Then He said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He though to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink, and be merry.”
But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night you life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”
Yep, I’ve decided to go with the second MISSED OPPORTUNITY from yesterday:
Yesterday, I also included a photo of the flag furled in a way that sort of folded itself over itself, and with the sun backlighting it, it made a sort of checkered pattern. I remember I captioned it “Stars and Checks”. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted, but evaporated, funwise and WYSI-wise, the moment I clicked “publish”. Too bad. Now it is just sheer determination that makes me bow to the necessity of posting twice in order to post two photos. Here it is, such a rare moment, for me, a newbie photographer. I was glad for the OPPORTUNITY when I had it and glad to share with those who care to look, now:
Flag 2
Hope you enjoy the shot.
I did.
Oh, and the link for Part 1 is here. It sort of explains this post. So sorry it has to be this way, evidently.
Yesterday, I prepared an essay with photos that did not publish right. Well, actually, it morphed, the moment I clicked “publish”, into an unrecognizable monster, even on the “add new post” page! This happens almost every time I try to use more than one photo per post and I can prove it by showing you all my deleted posts, which are all infused with the same trouble: lost photos, all text crammed under a photo as its caption, captions switched from one photo to another. Crazy stuff. I wish I knew why. I have changed themes. I have upgraded my everything. To no avail.
So, here we are, me trying again, and you thinking I never post. A few caught yesterday’s, kind souls who will “like” almost anything, but I know what I typed and I know what posted instead. What you see is not always what you get: WYSINAWYG!!!
Ahem. I digress.
Here is the first photo:
Flag
I am not bothering with the darling captions I thought up yesterday. Can’t remember them, anyway, nor can I remember the text. The gist of it was that I always try to carry my camera and this was an unusual photo OPPORTUNITY because it was a gusty day for wind and the sun was setting at the same time. I also inserted a photo of that actual sunset and another of the flag in an interesting furl. Not going there today. Will have to make three posts to show three photos, until the day comes when . . .
Anyway, it is usual for the wind to die down during sunset, but since it kicked up on this day, instead, I found the flag backlit and unfurled for brief moments. Had to take about 20 shots to get one straight-lined like this.
It was fun. I was having fun sharing it, too. Now I am just determined not to let the machines in the sky beat me.
Everyone who comes to God must believe these two things:
That He exists
That He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
This is truth, according to His Word, which is what we must accept if we accept that He is there to deny, to hate, to dispute, to blame, to doubt, to question, to quote, to copy, to seek, to find, or to acknowledge.
Another truth: all God-haters must admit He exists or their whole life-work has been wasted, right? Same for blamers, questioners, etc. They just miss, entirely, the BENEFITS of His existence, because they do not, also, believe that He rewards, and would joyfully reward THEM.
But He does. He would.
So, it is mandatory to reward our children; we must raise them up in the discipline of the Lord. Reward is one way He disciplines us.
“What?!” you say. “I thought discipline meant things like time-out or skipping dessert!”
While unpleasant consequences are, indeed, a valid part of discipline, God’s Word also shows us that He adds rewards to His method of discipline, which He has commanded us to use.
Why do we fear rewards? I have heard parents say, “I refuse to bribe my children to do right.”
Again, we show our ignorance, because, according to the Word of Him Who requires we do right, bribery—rewarding to do WRONG—is wrong, and rewarding to do right is right.
God’s discipline also includes praise. Consider this: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant . . . ” Or: “This is My Beloved Son, in Whom I AM well pleased . . . “ We cannot deny that He does praise us, also.
So we should praise our own. This is truth.
There is one facet of all this truth that escapes notice, though.
Humility.
His Word says, “Humble yourself, therefore, under the mighty hand of God and He will exalt you in due time.”
His Word says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
As one of His most famous followers said, “He must increase; I must decrease,” and “I am not worthy even to untie His shoe . . .”
We sometimes hear someone who has received great praise saying something like, “Oh, you are setting me up for a fall!” referring to the Scripture that reads, “Pride goeth before a fall . . . “
Still we should praise and reward good jobs, wherever we see them, and especially in our children’s lives. Missing this facet of childhood has caused many adults to grow up warped, never praised, never rewarded, and also never pitied and probably never sent to the corner or switched when they needed that. Undisciplined, they grow up with no self-discipline and probably no healthy concept of God, either, since we learn those from our parents.
