Another Socialist Experiment in Failure

The world is full of fools and faint hearts; and yet everyone has courage enough to bear the misfortunes, and wisdom enough to manage the affairs, of his neighbor. ~Benjamin Franklin

Just who is being greedy?

Hypocrisy is so fascinating to me. I say this because I readily admit I am a hypocrite and I have never yet met anyone who is not in some way or another, it is just that some hide it better than others. However, get a group of people together that criticize how unfair it is for so many to have so much less money and power than a few and you are sure to find the same among them.

All reformers, however strict their social conscience, live in houses just as big as they can pay for.
~Logan Pearsall Smith

I found it rather interesting that Michael Moore, a multi-millionaire ($50 million net worth, actually) in support of Occupy Wall Street (OWS), denied he was in the 1% on a CNN interview. Who else is in the 1% and supporting OWS? Yoko Ono ($500 million); Russell Simmons ($325 million) hip-hop mogul and founder of a high fee credit card company called UniRush Financial Services; Roseanne Barr ($80 million) who stated that anyone with over $100 million should be beheaded; Deepak Chopra ($80 million); Kanye West ($70 million); Alec Baldwin ($65 million); Susan Sarandon ($50 million); Tim Robbins ($50 million); Nancy Pelosi ($35.5 million); and George Soros ($22 billion, yes with a "b"), who has a net worth of nearly 17 times the sum of all the ones previously listed put together. The first question that comes to my mind is that if these people are really in favor of socialism, why haven't they given away most of their own money? More to the point, why would anyone who has accumulated as much as Soros be in favor of socialism unless he had something to gain from it?

Oh, just to get an idea of how mega rich these people are, in 2009 to qualify for the top 1% you would need to make $340,000 in a year. Pelosi was the lowest of the list above and her net worth is over 100 times that. Are these people really in touch with the 99%? I don't think they can be in touch with anyone who is worth just one million, let alone all the people making less than $300,000 a year!

It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them. ~Alfred Adler

Now the Occupiers of Wall Street have been given donations and have accumulated about $500,000--that is half a million dollars being handled by inexperienced people who never have had much money and yet want all the things that money provide. (It makes me think of giving a group of teenagers a credit card.) According to MailOnline there are now squabbles about how that money should be "shared" fairly, especially with winter coming.

Mr Smith, who works in TV production, is a member of the Comfort Working Group, which is charged with finding out what basic necessities campers need, such as thermal underwear, and then raising money by asking for donations on the street, the New York Post reported.

'The other day, I took in $2,000. I kept $650 for my group, and gave the rest to Finance, he told the paper.

'Then I went to them with a request - so many people need things, and they should not be going without basic comfort items - and I was told to fill out paperwork. Paperwork! Are they the government now?

'We need winter gear, shoes, socks. I could spend $10,000 alone for backpacks people need. We raise all this money. Where is it?'

Where, indeed? And paperwork! Bureaucracy has now become part of the Occupation. I am wondering how far this will go.

Pete Dutro, 36, a Brooklyn tattoo artist studying a master's in finance and sits on the Finance Committee, said big purchases can't get the green light straight away.

'We don’t have the power for that. They have to go to the General Assembly. If it's approved, we pay out that amount and make sure everything is accounted for,' he told the New York Post.

It seems to me that they are getting just a taste of what it is like to govern themselves. Perhaps it is a good thing...?

The devil loves nothing better than the intolerance of reformers. ~James Russell Lowell

The most notable hypocrisy about those calling themselves the 99%, those that say they are fighting for the poor and calling for redistribution of wealth, those that now have $500,000 with more coming in, those who have not paid for one permit to hold this rally, is that they do not want to share their good fortune with all the homeless and newly released convicts have been attracted to the gourmet food, free infirmary, and warm sleeping bags in a "safe and friendly" environment.

Oh, yes! These poor, who are in such great need without homes, it seems that they are a drag on the OWS folks. The people who are willing to take what is not theirs, that take what belongs to someone else, that do not work for it, they been have judged to be undeserving of OWS's stuff! Just who saw that one coming? However, OWS cannot exactly push them out, so the protesters hope to discourage them with a brown rice bland diet for three days.

