Peeps, Big TVs, and the Lust of the Eyes

I don't like Peeps-those marshmallow chicks that show up this time of year. They have never tasted good to me. Yet every year I see those beautiful bright yellow, and now blue, pink, and green, creations in sugar springing from the store shelves. With their droopy beaks they say "we are sweet, we are soft, we are quintessential Easter and memories of yesteryear!" Even their dull chocolate eye-specks say "buy me now and your mouth will thank you!" Thankfully, I don't have to buy them. My mother-in-law comes through with Peeps, chick and bunny variety, in multiple colors. I select one. I take a bite, anticipating the ecstasy. I admit that the softness of fresh ones is somewhat satisfying [aside-my childhood memory is replete with Peeps with a hard outer crust from being exposed in an Easter basket unknown length of time. There are some who like them "stale" I am told. My mother is one of them. She was willing to make the sacrifice to eat the ones the "Easter bunny" left me.] But then squishy artificial color bomb hits my taste buds and I think "why do I do this every year?" Now, I don't hate them. I usually finish the one I started, but there is minimal enjoyment and certainly not the ecstasy of which I daydreamed. But they look so wonderful! Sometimes I even give in a second time on another day, hoping, hoping, they will somehow have changed and magically meet my ardent expectations.

So what is it with the lust of the eyes that makes it so violent, so very effective, even when we know it is totally false? How can I be so perfectly content with what I have and in a moment be longing for something more? I pretty much hate TV and yet I see an ad in the paper with a family sitting in the livingroom and on the wall is a HUGE flat screen TV with a lovely picture of a beach and sunset and I think "wow, that's pretty cool! too bad it's so expensive."  What!?! I hate TV's! How on earth do these thoughts even get into my brain!?! Of course it's a billion dollar industry to not only capture my thoughts but cause me to act on them. Thanks be to God that my general inclinations are against buying anything and years of practice resisting such urges helps me quench such thoughts very rapidly. But I am continually amazed at what gets past my eye gates. I wonder, what else is zipping through and finding a more unguarded target in my soul? Oh LORD God, strengthen me and defend me against the lust of my eyes, for I desire to do Your will and to abide with You forever!

I John 2:15-17 KJV

15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

My New Favorite Mac and Cheese Recipe

A couple months ago Family Circle had a recipe for Super-Easy Mac and Cheese. I decided to try it, with several modifications to make the quantity come out better (using entire cans and a 13 by 9 pan for example). So here it is:

1 can (14.5 oz) chicken broth

1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk

1 1/2 cups elbow macaroni

2-3 Tablespoons butter (margarine)

1 Tablespoon flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 1/2 - 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix broth, milk, mac, butter, flour, salt, and pepper in 9x13 pan. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Stir after 15 minutes and again after 30 minutes. Remove from oven after 40 mins. when mac is tender. Stir in cheese until melted. Serve right away.

The macaroni gets a lot of flavor from the broth so pick a brand you think is tasty. I have decided to omit the salt and use the lower amount of butter to save fat and sodium. I also use fat-free broth. What I love is that I can get all the ingrediants at Aldi and I usually have them on hand. It only takes a couple of minutes to put together and comes out very good. At the first stirring the noodles do stick down some but just use the spoon to get them off the bottom and stir them around. By the end most of the liquid is absorbed. I have found that this makes enough to feed me and my husband as side dishes and daughter for her main dish.

Once I was Smart

There was a time when I was smart. Sometimes I wonder what has happened. But I have decided that it is not a lack of smarts from which I currently suffer. Instead there is a lack of proof. In school I had regular examinations on which to demonstrate the knowledge and experience I had aquired. I took quite a bit of pride in doing excellently every time. These days the learning I gain on a daily basis is not able to be displayed on a test, measured against some standard, found to be excellent, or less so. In thinking over my day I have decided that I do critical thinking all the time. I take in information, I integrate many different sources of information, I synthesize this information into useful solutions. Unfortunately, my problems are much more complex than high school calculus. My variables are constantly changing. Sucess is hard to recognize and considering the volume of work I do, my achievements mostly go unnoticed.

So I have come to some conclusions today as I have contemplated the writing of this:

1) I do use my brains and they do work well, even though it doesn't seem that way. My schooling was not all in vain. I think I am the "critical thinker" my nursing profs. were hoping I'd become. (next time one of those surveys about the value of my nursing education comes along, I think I'll try to take it more seriously. In the past I have had a hard time answering if I take initiative, am an advocate, think critically, manage well, demonstrate compassion, reach spiritual needs, etc. I have realized again that I can do all those things here at home, and I sometimes do.

2) Remember that I don't need concrete evidence showing I am smart because...

3) My confindence is not in my smarts or anything else about me. My confidence is in the new creation God has made me. There is nothing I am and nothing I do that makes any difference in my value as a person to God or to anyone else. My value is that I am a child of the King, one for whom Jesus died.

4) My satisfaction lies in doing what God would have me do. Doing it faithfully. Doing it daily. Sometimes God is gracious enough to let me see some of the good He brings about from my efforts. Oftentimes He is gracious  enough to let me see the good He brings about in spite of my efforts!

5) I am grateful for my past "smarts" and I am happy with my current situation too. I truly am richer in smarts than I was back then. It's just a different way of showing it and feeling it and knowing it. This is a different season of my live and every day just gets better!  To God be glory and thanksgiving for all He does is always right and I am glad He has revealed Himself to me.

protected, public, private

So I want this to be a place where my family can see pics. and my friends can see my thoughts, but not free access for all of cyberspace. But it seems that it's all cyberspace, no one at all, or only xanga people. Hmmm, not quite what I need. Nonetheless, this will enable my dear, sweet, Dan to comment on the blogs of all you other xanga people out there. Who knows, maybe I'll put up a pic or thought occasionally since there are some cool xanga bloggers that would have been in my friends and family list anyway.