I want to share this View From the Pew Article (VFTP) I wrote for my church bulletin all the way back in 2009! Yup, oh how the years go by! Yup, that is me 4 years ago! I look so young! :P
Anyway, I'm gong to revamp the article a tad.......
by Samantha Tongol-Verdaguer
I like cooking. What My husband will do at the start of the week is go through our fridge, or check out what new food we have and see what ingredients we have and what food I should use before it spoils. He puts everything in our phone in the " What We Have" list in one of our applications. It helps so much! Then I begin writing a menu for the week. I call it the BLD Menu. BLD stands for of course, Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. I used to be able to contribute more to the manual work, however, since my MS has progressed through the years, I am blessed to have a husband that is a great help!!! I truly appreciate all he does!
I noticed that if there were no order to what we would eat for our meals. Each day it would just upset both of us, and it would be total chaos. Our moods would be so bad as well. There was a time I tried playing it by ear and was too lazy to do a menu. That resulted in spoiled food tossed in the garbage and angry Joe and Sam.
When I married Joe, my vows were from Ephesians 5, where the husband is commanded to love his wife and the wife to submit to her husband. It’s wonderful when Joe is patient and understanding during those days I lack the strength to cook him dinner. On better days, I feel God gives me strength to do what He desires me to do. I noticed that when I didn't follow God’s ways, the final outcome was disastrous.
There were a few weeks when I went without writing the weekly menu. Some days turned out alright. But, after a few days without a plan, things started to unravel. Bitterness started to take root between us. Ding, ding! Oh yeah, I forgot all about the menu. I needed to get my act together, to set things in order. When I went back to preparing a menu for the week, things started to get better. We would also have time to communicate well during dinner. At times, we would even praise God for how He’d blessed us throughout the day.
God wants us to live orderly lives. When everything is going haywire, when’s the time to think about
God? There won’t be time! We’re busy doing this and that, with no purpose or design. Time with God could easily be put aside. We then give in to selfish desires and before we know it, we start speaking to one another with foul language or hurtful words. With God out of the equation, it’s so easy to not show LOVE to ONE ANOTHER.
A simple thing such as preparing a menu may seem so trivial, but choosing order over chaos helped settle issues that would have worked against closeness in our marriage. Well, currently I have returned to my weekly menu planning. It helps incredibly. I challenge you to think of something in your life that will bring order: Maybe a daily menu? Maybe a to-do list for each day of the week? Whatever it may be, I guarantee that the Lord will give you strength and will enable you to be mindful of what He wants you to do that He may be glorified!
I end with my menu for tonight, SUNDAY: Leftovers!
***** Wow, re-reading and slightly revamping that old article I wrote so long ago really helped me remember how important "order" really is. I guess over the years, due to the busyness and sometimes chaotic things in this world.my mind was too preoccupied to think of how important order is. So, thank you God for reminding me about this article and wanting me to share it with the readers of today! I pray all were encouraged! :)
Anyway, I'm gong to revamp the article a tad.......
by Samantha Tongol-Verdaguer
I like cooking. What My husband will do at the start of the week is go through our fridge, or check out what new food we have and see what ingredients we have and what food I should use before it spoils. He puts everything in our phone in the " What We Have" list in one of our applications. It helps so much! Then I begin writing a menu for the week. I call it the BLD Menu. BLD stands for of course, Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. I used to be able to contribute more to the manual work, however, since my MS has progressed through the years, I am blessed to have a husband that is a great help!!! I truly appreciate all he does!
I noticed that if there were no order to what we would eat for our meals. Each day it would just upset both of us, and it would be total chaos. Our moods would be so bad as well. There was a time I tried playing it by ear and was too lazy to do a menu. That resulted in spoiled food tossed in the garbage and angry Joe and Sam.
When I married Joe, my vows were from Ephesians 5, where the husband is commanded to love his wife and the wife to submit to her husband. It’s wonderful when Joe is patient and understanding during those days I lack the strength to cook him dinner. On better days, I feel God gives me strength to do what He desires me to do. I noticed that when I didn't follow God’s ways, the final outcome was disastrous.
There were a few weeks when I went without writing the weekly menu. Some days turned out alright. But, after a few days without a plan, things started to unravel. Bitterness started to take root between us. Ding, ding! Oh yeah, I forgot all about the menu. I needed to get my act together, to set things in order. When I went back to preparing a menu for the week, things started to get better. We would also have time to communicate well during dinner. At times, we would even praise God for how He’d blessed us throughout the day.
God wants us to live orderly lives. When everything is going haywire, when’s the time to think about
God? There won’t be time! We’re busy doing this and that, with no purpose or design. Time with God could easily be put aside. We then give in to selfish desires and before we know it, we start speaking to one another with foul language or hurtful words. With God out of the equation, it’s so easy to not show LOVE to ONE ANOTHER.
A simple thing such as preparing a menu may seem so trivial, but choosing order over chaos helped settle issues that would have worked against closeness in our marriage. Well, currently I have returned to my weekly menu planning. It helps incredibly. I challenge you to think of something in your life that will bring order: Maybe a daily menu? Maybe a to-do list for each day of the week? Whatever it may be, I guarantee that the Lord will give you strength and will enable you to be mindful of what He wants you to do that He may be glorified!
I end with my menu for tonight, SUNDAY: Leftovers!
***** Wow, re-reading and slightly revamping that old article I wrote so long ago really helped me remember how important "order" really is. I guess over the years, due to the busyness and sometimes chaotic things in this world.my mind was too preoccupied to think of how important order is. So, thank you God for reminding me about this article and wanting me to share it with the readers of today! I pray all were encouraged! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment