Sunday, December 28, 2008

Jan Stoner's Peanut Butter Fudge

Combine in large saucepan:
4 and 1/2 c sugar
1/2 t salt
1-13 oz can evaporated milk (not Milnot)
1 stick butter

Heat to boil, stirring constantly.
Reduce heat slightly.
Boil for 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat.

Stir in:
18 oz jar peanut butter (crunchy or creamy)
7 oz jar of marshmallow cream

Spread in greased 9" x 13" pan.

Cool completely before cutting. (Cuts best at room temperature.)

Jan was a friend of my mother's. Can't miss with this one!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

The Wonderful Conversation

As a friend put it, I have been enjoying the wonderful conversation that is so often generated on Facebook, by a status update or a photo or a comment or a note.  I have found myself laughing out loud on more than one occasion recently.

Some of you may think that is pretty pitiful - that my social interaction is with a computer screen.  If that were the only place I interacted, you would be correct.  But when the computer interconnects those in different cities and states and time zones and continents, then it is a pretty cool tool.  Our world is so much smaller than it used to be, which means our worldview has opportunity to be so much larger, as we see things through each other's eyes.

That's the same reason I am becoming an avid blog reader - seeing the world through another's eyes.  I have been introduced through blogging to folks I will likely not meet in this life, and I have opportunity to expand my world by seeing theirs - not to the neglect of my own sphere of influence, but with the possibility of interacting with it in more insightful ways as I am challenged to grow my perspective.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Control

I'm ruminating a little bit on Mark 15.  We are finishing up a study of the book of Mark, and all along the way, it has seemed that Jesus was never distracted or hurried as He moved through each day.  He did so with purpose, in total control of his agenda and attitude.

Suddenly in Mark 15, it appears that everything is out of his control.  That's what has amazed me this evening.  That he appeared to relinquish control in a way that made others feel like they controlled him; when in reality, he used all their actions in a way that eventually revealed that he was still in control.

I fight for control in my daily life, or at least I am highly uncomfortable when things feel out of control.  Pretty deceived most days, right?  I am reminded that only God is truly in control, that I rarely see what he is about when it is in process, that he will write the end of the story in ways I can hardly imagine at this point.

Wow.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Rest

Sometimes I am good at "pacing" life, and other times not so good. I am thankful today that I had opportunity to know last week would be crazy, and that I would need today off to catch up. Not with anything in particular... except myself. And, I am off to a great start there.

I am reminded of Richard Swenson's The Overload Syndrome, which someone gave me while I was still teaching. It took me three years to find time to read it. [Yes, there was a problem. :-)] There are a some specific principles I learned from Swenson related to patterns and habits of productivity and rest that I still practice. I don't wear a watch, for instance, and it reduces the pressure of time for me (sounds crazy, I know) and I know I am more productive (and more engaged in the moment) because of it. [Of course, I have to be really careful to set alarms for appointments, or I am very likely to be so engaged that I totally forget, if it is not in my regular routine. My "out of sight, out of mind" nature is on grand display there!]

Maybe it is just my age that is starting to show. Or maybe I am finally figuring out a little more of how God has wired me so that I can be more effective in the long haul.