Planning

Devotion for the Week...

This is what my Quilter's Planner looked like over the summer.

This is what it looked like last week.

Ignore the blotted out spots...I jotted down a couple of phone numbers 

It's not that there was nothing that needed to be done over the summer, but it was vacation time and I was very much in the "it'll get done when it gets done" mode. I could do a little here and a little there whenever I felt like it.

Now, though, I'm babysitting four 1-3 year olds full time so my available time to do anything productive is rather limited. That means I have to schedule it in and actually make myself (try) to follow through on my plans. I have to admit, I don't always get everything done, but crossing things off feels really good 😊 And for some strange reason, I actually like seeing the column for each day filled with tasks, with all intentions of being super-productive. I may even be guilty of over-planning in my enthusiasm, writing down more things than I could possibly ever accomplish in the time I have available, as evidenced by the not-crossed-off things on last week's list.

Then I wake up on Saturday morning and there's no water. So much for my plans to clean the bathroom, workout and then shower! Since I knew this would be today's devotion, I was rather amused by how the lack of water hijacked my plans for the day, while at the same time that I was annoyed because I couldn't get done what I wanted to.

"Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that" (James 4:13-15).

You do not even know what will happen tomorrow. How true is that? No matter how hard we wish it, we cannot see into the future to know if we will have the health to pursue the plans we're making, or if we'll still be living in the same place or if we'll still be alive then. We don't even know if our water will be flowing through our taps when we wake in the morning!

If it is the Lord's will...My plans have a tendency to be all about my will. They reveal what I want to accomplish, where I want to be a year from now, the work that I want to be doing. Can you relate? I often have to remind myself to step back and ask if what I'm planning is God's will for me or not.

Of course, this doesn't mean that we shouldn't make plans, either in the short-term or the long-term. It means that we try to remember that our plans are really in God's hands. We acknowledge that His will must prevail and we must be ready and willing to adjust our plans to fulfill His plans.

That's not always easy, especially if we're attached to our plans and dreams, but it is the best way to be sure that we are living the lives God has planned for us. And you can be sure His plan is the best one!

TGIFF - Divided in Quilty Magazine

Welcome to TGIFF! This has been the first week back to work and school for us and it has made the week feel like it has flown by at super speed. Here are the boys on their first day of school. Zach is now in grade 8, Aiden is in grade 10 (senior high!) and Nathan is in grade 4.

Back in early December I made a throw quilt for Quilty magazine in 9 days. 9! It was crazy, considering I was also working full time and most of my quilts take me at least weeks, if not months, to finish. However, deadlines can be very motivating, so 9 days after the fabric arrived in the mail, I had it finished and quickly got it ready and put the finished quilt back in the mail.

But I didn't take a picture of it.

Whomp, whomp, whomp.

Now, though, the quilt is in the September/October issue of Quilty, so I have a picture to show you (by taking a picture of my copy, lol!) 😊 Meet Divided...

This quilt was inspired by a man who visited our church to speak. His shirt had an orange peel-like design, with the button placket in a different print altogether, making for a really stark division between the two sides of the shirt. I hardly heard a word he said because I kept staring at his shirt and trying to envision how I could turn it into a quilt design!

All of the fabric for this quilt was provided by the Me + You division of Hoffman Fabrics. The background is one of their Indah solids and the prints are all from the Indah batiks line. I have to say I loved the feel of the fabrics and I will definitely want to use them again.

Thanks to this quilt, I now know I can make a quilt in 9 days, though I hope not to make a habit of it.

What have you finished this week (or many weeks ago, but now you can share it)? Link up below and be sure to visit some of the other links to celebrate their finishes with them 😊

An InLinkz Link-up

Adaptation

Devotion for the Week...

As I mentioned last week, I love knowing the names of the wildflowers I see and to that end I just bought another book about Newfoundland's wildflowers and ferns. The book includes a short section that describes the various habitats that exist on the island (limestone barrens, wetlands, coastline, etc), all of which have different challenges and advantages for plants. For example, plants that live along the coastline have to deal with salt spray, which would be deadly to most plants because the salt would make them dry out.

Of course, there are plants growing along the coastline, including some plants that grow right on the beaches. Those plants are able to survive in that salty environment because they have a feature that protects them from drying out; for example, they may have a waxy coating that protects the leaves. Without that coating on the leaves the plant would struggle to survive.

Thinking about how different plants adapt to different growing conditions made me think of my favourite flower when we lived in Igloolik, which is a small island in Nunavut. The arctic has a really short summer and plants have to be hardy to survive. Dwarf fireweed is a gorgeous purple-pink flower that grows like a carpet all over the place. It lines the sides of the runways, making for a beautiful display when you come in for a landing.

The summer after we moved to Newfoundland, we were driving one day and I noticed the roadside was covered in tall purple flowers. When we stopped I was delighted to see it was a tall version of the dwarf fireweed I had loved so much in Igloolik. It makes me smile when I see it every summer, both because it's a beautiful flower and because it reminds me of our time in Igloolik.

The fireweed that grows in the arctic is a dwarf version of the fireweed that grows here because the summer doesn't give plants time to grow that tall in the north. Dwarf fireweed has adapted to quickly reach its full height and produce flowers so it can produce seeds before the short summer is over. It's the only way the plant can thrive in a less-than-ideal environment.

Spiritually speaking, we are also living in an environment that is less than ideal. I don't mean the world around us (though it certainly has less than ideal elements). I'm actually thinking of our human nature. There are a few elements of our human nature that make it less than ideal for us to survive and thrive as Christians.

First of all, our human nature is selfish. It wants to have all of our needs and wants met, regardless of how meeting them may negatively impact us or others. Just think about how a toddler reacts when told 'no' and you get a picture of our human nature in action. Sure, our parents mostly trained that out of us (hopefully), but there's no denying that basic selfishness stays in some form or another.

Second, our human nature is focused on 'now' and has trouble making decisions based on the future. This plays out in a lot of ways, from not being able to control eating because we want that dessert now, even though we also want the smaller waistline later, to not being able to control our spending because we want to buy something now, even though we also want to save for the proverbial rainy day.

Put those two elements together and we have a recipe for disaster, everything from marital affairs to stealing from employers to gossip can be traced back to these elements of our human nature. And Christians aren't immune to these problems. Paul wrote, " I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do" (Romans 7:15). That sinful human nature has a tight grip on us and it can be hard to live contrary to it.

Thankfully, we have an adaptation that God has given us as Christians to help us survive and thrive even though we are living with this human nature. That adaptation is the Holy Spirit living inside of each of us.

Jesus told us, "the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you." (John 14:26). God knew what we would need to survive. He knew that we would need constant reminding to live His way, not the way that would come naturally to us.

Knowing us, knowing our human nature and what we would need to live as Christians thriving despite our human nature, He gave us the Holy Spirit, living within us to speak up when we are tempted to say or do something we shouldn't. The Holy Spirit is the One who reminds us that there is a better way to live. The Holy Spirit is also the One who reminds us of God's grace when we make mistakes and need His forgiveness.

Living with our sinful nature is certainly less than ideal, but with the Holy Spirit we can definitely survive and thrive as God intends.