Hodgepodgin' It

It's Wednesday Hodgepodge time again. Head over to Joyce's From This Side to the Pond to see what everyone else is talking about. (After you finish here, of course.)

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1. Labor Day weekend (in the US of A) is approaching...what's something you've labored over this year? 
Whew, tough one. I have labored most over the areas of sin in my life that I want to overcome.

2. What is one word to describe your 'job' or career?
Homemaker

3. What was your worst or least favorite job ever? Why?
When I worked in a shop that sold cake and candy supplies. I got tired of the smell of chocolate! (I recovered, though.)

4. How do you measure contentment?
I measure contentment in terms of peacefulness. When I feel peaceful, I feel content.

5. Pickles-like or dislike? What is something you eat that requires a pickle? Dill, bread and butter, sweet gherkins...what's your favorite kind of pickle?
I love pickles of all sizes, shapes and varieties. Thanksgiving dinner requires pickles! Those little, sweet gherkins are always part of our relish tray. My sons and I fight over them.

6. In your current house-town-state, what is it you like living close to?
I should say Washington, D.C., but since I hardly ever travel up the road to get there (too, too much traffic), I can't say that. Instead, I will say the Potomac River because I love any body of water.

7. What is one thing on your 'want-to-do' list before summer draws to an official close?
I haven't gone kayaking at all this summer. Hopefully, I'll get off my rear and go at least once.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.
Sadly, our neighbors two doors away have lost their home and must move by tomorrow. We don't know them well because English isn't their first language. They are quiet, friendly, hard-working people and it breaks my heart that the poor economy (he is in construction and remodeling) forced them into this situation.

Zen State

Working in the garden . . . gives me a profound feeling of inner peace

Ruth Stout

Z-day has finally arrived. I almost didn't make it since April turned out to be unusually, unpredictably busy. A state of zen has been reached now that April 30 is here.

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Peace. What brings you a sense of peace? My son asked me this question recently and I've been considering it since. Like the author of the quote, I feel a sense of peace while working in my garden. I feel that same peace while cleaning my house, bringing order out of disorder, cleanliness out of mess. I feel peace when all is well with my husband and children. I feel peace when our income exceeds our out go.

If we base our sense of peace on feelings of security and happiness, on outside circumstances, we're destined to be disappointed because our circumstances are often filled with turmoil. A true sense of peace can only be found in relationship with God.

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. John 16:32-33

I think I finally have an answer for my son. I feel peace, true peace, when I am regularly reading my Bible, when my prayer life is consistent, when I am quiet enough to hear the voice of God and trusting that His way is best.

Peace to Those on Whom His Favor Rests

The peace candle is the fourth candle lit on the Advent wreath.

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In one of the best loved of all Christmas Carols, Silent Night, we sing "Sleep in heavenly peace." We imagine our King of Kings and Lord of Lords being born on a quiet, peaceful evening accompanied by rejoicing from His parents and the angels and then the shepherds. Surely there must have been a sense of holiness about that evening. We can all imagine the peace of that moment, a moment heralding prophetic fulfillment regarding the coming Messiah.

But that baby, the incarnate Christ, did not come to bring peace. He tells us straight in Matthew 10:34, "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."

We hope for peace. We pray for peace. But there will be no true, complete, lasting peace until we are spending eternity in heaven with our God. Jesus wanted us to realize that in His definitive statement in Matthew.

There are occasional glimpses of peace in our lives, fleeting and few, but I think God gives us those small tastes of peace so that we do not lose hope and so that we remember that someday there will be peace on earth.

Even now, come Lord Jesus.