Share Four Somethings - October 2022

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I was out of town at the beginning of this week so Something Loved, Something Gleaned, Something Braved and Something Achieved snuck up on me a little bit! I kept thinking I would have time to do it and then got distracted and forgot. Hopefully I'll get in just under the wire to share my four somethings for this month!

Something Loved

After more than three years, my parents have finally been able to come for a visit! They've been here for the past two weeks and we have loved every minute. We've played games, gone for drives to see fall colours, worked around the house together, and just sat around and talked. We've introduced our infant granddaughter to Gramma and Papa, and we took a couple days to go visit our son and his family so our other granddaughter could get reacquainted with her Gramma and Papa. I have absolutely loved how much our grown kids love and respect their grandparents and seeing how important family is to them. 

Something Gleaned

The wording of a couple parallel passages in the gospels stood out to me a couple weeks ago so I quoted Jesus' words and wrote the following little devotional for my weekly Scripture and a Snapshot post last weekend on Just A Second:

"No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them."

Now Jesus' mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you."
He replied, "My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice."

~Luke 8:16-21~

"If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear."

"Consider carefully what you hear," he continued, "With the measure you use, it will be measured to you - and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them."  

~Mark 4:23-25~ 

Consider carefully how you listen, and what you hear. I noticed that wording this week, and that the familiar sayings about those who have will be given more and the same measure you use being measured to you follow the specific instruction to listen carefully. It seems to me that we like to use those adages to encourage generosity with our money, but when seen in context, I'm not sure that's the exact point Jesus was making. Perhaps he is telling us to be mindful of what the Bible says and the teaching we get from it and about it. And to be mindful as well about how well we obey the Word and what we teach others about it. Those who listen and learn and obey will be given more wisdom from the Scripture. The amount of effort and dedication we put into learning from the Word will be the measure with which we receive all the blessings of the Word.

Something Braved or Something Saved

It's the strangest thing . . . TWICE in one year we've had to brave a surprise job loss. We were just as floored this time and it was just as nonsensical, but this time it was both me and my husband since we worked at the same place. Once again he's been back to the job hunt and we've been experiencing the uncertainty about what comes next. We're very glad that we saved some money over the past six months so we have something to tide us over. God provides.

And it has actually been very nice that we've had our daytimes mostly free so we could spend maximum time with Mom and Dad on their visit here! Always helpful when we can see some positives and count our blessings, and we do have so many.

Something Achieved

Something we love about being Canadians living in America is that we get to celebrate Thanksgiving twice. We love to invite friends to share in the Canadian Thanksgiving feast with us in October and this year was another success and so much fun! In general I don't enjoy cooking, but I do love pulling together a big family and friends dinner and pouring myself into prepping and cooking and baking. It's a big accomplishment for me to have the house ready for guests, have a big spread of good food and homemade bread and desserts prepared, and have orchestrated all of it well enough that when our guests arrive, I can sit down and enjoy conversation with them over a good meal. 

If you're curious about Canadian Thanksgiving, see my post: Happy Thanksgiving! Canadian Style

This post will be linked at Share Four Somethings hosted by HeatherGerwing.com

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