Organize This! Understand How Long to Keep and How To Let Go of Bathroom/Self-Care Products

By Stephanie Calahan (Calahan Solutions, Inc)

What do you get for a woman that has everything?  Why bath products, perfume, soaps, lotions and makeup of course!  Bath products and personal care items are an easy gift to give - everyone could use some more lotion right?  Often we struggle throwing these items out if they have not been used.  Consider these two points when looking at your things.

1 – Personal care items expire

Any color of makeup you have found that you do not wear at least once a month should be thrown out. (If it has not been used, you can donate it, but please do not donate used makeup.) For a great summary of how long to keep various items, visit this article.

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One Word At A Time: Future

By Ginny (MAD21)

I'm going to let this video speak for itself. But as you listen to the story, I want you to ask yourself how this one act of kindness changed the lives and futures of all of those involved in this event. For the families who loved on and cheered for the other team, and for the players who thought they were coming to just lose another game, only to win so much more.

Do you know of any children who need you to "be in their corner?" I challenge you to get out of your comfort zone and love on them. Give them "reason to look ahead." Let our families never be too big or too busy to offer others hope for a better future.

"Until the time when we were mature enough to respond freely in faith to the living God, we were carefully surrounded and protected by the Mosaic law. The law was like those Greek tutors, with which you are familiar, who escort children to school and protect them from danger or distraction, making sure the children will really get to the place they set out for." (Galatians 3:23-24, The Message)

This post is a participant in a blog carnival over at Peter Pollock's place.
Be sure to go and check out what everyone else wrote on: Future.

No Excuses

By Pat

Many times in my life I have allowed the actions of others to dictate my actions. Have you? For instance, when I was yelled at, I yelled back. ("But you yelled first!") When someone was angry at me, I became angry with them. ("Well, I wasn't angry until you got angry!") When someone has been argumentative, I have argued back. ("You started it!")

It's difficult sometimes to swallow pride, zip lips and walk away. We want to be right, so we blame the other person for making us behave in a way unacceptable to God. We justify our bad behavior by pointing out that WE didn't start it. But that doesn't make us right, does it? The bad actions of others is never justification for our own bad actions. We are called to show others what God looks like, but we can't do that unless we rise above the temptation to return fire. We can never show the world what God looks like unless we allow Him complete control of our thoughts, words and deeds...especially when we are provoked, hurt or wronged. It is NOT okay for us to retaliate. Proverbs 16:32 says, "Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city." And Proverbs 21:23 advises, "He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity."

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God Is... Infinite

By Dusty (Reflections on the Life of a Christian)

Our God is infinite, but what does that really mean?

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines "infinite" as:

1. extending indefinitely : endless <infinite space>
2. immeasurably or inconceivably great or extensive : inexhaustible <infinite patience>
3. subject to no limitation or external determination
4. extending beyond, lying beyond, or being greater than any preassigned finite value however large

Our minds cannot truly grasp the concept of a being that knows no limits. We try desperately to define everything within the boundaries of our experience and understanding... But God is so much more than that. Any description we give Him cannot begin to reveal all that He is.

Knowing our limitations, how can we understand God as infinite? Truly, we cannot. It defies our logic. But it does not make it any less true.

Instead of trying to define God, we need to accept and be blessed by His limitless nature. Scripture references several aspects of the infinite God:

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Fingerprint Friday: Our Day of Seven

By Ginny (MAD21)

My oldest turned seven the end of January. If you hang around her for any length of time, you'll learn that she loves birthdays. Note: LOOOOVES birthdays. Not just her own either. In her head, she starts planning for her birthday like, a year in advance. All the things she'd love to do, and the friends she'd like to invite. She loves her people. A lot. And she likes to dream.

This year was going to be a good one. They were calling for snow (she loves snow), her birthday was on the third Wednesday of the month, which is a big deal because that is the quarter bake at school (they take a quarter to school and buy a sweet treat at lunch), AND her teacher does cool stuff when it's the kids birthdays, AND we had planned out what she wanted us to make and bring for a snack, AND she knew where she wanted to go for her birthday dinner, AND AND...

Then, it happened. She got sick. The one thing that could ruin it all. The poor thing. I felt so bad for her. We got the snow, almost a foot of it. Which closed school for a few days. No school, no quarter bake, no special birthday with her classmates. Worse, because she was sick, she couldn't go out and play in the snow. Let's just say it was a very long few days.

Then, I got an idea. I said, "You know what we should do? We should have a day of seven!" My oldest loved the idea. So I helped her make a list of seven things we would do to celebrate her seventh year. And so I give you:

Our Day of SEVEN

Read SEVEN books.

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