Misplaced Talents

This week, Fiction Friday is at Cat's blog, A Work in Progress. Be sure to join us there for links to more fun fiction!
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Kelly jumped at the knock on her front door, her seam ripper jabbing into an already sore finger.

“Kelly? You in there?” The voice of her sister Laurie came through the screen.

“Yes, I’m in here, although I’d rather be somewhere else!”

“Sheesh! You’re in a lovely mood today. Kids been monsters?” Laurie had let herself in and made her way to the dining room where Kelly was working.

“No, the kids have been fine. In fact I haven’t seen much of them since they’ve been outside playing all morning.” Kelly picked up the seam ripper again and went back to work.

“What on earth are you doing?” Laurie bent over and studied the heap of fabric on Kelly’s lap. “How many times have you taken out that seam?”

“You really don’t want to know.” Disgust was evident in Kelly’s voice.

“You’re right, I don’t want to know.” Laurie eyed her sister and the clutter of sewing scraps and thread on the table in front of her. “Ok, let’s try this one. What are you doing?”

Kelly dropped the fabric onto her lap and gave Laurie a look that could have fried bologna. “Mortaring brick? Chopping down trees? Computer programming? What do you think I’m doing?”

The biting sarcasm made her sister laugh. “Well, that’s a relief! I thought you might be sewing.”

Kelly picked up the wad of fabric and her seam ripper once again. “I’m making a baby-doll quilt for Melissa’s birthday present.”

Laurie bit her lip, realizing it wasn’t the time to laugh. “How long have you been working on it?”

Kelly glared at her again. “All morning.” The seam ripper attacked the crooked stitches, jerking them out one at a time. “I can do this. It just takes me awhile.” Her voice rang with determination.

“Do you have to make the baby-doll quilt?” That earned her another glare so she tried a different tactic. “Are you throwing a party for her?”

Kelly sighed. “I don’t have time to plan a party this year, although I wanted to do a birthday tea party.”

“That would be so cool—a tea party for a bunch of 8-year-olds. Were you going to have them dress up and serve tea cakes on china and everything?” Laurie smiled, seeing her sister weaken.

“That was the plan, but now I just don’t have time. This silly little quilt is going to take up all my spare time.” The wistfulness in her voice was getting stronger.

“Kelly, why are knocking yourself out doing something you’re not good at and don’t enjoy, when you could simply buy a dolly quilt from Mrs. Cunningham, who could use the little extra money, and use the time to plan a tea party and make the tea cakes and a beautiful birthday cake? You’re so good at planning parties and get-togethers and making the food that goes with them. Everyone, even Melissa, loves your parties.”

Kelly once again dropped her sewing to her lap. “I wanted to give Melissa something that would last and a tea party doesn’t last; it’s over in two or three hours.”

“The party may be over that quickly, but the memories will last longer than that quilt you’re killing yourself over. Even without all the pictures you take of the parties and then put in a scrapbook!” Laurie spoke gently, understanding her sister’s heart.

“So, you think I’m wasting my time?”

“I think you’re wasting your talent.”

Kelly snorted in a very unladylike fashion. “Planning parties is a talent?”

“Yes, planning parties is a talent, a talent that not everyone has. Remember that party I planned for you two years ago?”

Kelly laughed at the memory of the horribly organized party her sister had surprised her with. Laurie had even made a birthday cake for her and it had been the ugliest cake anyone had ever seen, even though it had been baked and decorated with great love. “I’m beginning to think my idea of making a dolly quilt is about like you decorating a birthday cake—a very bad idea.”

“You’re a smart cookie, you know that?” Laurie hugged her sister. “Don’t waste your talents; focus on what you’re good at! Plan that tea party, bake all those little goodies and a hum-dinger of a birthday cake, and buy her a dolly quilt. Take lots of pictures and scrapbook them so she’ll remember forever; long after she outgrows playing with dolls. Do what you’re good at, Kelly, and use that skill for God.”
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Don't forget to join us at Cat's place for more Fiction Friday links!

