How to Stay {Happily} Married

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...or, Building a Strong Marriage Wall

“Every wise woman buildeth her house, but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.”

This week, like a knife in the gut, I learned that a friend had gotten a divorce. 

The strangest thing about it is that the husband is a fine Christian man, and they had a desire to serve the Lord.

How can two people who love the Lord not get along so badly that they get a divorce?? 

My husband and I have been talking at length lately, discussing the road so many people travel which leads to divorce.  It appears as though a pattern ultimately lead to the demise of the family.  For now, however, let’s talk about

                How a wise woman can build her house

Imagine a man building a wall.  Brick by brick, piece by piece, he lays down first the foundation, and then the first layer, and the second, and so on.  He works with a smile, knowing this is for his family, whom he loves dearly.  It may not be perfect, because he’s only young and has never done this before, but his heart is in it, and it is his own personal labor of love.

Soon his wife appears.  He looks at her with a grin but stops when he notices her frown.  Striding to the wall, she points at it and sneers, “What’s this?  A mess??  What are you thinking?!?  I can’t believe you would try to build a wall using those bricks!”  She begins pulling at the blocks, berating him at the same time.  He drops his head and slowly walks away, shoulders drooping.

That woman is fast on her way to tearing down her house, and living in low-income housing with no protection whatsoever.

How can this marriage be saved?  What can be done to help this situation?      

Here are some ideas my husband and I thought of for building a strong marriage:

1.        Don’t tear down the wall your husband is trying to build.  Simply have a little self-control and keep your  mouth shut.

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This is where a direct line to God is really wonderful!  You may not be able to say anything to anybody, but does that mean you have to leave it festering inside?  Of course not!  Does that mean that nothing will ever be done about the situation??  Of course not!  Why not take your frustrations too the Lord, who can turn the rivers!  (see Proverbs 21:1)

2.        Decorate the wall!  Make the most out of a less-than-perfect situation!  So your man wants to start up a new business, and you have to sacrifice to help come up with the needed money.  You may even think he will fail!  The wall seems crooked and out of fashion.  That’s ok; make the most of it!  Support your husband, be his cheerleader!  Determine that you will be happy, no matter what, because happiness is not in happenings, it is in the Lord.  Decorate that wall, crooked though it may be, and your good taste and cheer will be the driving force behind his success.

3.       Admire the good that he does – out loud!  (And don’t forget to feel his strong muscles every once in a while!)  J   It sure does add some honey to the romance.

4.       Praise for effort, not performance.  Thank him for his hard work on a job or around the house.

5.       Support him by making good meals and greeting him nicely dressed.  No hair-rollers when hubby comes to the door!

6.       Visit him while he’s involved in his projects; sometimes you can even co-labor with him.  For example, you could bring him iced tea while he’s mowing the grass. 

7.       Ask the Lord to help you build up your marriage and not tear it down.  Marriages do not fall apart in a night, and they do not get built in a night.  Be willing to take some time to work on it and wait patiently for the rewards. 

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The rewards may be long in coming, but they will come!  After all, where will you be in ten years?  Determine that you will be happily married (to the same man, of course!). 

Let’s do what we can to build up our marriages.

Maybe you have some more ideas.  Share them with us!

How To Be Happy the Rest of Your Life!

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I am very proud of my oldest daughter, Kathryn, and how she's so wholeheartedly followed the Lord in her life.  The other day, I told her, "You know, you win the Happiest Mother Award," because she is so imperturbable in everything that happens.  So even keel and...happy!


Somehow I think she's got the key to happiness, no matter the circumstances.  Here is what she says:

“Follow your heart!” Perhaps you’ve read it in a romantic “Christian” novel, where the heroine makes her decision to fall for the unlikely suitor. Maybe you’ve heard it from your peers, or perhaps from some well-meaning relative, encouraging you to go for “what you want” in life. Whether you are looking for your lifelong soul-mate, or your future occupation, the idea of discovering what you really want and going for it is pretty universally championed.  After all, if it’s not what your heart really desires, then you’ll be miserable the rest of your life, right?  But the question is, is “following your heart” right?  Will it even make you happy?

