A Fresh Cup of Coffee

Sunday, August 27, 2023

Scripture and a Snapshot - Still Standing

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Finally, grow powerful in union with the Lord, in union with his mighty strength! Use all the armor and weaponry that God provides, so that you will be able to stand against the rulers, authorities and cosmic powers governing this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm. So take up every piece of war equipment God provides; so that when the evil day comes, you will be able to resist; and when the battle is won, you will still be standing. Therefore, stand! Have the belt of truth buckled around your waist, put on righteousness for a breastplate, and wear on your feet the readiness that comes from the Good News of shalom. Always carry the shield of trust, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the Evil One. And take the helmet of deliverance; along with the sword given by the Spirit, that is, the Word of God; as you pray at all times, with all kinds of prayers and requests, in the Spirit, vigilantly and persistently, for all God's people.

~Ephesians 6:10-18 (CJB)~

I like a lot of the wording of this passage in the Complete Jewish Bible, particularly the reminder to pray vigilantly and persistently for God's people. And how about the need to use all the equipment God provides so that WHEN the battle is won, we will still be standing. The battle WILL be won, and we who are in Christ are on the winning side, but we want to be standing strong at the end, not squeak by. God's given us the equipment we need to remain standing strong and firm, but it's up to us to suit up and be ready each day.

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Saturday, August 26, 2023

Share Four Somethings - August 2023

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The summer is almost over and I'm not sure how I feel about that! I guess it's time to start wrapping up August, and part of that is sharing Something I Loved, Something I Read, Something I Learned and Something I Ate.

Something Loved

Another visit to family back in Maryland! We went to celebrate our granddaughter's first birthday, and had the whole family together again. The time with the kids and our granddaughter was wonderful, although too short, of course! I was also able to get together with a couple of friends, and my husband got to play hockey with his buddies.

Other highlights I loved this month: celebrating another anniversary with my husband; and attending a working retreat with the chorus. The retreat was a two-day event, but not an overnight stay. It was a lot of fun, and hard work, but I enjoyed every minute! We also enjoyed having my husband's sister and her husband visit us for a long weekend.

Something Read

I've been in such a reading slump this summer! Part of it is that I'm busy with my job but I've also had a tough time staying focused on anything I'm reading. I'm doing my best to wrap up my review books now (at last!) and get back to spending more time with good books!

Here are the books I'm currently reading:

Composition As Conversation by Heather M. Hoover

Reykjavík: A Crime Story by Ragnar Jónasson and Katrín Jakobsdóttir

I had started The Vanishing at Castle Moreau by Jaime Jo Wright, but decided I needed to set it aside until I finished up these two reviews, and in the meantime I've also received The Starlet Spy by Rachel Scott McDaniel to review! I'll pick that up next, then get back to Castle Moreau, and I've got some other books I've been wanting to start too, including Voice of the Ancient by Connilyn Cossette. Maybe my problem is I'm going in too many different directions for now. I used to be able to keep three or four books going all at the same time, but for whatever reason that's not working for me this year!

Despite my own slump, I've been trying out hosting a monthly link-up for review posts and the August edition is still open (Book Review Bulletin for August), with a new link-up for September scheduled to open on the 1st. I'd love for you to drop by and share a review or two, and comment on someone else's review. The hope is that we can comment on actual reviews and share them. And of course, all the rest of my reading news is at Just A Second if you're interested.

Something Learned

I suppose I should be learning something about patience and persistence, because after at least six months, I'm STILL trying to get my dental insurance sorted out. The insurance company is staffed almost entirely by people who seem wholly incapable of doing their job or communicating from one department to the other. I have spent countless hours on the phone with dozens of representatives. I am beyond frustrated trying to get answers, and part of me just wants to give up. But I'm already committed to getting some important (and costly!) dental work done, and now my daughter needs to go to the dentist too, so I'll keep fighting until we get a resolution.

Something On My Plate

I bet I didn't take food pictures again this month. Let me check . . . Just one time. I took pictures of the delicious savory crepes we had at a farmers market last weekend, and of the baklava and coffee I brought home from the market.

Coffee goes in a cup, not on a plate, but it's food-related news. I got a Keurig this month!

