Lisa Jacobson's Blog, page 7

Those First 30 Minutes That Determine the Rest of Your Day

You probably already figured out that I’m not exactly a morning person.

As in, not really at all.

If I had my way, I’d stay in bed until the sun came streaming in through my bedroom window. Heard the birds chirping and could smell the coffee brewing.

And then I’d probably lay there for another half hour . . . or more.

Dozing and dreaming.

No, you could never describe me as a Morning Girl.

But I’ve learned something that has made such a difference in my heart and home that it now motivates me to get up. Early. Even set my alarm.

If she tells me that I should simply wake up earlier and read my Bible, I just might scream.

Okay, wait.

It’s that.

But it’s not just that.

Somewhere along my journey of walking with God and raising a family, I learned something. Something super important.

You might even say it’s my secret.

The way I start my morning is what determines the rest of my day.

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How to Manipulate Your New Calendar for Optimal Living

My teenage son made his first skydive out of an airplane this summer, but the adrenaline rush he got from that adventure cannot compare to the way I feel when I break open the new calendar for the year.

The organizer types out there are giving me a high five right now, and the rest of you think I have a screw loose. But God made all kinds of beautiful people, and I am unashamedly one of the ���organizing stuff is fun��� kind.

Regardless of your personality, I know that you want to live on purpose. One way to do that is to manipulate your calendar at the beginning of a new year. Let me give you a few of examples of how I���ve done this.

Reminders

For many years, I kept forgetting to send my nephew a birthday card. His birthday lands on the first day of the month, so I would turn the page and think, Oh no, today is his birthday! Now, when I write in the birthdates on the calendar for the new year, I make a note in the month before that says, ���Send Drew a card!��� I’m not the best at getting cards out on time, but I want to be.

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Just One Idea for a Great New Year!

Just thinking about the New Year can be overwhelming. There are resolutions I should make but probably won���t live up to.�� A calendar that���s too full or a life that sounds lonely and boring.�� Sick kids to entertain at home. Christmas recovery.

Frigid weather stalling warm happy thoughts.

We need a fresh, encouraging word, a word full of hope.

And it would help if it was the first thing in the morning!

A few years ago I realized that when I woke up and began to think about my day I became depressed. There was no prevailing reason why, simply a feeling of dread followed by guilt for feeling this way.

Mothers of young children don���t have the luxury of thinking before they get out of bed. More likely there���s some little foot kicking them or a bigger voice calling for them. But some of us don���t have kids. Others have reached the season when we do have a few minutes to awaken slowly and the time to contemplate. It can be a moment of rejoicing or a moment of feeling blue. It depends upon our focus.

Lying in bed that morning I realized I needed to adjust my attitude, to shift from thinking about how I feel about my day to focusing on God.��

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A Lovely Proverbs 31 Printable: A Woman to be Praised

You’ve probably already figured this out.

I mean, if you’ve been around her for a while, then you likely already know it.

That I love giving gifts.

Not sure if it’s “offically” my love language, but it really does delight my heart.

So are you wondering what I’ve come up with for this year’s Christmas gift for you, my dear friends here?

It’s the third, last, and lovely piece in the Proverbs 31 series.

A simple gift for all of you who have been a part of the Club31Women community.

Thank you for being here! And a Merry Christmas to you all!!

 

 

 

The Proverbs 31 Set of Three

The other two printables are available HERE:

A Beautiful Proverbs 31 Printable: Strength and Dignity

A Gorgeous Proverbs 31 Printable: Call Her Blessed

About the Artist

Rachel Jacobson is a one-woman design studio based out of Portland, Oregon. With a background in graphic design and formal calligraphy training, Rachel enjoys working with a wide variety of clients for wedding, event, and small business branding projects in need of calligraphy, hand lettering, and design.

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A List of the Best Christmas Story Collections to Read

I love many kinds of books, but Christmas stories have a special place in my heart. Every year, I scour the huge used book store near me for yet another one to add to my stack, and happily read as many as I can as soon as the calendar changes to December and the month of Christmas is finally here.

While I can���t pin my love of stories in general on a single book, I can tell you which book is responsible for my great love of Christmas Collections. A family friend gave me a paperback collection of Christmas stories by Joe L. Wheeler when I was eleven. It was called Christmas In My Heart. Ever since that day I���ve dreamed of one day owning all of the dozens of volumes of Christmas in My Heart that were ever published.

Sometimes people ask me why I love Christmas stories so much. I think it���s because, in a time when our world often feels dark and unkind, I cherish the reminders that there is still good and beauty in this world.�� And like the time Christ was a babe in a rustic manger, He still comes down to our humble homes to be ���God with Us���.

