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May 21

It’s Summer Time!

Of course, it’s not summer yet: not for another three weeks or so, but all around the nation schools are winding down and for almost everyone that means SUMMER. . .

. . .the time when the Bobbsey Twins, the Box Car Children, and countless other serial children were able to solve riveting mysteries unencumbered by school. . .when Jim and Scout and Dill tried to make Boo come out.  . .when rural families needed children in the race to adequately prepare to survive yet another winter. . .when city families escaped festering close quarters to bask in country estates and sea air. . .when potted learning is thrust from lecture hall and classroom greenhouse to thrive in outdoor reality. Read more

May 9

Thirty Minute Meals

Library shelves are full of them. If they are not the book’s entire content, they often occupy a sizeable chapter within the book. Even cooking shows feature them. . .the thirty minute meal. Everything on the table within thirty minutes. Some protein, some carbohydrate, some produce. Read more

May 7

A Sorry Tale

There he is: the big, head-of-household guy, waiting for dinner. What’s on the menu?

What he likes, of course. Well, what’s that? Meat, potatoes, any vegetable as long as it’s corn. Green beans? Nope. Carrots? Are you kidding? Broccoli? NEVER LET IT SET FOOT IN THIS HOUSE.  Salad?

I said corn. I meant corn. Only corn. Read more

May 4

Good Nutrition

Guiding at least some people in food preparation is the Food Pyramid, that colorful triangle designed as an amount guide (the pyramid’s peak represents what we need very little of each day, rather than what is most important).

The pyramid is filled with blocks explaining how many servings of each food group are recommended by food scientists to provide good nutrition for a healthy body. Of course, what our bodies need are things called protein, vitamins, minerals, and carbohydrates, but we don’t open packages from the grocery labeled “2 lbs. (32 oz.) protein.” No, we buy some fruit, salad items, a bag of rice, a package of chicken, and a carton of milk.

If you know the food pyramid, you know those purchases are “good” choices, covering needed vitamins and minerals, carbohydrates, and protein, as well as the milk lobby! Read more

May 2

Seeing into the Future

What will you be doing ten years from now? If you are fourteen, say, the next ten years will likely bring a multitude of significant changes. If you are forty-four, changes yes, but perhaps not quite at the same level. Seventy-four?

Wisely, the young are often challenged to make decisions now based on whether the choice will help or hinder their spiritual walk in ten years, or twenty years, or eternity.Looking far down the road helps to put now into perspective.

So look far down that road, and during an Executive Oversight time or two brainstorm (or three) about all the things you might want to learn about the Lord and His Word if you had the time to learn them. Get your notebook and begin listing your ideas. Have you wanted to deepen your prayer life? Learn Bible geography? Study the original Bible languages? Find out what the Bible really says about child rearing, or tithing or modesty? Did someone give you Morning and Evening for a graduation present and it has been on the top shelf in your room, unopened since then?

Maybe your parents divorced when you were young, and now that marriage is your reality, you wonder if there is any hope of not following their track record? Or maybe your parents  have been happily married for thirty or forty years, but your marriage is sick and you have no idea where to start to get it healthy. . . the truth is, getting it healthy hasn’t really crossed your mind, getting out of it, though,   that sounds a whole lot more appealing.

So think about it: what ideas to you have for spiritual growth? If you could take as much time as you wanted, if you could study any direction you desired, what directions would you go? If you could truly address your personal spiritual needs what would they be? What texts have you always wanted to meditate on or ask about?

Write them down; write them all down.