Phrase of the week (word of the Week)...

"Nothing you’ve ever given has gone unnoticed. Every sacrifice you’ve made, every time you stopped to help someone, God has seen it. " Joel Olsteen

This week, I thought I would try something a little different.  I saw this on Facebook, and I follow Mr. Olsteen (I do not know him well enough to call him by his first name).  I love reading about what he has to say about God's word.  This leads up to the word recognition, attention, and the "look at me" syndrome that certain celebs have about them.   We all grew up with it, and it seems that our children are doing the same.  I am not going to bore you with the usual definition of these words, because these words were ingrained in our brains from the time we were very small.  It starts with words, "look at my little baby, isn't she precious", and it goes on from there.  Every dance or music recital, baseball game or gymnastics meet.  I was the kid with the dance and music recitals, my brother was the sports one, and my sister was the dance and gymnastics kid, and wee all wanted friends and relatives to come to see every single last one of them.  We wanted to let everyone know about the different fundraisers our schools had, so we can be the kid with the most funds and get lots of prizes, and get all the recognition we could get.  Hum, I think another word just came in under the radar, and that word is jealousy.

I remember once when I was a teen, I got mad, because no one at church praised me for the good job I did with the children's choir.  I was playing for them alone with an older lady, who is now our oldest member living at 103 years old.  Again, I was a teen, a typical teen, I was at home sulking about the concert, because they clapped for her, and did not say my name not one time.  My mom said to me, as I stood in the hallway pretty much what Pastor Olsteen said in this passage, "God saw it, and he was pleased."   I looked at her as if I was saying to her, "so what."

Mommy was right (yes, I do still call her that), It should not matter, but it did matter that no one said to me, "Look what Patti did" (My childhood nickname).  You should not want people to praise you, but to praise God that you were able to do it in the first place.  In fact, what you do for others just proves that you have learned not to think of yourself, but for the other person.

Now, I do not want people to say what I did, or that I helped, unless it gets someone else to do the same, and it is not for my own self worth.  I just want to see people happy, healthy, and whole, so that they themselves can do something meaningful.  The important thing is when someone ask you to do something, and you do not grumble about it, it does help.  Everyone should want to help another person without an attitude.  God loves a cheerful giver as well. 

So comment below, have you ever done something that you thought you should have been recognized for?   I would love to see what you wrote.

Have a blessed evening.

Word of the day: Respect

For two days I have been wanting to write about this word, and I wrestled with it for a while.  according to the dictionary, Respect is a word that means a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by abilities, qualities, or achievements. It does not give me a whole lot of room to work with, because to me, the definition is vague, and to me, it goes much deeper than that.  Lately, I have seen a lot of ways that people do not respect each other.  
Children do not respect each other or adults.  They say things that they do not mean at the time and them it is too late to retract the thing they said.  Adults do the same thing.  November, I saw name calling by both parties, and even though I was for Obama and voted for him, both candidates concentrated more on each others abilities of running the country, than what they can do for the country, and the crisis we as a nation were facing.  Republicans refusing to work with this president, which is part the cause of this sequester in the first place.  Is there some reason why members of congress refuse to give up their salaries so this can end?  Good night, people, you make enough money to help me and 15 other small business owners with our inventories.  Let me shut up for now because I am ticked.
Humans are not the only things we are not respecting, we are not respecting the Earth, anyone's ideas, and we are not respecting God.  Humm, I think I just un-nerved some people here. I am just going to let you marinate on that one for a while.
I have been in a few confrontations in the past couple of days, I am not going to tell you what it was about or who it was with, but I will say this much, I hate drama, and I hate it with a passion.  If anyone finds me sticking my nose where it does not belong, just tell me I am being nosy, and it does not concern me.  That is the best respect you can give me when I want to know about something.  That is my clue to mind mine, because I can be nosy, especially when it concerns family.   I want the best for my family, and I will protect what's mine, but if you want me to leave it alone, I do not have a problem doing just that either.  Just do not fight around me.
Listen, God does not like ugly, if we can respect each other, we can all just get alone, but the devil does not like that either, so keep respecting each other so the devil can flee.  I love you, I respect you all who are my readers or if you just happen to pass this way to someplace else on your internet search, and have a blessed evening.

