Stuff Brittany Likes

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Five Important Ways to Impact Your Home…and Your World

From Keeper of the Home: Five Important Ways to Impact Your Home…and Your World:

Written by Natalie Klejwa, Contributing Writer
While at a recent visit to the doctor, I forgot my Kindle, and had to resign myself to finding something worthwhile to read in a nearby stack of mags. Among the usual People, Woman's Day, Parenting, and Home and Garden, I came across one I hadn't seen before: Success.
I perused through the table of contents until something caught my eye. It was an article about the differences between Players and Pretenders, and I was struck by the Biblical truths presented in this secular article. Do you desire to be influence the people in your life? Here's how:

1. Players have a servant's mindset. Pretenders have a selfish mindset.

Isn't that interesting? Our culture recognizes that success comes from serving others. Yet it despises the woman who chooses to serve her husband and family. In other words, go ahead and serve your boss, your co-workers, your clients and your friends. But your family? Are you kidding? To serve THEM means you are relegated to doormat status.
Here's a great question the article posed:
How can you tell if you have a servant attitude?

Answer: By the way you react when you are treated like one.
Don't you love that? When was the last time you were treated like someone's servant? How did you feel? What did you say to yourself? What did you say out loud? I remember being a new wife. "What do you think I AM?? Your SERVANT?"
Well, if I want to be a woman of influence in the life of my husband...um...yes. Why would I care more about my boss than my husband? More about my co-workers and clients than my progeny?

2. Players are mission conscious. Pretenders are position conscious.

Are you on a mission? Or are you just jockeying for position? This kind of thing goes on in churches all the time. If you want to influence the people around you, be passionate about something other than yourself. We all have issues with this. I love myself just as much as the next guy. So we need to keep our eyes focused on ardently pursuing the glory of King Jesus rather than on pampering our ever-loving selves.
Keep in mind that whatever gets us excited will rub off on those around us. If our children see us more excited about their ball game on Sunday morning than the corporate worship of our Creator, guess what they will grow up thinking about ball vs. God?

3. Players are job-happy. Pretenders are job hunters.

Do you love your job as wife, mother and homemaker? Or does your family hear you whining about your lot in life all the time? Is your attitude that of surrendered contentment? A peaceful and joyful demeanor that permeates your home? Or do you tend to think you'd be SO much happier if ONLY you had so-and-so's life. If ONLY you had a bigger home. A better yard. A nicer car. A generous budget. A different husband. Another past.
You are influencing everyone around you whether you are aware of it or not. What do they think about your critical role in society? Are your little girls just dying to grow up and have your life? Are your little boys looking forward to marrying the girl of their dreams? A girl just like their mother?

4. Players deliver the goods. Pretenders promise the goods.

This one is for us bloggers. We like to blog about truth. But are we living it? And who really knows? Our Creator knows. And deep down inside, we do too.

5. Players live to see others succeed. Pretenders are interested in their own success.

Hunkering down at home to wipe noses, tables, and bottoms isn't going to land any of us on the pages of, well...Success magazine. But it just may launch a few human beings into influential lives of their own. Lives that will impact the world for Jesus Christ. Lives that will impact other lives for all eternity.

So...Player or Pretender. Which one are you?

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Comments

WOW. This article is so fantastic. For me, I work outside of ... by Amber Bailey
Slap in the face good! I really needed to read this today! I ... by Carla
Natalie, thank you so much for sharing this. All of it, but ... by Hannah
Beautiful! Thanks so much for this inspiring reminder! Life ... by Annie Kate

Monday, July 30, 2012

take time to play

From MOB Society: take time to play:

“Mommy, will you play cars with me?”

Without even glancing his way, I quickly reply, “Not right now, Mommy is washing dishes. I’ll play later.”

I’ll be honest, there is always something I “should” be doing–laundry to fold, dishes to wash, beds to make. My never-ending list is like a scrolling billboard in my brain. I could fill up my days with the mundane tasks of homemaking and I still wouldn’t get everything crossed off my list. Sometimes, in between all of the doing and list crossing, I neglect my highest calling–mothering.
It is in those moments after I make an excuse, his eyes sadden and the look of disappointment appears. I feel a tug at my heart and a whisper to my soul, “It can wait, daughter. It’s okay to play.” Sometimes I choose to ignore it, repeating my excuse to the Lord. Other times, I surrender my list, crawl in the floor and play without abandon. The play time is always sweeter and the moments more memorable when I sacrifice my own plans and choose to play.

“What our children will remember most about their childhood when they grow older are two things: how much love was in the home, and how much time you spent with them.”— Richard Swenson

When my son recalls his childhood, I want him to remember that I took the time to play with him. I don’t want him to recount rejection and placing trivial things higher on my priority list than spending time with him. Investing time to build relationships requires that we unplug from distractions and enter into our children’s worlds. In the early years, this means joining them on the floor–pushing cars, playing games, building forts with the couch cushions. As they age and join sports or social activities, we have to be intentional and plan time to show them how much we value them.

So today I challenge you: Choose to play.

