#fmfparty

What will you give in trade is my response to Miss Kate’s five minute Friday word prompt. This is one of those posts that started off one way and then took a turn. I like the turn but am not completely sure the theology is spot on, but at this time of night….. I don’t have the brain to rewrite.  🙂 

What will you give in trade?

What will you give in trade?
Will it be for better or worse?
Is the trade one that will make
me feel good in the end, or that you
just wanted to rip me off?

Some people don’t quite understand
the value of an item and thereby offer
less than what a thing is worth.

I often have mice, rabbits, and
now guinea pigs available for new homes,
and I’ve done a number of good trades
over the years.

Maple syrup, hay, nestbox builds,
other rabbits, and such like.
Those are trades I accepted.

There have been many others I’ve
turned down like pots, pans,
old water bottles, and ratty cages.

What is the cost?

It makes me wonder about the cost paid right?
A little baby born into squalid conditions
A manger, critters around,
not the best room around for sure.

Parents were poor, from a small town,
travelled by donkey, and on foot.

Grew up having to travel around
avoiding much danger, and then
his dad settled down into a
wood-working business.

At 12 he learned more about
being about his father’s business,
not his carpenter father mind, but
in the process his mama was worried sick.

At 30 some years things got a bit tough
with false accusations, and agenda set by
men in charge. It did not, for all earthly
intents and purposes turn out well,

except for one little detail.
Three days later there was an
empty tomb. an unbelievable thing,
you see
A trade happened.

A trade that bridged a gap,
that covered the cost of grievous wrong.
Was the trade equitable?
Does it make sense
for God’s lad to die for something
I am guilty of?

Even though it was the only option,
such as when a firm price is set
on an item for sale like a casserole
dish, highball glass or more.

It is God’s mercy in action,
his sovereign plan, of redemption,
a trade/pay-off that benefits us
and rebuilds relationship.

A firm price, no trade really,
redemption set, and so the
price is fully paid. Are you
willing to make things with
the sovereign one of the universe?

Did you know this truth?  Weight, it’s a battle, a constant daily battle that takes time to adjust to.  🙂  It does.  Society says one thing, doctors say other, and yet one’s body has it’s own thing to say as well.  One’s heart and mind as well.   Let’s explore that idea a bit eh?

Weight, it’s a battle

Weight, it’s a battle
not always seen but more
often felt deep within.

You see weight isn’t just
a physical thing, though
at times it very much is!

Too fat, too thin,
too boney, too well padded
even when it might be just right.

Doctors and websites and
various pundits will say a
person of this height should be “X”.

Without considering body type,
family history, work requirements
and mental health.

All these things bear weight you know?
Like sometimes even if the healthiest
weight isn’t attainable, the mental is.

And sometimes mental weight is what
makes the physical loss (or gain)
nigh on impossible.

So how do we bear the weight of
family, history, life, and more?
What makes that weight bearable?

For me… family matters. My physical
family and my spiritual one, reminding
me that I am more than what I seem.

What helps you to bear the weight,
that weight we gain from simply being,
people active in life?

walk not into temptation, flee from what you fear.  Turn away from temptation, make sure you stay clear. 

I Don’t know if these are the actual words to a song but they are a lyric that immediately popped up in my head when I saw the word flee.  Ergo… I think I’ll fly with that thought in mind!  Fits with Kate’s word prompt for the week anyways.  🙂 

Flee From What You Fear

This week my boss brought
a temptation into work, a
temptation that I found myself
sorely lacking in will power to refuse.
Tim Horton’s Maple Cream Donut.
Oh… I haven’t had one in so long since
I decided I wasn’t going to buy sweets anymore.

But that Maple Creme donut stared me
in the face and dared me to eat it.
A small voice said… You’d better not
but the dare out screamed it that quiet voice.
So down the hatch it went,
and it was good.

I told my boss later
You brought temptation to work
and sadly I failed the test
not that I’m complaining!
She laughed, I laughed and
the day continued on.

But later on, regret
slipped in. One temptation easily
led to another so a couple of
timbits, which normally I have NO
issues avoiding went down the hatch to
and suddenly my calorie count for the day
flew right out the window!

GAH!
Disappointed in myself.

Makes me think though how
easily this happens all the time
in life right?
Maybe not so easily as eating
or avoiding a donut, but in the daily
actions we take for good or ill.

