The Holidays and Life

"How does this honor Jesus?"

A rhetorical question I asked my dad the other day. We were discussing decorating for Christmas; dragging out all the boxes of clutter, the running around, and on and on. The fact is, it doesn't honor the One we Christians are supposed to be honoring if we are in slavery to the stress and perfectionism of the season. We are worshiping stuff, not the Savior.

Actually I've been becoming increasingly aware at how much SAtan has led modern Christians astray with materialism. How many people for example have told me "I can't afford a godly education for my kids" while living in a 2500 sq ft house and driving brand new cars and paying $200 phone bills every month?

Ah, yeah.

It is obvious what the real priorities are.

I've been reading a book named "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" Yes, I know this is an old book, but the advise is still good (though I disagree with his opinion of Robin Hood. A close reading will tell you that Mr Hood did NOT steal from the rich to give to the poor. He took money from government (and "church" which was part of the government at that time) officials who had cheated the people by levying exorbitant taxes and gave it back to the people. He didn't rob the rich he knew took care of their people and were fair to them. But that aside....) It makes me realize I need to put more energy into my own business instead of the direct sales company I'm with.

Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE the product! One of the training points is always "Wear the product!" to which I respond, "Why wouldn't I? Why are you selling it if it isn't always in your hair anyway?" Duh.

This is the only direct sales company that has ever tempted me, and I really joined to get the 30% discount for myself. they don't have any monthly requirements and the annual minimum is so tiny as to be irrelevant, so its a great deal for me.

This last year or two, though, I have been trying to grow it as a business. But you know what? I may actually make a bit of a profit by doing this, but the REAL profit has been the marketing they have taught me.

It is time to begin applying that to my books, my church, and my herbal salve I make (and will soon be offering for sale :-) )

I have become a devotee of Flylady. It is really helping my house and other areas of life, to be honest. She constantly preaches that perfectionism is evil. It is the biggest barrier to us getting anything done and the cause of most of our stress. She is right.

And for our homeschool: The Minimalist Homeschool We can't be perfect. We CAN'T teach it all (no one can, even the government schools). This author recommends we pick the 5 most important things for each child to focus on for this year and let the rest go. SO MUCH RELIEF!

Some of today's articles I've read:

How to Strengthen Your Brain to Avoid Concussion The authors son recently fell and had a concussion. I am finding her information interesting.

Have you ever thought about not giving gifts? We give to our kids, my parents, and one friend (occasionally we send a box of cookies to my brothers). But that's it. We do the standard Christmas cards, but its only about 25 cards total. 

Why aren't the rich happy?
“The sensation of ‘being well-off,’” she wrote to me in an email, “is not about fulfilling a childhood dream of buying a sailboat or something; feeling wealthy is about comparison with others in your reference group. So the question is not what individuals want to buy, but what they feel they must buy in order to keep up their status.”

What if home education could be really simple?