A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Word Prompt

Refine: seeing God as Lord more clearly

By 10 Comments

As soon as I saw the word refine this chorus popped into my head.

Refiner’s fire
My heart’s one desire
Is to be holy
Set apart for You, Lord
I choose to be holy
Set apart for You, my Master

Ready to do Your will

You know what refining does right?
If you work at a refinery you are busy taking all the unwanted materials out of another material.  Making it clean, pure, just that one material.
As believers we are constantly being refined by the Lord God.  
Drawn in to be more like him, more able to see HIM, more able to see our separation, more able to turn away from our sin, more able to recognize God as the Lord of everything.
Can we say the process is easy?
No.. it’s hard.
It’s VERY hard at times.
Seeing how much we have left to chip away, not us doing the chipping, but the Lord himself.
Knowing he does so with care for our very selves.
Giving us life circumstances that challenge us, break us, wound us, and up lift us, helping us to challenge each other, helping us to see the joy that it is to be more like the one who loves us deeply.
Ah… this is good… to see that love and care he takes for us.
Remember that..
Remember it when you are being refined.  It’s only for our own good.
AND
It is done by one who loves us deeply.
And that matters.
————–
This is a five minute friday post. the word prompt is brought to us by Miss Kate.  Today the word is REFINE.  What is Five Minute Friday?  Well it’s a party of a group of like minded folks who gather on Friday to do a five minute free write around a singular word.  AND THEN we take the time to offer up encouragement to each other on this writing journey.  It’s fun, though it’s not always easy, but it is always good.   Come join us won’t you?  You are always welcome.


Won’t You See the Real Me?

By 6 Comments

Tonight as I write this post for the Five Minute word prompt, I’m feeling broken inside.
Broken and kinda hollow.  Wondering how will I do the word Connect. 

Especially when I am feeling like…

I just want to be loved and accepted for who I am…by more than my man and son.   And so often I feel like I’m not…that somehow I’m always found wanting.

But oh…how they treasure me.   Their treasuring of me lifts my soul up and feeds me heart with gratitude and yes.. total SURPRISE.  They love me!!! 

Even if I annoy them and frustrate them and drive them insane.

They love me and accept me for who I am.

They know my heart.

They are connected to the who I am.
Not the who they think I aught to be.. but the who I am RIGHT NOW.

It’s a big difference.

They see my foibles, and work around them.
They see my joys and are excited by them.
They lift me in ways they don’t always even know.

Why.
Because WE are connected.

And that I think is what really makes the difference you know?
They are so connected me.  We are us.   You get one of us.. you get the rest.   Just the way it is.

So when I ponder this question:
Why do families hurt and wound?

I wonder if perhaps, it’s that lack of connection.  That lack of not really seeing each other.

Because sometimes I think we are so busy looking for what we expect or want from each other or only seeing past hurts that we fail to see the person standing right in front of us.

We are lacking that connection to the real.  To real “you are here with me now person”.

Jesus did that you know.  He connected to the real you are here with me now person.   See Thomas and his doubt.  The woman at the well.   His own momma.

Jesus lacked what the rest of us are steeped in… the sin.  that inborn selfish that pervades all of our actions.  It’s a stain that is dreadful.  It is.

So sin didn’t influence his thoughts or his actions.   He could just connect with the person right there, just as they were.   And not only see them as they were but also see their potential to be more.

Sometimes, especially on days that I hurt, I just want him to come back.  To see him.  To have his light wash away it all.   To remove tetchiness and  dust-ups and sorrow and misunderstandings.

(Even though I really really want to see my lad grow up to be the man of God I think he will be).

A wee bit longer it took to write this than five minutes (wrote and changed, wrote and changed) but hey….you all will forgive me now won’t you?   🙂

Okay some of the rules here.
1. Five minutes to write.
2. it’s a free write which means you aren’t supposed to spend a whack of time editing.  Just write on the word prompt.
3. Dear Miss Kate provides the word prompt.  You can find her blog here.
4. write a post, link it up, then go and encourage the person who went on before you as encouragement is the name of the game and the SOUL of this community (and you wouldn’t want to let us down eh?)

Now????

By 8 Comments

This word, admittedly, has me feeling a bit flummoxed.  What do I do with the word now????   So what do I do when I’m flummoxed… let the lines and thoughts flow through my head and see where they take me.

Now?
Says a lad when asked to do something
NOW?
Can it wait?
Does it have to be done at this exact moment
or can it wait?
It’s a good question.
A question I’ve been needing to ponder.
As I recover from being ill
for so very long.
The question I need to ask is
Can it wait?
Does it have to be done NOW???
And often the answer is no.
It doesn’t have to done RIGHT NOW.
but
sometimes
It does.
And then when just simply does it.
Whether it’s convenient
Or exhausting
Or desired.
Sometimes
the laundry MUST be done
Sometimes
Food MUST be cooked.
Sometimes
Hugs must be given.
Sometimes
One boy child needs a DQ Blizzard for
being ever so very helpful.
Sometimes
Now is 
NOW!
And that brings me to five minutes. 
That actually wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.  🙂
Funny how that works… and it often does for these FUN five minute word prompt posts that are brought our way by Dear Miss Kate.   Today the word prompt is now.
So why not hop in and join us.   Just write for five minutes, link up and then encourage those who have gone on before.  🙂

Days of December – Decorations

By 2 Comments

When I saw this word prompt on the Homeschool Review Crew’s Instagram and it made me think of my tree decorations and how I wanted to share with you some of my favourties.