It is also reported that the volunteer kitchen staff have been working up to eighteen hours a day and now are having a kind of labor dispute because they are doing more than their "fair share." They plan to provide directions to local soup kitchens for those not in the protest movement. However, it is a public park and these homeless people have just as much of a right to be there as the protesters and, if the protesters really believe what they say they do, then they should be giving their fair share to these less fortunate people--or perhaps they feel that is what the 1% should be doing, not them?

Many of us believe that wrongs aren't wrong if it's done by nice people like ourselves. ~Author Unknown

The protesters will probably make adjustments, of course, but in the end I think many will lose heart because the use of the money and the labor each does will never be fairly distributed. There are always people who will believe they deserve more than they have, who truly have greater needs, who are willing to take from people who have more. If numbers at OWS do not dwindle in the coming winter, they will create a representative governing body out of necessity instead of the collective making all decisions, leaders will clash as they already are, and people will complain about the money within the group as much or more so than outside of it. It will become everything they claim to hate and implode or just dwindle to complete ineffectiveness.

Perhaps then they will realize that the problems they have with 1% is the same problem they have within themselves.... Well, probably not. It is my hope, but it more likely will always be someone else at fault, but I am hopeful that at least a few will learn before they become ill living in the freezing cold.

~ My Lord, we are all hypocrites. The saddest part is when it goes unrecognized. May we be embarrassed and repentant of being so. ~

Just a Few More Days

The only real difference between begging and trick-or-treating is in perspective: The former is lowly, the latter is sanctioned. ~Unknown

If we had nothing else against Halloween, my husband and I would still be against it just because of the quote above. I know it is only one holiday, but its popularity seems to have exploded in the past couple of decades. I cannot help but wonder if "trick or treating" adds some measure of subliminal reinforcement to the entitlement ideology that has infested the younger generations or is pre-training for upcoming IRS agents--okay, that may be over the top, but just think about it for a minute:

The only difference between stealing and collecting taxes (or overtaxation to redistribute income and fund abortions, for instance) is in the perspective: The former is illegal and the latter is sanctioned.

If you have been reading here for at least a year, you well know my aversion to Halloween. If not here are links to my posts on the subject:
2010 - My Daughter Said the "H" Word...Again!
2009 - October's Thorn
2009 - Are We Standing Firm?

My feelings have not changed much on the subject and I will not reiterate what I have previously written. I just wanted to express my sorrows about how much the world has changed. When I was a child, Halloween decorations were not something we would see in stores at the beginning of September or embellishing yards and homes in the middle of September. I remember seeing some decorations just a week or maybe even two weeks before the day but now...? Just when and how did Halloween become an entire holiday season?

Perhaps the better question is why?

~ My Lord, please help me to endure these last days of October and enjoy the coming holidays that honor You. ~

A 1948 Cartoon about Isms for Occupiers of Today

-Ism's in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an -ism, he should believe in himself. ~Ferris Bueller in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)

The Occupiers of Atlanta has been evicted peacefully but with some arrests. I see them as anarchists mostly and anti-capitalists definitely, but without foresight in understanding what kind of system would evolve from what they think they want. This cartoon, created in 1948, has a message for them...and for us all.



The protesters kind of remind me of Ferris Bueller, who skipped school to enjoy the freedom, but the difference is that he was not thinking of trying to change the world nor bring down our monetary system, he just wanted a break and then he would take on the responsibilities of a maturing person: In other words, even he understood that he would have to go back home and grow up navigating his life on the sea of the personal freedoms we all enjoy.

~ My Lord, please help people to see and change the course of this country so that we stop exchanging our freedom for entitlements, for one day we could lose our freedom of worshiping You. ~

Liking This Lesson Plan So Much!

The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.
~Albert Einstein

We are still adjusting to Tuesdays at the barn each week, but I have to say that today was definitely an improvement over what we were doing when we started. Previously I was trying to stuff our afternoons after the horse barn with Math Drills, Math, Spelling, Sign Language, and Language Arts (Classical Writing) plus Piano. Because we both were tired, it would take the rest of the evening to a late dinner usually. Of course, at that point the Princess probably was not really learning, but just trying to drag her brain through whatever I assigned. After showers and lunch, we begin with our afternoon, which just piano and her horse curriculum. I could take a nap if I need to...and I think I will need to some weeks.

I realize now that formal lessons on three days a week will probably be more productive. Doing more does not always equate to learning more. I knew that, but that sequential side of me is a bit more dominate than that abstract side when it comes to scheduling and planning as I do with homeschooling. Yet, quite a few weeks I would end up taking another day off, because I was worn out or overwhelmed by the schedule. Now I now have two days to satisfy my abstract side when we can be more creative...actually, we also have most of the afternoon on Wednesdays for the same. Science, which we actually did do yesterday, is also mostly fun for both of us as we both enjoy experiments.