I recently read an article rebutting this popular notion, on the basis that the Bible teaches us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him.  Therefore according to the author, to look for what we want would be wrong, and the opposite of following Christ.  But does this mean that we will never be doing what we enjoy? Does it mean that if we want it, it must not be what God wants?  No, because God tells us in Proverbs 37:4, “Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” So, no, your heart is not necessarily always wrong!  So, how can we be happy for the rest of our lives?  Do we follow our heart?

1.  Find a Reliable Guide

The real question, then, is, “is your heart a reliable guide?” If you are, or ever have been, a teenage girl, you will have a pretty good idea of the answer!  Our emotions and our heart can change almost as fast as our outfits!  What we feel we really want one moment (especially if it’s late at night, we are on a sugar high—or crash, having a bad day, or any combination of the above), can seem like the worst idea imaginable in the light of the next day! Our hearts are intrinsically tied with our emotions, which are permanently connected to our hormones, which can fluctuate hourly!  So, we can either spend the rest of our lives trying to decipher our heart’s ever-changing desires and following them in a million different directions—like a scared rabbit zigzagging across a field… or we can find a reliable guide to which to mold our heart and its desires.

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2.  Seek God's Priorities First

The key is in the verse I quoted above, “Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”  Matthew 6:33 puts it another way, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” God’s Word and the principles that He teaches must be the yardstick for us to hold our heart’s desires up to.  You think that your heart wants to fall in love with the not-so-Godly, but very cute, boy up the street? Whoops, that one doesn’t measure up with the 2 Cor. 6:14 measuring stick! Does your heart want an education or a career that might take you away from church and from Godly influences?  You’d better check the Psalm 1:1 and Hebrews 10:25 criteria!

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3.  Find a few godly mentors

Another good way to check your heart’s reliability is through Godly mentors (AKA counselors).  Find someone you can look up to—who is patterning their life after God’s Word—and give them veto power in your life.  This doesn’t mean that they will write out a life plan for you! This means that if they think you’re getting ready to do something that isn’t wise or Biblical, they can tell you to put the brakes on!  Just like a crane operator needs a spotter on the ground to point out things he can’t see from where he sits, we need “spotters” to point out dangers and pitfalls that our hearts might overlook!  Our emotions can get so absorbed in a situation that we don’t see the entanglements—which is why we need Godly mentors.

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4.  Make your life choices carefully - prayerfully!

Above all, we need to trust that God knows what will bring us true happiness!  Just as a car engineer knows exactly what stresses and loads that vehicle can handle and what situations to avoid (i.e. don’t take your Chevy Impala mountain-climbing!), God designed your heart, and he knows exactly what is best for your life! Climbing a mountain with your car might seem cool—until you barrel roll down the mountainside and land upside down in a ravine.  “Following your heart” may seem exciting and liberating—until that cute-but-unsaved boy you married turns out to have a terrible temper and three other girlfriends, and you’re left abused and alone. Not every desire of our heart is wrong—the closer we are to God and His Word, the closer our desires will be to His!  We just have to use the measuring sticks of Godly principles and mentors to help us choose. Then, when our choices are aligned with God’s wishes, we can be sure that real happiness will follow! There’s nothing so liberating as knowing you’re doing what’s right!

Well said, Kathryn!  Thank you so much for sharing with us!  Kathryn blogs about all sorts of wonderful frugal decorating and homemaking ideas at A Heart-Ful Home!  Check it out!


Some of you ladies have been around quite awhile longer, and may have some additional suggestions for us.  Please let us know what you think!


Yours for a Happy Journey,

Obstacles to an Excellent Marriage

Ernest Shackleton stood on the ice with the rest of his crew, watching his beloved ship as she was slowly crushed by the shifting ice.  The cracks and groans of the wooden ship, their home for the past fifteen months, were heart-rending.  Within minutes, the ship was crushed by the ice and disappeared, leaving the men standing on the coldest surface known to man in the middle of nowhere without any hope of rescue.  They would have to find their own way back, surmounting incredible obstacles – unspeakable cold, lack of food, and a myriad of dangers as they went.

 This month, we’re talking a lot about Stewarding Our Marriages.  Today we’re going to tackle Obstacles to an Excellent Marriage.  All of us come into marriage with obstacles, either of our own making, or obstacles that are put there by the Devil himself.  Let’s take a few minutes to clear out some of the obstacles in our lives that may be preventing us from having marriages that are all that the Lord wants them to be.