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Go Knee-First

I've been reading about Abram—what a man of faith he was! God said leave home and go—and Abram did, even without knowing exactly where. But what really stood out to me as I read these chapters this time is that his walk of faith was not without bumps. There were times when he was not walking in faith, but God was faithful even through those times.

The famine in the land of Canaan sent him running to Egypt rather than running to God. Egypt plagued him and caused problems for him for the rest of his life. It was there he acquired more animals—which later caused problems between him and Lot. Not only did Abram acquire animals in Egypt, but what nationality was Hagar, the mother of Ishmael? Egyptian.

So why did Abram go to Egypt when God had sent him to Canaan? Because of not trusting God. The Bible doesn't record Abram asking God what he was to do (go or stay), nor does it record Abram asking God to supply their needs. It appears that Abram used only his head and not his knees. Ouch. How often do I do that? This is a pattern that repeats itself in Abram's life. He looks to human ways to solve life's circumstances and problems.

This something that we can relate to. We see something that needs to happen, or to be done, and we get busy making it happen. We use the heads God gave us and we figure out how to take care of the problem, without stopping to remember that we need to use our knees before we use our head.

Is anything too difficult for the Lord? ~Genesis 18:14

When we're busy doing and fixing, we often forget this important fact. Nothing is too difficult for the Lord. When we remember that, we're more likely to hit our knees before hitting the road. When we remember that, we're more likely to hit our knees and not end up holding our heads in pain and shame.

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Regrets & Resolutions

This week At The Well is hosted by my dear friend, LauraLee. Here are the thought questions she put to us:

The New Year is a time for us to let go of the past and look forward to newness. Everyone thinks about that differently. Answer any of these questions, all the below, or just give your thoughts about the New Year.

1. What is your favorite "resolution" in the Bible?

2. Do you do a New Year's resolution? Why or why not? Does your family make a resolution together?

3. Usually a resolution comes as a result of regretting something you didn't do the year before...how do you let go of the regret and move forward?

4. (optional...only if you wish to share) Have you ever made a resolution in the past that you didn't keep and wish you had?

Okay, to be perfectly honest with you, I cannot remember the last time I made a New Year's Resolution. It took me about two year's failed resolutions to realize they didn't work for me. Thankfully, I found what does. Goals.

I like to dream big. If you don't dream big, you end up with small, and in my case, barely enough to squeak by. One of my favorite quotes is:

When you reach for the stars, you may not quite get one, but you won't come up with a handful of mud either. ~Leo Burnett

So I dream big and reach for the stars. Yes, it means I don't quite reach my goals (as Joanne can attest to. LoL) but it keeps me moving forward and that forward motion is so important.

For this year I have writing goals, Bible reading goals (Cover to Cover, chronologically in 2009), and now, new this morning, I have Scripture memory goals, which I want to share with you. My friend Kristen posted about this and it was exactly what I've needed and wanted, and I'm soooo excited! Beth Moore, at the LPM blog, has encouraged and challenged us to join her in memorizing 24 verses (of our choice) this year. There's a huge accountability team there (when I just checked and there's 2936!) and I joined in. (For those of you wanting to memorize John 15, go visit Vonnie, that's what she's doing this year!) Scripture memory is something I used to do as I walked in the mornings, but when that ended, so did my memorization time and I've missed it greatly. I'm starting with Philippians 3:13-14. I've got my 3x5 card on my keyboard and I'm working on it.

The week between Christmas and New Year's is a time of looking back, evaluating and then looking forward for me. In that order. It's an important time for me, and yes, regrets do play a part in there, but I do not dwell on them. I use them as a tool to push me forward so that they don't weigh me down. How? By giving it to God and forgetting what lies behind and pressing forward. (Which happens to be the first verses to memorize this year! LoL, imagine that.)

Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead; I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. ~Philippians 3:13-14

Don't forget to join us at LauraLee's for links to more At The Well thoughts.

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Cover to Cover

One of my favorite events of the year is finishing up a read through of the Bible and turning back to Genesis and starting all over again. There are times when I haven't made it in a year, but that's okay, I made it. This last time it took me two years to read from cover to cover, and I was blessed tremendously and grew so much. This time my plan is to complete my cover-to-cover expedition in a year. I know that there are others that are doing the same thing, and I think it'd be great if we were to encourage each other in our journeys.