Yes, this is much better. I am far more relaxed, at the very least every other day of the week, but just having Language Arts intermixed with History is so much better and relaxed, although it takes more planning on my part. Remember as you look at the lesson plan below that Thursdays we go grocery shopping and run errands, so even though the lesson plan looks like the Princess has hours for her Classical Music curriculum, it is only done the times between stops and I just order it so I might have it next week to start, hopefully.

Here is how it looks:

~ Thank you, my Lord. Just thank you for guiding me. ~

Confessions of a Christian Healer

When He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” Then He touched their eyes, saying, “It shall be done to you according to your faith.” ~Matthew 9:28-29

I have been bit apprehensive of writing about this on my blog. I must have started this post or one like it a dozen times only to delete it. Perhaps it was not time. Perhaps I was not ready. Perhaps coming forth to tell of my gift will be encouraging to others with similar God-given gifts that we tend to hide or hold back. Perhaps the time for holding back now must end. Perhaps it is time to come out of the prayer closet and use God's gifts openly. I just do not know, as this is the question I now have before my Lord myself.

When I first became a Christian at the age of eleven, I asked my Lord to be a healer. I understood a bit about suffering because I had been abused by my father and I had a strong desire towards easing the suffering of others. To me, at that time, there was no gift as miraculous as healing.

About 25 years later, I was given that gift...well, actually, my Lord told me quite clearly during the last day of a twelve-day fast that He had already given me that gift when I asked for it again at that time. He reminded me of the first time I had asked it of Him. Not doubting Him that I had it since I was eleven, although I was, at best, only vaguely aware for those years, I suggested that the gift did not come with a manual and I needed some help in knowing how to use it. It was at that moment I felt a very physical change come over me and it did not take but a few hours of being around people to understand what had changed for me. I realized unquestionably I had been given the gift of empathy and I suppose that was my "manual" as to how help people in the best way.

No, empathy is not a "named" gift in the Bible, but when you read how the healers knew what was wrong with a person, it is there nonetheless. Some of my Christian brothers and sisters feel more comfortable calling it the gift of knowledge. I call it empathy because I can physically, emotionally, and spiritually feel what is wrong with someone as if I stepped into their skin. I quite keenly can feel their pain. I cannot diagnosis a medical condition by name, but I can pinpoint pain, or a distressed organ, or location of disease.

I can also feel emotional imbalances and even identify one's sin to a degree--Yeah, people tend get a bit unnerved when they know about that one. Moreover, I can tell if someone truly is Christian or not, which some would say is impossible as only God knows, to which I reply if God knows He apparently being God can let it be known to whomever He wishes also. Some would say this falls under word of knowledge, or word of wisdom, or discernment, so I am comfortable with someone calling it whatever makes him comfortable--it just is what it is.

Now, imagine, if you can, talking with a friend over the phone and developing a headache, not knowing if it is your own, or the person to whom you are speaking, or another person or animal near you, or someone else who just happens to be on your mind or was mentioned in the conversation. Yeah, it gets pretty confusing and sometimes just plain overwhelming. Obviously, I prefer small groups of people and one-to-one conversations.

When I asked to be a healer, I did not think that it would have a downside. Like Paul's thorn in the flesh which he endure thankfully when the Lord would not take it from him, I have been thankful for my empathy even when I have been doubled up on my knees in excruciating pain the moment I touched a woman with stomach cancer as her own pain was alleviated, or plunged into an abysmal despairing depression as I was praying over a woman who was told she had breast cancer, which was healed at the same time. Sometimes I am spared the pain and feel nothing or a mere shadow of it, but most of the time I share it in some manner for a short time. I appreciate it, because it keeps me humbled having taste of their suffering, the reality of suffering is inescapable to me for everyone needs healing at some level of their being, but the more acute is what I notice foremost.

Of all the things that I have experience in the last fifteen years with this gift, my greatest struggles and my most painful afflictions have been with my Christian brothers and sisters.

