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Free New Year’s Eve Printable and Black Eye Pea Dip Recipes

Can you believe we are in the last days of 2014? I remember all the hub-bub when the calendar was getting ready to roll over to the year 2000 (said in an old granny voice) and here we are getting ready to welcome 2015. Speaking of welcoming 2015, I created a Free New Year’s Eve Printable–What a Year! This is a fun way to look back over 2014 and consider 2015. It also has a place at the bottom for your Word of the Year. If you don’t know what a Word of the Year is or haven’t ever chosen one, I’ll be posting about mine for this year soon. Enjoy the Free New Year’s Printable and Black Eye Pea Recipes for your New Year’s Day celebration.

Free New Year’s Eve Printable

Click the image for the Free New Year’s Eve Printable

While you are printing out the Free New Year’s Eve Printable, go ahead and print out the Bible in a Year schedule we are going to be using for our Bible Journaling in the New Year.

And speaking of the New Year what are some of your must haves for New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day? Southerner’s must have Black Eye Peas for New Years. It’s supposed to be “Good Luck” or some silly thing like that. First, I don’t believe in luck and second, I think Black Eye Peas, on their own or cooked with ham, taste like dirt–don’t hate. But we eat anyway them because it’s what we do according to Chris. I have found a couple of really yummy ways to make them though.

Black Eye Pea Dip

14oz can of Black Eye Peas
1/4 of an onion–chopped fine
1/4 cup of sour cream
1 jalapeno pepper–chopped fine
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
3 Tablespoons salsa
Hot sauce to taste
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350°
Drain and partially mash the Black Eye Peas. Add all the other ingredients and mix well. Spread the mixture into a baking dish and bake for 20-30 minutes until hot and bubbly. Serve with tortilla chips, pita chips or crackers.

Black Eye Pea Salsa

1 can Black Eye Peas–drained and rinsed
3 stalks of celery–finely chopped
3 green onions–sliced thin
1 red bell pepper–chopped fine
1 cucumber–peeled, seeded and chopped fine
1 jalapeno pepper–seeded and chopped fine
1 cup cilantro–chopped fine

Dressing
1/2 cup of olive oil
1/3 cup of vinegar
2-3 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste

Mix dressing ingredients together and set aside. Mix the Black Eye Peas with all the vegetables in a large bowl. Pour the dressing over and mix well. Refrigerate. Serve with tortilla chips or pita chips.

Share some of your favorite New Year’s Eve recipes and traditions in the comments.

by Jenny

Bible Journaling in the New Year

I mentioned briefly in yesterday’s Daybook Online Journal post about thoughts and ideas I had for us to share the scriptures in the New Year. My thoughts are centered on practicing lectio divina alongside Bible journaling. So let’s define the two and see how they will pair nicely with each other as we begin our Bible Journaling in the New Year.

Bible Journaling in the New Year

Lectio Divina is simply the classical monastic practice of the prayerful reading of the Bible…”It does not treat Scripture as texts to be studied, but as the Living Word.” (Opening to God: Lectio Divina and Life as Prayer) “The monastic practice of Lectio Divina was first established in the 6th century by Saint Benedict and was then formalized as a 4 step process by the Carthusian monk, Guigo II, in the 12th century.” (Lectio Divina)

The four common steps, or “Rungs” as the monk Guigo II called them are:

Lectio (read)

Meditatio (meditate)

Oratio (pray)

Contemplatio (contemplate)

So there is a brief introduction to lectio divina, now let’s briefly talk about Bible journaling.

Bible journaling can be what you make it…simple enough? If you are an artist, then your Bible journaling is going to look differently than mine. I am not an artist, but I love to take notes and make connections between passages, so my bible journaling will look differently than an artists. Fair enough, easy peasy, let’s move on.

And now that we’ve covered lectio divina and Bible journaling, let’s talk some specifics I have come up with. I want us to read the Bible together this year. I want us to spend time with each other with the Word. So I will know each day as I’m reading, so is (fill your name in here). So in a sense we are practicing lectio divina as it was intended to be used in a group, our group is just scattered. To keep us together as we read, let’s use this Bible in Year reading plan Meg put together, READ THE BIBLE IN A YEAR. I have used the other one she links to the past couple of years (no, I have not ever made it through the WHOLE Bible, but close), but decided on the one she made because following it, we will read the Gospels twice! Exclamation because I love reading the Gospels!

