write those things in my journal or calendar.  Then I will think about what I've done and determine what God might be saying to me in light of what I did that day.  Does this sound fun to you?  😂 Let me know.  

What is your work?  It might be a paying job. It might be writing or making art.  It might be cooking or baking.  It might be reaching out to people every day.   

xoxoxoxo