Snack Time

Devotion for the Week...

I love eating crackers for snacks. Crackers with hummus, crackers and cheese or just plain crackers, it doesn't really matter. The problem is, those crackers aren't exactly great for me, especially not in the quantity I like to eat them. I often go for mindless eating, straight from the box, even though I know that's not a good idea.

I also love eating fresh fruit and Greek yogurt, whether together or not. Both of those make great snacks, with the added benefit of not being full of empty calories. I make sure we always have fruit and yogurt in the house.

Unfortunately, I almost always choose some form of cracker rather than the fruit and/or yogurt. No matter how often I think in the morning, 'I'll choose healthy snacks today', I still find myself gravitating towards the satisfying crunch of the crackers. While thinking about this habit a few days ago, I though of Romans 7:14-20, in which Paul says:

"The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it."

I have always loved this passage for two reasons. First of all, as a writer, I just love the way it's written. There's something about the structure and Paul's word choices that really appeals to me. The biggest reason I love it, though, is Paul's honesty. Here is a man who could easily be held up as an ideal Christian, as someone who never gets it wrong and who lives a life that normal people just can't relate to. He wrote a large chunk of the Bible, after all! But instead, he shows us in this passage that he's no different than we are. He understands what is right and wrong, just as we do. He knows the things he should be doing, just as we do. Even still, he finds himself not doing the things he should and doing the things he shouldn't. Can you relate to that? I know I can, and not only when it comes to choosing my snacks.

Our sinful nature lives right there alongside the Spirit, fighting against how the Spirit wants us to live. Our sinful nature is selfish and wants nothing more than to gratify its every desire. The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, lives inside believers to give us the power to live as God wants us to live, to deny sin and serve Him. "The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions" (Galatians 5:17).

The background is a small portion of the quilting on my Pinwheel Whirl quilt.

Whether I choose an apple or crackers for a snack has no spiritual implications. It really doesn't matter, aside from the extra running I may have to do to keep my weight in check. Giving in to the temptation to gossip does have spiritual implications, though. So does giving in to the temptation to lie to make ourselves look better, or letting anger control our responses or letting our inability to forgive someone create bitterness in our hearts. Those are all things that go against how God wants us to live and they're all opportunities to choose to listen to the Spirit instead of our sinful nature.

Our sinful nature wants us to do one thing. The Holy Spirit presents us with a different option. Which one will we follow?

Path to Friendship Block Tutorial

In November I'll be one of two queen bees for the True North bee, so I needed to pick a block to have my bee mates make. I knew I wanted a scrappy block, preferably with a star in it, so I designed this one that I'm calling the Path to Friendship block 😊

This is a 12" finished block, perfect for using up small scraps in a couple of different colours. I've chosen blue and orange as my main colours as that has become one of my favourite combinations. I had no trouble at all pulling enough fabrics from my stash 😊

Here's what the blocks look like tiled together.

And here's how they look with 1" sashing and orange cornerstones. I think this will be how I assemble mine once they all arrive from the other True North Bee members.

Make the Blocks

You need scraps in three different colour groups - one for the friendship stars (blue), one for the squares that make up the path (orange) and one for the background (white/cream).

To make 1 block, cut:

Blue
4 3" squares
2 2 ½" squares

Orange
2 4 ½" squares
2 2 ½" squares

White/cream
4 3" squares
4 2 ½" x 4 ½" rectangles
8  2 ½" squares

Make the Friendship Stars

Draw a diagonal line on the back of all of the white/cream 3" stars. Pair each white/cream square with a blue 3" square, right sides together, and stitch ¼" away from the drawn line on both sides.

Cut apart on the drawn line and press open. Trim the HSTs to 2 ½" square. Make 8 background/blue HSTs for each block.

Using the HSTs, the blue 2½" squares and the white/cream 2½" squares, layout the Friendship Stars as shown. Stitch the units into rows, pressing the seams away from the HSTs.

Stitch the rows together, pressing these seams open to reduce bulk. Make 2 Friendship Stars for each block.

Make the Path Units

Layout the orange 2 ½" and 4 ½" squares with the white/cream 2 ½" x 4 ½" rectangles as shown.

Stitch the pieces together as shown, pressing the seams either open or towards the orange pieces.

 Then stitch the rows together. Make 2 path units for each block.

Assemble the block

Layout the friendship stars and the path units as shown to create the block. Stitch the units into rows, pressing the seams open. Then stitch the rows together, again pressing the seams open.

Here are close ups of my three blocks. I love all the scraps in them!

These were so much fun to make! I can't wait to see what beautiful scraps will be in the blocks sent to me. I'll be sure the share them when they arrive 😊

What colours would you choose for your Path to Friendship blocks?

Unkind Speech

Devotion for the Week...

"Stick and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." Is there any children's rhyme so full of wishful thinking as this one? Contrary to what many of us chanted at our childhood rivals, the power of our words to hurt other people seems limitless. Maybe that's why the Bible talks so much about what we say. James tells us to tame our tongues, Proverbs talks about the value of a gentle answer and Matthew records Jesus saying we will be judged for the words we spoke.

Then there's 1 Peter 2:1: "So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech." When I read this verse a couple of weeks ago, it just made me shake my head. Can you imagine what the world would look like if there were no unkind speech? This verse is directed at believers, of course, so let's narrow down our expectations - can you imagine what the world would look like if all Christians were done with unkind speech? It's pretty hard to imagine, isn't it?

To make it harder to root it all out of our lives, there are many varieties of unkind speech. There's the obvious, like calling people names or belittling their work or abilities. Most of us try to avoid that. But then there are the more insidious varieties, like gossip or judgmental comments like "I can't imagine why she..." Those are harder to 'be done with' because they often feel like normal conversation. It's simply habit to talk about other people, at least a little bit, especially when we feel we are making better choices than they are. There's no denying it falls into the category of unkind speech, though.

And then there are the things we say when we're angry or hurt. How easy is it to snap out something unkind when someone is pushing all of our buttons? How hard is it to remind ourselves to just breathe for a second before responding so our words don't bite?

Let's not forget, too, that much of our speech these days flows through our fingers rather than our mouths. I don't think God will give us a pass for the unkind things we've typed rather than said out loud. If a kindness meter were attached to our keyboards, what would it reveal about our typed speech?

Background quilt is my Cross Stitch wall quilt

I think I'm generally kind, but there's still plenty of room for improvement in my own speech. I went for a run when this devotion was half written and found myself making a judgmental comment along the way, which then made me laugh because it was so contrary to what I'd been writing earlier. Hopefully so I can continue to catch myself when those kinds of comments arise in the future. After all, being aware of a problem is the first step towards fixing it.

Here's the standard Paul gives us: "Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them" (Ephesians 4:29).