Do those actions we take showcase
the Lord God, as we are supposed to
be bringing him glory right?
Is my bad attitude, lack of fortitude
during a day of pain, or quiet muttering
under my breath showcasing his goodness
or just my narcissistic tendencies
(that honestly we all have, some just
more than others).

How often do the actions I take
benefit me in the moment and not
consider the bigger implications or
the long term side effects?
How often do I cause God the Father
to shake his head at me in shame?

Daily I need to consider this statement
“flee from what you fear”.
I counselled a young girl once,
if you see that you are getting angry and it’s causing
you to want to hit someone, run away!
The bible tells us flee from temptation!

I should rightly fear the Lord God, to
be afraid of bringing shame to his name.
That should make me more cognizant
of the actions I am taking and how
they look to him and the eyes of those
around me and live in a manner pleasing to him!

So I had this whole post, Is Two Enough? , written and then somehow my page got frozen and I couldn’t edit a thing.   So it’s been rather annoying.  I’m attempting to recreate the post by jumping back and forth from one post to another!  AND YES!   I am definitely getting to this a bit late!    

Miss Kate chose the number Two as the word prompt this week.  In my mind it’s a bit of an odd choice, but it did stimulate a number of ideas in my mind. So let’s see where I got with this one eh?

Is Two Enough?

Thinking of the word two, I
consider my most recent review,
Two Together, which is almost completed.
Two friends, quite different from each other,
who discover joy taking an adventure together.
Perhaps, I could rehash it and make this post
about those choices in friendship, but

It takes two to make a family grow,
most of them time, it just takes
the two, but occasionally help is needed,
and so doctors, nurses, specialists, etc
all play a role, helping families expand, and
other times even lawyers, judges
and social workers play a role, and again,

Two become one as a marriage
grows, deepening as good relationships
do over time. Till eventually you can’t
imagine the one person without the other.
A couple becoming more through time,
harder to break together than apart, still

Is Two Enough?
They say that three is better than two,
after all a three strand cord is hard to break.
And God himself is three, the triune God,
And since God is perfect, and very much sovereign,
one can see that perhaps, at times,
two is most definitely not enough.

And marriages, based in God, are much stronger,
seeing God as their source and guide.
The firmer that couple stands on God,
the more surety (in the time of uncertainty),
that marriage has to stand, to hold fast,
to beat the odds (so to speak).
Two plus one, gives us that unbreakable
three cord strand. A good thing yes?

So is two enough?
Sometimes!
And well, sometimes not so much.
Take the help when you need eh? 🙂

God Speaks

Ecclesiastes 4:12

And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

John 1:1, 14

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

This past weekend I took Advantage, and in a moment or so I’ll tell you all about it, but in the meantime what does the word advantage mean to you?   You could think of it as the opposite of disadvantage, and see that counterpoint only.  Or you could wander down that road of seeing all the advantages you’ve had in life, or the advantages you see in the lives of others and then play the comparison game.  It’s can be hard at times to simply accept the good in your life and/or in the lives of others.  Come see what others have to say over at Kate’s blog. 

I Took Advantage

I took advantage this past weekend
for a chance to get away,
visiting a friend who
lives some hours away.

We met at a decent half-way point
in a house denominationally provided
Food, cards, and a willingness to chat
Filled four day of togetherness.

Hubby came along for the ride
a chatterbox he was!
Normally a story plays, but
this time conversation ensued.

It
was
SO
nice.

Time together with
those you love is one of the
best things possible you know?

Even if it’s a simple weekend
of playing cards, board games, and
going out for ice cream. All sandwiched
between good food and laughter.

Discovering upon our return
that our son took advantage as well.
Eating pizza, going out with friends, and
ignoring dishes and laundry…

Returning to the daily
grind was more difficult than imagined.
A rainy day with tired muscles that
ached beyond aching.

I’d rather be sitting and
playing cards and chatting with
a friend, it’s so true,
My heart aches to do it again.

Closing Thoughts

So I wrote most of this poem last night and was pondering it more today.  Just as I love spending time with friends and family, so too, the Lord God likes to spend time with us, his family.   Just as I long to spend more time with my hubby and friends, he longs to do the same. 

He is so patient, and yet at times demanding, filling my mind with “how do I”, and “what can I change?” as I seek to answer that demand. Struggling with tries that don’t fit and refiguring what just might, and yet, feeling overloaded with too much of everything. But God is patient, he will continue to call, and remind, and occasionally poke just a bit harder.  And in time, better communication will happen.