1.     

   Selfishness – “He should be taking care of me!”  We often tend to think selfishly, wanting folks to cater to our wants and desires.  Taking that attitude into marriage is can be quite a large obstacle. 

a.       Solution:  We need to be careful to examine our hearts and ask the Lord if there is selfishness rooted in our heart that He needs to remove.  “Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes”  Song of Solomon 2:15.

2.       Laziness – (an offshoot of selfishness)  “I just don’t feel like putting any effort into it.” 

a.       Solution:  Realize that, without effort, your marriage will disintegrate.  “By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through” Ecclesiastes 10:18.

3.       Fear – “I’m afraid I’m going to run out of _________” Fear is a very big and real foe.  We can fill in that blank with one, or several of any number of things.  We may think we will run out of love, or that we will not have enough energy.  “I won’t have anything left for myself!” we think.

a.       Solution:  “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love”  1 John 4:18

b.      Always remember the widow’s pot of oil which kept on going as she was pouring it.  Only when there was nothing left to do, did the oil stop.

c.       Remember that it is God who works through us, and He never runs dry!  “For we are labourers together with God:”  1 Corinthians 3:9

4.       Wrong thinking – Many times we are beset with incorrect thinking. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.   For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” Isaiah 55:8-9.  Here are some incorrect thought patterns we ladies often have:

a.       Making the assumption that I don’t have to really put effort into my marriage.  “I’m the exception; others may have rough spots, but we’ll be fine.”  I think we all know how dangerous assumptions can be.

I read a story about a big news photographer who needed to photograph some fires from the air.  He showed up at the airport, saw a plane warming up, hurriedly jumped aboard and told the pilot, “Let’s get going!”  Within minutes, the plane was airborne.  The photographer told the pilot, “Ok, I need you to fly low over those fires over there so I can get some good pictures.”

“Why?” asked the pilot. 

“Because I’m a photographer for the big news agency, and I need to get pictures of the fires!”

The pilot was silent for minute, and then asked, “You mean, you’re not my flight instructor??”

Never assume.  It’s dangerous.

b.      Wanting fairness.  “He doesn’t put much effort into it, so why should I?”

c.       Roadblocks of the mind.  “I can’t!” 

                                                               i.      Don’t get “Can’t, Sir!” (cancer!)

                                                             ii.      You are capable of more than you think  (see Philippians 4:13).

d.      Giving up.  “I just don’t care anymore.  I give up.”  This is one of the saddest of all, and one I have heard time and again from disheartened wives.  We need not ever give up.  There is always hope; as long as there is breath, there is hope. 

                                                               i.      Visiting a church last year, the girls were spinning on the merry-go-round.  On and on they spun, and more and more people joined them until it was loaded with laughing spinning young people.  One of the church girls said, “That’s it, I’m tired.  I’m getting off.”

Sharon smiled and told her, “But remember, ‘girls never quit!’”

“Oh, that’s right!” she said.  “Thank you for reminding me of that, Sharon!” and she got on and went awhile longer.

   It’s a saying amongst the girls in our house, “Never give up!  Girls aren’t quitters!”

                                                             ii.      Remember, that’s one of Satan’s biggest ploy:  If he can’t sideline you with sin, he will try to distract you.  If he can’t distract you, he will try to discourage you.

                                                            iii.      Never confuse tiredness and sickness with defeat.  If you’re tired or ill, get some rest, get some food, spend time in the Psalms . . . but never, never give up!

The bitter cold morning which dawned on Shackleton’s crew gave no hint of the incredible events that were about to take place.  The men were doing their usual polar routines when they were shocked by a sight almost unbelievable: a ship in the distance!  Somehow, against all odds, and against incredible hardships, Shackleton had not only gotten to civilization, but had come back through the relentless icy seas for his men!  Within minutes, the men were scrambling from their tents, some hastily lighting a greasy fire, while others stood on the shore, madly waving and yelling. 

The saga of Shackleton’s voyage, shipwreck, and survival had a wonderfully happy ending because he hurtled every obstacle that stood in his path.  The complications were tremendous, but he never gave in, gave out, or gave up.  Let’s let Shackleton’s determination speak to us about our marriages, and remove, go around, or hurtle any obstacles we may have in our path to an excellent marriage!