My plan is to read through chronologically, because that's how I like it best. It puts the Biblical events in time-line order and puts them in perspective for me. I've done it this way four times now, that I have recorded, and I love it.

I'm not one to get hung up on the schedule. There are days when I read a chapter and others that I read ten—to me the point is that I'm reading and meeting with God. The schedule provides structure for me, but I don't let it bind me up in knots. I'm not one that works well with knots. Realizing that was very freeing for me, and as a result, when I hit the back cover of the Bible—well, when I finish Revelation 22:21 I know that the next passage I'll read is Genesis 1—regardless of what time of year it is.

This last time through, I finished at Christmas and I started in Genesis 1 on December 26th because I didn't want to wait. If I continue at the rate I'm reading right now, I'll be done early. But there are times when I slow down, for many different reasons. So, my goal is to finish by December 31, 2009.

What about you? Do you read cover-to-cover or do you jump around or do Bible studies using a book? I'd love to hear how you approach Bible reading.

I've been turning over ideas of how to encourage each other in this journey and the only one I've settled on so far is a button to put in my side bar. Feel free to copy it (by saving it to your computer) and post it in yours, too. It will not link back to me, although the one in my side bar will link to this post to remind me of my goal to complete my read-through in this calendar year. It is simply a picture to encourage and remind us of our goal. Better yet, make your own button and link it to your post telling us how you read through. I'd love for you to leave me a comment here with a link to your post so I can be encouraged by it.

Also, be sure to check out Linda's Heart of a Ready Writer blog. She's reading through this year too, and blogging about it.

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Just Like Mommy

This week Joanne at An Open Book is hosting Fiction Friday. Be sure to join us there for links to more fun fiction.
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Melissa had just sprinkled Comet in the tub when the phone rang. “Well, nuts. I had hoped to get this done.” While on the phone she unloaded the dishwasher, and cleaned the kitchen, proud of herself for using her time wisely by multi-tasking. Setting the phone in its cradle to charge she thought of the things she could do with the extra time she now had. Suddenly she was struck by the silence. She peeked around the corner into the living room, hoping to see the kids engrossed in their blocks, but there were no kids there. She followed the muted jabbering into the master bedroom and came to a quick stop.

Melissa opened her mouth but then snapped it closed, right on her tongue. “Ouch! Oh, that hurt! Man, I hate it when I do that.”

The boys looked at her. “Hurt, Mommy?” Josiah, her two-year-old asked.

“Just a little.” Melissa answered his sweet question. “What are you boys up to?” Now that she’d had a chance to really look around she didn’t’ know whether she should laugh or cry.

“I white wuv note for you on mirwer, Mommy!” Jason had found her lipstick and had drawn all over the full-length mirror, at least as high up as he could reach with his three-and-a-half-year-old stature. “Just wike you do.”

A small chuckle slipped from Melissa. “Monkey see, monkey do,” she thought. “A love note on the mirror like I write for Daddy?” She was relieved to see she had intervened before the lipstick had made its way off the mirror and onto the wall-paper.

Melissa looked back at Josiah. “And what about you, young man?” He had her favorite lipstick stretched from one ear to the other, on his upper lip and clear down to the tip of his chin. A little bit had actually landed on his lips, but not much.

“Pweddy.” Josiah was not a man of many words, but he got his point across. Melissa bit her lip, gently, and worked very hard to keep from laughing out loud.

Melissa hunkered down while she thought fast, she didn’t want to stomp on their thoughtfulness, but she needed to prevent a reoccurrence. “Now listen, boys, do you see Daddy wearing lipstick?” Josiah looked to his big brother, who scratched his head while he thought hard.

“No, Daddy don’t wear lipstick. Onwy mommies does.” Jason shared his great realization with Josiah.

Right then there was a knock on the door followed by a very familiar voice calling out, “Hello? Anybody home?”

