"Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace"

by St. Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith,
Where there is despair, hope,
Where there is darkness, light,
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much
seek to be consoled as to console,
not so much to be understood as to understand,
not so much to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
it is in dying that we awake to eternal life.

Romans 6:13 - But present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

It is my prayer that today and every day, Lord, You use me as Your instrument for righteousness. Thy will be done.

"For the Beauty of the Earth"

by Folliot S. Pierpoint

For the beauty of the earth
For the glory of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies.

Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the beauty of each hour,
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree and flower,
Sun and moon, and stars of light.

Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the joy of ear and eye,
For the heart and mind’s delight,
For the mystic harmony
Linking sense to sound and sight.

Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth and friends above,
For all gentle thoughts and mild.

Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.

For Thy Church, that evermore
Lifteth holy hands above,
Offering up on every shore
Her pure sacrifice of love.

Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the martyrs’ crown of light,
For Thy prophets’ eagle eye,
For Thy bold confessors’ might,
For the lips of infancy.

Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.

For Thy virgins’ robes of snow,
For Thy maiden mother mild,
For Thyself, with hearts aglow,
Jesu, Victim undefiled.

Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.

For each perfect gift of Thine,
To our race so freely given,
Graces human and divine,
Flowers of earth and buds of Heaven.

Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.

Potluck Saturdays: Chili Mac

How many changes must you make to a recipe before it becomes your own?

I got this recipe from The Common Room. And then I did what I can't help but do to a recipe... I tweaked it. I tweaked it a lot. And then I renamed it because "Chili Mac" seemed much more fitting. According to the DHM, this recipe comes from the much recommended More With Less cookbook, but it seems that they have tweaked it a bit too.

So here is my own much-loved version of chili mac, so very much loved that this good-sized recipe doesn't last a day in our house! Big Littles and I each ate 4 bowls of it last time! Preacher Man ate 3! And then I dove into the leftovers a couple hours later. ;)

Chili Mac
1 pound ground beef - browned
1 large diced onion
1 diced bell pepper (or about 1 c. frozen)
2 cloves minced garlic
28 oz. can crushed tomatoes (I use 2 pints of home canned)
1/4 c. sour cream or mayo
2 TBSP Worcestershire Sauce
2 tsp chili powder*
salt to taste
1 lb. elbow macaroni (or your preferred shape - I like to use whole wheat pasta in this recipe)

(I always have ground beef ready and browned because I buy it in bulk and brown it all at once. If you haven't done this, brown the meat first.) Saute the onions and bell pepper and when they are nearly brown, add the garlic. Stir in tomatoes.
Add sour cream or mayo, W. sauce, chili powder, and salt. Stir. Add pasta. Add enough water to almost cover noodles but not quite - it's less than 2 c. in my experience. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat. Simmer for about 15 minutes, or 'til noodles are tender and water is cooked down.

This simple, fast one pot meal is a staple around here now!

*Now, a note about the chili powder... I am a really big fan of Penzey's spices. They are not paying me for an endorsement, I just love them so much, I wish everyone could experience the amazingness of their high quality, ultra fresh spices. Penzey's chili powder is partly what makes this dish taste so good. If you have a store near you, prepare yourself for a sensory overload. Make sure you check out their cinnamon and curry powder too! Oh and the pasta sprinkle! We really love that stuff!

You can use the coupon code 00002C in the "Express Ordering" section of their online store to get $5 off an order of $10 or more. Offer expires May 29, 20011. I recommend buying the spices in bags to get the best deal.

Time or Money?

A while back I was chatting with my Dad about travel plans for a trip. Calculating the cost-per-mile of driving and comparing it with the cost of airline tickets + a necessary rental car was coming out to about the same amount with driving being slightly cheaper up front. My Dad asked me the simple question, "Well, do you have more time or more money?"

In our case, the answer is almost always time.

This question of more time or money plays into a lot of our everyday decisions. For example:

• eating out/cooking at home
• canned beans/dried
• hiring out for home improvement projects/doing it yourself
• buying farmer's market veggies/growing them yourself
• using the dryer/hanging laundry out to dry
• shopping for a gift/making a gift from what you have
• bakery bread/homemade bread
  

Every day, I face the balancing act of time vs. money. Sure other things like available space, skills, and weather play a role in these decisions among other things, but most often, it boils down to a choice between just time and money.

