Cynthia’s Blog

Last time I talked about how much we are worth, and finished by saying:

Here are the four steps we need to take in order to internalize truth - not just the truth of our value according to God, but any truth:

How much do you think you are worth? Do you see yourself as being valuable and precious, or do you believe that you are worthless?
 
Nearly everything in this world has a value. But have you ever noticed that what something is worth depends on who is setting the price? If I decide to sell something, I set it’s price. However, if I was selling a property, and got a Real Estate agent to give me an appraisal, they might tell me the property was worth more or less than I thought. I could then get a Registered Valuer in, and they might give me a very different price again. You see, the value depends on who is setting the price. In the end though, something like real estate is worth what someone is prepared to pay for it!
 
If you open your wallet and find some cash in it, who decided how much that piece of paper is worth? The Reserve Bank did. The piece of paper that the note is printed on is actually worth very little. But the Reserve Bank determines that this piece of paper will be worth $10 and this one will be worth $20 and so on. Now, imagine I was sitting across the table from you, and took out of my wallet a crisp, new, $20 bill. I extend my hand and say “Here, this is for you, if you want it.” Would you want it? Of course you would! What if you were walking down a deserted street, and came across $20 lying on the ground. Would you pick it up? Even if it was a bit dirty? Yep, I’m sure you would! But how about if someone walked past before you could reach for it, and without noticing, stepped on the bill with their big old boots. Would you still pick it up? How about if it was crumpled and wrinkled? Torn and dirty? I’m sure in all these situations, you would pick up or take the money. Why? Because you recognise that, regardless of it’s appearance or condition, the bill is still worth $20, the price set for it by the Reserve Bank.
 
So, how much are YOU worth? Again, that depends on who is setting the price! The world sends all kinds of messages about worth. Advertising tells you you’re only “good enough” if you have this, wear that, do the other. Parents, spouses and friends may all tell us how much we’re worth - in their eyes. You can go to websites online that will “calculate your value” in dollars and cents. One website I visited asks a whole string of questions about age, sex, height, weight, colouring, income, IQ etc etc, and then calculates what you are worth. The result I got was $1,500,000.
 
Or, what if a scientist puts a value on you? One article, on a University of Indiana website, states “How much is a human body worth? When broken down into fluids, tissues and germ fighting our bodies are worth more than $45 million.” The article goes on to detail how they came to that figure.
 
However, if you break the body down into it’s mineral components etc:  “When we total the monetary value of the elements in our bodies and the value of the average person’s skin, we arrive at a net worth of $4.50!” $3.50 of that is the value of our skin.
 
If you ask an economist what you are worth, he will set about adding up your assets, savings and debts, and come up with your “net worth”. Mine would be about $70,000.
 
Hmmmm………..there are some widely differing figures! So what am I worth? $45 million? $1.5 million? $70,000? or only $4.50?? Who do we believe?
 
To determine how much you are REALLY worth, we need to turn to the source of all truth, and the one who made us - God, and see what he has to say about it.
 
Turn with me to Genesis 1. Read through the chapter on your own, then look especially at verses 26, 27 and 31:
“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them……………..God saw all that he had made, and it was very good….”
 
Throughout Genesis 1, we see God creating the various parts of our world. At the end of each day he looks at what he has made and says it is good. But at the end of the 6th day, when God has made MAN, he looks at what he has made and says that it is VERY good. In addition, God does not just make man to be another creature that lives upon the earth! He makes man to rule over all of the rest of the earth! Right from the beginning, God chose man and put him in charge, entrusting the rest of creation to the dominion of man. The owner of a company does not chose a C.E.O and put him in charge unless he sees that the person is worthy of that position. God looks at us, and sees someone who has value and worth, who is “very good” and worthy enough to be put in charge of a part of His creation - our own little corner of the world.
 
John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Can you think of anyone on this earth for whom you would willingly give up the life of your child? I can’t imagine doing that, can you? But God looks at us, and sees someone sooooo precious and valuable that he stepped down from heaven, took on the form of a human body with all it’s limitations, and then willingly died a painful, humiliating death on the cross so that WE could live! He did that for YOU!
 
