Oh am I being stubborn! Not the kind of stubborn you are when you are right and someone else is wrong, its the kind of stubborn born from not wanting to plunge into something you need to do. Some call it procrastination. For me, this type of stubborn is formed from the later and therefore, it is an attitude of the heart.
Yea, I know not so good.
Usually, I love a challenge and I am anxious to try new things but, I am not feeling that way about some new things on my horizon...isn't that strange? I wonder where this is coming from? I have a feeling it is a sense of having to give up other things in order to do something I know is important. Perhaps it means rearranging my priorities to serve others for awhile.
So in other words it comes from the desire to serve self first....ohhhh.
Boy is that disappointing. You know, when you do "the-reflective-inward-look" and it isn't so pretty. The whole dying to self thing is a tough one in the life of this Christian. It is times like this that I am grateful for the loving grace of Jesus. I am glad that He is the bearings by which I can reset the compass of my life to when I get off course.
Well, this home school year is looking to be a great challenge for me. I have 2 middle-schoolers this year and the challenge comes in the form of Latin, Classical Writing, and Formal Logic. Yes, I know isn't that crazy? Would you want to dive right in? I didn't think so...see what I mean?
The upside to these classes is that I will get all the knowledge and skill as a by-product from teaching these things to my children. The bonus of homeschooling! Not so convincing is it....
So say a prayer for me this year, as I dive into these challenging subjects. We will all have our noses in the books of great writers and philosophers from ancient times. I am sure the Lord will bless the effort and we will learn wonderful things from our journey through time. I know I will enjoy following the golden thread of providence God has woven in the tapestry throughout all of history.
Lord, you know my heart... I pray that I would give my selfish desires a rest and give them over to you. Bless our efforts to study new and exciting things even when I fail to be obedient and humble, use these lessons and this homeschooling time for your glory and our refinement, especially mine. Amen
The word that keeps coming to my lips is DELIGHT! I cannot even put into words all the blessings that I received from this group. What amazes me is the amount of work that went into a class like this. My team was tireless and talented- I could not have pulled it off without them. The best part was having confidence to know the jobs would be fulfilled and that I could really count on them. For that I am grateful, it freed me up to do what I love, to teach and do art and crafts with the girls! Phew! was I tired but my spirit was always filled to overflowing at the end of the day. Isn't it always like that with the work of the Lord. He never promised us it would be easy but He did say the burdens would be light and our paths and purposes would be straight! AND when we follow Him we are blessed beyond measure!
Here is another expression of God's word through my art. I signed up for a swap at a christian art yahoo group and this is what I came up with for the swap. The only requirement was it had to include a pocket, the size of the foundation had to be 5x8 and that it had to have a scripture on it. I think that they turned out delightful don't you? I made 6 of these all a little different and using different color schemes of butter yellow, rose, and sage green. This is the one I did in sage green. 
I used acyrilc paint and oil pastels on the background. Background has also been stamped. I used printed paper and pages from an old book for the boarder along with real shell buttons from my button stash. The pocket is made from an old tissue pattern and the heart is made from coffee filters I dyed and then colored over with oil pastels(one of my 