• I had a pastor tell me that the empathy is not a gift from God, because it was not named in the Bible. Which suggests he believed that it is coming from where or whom...Satan?
• I have had a friend of ten years, one who had been healed through it several times and believed in healing, later write to me that that I was doing was too far removed from her beliefs because only Jesus is the Great Physician, and I was floored by this hypocrisy coming from a practicing chiropractor. After reading the letter, even my husband, who is far less sensitive than I, also felt I had just been accused of practicing witchcraft. She also had ended our friendship abruptly...that was about twelve years ago now.
• I had missionary friends specifically ask me not to pray for the wife who had badly twisted her ankle, just before we arrived for a visit, because they did not believe that healing could come from one layperson. They quoted James 5:14. "Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord." When I mentioned the apostles? "Well, those were the apostles, but WE are to do it as stated in James." Then they gave me a book on spiritual warfare in concern for me, which mostly covered demonization of Christians.
• I had a new friend who was then considering homeschooling and our daughters quickly became best friends. Once when we were in the park together, she was healed from a wasp sting to which she is highly allergic. She also had been trying to get pregnant for five years and I had a dream of her being pregnant several months after we met. About two months later she was pregnant, but soon afterward I began feeling something from the unborn child. I believed the pregnancy would go well, but that the baby might have a learning disability like dyslexia, as the father did, and I suggested that we pray about it. Right afterward, due to other obligations, we were out of touch for a few weeks, but when our schedules were to be cleared she did not return my calls. One day I found a handwritten note in my mailbox from her stating that such information could not come from God and to never contact her again. Not only did I lose a friend, but this time my daughter was hurt as well.

Needless to say, I am rather cautious, even reluctant, about helping people even when I know, without a doubt, I have been led to do so specifically. Just because I have the leading does not mean it goes smoothly or easily. I have spent countless hours in fasting prayers trying to make sure my heart was right with God, asking Him to take anything not of Him away, and to show me what I am suppose to believe and do. I try not to think about what it has cost me, but I am human and my feelings do get hurt. Recently, a well-meaning friend said that I take it too personally and I am not so sure how I cannot take it personally. I practically "wear" people which is quite personal, try to help them as far as they are willing, and many times I am later avoided or insulted for such efforts.

There is more downside to this than a bruised feeling now and then. There are also people who begin to rely on me to be healed of everything. There are times that a person is not healed in the way he expects as not all are instantaneous and he doubts more than me but also the church or God. Although I know it is not my fault, as I do not control how the healing will happen, I cannot help but think of the scripture that warns against causing a brother to stumble and that I did not use my empathy well to meet them at their faith level.

In my experience, I would say when Jesus said a person was healed by his faith, there is pure honesty in that, but people often mistake their desperation and need for faith. Some people do not receive because they did not ask their Lord or they asked but did not believe. I have felt people hinder the healing they desire. I have come to believe that being empathic helps me to understand how to meet them at their faith level so that they will more readily receive healing.

Still, I confess that having the gift of healing does not make me an expert at it. I do not understand much of it myself. While I know the why I should use it, who needs it, and mostly how to do it (hopefully how I should do it), I still struggle with the when and where of using it. Do I offer? Do I wait to be asked? Do I wait for the prayer invitation from the pastor or leader of the group? Do I just pray at home for all those who need it? If I make church members uncomfortable with this, will they leave our church? If the person is not healed, will he blame God especially when he has seen others healed?

The healing itself is straightforward, but it has all these complications surrounding it. Remarkably to me, some Christians do not believe in healing as it was done in the Bible. Perhaps because medicine has advanced so much they feel it is unnecessary. There are times I think that science has not served mankind well, because it is so adept at not only denying God's existence but also removing the need of Him as well.

When I was just a girl, healing may have been the greatest gift to me because I needed healing myself or was it that God wanted me to have a heart for healing because that was my purpose in His plan and all that I endured was in preparation for that? These kinds of questions always intrigue me. I probably will continue to write about other aspects of healing from time to time now that I have broken my blog silence on the subject.

I want you to know that if you are in need of healing, you may let me know in the comments or by email.

~ My Lord, I know this is but one step out from my struggle towards the purpose You have for this gift. I will not ask that you guard my heart against attacks when people resist what You would so graciously give, but that I am in agreement with Your heart and that You will be my strength to endure what comes, mine and my family. ~

Reshaping Time

What you have become is the price you paid to get what you used to want. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960

Have you ever really thought about this quote? Yesterday I wrote about an unhappiness that I have been harboring for several months. It has not been a deep depression, but something lukewarm and numbing that sunk in on me gradually and I kept thinking it would change eventually. Perhaps I had become a victim of my own desires lost...but it is fixable, I think.