Romans 5:8 says “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” That means that even though we were spotted and wrinkled, dirty and torn, still God placed a high value on us, and for us Christ died. Just like that $20 bill that was stepped on and dirty, but still worth $20, God says that even if we have made mistakes, or have messed our lives up completely, that makes NO DIFFERENCE to our value in his eyes!! He still wants to pick us up, and hold us close. More than that, he makes us his children, and co-heirs with Christ to all that he has! [Our real “net worth” is the combined value of ALL that God has created (including gold, diamonds, planets, stars…..EVERYTHING!) and all that he is!]
 
Often, the more of something there is, the less it is worth. For example, if there are a lot of a particular gem available, then it’s value is less than if it is rare. We share this planet with some 6.6 billion other people. That’s a lot of people! Does the fact that there are so many of us make each one less valuable? Not in God’s eyes! God created each and everyone of us unique and different. There is not one single other human being ever created who is exactly the same as you! God looks at each of individually and says we are incredibly valuable. He hand made us just how he wanted us. As he looks upon you, individually, he cannot see anyone more precious than YOU!
 
YOU ARE INCREDIBLY VALUABLE! You have great worth!
 
So, why do some of us look at ourselves and see ourselves as worthless? Are we calling God a liar? Most of us know the truth in our heads that God says we are valuable, and that he cannot lie. But there is a difference between knowing the truth in our heads (recognition) and KNOWING it in our hearts (experiencing it). In my next post, I’m going to outline 4 steps we need to take to internalise the truth of our real worth.
 
Meanwhile, don’t let the enemy tear you down or whisper that you are useless, worthless or rubbish! You are not! You are precious, valuable, loved, hand-made, and worth enough to die for!
 

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been reading through some of Charlotte Mason’s Original Homeschooling Series. Miss Mason has a lot to say about habit, and I’ve had several “ahh-hah!” moments! I realised as I read that what was being explained can be applied not only to teaching our children, but also to tranforming ourselves! If we could only understand and absorb this information, then apply it to our own lives, we would have won 90% of the battle in saying goodbye to chaos and hello to peace!!
 
From Volume 1, Part III, pg 97:
” Habit the Instrument by which Parents Work.–– ‘Habit is TEN natures!’ If I could but make others see with my eyes how much this saying should mean to the educator! How habit, in the hands of the mother, is as his wheel to the potter, his knife to the carver––the instrument by means of which she turns out the design she has already conceived in her brain. Observe, the material is there to begin with; his wheel will not enable the potter to produce a porcelain cup out of coarse clay; but the instrument is as necessary as the material or the design”
 
In this analogy, the child is like the clay, a substance that is already made of certain elements, has it’s own basic structure and “personality”, but may be molded and shaped in the hands of the potter. The wheel is essential - without it the potter can still mold the clay to a certain extent, but without the smoothness or quality in the finished product. The wheel is a tool which enables the potter to easily transform the clay, providing the surface and structure on which to work. Likewise, good habits provides the structure and surface on which we can carry out the great work of bringing up our children in the way they should go. In our own lives too, if we want to succeed, then understanding and using the power of habit is vital!
 
Often we get to a point in our lives where we resolve that we want to change; want things to be different. We determine to “get organised”, or lose weight, or start exercising, or whatever it is that we feel needs to be “fixed”. There is a warm glow of goodness or righteous determination in our hearts. And yet, sooner or later, we fail, and things go back to just how they were. We try different methods, programs, checklists. We join groups for accountibility, or sign up with a friend for mutual encouragement. All of these efforts have value, but on their own none will last! We seem incapable of maintaining steady efforts, of making ourselves do what we know we ought.
 
All mankind - men, women and children, from every race and nation, possess what is known as “human nature”. That is, we are all born with the same primary desires, affections and passions, and also conscience (or a sense of duty). We also all have hereditary - attributes, abilities and tendencies that have been passed down the family line. Add to that our physical conditions - whether weak or strong, well or sick. All together, these elements make up the nature of a person, and that nature is very strong.
 