So we have our reading plan, we have our explanation of lectio divina and Bible journaling, we have our Notetaker’s Bible, now let’s go one more…let’s color code passages as we go with our Bible Marking Kit. Years ago when I started making my Bible my own, I started using a very simple color coding system…then I got too complicated for my own good. The other day while trying to figure out how to share this so it would be non-scary, easy to follow and inexpensive for all of us–but especially those who may be intimidated by, scared of or not even sure about making marks in their Bible–I came up with this: let’s use the ever so common highlighter colors (or pen or colored pencils) of blue, green, pink, yellow to highlight verses as we read.

Click the picture for the bookmark size Bible Journaling Guide.

I specifically chose the color green to represent new life. Years ago, the first color I used was green and the first verses I highlighted were verses that spoke about our words. I wanted to speak words of life to myself and others. I associated the color green with new life and my words needed some new life breathed into them. But words do not begin in the mouth, they begin in the mind. I want us to think and meditate on life giving thoughts as well. A verse I would highlight green would be Philippians 2:14, “Do all things without murmuring and arguing.”

Blue is a common color associated with Mary, the Mother of Jesus. I want to imitate her humility, her care and concern for others and her quiet spirit of contemplation. So I chose the color blue to highlight passages that speak to me as a woman seeking to imitate the Mother of Jesus; verses that will help me grow into a Godly woman. A good verse for a pretty blue highlight would be, 1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.”

I chose the color pink to mark passages that deal with love–God’s love for us and our love for Him and others. When I come across a verse that speaks of love, care or kindness, I think of the heart and that makes me think pink! Psalm 31:16, “Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love.”

The color yellow makes me think of the sun–The Son. I chose yellow for verses that reveal Who God is…Who Jesus is and Who the Holy Spirit is; verses that reveal the character of God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit. I would definitely highlight John 1:14 yellow, “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” or Philippians 1:6, “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.”

Ok, we have our Bible…Bible reading plan…Bible Marking Kit…journal if you don’t have the room to keep notes in your Bible or choose to keep them somewhere else…any pens, colored pencils or art supplies you will be using in your Bible or journal…the only thing we are missing is a plan as we read our Bible–we’ll cover that in another post.

Resources:
The NRSV Notetaker’s Bible
Bible Marking Kit
Sakura 8-Piece Pigma Micron Assorted Colors 01 Ink Pen Set

More posts on how I’m using my journaling Bible:

Bible Journaling with The Littlest Way

Bible Journaling as Lectio Divina

Bible Journaling and Bible Study

Bible Journaling: Favorites Tabs

by Jenny

I Want to Journal Bible Quotes

Hi, I’m Jenny and I’m addicted to pretty journals, pens, highlighters and Pins featuring colorful scripture journals. I want to journal Bible quotes…but I can’t. It’s not that I don’t try–believe me I do. It’s not that I don’t have the right tools–believe me I do. Ahem, I visit office supply stores and the school supply aisle like some women seek out good chocolate or great shoes. I think it’s my perfectionist tendencies. Yep, I think my inner perfect–who my husband wishes would show herself useful around the house–that keeps me from journaling inspiring Bible quotes.

Journal Bible Quotes

…and me…

Have you ever searched “Journal Bible Quotes” or “Scripture Journaling” on Pinterest? I love looking at scripture journals. The scriptures state “the Word of God is living and active” and seeing how people use a journal as a part of their devotional time inspires me. I want that intimate, artistic experience with the Word of God. I want that beautiful, physical expression from our devotional time together. Instead, I try…worry too much about what it looks like…end up frustrated…and don’t even know or remember the intimacies God and I shared. The practice of journaling Bible quotes becomes so much more about “me” than about “Him” or “us.”