I am planning reshape time again with another change in our homeschool schedule. As I prayed about how to make our week work better, I have decided to scrap a few minor things not working well for us and to reorganize a few more major things so that we spend our lesson time more efficiently and give us both a bit more freedom also.

• I have decided to have three days a week as "regular" lessons: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

• Tuesday will be solely devoted to horses, including Beautiful Feet's History of the Horse curriculum, which is a unit type study that we started some time ago, but have been doing sporadically. I have found that we spend most of the morning at the barn on Tuesdays and the Princess has not even been riding yet, which she will be as soon as the tack room is redone so I can match which bridles and saddles to use for each horse. When that happens the entire morning will be completely taken up. We work rather hard there, even my husband has mentioned that I am more muscular, so the Princess and I are rather tired in the afternoon after a warm, cleansing shower.

• Thursdays will be devoted to music and I will be getting Beautiful Feet's History of Classical Music for her to do in the van as we travel to her piano lesson. I hope to continue with Power-glide's French that day as well.

• On Wednesday, my fasting day, the afternoon will be lighter also devoted to the arts from poems to drawing to cross-stitching depending on what projects we chose to do. Currently, the Princess is working on drawing a jumping horse as part of her History of the Horse curriculum and for art. Her finished work will be entered into an art show and fund raising event involving Animal Control and Rescue Kennels in our county that needs to be in by November 5th. It is open to all students in the county so it will be competitive and I am wondering how she will do against other elementary students.

I have been toying for the last few weeks with the idea dropping the Classical Writing curriculum, but use the ideas of it in our history lesson, which will be handled more like a unit study. I will probably use Harvey's Elementary Grammar as my spine along with outlining, vocabulary, dictation, copywork, and sentence diagramming based on a model from her history lesson, or one of the other books in her horse or music curriculum. This I will decide on a week-to-week basis when I do lesson planning. It is there that I need invite my Lord's leading and trust Him that I cover everything He wishes her to know.

I have not decided exactly how work in handwriting practice. I was thinking of something like one lesson a week and then reinforced with practice during Language Arts and Spelling, because she has not improved in that area on her own.

I have been adjusting her work load and trying make it work for us for the last two months; on good days it works well but more often than not, it doesn't. The advantage of this change is that if she does not finish her work from the the regular days, it may be possible for her to finish on the next day or Saturday.

Part of me thinks that changing our schedule again may not be a real solution to all our ills. I am afraid to hope it could be. I realize that I may be doing this more for me than the Princess. I was concerned that it would not be the best way to educate her, but when I was praying about this, my Lord reminded me about the things I prayed for her to have in her life, the things that were important to me before she was born: a heart for her Lord, the husband He has chosen, gifted with the piano, and working with horses were the main ones. He has provided three of four and I feel that have to remember that piano and horses for us are every bit as important as traditional subjects, so I am going to give them a higher priority than I have been and continue to pray.

~ My Lord, please let this schedule work well for both of us and be completely in line with Your will. ~

What is Left of Me

Depression is a prison where you are both the suffering prisoner and the cruel jailer. ~Dorothy Rowe

I keep thinking that something needs to change. I keep waiting for the change to happen. I rearranged our schedule thinking that would fix most of it. I try to have a positive attitude.

I tell myself that I am being a good homemaker by gardening, caring for rabbits, and preparing most of our meals, and the only reason my house is so dusty and has not been vacuumed is because I treated it with diatomaceous earth for the fleas--true but is it an excuse? (But then we are finally seeing a real reduction in the fleas!)

I tell myself I being a good mother by educating my daughter at home, helping her to realize her potential in music and arts particularly, and being involved with the 4-H Horse and Pony Club.

I tell myself I am being a good wife by taking care of everything when my husband is away or working long hours, making a budget and paying the bills, and trying not to burden him too much with my emotional...um, disturbances.

I tell myself these things, but I am not convincing myself very well. All I know is that two evenings ago have voiced to my husband and daughter what I have known in my heart for many months: I am unhappy. You have no idea how selfish I felt to say that, or even now just to write, it out loud.