It can be easy to think that there is little that can be done in the face of a person’s nature - that “this way” is just how a person IS. But that is not so. Just as we must not leave our child to follow his own nature, we also do not need to, in fact MUST NOT, abandon ourselves to our natural desires and inclinations!
 
Habit! Habit is the tool and lever to lift us above our human nature and set us in the right way. If nature is strong, then habit is ten times as strong! (This is what Charlotte Mason means by “Habit is ten natures.”) Let us consider for a moment what habit IS and what habit DOES.
 
According to Webster’s 1828 dictionary, habit is:
“A disposition or condition of the mind or body acquired by custom or a frequent repetition of the same act.”
We are all a bundle of habits. We form habits all the time, whether consciously or unconsciously. And once they are formed, we follow them relentlessly. We think as we are accustomed to think, act as we are accustomed to act. Some 90-99% of everything we think and do is governed by our habits!!
 
Consider this information on how the brain works: The brain contains billions of nerve cells, which are connected by synapses. These synapses are the pathways along which signals are transmitted between cells. Every time you say something, make a decision, or take an action, certain synapses are activated. Billions of synapses, working together, bring about a thought then action.
 
Certain synapses are stronger than others, and some thoughts or actions require more synapses than others. Each time you make a decision, new synapses are formed and old ones are reinforced. The next time you make the same decision, it will come more naturally, because the brain is prepared for it. The brain had a tendency to utilize existing, strong connections rather than build new ones. But new connections can be formed!
 
Using Charlotte Mason’s preferred analogy, habit is like the rails along which our “train” (lives) run smoothly. When we lay down new habits, we build new rails, quite literally. The habits that we have are strong pathways in our brains, along which the electrical signals that produce our thoughts and actions easily run. The more we repeat those thoughts and actions, the stronger the pathways, the more natural the connections. It’s like we’re creating a rut in our brains that our wheels tend to always run along.
 
Now, remember that we have been forming habits all of our lives! We didn’t just arrive at where we are now. Our parents shaped habits in us, just as we are doing in our children, either by consious design, or unconsciously. The things we have experienced, the ways we have reacted, all have caused the formation of certain habits of thought or action. We are a bundle of habits!! Truly, most of what we do is governed by habit! If you stop and think about the details of your life, the times and order in which you do things, the way you say or do things, the decisions you make, you will see that nearly all of it is habit. And that’s a good thing - it’s much easier to do things by habit than to be constantly faced with new decisions about every detail!
 
But, what if the habits we have are not good ones? How do we overcome that? There is really only one way:
To overcome a bad habit, replace it with a good one! Once established, the new, good habit will simply over-ride the old, bad one. For this to work, the new and old habits must be mutually-exclusive. Ie, you can’t keep doing the old thing, because now you are doing this new thing which replaces it. In other words, if you have habitually got up late, you can over-ride that with a new habit of getting up on time.
 
It is true that forming a new habit is hard work! It takes purpose, determination, and guarding against allowing yourself to slip back. But the pay-off is huge!! For the cost of 3-4 weeks of diligent effort, followed by the less strenuous but just as important act of ongoing survelliance against falling back into old habits, you will reap the benefit of the new habits, which if maintained will serve you for a lifetime! These new habits can enable you to place your life on smooth paths, keeping daily life flowing with minimal resistance or fuss! Well established habits require minimal effort to maintain - they just flow.
 
Think about it - if you had, say, 20 good habits established in your life, how much more peaceful and easy would your daily life be? Here is a list of some good habits - imagine they were in place in your life:

• Always getting up early
• Having an effective time of daily devotions
• Always being dressed and ready to face the world by a certain time
• Knowing what meals you have planned, and having all the ingredients to hand
• Always speaking gently and graciously
• Always picking up after yourself, and putting things away in their proper place as soon as you have finished with them
• The habit of effectively using a calendar - writing up and checking for appointments and deadlines
• Habitually keeping a running balance on your bank account
• Setting aside regular time to plan the coming week
• Leaving your kitchen clean every night
• Doing laundry every day, and always having it under control
• Using a timer and never going over you alloted computer time
• Picking up and vacuuming the living areas daily
• Making your bed first thing every morning
• Taking 2 mins to clean the bathroom each morning
• Making yourself presentable just before your husband comes home
• Regularly taking care of paperwork once each week
• Don’t put it down - put it away!
• Drinking 2 glasses of water first thing in the morning and half an hour before every meal
• Dealing with mail and papers the minute they come in the house.
• Checking library books for those that need returning/renewing BEFORE they are overdue
• Going to bed at a decent hour every night.

