31 Days Unplugged – Day 25 – Working for God’s Glory

If you know anything about me at all, you know that I am a stay-at-home-mom.  Since that is my life and it is what I know, that is the viewpoint with which I have approached this month of unplugging.  My sister pointed out to me that maybe I needed to keep people who work outside the home in mind, and then my Sunday school lesson last week directly addressed this problem, so I felt this post was meant to be!

According to Forbes, 64% of people spend time on non-work related websites while they are being paid to work.  That is almost unbelievable, isn’t it?

There are so many Bible verses that tell us that this is wrong:

Colossians 3:23 instructs is to “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.”

2 Thessalonians 3: 6-9 really lays it out for believers, saying “And now, dear brothers and sisters, we give you this command in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: Stay away from all believers who live idle lives and don’t follow the tradition they received from us. For you know that you ought to imitate us. We were not idle when we were with you.  We never accepted food from anyone without paying for it. We worked hard day and night so we would not be a burden to any of you.  We certainly had the right to ask you to feed us, but we wanted to give you an example to follow.”

It is not right to waste our time at work, guys, for a couple of reasons. First, it is a bad example to unbelievers.  God has placed us in whatever position we are in at the moment for a specific reason, and we need to always be aware of that. We need to always work for God’s glory.

Secondly, when we are at work, we are being paid to work.  Even if you aren’t being held accountable to the person who is paying you, you will be held accountable by God.

Challenge #19 – When you are on the clock at work, do not look at any websites that are not work-related.  Don’t do any online shopping, return a Facebook message, or quickly check your Twitter feed.  

While I won’t be personally completing this challenge (since I obviously don’t work outside of the home) I know that this will be really difficult, especially if you are in the habit of spending a lot of time online at your job.  I know that you will find it beneficial in the end, though.

Let me know how it goes!

 

Heeeeere’s Goldy!

We have had a really great day at the Watkins’ house today.  It started out really rainy and dreary but turned out to be very beautiful.  We made it to Bible study this morning and had a great time and learned a lot, as usual.  Did you guys know that while Jesus’ body was in the tomb for three days after his crucifixion, he was actually going around doing things like talking to the demons in Hades?  I found that so interesting and am definitely going to look into that some more.

Also, we looked more into the actions of the disciples and the Mary’s after Jesus’ crucifixion.  The Mary’s were all up at his tomb with their embalming spices and were so upset that someone has stolen his body, when really he had been resurrected.  Even after spending so much time with Jesus, they still couldn’t grasp that he would and had risen from the dead!

After Bible study, I treated Charlie and Maddie to a special surprise.  We stopped by Pet Smart, and I would like to introduce you to the newest addition to our family, Goldy!

Charlie and Maddie each picked out a little decor for Goldy’s new abode!

Goldy is actually green, but we have been reading a book called “Goldy the Goldfish,” so that name stuck.  At first Charlie wanted to name him Power Ranger Fish, then Spiderman Fish, so I am happy with Goldy!

While Maddie was napping, Charlie and I made a bunny.  I found this project on Pinterest and it uses a toilet paper tube as the base, but I used a butter container because I didn’t feel like going through the recycling for a toilet paper tube!  So lazy!  Here’s the original link:   http://www.alannageorge.com/2012/04/04/how-to-toilet-paper-tube-bunny/.  Here’s ours:

Our bunny.

Then, we made Resurrection eggs.  Charlie was supposed to make some in his Bible study class this morning, but his teacher was sick so they didn’t do it.  They won’t meet again until after Easter, so I decided to go ahead and make some.  I found some instructions online at this wonderful site: http://dressesandmesses.wordpress.com/2009/04/10/resurrection-eggs/.  Guys, this was so easy to do and the Resurrection eggs have just been so wonderful.  You can make them with things you have around the house, and you can easily change any part of the story to make it easier for younger kids.  Charlie and I have been through them 3 times today, and he has learned so much already!

Our Resurrection eggs.

Charlie could hardly wait to start opening them up!

Grandpa brought some ice cream by.

Opening up an egg.

A Sure Sign that Spring is Near

One thing I love about my mother is that she always knows from a simple telephone call when I need a few minutes alone.  She is so good about taking the kids for a little while so I can have a breather and I so appreciate that.  That is one pro of living next door to your mom: It’s no big deal for her to say, “Can I stop by and take the kids for a little while?”

While she had the kids for a couple of hours this afternoon, I did one of my favorite things: Washed off the screened-in porch.  You may think that sounds crazy, but it is so therapeutic to me.  Jason got the water hose out of winter storage for me and I went to it.  I just love the sounds of the outdoors and the water dripping, and seeing the dirt being washed away…I don’t know why, exactly, but I love it. When I tell Jason, “I am going to wash off the porch now,” He takes the kids and leaves me to it!

We eat a lot of meals around this table!

For me, this is a definite sign that spring is coming.  We use the porch every day during the spring, summer, and fall.  We love to eat breakfast and dinner out there (most days it is too hot for lunch on the porch), and the kids spend a lot of time playing in their water table out there.  I love to sit in one of the comfy wicker chairs and read or look on my Kindle.

So ready for winter to be over!

I am so ready for a summer of long, hot days outside, playing in the water, grilling out with family, staying up late, and washing off the porch!

 

Related articles

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Never Underestimate the Older Generations

I work in the Insurance industry.  I’m an Agent for the Good Hands people.  I write auto, home, life, and business insurance.  When I write a Homeowner’s policy, Allstate will send out a property inspector to check out the house and make sure it’s in good shape and doesn’t need any repairs.  If it’s good, then we continue the policy.  But if there are any problems, they let us know, then we contact the customer.  The customer will usually make the repairs, we will go out and take pictures, submit then to the Property Department, then the policy is good to go!  Sometimes the customer won’t fix the problems and their policy will terminate, but that’s a whole other story.

So, I wrote a home policy for this very nice couple.  They are in their 50s, have 3 teenage girls, just a normal family.  Our property inspector went out to look at the property and they had a few issues.  The lady was very understanding and fixed the problems promptly.  So, I told her I would come out to take pictures and get everything taken care of so we could continue the policy.  Well, the day I was going to go out to her house, it ended up raining all day.  So, I called her and asked if she texted.  She said yes, so I asked if she could just text the pictures to me.  She agreed.  The next day she comes in my office.  I told her I never got the pictures.  She said she just sent them a second ago.  I said ok and we waited and waited, but I never got them.  So, I asked if she could email them to me.  She said yes, and did it as she sat there at my desk.  I never got the email.  So we sat there wondering how to get those pictures off of her phone and onto  mine or at least onto my computer somehow!  Then, she asks me if I Bluetooth.  Now, keep in mind, this is a woman almost the same age as my mom (no offense Mama) and my immediate reaction to her cell phone use is that she doesn’t really know how.  So, I turn on my Bluetooth and wait.  She says she doesn’t see me on her phone.  But, I had turned it on.  She asks me what kind of phone I have and I told her it was a HTC (she had an iphone.)  After I try for a good 5 minutes, she finally says “Julie, just give me your phone and let me do it.”  I, red-faced, hand her my phone and within 20 seconds, she has downloaded the pictures from her iphone onto my phone.  She hands my phone back to me and says “there.”  I was a little embarrassed that a lady 30 years older than me knew more about technology than I did, but happy I finally got the dern pictures after trying for 30 minutes!  Needless to say, I will never underestimate an older generation again!