Jan. 21, 2014


I am a morning person. I am happy and awake and the world is a wonderful place in the mornings. I am not a night person. I suppose that would be obvious by my first statement, but it wasn't always obvious to me. I can stay up late, but the quality of my thinking goes way down as the clock nears midnight. If I was in the Cinderella story I would be akin to her dress; big, beautiful and alluring by day, small, ratty-tat and dull by night. My IQ, focus and general sense of well being goes from 10 to 3 as the hours go by.


This realization has been a lifesaver over the years. I now live by the rule: Do not make any important decisions after 8 o'clock in the evening. By important I mean, everything and anything that comes into mind when one is sitting watching TV or reading or doing dishes. Thoughts about whether I'm a good housewife or not; or thoughts about my relationships with people; or thoughts about how I want to handle a confrontational situation. Any thought that is going to require an action on my part I do not engage in because that action is not going to be what I really want to do, think, or say.


I spent way too many hours, at the beginning of my marriage, lying in bed with Owen going on and on about how this or that was so awful and such a struggle, only to wake the next morning and feel completely different about the subject. I used to think that it was because I got the topic off my chest; I talked it through. But no, the very next night I would find myself rehearsing the exact same things with a whole new portion of wow and misery. Fortunately for him, I found that he slept quietly through most of it, only to rouse in the appropriate moments that warranted a moan of agreement or moan of sympathy.


Those nightly pity parties taught me much about myself and how I function. With the help of God, Owen, and many books and friend-based counseling sessions, I now have the tools to manage myself in the wee hours of night. The first tool is to just go to bed earlier. However, that is not always possible, so the second tool is to not allow my mind to wander to anything of importance during those hours. Keep things light and easy. When my mind is persistent about something, I often counsel it with thoughts like, "that is important and deserves your best hours of contemplation, save it for the morning." These types of statements give me permission to excuse the "very important" rhetoric and I often find that by the time morning comes the topic proves to be considerably less important than it seemed the night before. It's amazing how much stomach lining and nervous energy I have saved myself over the years with this little practice. Not to mention the late night decision or damaging phone calls I never made.


We have a saying in the Frost house; "Don't make a permanent decision based on a temporary circumstance." In this case, the temporary circumstance is the condition of my mind and mood during the hours after 8 pm.


Well, I said all that just to say that my blogs are going to be coming out in the mornings instead of the evenings. I found it too hard to be consistent or interesting at night after I was done with the day's activities. I imagine it will change the feel of the post because I won't be reporting on the events of the day, well, because they haven't happened yet.


I also mentioned the above, previous thoughts because self-management is a real key to finding joy, peace and health. The Proper management of ones self is what Jesus taught and He left his Hoy Spirit and Word behind to help teach us how. It's stated so nicely in 2 Peter 1:3-4 "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."


That one is worth meditating on!


Back to food, I ground the wheat berries into flour and made dough. I cut the dough into two loaves. One I allowed to rise and baked right away. The other I refrigerated and baked two days later. Both loaves performed the same way. They did not rise very much and they were heavy, like a brick. the taste was good, so the kids said, but after one day the bread became crumbly and dry. I could try again but I am not that patient. I will purchase wheat berries again and grind them without taking the time to sprout them. I'll try making bread right away with the flour and see what I end up with. the goal is a whole wheat, organic, loaf of bread that is delicious and holds together for at least two days. If you have input I changed the comment settings so I think you can comment now.


Until next time...