Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Ephesians 5:8-14
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says: "Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light."
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I just read the comments from the last few days. Errin, that truly is a tough decision to make regarding your sister in law. Maybe if you do go, the Lord will allow you to be that light to the darkness that today's verses talk about. You might get to share YOUR lifestyle in Christ with them. And you can shower your sister in law with love. I don't know if that is the right answer, what do the rest of you ladies think?
When it comes to meal planning, I understand the concern with the budget. When I first started meal planning, it was more for the freedom of not having to think about what to cook at 4pm every day. If I spent 1 hour each week when the house was quiet and I could think calmly (now it doesn't take so long)the payoff in the long run was enormous. I write it on a list on the fridge plus any notes about taking meat out to defrost or soaking beans overnight. However, I also found great frustrations with "recipes." With our tight budget it seemed every recipe I looked at needed 5-10 ingredients. It became a mission to try and find cookbooks at the library or online recipes or ideas from friends and family that didn't involve too many ingredients. I also learned the art of keeping a stocked pantry so that I don't have to buy 100 items each week. If I run out of flour, it goes on the list, if I run out of cinnamon it goes on the list, rather than wait till I need it for a recipe and then find it is all gone. Slowly building up a pantry with the basics and then just cooking from scratch with the basics. I don't do gourmet or fancy meals and we've had to choose recipes with less meat since it is sooo expensive. Produce day has been the saving grace for our budget. (Anyone is always welcome to produce at VCC on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1-3) Oh yeah, my sister in law, Leslie, shared a great weekly meal menu making tip. She created a recipe box with blank index cards. When she makes a meal that everyone likes and is budget friendly she writes it on a card in the box (not the whole recipe-she just writes the name of the dish on the card as a reminder and maybe the page number of the cookbook where it can be found). When it comes time to make next week's menu she looks through the few cards in the box and has plenty of ideas. She also taught me not to feel like you need a new exciting dish everyday of your life. The simpler the better. Think back to the days of our grandmas. Grandma had a meatloaf day, a baked beans day, a breakfast for dinner day, etc. That's pretty much what Leslie and I do. A soup day (sometimes 2 days if I make a big enough batch), a pasta day, a pizza day, a rice day (usually 2 days if I make a huge batch of rice). Then you just change what type of soup, what type of pasta, what type of pizza, etc.
Hope this has helped in any way. Anyone else want to chime in?
Oh yeah, the verses today. I played catch up this morning and read verses 1-14. What a joy to sit and write out all those verses. It is funny. The exact verses that I wrote about in my journal were the same ones Kim commented on Monday. :) Great minds. . .
Have a blessed rest of the week ladies. How did breakfast go on Saturday?
Sonja
The verses from today reminded me to remember where we come from (darkness) and that we are now in the light because of Jesus! We must now not only do good, To walk in righteousness, goodness & truth, but expose the un-truths and evils of the world as well, and stand up for what is right (in love)! I also need to hear the "Awake you who sleep" part constantly to remind me to wake up and stand in the light of Christ!
I think of my daughter and how she always wants to please me, always seeking my approval. Lord I want to always walk in your light, to let my actions please you. Forgive me if I ever let you down.
Meal planning - I love Leslie's idea and I think that I might have to give it a try some day. Thanks for the suggestion, Sonja.
Here's how I meal plan because I too used to dread the 4-4:30 hour when dinner was due and I hadn't even thought of what to make much less got any meat out of the freezer in prepartion for dinner or I didn't have the right ingredients for the dish. Our local pizza place became our friends real quick then. Back in our d.i.n.k (double income no kids) days, it was fine but now we just can't do it like that any more. Plus, I love knowing that I don't really have to think about what's for dinner as I've already planned it out. It reduced my stress a lot in this area! Now, it's just remembering to get things in the oven on time! ;)
I also try to keep a stocked pantry and I try to only stock the pantry when items that I need go on sale so I plan accordingly and wait it out for sales. How I plan my menu for the week is that I look at what meats are on sale for the week (we usually don't have a stock pile of meats in the freezer except when we get a beef OR if the prices of meat are just too good to not stock up) and see what I have in the pantry and take into account the meals my kids and hubby will actually eat where I won't get stuck with trying to eat all of the leftovers myself, and plan a meal around that. I have certain recipes that I use most of the time and usually have the ingredients needed for them in the pantry. I also have 2 leftover days. BUT, if it seems like we have way more leftovers, I'll make a 3rd leftover day and carry the meal I had planned for that day over to the next week. For meals that require a little bit of fresh produce, I plan those at the beginnning of the week so that I know those produce items won't go to waste or go bad on me.