Invest the time it takes to build intimacy in your relationship. Trade in one thing on your To Do List for a chance to make memories and deepen your relationship with your son. It doesn’t have to be big–blow bubbles, run through the sprinkler, challenge them to a video game, read an extra book at bedtime…anything! Let’s count the cost and invest in our children first. Trust me, the dishes will still be there waiting.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

The Garden of Your Mind

The video is really cool, and I love the C.S. Lewis quote.

From Food Renegade:The Garden of Your Mind:

I saw a video on YouTube last week. I watched it once. Then again. Then again. I'm officially addicted to it. It's a digital re-mix of Mr. Rogers. You remember his PBS show, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood? Well, John D. Boswell of Symphony of Science took some of the most profound things that Mr. Rogers ever had to teach us and set it all to music, then arranged it in a beautiful video for PBS Digital Solutions.

A bad attitude is like a flat tire…

From Money Saving Mom:

A bad attitude is like a flat tire…:

photo source

Learn how to go from financial mess to financial success. Order your copy of my brand-new book The Money Saving Mom®'s Budget today!

A bad attitude is like a flat tire… is a post from: Money Saving Mom

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Tuesday, June 12, 2012

How to Raise Prince Charming to Save Damsels in Distress

From MOB Society:

How to Raise Prince Charming to Save Damsels in Distress:
Recently, I went to a movie at the dollar theater with a couple of friends. Several people had told us it would be a good and entertaining two hours.
It was fun, entertaining, filled with innocent laughs and punch lines. Good, though? Not so much. We were taken by surprise by an unnecessarily sexual scene involving two girls.
As I walked out of the theater later that evening, my heart started to break. It was not just because I had been surprised by a raunchy scene (note to self: spend more time reading PluggedIn before the next movie). I was heartbroken because of the two young actresses who had given part of themselves away for a few seconds of attention.
I wondered how those two actresses–those two girls–had reached a point in their young lives where they would allow themselves to be so demeaned for a few measly minutes of screen time.
Perhaps it’s not so surprising, though. Turn on the TV and you will be bombarded by sexual overtones and undertones filling your screen and speakers. Check out at the supermarket and highly sexualized magzaine covers placed at eye level will compete for your eyes. Drive down a billboard-infested strip of highway but keep your eyes on the road!
I’m not even talking about pornography, but just all the subtle messages in the broader, “civilized” culture where we live, work, and play every day. How can we counteract the strong, demeaning, and damaging messages that saturate our culture and affect how young girls think about themselves and their place in the world.
The answer I think is–we get our young men involved.

“Nathan,” you may be thinking, “I am a Mother Of Boys. I’m not here to read about girls. I’m trying to protect my boys from the perverted view of girls and sex out there! What does this have to do with me and my boys?”
Everything.
It is perfectly understandable that your first concern is to protect your boys from the sexualized influences of our culture. A good defense must be your first line of action. Controlling TV and computer, and avoiding other exposure is wise. However, you can’t just medicate a symptom and avoid the underlying illness.
When I was about five years old, my mom was driving me home from an afternoon activity. We passed a billboard emblazoned with a women wearing clothing that left very little to the imagination. In my little heart I knew something was wrong, so I asked my mom why I felt this way, why was I sad.
My mom did not react and make me feel bad because I had seen a lewd picture. She gently explained that the model on that billboard just had not had someone in her life to teach her how beautiful she was to God. She dressed that way because she had listened to the perverted message of culture, but not to the pure message of someone who loved her just as she was, and because of who she was. She felt sorry for the girl, just as I felt sorry for the girls in the film. Even at a young age, my mom’s words made sense to me.
The problem wasn’t just that the billboard was there. No mother will be able to hide every billboard, magazine cover, or commercial. The problem was also the message behind it that needed to be explained. Rather than making me feel guilty for seeing it, my mother talked to me about the truth behind the billboard.
And that’s where you, Mothers of Boys, come in. Of course you want to protect your boys from being exposed to sexualized images that pervert the real value and divine dignity of a woman. That’s important. But what is the best way to do that?
Here’s what I think. Even at a young age, boys can learn to value and appreciate women as special creations of God. Boys are capable of understanding that they should love, serve, and protect girls in their lives. It is easy, as a parent, to react against culture’s billboards about women and inadvertently create fear in your boy’s heart and mind about women. Instead, they need to hear the positive message that God has given them, even as young boys, the noble responsibility to guard and protect girls.
I think the biggest impact we can make on the world’s distorted and dangerous views of sexuality will come from training our young men to love women with true authentic love.
If you do that, perhaps the girl that your boy loves, honors, and protects will be able to reject the perverted view that culture promotes simply because she will have someone telling her that she is loved just as she is, and that she is special because God made her. Because of your boys’ respect, perhaps she will feel secure, with a sense of self worth and a confidence to reject the temptation to seek attention in inappropriate ways. Maybe your boy’s properly trained attitude and words will save a girl from the destructive path of culture. You can make a difference in a girl’s life by training your boy.
When you teach your boy to respect girls, you are showing them how to love them in the same way that God loves them. And that’s what makes it worth getting involved.