A new one this year, chosen for my lad, and its already one of my favourites.   It speaks to me of his growing love for being Canadian and wanting to know about this country we live in.  My boy is becoming a fine young man and I just love watching him grow up. 

This Joy ornament I’ve had for a very long time, and it’s still one of my favourites ornaments.  I am always the one to hang it on the tree, and I normally place it fairly high up on the tree.

My son groaned and then laughed when I brought out Mr.Smiles here.   He’s been part of our Christmas for three years now.    I found him hanging in a store one day and just had to bring him home with me.

The following year he was joined by three penguins which ended up turning into a whole troop of penguins…I think I have nine or ten scattered around the tree.    One of our many penguins…you gotta admit.. he is cute.  🙂

We have a variety of glass ornaments, which every year seems to grow a bit smaller as accidents happen, and careful steps need to be made until they are cleaned up.  They are quite old and have been around a long time…. passed down from my mom and hubby’s mom and their trees of old.    Hubby remembers putting some of them up as a youngster.

My son asked that I put these guys up (but I only got one to come up clear).   Every year I get him a Christmas decoration and one year I got him some spider earrings for his Christmas ornament and they remain his absolute favourite ornament to put up.  It’s been five years now and he just loves putting them up.   I always search when we take the tree down to make sure they don’t stay on the tree (as they are clip-ons).    They are a bit odd of an ornament…but they suit our family well.  🙂  And they elicit fun comments from visitors who spot them.

One year my lad and I made these snowmen.   Every year we discuss, will we put them up or not, and every year we see their smiling faces and up they go.  Little ones who visit will often pull them off the tree and the 10 we started with have dwindled down to four as sometimes they make their way home with little ones to put on their own tree.

So tell me, what decorations are on your tree that you treasure?   Do you have a story behind them?   Let me know eh?   🙂

Five Minute Friday: Joy

By 8 Comments

As I sit here this morning pondering the word joy, 
outside my window (past the cat sitting in my way) I see snow.
I wish you could have seen him yesterday when the snow starting falling.
Sitting on his sofa watching the snow come down.   Doing his strange meowing that he does when something excites or interests him.
Then Hubby left to go do some work at the church.
The meowing changed.
He was distraught.
He paced and walked the house.  Checking every room.
Then hubby came back.
Contentment.
A quick jump up, a soft petting, and gentle purr.
Then back to sitting in his spot, watching the snow, with his excited “meows”.
Isn’t that how joy is fully expressed?
Joy is more than happiness.   Joy is happiness contained within something.
For this cat, for this Chase…joy is my hubby and snow falling.
What is your joy? 
_________________________________________________________________________
Five minute Friday was started by Lisa, and then continued by Miss Kate.  You can find her at her blog Heading home.   Every week she posts a word prompt.  This week the word is JOY. 
The rules are simple  Free write on word prompt for five minutes (more or less).  Link up.  Then go and encourage those who have gone on before.    Simple enough eh?  🙂   Join us won’t you?

Days of December: White

By Leave a Comment

The Instagram word prompt for the day is white.   
As I thought about this word this verse popped into my head: 

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s
special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called
you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  1 Peter 2:9.

I have to admit, this is my favourite verse in the bible.  God calling us out of darkness.

If you are called out of darkness you are called INTO something.

“Into his wonderful light”.

Light… which encompasses all the colours.  

I saw an experiment earlier this week that if you spin a disc quickly enough (a disc with all the colours of the rainbow on it) it will turn white.

Can you imagine that?

All those colours mixed together with speed…and you get white.

God calls us into that.   Out of darkness which hides colour into light which encompasses colour.  See the difference?

I don’t want to be caught in darkness with shadows and fear and uncertainty.  Not really knowing what’s going on.  

But being in the light…which encompasses all that I am and all that I am meant to be… Now that is something I want to be part of.  Don’t you?

Days of December: List

By Leave a Comment


You better watch out, you better not cry
Better not pout, I’m telling you why
Santa Claus is comin’ to town
He’s making a list and checking it twice
Gonna find out who’s naughty and nice
Santa Claus is comin’ to town
These words are so familiar this time of year aren’t they?
I grew up NOT believing in Santa, my mom did…and when she found out that he wasn’t real, she wondered what else her mom had lied to her about.   Ergo.. .no Santa.  
Therefore as I grew up I didn’t understand the fervour of “needing to be good” at Christmas time.  The wanting to make sure that you only had good things on the list that some Santa figure was writing down.
I remember, as a teen, a little girl crying because she just knew that Santa had caught her being bad and had written it on his list.  She was SO frightened about this.
This list.
So I wonder…. is it really helping children to teach them about Santa.  To teach them about a fat, jolly man who watches them ALL THE TIME so he can decide if they are good enough to get presents.
Wouldn’t it be better to teach them about Christ, and about God’s immense love for them.   That he even sent his son to cover all the naughtiness that we can get into.  How all we have to do is accept that love.   Love rather than fear….  
Just makes me wonder…