Homemaker's Haven--the Reaching Forward Edition

I'm running behind with this week's Homemaker's Haven post. I've had an up and down week all week, and, I'll admit it, a bit of a pity party for myself on a couple of days. Not that things were so bad, I just let myself get caught up in a downward spiral of "oh poor me". Do you ever have days or weeks like that?

I started off well--last Monday I did my Homemaker's Haven post, cleaned out the fridge, caught up on laundry, made a pot roast and generally got my week off to a good start. My plan was to do some shopping the next day--for the recipe/review posts for my food blog that I needed to do, and to start scouting out or gathering things for my budget holiday decorating that I mentioned last week. But as often happens with plans, things go awry in spite of our efforts--my husband made an appointment at the dealership to have some necessary maintenance work done on our vehicle-which meant no vehicle, no shopping for me. Okay, I can handle that. I decided not to start my Christmas baking yet--too early to keep it all without freezing, so that was postponed until late this week or early next week. Next, the weather got yucky--cold and damp and drizzly. I hadn't done any shopping yet, so I couldn't start decorating, or cooking or anything really creative. I got some news about an acquaintance that opened up a big can "what if's" and "if only I'd"--not bad news, just something that made me start to look at my own achievements--and lack thereof. My husband worked some extra hours last week, too, so I was alone most of the time-it was a snowball in the worst way! By the end of the week, I didn't even want to do anything fun or interesting or enriching. And so I didn't. And felt even worse.

I've been thinking for the last couple of days about where I went wrong--I started off well, but went downhill fast--each little thing built on the next--to paraphrase Song of Solomon--it's the little foxes that spoil the vine. I was also thinking about when the apostle Paul wrote (my paraphrase, again) "Those things I that I know to do, those things I don't do; and those things that I know I ought not to do, those things I do". Can I get a witness?!

But God is faithful and brings us encouragement and the good sense to know that His loving kindness is new every morning. And I think about some other words of the apostle Paul, found in Philippians, chapter three--"Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

Going up, anyone?

Until next time...