Let Your Light Shine

Last year I posted a picture about two basketball teams coming together before a game to pray.  Our team was in the playoffs and when we traveled out of town to play the opponent, we were inspired by the leadership and example of one girl on their team.  She would lead the girls from her own team, as well as the other team, in a prayer before the game.

About a month ago, a few girls on our team (including our daughter), decided to begin the basketball prayer circle before each of their games, inviting the opponent to join them.  All of the teams have been willing participants in the prayer before each game.  It's a great thing to see!  God is definitely being glorified by the hearts and examples of all of these girls!

I wonder......Is this example continuing on and other teams doing so at their own games?  Will it cause other teams to decide to do next year for their own teams?  Are the fans in the stands being inspired to go and let their light shine in a different way because of this example?  Is the prayer changing the hearts of some of the players?  It's interesting to me that it's been only with girls' teams, so far.  Will boys' teams begin to do prayers, as well?

Each of these questions is something that really may be happening.....all because of one girls' example last year.  We never know where our influence will go and the good it will bring to the lives of others.  We will never know how far our example may reach.  

Let your light shine today!  Someone is watching for your example!

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praiseyour Father in heaven. 

Matthew 5:16

Vintage and Music-Themed Baby Shower

Typically in our small town congregation, we have a baby shower every once in a while, but over the last year, we've had MANY baby showers!  What a blessing!  This may be the last baby shower for a while, but we're sure enjoying having all of the little ones in our midst!  So very THANKFUL for babies!  They are a gift from GOD!

Instead of doing a generic themed baby shower, I began trying to base the decor on the nursery theme - just to make it more special for the parents and the baby (even though he/she won't know and probably won't ever care!). It's just a little more sentimental, even though it takes a little more time.  This shower was a whole new theme and nothing I'd ever done.  I was excited - but a little concerned because I had no idea where to start.  The theme was a vintage/sepia/music theme.  Lots of possibilities!  THANKFUL for this challenge!

Here's a burlap banner spelling out BABY.  The chipboard letters are covered in music themed scrapbook paper.  The shabby material strips are made by tearing muslin and cotton materials in strips and tied onto the jute cord.  I had been wanting to make on of those!  The banner went home with the parents-to-be for the baby's room.

The "Rock a Bye Baby" banners tied in the music theme.  The mini pennant chipboard pieces and mini clothespins came from Hobby Lobby.  I covered the chipboard with burlap and wrote the letters with a thick Sharpie marker.

Above the table an old wooden ladder held "tissue" balls, glittered music notes, and sepia tinted photos of the parents-to-be.  

The whole view doesn't show the different dimensions, so it kind of looks cluttered, but it really wasn't.  

What's a shower without food?!  We had yummy cupcakes, nuts and mints.  The cute cream and brown bears came from Walmart - in the Valentine's stuffed animal aisle!  I had seen them a few weeks ago, but they sold quickly!  There were only three left when I got these two.  I took their Valentine's sweaters off and added mocha colored bows around their necks.

Here's a close up of the balls.  They are made from coffee filters.  The white ones are just plain, unaltered filters that were attached to a styrofoam ball with straight pins.  The larger, tannish colored one was made by dyeing the filters in tea.  They were attached to a larger styrofoam ball with floral pins.  Click HERE to go to my recipe/craft blog to get directions on how to make these pom poms.

My mother-in-law loaned me this child-sized piano.  A friend let me borrow the CUTE, vintage-style burlap pillow.  My mom had given me the candle stick and crystal dangling thing (don't know what it is called....), so it fit perfect with the theme.  (That friend also let me have an old window she had for the mantle in the first picture. SOOOO pretty!)

I made this easy wall hanging by covering a painter's canvas board with burlap, adding burlap/muslin trim, and cutting out letters on the Cricut.  The glittered music notes were added for fun, and the wall hanging was given to the parents for the baby's room.

Beverages for the shower were Mocha Punch and Tea Punch.  You can find the Mocha Punch recipe HERE - on my recipe/crafts blog.  I'll post the Tea Punch when I get that recipe.  The tea punch was served in a soup tureen that was my grandmothers.  The mocha punch beverage server was borrowed from the same friend that had the burlap pillow.

She also let me borrow this CUTE metal heart wall hanging.  The burlap flower is a magnet and held sepia tinted photos of the grandparents-to-be.

There were lots and lots of presents....even more than is shown here!  The parents-to-be were blessed by so many people who love them and who are anticipating the arrival of their little one!  And, oh.....one more thing:  The gender of the baby wasn't known!  It was different, but so much fun being a surprise!  (We didn't find out with our first three, either.  We did on the last one because our daughter said she would cry if she wasn't having a sister.  We wanted her to get all of the crying done before the brother came instead of when he came :).  THANKFUL for the outpouring of love for this family!

On this GRATITUESDAY, I am thankful for the church and the baby showers we host for our Christian brothers and sisters.  What a special thing to have that special bond between God's children!

To see what others are grateful for, visit Heavenly Homemakers!

Banging On The Window....

This isn't a very good picture, but if you look closely, you can see a bird on the outside of the window. It's a strange bird, for sure.

As I was writing a blog post this morning - about a baby shower - I kept hearing a knocking.  I figured someone was outside or maybe picking up pecans - and didn't worry about it. I thought maybe my husband had forgotten to tell me someone was coming.  The knocking continued and continued, so I went to see what it was.  

