Give Me an Eighth Day in the Week!!! - A Dose of Encouragement

Well I've been more busy reading books and other bloggers than thinking about or writing my own blog so I had to get caught up and ahead of myself because the whole family will be here together soon for a week and I won't have time to write posts then.

There are just so many distractions and daily chores (just added that in to try to make you believe that I do some housework) that a day can soon be filled up.

I enjoy going on twitter each morning and evening to catch up with what some interesting people are saying but this usually involves reading blog posts and website write ups so I get carried away and amazed at how much time I spend on this especially when I do scroll quickly through the tweets of all these twitterers ( is that a real word?) probably it should be tweeters but I'm not too worried about being completely up to date with all the jargon.

Photo Credit - Pixabay

Then there are all the lures by the freebies offered and retweeted by everyone.  
I am amazed that anyone makes any money by selling ebooks or apps as they all seem to be offered free on a regular basis, but I'm not complaining and my iPad and my kindle will prove that as they are filling up very nicely with apps and ebooks that I'm not sure I ever will get round to using and reading.  Oh no I need more time to do everything!

Of course there is this great thing where I just "favourite" a tweet so that when I have more time I can come back and read the web article in full, but when do I have more time?

There is a growing store of these starred tweets which are patiently sitting waiting for me to think of them and free up some time to come and take proper notice of them.  "Give me an eighth day in the week Lord because I need to read my favourites" is my cry.  



Then there are those notifications that pop up to let me know that there is some activity on facebook and so I delve in to see who has put up something good, what my daughter is doing in South Korea via photos, and of course get into a discussion thread in one of the blogging groups.

Photo Credit - Pixabay

There are loads of interesting things here too so I'm saving posts to read in detail later and then there goes that cry again because I don't know when I'll ever find enough time to do all the catching up I want to.

And we can't forget about Pinterest because there are all those lovely pictures to click and pin and create boards for and to hope that lots of people will follow our boards and repin our pins and there again is the cry for that eighth day because someday I do want to go back and find that particular pin I pinned and make the item because that was my original intention.

Photo Credit - Pixabay

My husband Fred's cry is give me an eighth day in the week so that I can get up-to-date with my personal emails & my travel expenses (at least the latter would be profitable monetarily but the former would be profitable in keeping up with his life).


But I know that ours is not the only household where people are saying I don't have enough time for everything.

I often look back and say how did I manage to get three children out to school each day, go out and teach at another school, look after the house and regularly be involved in Kids Work through the church.  Plus still have time to read and enjoy activities with Fred & the kids.

Was I crying out for an eighth day in the week then too?     YES!

How do we all do the things we do?   
Why do we feel like we never get caught up?

What gets the shove?
What gets put on the todo list today and constantly gets flipped on to tomorrow's list and then the next day?



It should be: 

The things that are NOT the most important for the quality of our time spent here on earth.

The things that we will not regret having shoved to one side.

The things that will not be in our minds as "If only I had used my time for that" later in our lives.

The things that we often misguidedly think need to be done to make our homes the greatest homes possible.

It should not be: 

The things that ARE the most important for the quality of our time sent here on earth.

The things that God has asked us to do for Him.

The things that go hand in hand with us raising a good God fearing family.

The things that help others.

The things that show God's Love to others.

The things that bring others to know Salvation.

The things that draw us closer to God.

These should be our priorities because they are God's priorities

So if God ever did give me an eighth day in the week I think I would manage to do all that He wants me to do and then I would probably want a ninth day to do all the rest.

But I have to make the effort to manage the time He has given me as a good steward and believe that He knows just the right amount of time that I need because He is the perfect one and I am only human.

God has given you the right time you need too.




   

                                         

Do we really need this quote? - A Dose of Encouragement

Everywhere I am these days I see quotes.

Some are by famous writers - often ones whose work I have read.

Some are by famous people like Einstein or other people from recent history.

Some are by singers or songwriters

Some are by people who are in the news frequently.

Some are by people I have never heard of before.



But more and more my question is:

You see I find these quotes on my Facebook newsfeed or on GooglePlus posts.

Some are very artistically written in various fonts and colours and some are on beautiful backgrounds of mountains, rivers or lighthouses.


But again my question is:

My friends on facebook like these quotes and share these posts as do so many other people on facebook.

Acquaintances on GooglePlus  +1 these posts and share them and no-one needs to write anything themselves because it is just a quote.


But again my question is:

Then I see all the likes and shares and comments written on these quote posts and I realize that some of the posts that are shared the most throughout all Social Media are quotes.

People everywhere just seem to love quotes.

Now as I blogger I have even been instructed (by blogging experts and in blogging tips) that I should share quotes on various places because people love quotes.


But again my question is:

If we like them, +1 them, share them, even some of us make our own graphics with these quotes does that suddenly mean that they are the absolute truth?

Are we actually reading them and thinking about what they mean or do we just say

 "that sounds nice" 

and then pass it on for others to see without wondering what the meaning behind it is?

Now I like quotes and actually started my Friday Series off with my favourite quote and also wrote a previous post based on my favourite quote and enjoyed making a graphic for it

so I am not against all quotes.

But a quote is just a quote (or rather the correct word is quotation)

It is simply something that has already been written or said by someone else.