These are just a selection off the top of my head. But do you see how nearly every thing which you need to do regularly in your life is governed by habit? Either by bad habits or good ones. And you can choose!! You can choose to drift along just how things are, or to take positive action and change your habits!! But remember, forming a new habit, especially one contrary to an old habit, takes effort. For this reason, it is highly recommended that you only concentrate on forming one, or at most two, new habits at any given time. As you work on a habit, you will be first forming, then strengthening, new pathways in your brain. The more you use them, the stronger they will get, until it becomes natural for the brain to run signals along those pathways. A habit has been formed!
 
When you have a series of good habits in place, your life will be so much easier; you will no longer have to consiously think about every detail, but be able to free your mind to think about things of much greater importance. Most of your life will run smoothly on the rails of habit. And THAT is the power of habit!
 
For more reading, I recommend “Habit is ten natures” - Part III of Volume 1 “Home Education” by Charlotte Mason. You can read this online here: http://amblesideonline.org/CM/1_3.html.

Just a short time after I wrote the last post, “When Life Happens”, back in August ‘07 (though I’m just getting around to loading it on here), life really DID happen to us! We were involved in a horrific motor vehicle accident. The fact that we all survived with only minor injuries is nothing but a miracle. You can read all about it HERE. If you are on a slow connection, please be patient while the page loads - it has lots of photos of the vehicles involved.

Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Have you experienced times in your life when “stuff” keeps happening, and prevents you from doing what you think you’re really supposed to be doing? You know; the kids get sick, one after the other, the dishwasher breaks down and floods the floor and causing you to waste half an hour cleaning up the mess, the dog breaks it’s leg and your husband needs you to drop everything and help him with something. Sound familiar? Times like that can get us really frustrated and uptight, or…………..
 
We can learn to recognise that these kinds of things are a part of life, and relax enough to go with the flow. On those days when “life happens” and your to-do lists go out the window, just remember that Jesus had to deal with constant interruptions too. BUT, those interruptions were actually opportunities for him to minister to people, and to teach his disciples by example how to live as a Christian! Interruptions were the most important part of his ministry on earth! In the same way, when things go wrong, you can look at the situation and see the opportunities rather than only the difficulties. You have the opportunity to show your children how to cope with adversity without losing it. And if you DID lose it already, you have the opportunity to demonstrate repentance and asking for forgiveness. You may have the opportunity to touch the lives of people you would never have come in contact with if this situation hadn’t come up - repair people, medical staff, the unexpected visitor and so on. It is very often the case that our children learn MORE through one real life drama than they do through hours of school work!
“Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.” James 4:13-16

Note that this does not say PLANNING is evil, rather the arrogant attitude that this is what we WILL do, regardless. I believe it is vital to plan and to make to-do lists. But after we’ve made them, we need to surrender them to God and allow him to lead us through our actual days. Some days, we will be able to follow our plans and get our to-do’s ticked off, and some days won’t be that smooth. But every day is still in the hands of God!

“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” Proverbs 19:21
 
When you place your life completely in God’s hands, you can rest KNOWING that he is completely in control. Relax and trust him - that takes off a huge burden!
 
If you don’t get things done today, there will be another day if it really is important. Don’t stress, don’t strain and strive. Just trust and obey!
 
