A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Poetry

Affording Emergencies

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Having recently dealt with some cats choosing not to eat, and dealing with emergency vet bills, when I saw the word from Kate being Afford, coming up with a post was easy.  Affording Emergencies fits so well don’t you think?

For my part, I put aside 5% of every pay cheque into an emergency fund that every once in a while gets emptied.  Usually for emergencies!   Car purchase, house repairs, and more recently partially emptied for vet bills.  Five percent seemed to me to be a good amount to hold back.   It’s less than what I put aside for investing, and less than what is set for tithing, but emergencies don’t pop up THAT often in life (thank goodness). 

text affording emergencies Image child holding injured teddy bear

Affording Emergencies

There’s one I know who
has a vehicle with loads of
issues. Costing a bit to fix,
and we chatted today about it.

I asked, “are you emptying
your emergency fund?
Cause remember, my cats
emptied mine by $1000″.

She laughed and said
that they had it covered.
and so the conversation
moved forward to other things.

It’s hard sometimes talking
money with co-workers.
A number of us are annoyed
since corporate changed something.

It seems that vacation pay
will now to be paid bi-weekly
rather than once a year.
We all said “it’s harder to save!”

And it is.
It’s easier to sock away one
yearly lump sum payment,
then to figure out the rate.

The current hope is it
will be clearly delineated
on our pay stubs to make
the figuring just a bit easier.

Vacation funds, emergency funds,
long-term savings, or just spend it.
It’s easy to spend if not
planned out well.

How do you plan it?
Funds planned for various
things? Do you do a set amount
or a percentage?

Do you include
God in the discussion?
Does trust enter the
conversation at all?

I’ve an acquaintance
who loves God dearly and
plans not at all, since
“God will provide”.

I have a hard time
with that since God
also provides us with the
intelligence to plan.

So in our planning, do
we still leave room for trust?
Or does planning negate
the need for trust?

Something to think
on perhaps? To make sure
you are affording emergencies in a
God-approved way.

Just a Phase

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I had a yardsale this weekend, the second one I had this year.   I did not expect to do as well at the second as I did at the first.  You see, I didn’t have the “draw people in” items for this sale.  BUT I still sold a fair amount of stuff and met some fun people.  Afterwards I started to wonder, as I was packing stuff up and thinking, I’ll not do this again.  Is this just a phase?  Will I choose to never have a yardsale again and just post stuff on facebook? Or kijiji or  just give stuff away?

I would miss the funny people.   Like the lady who came through and talked to herself as she went through what I had out. “oh, this is a pretty quilt, oh look, she has Christmas stuff… what fun. Oh no, remember, you don’t have money for Christmas stuff. ‘ and then when she reached my books “OH DELIGHT!  She must have been an educator, just look at all these books!?!?!?”   To my delight she actually picked some of them up.  🙂   

Or the lady who obviously came from a background of bartering.  She and I had a whole lot of fun bartering back and forth about the value of an obviously fairly new purse from my mom.  She tried so hard to get me to completely drop my price but she alas didn’t succeed.  🙂  But to thank her for giving me so much fun I let her take a small plant home for free.   Her poor hubby got kinda caught in the middle and left looking a little shell shocked but… he bought the knife he was interested in.  🙂 

I will never miss the nickle and dimers, or the sour looks of people not getting their own way, or the people who refuse to have a bit of fun.  It’s a yardsale, a time to have brief connection with folk, not a time to get mad or mean.  Be friendly, smile, and realize it’s the best way to get a deal.  🙂 

So whether or not how I’m feeling right now is just a phase or not.  There are pros and cons to holding a big sale all a once.  So time will tell how it is in the long run eh?  🙂 

image of random items at yardsale on a table. text Just a Phase

Just a Phase

i have to wonder
is it just a phase,
is it something that
everyone goes through?

but then i think no,
i have a sis who would
rather give something away
then to try to sell it.

for i know another lady
like me (but a few years
ahead) who loved to
sell her stuff.

and now in her older years
would rather give things
away then deal with
the buying public.

and i am finding myself
reaching for that
same mind set.
people are weird,

do i really want
to deal with the
weirdness of people
being anywhere near my house?

still though, i love
that barter aspect, the
people knowing, smiling,
the joint satisfaction.

my lands, at the same time,
all the work and the prep,
and all that “other” that
goes with it all.

there i feel it and
think it’s best to copy my
friend and just give anything
i don’t need/want away.

it is so much
easier to do that eh?
to find a thrift shop of
choice and say done.

