Two life lessons grandma taught me at a garage sale.

With a reputation for the best garage sale in town, my five-foot-nothin’ grandma raised the doors weekend after weekend in the summer, and a steady stream of people poured through. 

I was her shadow. 

This weekend I opened the doors for my own garage sale, and my heart was lonely for her, as I remembered the lessons taught in front of the tool bench. 

Lessons that were too big to stay in the garage.  Grandma called it “puttin’ on the Ritz”. 

1.  Excellence is the standard. 
The garage swept clean.  Care given to hang clothes neatly.  Nothing put out dusty or dirty.  Each item presented in an appealing fashion.  (At my own sale I poked each pair of earrings through a 3 x 5 card before placing them neatly on display, just like grandma used to do.)

Excellence is its own advertisement. 

In her garage sale were many items grandma found in the alley dumpster, repaired, cleaned thoroughly, and presented beautifully.  Things thrown away regained value with grandma's touch of Ritz.

2.  Kindness is the job.  

Now watch.  This is how you do it, she would whisper in my ear.  What a beautiful blouse.  That color makes your eyes stand out, she would say to the lady paying for her handful of treasures.

After the woman left, grandma would turn to me and say, Now see.  It’s not hard to find something kind to say to each person, and did you see the smile that came to her face with just a small compliment?

On grandma's list of garage sale tasks was making people’s eyes light up.

“Clothe yourselves…with kindness.”  (Colossians 3:12)

If my house were on fire and I could only grab two things, I would pick excellence and kindness.  Mixed together those qualities draw people in people who are looking for a great find. 

Are you puttin’ on the Ritz?

the comfort of predictability

I love going home because it never ever changes.   

• The cookies are always in the corner cupboard.
• My parents always argue about whether the sliding door should be open.
• The chair by the fireplace is always the best spot in the house.
• QVC is always on during gem sales.
• My brother always takes too long in the bathroom.
• Mom always has boxes of treasures for us to plunder before she puts them in a garage sale.
• Dad always goes to NAPA for coffee with the guys.
• There are always Mr. D’s cinnamon rolls for breakfast and M&Ms in a jar on the counter. 

There’s a snugly comfort in predictability. 

Hebrews 13:8 (NIV) says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” 

Predictability allows us to expect and not be disappointed. 

Jesus is always compassionate.  Always the truth.  Always love.  Always with us.  Always good.  Always a friend. 

If life is nuts and frightening and throwing us off balance, all we really need to do is go Home.

Will you let God speak?

I was terribly homesick after a week in Uganda, and our team had limited time left on our cell phone card. 

I only had a few minutes to talk to my whole family, and there was my little boy, crying and talking a hundred miles an hour on the other end of the phone. 

I forgot to bring home the field trip form.  What am I going to do?  I’m not going to be able to go on the trip tomorrow.  Upset and unreasonable.   

This is grade school trauma. 

In between his panicky words I kept trying to insert instructions, but it was useless.  He wouldn’t let me get a word in edge wise, and I was using up team phone minutes. 

I finally said firmly, I love you –let me talk to dad. 

I do the same thing sometimes.  Panicky and crying.  Thinking a hundred miles an hour.  Hashing a problem around in my brain for hours. 

Stopping to listen doesn’t even cross my mind. 

God’s sitting there with some instruction that would help, but I don’t pause long enough to let Him get a word in. 

The voice of the Lord is over the waters…

The voice of the Lord is powerful…

The voice of the Lord is majestic…

The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars…

The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning…

The voice of the Lord shakes the desert…

The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forests bare...

(from Psalm 29) 

There is a Voice that has the power to change every situation.  To break.  To strike.  To shake.  To twist. 

We should be quiet for a minute and hear what God has to say about what we’re going through.

verbal applause

Early marriage seemed to bring all of Matt’s flaws to the top.  Flaws I hadn’t been aware of until he became my permanent roommate (like hanging the towel with the tag showing or his loud proclamation that the whole bed was his side).   

It became so easy to get with the girlfriends and spout my grievances. 

Complaining.  Complaining.  Complaining. 

One day I had this thought, What if he walked by when I didn’t know it and heard what I was saying about him?   

I would be appalled if this good man were to hear me verbally parading his petty faults. 

So I stopped.  I just stopped saying anything bad about him and started saying the good stuff. 

Words I would be proud for him to hear if he were to walk by. 

It took practice.  Griping comes much more easily to the tongue. 

Say the good things.  Say the good things. 

David says, “Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you…”  (Psalm 89:15  NIV) 

Applauding our spouse.  Applauding our God.  Neither one comes naturally. 

Complaining.  Complaining.  Complaining.  It’s the easiest word to speak about God, too.  Parading the petty grievances (not that there are any flaws!) 

Happy is the woman who learns the art of praising her husband and her God in public. 

Because really, isn’t there a bucketful of good to say?

ten reasons why my man is awesome

1. He takes me to lunch every Friday and lets me talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk.
2. He vacuums when I ask. 
3. Little kids adore him.  So do old people and not so old people.
4. He tells me the day he doesn’t have time to listen to my problems is the day he quits his job.
5. He does great sound effects.
6. He’s happy as long as I keep the Fun Pops stocked in the freezer.
7. He’s a rescue hero, counseling people in any crisis.
8. He sings tenor like no other.
9. He looks good when he’s preaching.  Really good.  (Can I say that?)
10. In January he lays on my side of the bed to get it warm before I crawl under the covers.

food control

My freshman year of college I gained 15 pounds.  I decided one of my problems was the cafeteria ice cream bar.  Available at lunch and dinner.  Several flavors.  Dip your own. 

Once on the lips, forever on the hips. 

So I swore off of ice cream, always associating the thought of it with those unwanted pounds. 

For 20 years we have not had ice cream in our freezer, except for the occasional birthday party. 

A mom “provides food for her household.”  (Proverbs 31:15  NIV) 

A mom chooses what goes in the shopping cart and what ends up on the pantry shelves and in the refrigerator. 

I’ve slowly been making radical food choices on behalf of my family.

·      Matt decided to go without soda for a while, so I stopped buying it.  Forever.  (Withdrawals on pizza night were hard to get through!)

·      The soda revolution worked, so one day I decided not to buy potato chips anymore.  I was prepared for a family uprising, but shockingly it never came.  (It is possible to live without Doritos.)

·      Whole wheat.  No more enriched white, despite my son’s pleas.

·      Definitely no ice cream.  (And what a special treat that makes it when we do get some.)

·      Always fruit.

·      No juice, unless you can push the thermometer past 98.6.  (No more drinking calories.)

It’s a work in progress.  I still have a Costco-size bag of chocolate chips in the freezer, and the boys cry if we run out of Fun Pops.   

But oh the power we have in providing food for our household.  We choose the nutrition quality. 

What’s one food improvement you think you should make for your family?