Hugs,

How to Preserve a Husband

This little beauty was in an old canning book Mrs. Taffy posted about: “Be careful in your selection.  Do not choose too young.  When selected, give your entire thoughts to preparation for domestic use.  Some wives insist upon keeping them in a pickle, others are constantly getting them into hot water.  This may make them sour, hard, and sometimes bitter; even poor varieties may be made sweet, tender, and good, by garnishing them with patience, well sweetened with love and seasoned with kisses.  Wrap them in a mantle of charity.  Keep warm with the steady fire of domestic devotion and serve with peaches and cream.  Thus prepared, they will keep for years.” Wow! There's some wisdom in those words. Have a great weekend! Lisa

How to Have a GREAT "Date Night" (without breaking the bank!)

Still happily married...after twenty-eight years!

During our time out together recently, we spent some time reading a book together, Communication: Key to Your Marriage, by H. Norm Wright.  In it, I saw this tremendous quote:

“Commitment is more than maintaining; it is more than continuing to stick it out with a poor choice of a spouse.  Commitment is investing – working to make the relationship grow.”

Communication: Key to Your Marriage

When we talk about Stewarding Our Marriages, we need to consider the principles of INTENSITY and VARIETY.  Intensity is allowing the romance to flare up on occasions, or even helping it to flare up, and variety is the spice of life!  A regular (or even an irregular) Date Night helps to bring some INTENSITY and VARIETY to the marriage.

Here are some ideas on how to have a great “Date Night:”

1.        PLAN FOR IT!  One of the first and foremost ways to have a great Date Night is to Plan for It!  First, plan on having fun, and second, plan the event!  It takes some extra work, but it is really worth it.

a.       Plan for the right baby sitter.  If you have the right childcare, you can relax and have a good time.  Swap evenings with a friend, or hire a young lady from church whom you trust. 

b.      Plan the right time.   Actually, for us, it’s really hard to have “just the right time,” so we just TAKE the time.  Either way, it is still time invested well.

2.       EAT TOGETHER!   The saying goes that “it is impossible to argue over a very good meal” is very true!  You don’t have to eat expensively, either.  Just a cute picnic dinner at a lake would provide enough variety (not to mention romance!) to make it fun!  Take a bit of time to do some research to find a place to eat together.

3.       PLAN TO KEEP THE CONVERSATION LIGHT!  Try not to bring up any “business,” if possible.  If you really need to talk about finances or baby Johnny’s ear infections, try to keep it brief, then go on to fun stuff.

a.       One of our favorite things to talk about it memories.  When we were younger, we had less of them (of course) but now that we are older, there are many more things to remember. 

b.      Think about pet topics your spouse likes to talk about!  Maybe he enjoys talking about diesel mechanics, or maybe he likes to talk about marine life.  Perhaps he’s into `a game of some sort.  These topics may be boring to you, but listening shows you care.

4.       HAVE FUN!  There are a million things to do that don’t cost a lot of money. 

a.       Take a walk at a park.

My Beloved and I out for a stroll around the church property!

b.      Go window shopping.  This is one of our favorite things to do.  We get to see what’s out there, and we enjoy going away from the store with empty hands, feeling the money still in our pockets.

c.       Go to the airport and watch planes take off and land.

d.      Take a drive!  One of the things we enjoy doing is exploring.  We see something in the distance, or even a building we’d like to see that’s not too far away, and we go look for it.

e.      Geocaching!  I’ve not tried it myself, although I’ve always wanted to.  If you have a GPS, you can look online to find the coordinates of hidden treasures, and then input the coordinates on your GPS, and go on a treasure hunt!  Remember, though, you must always leave another treasure in its place, so the next guy can have fun looking for it.

f.     Unplanned romance!  Remember, there’s nothing wrong with a little romance in the car, since you’re married! ;)

Let’s take a little extra time to plan a memorable excursion with our spouse!  If any of you have any more ideas, please share them; we’d love to hear what other thoughts you may come up with.

7 Ideas to Build Your Marriage

“Every wise woman buildeth her house, but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.”

This week, like a knife in the gut, I learned that a friend had gotten a divorce. 

