Thursday, March 10, 2016

Bits n Bites

A post filled with randomness.


Gary Thomas was at work this morning, sharing some thoughts about toxic people:





























Do you have toxic people in your life?

You don't have to expend energy on them. We are not to get burnt out spending time on toxic people. We are to share the good news with 'reliable' people (2 Tim 2:2) so that God's good news is spread and people come to know Him. We are not called to be distracted by selfish, spiteful, jealous, negative people. Our first, best efforts are to be in relationships where there is respect and friendship and encouragement.

He went further to say that toxic people are tools of evil, entwined in our lives, with the purpose of trying to keep us distracted from the important stuff in life. So don't get caught up in their snare of pointless conversations, crazy-making arguments, anger-fuelled activities...

We are free to say 'no - I won't participate this again'. In fact, we need to set up boundaries to protect ourselves from these folks and their toxic behavior.


Don't you wish you worked with me?


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Have you been doing any spring cleaning?

Here's an inspiring list of 100 Things You Should Get Rid Of As Soon As Possible:
My kids are magnets for finding expired food in cupboards/fridges/freezers - so numbers 80 and 87 are dealt with regularly. And I disagree with 55. Boxes always come in handy. And you can never have too many USB cables, so I also disagree with number 81.

But other than that - this is a solid list.

  1. Leftover wrapping paper
  2. Business cards from people you don’t need for anything
  3. Old tickets
  4. Socks with holes in them
  5. Receipts you don’t need
  6. Old t-shirts
  7. Dried flowers
  8. Old CDs you’re never going to listen to
  9. Overstretched hair ties and hair bands
  10. Old magazines
  11. Shoes that don’t fit or you don’t wear
  12. Small knickknacks and trinkets which have no purpose whatsoever
  13. Cooking utensils — old and new — which you don’t use
  14. Worn-out underwear
  15. Beauty accessories you don’t need
  16. Earrings where you’ve lost one out the pair
  17. Scarves which you never wear
  18. Items of clothing that are too small for you
  19. Gift’s you don’t like
  20. Old towels
  21. Old make-up
  22. Old clothes hangers
  23. Expired cooking sauces
  24. Toys for your pets which they don’t play with
  25. Out-of-date medicine
  26. Dried-up nail polish
  27. Expired coupons
  28. Old paperwork
  29. DVDs you don’t watch
  30. Pet food your pets don’t eat
  31. Old toiletries
  32. Damaged clothing that cannot be mended
  33. Stained clothing you cannot clean
  34. Your old prom dress
  35. Scratched non-stick cookware
  36. Old underwear or swimwear
  37. Outdated or broken electronics products
  38. Rusty costume jewellery.
  39. Stockings or tights with ladders
  40. Pens that don’t work
  41. Necklaces and bracelets with broken clasps
  42. Cables and wires you don’t use
  43. Worn-out bed linen
  44. Empty bottles of cleaning products
  45. Spare rivets and buttons for clothing you don’t have any more
  46. Worn-out bath mats
  47. Purses you don’t use
  48. Tableware, plates and glasses left over from full sets you don’t have anymore
  49. Old pillows
  50. Worn-out shoes
  51. Old wedding invitations
  52. That old tea or coffee set.
  53. Spare furniture parts you don’t need
  54. Furniture manuals
  55. Boxes — you don’t them, really!
  56. Vases you never use
  57. Old letters with no sentimental value
  58. Tourist brochures
  59. Bobby pins you don’t like
  60. Old crayons or markers that have ran out of ink
  61. Containers missing their lids
  62. Unused stationary, stickers and sticky notes
  63. Ripped jeans
  64. Old or broken phone cases
  65. Old, unused phone or other electronic chargers
  66. Old spices
  67. Worn-out bath sponges
  68. Ribbons and bows for gift wrap
  69. Postcards or gifts from ex-partners or colleagues
  70. Frequent shopper cards from shops you never go to
  71. Empty matchboxes — they have no use whatsoever!
  72. Old bags
  73. Old calenders
  74. Old files
  75. Silly magnets
  76. Outdated clothes
  77. Broken Christmas decorations
  78. Fairy lights that don’t work
  79. Frayed towels
  80. Expired food
  81. USB cables and other computer accessories you never use
  82. Old and outdated software
  83. Floppy disks
  84. Old cell phones
  85. Old shoes you haven’t worn in two years
  86. Promotional T-shirts you never wear
  87. Old cereals
  88. Old bank statements
  89. Old utilities bills
  90. (Also:) Delete email subscriptions from websites you don’t need
  91. Delete emails you don’t need
  92. Delete unwanted music from your mobile phone and computer
  93. Spare buttons that come with newly purchased clothes
  94. Games with missing pieces or cards
  95. Old textbooks you will never use again
  96. Delete reserve copies of the documents you no longer need
  97. Books you have read and don’t want to read again
  98. That old house telephone you never use
  99. Old manuals for electric appliances you no longer have
  100. Mobile phone accessories you don’t use anymore

