From a Cluttered Desk

I am Tammy Cardwell, she of the cluttered desk. (Hey, you think I'm kidding?!) I'm having a blast here in Blogland and invite to you to peruse my ramblings. Like a buffet, they offer variety - essentially whatever makes it to the top of the piles that sometimes clutter my brain. We'll eventually cover it all - homeschooling, God, our church, the Eclectic Homeschool Online, books I'm writing and publishing, conferences I speak at, the joys of grandmotherhood, and hopefully chocolate. Of course, this is only what's near the top now. Who knows what's in those piles?

God can use the most unusual things to preach sermons to us!

Anyone who has done much reading here knows we homeschooled our sons. Homeschooling can lead to some interesting experiments, and one of ours involved silkworms.

The silkworm’s life cycle is fairly well known. The worm eats constantly until the day it spins a cocoon around itself, then it settles in and starts changing. Eventually it exits the cocoon as a lovely little silk moth and flies away. That’s the way it’s supposed to happen at any rate.

With two of our silkworms, we got the common result. Not so with the third; it never left the cocoon. You can tell it started trying, but for whatever reason it never left its protective shell. I still have that cocoon, with its dead contents. I also kept one of the empty cocoons. God has used them more than once to teach me and remind me of certain truths. I call them my sermons in a box – Silkworm Sermons.

Get Out of Your Comfort Zone and Fly
God’s first silkworm sermon (preached privately to me) was about the dangers of the comfort zone. How many times in our lives do we fall into the comfort zone trap, refusing to move forward into new territory because we feel comfortable, even safe, where we are?

It’s an age-old failing. The children of Israel did the very same thing. For all that they complained almost constantly, they were relatively comfortable with the dessert, disinclined to leave their safe place and enter apparently dangerous new territory. I can remember times in my life when I’ve felt pretty much the same way!

I once heard a man say that if you want to have something you’ve never had you’ve got to do something you’ve never done. Israel was offered that chance; they refused – and that generation died. Just like that silkworm, they failed to leave their nice, safe place – their comfort zone – and they died in the dessert.

I refuse. I like my comfort zones as much as anyone, but if I’m facing two choices – one that will leave me dead in the dessert, trapped in silk – and another that will leave me free to fly as the next generation (and the other two silkworms) eventually did – I’m kicking the cocoon!

That’s just a decision of course. When you get to the follow through the going can get a little rough – or a lot rough. The dead silkworm did try to leave the cocoon, after all. Why did it fail? A battle begun may be half won, but it’s only half won. Sadly, again, it’s usually self that causes us the most trouble.

I’m thinking about Israel again, of course. They’d begun taking new ground, but came to a critical point when one man gave into his own selfish desires and took from Jericho something God had already said belonged to Him alone. Had Israel not dealt with this sin when they did, a whole nation could have died right then and there. Even when self is forced out of its comfort zone, it must still be kept under constant guard or it will stop you in your tracks.

But it can be conquered, and both the nation of Israel and the silk moths that flew away are proof that we have within us the power to enter into amazing new life if we will only determine to leave that comfortable, familiar, old life behind.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

I just saw a book title that intrigued me - The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living as if He Doesn’t Exist. Of course I had to read the book description, and one sentence leapt out at me.

When Groeschel discovered that the real key to faith is intimacy with God, everything changed.

That really is what faith is all about. How can you have faith in someone you don’t know? If the father you trust says, “Stay right here. I’ll be back in a little bit with a hundred dollar bill for you,” you will park yourself for three hours if necessary because you know him and you know he will return with the hundred dollar bill. If a stranger on the street says the same thing, how long will you stand around, waiting, feeling like a fool before you decide it was a hoax?

“Without faith it is impossible to please God.” (Hebrews 11:6) We know this, but how do we build our faith? There is a world of teaching out there. I’ll just address the one, foundational principle that Groeschel discovered. You cannot have faith in - genuinely trust - someone you do not know. Therefore, if you want stronger faith in God, you must develop a stronger relationship with God. How do you do this?

You do it the same way you develop relationships with anyone else. You spend time together.

Pray
This should be obvious, but for most of us it’s really low on our list of priorities. Praying IS spending time with God. It’s not an appointment just to give God our wish lists; it’s a time to fellowship with Him, spend time in His presence, speak, and LISTEN. Too often we get so caught up in the “me” part of praying that we forget that true communication requires both speaking and listening. God does speak to us; it’s just that too often we don’t shut up long enough to hear what He’s saying. (Reminding myself of this, here!)

Read the Bible
John 1:1 makes it crystal clear that The Word IS God. (”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”) If you want to know God better, get into His Word. I’ve said this repeatedly through the years - if we want to know God as well as we possibly can, we cannot neglect spending time in His Word. There’s no law about how much time we should spend in the Word, but it’s simple reality that our relationship with Him will deepen in direct proportion to how much time we spend with Him.

