Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Video: Living On the Upside



Please use this for one of your listen-while-you-work videos. It is almost an hour long.  According to my calculations, it  will get you through the kitchen, bathroom and one bedroom. Let me know if it was more or less! I'm looking forward to your comments. 

20 comments:

Lydia said...

The little mark on my collar bone is not a mole. I need to clarify that because I always get several questions about it when I am in a picture or a video. It is a blood vessel that formed during one of my pregnancies, and it has remained the same size and color all these years. Its not a danger.

Betsy said...

Oh my gosh I needed this right now! This was posted for me ๐Ÿ’–

Anonymous said...

Very good! Thank you so much! I will listen to this many times.

Christine said...

I listened to the entire video while working on a project. I enjoy doing two things at once, so this was perfect.
What caught my attention (and need to go back to listen to it again), was the part where you say something about spending our money, on our families and not giving to others (paraphrasing a lot here).
THIS WAS WHAT I NEEDED TO HEAR!

Thank you!!!! ๐Ÿ˜˜

Michele said...

I listened to your video today while baking up some leftover cookie dough. It put me in mind of these thoughts regarding homemaking attributed to CS Lewis,

“what do ships, railways, miners, cars, government etc exist for except that people may be fed, warmed, and safe in their own homes?….We wage war in order to have peace, we work in order to have leisure, we produce food in order to eat it. So your job is the one for which all others exist…”

I have been a housewife for most of my married years but I still enjoy the gentle bolstering of like-minded women found here.

Ladyambersparrow said...

Your posts and videos are always timely to what I am feeling. So enjoyable and uplifting!! Reading your blog is like getting a coveted magazine in the mail- can’t wait to go through the pages- more than once!!

Emmarinda said...

I took notes, but will listen to this again tomorrow. You put something in perspective for me today, and freed me from the bondage of feeling like I don't do enough for all these outside causes and pleas for my time and our money. We tithe and also pour a lot of ourselves into helping our children and grandchildren, who so often really do need the help. So, the way you explained it in the video today, that giving to the Lord's work and being there for the home and family is enough, allowed me to put my uneasiness aside, for which I am grateful.



Lydia said...

Focus on helping your own family, and you will keep them off the welfare rolls, and you can also arrange for them to help you, in return, as you get older. And, if you take care of your own, you usually have a little left over of your contribution money to donate to your choice of people or causes. I know a lady at church that gives $20 to each person in church, including children, for birthdays. Its her way of contributing beyond her means and beyond her contribution. We believe you should contribute at church when the contribution is extended, but also we should all go above and beyond in other ways individually. However the nice thing about the contribution, is that the business meeting decides who or what to send it to (usually its divided into benevolence and evangelism, plus church expenses) and that helps the members all help the same effort. Plus, the elders and deacons usually investigate the charities or the missionaries to see if they have a need and are legitimate. This was the way benevolence and evangelism was taken care of in the New Testament. The apostle Paul gathered some from each congregation he visited, and he distributed it to people he knew who were in distress. So a church contribution is a great blessing because it makes it very easy to give.

Rhonda said...

This was very encouraging and uplifting. Thank you for doing this!

Laura Jeanne said...

I am currently listening to your video "Living on the Upside at Home" while I package up some orders from my Etsy shop. I may post another comment, but I wanted to mention before I forget that the laws about not interfering with someone's livelihood, date back to the Magna Carta in England in the 1200's. Before that time, if someone owed a debt, anything of theirs could be taken in payment, even their tools that they used to earn a living, but after the Magna Carta, the law forbade that - everyone was given the right to earn their livelihood. It is a good law, but it doesn't originate with America, it is much older. :) I only know this because I was reading about it with my daughter in our home school a few weeks ago. :)

Lydia said...

Laura, thank you so much. I knew that our laws date back to English law way before the colonies in 1600's. And today people are forgetting this important law and principle, that you cannot interfere with anyone's livelihood. Recently a woman we know whose husband had left her, was advised by legal counsel to claim his truck and his tools (he was a builder) but she refused, even though it was claimed by her legal counsel that she was within the law, but she said it would interfere with his ability to earn a living and she wouldn't do that to him. She also remembered that law. And also there are people who go into court because someone is suing them and the court costs plus the amount that is extracted from them for payment if the other side wins, can seriously harm the person's ability to get back on their feet and earn a living. We see all through the Bible about this basic obligation to work and earn money and pursue an occupation. There were people who deliberately tried to prevent that, and they were not rewarded favorably.
I was concerned about the housewife, who sometimes has to fight tooth and nail for the right to work in her own home, as many people, outside the home and sadly, inside the home, do things to make her life harder. I think we can show by the scriptures that people should mind their own business and also look out for others, and in doing that, should not interfere in someone's ability to work, even if it is being a homemaker.

