Challenge of the Month {APRIL 2013}

Thank you, Kathleen Clipper, for this beautiful image!!!  You have such an amazing way of capturing JOY!!

by: Kristin Wall
Do you ever have something you have to do and just don’t want to do it?  Well, I am sitting here trying to figure out what a Godly response is when I have PMS and am super cranky.  I have been sitting down to write a blog post for the past two hours and have been interrupted 20x.  I have homeschooled for the past 17 years.  I am tired of teaching Ancient Egypt and don’t care to learn anymore about Cleopatra or Ramses.  I haven’t done a Geometry lesson in years and don’t really care to ever look at a quadrilateral again. I really don’t want to help diagram sentences.  Yes, I am cranky and tired. I have so much to be thankful for and need to just stop complaining and be thankful for the joys of teaching my boys at home.  I know the majority of you reading this aren’t in the process of teaching your kids at home, but I know that you most likely have to do things daily that you just don’t want to do.

I believe that many times it is just readjusting our thoughts. . .taking our thoughts “captive” and not allowing ourselves to think negatively.  Last year, I was blessed to have a group of girls come to my house on a regular basis.  We read a book together called Choosing Gratitude  by Nancy Lee DeMoss.  Between studying with the girls, keeping a gratitude journal and also reading A Thousand Gifts, I feel I am more aware of the way I look at situations and trying to look at negative situations in a more positive light.

****My challenge to you is to start a gratitude journal and  read one of the books mentioned above .  At the end of the month, we would love to hear from you how God used this in your life and share it on the blog! :)  We’ll be choosing three or four entires that are submitted at delightandbe@gmail.com to feature on the blog! So make sure to capture some fun images that show what you are thankful for! ****

Please forgive me for complaining. . .told you that I was going to be very REAL on here. . .and I am.  :)  I have chosen to respond to my boys with a smile on my face and be grateful that we are together today, be thankful for the ability to learn about parallelograms once again and read Pilgrim’s Progress for the fourth time.  :)  I am choosing to be thankful that I am able to blog in the midst of the interrupted thought process.

Here is a poem written by Dot Aaron that I found in a file in my desk the other day that I’ve kept since I was in high school. . .

Today, upon a bus, I saw a lovely girl with golden hair.

I envied her, she seemed so happy and fand I wished I were as fair.

When suddenly she rose to leave, I saw her hobble down the aisle;

she had one leg and wore a crutch and as she passed. . .as smile.

O God, forgive me when I whine, I have two legs,

The world is mine!

And then, I stopped to buy some sweets.

The lad who sold them had such charm.

I talked with him–he seemed so glad.

If I were late, ‘twould do no harm.

And as I left he said to me, “I thank you.

You’ve been so kind. It’s nice to talk with folds like you.

You see,” he said, “I’m blind.”

O God, forgive me when I whine, I have two eyes,

The world is mine!

Later, walking down the street, I saw a child with eyes of blue.

He stood and watched the others play; it seemed he knew not what to do.

I stopped a moment, then I said, “Why don’t you join the others?”

He looked ahead without a word and then I knew–he could not hear.

O God, Forgive me when I whine,

I have two ears, the world is mine!

With legs to take me where I’d go–

With eyes to see the sunset’s glow–

With ears to hear what I would know–

O God, forgive me when I whine,

I’m blessed indeed, the world is mine!