The strangest thing about it is that the husband is a fine Christian man, and they had a desire to serve the Lord.

How can two people who love the Lord get along so badly that they get a divorce?? 

My husband and I have been talking at length lately, discussing the road so many people travel which leads to divorce.  It appears as though a pattern ultimately lead to the demise of the family.  

For now, however, let’s talk about:

              {How a wise woman can build her house}

Imagine a man building a wall.  Brick by brick, piece by piece, he lays down first the foundation, and then the first layer, and the second, and so on.  He works with a smile, knowing this is for his family, whom he loves dearly.  It may not be perfect, because he’s only young and has never done this before, but his heart is in it, and it is his own personal labor of love.

Soon his wife appears.  He looks at her with a grin but stops when he notices her frown.  Striding to the wall, she points at it and sneers, “What’s this?  A mess??  What are you thinking?!?  I can’t believe you would try to build a wall using those bricks!”  She begins pulling at the blocks, berating him at the same time.  He drops his head and slowly walks away, shoulders drooping.

That woman is fast on her way to tearing down her house, and living in low-income housing with no protection whatsoever.

How can this marriage be saved?  What can be done to help this situation?

      

Here are some ideas my husband and I thought of for building a strong marriage:

1.        Don’t tear down the wall your husband is trying to build.  Simply have a little self-control and keep your  mouth shut.

This is where a direct line to God is really wonderful!  You may not be able to say anything to anybody, but does that mean you have to leave it festering inside?  Of course not!  Does that mean that nothing will ever be done about the situation??  Of course not!  Why not take your frustrations too the Lord, who can turn the rivers!  (see Proverbs 21:1)

2.        Decorate the wall!  Make the most out of a less-than-perfect situation!  So your man wants to start up a new business, and you have to sacrifice to help come up with the needed money.  You may even think he will fail!  The wall seems crooked and out of fashion.  That’s ok; make the most of it!  Support your husband, be his cheerleader!  Determine that you will be happy, no matter what, because happiness is not in happenings, it is in the Lord.  Decorate that wall, crooked though it may be, and your good taste and cheer will be the driving force behind his success.

3.       Admire the good that he does – out loud!  (And don’t forget to feel his strong muscles every once in a while!)  J   It sure does add some honey to the romance.

4.       Praise for effort, not performance.  Thank him for his hard work on a job or around the house.

5.       Support him by making good meals and greeting him nicely dressed.  No hair-rollers when hubby comes to the door!

6.       Visit him while he’s involved in his projects; sometimes you can even co-labor with him.  For example, you could bring him iced tea while he’s mowing the grass. 

7.       Ask the Lord to help you build up your marriage and not tear it down.  Marriages do not fall apart in a night, and they do not get built in a night.  Be willing to take some time to work on it and wait patiently for the rewards. 

The rewards may be long in coming, but they will come!  After all, where will you be in ten years?  Determine that you will be happily married (to the same man, of course!). 

Let’s do what we can to build up our marriages.

Jonathan & Brooke -  December 10, 2011

"I now pronounce you man and wife"

Keep the home fires burning!

6 Tips for Wives

Always love your honey!

Being young and ignorant, I felt I was ready for marriage at age 19.  Looking back, I suppose I was mostly ready, or about as ready as I could be, given my situation.  I had very little guidance growing up, and courtship and marriage was no difference.  I think it took me about fifteen years to really get into the swing of things and begin being the wife God meant me to be. 

What could have helped me is if someone took me aside and quietly explained some very important principles to me.  Perhaps some folks did; maybe I just didn’t listen.  Regardless, here are some things which I know now, being very happily married for almost 28 years.  Most of these things are very simple, and you’ve probably heard them before, but it doesn’t hurt to hear them again!
  

    1. He is different than you!  Understand that he is a different person than you are, and operates differently.  Many of the things he does simply will not make sense (but then again, you will not make much sense to him, either!)  He is his own man and marches to the beat of a different drummer, but that’s a good thing.  You certainly don’t want a robot for a husband!  Learn to appreciate the different ways he responds, though you will probably never really understand him.  As you learn to become thankful for his ways, your marriage will grow!


