Spent Time.

Life is made up of tiny things. 
Little events.
Small words here & there.
Every move, heart-beat, thought, and action adds up to our life, and what we make it.

I wish I could say that every little piece of my life has been well-spent or even, meaningful.
It hasn't.
Many times, I've tried very hard (ironically) to just 'exist'. Not do anything bad, but not do anything very good either. Unfortunately, there have been whole chapters of my short life spent that way...and it's definitely been a waste.

Breaking out of that safe 'slowed time' cocoon is indeed the hardest part of growing up, and moving forward in my life. As a kid, time was sort of a secondary thing to my day. The important points on the clock (lunchtime, dinnertime, playtime, nap time) were all that mattered...and that was okay, for a small child.

However, now I see that something should shape my day and give meaning to it. Now that I am well old enough to understand passage & importance of time, it also falls upon me to understand the responsibility that comes with living within it. It is not enough anymore for me to say to myself, "Well, as long as it doesn't hurt or hinder anyone directly, and as long as no one notices either...then I'm going go ahead to do such & such for X number of hours." That's a child's mentality, and hardly acceptable for an adult!

It's like this:
Whenever I hear someone mentioning the scripture about "redeeming the time"... I think of holding a check in my hand and going to the bank. Imagine if instead of being paid by a set hourly rate, we were paid based on how we used the time we worked. If you worked hard and well, you got paid well. If you slacked off, you got little or nothing. It would be a fair, but indeed harsh system!

I think that's how I should look at my days from now onwards; less as just 'putting in hours' and more as working as unto the Lord. Because really, He is the only one who always:

• sees what I am trying to do (all of it)
• knows what I could or should be doing
• and understands the whys behind all of it

Giving an account for my day....might just be a more sobering prospect than I thought.

Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.  (Colossians 4:5)

I'm in Love....Yep.

Cybele's Secret

&

Wildwood Dancing

Did you hear? I know there's this little bird...he gets around....or maybe you haven't heard?

Well, in any case, let me be the first to tell you: I just fell in love. It's true!

I fell in love with Juliet Marillier & her books....specifically Wildwood Dancing and Cybele's Secret. I discovered them whilst perusing blogs...and I found this one blog of especially note (for it's prettiness & creativity!)....Fairytales, French Fries and Baby Kisses by name....kept by two sisters, I believe. Lovely blog. :)

And.....and.... way down hidden amongst older posts, I found this post which was more than enough to pique me curiosity. So, I looked them up at my library, found out that we have almost all her books (yay!) and checked out the two books above to start with.

What did I find?

I rediscovered two things through this book........ my love of fairytales (I love love love them!)

and ......my love of Romania. That's right! These are Romanian fairytale stories!

Needless to say, there's not much else to say......I've read each book twice already since Wednesday, and I've got the others on hold at the library......

Thank you, Bethany & Esther. :)

Being Angry...

...really isn't a good idea, I've learned:

Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.

- Mark Twain

 We plan the way we want to live,
   but only God makes us able to live it.

- Proverbs 16:9