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How to Do Battle Against Your Goliaths

My firstborn was about three year old when we took him for his first visit to the zoo.�� We drove hours to get there and I was so excited to introduce him to exotic and rare animals of all sorts.�� And that is precisely when I learned that the zoo is not really for 3 year olds.

Of course he enjoyed it – the animals, the food, who wouldn���t?�� He named all of the animals he saw in books we had read, we rode the train and purchased a token souvenir, but there was a certain thrill, an awe and appreciation a three year old doesn���t quite grasp��yet.�� For all he knew elephants and tigers (and maybe even unicorns) lived down the street from us in Washington state.

He did not yet know enough to truly appreciate what it was he was seeing.

It was in that knowing that my 8 year old daughter approached me the other day with a few questions about David and Goliath.�� The familiar story that had been read and recounted to her countless times was now taking on a new shape and meaning.

Was Goliath really as tall as the ceiling, mom?

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When Your Christmas Is Not Holly Jolly

It���s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, isn���t it.

In almost every store we��hear Christmas songs telling us that it is “the most wonderful time of the year.”

And for many of us, it is! The lights and decorations, the songs and parties, the food and family get-togethers, these things bring many of us pleasure and excitement.

But you might belong to the group of people who do not find the same kind of delight in the Christmas season.

Calendars fill up quickly and stress builds, finances are tight and you dread spending time with family because of anticipated conflict. Maybe you have experienced loss and holidays make the pain worse, or perhaps you had a very difficult childhood and Christmas brings back some of those uncomfortable feelings.

This post is for you! But I am not going to tell you how you can, all of a sudden, love everything about the Christmas season. Instead, I want to help you and me take our focus off of the temporal and place it on to things that are eternal and substantial.

I want to help all of us focus our eyes on Jesus.

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10 Wholesome Gifts for Your Christian Tweens and Teens

Five of them.

I’m serious! We have five tweens and teens in our home right now.��

Tweens are kids ages 8 to 12 years old.

Teens…well, I’m guessing you already know about them.

And since we have a 10 and 12

…and 14 and 16

…and 18 year old

in our home this Christmas.

You can imagine I’ve been thinking hard this year on what would be a wonderful and wholesome gift for each one. Both boys and girls.

And since some of you might be searching high and low for the same kinds of gifts, I’m passing on what I’ve come up with for this year. I’m actually quite excited about each one of these options!

Also, if you know me, they happen to be rather affordable.

Which is important to me too.

Now here they are…..

10 Wholesome Gifts for Christian Tweens and Teens

1. ��Conversations Prayer Journal

Never is prayer more needed than when you’re young and trying to find your way in the world.

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More Than 11 Books to Put You in the Christmas Spirit

There is nothing quite like curling up in an old armchair before a blazing fire, perhaps with a cup of tea or coffee and a good book. At my house, we read literally year-round, but the short winter days seem to call to the bibliophile in me in a unique way. Emptying a high cabinet where we store Christmas books during the rest of the year, we find many picture books about Baby Jesus, Santa Claus, and snow. We have pop-up books and easy readers and beautifully illustrated picture books which bring back sweet, warm memories.

However, in the past few years, I���ve learned that ���Christmasy��� reading doesn���t have to be a contained in a 32-page hardback about a reindeer with a red nose! With this mind, I���ve compiled a list of eleven books that are a bit longer reads, perfect for cozy December nights. Several of them would be great to read aloud to children, others are intended for adults. Each of them is a heart-warming, wintry title sure to put you in the spirit.

 

1. A Coat-hanger Christmas Tree by Eleanor Estes

I have been an avid Estes fan since I became an independent reader.

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7 Ways to Lovingly Prepare Your Marriage for the Coming Holidays {Real Life with Lisa}

Why is Christmas so hard on our marriage?��

I love Christmas and look forward to it all year long, but then we inevitably end up arguing or at odds with each other. Ruins the Christmas spirit in our home. I don’t want it to be like this, so what can I do to help prevent those tensions and encourage more unity during the holiday season? ~ A Reader

Well, friend, please know that you are not alone in this. So many others have shared a very similar concern!

And there was a time when I too found the holidays very stressful on our marriage. It seemed that all the good things we’d built up over the year somehow crumbled come Christmas time.

But now after 24 holiday seasons together, I’ve come up with a better plan.

You might even call it a “strategy”.

A peace-keeping mission.

Because I want us to enjoy Christmas together. ��To celebrate as a couple. To bring that kind of ��“peace and joy” into our marriage that spills over to everyone else we’re around.

Continue reading 7 Ways to Lovingly Prepare Your Marriage for the Coming Holidays {Real Life with Lisa} at Club31Women.com