I’ve had a few weeks myself when “life has happened”! We’ve been very busy with a series of vistors staying, which has been wonderful, but just when I thought things were about to get back to normal, my 10 yo daughter fell and broke her right arm above the elbow. I spent all of last Saturday at the hospital with her, and since then have needed to spend a lot of time comforting and helping her, as she is in a lot of pain, and unable to do many things for herself, though she is coping very well considering. This is her 8th fracture, so we’ve had plenty of practice. Even so, it does tend to throw a spanner in the works! It was my plan to have Unit 3 finished and released this week, but this has not been possible. I hate not meeting deadlines, but I know that I have a choice: get stressed, stay up all night finishing it and then be tired and grumpy with my family during the day, or relax, trust God, work on it as I am able, and know that it WILL get done in God’s time!
 
So, my friend, if this has been “one of those days” (or weeks!), don’t beat yourself up for not being able to get everything done that you planned on - instead focus on giving your best to each and every situation that arises as God leads you, and leave every other concern in his capable hands!

Love

Cynthia

The Bible has a lot to say about debt, finances and how we should treat and handle money. One thing it does NOT say is that debt is a sin. No where are we specifically told not to borrow. However, borrowing is always talked about in a negative way, as something we should avoid. It is a Biblical PRINCIPLE that we should not borrow, rather than a RULE. Let’s look at some key things the Bible DOES say about borrowing:

All borrowing must be repaid. Psalm 37:21a says “The wicked borrow and do not repay.” The implication, of course, is that we must repay anything we borrow, or we are “wicked”.

Surety is foolish. There are many references to surety in the book of Proverbs, and yet it seems to be a little taught or understood principle. Surety means to deposit a pledge in either money, goods, or part payment for a greater obligation. It means to take on an obligation to pay later without a guaranteed way to repay. “A man lacking in sense pledges, and becomes surety in the presence of his neighbor.” Proverbs 17:18 When you take on a debt of any kind, except where the item pledged for security (eg your house) will be accepted for full payment of the debt no matter what the circumstances, then you have a situation of surety. In other words, the only time you should ever consider borrowing money, is when you can get the lender to agree to a contract that says that if you are no longer able to meet the payments on the loan, then they can take possession of the item put up as security, and it will be accepted as full payment of the debt; they will not be able to claim or sue you for any additional money, even if the value of the item is less than the balance of the debt. In that circumstance, you have a guaranteed way to repay the loan; in all others you presume upon the future. If you ignore the Bible’s teaching against surety, then you are putting yourself in a precarious financial position - if things don’t work out quite as you had hoped, you may find yourself unable to make ends meet, and you could lose everything. At the very least, you will be under a lot of stress and pressure that could have been avoided by not borrowing.

Debt always presumes upon the future. James 4:13-16 says “Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.”

If you borrow money, and you believe all borrowed money must be repaid, then when you take out a loan you are presuming upon the future, unless you have a guaranteed way to repay as described above. “Presuming upon the future” means that you are taking on a debt under the assumption that your income and situation in the future will be such that you will be able to continue making payments. But you don’t know that.

Borrowing may deny God an opportunity. God wants to build up our faith. The Bible tells us that God will supply all our needs. When we borrow to buy something, we may be denying God an opportunity to meet our needs, or to show himself faithful, which would increase our faith. It is also easy to confuse our needs with our desires, or wants. If you are committed to following Biblical principles and not borrowing any more money, you can be sure that God will meet you needs, most likely in ways you would never dream of! In Unit 2, Lesson 32, I shared about some of the ways God met our needs when we committed ourselves to getting out of debt and doing things his way. How has he met YOUR needs in the past? Remembering past times when God has provided, will build your faith and help you to stick to your decisions to do things his way. If you haven’t experienced God’s provision, maybe you haven’t given him an opportunity yet!

We all face an uncertain economic future! There is no real job security anymore. Businesses close or downsize every day, and jobs are lost. Accidents happen, preventing people working. National borrowing is out of control; sooner or later economies may collapse.

There is nothing we can do to prevent these kinds of things, but there ARE some things we can do to prepare ourselves, no matter what the future holds.

Your best preparation for an uncertain economic future is to get out of debt!

Excerpted from Unit 3 of Goodbye Chaos, Hello Peace! in which I will show you how to budget, how to get out debt, and help you get your paperwork and office under control.