It is no one's fault but my own that I have been feeling depressed for so many months. I will not allow myself to enjoy much. I am not sure if I feel I do not deserve to enjoy my life; or I feel guilty because financially things are easier for us this year when it is still hard for many others; or if it is my daughter's attitude, which has improved much since her baptism but still has somewhat injured our relationship needing some time to heal; or if I have crowded my life with so many things that I am not doing the things I would enjoy; or if I just am not enjoying those things as I had before because of my own attitude; or if I just feel like a failure at all the above, plus much more...because the list goes on.

Yesterday I had a raging headache after working at the horse barn and I think that in part is from the dust. I could avoid it possibly if I would remember to bring a mask. Later the day eroded from there with the Princess, so I just fed all the furry ones and went to bed at 7:30 PM. I did not sleep well, because the headache, which may have started as a sinus one, had been compounded with tension and was on its way to a migraine, which I seldom get, thankfully, but I still have a remnant of the headache today as well.

Today, I am taking it easy. The Princess and I together finished a difficult Latin lesson that seemed impossible to do yesterday and now I am going to rest to hopefully get rid of this headache completely.

~ My Lord, I think I have been trying to do too much on my own again. I just never do well with that and I thank you that I do not because it forces me to kneel before You. ~

So Cometh the Winter of Discontent

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor. ~Exodus 20:17

I have purposely been staying away from all blogs including my own. I am disturbed by many things of political natures right now and I wanted to have time to clarify my thoughts. I have mentioned in the past that I am politically minded, but I do not usually mention politics on my blog. I align myself with few groups because mostly I am very conservative and typically conservatives tend to be highly self-reliant, independent, principled people. (I hope I live up to that standard.)

In our Sunday School lesson last week, we covered the Ten Commandments and I realized something I really had not thought of before. I knew the first four commandments were in reference to God and the following six in reference to others, five of which were based on actions, but the tenth one is just a bit different than all of them. Now I know that entertaining the thoughts is the same a committing the sin in action to our Lord, but the tenth one is specifically about our yearnings. Coveting is a yearning of the heart, and it leads to committing sins against all the other commandments, as in one will covet the wealth of another before he steals it; lie to get it; dishonor God and parents in the process, and so on. Coveting could be considered the root of all evil.

I have been watching with strange fascination the soul-sick protesters now spreading their demonstrations across the globe wondering how the course of human events will try to balance itself, as it historically does. I am concerned about how bloody it will get as the numbers are swelling emboldening the protesters to grow more confrontational along with some of them calling for violence. Even though they actually are a very small percentage, when mobs rule, they do not govern themselves well. I have watched the self-described peaceful demonstrators goading police officers there to keep the peace and wonder how peaceful this mob would remain if those in uniform were not there.

Beyond all that though, I have been trying to see behind the signs and masks, and even beneath its pretty packaging that these who call themselves the 99% and say they are fighting for me as one of them. Because their message is not one but many, too many in which I cannot find agreement, even with some alarming anti-Semitic malevolence. Peering into depths of its soul, what I have found is that these protests are mostly about money: people wanting other people's money. People hating people who have more than they do. People who are willing to take money from other people believing they have rights to it. People who willingly borrowed money but do not want to pay back the loans because they feel they are in debt unfairly.

People not trusting God for His provision in their lives.

This is why I do not agree with this movement, nor do I sympathize with these people except in this: I see these protesters as soul-sick people. They have broken just about every one of the Ten Commandments while peacefully protesting, if not yet in action, then certainly in their hearts by coveting. I am sad for them and those who support them, for they are being supported by people who have profited in the very capitalistic society they claim to hate and wish to bring down. (If hypocrisy itself was a sin, it would be the one of which we all are most guilty...and I include myself most of all here.)

They do not see that no matter what form of government is in place, it will be corrupted by money because governments have power made of people with corruptible hearts. They do not see that placing more taxes on the rich only make them pay more for goods themselves and so they gain nothing. They think that if we tax the rich more they will be satisfied, when there is no satisfaction for coveting; they will always just want more. Given the opportunity, most of them would become what they protest against...it is human nature.

I am supposedly one of the 99% because I am not in the top 1% of the rich, but I would rather align myself with the 53%. Those are the ones who are paying income taxes while 47% pay no income taxes and some of them, some of which are friends of mine, are getting an earned income tax credit, which is money given to them above what they paid in, a redistribution of wealth. That redistributed money comes from the 53%, not just the top 1% which actually pay nearly 40% of the all federal income taxes collected. We are a very diverse group that is not a group, just individuals who make enough pay income taxes, according to our current tax laws.