Many adults fail to praise or reward other adults, though, and a job well done can make a hurting person jealous. People raised wrong envy beauty, industry, discipline, etc., and often grow snarky instead of praising. We just have to forgive them.
However, it is God, not people, Who watches our ways to give us joy. Humans will praise and reward us, if that is God’s chosen pathway for our praise and rewards to come, but only in due time. He may, though, choose to use His audible voice, instead! Or, our rewards may mostly come in the next life.
But we don’t care. It is a joy to wait upon the Lord. So we patiently seek out His will and try hard to do right, for the joy of pleasing Him, and we humbly wait for that due time, when He will, most assuredly, reward us. Because He IS a rewarder.
And for the snarky-jealous? Maybe we should find some way to give them a bit of the praise they never got during childhood?
Yesterday we began a list of 7 tactics a person can try, when forced to deal repeatedly with a manipulative, controlling person. Today’s post is the rest of the list. First, though, we must repeat one fact: these suggestions do not apply well to a legitimate authority who uses a manipulative management style. Now, the rest of the list:
8. Approach the controller when he least expects it. You call him, for a change. Arrange something irresistible and treat the person to a pleasant taste of his own medicine. He probably will pretend that he knew you were going to call, he was just thinking of the same idea, and will probably insist on paying his own way. Call his bluff, insist on paying, yourself, and make it the type of thing that denies him your presence unless you get a turn at running things, once in a while.
9. When you just need to get alone and cannot achieve it, witness to the controller. Ask him what the Lord has been doing in his life, lately. Ask him if he has anything really special he could share from his quiet time. If he does not claim salvation, explain his need to him in a rather aggressive way. Ask him how you can pray for him. (It would be really mean to say this if you did not mean it, though!) Either he will go away in a frenzy, or he will hear the Word and be drawn to the Lord. If he is going to insist on tying up your life, let it be time well spent. You may be surprised.
10. Pray for God’s protection from curses and negative words spoken over your life by this person.
11. If you find that you simply cannot let go of your demonic manipulator, you probably need deliverance from a co-dependent spirit. Ask your pastor. If he does not believe in deliverance, ask him why deliverance is in the Bible; why Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever; or if the devil is less evil than he once was. As you begin withdrawing from the controlling influence, you can expect to see bizarre behavior such as screaming, silence, accusations, tears, hysterical laughter, threats, weird phone calls, etc. You are probably living with some of this already. It may escalate. Try to remain unruffled. SEE IT COMING; do not say, “I didn’t even see it coming!” Make some accusations of your own, if it gets to be too much, but do not make the mistake of engaging in a verbal battle. Calm reason in the face of total absurdity usually has a powerful way of making a point.
12. If your manipulator is also your legitimate authority, realize your position means you should usually do what he says, regardless of a very horrid management style. You may escape many of the pitfalls of the manipulation by using #8 (a little), #9, and #10.
Also:
a. Commit to obey God by keeping His command to obey your governing authorities.
b. Commit your life and its outcomes to Him.
c. Re-commit yourself to trusting God’s provision. Only He can change some situations.
Living within the type of agony caused by the manipulator/controller spirit among us is a difficult assignment. I’ve been there more than once. I’ve battled the false guilt, false accusations, public embarrassment, sadness, and sheer weight of this enemy of all people.
The unhappy ones who listen to this enemy of us all and who walk in his ways need help. Until they want it enough to get it, though, we endure as best we can.
I hope this list gives you some usable tools to do what you must do under your heavy load: DO NOT BE AN ENABLER
If you and a manipulative person are thrown in together in a way where you cannot escape, what can you do?
First, realize this does not apply to your God-ordained authorities. This means your pastor, husband, parents (if you are young and single), boss, police, mayor, judges, etc. These people are supposed to have some say in your life and you should do what they say if it is not illegal.
Be careful of receiving gifts, compliments, invitations, etc., especially if they have implied debts attached to them (strings attached). You may feel that God wants you to accept the item, but always remember that anything given to you is yours to do with or about as you see fit. A gift is not a contract. If you did not say you would reciprocate with a certain favor because of what you have received, you are not bound to do so when such favors are brought up after the fact.
Seek God daily about your daily activities. Make God your daily planner, not the person who is trying to be God.
Plan ahead. Decide before the telephone rings how long you need to spend on the telephone today. Decide before you receive an invitation for dinner whether or not you are available to go out. Decide before the next time the person is trying to cry, just exactly what your response should be, then . . .
Do not back down! Make “no” mean NO. you can be very polite and still say “no” and make it stick. Do not worry about what the person will think; these people are not responsible for their thoughts and their thoughts are mostly irrational and unpredictable, anyway. No matter what you do, you will invoke base thought from a manipulator.
Be merciless with the sin of control; love the sinner. You can be very distant from a person for his own good, out of love for the person. You could deny an alcoholic liquor because you loved him, right? This time, you are the addictive substance that is being consumed to the point of abuse. Someone has to stop it.
Don’t major on minors. Allow a little control, if you see that it doesn’t matter, especially at first. Let the person choose your ice cream, parking spot, whatever will soften the initial blow of weaning. Save your insistence for choosing friends, movies, books, etc. Also, if the controller lies about the laundry, for instance, let it go, but if lies about your children pop up, expose them.
Oh, to bring back the days of sweet, crunchy pears! What memories of delicious fruit we would have forever!
We cannot bring them back, but we can prolong those days by helping the harvest last longer, by canning those pears.
If you are coming into the lovely problem of too many pears, here is how we deal with them–mmm!
1. Core and remove stems, but do not peel pears. Remove bad spots. Drop into 1 gallon water with 1 vitamin C tablet crushed in it.
2. Drain pears. Bring to boil in non-reactive pan (stainless steel or enamel) over medium heat with 1/2″ fresh water in covered pan.
3. Allow pears in water to simmer, stirring, until fruit is soft, adding water if necessary, to prevent scorching.
4. Mash pears or press through colander.
5. Return pulp to pan and season to taste with brown sugar, and if desired, cinnamon.
6. Reheat until simmering and hold at simmering for a few minutes. Keep at simmering, stirring, during entire process. Add water if needed.
7. Meanwhile, estimate number of pint or smaller canning jars you will need to contain all the pear butter. Wash carefully and rinse these jars. Count the same number of canning lids (flats) and heat in small saucepan of water as directed on box. Set aside and keep hot. Be sure to have one screw band for each lid. Lay one or two jars down in another large pan with 2″ water in it. Cover and bring to boil. Bring to boil another covered pan large enough to hold all the jars at once, with water enough to cover all the jars and rack in bottom of pan to keepjars from direct contact with bottom. (This pan should be a bit larger than your largest burner, and at leat 16″ tall, like a spaghetti boiler. The perfect pan is often called a “water bath canner”. If you lack a lid, a pizza pan works fine.)
8. Using jar lifter, carefully remove one jar from boiling water, emptying into boiling pan, and set it upright onto thick towelling.
9. Using canning funnel and long-handled measuring cup, carefully ladle simmering pear sauce into jar, within 1/2″ of top. Wipe rim clean and dry. Remove flat from hot water with tines of fork. Apply flat and screw band to filled jar, using thick towel to protect hands from heat. Use jar lifter to set lidded jar into tall pan of boiling water.
10. Repeat until all sauce is in jars, in boiling water bath. Time boiling from this time, for 15 minutes. Remove jars and set on clean, DRY towelling. Cover with light towel and allow to cool away from drafts. Do not disturb until completely cooled.
11. Remove screw bands from all sealed jars. (Sealed jars will be indented on top.) Place any unsealed jars in refrigerator and use very soon. Place all others in cool, dark place to keep for at least a year and use whenever you miss those crunchy pears!
We use this in place of jam on buttered toast.
Sometimes I only add white sugar and no spices to this recipe and we eat it like applesauce. Sometimes the pears are so sweet, I skip the sugar, too.
It’s all good!
I do hope these directions were clear. I ‘d be happy to answer all questions here. Remember, the only dumb question is the unspoken one! 🙂
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