Of all the vegetables God created on this green Earth, zucchini has to be my favorite! And to think that people give this stuff away, mama mia!

August 8 has been declared, by whom I don’t know, National Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Day.

If you should happen to be the lucky recipient of a basket of zucchini, first, consider giving some to me, then make the best of your good fortune.

Here are two recipes I keep close at hand when zucchini is in full bloom.

Zucchini, Tomato, Sunflower Seeds, and Feta Stir-Fry

I first ate this in Germany in a zucchini boat. Not sitting in a zucchini boat, but prepared with zucchini as the boat, or holder, of the other ingredients. In order to expedite its preparation, thus making it suitable for daily preparation, I turned it into a stir-fry without measurement, just making it to taste.

Slice a zucchini, or two or three, into medium-thin slices.

Chop a tomato into small pieces – set aside.

Heat some olive oil in a skillet, add some garlic, and heat until hot.

Add zucchini to skillet and sprinkle lightly with salt (and pepper, if desired).

Cook to desired doneness, turning as needed.

When zucchini is done, add a handful of sunflower seeds to skillet. Add tomatoes to heat through. Just before serving, add feta to taste.

Enjoy!

A second, more involved, but fabulous recipe is

Bonnie’s Zucchini Pie

Refrigerated package of 8 crescent rolls
4 C zucchini, sliched thin
1 C chopped onion
1/4 C butter or margarine
1/2 C fresh parsley or 2 T dried parsley flakes
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp basil
1/4 tsp oregano
2 eggs
8 oz. combined shredded mozzarella and muenster cheese

Unroll crescent rolls, separate, and mold into bottom and sides of pie plate like pie crust.

Heat butter in skillet until melted. Add zucchini and onions. Cook until tender.

Stir in parsley and remaining seasonings.

Cool slightly and spoon into crescent roll crust.

Cover evenly with cheese.

Beat the eggs and pour over the pie.

Bake at 375 deg for 18 – 20 min or until done.

If you have a favorite zucchini recipe, please leave it in the comments or provide a link to it.

If you are the lucky recipient of zucchini under the dark of night, or if you sneak some onto your neighbor’s porch, please tell your story in the comments or provide a link to your post about it. I’d love to hear how much zucchini is getting passed from neighbor to neighbor.

Yours for the celebration of life,

Claudia

Each day brings with it a plethora of options: You can start off by sleeping in or getting up early. You can shower first or eat first. You can cook breakfast or eat out. You can work late or leave early. You can go to your son’s soccer game or stop at Wal-Mart. You can have chicken for supper or you can have beef.

And these are just the easy choices.

What about forgiving someone or continuing to hold a grudge?

What about choosing to love your wife instead of choosing to walk away?

What about encouraging a friend instead of tearing them down?

It’s easy to make choices about the tasks you have to do each day, but what about the matters of the heart, the things that really matter?

You only have one August 5, 2010. What will you do with it?

Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act. ~Proverbs 3:27 (NIV)

Yours for the celebration of life,

Claudia

com-pla-cen-cy – a feeling of quiet pleasure or security, often while unaware of some potential danger, defect, or the like; self-satisfaction or smug satisfaction with an existing situation, condition, etc. (Webster’s @ dictionary.com)

We often see complacency as being similar to treading water: we’re not sinking or swimming, we’re just not moving forward.

The problem with complacency, especially in a Christian’s walk with Christ, is that, as the definition states, you are “often unaware of some potential danger.”

The danger may not be harm to you or a loved one physically or emotionally. You may not lose your house or your car and your marriage may not dissolve, but you are in danger of a setback in your relationship with Christ.

Unlike treading water, if you are complacent in your walk with Christ, you are not only not moving forward, you are drowning.

If there is no growth in your walk with Christ, you are actually losing ground in your relationship with Christ.

But wait, I said this post would be about finding hope again. Yes, it is, but the danger must be emphasized first because it is so important to understand that God will not turn his back on us, but we can ruin our relationship with Christ by turning our back on him.

As in the earlier post Complacency – The Danger and the Hope, there are warning signs and causes to a Christian becoming complacent:

There are warning signs: less time communing with God, more time talking with friends, spouses, or kids; less time in God’s word, more time with the TV or books; less time worshipping with fellow believers, more Sunday mornings sleeping in.

If you’ll notice, these are all things each of us has control over, and they are all actions that we choose to make.

If you have grown complacent, start by asking God to kick you out of this place where you’ve landed. Ask him to renew your joy in your walk with him. This is a prayer God loves to answer.

Second, just do it. If you haven’t been spending time in God’s word and in prayer, set aside time TODAY to do so. And then set aside time tomorrow and the next day and the next. Don’t tell yourself you are going from 0 minutes to 60 minutes a day, just work on opening your Bible and opening your heart to hear God’s voice.

