Homemade Fun

Christmas is coming and we turn a lot of our attention on finding gifts to be given to family and friends.  It is fun to pick out just the right present but now days the kids already have  so many toys and are engaged in so many activities it is difficult (for a grandma and great grandma especially) to give a gift  that is appreciated. So often money is given so they can buy their own gift.  Nothing wrong with that approach but it takes some of the joy out of giving a gift.  The picture above is a picture of the author and her brother.  They didn't wonder about which gift they would get because there probably wasn't going to be a gift under their tree.  So, what to do?  On this particular afternoon  they decided that it would be "fun" to take some onion stems, a bottle of water, blow into the onion stems to see which one could make the biggest bubbles. Probably sounds ridiculous to most people but when the few toys they had were becoming mundane they had  to be a little creative. And, yes, we did live in that house for awhile. 
I think that in life we can become  content, or even bored, with the status quo of church going, Bible studies, etc. that we fail to see the opportunities  that lie outside of these  structures. The kids in the picture did not have the privilege of a toy box of things  to play with.  Yes, they had their farm chores and housekeeping duties  but they had to look "outside the box" to provide them with "meaningful" entertainment. Can our Christian life become a religion of going through the motions?  Can it be habit forming but meaningless?  Can it seem right but does not fulfill?  I think we have all been there at some time in our life. I certainly have.  The author's recent book entitled, I'VE ALWAYS BEEN RICH,  tells how she was challenged  many times to listen to the Spirit's calling, get out of her comfort zone and delve into a new area of ministry.  The young girl above does not look much like a risk taker or someone who would find joy in entering a new field of service but her life attests to the fact that she learned in life that the call to follow the Lord was always more exciting than the plans she and her husband had planned. In a class this morning in church we talked about whether Mary, the mother of Jesus, was qualified to assume the role of the mother of our Lord. I don't know the answer to that question.   But I do know  that God seldom calls the qualified.  However, he qualifies the called.  What is he calling you  to now?  Marilyn Rensink  mjrevmom6@aol.com  Books available at Amazon.com, Barnes andNoble.com and your local Christian bookstore.