The boys lit up. “Nana!” They scooted around their mom and raced to the front door. From the other side of the house, the side Melissa had started cleaning the bathroom on, she heard Sarah’s delighted cry.

“My-oh-my! What have you boys gotten into this time?” Nana spoke from behind her hand, and her eyes twinkled merrily as she looked at her grandsons.

“Pweddy,” Josiah said, proud of his accomplishment.

“Wike Mommy.” Jason solemnly explained as he showed Nana his stick of lipstick. “I white Mommy wuv notes on her mirwer.”

Just then Sarah skidded to a halt. “Hi, Nana. I was helping Mommy, too.”

Melissa felt her heart sink. The last time Sarah had ‘helped’ on her own the goldfish had been blowing bubbles before they died in a bubble bath she had prepared for them. She just knew they would enjoy one as much as she did, so she shared.

Nana shared a quick look with Melissa then asked, “What have you been doing, Sweetheart?”

Sarah stood up even straighter. “I got the carpet powder and sprinkled it on my carpet for Mommy.”

Melissa groaned, and the dread increased. “Where’d you get the carpet powder from?”

“The baffroom. That’s where you left it on accident.

“Oh, Sarah. How much did you sprinkle on the carpet?”

“I did it real good, Mommy. I’m a good helper.”

Melissa gave Sarah a weak smile, then looked at Nana. “Her ‘carpet powder’ is the Comet I had started to use on the tub…”

“I’m a good helper, Nana.” Sarah proudly said to her grandmother.

“Pweddy.” Josiah said as he touched his fingertips to his lips.

Jason summed it up for all of them. “Just wike Mommy.”
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There is only one piece of truth in this story--the 'carpet powder' incident did happen here at our house when one of my two older children helped me. My dad had called and while I was talking with him they sprinkled the Comet all over their bedroom floor. My dad thought it was quite funny, of course. But, I am no where near that calm! I can only wish to be! LoL

Don't forget to join us at Joanne's!

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Forward...March!

I love this week between Christmas and New Year's. It's always been a time of reflecting and thinking for me, as well as resting and reading, but this year it's been entirely different.

Christmas afternoon, after the gifts were opened and dinner was done, I reached for my journal, eager to start my yearly time of reflection. That's when I realized my journal was missing. My search turned into a hunt as I racked my brain trying to remember when and where I had last used it. I finally found it, a half-an-hour later—in the little drawer unit I set up earlier this year to help keep me and my writing somewhat organized and consolidated.

I settled in my chair, and while the family watched Lord of the Rings (again) I eagerly turned to my last entry, ready to begin my journey. I could not believe my eyes when I saw the date of that entry: January 20, 2008. That's 11 months ago! Nothing could have reminded me of the changes that have taken place in my life this last year more than that jolt did. When I realized that blogging was the next step God wanted me to take, I set my journal down and started figuring out Blogger (sheesh, what a journey that was!) and working on Patterings. I determined that whether anyone ever found me here didn't matter, it was an act of obedience on my part, and my obedience could not be contingent on other people.

God has blessed me so abundantly! The changes that have come about in my life are not the ones I anticipated, they are completely different, and so much better than I could have imagined! This last year my life has changed tremendously--not only am I writing on a regular and consistent basis, but God has blessed me with a circle of soul sisters that I never dreamed of having.

As I look forward, I've really been wrestling. One of my goals that was modified, has been plaguing me for three months. I've wrestled with it, prayed over it and even tried ignoring it (which, btw, didn't work). I wanted direction. Handwriting on the wall or even a neon sign would have been nice, but that hasn't happened. Instead I feel God asking me to simply trust Him and keep writing. I feel a bit like Namaan might have. He went to the prophet looking for a miracle, and received a message through a servant instead. 'What? Dip in the Jordan River seven times?' What? Keep writing and trust You? How can something that sounds so simple be so hard? I want answers, I want definites. But I also know that if I knew I probably would never budge from where I am. So, I'm strapping on my seat belt (to keep my tail plastered in this chair to ensure that I finish this project God has not released me from—even though I asked for release) and taking one baby step at a time and trusting Him.

God is faithful.
He will finish this work He's started in me.
My mission: obedience.

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Be Involved in Missions!

Okay, here's a confession: I was very frustrated in Sunday School the other day. The church we attend has been participating in the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering (for missions) throughout the month of December, which is wonderful, and our Sunday School lessons have had a missions emphasis. As you know, missions is a passion of mine, especially foreign missions. But that lesson made me want to take over the class (which is extremely unusual!) I felt they were completely missing the point, and me, being a genuine know-it-all, wanted to tell them so. But, thanks be to God, I kept my mouth quiet because there wasn't room to get a word in edgewise--and I tried. So, I decided to use Patterings as a soap box. Sorry, but you'll get both barrels of my rant now—also something very unusual for me. But this is missions and I'm Patty...

Missions is so important and we need to support missions and missionaries in every way we can. Not all of us are called to leave our home countries and go, but all of us are to be involved.

Involved in giving so that those who go are able to focus on the ministry and not worry about money to feed their family and pay their bills—even missionaries have electric bills they need to pay! That's part of our responsibility—not just corporately, through the missions budget of our local church, but individually as well! Those who can help support a missionary on a monthly basis should! Those that can't might be able to find a way.

How? I've seen people receive a cash birthday gift and be thrilled because they found they had the money to send to a missionary they felt burdened to give to. Another time someone found money they had stashed away for something they were saving up for, but had long since forgotten what the item was. The amount found was the amount they felt burdened to give to a missions project, but didn't have. God had provided long before the burden was felt. Want another example? Someone I know saves the quarters out of the change she receives while grocery shopping. The quarters go into a special jar and find their way to missionaries. She's not able to give regularly, and her family is currently on a tight budget, but she's been amazed at how many quarters find their way into her jar.

If you just cannot give, you can still be involved through prayer. Missionaries need a network of prayer support. Even if you don't know how to pray for them, you still need to pray. Do they have children? Then pray for their children just like you pray for your own and for your nieces and nephews. That's an obvious one, but what about time for them to spend at the feet of Jesus? Pray that they wouldn't be so caught up in the good work that they forget the best—being in the presence of Jesus. Burdens are heavy no matter where you live and what you do. Pray for refreshment and joy as they carry their loads. How about those that are teaching and preaching? We can pray that they would be sensitive to the message God has for them. There are so many ways to pray without knowing the missionaries themselves.

When I was little, before we went to Ecuador, we were members of a small church on the coast of Maine. In that church there were prayer warriors named Mr. And Mrs. Arrington. They were ancient when I was little and even more ancient when I was in college, but they exuded peace and joy like few others I've known. They had a prayer calendar and they faithfully prayed together. While in college, I learned that my day (not just my parents, but me individually!) was Tuesday, and one time, when I was looking back over events in my life, I noticed that all the big things that 'came together' all happened on Tuesdays. Coincidence? No way. Prayer warriors faithfully praying for me. That's something you can do when you don't have two nickels to rub together and when you're playing taxi driver or washing dishes. Prayer warriors, like any warriors, are not poufed into being, they are grown and trained.

So that leaves us with 'But I don't know any missionaries!' Start praying that God would lead you to them. Search on-line for mission agencies—there's lots of them. Ask your friends and your pastor and church secretary (those ladies are fountains of knowledge!). Many missionaries even have blogs or are on Facebook, now. (There's a few in my sidebar and there's more under my missions tab at the top of this page.) Many have e-newsletters now, and it's a great tool—get on their list and use those newsletters as prayer sheets for them. Mission agencies have prayer calendars and email lists. In today's society, and with our technology, we can easily find missionaries to pray for.

For this coming year, consider finding and becoming involved with missions (if you aren't already). Make it personal and commit to pray regularly. Your prayer has far reaching effects—effects of eternal value!

Here are a few links that I've had some contact with over the years. There are others, but these are the ones that came immediately to mind because of my friends.

HeartCry Mission Society (they support national missionaries)

CrossWorld Missions

Child Evangelism Fellowship

Heart of God International

One Challenge International

International Mission Board

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