    2. Do not try to change him!  Not only is he a different person, but he will not be molded by you.  The only one who can truly mold him is Christ!  As you see faults in his character, remember that he needs your prayers.  Perhaps God allows you to see these faults so you can pray for him.  It is doubtful that anyone knows him as well as you do; “Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”  If you don’t pray for him in these areas, no one else will.

 Never harp at him, nag, or correct him.  He will find out soon enough that he is wrong, if he is.  Allow him to grow.

    3. Understand that he will make mistakes; sometimes he will make some whoppers!  But then again, so will you.  Allow him to make mistakes and learn from them, even if it is terribly inconveniencing to you.  He will learn, and eventually things will smooth out.

    4. NEVER complain about him to your friends; if you have a problem, work it out with your husband.  If you need counseling or prayer, talk to your pastor and/or his wife!  But to involve a friend in your marital problems is to emasculate your man, and dig a pit for your marriage’s coffin.  That also goes for complaining to your mother, his mother, or anyone else.  This is perhaps one of the hardest things to do, but it’s also the best thing to do.  This practice alone has probably saved many a marriage!


    5. Let the man provide, like the Lord wants him to.  God calls him “The savior of the body,” and that is what he is.  Let him take care of you.  When the hard times come financially – and they will – you may be tempted to run out and find a way to provide.  But allow him to provide for you, and you will be free to attend to other important needs.


   6. Remember that life is not forever.  Keep the honey flowing while you have it, because someday his arms will not be there to wrap around you in the cold of the night.  No matter how long you are married, it is never long enough when you outlive your spouse.

The last one is the one that really gets me, now that I’m older and health issues have crept up.  I didn’t realize that they would come, and I guess I thought that now was forever.  Now I understand that someday perhaps one of us will be alone, and I want to enjoy My Beloved while both of us are together.

Let’s take our marriages up to a higher level this year, starting with us ladies!  

5 Ways to Spice Up Your Marriage This Thanksgiving (or any time!)!

In this day of hectic schedules and electronic distractions, it becomes more and more important to make the extra effort to put a little – or a lot! – zip to marriage.  Whether we’ve been married for twenty eight days or twenty-eight years (as I have!!) these tips can be a help to us as we try to make this Thanksgiving time even more special.

I heard a preacher the other day mention that Thankfulness is really “Thinkfulness,” taking a bit of time to think about the blessings I’ve received, and also to be thankful for who has benefitted my life.  If we really think about it, everything we have and everything we are comes from someone else.  As Lincoln once said, “All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.”

So today, let’s take some time to think about the most important relationship we have in this world: our marriage.  Here’s an acrostic with five thoughts on giving your marriage a lift this holiday season:

Take time to greet each other with a smile every morning!

                This may sound stupid, but I just started to do this recently.  Every morning I get up earlier than everyone else, so my mind is already on step 5 by the time they all open their eyes.  I often have some big theory, plan, idea, or question working around in my head by the time I first see my husband in the morning.  And sometimes, there’s some irritating thing that has happened.  To greet him with a smile takes an effort, especially if there are pressing matters, but it has made our mornings and whole days much more smooth!

Hug every day!

                Perhaps this goes without saying, but a hug every day is a must!  It keeps the embers glowing.

Inquire how the other is doing!

                Again, this is a no-brainer, but those of us who are married beyond recongnition often forget the most simple – and most important – of things.  Communication is the backbone of marriage, and a simple, “So how did you sleep last night?” can help someone get over the morning grumpies.  Perhaps it’s just a question asked sincerely, “How was your day?”  Little things that show we care are often the best things.

Nothing replaces physical intimacy!

                The hugs, the talks, the questions are all good and have their place, but nothing replaces physical intimacy.  God made you one flesh, and it’s important to keep the embers going and let it flare up…often!

Know that God supports our efforts!

                God is behind marriage!  It was His design for couples to be married – happily.  So understand that, with  every effort you put into strengthening your marriage, God puts more.  It is up to us to do the natural, and He does the supernatural.  Many times, however, we are too lazy or selfish to do the natural part, and so nothing gets done.  “We are laborers together with God” 1 Corinthians 3:9

It’s been said that “Divine Grace works on the lines of human effort.”  It’s not enough just to trust God to work, our own human effort must make an investment.

So let’s put some "Thinkfulness" into our Thanksgiving season this year, and enjoy some of the spice!