And I didn't take pictures but at the beginning of the month my husband and I celebrated our anniversary by visiting Texas de Brazil, a Brazilian steakhouse, and it was tremendous! Sim, Por Favor!

Then at the beginning of this week, I had a broken tooth extracted, so since then I've been eating soft easy-to-chew foods. For now I'm a bit limited, but the good news is, I like soup and yogurt and applesauce, so even though I have to be careful, I don't mind the temporary restrictions. Ask me again in a month or so, and if I still have those restrictions, I might feel differently!

What's Been On My Calendar? #WBOYC

Happy Anniversary to us!

Family time on the birthday weekend!

I told the kids I needed to send some updated photos to Gramma, and they obliged me by posing awkwardly.

Okay, a little more relaxed and natural!

We explored the downtown area and creek again, when my husband's sister and her husband were here visiting.

And a new park with walking trails is very close to opening up adjacent to our community. We got a little preview of it this week.

What's Coming Up Soon?

We've almost reached the 30-day countdown to our trip to Calgary! Not that I need to start packing yet, but I'm starting to think a bit more about the logistics and what I want to make sure we do while we're there.

Before that though, we will be welcoming the kids from Maryland for the Labour Day weekend, and I need to prepare for a writing class I'll be teaching remotely.

Share something in the comments, or share four somethings with the rest of us in the link party!

This post will be linked at Overflowing With Thankfulness in the Share Four Somethings link party.

This post will also be linked at What's Been On Your Calendar #WBOYC hosted by Deb's World.

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Friday, August 25, 2023

Five Minute Friday - Replace

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One word. Five minutes to write about it. This is the idea behind Five Minute Friday and this is today's free-writing post.

can't be replaced

knee replacement

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It was just over a year ago that I had a total knee replacement. My knee had become so damaged by arthritis that the rough, nasty surfaces at the ends of the bones had to be removed, and replaced by metal and plastic parts cemented into place. After a time of healing and rehab, the replacement parts function the way my natural knee was intended to. Isn't it wonderful what can be done in modern medicine?

It was a painful surgery, but it had a purpose. I recovered more quickly than I expected, and I was motivated to do those rehab exercises to regain my strength and make sure that I got my mobility back. It was a pleasant surprise to realize that once my leg was straightened out and I could walk without a limp, my back and hip pain was no longer an issue. And my other knee was no longer unduly stressed by a limp so it doesn't hurt any more, and may not need to be replaced for many years. Maybe not at all!

Sometimes just relieving pain and focusing on a symptom is not enough. We need to address the source of the problem if we want the pain to stop. I had tried cortisone shots and a gel lubricant injection, and those provided only temporary relief. I used a cane to help me walk, but it also didn't really solve the problem. The ruined parts needed to be removed and replaced.

I think there's a lesson about other parts of life too. If we have bad or unhealthy habits or toxic ways of thinking, we may need to actually replace those habits and thought patterns with new and better ones, rather than just cut down on our bad habit or hide our "stinkin' thinkin'" behind a fake smile and an insistence that everything is okay when it's not.

Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results. ~Willie Nelson

The only proper way to eliminate bad habits is to replace them with good ones. ~Jerome Hines

Replace what you don't know about the future with what you do know about God! ~Christine Caine

Our yucky, dirty, sin-filled hearts can't be tidied up. They must be replaced by a heart that trusts and obeys God. As the Bible puts it, replacing our heart of stone with a heart of flesh. And guess what, we find that once our damaged heart has been replaced, we can straighten up and move more freely, and all parts of our lives are restored so that we can live with the joy God had intended for us.

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

~Ezekiel 36:26-27~

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The best way to find something you have lost is to buy a replacement. ~Ann Landers

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This post is linked at Five Minute Friday for the word prompt "Replace".

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Thursday, August 24, 2023

WQ - All In Good Fun

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I'm participating in the Wednesday Quotes link-up hosted by Marsha at Always Write, and we have a really broad topic this week―fun. There are so many ways to have fun, and so many aspects of fun. Being silly, laughing, finding enjoyment or satisfaction in what you do . . . can fun be both serious and frivolous? Here are some interesting quotes I found about fun in many areas of life. Hope you have fun browsing through my collection of quotes and thoughts and photos!