I feel I have been taxed enough already like others in the TEA Party. I would like to see a radical revamping of our tax code and our government downsized. I would like my tax dollars to stop funding things against my religious beliefs, particularly abortions. I will pay off my own debts. I will try to trust my Lord to provide and be thankful for that with which He has entrusted me. I will try to be content with what I have even in this coming winter of discontent.

~ My Lord, thank you for being my God, Lord of my heart. Help me to be content in You and Your provision. Please reveal Yourself to these people who so much need You in their hearts. ~

Just 30 Minutes Could Save a Life...and a Soul.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear. ~Matthew 11:15

I have not had much time to post to my blog or even read others lately. I apologize, my friends, for both. However, this video came to my attention and I found it so powerfully moving and deeply thought provoking that I wanted to share it immediately and ask a favor of you:

If you agree with it and find it something worth passing on, would you please post it on your own blog and/or send this link, http://www.180movie.com, to a few of your friends. In just doing this much you could help to save a life of someone you do not yet know and help save a soul as well.

~ My Lord, please bless the people who made this video, the people interviewed for it, and the people who will watch it. May it speak to every heart and forever change them. ~

Perspective Change on College

That which has been is that which will be,
And that which has been done is that which will be done.
So there is nothing new under the sun. ~Ecclesiastes 1:9

For the last few years, I have had this underlying fear. I would say it is like being in a whirlpool. I can see the world going down the drain. I can feel it, but I am as caught up in it as everyone else. I listen to the news hoping for hope and I do not hear any.

A few of the presidential candidates that might possibly slow this whirlpool, perhaps even reverse it, are considered too radical...too radical because they believe our federal government is doing things it was never meant to do and most were never lawful. Too many people think that the creators of the U.S. Constitution could not have foreseen how the world would change.

But God has seen this scenario played out many times before. History has shown us that mankind continually makes the same mistakes regardless of how intelligent it becomes. You would think God would get tired of us making the same mistakes over and over and over again. I believe there will be an End Time and sometimes I think that if God Himself does not end this world as it is, we will.

I cannot remember how I came across the following video yesterday, but I feel my Lord has been trying to get me to change my perspective and expectations regarding education, my daughter's education in particular. I want(ed) her to go to college, maybe more so because I did not. I feel have no safety net, no paper to prove I am "trainable" and I say this because that is what employers see when they see a college degree. I would say about half of people I know, who have a degree, were working jobs unrelated.

I am feeling unsteady as if trying to walk on shifting sands, but if God is leading me then I should welcome the journey. I should be willing to make my desires fit His desires.

This video is an hour long. I know that is quite a time commitment and I myself had to watch it in segments because I rarely have an entire hour to sit and watch anything these days, but the information on the "college bubble" is very interesting and has helped me to reconsider the idea of placing so much importance on a college education.

While I know that many of my friends do not care for politics as much as I, there are some things that really do need to change so that people are not so hampered by government regulations to be inventive entrepreneurs starting small businesses or running farms and that will not change unless we vote for people determined to make those changes.

Perhaps it will spur some interesting conversations, at least.

~ My Lord, I will listen to Your words and follow as You lead. Help me to be as You wish me to be, not what I think I should be. Help me to shape my daughter's education as You wish it to be, for her to be prepared for the tasks You have planned for her. ~

Not Giving Unto Casear

If we continue to send our children to Caesar for their education, we need to stop being surprised when they come home as Romans. ~Dr. Voddie Baucham

That is a very profound statement!

Today in Sunday School we talked about the difference between privilege and responsibility, whether it was a privilege or responsibility to help someone in greater need than ourselves. It is, in fact, both. This is also how I feel about homeschooling. I am privileged to be able to educate my daughter and I am responsible for it as well.

I homeschool because I feel I was called to do it by my Lord and this video is a brief explanation as to why I believe the Lord has called Christian parents to homeschool and why I personally am very concerned about educating Christian children in public schools. I would even say that I am against it in principle, but I would not condemn a family for placing their children in public school. I cannot say if all Christian parents are called specifically to homeschool their children, but that I agree with this statement given to us in the Bible:

A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher. ~Luke 6:40

I have always felt that one cannot separate religion and education, but I think I like his description better. This man talks about education as discipleship and this perspective is quite thought-provoking.