This bird - this strange bird - was jumping/flying up and trying to get in that bottom left window pane.  It was doing it over and over and over again.  I wonder if it saw a bug on the window sill behind the couch or something!?  I'm sure that banging its head on the window isn't good and now the banging has slowed down some.  I'm pretty sure the bird isn't going to live much longer if this craziness continues.  It makes no sense, but it's a bird and it doesn't have a brain that can think logically.  It doesn't have common sense.  Yet God made this creature, didn't He?

I saved the shower post because of this bird and its banging!  I'll finish that post tonight or tomorrow.  This bird made me think!  

How many times do we act like this bird?  Keep doing the same thing over and over and over.....not making any sense and not smart/wise enough to stop!!?  How many times do we fail at something and get tired of the hard work, but never stand back and look at the problem - that we keep doing it the same way we've always done it and keep failing?!  Just like this bird is getting nowhere by doing the same silly thing over and over, we won't either.  We much change our direction!  We must change our plan!

If this bird could reason, he/she would realize that there is no way to get through that window pane.  It appears that there is, but there's not.  There is a huge obstacle in the way, but the bird is blinded to that fact because the pane is "clear".  It is clear, but it's also clearly an obstacle! 

In the process of trying to get through that obstacle, the bird is missing the important fact that there is a whole world open all around!  That bird can go ANYWHERE, yet it is only looking at that one little thing.  And that one thing may very well be the end of the bird.

We probably won't lose our life by continuing to do the same thing over and over and over (but of course, we could if it is something addictive), but we very well could damage our life and it will most certainly damage our spiritual life - without exception.  

Instead of focusing on one thing and doing it over and over without success, we must be willing to look around at the world God created for us - and the opportunities He has blessed us with.  When we don't, we will let that one obstacle consume us and it will beat us down.  We can't be God's servant if we are beaten down.  We can't be a faithful follower of Jesus if we are only focused on the obstacle.  

Let's turn around and look at the bigger picture.  There's a whole world of opportunity out there - just waiting for us to turn around and look!  We must stop banging on the window pane!  

Now I'd better go check on the bird.  I don't hear any more knocking.  Hmmmm........I hope it turned around and saw the big world of possibilities.

Who Are You, Lord?

Last night in our ladies Bible class, we were studying about Moses and the burning bush.  Moses was reluctant to do what God was asking him to do.  He asked God what he would say if the Israelites asked him who sent him.  (Exodus 3 and 4) God explained to Moses that He is the 'I AM' and the 'LORD' - meaning Yahweh.  He revealed His personal name to Moses.

We used  this poem along with our study.  The author is unknown.

Who Are You, Lord?

While praying one day

A woman asked, "Who are you, Lord?"

He answered, "I AM".

"But, Who is I AM?", she said.

And He replied..."I Am Love, I am Peace,

I Am Grace, I Am Joy

I Am The Way, Truth, And The Light...

I Am The Comforter,

I Am Strength, I Am Safety,

I Am Shelter, I Am Power, I Am The Creator,

I Am The Beginning And The End,

I Am The Most High".

The girl with tears n her eyes looked

Toward Heaven and said,

"Now I understand."

"But Lord, who am I?"

Then God tenderly wiped the tears

From her eyes and whispered,

"You are Mine."

Think On These Things

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

It seems so simple, doesn't it?  To think on "these" things:  Things that are true....noble....right...pure...lovely....admirable....excellent....praiseworthy.  It seems like we wouldn't have any trouble at all thinking of good things.  But we do.  We all do.

We wake up each morning and some of us hit the ground running.  Others of us, it takes a few hours (coffee, hot tea, Dr. Pepper, Diet Coke, etc.) before we're ready to get going.  Hopefully we start our morning by talking to God or reading His Word, but maybe we don't.  Maybe we grab the TV remote to catch the morning news/gossip.  Maybe we grab our phone or laptop to check Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.  Maybe we're up making the kids breakfast, helping check last minuet homework, or packing lunches before sending them out the door.  Very quickly our minds can be filled with "stuff".  Maybe it's good stuff, but maybe it isn't.

From what we see, to what we read, to what we hear, our minds and hearts are filled with lots and lots of "stuff".  It's up to us to guard our minds and our hearts so that our minds only think on things that are in that great list in the scripture above.  The only way to do that is to guard our eyes and ears first.  Maybe we will need to change the radio station, delete a song off of the iPod, stop watching certain TV shows or movies.  Perhaps we will even need to change who our friends are - or at least limit our time with them if they are influencing us in a bad way.

Our minds are filled and bombarded with information and this "stuff" we're talking about.  If we take bad stuff out....we must replace it with good "stuff".  We have to change our thinking.  The phrase "power of positive thinking" is great, but the "power of Jesus' thinking" is BEST!  When we grow to be more like Jesus, we'll change the way we look at life.  We'll change the way we think.  There will be no more stinkin' thinkin'!  We'll be thinking of "such things" as Philippians 4:8 mentions.

It's never too late to start thinking like Jesus.  Maybe your morning started off bad.  It doesn't mean the rest of the day has to be downhill.  Change your thoughts - change your world.  Be more like Jesus.  Think on "these things" all day long!