FMF: Quiet

FMF:  Five Minute Friday is the brain child of Lisa-Jo at Tales of a Gypsy Mama.   Everyone writes a post for 5 minutes–no editing and links up–then I spend time off and on reading random 5 minute thoughts.  It’s fun.

Go:

The last FMF I wrote about was LOUD.

Quiet:

Why is this so hard?  Maybe because my quiet time is at 4:30 in the morning until 6.  My quiet is a very loud clock and a purring cat.  Right now in this moment.

My other quiet is at my cabin.  It is not fancy.  My cabin is my quiet place–my mind just seems to let go there.  I can just sit and knit and just be in the moment.

I find the demands of 4 busy kids do not include quiet.

I need to make quiet for myself:

  • I make my house a creative place so that I can take a moment and notice beauty
  • I have a bird feeder the birds catch my eye during the day and for a fleeting moment I have wings
  • I notice how the wind catches the pots of wild flowers that I grew (shouldn’t wild flowers be able to bloom wherever?–no this wild flower often feel stuck in a pot)
  • I see my husbands shoes–clearly not where they are supposed to be–yet, I can’t wait for him to walk in the door each night.

I am blessed.

STOP

Corn Casserole Free printable

Every Thursday LifeasMom.com has a recipe swap–so I post one of my gazillion recipes.  In the process of finding the recipes I also take a few minutes to organize my recipe binder.  My mom was a great cook, yet her recipes are a mystery–strange because she was so organized in almost every other aspect of her life.

Aunt Laura’s Corn Pudding

I wrote about how I organize my recipes.  It helps me in my meal planning, keeping it real (because some of us like to keep recipes and the pretty pictures and dream of a beautiful table filled with beautiful food–where everyone clears their plates and sings praises).

FREE printable corn pudding

Be Blessed during this season of thanksgiving.

God and the Sweet Potato

My sister-in-law introduced me to this video and I decided to try it.  This organic sweet potato video shows how an organic sweet potato grows vs. a non organic sweet potato.  I love

  • growing things
  • teaching science
  • long-term projects with kids
  • sweet potatoes!

So this was the perfect homeschool science project . . . but of course it morphed and took on a life of its own.  (as things seem to in my house)

one organic and one not . . . guess?

These sweet potatoes grew and grew with the organic one always bigger, more foliage, and needing WAY more water.

The green was so vibrant!  It was a great plant to have in the house through the winter.  But, by summer it was a trailing vine.  What do I do with it now?  One of my smaller scientist suggested that I plant it outside so I did, in a pot, with some other annual herbs.

What I didn’t realize when I planted the vines in dirt that it would continue to grow . . . fruit this time.

my accidental yield from one sweet potato

this yellow planter is where they grew for the summer with basil and dill
I wonder what would have happened if I had a bigger bucket

From the first moment that I watched the sweet potato video and knew that I wanted to try it, I had no idea how life’s everyday can turn into a metaphor for our walk with the Lord.

  • I saw something cool and wanted to try it.  (people following Jesus)
  • one sweet potato grew effortlessly (grace from God)
  • one sweet potato grew fruit and the other did not (fruits of the Holy Spirit)
  • the other sweet potato never flourished–it grew but did not produce fruit.
  • We started out this project with excitement and enthusiasm but ended up planting the potatoes outside in the nearest container . . . not much thought was given to what would happen.  Finally, I decided to compost–and found a gift!  (our gifts might be hidden under dirt or we may feel like we have been discarded–but God is still working–even in the dirt!)
  • We have enough tiny sweet potatoes to make muffins or add to soup.  (God will provide what we need.)

I am amazed at how one suggestion from my sister-in-law could have given me so much to be thankful for.  How this story was a year in the making . . . now I’m thinking about all of the other things that I may have missed because I didn’t live in the moment and intentionally.

Not gonna let that happen again!

Well, or course I will–but it made quite a dramatic statement.  I am grateful.  I do give thanks in everything–I am beginning to see how life, grace, sweet potatoes and gratitude are all together.   I am trying to stop and see life in this very moment.

Be Blessed.

Linking up with wordless wednesday. whatever works, work in progress, living well wednesday, thought provoking thursdays, Wisdom Wednesdays