Actively at rest

4:32 p.m. Today's project was to head into the countdown towards Thanksgiving with actual accomplishments under my belt!

After devotional time, I took down our living room curtains for a wash, amazed at the dust they can collect in a few weeks! The trick with these is to get them back on the rods in the correct order, so I actually did two washloads, one for the dining room, and one for the front window, to keep from getting mixed up. I'm on a timeframe, ok? As I put them back up, I saw that they are getting a little frayed, showing their 21 year age at last. A pretty good run, I'd say. Some time next year, I'll start looking for as close a match as I can find to replace them.

Meanwhile, I proceeded to wrap up the decorating of son-in-law Nick's and daughter-in-law Marisela's Christmas stockings. The stockings are not pictured for "security reasons" because Nick's wife Heather follows this blog! (And Marisela does too, occasionally!)I put on some special decorations that will make the stockings unique, and hopefully a cheery representation of our love for them!

Speaking of Marisela, I needed to get information to and from Mercury insurance regarding their inspecting the Saturn she crashed on Thursday night, so I handled that while in the KMart parking lot, and before making a partial layaway payment on Christmas gifts. Note well: I could only make a partial payment, but it shows goodwill and effort, so that will have to do for now until the Lord sends some income! I'm so glad that I Samuel 16:7 says, "For man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

We got the kitchen window blinds washed, dining room table polished, and the table runner launderd along with the curtains. Tuesday will see the lawn mowing, dog and dog bed washing, and pie baking. Wednesday looks like housecleaning and making turkey broth and stuffing. Early Thursday morning should find me making whole wheat rolls, an art I have neglected since I went back to teaching full time ten years ago. And that 24 lb. turkey better be thawed after 6 days in the fridge!

All of this labor calls for physical health and relaxation, especially getting rid of my 3-day leg cramp. I am so glad that I had a therapeutic massage scheduled for this afternoon at Dr. Pena's chiropractic office, and Shirley did her magic. Leg cramp and headache are now gone!

A huge benefit of dropping stress, even for an hour, is the easing of the mind to think more prayerfully and clearly. Those wheat rolls had been bugging me in the back of my mind, because you certainly don't want to have a lack of rolls, or rolls that are less than yummy, on the Thanksgiving table! So a little idea came to me: do a trial run, making a half batch with the Better Homes and Gardens recipe I found, a new one to me. I had also found my recipes from 30+ years ago that were wonderful, but let's see how this one goes. You know, it's not easy to halve a bread recipe that is written in mixed fractions, but you play with the hand you're dealt! I was a little bit anxious that my marvelously unstressed shoulders would be wrecked by kneading the ball of dough, but instead it felt good to handle, a little bit of upper body exercise for my day!

As I write this, the dough is rising in a warm oven, and not looking very "risen" after about an hour so far...Then the dough will get "punched down" and rest in the muffin tin until baking.

Women's Bible study is tonight at 7:00, so that will be a time of refreshing and rest for me, to focus on the Lord instead of my tasks for two hours.

I am so glad that nothing depends on me; all depends upon God! The details of life, our deeds and labors will pass away, every one of them, but eternal salvation is a finished work Jesus accomplished on the Cross. You and I who know Him can rest in that, today and forever!

Hebrews 4:9-10 says, "There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His."