Hope this helps.
I have also read a lady's blog just recently where she shared the way she meal plans by having catchy titles for each night to include:
Meal Schedule:
Mexican Monday
Tomato-ey Tuesday
Wild-Card Wednesday
Thrifty & Thankful Thursday
Fancy Friday (sometimes Fish Friday)
Soup and Sandwich Saturday
Simple Sunday (We usually eat lunch out - so dinner is light)
If interested, you can read more about it here...
http://womenlivingwell.org/2011/08/my-2011-schedules-for-cleaning-meals-and-school/
ok, onto the verses... I finally got my study of these verses done tonight!
I feel like I could just go on and on since there were so many verses to study today. BUT, I won't bore you and just let you know that I found that analyzing the words "darkness" and "light" was so fascinating and brought so much meaning to the passage.
Paul began the passage by telling us to "walk as children of light finding out what is acceptable to the Lord." "Finding out" means to be testing or proving what is truly honoring to God in our lives. This looks different for all believers as we all came from different backgrounds and we were all raised differently or we came into this relationship with the Lord at different times in life. Some may be further ahead so to speak or rather more mature than others but we must be sure that we are all working together and to continue to keep moving ahead to the Light.
I thought of the color BLACK (darkness) which we all were at one point in our lives. Then, WHITE (Light in the Lord) was added to it and each step we take in our walks with the Lord - each molding and remolding, each shaping and reshaping into who God wants us to be individually adds a little more white and lightens that black more and more until we're gray then light gray and then FINALLY WHITE! Although we'll only reach that white/perfection/pureness when we are in Heaven or when Jesus returns!
I was led to Romans 12:1-2 which was so fitting for this passage as well.
Lord, thank You for the Light of Jesus that You shined and continue to shine into my darkness. It's not always pretty but necessary so that I am acceptable to You.
Kim
Now that I read over my post, I apologize to anyone who may be offended over my use of the word d.i.n.k. I always use it as an abbreviation to refer to our earlier, no kids years of life. BUT, I really need to stop using it as it can be taken the wrong way and is slang for so many horrible names! Ugh! So sorry to you all!
Kim
ok, one more thing from these verses that I thought about last night before drifting off to sleep. I found an interesting "translation" (I guess you could say) that really helped me understand v. 13...But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Huh? The rephrasing statement was: "This Light not only makes visible what is darkened, but It transforms that upon which it shines!" Such a neat way to look at that verse!
Just thought I'd share!
Kim
Once again Paul is reminding me that Jesus brought me out of darkness. Although in the darkness I was aware of right and wrong. However, as long as I was in darkness I could not have fellowship with God. Light and darkness do not fellowship.
Only by walking in the Light (truth=Jesus) can I grow fruits of honesty or integrity and live a moral life.
In this evil world it is so hard to escape all the wicked nfluences. The best thing is don't even talk about the immoral issues unless you are speaking to oppose it.
It is the Light from the Holy Spirit that will show us what is wicked and give us a way to escape it. There are NO SECRET SINS. Perhaps we can fool those around us and even other believers BUT there is NO FOOLING GOD! The Light makes it all visible. Jer. 17:10 "I the Lord search the heart, I try (test) the reins even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings.
Father, I want Your Light to shine in my heart and mind. As it says in Psalm 139:23-24. "Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! and see if there be any grievous (wicked) way in me and lead me in the way everlasting". This is my prayer.
Thank You for drawing me out of darkness and now help me to press on. There are so many walking in darkness and those who think they are saved and aren't. I pray they will wake up and receive the Light. Sometimes I am so scatter brained and selfish I fail to remember those who are lost. Please forgive me and awaken me to the cause.
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