Whacked my toe – good golly that hurt

I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this, making dinner is not my favorite thing in life. My sweetie enjoys cooking, I enjoy baking. When I cook, eh, food’s edible and we’re nourished. Quite frankly we’re lucky the food is on the table all at the same time. When he cooks, the sun pours forth, the angel choirs sing, and dinner is consumed with great pleasure. I’m doing more of the cooking right now. Hold on to that for a moment.

For New York we have a back yard that he gets to mow, room for a hammock (this is key here), and our grill (again key). The grill and the hammock are in close proximity on the concrete patio. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a Hatteras Hammock I-beam frame, it’s got some length to it, made of metal, and it’s long to accommodate the hammock.

So, steaks on grill, distracted grill-er, turned around and smacked my little toe right into one of the footings on the I-beam. I must have cracked the nail because as I step the toe hurts a bit.

Most of the time I don’t think about this toe. It’s a toe, on my left foot, there are four other toes that keep this one company.

I’m guessing that it’ll take a little bit for this to heal. It’s minor, and annoying but this kind of thing happens.

That’s when a meme of part of this Scripture from Romans came up in my newsfeed.

Romans 12: 1 – 8
I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.

For by the grace given to me I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than one ought to think, but to think soberly, each according to the measure of faith that God has apportioned. For as in one body we have many parts, and all the parts do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ – and individually parts of one another  Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us exercise them: – if prophecy, in proportion to the faith; if ministry, in ministering; if one is a teacher, in teaching; if one exhorts, in exhortation; if one contributes, in generosity; if one is over others, – with diligence; if one does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

There are a couple of songs that come to mind, one from Psalty, and one from Tony Melendez.

This bit here is rich, full, giving us lots to think about. Now with the toe story you might think I’m going for the we are one body bit. And that’s a good bit to go after, as we all have a different thing to do in the Body of Christ. Just like the little toes help provide balance, when we walk. We can function without said to, but…a quick google search will show it’s importance.

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind, and do your own work without being prideful. 

Renewing our minds is an essential part of our faith life, reading and reflecting on Scripture, spiritual books, participating in a community of believers (yes this is important as it helps to ground us) and keeping an eye on what’s going on in the daily living of life. This renewal process helps us to see our work for the God-given gift that it is, and begin to dispel doubt and fear as we move forward as our eyes are open, and we are seeing the Light all around us. Personally the “I’m not good enough” and the “I’ll never be successful” voices have been asserting themselves.

Renewing your mind means holding onto the truths of God’s faithfulness, our own inherent goodness as a child of God, and the fact that this skill set we have is from him, and we’ve worked hard to develop that skill. Renewing your mind allows us to gently but firmly silence the voices in our heads that lie. Be transformed! Be renewed! Trust the Goodness of God.

As someone who wants to be a quilting teacher working with regularity there is a level where I have promote who I am and what I do. The hard part? Doing it well, and consistently without coming off as being full of my self. As a woman, in a female driven industry this is particularly challenging because women will give you what for if they think you’re being prideful or growing too big for your britches and I’m not talking about my weight here.  I’ve been working on being careful what I think of people based on what other people think of them for a while now. Giving myself and others the benefit of the doubt is such a good thing. It’s renewing, it’s transforming, it’s incredible how freeing it is.

Teaching, and exhorting are acts of love and encouragement, meant to build up, not tear down. Praying, and thinking before I speak are crucial. This includes the words spoken to the self and to others. It’s not always easy, the end results are beautiful. Words of encouragement fill the day in classes, as well as some stern admonition. When quilters start getting down on themselves or their skills the words I speak are kind but firm letting the quilter know that they are not allowed to be so dang hard on themselves.

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind!

This quilter is off to do some quilting work that doesn’t involve the sewing machine. Prep work for classes, and a post on my other blog. There will be some renewal of mind and heart. And embracing of this God given gift of quilting.

God bless,

Teri

PS my toe is fine.