Trust and Garage sale-ing

I've been on a quest for a big pot since May. My beautiful $5 Kroger hibiscus had outgrown its second home and its roots were poking through the soil. I needed at least a 5 incher- preferably 17. Has anyone priced pots lately? That size starts at $25. Definitely not in the Dave Ramsey budget. So I figured someone somewhere had to be getting rid of a pot that size. My goal was under $5 as that is all I paid for the plant in the first place.

So off to a neighborhood garage sale. What a lesson. We have too much junk in our world and then we try to sell it to someone else. I think baskets have babies in the middle of the night when no one is looking. And vases. Every sale had both. I went to one that looked like a department store. Wonderful displays, aisles to walk through and it was stocked! I complimented the older gentleman and he said its he and his wife's hobby- it took them three months to get ready.Imagine. Three months to get ready to sell stuff you don't need. Glad he's retired.

Another garage looked like a living room. The walls were a beautiful country red, stenciled with ivy, white shelves with assorted country knick-knacks. I ended up knowing the charming people that lived there and she told me that all the items on display in her garage had been gifts to her and she didn't want to give them away, yet had no room (or decor-theme) to put them in her home. What a great idea! I was doubly blessed by her as when I was leaving, I told her I was on a quest for a large pot. She said she had one in her basement- ran and got it and it was perfect!She wouldn't allow me to pay her for it, so I stayed within budget -yea!! I learned the lesson of patience once again. God will and does provide all I need (or want) in His timing- in a much bigger way usually! The pot was 17". I needed to wait...and trust...and be patient in the small things which is sometimes harder than the big things. I can't make a job happen for my husband, but I could have gone and bought the $25 pot. I'm glad I didn't so I could once again see God's faithfulness in action. I will continue to trust and wait for his plan for our finances.

Worry

To worry or not to worry, that is the question. Whether tis nobler..(somehow that phrase keeps going through mind.) I'm doing a Bible study called Controlling Your Pests ( Ridding Your Life of Bad Habits) by Ross Brodfuehrer. Today's lesson was on worry. We are told very specifically in the Bible, not to worry. So why do we? I'm kind of over worrying about the big things-death, taxes. Both of those are inevitable and out of my control. Taxes- way out of control, that's a whole different story, and country. It is amazing what you find out about the tax system when you have income from out of our country. More than you don't want to know....

Matt.6:34 tells us, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." So what are your greatest treasures? Mine are my kids, husband, extended family and friends. So where are most of my worries? With them. The older kids get, the more there is to worry about. My almost 27 year old son has recently taken up mountain bike riding. In Utah- BIG mountains, narrow paths, a mother's nightmare. He is so enthusiastic about it that I have to keep the quiver out of my voice when he tells me about his adventures. Probably the less I know the better. And I thought sending him off to kindergarten was hard.

Then there is the aging parent thing. Many of my dear friends have gone through extremely difficult circumstances that I have yet to face. When it will happen and what it will look like for me ?

There are the life decision worries for myself , husband, and my kids- jobs, retirement, relationships, education, happiness, the list goes on. So I thought about what worrying has done/ not done for me. I want to try the bullet option, so here goes:

Worrying

• Doesn't change anything
• Causes stress
• Takes my focus off what is important
• Drives people crazy when I am complaining all the time (ask my husband)
• Makes me bake
• Makes me gain weight ( see above)
• Keeps me awake at night
• Racks up my phone bill (well it use to, now it uses up my minutes)
• takes my focus off my trust in God
• turns hair gray-oh wait, already there
• makes for bad manicures
• makes me tired

There is a diddlybop thing (like the That Was Easy Staples thing) that sits on my desk at work that says worry with a not sign through it and it plays this song ( sorry, don't know who to give credit to):

Push button; you hear lively Jamaican music, a man, whistling , singing:

"Here's a little song I wrote . Might want to sing it note by note, don't worry be happy."

And I push it again and again and again.

If I worry, I am not content. So I will trust and continue to be content even in my state of worry.