Pursuit of Peace 2 and menu

In the past month we have had discussions here and here about the pursuit of peace in the home. To reiterate, just in case I just might have someone here visiting for the first time, I don't set resolutions at New Year's. But one thing on my heart for this year was to do what I had to do, whatever the Lord lead me to do, to bring a peaceful atmosphere to my home.

Since I started the pursuit of peace in my home this year, the Lord is showing me so many little things that eventually if not contained, add up to rob my home of a peaceful atmosphere. No wonder I was feeling underlying stress. One thing on it's own was alright, but when they were all adding together, look out.

Now if you are anything like me, I need to take things in small steps, or I will usually get overwhelmed. I want to make small steps that stick, not big huge things that will fizzle out within a month or less. I want it lasting. Now some things I know will be easy. Maybe not obvious, as is evidenced by the very fact that is occuring or there in my home, but I hope to be obediant as the Lord reveals them to me. And others I know are going to be very difficult. Those things that get down to heart issues within myself. Attitudes and reactions that I have over the years allowed to slowly creep in so that I don't recognize them as sin anymore. Or those that I don't want to recognize and acknowledge as sin. I wrap them around myself and use them as a shield to protect myself. It is those that will take longer and require more work. The work of the Holy Spirit changing my heart. But this year I am ready to get down to it.

But for today I'll mention another thing in the "natural" that the Lord has shown me. Another step in the pursuit of peace which I felt the Lord was telling me to do was to stop my subscriptions to magazines. Even though I enjoyed the magazines immensely, when push comes to shove they really were a source of stress for me. As I watched them piling up and not getting read, it got more and more stressful as I realized I was getting more and more behind. And I'm a cover to cover reader. If I am totally honest, I didn't really make that many of the recipes. Or follow and do a lot of the article's advices. So the solution for me right now is to let go of the subscriptions but to allow myself to buy one at a time if I want it that badly. Or I can take a couple hours on a Saturday just for me and head to the library. A place I love. And take a coffee and peruse the magazines there. Two birds with one stone, as it were. I gets me time to myself and I get to look through the magazine. And hey, I don't have to pay for it. There really is nothing that is going to be earth shattering that I will miss if I don't have every single month coming to my door. With this small thing, I'll cut down the stress of feeling I have to get it read, the stress of magazines laying around everywhere, the stress of magazines piling up because once I have them it's hard for me to throw them out, just in case I can ever use anything in them again, you know. And I'm getting rid of clutter, the overflow of which is stress inducing in itself.

And now, my menu plan for the week, which is another step. I must admit last week I totally dropped the ball on this one. I still managed to get dinner on the table by 6 p.m. most nights last week in spite of the fact that I was flying by the seat of my pants. But I definitely did notice the stress level rise with said flying by the seat of the pants.

Monday: Chicken breast with herb basting sauce, white rice, mixed bean and carrot medly

Tuesday: beef and barley soup, cheese toast

Wednesday: Shalee's mac and cheese, mixed veggies

Thursday: Mushroom sauced pork chops, pasta, carrots

Friday: scrounge day

Saturday: grilled steak, potato salad

Sunday: not quite sure yet.