Because to quote is

One of the main concerns I have is that in some cases I see a picture with a nice sounding quote shared for everyone to see but the person sharing it has not realised that they are not just sharing a picture with a quote but actually a link to a website or blog post that is not so wholesome.

We need to actually click on these links ourselves 

and see all that is contained 

before we pass them on to others.

When we like or share something we are in a way endorsing it and that means endorsing all of it.

So we need to see what is under the tip of the iceberg - what does that person making the quote represent?


Today I want to make you think about what we are passing around for everyone to see and read.

Because I think we have a responsibility toward others that we do not pass on things that just sound nice but instead

 we should pass on good uplifting and encouraging words 

that do mean something substantial.

I look after a facebook page for our church and I made the decision that the only quotes we would have on that page would be from our Pastor and the sermons we hear in church.

Why?

Because our church has a responsibility not to lead others astray or to misquote others
 (which is another problem sometimes in the passing of quotes - they are not always accurately copied or not always written by the person they are claimed to be from).

So the main things that we actually share on the page are Bible verses.

Bible verses are the word of God so we can trust them and learn from them and we can say


Because this is a Bible Verse it is TRUTH!


And

much more than I need a quote.


So be encouraged when you see a Bible verse shared by a sound organisation or someone you trust, and know that it is spreading God's word.

And then be helpful towards others and share that verse to encourage them and direct them to the truth.

Let's be enthusiastic to share more Bible Verses 

within Social Media.

There is nothing so truthful, beautiful, enriching and uplifting as the Word of God

And if you want more Bible Verses to be able to share with others on Facebook then you might be interested in following my Blog Facebook Page where I share a bible verse each day and you can easily share that on your feed too.

Or for sharing on Twitter then follow me on Twitter  for verses I share there too.

Or follow me for verse on Instagram too.



Let's spread the truth - because we all need the truth.

Help! This Blogging Thing is not Easy!

You could end up pulling your hair out over this thing called BLOGGING.

AT THE START
 you think it's all about getting a

set up and big query is

Blogger or Wordpress?

My decision was based on
1. My son's blog was on blogger and so he could help me.
2. Our Church Website (which I help with) is on Wordpress and it drove me demented about how when I typed something in and then looked at the page neither the spacing nor size of font ever seemed to be what I had intended and pictures just seemed to go where they wanted to go and not where I tried to place them.

So I chose Blogger.
Then now over a year and a half later my husband tells me that the blogging template in wordpress might be easier to work with than the website template.  Thank you Fred for helping me sooner!!!!

Then my son tells me that there are ads on Wordpress that the blogger will not see on their blogs, so I would not be happy with that.




NEXT
after you have the blog set up you only think you have to think about what content you will put in your posts. When you get settled in to that you have to decide how often you will post to your blog.

But you haven't really got to the main hurdles yet because if you wanted to start a blog you must have had a good idea as to what the content would be and how much inspiration you have leads to how often you post.  Not necessarily!  But let's say yes you know your content and have decided how many posts each week and you have the ideas.

Then you realize there are not very many people reading this blog because even though the "whole world" can get use of the internet not everyone has discovered your blog among the millions of others.

What do you have to do to get it seen out there?

THAT'S WHEN
we start posting on facebook and twitter, provided we already have accounts, if not we have to start learning to use these sites.  Lots will even make a page on facebook to get likes and hopefully blog followers through that as well.

Everyday you need to post and tweet your blog.

So your computer will never look like this!

NEXT
you hear people talking about "oh you need to be in circles and so that means you need to get on Google Plus and it you are like me you have held out for some time because you don't really want to have to learn something new at the moment because you are rather busy with everything else.

But eventually you give in and you are then hooked into gathering people up to be in your circles and getting offended if people do not put you in their circles.


AND THAT'S NOT ALL
you have to be pinning all the time because by now you have heard that everyone should know that Pinterest is the best place to get traffic to your blog.  So your nice little pinterest boards which you had set up for your own interest now have to not only cater to you but be attractive to others so that they will follow lots of your boards and then see the pins linking to your blog and start to visit your blog and then like it because it is as attractive as your pinterest boards and then they will come back often to your blog.

Oh and then you should gather Instagram followers as well - but I definitely drew the line here and Instagram is staying personal for me.


AND THAT IS STILL NOT ALL
there are communities on google plus, groups on facebook, special Pinterest boards for groups of bloggers, and then something called Stumble Upon which I have neither stumbled upon or went looking for (yet).


AND OF COURSE BY NOW
1. you have discovered that your blog post should be full of very good pictures so you need to go take masses of photos

#BigBlackWedding

and adapt them to use on your blog

or find places on the internet to get free pics.

or start learning to create your own pictures

2. you have heard of the words "blog hop" & "linky" and you decide to google this and then your life is never the same because not only do you have to join in with loads of these but you find all these other blog posts on these linkys that you want to read
     

  3. you have realised that you are getting more comments than you thought you would but that takes more of your time because you have to read them and answer them.


BY NOW
you have wondered why you started this in the first place because it looks like it could take over your life and you have to be careful in conversations with others or else you will talk about blogs you have read and what you are doing on your blog too much.

AND THAT IS WHEN
you find out that other blogs with less traffic than yours are making money and everyone in the groups etc. are talking about sponsorship and ads and promotion and you have to take the big decision

DO I MONETIZE MY BLOG?????

I never in all my life thought I would use the word 

MONETIZE

BUT