Contemplating….

being in a contemplative
mood this of course makes me
ponder, do i do the same
with my faith?

starting with the strong desire
to connect and make smiles,
life changes, and what not, and
then overtime say meh, it’s easier

to not worry about connecting
with people or helping them
discover needs yet unmet
it’s easier not to you know?

so hmm….what now?
i was challenged today by
a Instagram post about
defining self-control

and how easy it is to
turn our lack of it into
something that truly it
isn’t so…. isn’t this

kinda the same?
not working out our
faith in fear and trembling
but it’s easier not to.

it’s easier to rephrase
it as “i’m getting older”,
“it’s not my gifting”,
and such like.

shouldn’t we continue
pressing on? remembering
it’s a race we’re in and
every step counts in the winning.

What Route Should I Take?

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Kate has had a bit of a week according to her post to us. Switching around her servers, dealing with a heat wave (with smoke from fires) and more. All that to say she’s given us the word route. I started this post Friday night but was falling asleep so here I am on Saturday morning trying again. I’ve come up with what route should I take?

text what route should I take Image of winding road with vehicle on it

What Route Should I Take

Yesterday afternoon I
had my route planned out.
First I’d go to mom-in-law’s
and then to the mission store.

Delighted to know of course
the store was open til 7!
The mission store you see
has a large homeschool section
I thought I’d boost
the area a bit.

Let’s just say, things
did not go as planned.
Turns out the Mission
Store does not accept
donations after 5 p.m. and
I’d missed by just a bit.

ANNOYING.
Even more annoying that
the girl at the desk
didn’t tell me this.

Oh the way home I had
a chance to reflect.
Was there a better
route I could take?

Should I have gone
there first?
Should I have perhaps
called first to confirm
all the details?

Did I spend too long
talking with mom?
Could I have, even though
I didn’t talk to the girl
afterwards, considered better
my frustration with her?

What route I take in how
I handle myself and the
world around me matters.
God calls me
“Be holy as I am holy“.

Can’t say my frustration
was a fine example of
holiness…. now was it?

So now’s the challenge
of improving myself
for the next frustrating
event in my life….
can I do better?
More reliance on God
is a necessity for sure.

The Long and The Short of It

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Shakespeare’s 1602 comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor, first gave us the line “the Long and the Short of it”.   What does this line mean? Can it lead us to discern a greater truth? Or does it just leave us living in the now?  

Anyways, it’s an idiom.  I remember having a French student once who was struggling with Canadian expressions or idioms.  I looked up a bunch of well known expressions and had him research them.  Discovering the history behind expressions such as “throw your hat in the the ring” helps us to better understand the expression itself. 

Do you truly understand what’s behind this particular idiom?   Let’s suss it out a bit eh? 

Photo of eye of needle with thread going through. text: the long and the short of it

the Long and the short of it

The long and the short of it
is how to start a tale,
a story with a bit of fib,
and a lot of truth to tell.

Or the long and the short of it,
could simply be sounded
out reasoning for why something
may or may not work.

Renovating the bathroom
we need to know the
long and the short of it
Ordering enough material important.

The long and the short of it
is sometimes an idiom used to
define the salient points of
an argument or a meeting.

The Long and the short of it
is made clear to us when
Jesus spoke to Nicodemus
“you must be born again”.

Without rebirth,
salvation is not possible.
Without being born again
We cannot truly know God.

The long and the short of it
is God wants no person to
be without him, but the truth
remains, we MUST be born again.

Make that choice today
Thread the eye of the needle
Be smarter than a camel
And find your salvation today.

sewing needles
Photo by Nic Wood on Pexels.com

John 3:1-8

 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”[

What’s the Outcome?