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Word for the day: Grateful...

Or lack there of.  No the first sentence was not a typo.   I have been a little down the last few days, sort of not felling my best.  I was not certainly my best in attitude.  I am normally an upbeat type of person, never augmentative, and never harsh with my words.  It is not easy having a business, I have spoken about that many times, and I am starting the feel it a little more than usual.  the last two nights, my prayers have been somewhat a little bitter, but that is no excuse.  There was nothing new that has been done before lately.  The good news is I have not overeaten like I usually do when I feel this way, and it is OK to feel this way, as long as I do not stay there.  Sometimes I feel like I get hit with a ton of bricks and it was a ton of bricks that hit me lately.  Oh, it not something that someone did to me recently, but rather some things that were good that happened to people recently.   They were things such as my cousins' newly built home, consultants going on an incentive trip and having fun, people getting new cars, going on week long trips (other than the incentive trip), people being able to move, and so on.  I felt like that I am trying to do a couple of things like earning money for a family trip in December (even though my father is planning a family vacation to a cabin in September and not liking the December trip), earning enough money period to do every day things.  I could go on, but that is not the point.  So what is the point of this word of the day?

I should be happy just to be able to own a business, to have the stuff I do have, like the car that my parents could have sold, but instead gave it to me so that I have something to ride in, even if it is 15 years old.  A home that I absolutely hate, because I cannot separate my business from my personal (meaning shutting the door at the of the day to do something else), that it is small, and that I am attached to three home with smokers in them, and the smoke irritates my allergies, but should be grateful that I have a roof over my head.  Did I mention that trip that I want to take the family on?  I should be happy that my father invited me on this trip,even though my trip was 4 years in the making. It did not include an theme park in Florida, but it is a trip.  Though I feel like that I am being taken advance of by my sister who calls me at the drop of a hat when she needs a ride, I should be happy that I receive calls from her, so I can spend quality time with her, my nephew and little niece.  
All in all, be grateful for the things you have, work harder to gain access to the rest, and thank God for everything.   Have a blessed evening.

Word for today: Waiting

This is my word for today.   I am typing out this post on my iPad while waiting.  I am waiting on my mom to get finished with her eye appointment.  She wanted me to go with her in case they wanted to dialate her eyes.  She drove,I sat.  If that is the case, I will drive back,and she will sit.
We, as humans spend a great deal waiting.  We wait on the mail if are expecting something important.  We wait our turn for the bathroom stall when we at a concert, movie, church, or school.  We wait on the laundry at home or the laundry mat.  We even wait on our bottles or to be changed when we were babies.  So what is wrong with waiting?
People become impatient while conducting this task.  Today's children do not know the meaning of the word.  Adults either.  There is another type of wait,and that is waiting on The Lord. If you believe that He will do something for you, you have to trust and believe.  I, too am impatient about waiting.  I am not immune just because I am a Christian.  In fact, I am worst, and God knows it.  For instance my business.  I choose the task of working for myself.  When I started at Longaberger in 2001, I was not working, and I still entertained the idea of still working for someone.  I asked God that if this business was for me, I will have lots of sales, lots of customers, and I will never have to work for someone again.  God said,"wait."  Wait is such a strong word.  As I said before, waiting causes impatience. So,  in 2005, I was hired by a scrapbooking store.  In 2010, I quit the store, and started my own company, while still working as a home consultant.  In 2012, it is all finally paying off.  Business is slow, partly because of the economy, but I am getting sales, I am a writer ( did not expect it), and I will be teaching classes in scrapbooking and card making.  I am not making a ton of money, but that will come.  I finally got my first 1099 to file with the IRS 11 years of being a home consultant.  I still have a long ways to go, but it is coming.  God said it and I believe it.
So the word of the day is wait. I want to know, what are you waiting for?  Comment below and have a blessed day.