Time does not always win out. When we needed some summer weight bed coverings this past year, the decision boiled down to time or money. The need came upon us rather suddenly and we could not wait much longer. I can sew and have plenty of fabric to make the two twin size quilts we needed. What I did NOT have was the time to sew two quilts! Money won out in that case. And it was ok because nine times out of ten, time wins out. And the more I can work hard at getting time to win as often as possible, the better we are doing with saving money. And the better we are saving our money, the faster we can pay off our debt. And the faster we can pay off our debt, the sooner we can pay cash for a minivan. And the sooner we can pay cash for a minivan... well, we'll probably need to save for another midwife fee by then. And then... there will always be something else... that is life!

But in the meantime, making those dollars go further by using my resource of time, we are able to live a more abundant and generous life. And isn't that what it is all about?

Ephesians 4:28 - Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

Links Anyone?

An odd question, perhaps...

Did any of you, my kind readers, happen to link my post Church Mouse Learns Frugality sometime a little over a month ago?

I ask because it was one of the first posts I ever wrote, and it suddenly got lots and LOTS of hits. The only other posts that have gotten over 200 hits like this one are the ones that have been a part of a link up like the 4 Moms posts or that someone else kindly linked from their blog or Facebook. (Nice riding on the coat-tails of an experienced blogger like the Deputy Headmistress of The Common Room!)

I've searched and I can't find this one anywhere. My curiosity has gotten the better of me, so I'm finally just going to come out and ask.

And if you did link it, THANKS! :) I'm happy that you did!

Can anyone help me solve the mystery?

Right now, a typical Church Mouse post gets between 30 and 60 hits. Here are a couple of my most popular posts for the curious:
1. Lifting Holy Hands
2. Potato Salad
3. Gifts for the Neighbors
4. Sausage Chowder
5. Breakfast of Champions

Church Mouse Learns Frugality is #6.

Thankful Thursdays: Living Water

Psalm 42:2 - My soul thirsts for God, for the living God;

John 4:13-14 - Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

Matthew 7:7-11 - Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Back in October when I first started this blog, I described myself as being spiritually "as dry as a desert". I cried out to God about my thirst, and He heard my prayer. Today, I am thankful for His living water which He has been pouring into my life ever since. I still don't often hear an entire sermon, and my time for personal study is as rare as it was before, but God has blessed me with spiritual nourishment just when I need it the most in the form of encouraging fellowship, a kind note, encouraging lectures, Godly advice, and insightful books. The Lord has been mindful of me, and I am grateful for His blessings.

I've not yet finished the book, but I have been so encouraged reading Diapers, Pacifiers, and Other Holy Things by Lorraine Pintus. This collection of encouraging words from a mother who has been right where I am now has been a balm for my soul. Being a mother of Littles is tough work. Here's an excerpt from the first chapter:

I love You, Lord, I prayed. I want to spend time with You. But the days of hour-long quiet times with You are gone.

God agreed. You don't have an hour, Lorraine. But you have a moment!

Day after day, I worked hard to "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (II Cor. 10:5). Seeing God in every circumstance became easier, more natural. Then a strange thing happened. I began to sing! In the midst of mundane duties, God was allowing me to glimpse His glory. Even as I wiped spit up off the floor or cleared strained peas off the wall, I rejoiced. I was in the presence of the living God.

Before having kids, I had compartmentalized God, sticking Him into time slots labeled Bible Study, Quiet Time, and Church. Now the compartment walls had fallen down. God spilled over into every moment of my life.

Ironic isn't it? It took not having an hour with God to realize that I had the whole day with Him!

Thank you God for these moments. They are like streams of water in the desert, quenching the thirst in my soul. Thank you God for Your Word, the Living Water in my life.

Isaiah 35:6-7 - For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water

In the Center of the Hurricane

This is from "Each New Day" by Corrie ten Boom:

It is dangerous to live as a halfway Christian in this age filled with darkness, chaos, and hopelessness. In the center of a hurricane there is absolute quiet and peace. There is no safer place than in the center of the will of God.

Revelation 3:15-16 - I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. (ESV)