March 31: Contentment / Making Good Use of Your Time / First Quarter 2010

CONTENTMENT SCRIPTURES

Psa. 34:18-19 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted

And saves those who are crushed in spirit. 

Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the LORD delivers him out of them all. 

Deut. 33:27 “The eternal God is a dwelling place,

And underneath are the everlasting arms...

Jer. 29:11-12 ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.' 

How Firm A Foundation

Words: Selection of Hymns from the Best Authors, 1787, by John Rippon

Music: Foundation, Lyons, St. Denio

"Fear not, I am with thee; O be not dismayed!
For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.

A Strong Contentment in God

Day by day, and with each passing moment,
Strength I find, to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment,
Whose heart is kind beyond all measure

I've no cause for worry or for fear.
He whose heart is kind beyond all measure
Gives unto each day what He deems best
Lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure, 
Mingling toil with peace and rest.

(Hymn by Carolyn Berg, 1865)

[Excerpted from Contentment: A Matter of the Heart

by Karen Horsey / Karen's Kreations]

Day by Day was written by a young Swedish woman who learned early in life the all-important lesson of living each day with the conscious presence and strength of her Lord. Lina Sandell has often been called the “Fanny Crosby of Sweden” for her many contributions to gospel hymnody. From her pen flowed approximately 650 hymns which strongly influenced the waves of revival that swept the Scandinavian countries during the latter half of the nineteenth century.

At the age of twenty-six Lina had an experience that greatly influenced her life. She was accompanying her father aboard ship to the city of Gothenburg, Sweden, across Lake Vattern. The ship gave a sudden lurch and Lina’s father, a Lutheran minister, fell overboard and drowned before the eyes of his devoted daughter. Although Lina had written many hymn texts prior to this tragic experience, now more than ever poetic thoughts that expressed a tender, child-like trust in her Lord began to flow freely from her broken heart.  SOURCE

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This is my last article in this month's series on contentment.   For the month of April I will be posting daily thoughts from a display that I keep on my kitchen windowsill, de-cluttering and cleaning, continuing to weed out my Ebay store, finishing up homeschool for the summer, among other things.

Wow.  Today marks the end of the first quarter of 2010. If you look at the calendar above, the first line containing January, February and March could be crossed out for this year. Where did the time go?   If you make a list of  one or two main things that happened or that you accomplished during each of the first three months of the year, what would it include?  For me, besides daily home management, homeschool and church service...

• January:      A month of funerals and a wedding, Christmas decor put away and all holiday bills paid
• February:    Jury duty on a criminal case for 8 days, boost in music home business          
• March:     Accompanist for regional band competition + rehearsals, update blog, illness, weed out Ebay inventory, open Amazon store, do taxes, plant flowers

Some of these things "just happened" and  I didn't really plan for them.  I didn't have have a "vision" per se of what the first quarter would look like.  Generally I make weekly goals rather than monthly goals but I'll start with April and see what I accomplish.  For this month I'd like to:

• thoroughly clean each room in the house, de-cluttering along the way
• revamp my Ebay store and add inventory
• plan courses and start gathering 11th grade homeschool materials
• polish up some rusty piano pieces
• assist my elderly mother more in her home

I''ll check back on these at the end of the month to see how I did.  Have a great day!

Proverbs 29:18

Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained,

But happy is he who keeps the law. 

Psalm  90:12

So teach us to number our days,

That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.