Stir what you got

 David Asscherick, an excellent speaker, entitled one of his sermons "Stir what you got." In it he told the story of a man during the Great Depression who went into a cafe to order a coffee. The waitress brought it to him and he asked her for some sugar. One of the things that was in low supply during that time was sugar. She got the little tongs and placed an eighth of a cube of sugar on his saucer. He was beside himself that she gave him such a small piece. Before he could complain however, she looked at him and said, "Sir, stir what you got."  

 

His point is that we should not worry about what we have or what we wish we had but just stir what we got!  

The enemy of present action is future ambition.

It's been really hot this summer and I daydream of having our own pool or living close to a beach, lake or river. But, thankfully my kids don't get bogged down with dreams of bigger and better. They are satisfied with just being wet, and doing whatever they need to do to get cooled off. They are stirring what they got.

They found this barrel stuck in some weeds near Jane's house. They pulled it out by themselves and had me throw it in the back of the truck. They washed it out, filled it up and had a blast being all scrunched up together in this blue barrel.

 This picture is mid-jump. They are ready to plunge their heads under.

 

Sometimes they just take a cold bath or warm up from the cold water outside.  

Several times this summer, I've tried to get all my house chores done on Thursday so that Friday can be a fun day and I can take them to a church friend's pool about 20 minutes away. We've made it once, but every week thereafter something seems to get in the way. Either it's too windy, I don't get everything done like I had planned, it's stormy, etc. So, after my husband preached at the Benson church, they gave us this kiddie pool because it was a decoration they used for VBS and had no need of it anymore. I'll take what I can get :)

Julie earned mega points with the kids too by splashing around with them in this little pool. My kids got super sunburned that day and they learned what it means to peel.

  My kids always like to make a silly face now when the camera gets pointed at them. Oh well.

Sometimes being on a tight budget and living really far from any significant city affords more opportunities for creativity and learning to enjoy the natural things of life...like puddle jumping! My kids are seriously content all day long just playing with dirt and water (except of course when the other person steals the giraffe that they're using or messes up their mountain - but those times are becoming less frequent). 

David Asscherich brought up the passage in Ecclesiastes 9:10 which says, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might: for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." So, more than being a text to prove the state of the dead (when you die you don't float around visiting people) the primary truth being taught here is "Do what you can now because tomorrow might be too late."  My kids took that literally the other day.

They found some PVC glue in the trash can. It had gotten crusty on the bottom so David threw it away. They asked if they could take it out of the trash, and I said yes. Well...they decided to put it to good use. After all, they did get permission! They stirred what they had - crusty PVC glue!

Thankfully, the animals came off fairly easily. I may just need to touch up the paint.

 As for me, I've been wanting a new bookshelf to put behind the couch.  I saw a picture of one made out of wine crates. I thought to myself "There's a bunch of pallets in a junk pile over at the farm. I bet I could just use that wood and make them into a bunch of rectangles like this and then stick the rectangles together in the pattern that I want." What we have now is really a plant stand. I'd like something bigger to fill up that wall and make it look more organized and not so junky. Then I could put their puzzles, art supplies, homeschooling materials, etc there. I'd probably want to make it more short and wide than tall and narrow like the picture on the left. But, anyhow, I was afraid to tackle a project of that nature. I mean come on...I'm a girl. I'm not a carpenter. I don't really know how to build things. So...I saw another need that I could address and not risk a lot of time and look like a fool if it didn't turn out. A spice rack - or should I say, "spice shelves." You'll notice the unattractive scrap wood I used that was really too thick, but that's what I had to work with. My husband said it was "rickety" and implored me to get new wood at the hardware store and described how he would make it. But, it was done and it works so I'll probably leave it be. I'm proud of myself for just "stirring what I had" - using the resources available to me at the time, I did what I could to make my job cooking more efficient and organized.

   

                                                                                  

  
If Jesus commended the woman who broke the alabaster box of perfume on his feet and told the disciples "She hath done what she could" (Mark 14:8) then I'm going to be satisfied with my efforts. I may not have done it as well as my husband could have, but I did what I could.

A wise old lady once told me, "Do what you can, where you are, with what you have at hand." She's the one I get organic sprouted bread from on a weekly basis. In her 70's she and her husband transformed their garage into a bakery and now they run a successful home business. She started out small with what she had and the Lord blessed and expanded it! She stirred what she had.