Peace In My Soul
Philippians 4:4-7 NKJV
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Practice Peace
Living in God's peace is vital to enjoying life. I believe that one of the keys to living with peace in your life is taking small steps toward peace every day. Here are a few tips you can use to develop a more peaceful lifestyle.
1. Be selective with how you spend your time. You may be trying to do too many things and end up doing none of them well. Hurrying is the flesh trying to do more than the Holy Spirit is leading you to do. Be led by the Spirit.
2. Be prepared to say "no" nicely. Sometimes we take on things we shouldn't because we're uncomfortable saying no. Ask God to give you the words to say no when you need to.
3. Resist the spirit of procrastination. God's Word tells us to exercise self-discipline. Do what you know you need to do now so you can fully enjoy your times of rest.
4. Eliminate key distractions. If you know you are prone to certain distractions, such as watching too much TV, spending too much time on the computer, spending too much time reading, etc. set some guidelines for yourself. Allot yourself a time limit or certain times of the day for these things. Though in small increments these things can bring you a measure of peace- in large doses they can be frustrating. TV shows get canceled or go on hiatus, internet services is interrupted by storms or you are in the juicy part of a book and every 5 minutes something else needs your attention. Arrange your time so that you can enjoy these things.
5. Set appropriate boundaries for interruptions. Life is full of interruptions, but you can learn to set boundaries that help you manage them in healthy ways, such as scheduling times when you are "off limits." Schedule time to give yourself a break. It can be used by a power nap or just relaxing in the tub. Make it clear that during the hour of such and such has been designated your "quiet time" and you would very much like to not be disturbed.
6. Modify your life. Ask God to show you out-of-the-box ways to save time and trouble. For instance, when I know that I won't have time to do the dishes on a certain day, I use paper plates and cups. I have a list of daily chores that I want to see accomplished before I go to bed and I stick with my list. Instead of trying to do every single piece of housework that needs to be done all in just one day I break it up into manageable bits spread out over the course of the week. This frees me up to spend time with my family and with God and still maintain a clean house that I wouldn't be embarrassed for 'drop in' company to see.
7. Pray and listen. If you can see that your plan is not producing peace, go back to God, pray for peace in the now, and for the wisdom to make changes that will benefit your life and the life of your family. We may be Christians but we are still human which makes us prone to go running off into left field doing things our way or the way we want the direction of our lives to go. Our way doesn't always line up with what God wants for us and when we start hitting bumps in the road then it's time to go back to the drawing board and ask God for a better way.
The bottom line is to make peace a priority, take practical steps toward it. They say that it takes 30 days of doing the same thing continually to make a habit that then becomes a natural part of your life. Start today in forming a habit of peace. You'll thank yourself later for it. Let God lead you every day into His perfect peace that passes all understanding.
Father God,
Gently lead me into Your peace that passes all understanding. Show me the daily steps I can take to walk in Your peace for me. In this; both I and my family give thanks in advance. Help me to stick to this practice of peace until it becomes as natural to me as breathing air. It is in Your Holy Name that I ask for this and say Amen and Amen!
Facts From the Early Years (around 1500 AD)
Have you ever wondered where certain phrases originated?
Wondered why we say some of the things that we say during the course of an ordinary conversation?
Historical research can be fun, sometimes sad, enlightening, entertaining (and so on) but never boring! Dig around; who knows what you might discover in your search.
In the early years; human urine was used to tan animal skins, thus all family members were encouraged to urinate (to pee) in a pot; once per day all collected urine was taken and sold to the tannery ... if you had to do this to survive you were considered "Piss Poor"
But worse were the really poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy the actual pot to urinate in ... which lead to the coined phrase "they don't have a pot to piss in" .
The next time you are washing your hands or taking a bath and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be.
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June.. However, since they were starting to smell .... Brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a "bouquet" when getting married.
Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water!"
Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof... Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."
There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how "canopy beds" came into existence.
The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, "Dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way. Hence: a "thresh hold".
In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire.. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: "Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old". Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon" They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat".
Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.
Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the "upper crust".
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial.. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a "wake".
England during this period in history was quite small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive... So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, "saved by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer".
And that's the truth ...