~ My Lord, I know it is a sacrifice for every family to homeschool. It is difficult financially and socially. It is time- and effort-intensive. Some days it seems to be the most thankless job in the world...on second thought, being God is probably the most thankless job. I mean that some days it is difficult to remember why I am homeschooling because things just did not go well at all and I wish to thank you for reminding me the long term goal is raising my daughter to be a young adult who always seeks to please You. That is my purpose, to please You and encourage the desire to please You in others, particularly my daughter. ~

Turning Over an Autumn Leaf

The chief beauty about time is that you cannot waste it in advance. The next year, the next day, the next hour are lying ready for you, as perfect, as unspoiled, as if you had never wasted or misapplied a single moment in all your life. You can turn over a new leaf every hour if you choose. ~Arnold Bennett

My family returned from Florida on Thursday evening. It is amazing that the same sad-glad feelings as the day they left, but flipped. My break was over, but I had my family back with me. We stopped at the Mellow Mushroom on the way home to eat a pizza. I could see that the Princess was very tired and was not showing her best side because of it, but I had that legs-wrap-around-my-waist kind of hug at the airport that I made it all bearable. I am a mother. I had a bit of a break, but I am still a mother and she is still my child, and we are again together.

Even while she was away, I thought of things to do for her. I cleaned up her room and removed some books she has outgrown and found special places for new ones and present favorites. I did not do everything, though. I left about six "drawers" and a bin for her to organize herself.

I had gone shopping at the local Goodwill store last week all by myself! I just want to say here that is so odd how just going to a store with a toddler was a big deal with the car seat and stroller or cart but now my daughter is the one who usually pushes the cart and helps me shop. That Tuesday it just felt unnatural not to have her help, although I reminded myself there was a time that I did all this extra stuff because of her inability to do for herself when she was so little. Then she depended on me so much and now I am depending on her more as she matures. I suppose it is all part of the natural progression into ever-changing mysteries of the parent-child relationship.

Anyway, at the Goodwill store, I found a few things. A tea-length skirt with a fall leave print and dark gold, long, casual dress at half price, just $4.50, in perfect condition--such a good color for autumn! I bought a book for the Princess, as she likes Nancy Drew mysteries, and even as I had just dropped off some outgrown toys and a few stuffed animals for donation, there I was at the checkout with a small fairy-winged stuffed bear that would easily fit on her shelves in front of her books: it still had a tag and looked brand new for $2. I also found a couple of books for me.

Quiet Times for Parents: A Daily Devotional has been added to my currently reading list here and will probably be there for some time. I was thinking I needed something like this for myself when my daughter, on a previous Goodwill shop, found a year long daily devotional for herself. I had not really prayed about it, but I believe God heard it in my heart and provided. I began these devotions today and the first part I read under the heading of October 1:

He who covers and forgives an offense seeks love, but he who repeats or harps on a matter separates even close friends. ~Proverbs 17:9 (AMP)

Leave it to my Lord to cut right to the core in a timely manner. I am one to harp too much on a matter with my daughter. I will give everyone else lots of leeway, but those closest to me are the ones with whom I expect the most...and I know better. It is I who says that my expectations are the beginnings of trouble, remember? Without expectation, there is no disappointment, no hurt, no anger, and no harping.

However, I will have some expectations because she is my daughter. I was disappointed with the condition of her room, but I also knew that I am as much too blame for allowing it. I will no longer just ask her if she has cleaned her room before she can play with a friend because I am nearly always disappointed with her idea of a cleaned-up room; from now on I will inspect it...thoroughly because there were just way too many things stuffed away out of sight, but not in the right places. I would like for her to be a bit more self-disciplined in certain areas, yet there is something different about her that is far more important. I have to say that since the Princess was baptized, she is quite improved. She and I prayed together that God would prepare her heart and from the day of her baptism she really has had less attitude. There was a huge change in her from one day to the next and thereafter.

Likewise, with this break, I feel I have turned over a new leaf with my own attitude. I am so pleased with this new devotional focused on parenting and beginning our new schedule with the horse barn on Tuesday mornings. I am looking forward to how much better it will be for us with homeschool scheduling and my fasting day. I am even looking forward to planning just a section at a time for the next math level for the Princess, which begins next week also.

~ My Lord, thank you so much for this break that I needed more than I realized. Help me to be wise with time and use it to bring enjoyable and memorable moments between my daughter and me as well as between You and me. ~