Having Fun Learning

You should be having more fun in high school, exploring things because you want to explore them and learning because you love learning―not worrying about competition. ~Maya Lin

Classical Astronomy (Blogging Through the Alphabet) on Homeschool Coffee Break @ kympossibleblog.blogspot.com

Science is fun. Science is curiosity. We all have natural curiosity. Science is a process of investigating. It's posting questions and coming up with a method. It's delving in. ~Sally Ride

Hmmm. This sounds like something I was trying to say in my Tell Us About . . . Imagination post.

It just makes sense that people learn more and learn it better if there's fun and enjoyment in the learning process. This is something that was important to us in homeschooling. It definitely wasn't goofing around and just being random all the time, but I tried to find ways to make the schoolwork interesting, creative, and entertaining.

Having Fun While Working

I think this encompasses a lot! Having fun with the people you work with, getting a kick out of doing your job, finding enjoyment in daily tasks . . .

People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing. ~Dale Carnegie

To find joy in work is to discover the fountain of youth. ~Pearl S. Buck

I never did a day's work in my life. It was all fun. ~Thomas A. Edison

Take your job seriously, but don't take yourself too seriously. ~Alex Trebek

Work hard, have fun, make history. ~Jeff Bezos

Fun With Family and Friends

You can only have fun helping other people have fun if you're having fun doing it. ~Bernie DeKoven

Nothing in life is fun for the whole family. There are no massage parlors with ice cream and free jewelry. ~Jerry Seinfeld

I realized my family was funny because nobody ever wanted to leave our house. ~Anthony Anderson

I cannot even imagine where I would be today were it not for that handful of friends who have given me a heart full of joy. Let's face it, friends make life a lot more fun. ~Charles R. Swindoll

Fun as an Ingredient of Confidence and Success

You don't have to be serious all the time to do a good job. ~Simone Biles

When you have confidence, you can have a lot of fun. And when you have fun, you can do amazing things. ~Joe Namath

Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game. ~Michael Jordan

Skiing combines outdoor fun with knocking down trees with your face. ~Dave Barry

(This sums up why I do NOT consider skiing fun!)

Fun is one of the most important - and underrated - ingredients in any successful venture. If you're not having fun, then it's probably time to call it quits and try something else. ~Richard Branson

It's kind of fun to do the impossible. ~Walt Disney

Never, ever underestimate the importance of having fun. ~Randy Pausch

I know it is wet and the sun is not sunny, but we can have lots of good fun that is funny. ~Dr. Seuss

Fun is a Blessing from God

Sometimes we think living a moral life and following God means being all serious and that fun isn't allowed, but that's really not true! Or it shouldn't be! Certainly we take faith seriously, and it's not a constant laughing matter, but people who have a right relationship with God have the best reason to find joy and delight in life. And that's what God wants for us too! The Teacher in Ecclesiastes points out that there is an appropriate time and place for everything in balance, including joy and sorrow, and frivolity and seriousness. It may seem like the Teacher says everything is pointless, but on the whole, the book concludes that our lives are short and we may not understand why things turn out the way that they do, but we can still live our best lives by following God's ways and enjoying every moment to the full!

There is nothing better for a person than to eat, drink, and enjoy his work. I have seen that even this is from God's hand, because who can eat and who can enjoy life apart from him?

~Ecclesiastes 2:24-25~

I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and enjoy the good life. It is also the gift of God whenever anyone eats, drinks, and enjoys all his efforts.

~Ecclesiastes 3:12-13~

So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.

~Ecclesiastes 8:15~

So you might not find the word "fun" in the Bible, but I think it's safe to say that experiencing joy and happiness, finding satisfaction and success in our work, and taking delight in all God has given us IS the best possible way to have fun in life!

How happy is everyone who fears the LORD,

who walks in his ways!

You will surely eat

what your hands have worked for.

You will be happy,

and it will go well for you.

~Psalm 128:1-2~

Wednesday Quotes is hosted by Marsha at Always Write. This post will be linked at #WQ #34: Fun

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