How can you instill a positive attitude about girls and women in your boy’s heart and mind? How can you train your boy to be a potential lifesaver because of his respect for women?

The MOB Society
Related posts:

Hope for the Weary Mom PDF ebook Download
Lord, please bless the person preparing to download Hope for the Weary Mom right now. Would You send Your peace and prepare his/her heart to receive your hope? Give them strength to walk through their days, courage to look to You, and faith that remains unshakable. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen.

To download your free copy of Hope for the Weary Mom click here. Your PDF eBook should automatically download to your computer.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Fighting Sin with Scripture

From the MOB Society: Fighting Sin with Scripture:

About a year ago, my son came running into the room, screaming, “Quick Mom! I need a Bible! I feel sin in my heart and I need to fight it!” He had learned about the temptation of Jesus in church that week and the Holy Spirit was working in his little heart and mind – helping him to realize his sinfulness and the need to fight it. He hadn’t learned to read yet, but he knew that the Bible was what he needed to fight sin.

Now, a year has passed and I had forgotten about this precious moment. My son had been getting into trouble at preschool for not listening to the teacher and distracting his friends. For several weeks, notes were coming home in his folder telling me that he was struggling to obey the rules. So, we talked about his behavior. We prayed. We practiced the right way to behave. And as the notes kept coming, my patience grew smaller. Instead of looking at the heart issue of what was going on, I began to focus on simply changing his behavior. So I took away his legos. And the Wii. And I began to speak harshly. My desire for him to be liked by his teacher and be the “good kid” in school overshadowed my desire to engage his heart with the gospel.

Would you like to guess what his lesson was about at church this week? The temptation of Jesus. Once again, he and I were both reminded of how Jesus was able to withstand the temptation of Satan without sinning. Jesus used the Scriptures! More than my son needed to hear this story again, I needed to hear this story again. So, today we got out the Bible and found verses for us to memorize that will hopefully help him to remember Jesus. He will go to preschool tomorrow. Maybe he will do a better job of following the rules. Maybe he won’t. But I can guarantee this: tomorrow, we will both work to hide God’s word in our hearts so that we might not sin against Him. My son will try to not sin against his teacher and his classmates. And I will try not to sin against my son by focusing on behavior modification instead of his heart.

Q. What are some ways you’ve found to focus on your boy’s heart recently?

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Don’t forget to join Brooke McGlothlin (MOB Society) and Stacey Thacker (MOD Squad) in tonight’s Weary Mom Kitchen Table Talk on Spreecast! We’re starting a 9 PM EST and will talk about your prayer life, and your “one” thing.

The MOB Society
Related posts:

Laying Kindling :: Part 3- Jesus is the Only Way

Perfect in the Eyes of God

By Grace Through Faith :: Laying Kindling :: Part 4

Hope for the Weary Mom PDF ebook Download

Lord, please bless the person preparing to download Hope for the Weary Mom right now. Would You send Your peace and prepare his/her heart to receive your hope? Give them strength to walk through their days, courage to look to You, and faith that remains unshakable. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen.

To download your free copy of Hope for the Weary Mom click here. Your PDF eBook should automatically download to your computer.

Monday, February 20, 2012

A “100 Things” Decluttering Challenge

From Money Saving Mom: A “100 Things” Decluttering Challenge:

Guest post from Deborah

My husband and I own a smaller home — around 1000 square feet with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. We don’t have children or hobbies that contribute to owning a great amount of stuff, but somehow the stuff seems to accumulate on its own!

The stuff seems to come into the home from several places:

I’m a librarian and my husband is a history professor — we receive many, many books that we won’t read.

My family is wonderful at giving items to each other for no reason — because we don’t want to throw them away!

As a professor, my husband often receives small gifts from students.

Friends often give us things that they think we’ll enjoy… and then those items sit in a closet or a cabinet for months without being touched.

I know we are blessed to receive so many free items from different people — but quite often, these items just sit around the house, gathering dust. It never seems to be enough stuff to have a yard sale, and nothing is usually worth enough to sell through Craigslist.

So once a year, and sometimes twice if I feel the house is getting cluttered, I do a “100 Things” project on a weekend.

It’s quite simple: I must find 100 things to get rid of in some way.

It might be a book I know I’ll never read. It might be a pair of holey socks tucked deep in a drawer that simply needs to be re-purposed as a dust rag or thrown away. It might be a stack of papers waiting to be filed. It might be a bunch of clothes I box up and take to Goodwill, or a box of magazines that I give away on Freecycle.

The bottom line is that 100 things need to leave my home or be put to some other use.

The last time I did this was in December of 2011. I gave away a box of 30 magazines to someone on Freecycle. I boxed up 20 books and donated them to a local organization hosting a book sale in order to raise money. I bagged up some clothing that we hadn’t worn in ages and sent them to Goodwill. When I pulled out the Christmas decorations, I went through everything and found broken items to throw away and other items to be sent to the local Goodwill store. And I always have a box in the garage ready to fill with random items to donate.

We are not big stuff collectors — but I’m always amazed at the amount of stuff I can get rid of once a year when I really try. And I always feel that my home is a little less cluttered at the end of a “100 things” weekend!