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So.

Explain to me Tumblr.
I signed up a few years ago, (mostly just to ensure I could have 'pixnprose' before someone else grabbed that user name) and today I received an email from the good people at Tumblr headquarters wondering if I still wanted to keep my account.

I said yes.


They were very welcoming:






















They had a little party for me, throwing confetti all over my screen.


























They made me feel comfortable.



























And then asked all sorts of personal questions:

























But now what?
What am I supposed to DO with it?

Any readers have suggestions?

It's not like I'm already taking up my fair share of internet space with this blog, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Google+, Snapchat, DayZeroListProject and LinkedIn. But I'm curious... what is the benefit of Tumblr? Or am I totally too old for it?


(Speaking of LinkedIn, they too were wondering about my intentions):



























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Carolyn posted a link to an interview in her blog, Rhythms of Grace that I've listened to three times now.

So good. (Obviously.)





Hers is the type of story that I need to hear. Often.

An intelligent woman who came to faith in adulthood because of a friendship with a pastor and diligent research. It's an hour long, but seriously worth the effort.

"I'm reading the Bible, and what if it's true?"

"Do I want to be changed? No, I don't. I like my life."

"Conversion put me into a complicated, comprehensive chaos."

"The church has been praying for me, faithfully. They were genuinely praying for me, on their knees. It was would have been easier for them to be disgusted by me and my friends."

"You never know the journey some people take to get to church."

"OK, Look. I have to give up my girlfriend, what did you have to give up?"

"If you're reading the Bible, keep an eye on the verbs. Verbs are important. Circle them. Pay special notice of the order of the verbs. It's humbling..."

"I trusted with the integrity of an eye lash hair."

"I can only do the first phrase of this verse today thank you very much God."

"Count the cost, it's going to be bloody and it will hurt."

"Christian, are you good company for the suffering?"

"We need to be in a reciprocal relationship with people who scare us."

"We are so cleaned up we only want to share our resources, not our needs."



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was International Women's Day on Monday, so I posted this TED talk about encouraging young girls to be brave not perfect on my Facebook page.





And that's been on my mind for the past two days, this business of being OK with making mistakes. While bravery isn't exactly the theme of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, (which was based on a true story), I was inspired by the way she bravely made a change in her life. And when she realized she was making a mistake, she made a change again.









































But some women were using International Women's Day to advance their own agendas.

Sadly, Kim Kardashian made a big deal about showing off her naked body on Twitter which empowered Sharon Osborne to do the same thing.
How is nudity advancing the cause of Internation Women's Day? I do not understand.

Pink tweeted the following:







Who are the heroes our girls can look to these days?



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


And one last link. 50 Things To Do


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Lastly, as always, Three Things I'm Thankful For;

1. Quiet evenings in the basement.
2. Stories that inspire and challenge.
3. Tums.
4. The internet.
5. Memories; this is what my life looked like one year ago today; Scattered









1 comment:

September said...

This was just an awesome blog entry. So many interesting things. AND I LOVED THE LIST OF STUFF TO GET RID OF!