Lydia said...

You can also look up Tortiary Interference to see more about the law against preventing people from working.

Janetjames said...

It doesn't matter what others say if one is committed to doing what's best. If criticism is too much for a person, the easiest solution is just not to invite comments or emails and keep things strictly educational.

Lydia said...

janetjames, that works for the web, and we also need to address the homemaker's problem of naysayers that make rude comments to her face, or people outside her home who begin to sideline her because she is no longer part of the group that goes out to work, or the ones related to her that put pressure on her or ridicule here. You can't "cut off comment or emails" in that case, or keep things strictly educational in the case of your own family in the house. There will always be negative coming home if they are listening to people at work or elsewhere. They bring home doubts. So I will address that in a video sometime. Anyway, thanks for your input. I think most people know by now, since the web is a fairly old experience, about cutting off blog comments, etc. but what to do in day to day life, can be quite a challenge, since its impossible to cut them off. Some people would say its okay for her to be a homemaker if she keeps quiet about it but the influence is very widespread even if she doesn't intend it to be, since people seem to always know other people's business.

Janetjames said...

I see your point, I was thinking more in terms of just not opening up online, and it's too bad you get that kind of interaction directly to your face. I've not had that happen, but guess that I'd still take that attitude with negative people. Who cares what they say or do if you have the courage of your convictions. Extended family can be dealt with the same way. If kids and spouses are tearing you down, that probably speaks to some deeper issues than just choosing to be at home.

Lydia said...

Husbands and children sometimes pick up attitudes in their work places, and everyone gossips at work about what someone's husband or wife does for a living, and money is always the top billing in regards to accountability. They have deeper issues but in a way they are very shallow issues if they believe what society says rather than pay attention to the needs of the wife and mother and her great service to the home. Money seems to be the big topic and they badger the woman at home about how she gets things like insurance or credit, etc. but it is just going along with the crowd. So it is probably something I should address on a video to those who are enduring these remarks and the pressure that comes from outside the home. Sometimes women will say that no one bothers them, and that they have never been the recipient of a discouraging word, and that is nice if that happens. Ive been free to do as I please and stay home, but others have a different battle.

Laura Jeanne said...

Lydia, I finally finished listening to this talk, and it was a real gem. Thanks so much for sharing all of this encouragement and help. I enjoyed hearing you reference Auntie Mame, because I just watched that movie a few weeks ago, and I made sure to remember Mame's favourite line - "Live, live live! Life is a banquet, and most people are starving." I hope you will be happy when I say that in some ways, the character of Mame reminded me of you, because you too have a way of squeezing all the joy out of life that you can, that is inspiring.

I also really appreciated the ideas for Youtube watching - I had not heard of any of those but now I have some new things to listen to while I fold laundry. I am especially interested in the French cooking channel, as cooking is my specialty and I'm always looking to refine my skills. :)

Lydia said...

Laura, I hope to do another Upside video. In Auntie Mame she had an "upside" comment she was often making, because she couldn't remember someone's name, and called him Upside, or was it Downside. Maybe it was "burn side" but it was quite spunky. I don't have that video but I have the old book somewhere. No, I'm not as strong as Mame was portrayed but it cracked me up the way she overcame the downside of life. She put a Christmas ornament in her hair for a hat because she needed to dress up and didn't have any money. She redecorated her house to give it a vacation atmosphere. She outwitted some people who tried to keep her from rising above her circumstances. When she saw what people were doing to take away the guardianship of her nephew, she outwitted them. He wrote the book "Antie Mame" with his memories of her.

Laura Jeanne said...

Oh, do you mean Mame was a real person? I did not realize that. That makes the movie even better, then.

Lydia said...

I got a copy of the book online and after reading it still couldn't figure out if it was a true story or not. I believe the book was better and a lot of people who have read it say the movie was just horrible in comparison...who knows. But Auntie Mame , whether fiction or true, is a great story of over-coming and living on the upside.