Be in Church
God calls each of us to a specific place of worship so that we can be fitly joined together with the rest of His body. In calling us to that place, He sets in front of us the ministers who can most particularly help us grow closer to Him. There is a reason Hebrews 10:25 tells us not to forsake the assembly; church is an important part of growing closer to God.

Which brings me to a rabbit trail, but one I’m going to follow. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard someone tell me that they “knew” they were supposed to be going to a specific church, but they just couldn’t because _______. (Didn’t like the music, didn’t like the preacher, got hurt by a member of the congregation, didn’t want to drive that far…) Forgive me for being blunt, but that is no excuse. Church isn’t about me or my neighbor or how far I have to drive. Church is about God. So if I tell God that I refuse to go to the church He called me to, then I’m telling Him that my tastes and my feelings and my convenience are more important than Him. That is hardly grounds for a good relationship!

Without faith it is impossible to please God.
Without relationship it is virtually impossible to have faith.

Get to know Him. Get to know Him better every day.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Jack got notice yesterday that he has been approved for Social Security Disability, BLESS GOD!!!!! Yes, this means he is part of that tiny minority - people who are approved the first time they apply - and we give God all the glory for making it happen!

So last night, after I got through thanking God and shouting and thanking God and singing and thanking God and dancing and thanking God and fighting the urge to cry and seriously thanking God, I spent a bit of time in prayer. This is a huge financial breakthrough for us. It would be so easy to go nuts with such an increase and wake up six months from now to the realization that we were no better off than we have been - all through our own failure to manage our suddenly increased finances appropriately.

So God and I have been talking about what HE wants us to do with our money once the checks start coming in, and I made a commitment to Him that we will be responsible with this great gift He has given us. He’s giving us a second (or is it third…or fourth…or…?) chance, and we are going to be responsible adults.

I wish I’d known how to be one of those 29 years ago when we got married. My young friends, when they tell you that you seriously need to start saving for your future no matter how much you would rather buy those fun things you want today or how tight finances are…. LISTEN. And don’t just listen. ACT.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Well, she’s been a girl for a while. After all, she’s a month old now.

I had boys.
My sister had boys.

One of my boys has finally had A GIRL!!!!

I absolutely adore my grandson and wouldn’t trade him for the world, but I must confess that there is something extra special about holding your granddaughter in your arms when the only closely related babies you’ve ever held have been boys.

Is that not the most precious picture?! Grandparenthood has got to be one of the best rewards for growing up.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Note: Don’t go looking for 131 other such tips. I’ve given several, but not quite that many.

I’ve an unusual resource to recommend today. The Wish List

Wish lists fall into the “Why didn’t I think of this sooner?” category. We all have wish lists in our heads, but places like amazon.com, target.com, etc., take the concept even further. You essentially do what expectant parents and soon-to-be marrieds do, only you set up a wish list instead of a baby or wedding registry, then register for things you need.

This serves the thrifty shopper in several ways.

1. Advance Research
You know you will need to buy a new microwave in the near future. Do the research today and put your selection on the list. As soon as you have the money, you place the order and not only save yourself from having to do some frantic shopping, but also avoid the temptation to go over budget. I’ve also found that several of the items on my Target wish list get free shipping, which means if I order them I will also be saving myself the gas of a trip to the store and the temptation that comes from walking those delightful aisles.

2. Know What You Need
It’s crazy, but I can get downright frustrated when I get unexpected income if I don’t already have a plan for using such monies. I mean, there are so many places the money needs to go! If you have a wish list in place, however, and the money isn’t needed elsewhere, you already know how you can best spend the money to meet your family’s needs – because you’ve done the research.

3. Incentive
Even for the thrifty, self-denial can be tough. It helps, when tempted by that extra dinner out, to be able to pull up the listing for that new TV the family is saving up for and remind yourself that many family movie nights trumps a single meal.

4. Take Some Time
Putting a desired item on a wish list instead of heading out to purchase it also gives you permission to think about it. I’ve used paper wish lists off and on through the years and don’t know how many times I’ve at first been convinced I just had to have something only to find myself removing it from the list weeks or months later.
On the other hand, if an item stays on your wish list for a while the odds are much higher that it will end up being one of those purchases you’ll be glad you made.

5. In-store Convenience
Few things are as frustrating as walking down the aisle of a store and suddenly seeing too many choices. (“Oh man… Which size rug did we need?!”) If you happen to have used a store-based site (i.e. Target.com) to set up your list, you may be able to answer that question with the touch of a button.

Ain’t technology grand?

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C