Third, get back with fellow believers who are living a life of joy. There is nothing more contagious than joy. Call a friend who has a strong walk with the Lord and spend time with him or her. Ask her how she keeps her joy and to pray that your joy will be regained as well.

A Christian’s life should not be ho-hum and hum-drum. Your heart should resonate with the joy of the Lord because your hope is in Him.

Yours for the celebration of life,

Claudia

For that reason, I started my Complacency series on Sunday. I have tried to make each post self-contained, but if you want to read the prelude to this post, Complacency Should Not Be a Permanent Address, please be my guest.

Oh Lord, take Your plow to my fallowed ground
Let Your blade dig down to the soil of my soul
For I’ve become dry and dusty, Lord I know there must be
Richer earth lying below

For I’ve been living in Laodicea
And the fire that once burned bright, I’ve let it grow dim
And the very Word I swore that I would die for all has been forgotten
As the world’s become my friend”

Lyrics by Steve Camp
“Living in Laodicea”

com-pla-cen-cy — a feeling of quiet pleasure or security, often while unaware of some potential danger, defect, or the like; self-satisfaction or smug satisfaction with an existing situation, condition, etc. (Webster’s @ dictionary.com)

The church at Laodicea was the epitome of complacency. They felt quite secure in their riches, they went about their days with quiet pleasure, not realizing the potential danger, completely unaware of God’s disdain for them. So much disdain, that – he – would – spit – them – out – of – his – mouth.

The church at Laodicea. We can all recognize that one. It’s the only one of the seven churches in Revelation 3 for which God had nothing good to say. While God had something negative to say about all of the churches, the other six at least received an attaboy.

The church at Ephesus, hard work and perseverence; the church at Smyrna, suffered persecution and poverty; the church at Pergamum, true to the faith; the church at Thyatira, love, faith, and service; the church at Sardis, effective; the church at Philadelphia, faithful.

But the church at Laodicea? Nothing good, not one word, only condemation — and hope. Yes, hope.

Only our Lord can speak condemnation and hope in the same breath.

You say “I am rich,” but you are poor – I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich.

You do not realize you are naked – get your white clothes (clothes of purity) from me to wear to cover your shameful nakedness.

Do you not know you are blind to my ways? Come to me, use the salve that I can give, and you will see.

You do not know you are outside the door, standing in the cold and rain when you could be inside with me where it is warm and there is great joy. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

You think that by avoiding me you can avoid discipline – Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline.

So be earnest, and repent.

Is your heart full of dust and your cup of water filling up with sand? Come to me, and I will give joy in a barren heart.

If you have found yourself in these words as I have, know that God desires to fill your life with joy. He desires to take your dry and dusty land, your place of complacency where there is “potential danger” that you may not be aware of, and make your heart a fertile place full of joy and peace, hope and love.

In Sunday’s post I said that complacency comes without warning, but I’m not so sure that’s true. There are warning signs: less time communing with God, more time talking with friends, spouses, or kids; less time in God’s word, more time with the TV or books; less time worshipping with fellow believers, more Sunday mornings sleeping in. More time ……. .

You fill in the blank, but don’t let it stop there. You can move out of complacency, it is NOT a permanent address though we often live there far too long, not realizing the danger.

Stop back in a day or two prepared to move to a land flowing with milk and honey – and great joy.

Yours for the celebration of life,

Claudia

This week’s In Other words in hosted by Miriam Pauline at Miriam Pauline’s Monologue. Join in the discussion by writing your own post or just by reading what other women have to say.

Sadly, complacency hits nearly every Christian at some point in his or her walk with Christ. Often it comes without warning and sticks around until something or someone spurs us to action.

To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm–neither hot nor cold–I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (Revelation 3:14-21)

Did you catch it? Do you see how the church at Laodicea was the epitome of complacency? They felt quite secure in their riches, they went about their days with quiet pleasure, completely unaware of God’s disdain for them. So much disdain, that he would spit them out of his mouth.

Complacency is rampant in our world today. I believe it goes hand-in-hand with the “I’m ok, you’re ok” mentality. Whatever you want to do is ok as long as I can do what I want to do.

Whoa. Stop. God – is – about – to – spit – you – out – of – His – mouth.

I don’t want to leave you here, because there is much more to the story. There is HOPE.

More on that in my In Other Words post on Tuesday.

Until then …

Yours for the celebration of life,

Claudia

Want this button?

On Monday, June 7, join e-Mom at Chrysallis to share your honeymoon experience and/or thoughts on Marriage Monday

Share your own honeymoon experience (family-friendly) or your advice for couples planning a honeymoon.

Get the details at Marriage Monday is Coming!