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Okay, so it’s like 10 p.m.   I’ve had a long day and tomorrow might be busy too!  🙂  I didn’t want to wait until Sunday to suss out an appropriate response to Kate’s word prompt Outcome.   I got to thinking how funny it was at work today when I rearranged the pickle section at work.  I maintained the same spacing for everything, and yet I ended up with 3/4’s of an empty shelf.  It made no sense!  My manager (not feeling well today) came walking by and asked how I was doing.  I said “I’m done and I’m so confused.  Why do I have empty space?”   She double-checked everything and agreed it made no sense.  What’s the outcome?  The most favourite pickles got more shelf space.  I’m still shaking my head over it…. 

image of baby pickles in glass bowl. Text: what's the outcome?

What’s the Outcome?

What’s the outcome
I have to ask
What do you want to see,
as a result of this task?

Today I decided
pickles needed to move
I thought it was funny
helping them to groove.

All that moving
and shuffling about
Lots of empty space so
My manager used her clout!

This makes no sense
was her confused cry!
You moved them about,
This change makes me sigh!

It was decided that
despite exact spacing
We’d give the pickles
an increase in their spacing.

It’s made me think
at the end of long day
what other shuffling
needs to have sway?

Are there things in our lives
that aught not to be
things that God
might find unsightly?

Just like the pickles
that had to moved
Give God a chance
to help you find the right groove.

Don’t Know How to Pivot

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The question facing us in someways. Now that mom is gone, who will draw us together? Family gatherings have fallen to the wayside over the past couple of years since mom has been declining. So what happens now?  Will someone in the family pivot to cover the gap? Or will things happen as does in other families… the mom/dad dies and the family just falls apart?   I would hope not.  But I’m not quite sure how to do about rebuilding community in my family…  Let’s explore this a bit perhaps eh? Because sometimes I don’t know how to pivot.

image: pivot spelled out in blocks text: don't know how to pivot

Don’t Know How to Pivot

Introverted, sensitive
to noise, and not handling
crowds well. Anything more
than one is a crowd.

So can one pivot from
how they are to be
something more for the
sake of togetherness?

I don’t know?

Does it have to be me
to pivot or can I be a
cog in the wheel of change?
Calling folks to plan?

If so, how does one
do that? I’m not a
planner so figuring the
logistics cause inward screams.

So I don’t know how

Is there a book, a
podcast, or youtube
that gives hints or a
step by step?

That would be helpful,
It’s not that I don’t know
how to pivot, it’s something
one does in life.

How to learn?

the pivoting with
unnamed/unlearned skills
seems a bit out
on a tree limb.

Maybe I’m getting
ahead of the game and
my sis, younger than,
will step into the gap?

Hope arises….

Mom’s Poem

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I wrote this poem for mom’s funeral. 

My sister asked if I’d read a poem at the funeral and I initially thought, this would be easy but… such as not the case.   I searched through my writings trying to find the one that she liked most but I couldn’t find it.   In the end decided I should just write one.  I didn’t want to read the one the word prompt gave me on Friday.   This morning the shower God gave me a start and the rest just flowed from there.  I changed a couple lines while at the service, but overall, it’s what God gave me straight away. So here’s mom’s poem.

Mom's Poem

Mom’s Poem

Oh my sorrow
Mom has passed
Oh the glory
She’s home at last.

Netherlands born
My mom was brave
Crossing the ocean
Braving the wave.

Starting a new life
In a land far away
She met a tall fellow
Her heart’s full sway.

Gathering around a
Brood one two three
They didn’t stop
Until six there be.

Now all around here
Gathering nigh
Family, friends, and kin
Celebrate life with a sigh

Her kindness well known,
A smile welcoming all
Sharing her love
For those big and small.

God coming first
Her heart for him known
Did all perceive it
Was He well shown?

I’d have to say yes
For as you can see
So many gathered here
Love God just as she

If you don’t love God
I beg you to think
Why would we all lie
Or want to hoodwink?

Give a moment or two
To let it sink in
Life well lived knows
God forgives sin

See well the reason
Mom smiled so freely
God gives us his all
So see him completely.