Finding Joy

Finding joy in everyday things....

Like sunny days for swinging on swings...

blowing bubbles and baby smiles....

early planting and the hope of future garden treats...

 

great books for my children to read....

 time for crafts, beautiful paper...

a beautiful bedside table my husband made...

and doll birthday parties...

Little things that make my heart sing.

Linking up to Finding Joy, Finding Joy Friday

A Fruitful Tree

 I just finished reading another chapter from Alexander Whyte's Bible Characters from the Old and New Testament, which I previously mentioned here.


This time I was reading a chapter titled, The Man Who Sowed a Mustard Seed.  I had to share this except below with the parents and grandparents who might be taking a moment to stop by my page.  It is such an encouragement!

"...Among ourselves that small mustard seed is eminently a parable for all parents. For every little word that a parent speaks to his child : every little action of a parent in the sight of his child: every little attitude even, and movement of his: every glance of his eye, and every accent of his voice—are all so many mustard seeds sown in the little garden of his child's mind and heart.

Every little Scripture lesson learned together: every little prayer offered together: and, especially, alone together: every little occasional word to explain, and to make interesting, his child's little lesson and little prayer every wise little word spoken to his child about his own and his child's Saviour—every such small seed dropped by a parent's hand will yet spring up to his everlasting surprise, and to his everlasting harvest. 

Let all parents... lay this little parable well home to their imagination and to their heart. Let them not despise the day of small things. Let them have a great faith, and a great assurance of faith, in such small things as these. 

Let them have a great faith in Him, and in His wisdom, and His love, and in His faithfulness, who is continually, both in nature and in grace, folding up the greatest trees in the smallest seeds. And never more so than in the way He folds up your child's whole future in your little acts of faith, and prayer, and love, and wisdom, and patience, and hopefulness, done at home. 

Despise it not, for a great tree is in it. A great, a fragrant, and a fruitful tree, under which you will one day sit rejoicing in the shelter of it, and in the sweet fruitfulness of it."





I was unable to locate a credit to give for the photo of the mustard tree, which I found on a Google Image Search.

The Value of Time

I love old books, and I have several vintage school books, primers, and readers that I have bought at estate sales and such.  Sometimes, when I can't sleep at night from a cold, or pregnancy discomforts, I read them until I am sleepy again.  One that I found had many good articles and poems was Bancroft's Fifth Reader, and in particular, the piece on The Economy of Time.  You can find it here on Google: "The Economy of Time" from Bancroft's Fifth Reader.
Just like many people, I have a tendency to waste away the minutes that add up to quarter hours, half hours, and eventually, whole hours...time that can be filled with useful things...like improvements to self, mentally, spiritually, physically; or profitable time spent with children or family and friends.  When I read this article, I printed it, and put it in the front of my household management binder as a very good reminder to me.  I will share a few quotes with you:


"...The man who has wasted the precious hours of life's seed-time finds that he cannot reap a harvest in life's autumn. Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health by temperance or medicine; but lost time is gone forever."

"Rely upon it, if you are a miser of moments, if you hoard up and turn to account odd minutes and half-hours, you will at last be wealthier in intellectual acquisition, wealthier in good deeds harvested, than thousands whose time is all their own."

"The small stones that fill up the crevices are almost as essential to the firm wall as the great stones; and so the wise use of spare time contributes not a little to the building up of a man's mind in good proportions, and with strength."

Also today, I wanted to share with you a link to some great animal coloring page printables, found on Animal Jr.com.  I'm going to print out some of the cute owl pages for my littlest one, who loves owls.
Free Kids Coloring Pages

And now I'm off to make the most of my minutes today! Happy Friday!

Clock Photo by Suat Eman, FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Children's Book Favorites

Today I would like to share a few of my favorite children's books. It's so nice to find interesting, educational, character building stories that your kids appreciate! Children in the age range of 3-8 years old would enjoy these.

The Best Loved Doll, by Rebecca Caudill: When a little girl is invited to a doll party, she has to choose which of her four dolls to take along to win a prize.  But she and her kindhearted worn old doll know what is more important than prizes...love! Darling illustrations in this book.

Ox-Cart Man, by Donald Hall:  A journey through a year of a colonial family's life, and the contributions they all made for the good of the family.

The Creation Story for Children, by Helen and David Haidle:  Beautiful Illustrations, creation scripture and conversation starting questions, as well as facts about interesting and amazing animals. It also includes personal reassurances of God's love for each of us.

Miss Rumphius, by Barbara Cooney:  A girl is inspired by her grandfather to travel the world, live by the sea...and make the world more beautiful.  The author/illustrator of this story also illustrated Ox Cart Man.

Happy reading!

Recommended Reading

I have recently been reading Bible Characters from the Old and New Testament, by Alexander Whyte. It is an old book that I was able to check out through my library's extended network of out-of-the-area universities and libraries. Some sections I have particularly appreciated were about Ruth's devotion and love for her mother-in-law, Naomi: “ just that relationship that should be entered on by all men and women with much watchfulness, solicitousness, prayer, tenderness, sympathy, and loyalty; in short, with the mind and heart of Ruth...and Naomi”.

Other sections that have been enlightening are about Esther and her opportunities, and the reminder of the opportunities we have in our circle that we sometime overlook: “Only open your eyes, and you will see all around you your circle set of God, and all dazzling you with its endless and splendid opportunities. Your most commonplace, and most monotonous, most uninteresting, and most every-day circle so shines, if you only saw it aright.”

Other applications we can take into our modern lives from Bible characters, from Alexander Whyte's book include Daniel, his humility and devoted prayer life; and weighing our days on the balances, as Belshazzar was weighed on the balances by God. I am grateful for such helpful reading material!