On Tuesday, June 8, join Miriam Pauline at Miriam Pauline’s Monologue to share your thoughts on these lyrycs from Steve Camp:

Oh Lord, take Your plow to my fallowed ground
Let Your blade dig down to the soil of my soul
For I’ve become dry and dusty, Lord I know there must be
Richer earth lying below

For I’ve been living in Laodicea
And the fire that once burned bright, I’ve let it grow dim
And the very Word I swore that I would die for all has been forgotten
As the world’s become my friend

Living in Laodicea

Yours for the celebration of life,

Claudia

God delights in using ordinary Christians who come to the end of themselves and choose to trust in His extraordinary provision. He stands ready to allocate His power to all who are radically dependent on Him and radically devoted to making much of Him.

~ David Platt

Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream

I wonder if Christians don’t trust God to do exceedingly, abundantly more than all we can ask or imagine because we don’t really know who this God is that we claim to serve.

If you really knew him, you would trust him.

That’s My King, by S.M. Lockridge

Yours for the celebration of life,

Claudia

This week’s In Other words in hosted by Jennifer at Scraps and Snippets. Join in the discussion by writing your own post or just by reading what other women have to say.

While there is some truth to the perceptions set forth in these writings and uttered by individuals across the nation, one basic truth is missing and all but forgotten:

Our view of the Holy Spirit is too small.
The Holy Spirit is the One who changes the church,
but we have to remember that the Holy Spirit lives in us.
It is individual people living Spirit-filled lives
that will change the church.

~Francis Chan
Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God

Those who are looking to the church to fulfill their needs only have it partially right. It is true that the church is to be a place where believers come together to worship God and to build each other up. We are to meet together regularly in order to help those in need spiritually, physically, and emotionally and to hold each other accountable for our walk with Christ.

But attending church should never be based on what I can get from it except for growing in the likeness of Christ and in God’s word.

When we begin to attend church only to make us feel better or to have the focus on us, we are stripping God of the power that He has to change us and to fulfull His purposes for us as individuals and as a body of believers.

The Holy Spirit gives us power to live transformed lives as individuals, and as a body he works through us to make bigger things happen than any of us can accomplish on our own. We are given power individually through the Holy Spirt, and the Spirit that lives in me is the same one that lives in all believers. Through His power we truly do have more power than the sum of our (individual) parts.

If a person is truly filled with the Holy Spirt and has a desire to see the church become all that God wants it to be, becoming part of the church is the only viable solution.

It is only through Spirit-filled believers seeking God’s will for the church that the church will be changed for His glory.

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 vey great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world causes by evil desires. (2 Peter 1:3,4, NIV)

Yours for the celebration of life,

Claudia

This week’s In Other words in hosted by Tami at The Next Step. Join in the discussion by writing your own post or just by reading what other women have to say.

God whispers to us in our pleasure,
but He shouts to us in our pain.

by Rick Warren
in Daily Hope Devotional,
titled “Turning in to God”

Like a child trying to get his mom or dad’s attention at the grocery store, God raises his voice just enough to get our attention.

Sometimes all it takes is a whisper, a barely audible voice in the quiet, to get our attention and calm our hearts or encourage us in our walk with Him.

At other times, God raises His voice because we are too preoccupied or wounded to hear Him. When our own railings or sobs drown out the voice of God, our pain will only get worse.

It is only in listening for God’s voice and lowering our own that we will hear God’s answer to our pain.

God does speak – sometimes one way and sometimes another – even though people may not understand it. (Job 33:14 (NCV)

Yours for the celebration of life.

Claudia

Today’s In Other Words is being hosted by Debbie at Heart Choices. Join in by writing about today’s quote or reading what others are saying.

When I received the card I was going through a time of not knowing what to do with my blog. Was anybody reading it? Did anybody care? Would anybody miss it if I quit writing? Did I really want to write anyway?

At that time I decided that because Joanne used the card as a giveaway for her blog featuring writers, I would only use the card if I was taking the time to concentrate on the purpose of my blog or on a blog post. As much as I love coffee, I thought it might be hard to keep from using the card, but it wasn’t. I knew that the time would come that I could sit down with a low-fat cafe mocha, half the chocolate, and ponder the future of my blog, if there was going to be one.

That day has come! The other day I was listening to Debbie Griffith at Everyday Matters on the radio, and she said,

A friend invited me to read her blog and through it I was connected to many other bloggers sharing their thoughts on marriage, motherhood and life. True, there’s comfort knowing others are questioning and trying to figure out life too but none of what I read brought me peace. Maybe because there were too many unanswered questions or maybe because none really seemed to point to the source of all peace…JESUS! He not only knows everything we think and feel BUT He has the answers for everything we need too.

I know I don’t have all the answers, but I do know the One who does.

Knowing that my blog will provide answers and not just questions, has energized me and given me a new desire to write.

It also helped to remember It’s Not About Me, so that I can be reminded that someone, somewhere can and will learn from my experience.

Even if only one person is strengthened and encouraged by God’s word spoken through me, my purpose will be fulfilled.

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. (2 Corinthians 2:14)

Yours for the celebration of life,

Claudia