Here’s how it usually goes…In my Bible reading, I will pause to reflect on a verse that has captured my attention. I’ll consider it, ponder it for a minute and then get out my highlighter to highlight the verse and that’s when it begins…

“But what color? Is it an obvious one I use, like pink for me as a woman, or green for my words or blue for my thoughts? Oh man, it’s one of those verses I already highlighted yellow when I first purchased my Bible because in an effort to calm my inner Bible-highlighting-perfectionist-nerd, I decided to highlight everything I liked in yellow. Now if I use a blue highlighter over it then that verse will turn green and it’s clearly not a verse about my words,” I argue with myself. “And what if the verse can actually be highlighted with more than one color? And symbols: boxes, circles, underlines…what if I mark a certain passage and then realize I should have marked it another way? What happens if the highlighter or pens leak through to the other side? I probably need a new Bible because I’ve already messed this year old one up trying out figure out my system.”

Moving on to my devotional journal…”Do I just start at page one and then page two and then…or do I number the pages and keep them in some type of order? Do I color code these pages as well? The verse is short, do I center it in the middle of the page so I can artistically ~~scribble~~ doodle around it? What about washi tape and stickers? What do I write, the verse and my impressions? Do I write a prayer using the verse? What if God didn’t speak to me about this verse…or I wasn’t listening? This verse says, “A voice from heaven…” how in the world do I draw God’s voice? Do I make lines in the upper corner of the page? Oh great, that looks like sunshine rays not God’s voice! Now I need to rip this page out!”

And then me at the store, “Oh look at the pretty journals. I bet this will be ‘The One.’ The journal that will make everything click. I will set down tomorrow and begin to journal Bible quotes with the best of them! This will be one of my spiritual legacies to my children. After my death they will fight over my collection of scripture journals. They will read them and then realize all those times the floor needed to be mopped, I was journaling inspiring Bible quotes and gaining great spiritual insights from the Lord–I have the artistic rendition to prove my intimate conversations with God.”

It’s a wonder–as my grandma would say–It’s a wonder based on all that inner dialogue above God doesn’t just open the Thunderheads and let it rain for 40 or so days huh? I mean really–Is any of that nonsense from God? Of course not! It’s all from me…and/or someone else who would love nothing better than to discourage me from reading my Bible or at least distract me enough while I’m reading it that I gain nothing–nada.

So the solution? Just sit down and read and keep the journaling to a simple formula. I do think journaling can be an effective means to understand the Word of God better or more deeply. But maybe for people like me, a simple, straight forward method is the best way. There is the S.O.A.P method that I have used, and it has worked really well; I actually had my children do it as part of their morning school–Hm, we may pick this practice back up…anyway. (Edited to add, I was inspired to use my own acronym, POWER–read more about it here. I even spent 30 Days using this POWERful new method!)

Do you journal Bible quotes? What is your method?

Guess what! I took the plunge into Bible Journaling! I’ve made mistakes…and surprised myself with something even I can appreciate. I’ve gotten frustrated…and persevered and the result was ample time in the Word. I totally encourage you to just do it! Maybe intentionally make a mistake first thing just to get it out of the way even.

Each day there is more encouragement and even some laughs over on my Facebook page. Head over and “Like” me there for more.

by Jenny

Day 1 on My Journey to Joy

Today is Day 1 on my journey to joy. Did you print the free worksheet for this week as we read Chapter 1 of Philippians everyday this week? If not, go print it now. Not only do I purpose to read Chapter 1 everyday this week, I also intend to study it. I really ~~want~~ need, this Letter of Joy to sink deep and settle in.

Yesterday, I printed off a copy of Philippians Chapter 1. I have seen on Pinterest these beautiful Bibles specifically marked word by word. I LOVE looking at how people mark their Bibles and this way seems very intriguing and a little more in depth than just running the highlighter over entire sentences, verses or paragraphs.

Here’s how I started. I chose a color to use to mark anytime Jesus or God were mentioned in Philippians 1. I chose yellow because it reminds me of the sun–Son..get it? Next I chose blue to mark any mention of prayer, green lines above to mark “joy” or “rejoice.” I made an orange little megaphone to highlight anywhere St Paul makes mention of the Gospel. Of course I used a red heart to mark “love” “affection” or “heart.” I used a green swirly to mark the words “life” or “living,” and a grey book emblem to mark where St Paul mentions the “Word.” Pink was my choice to mark words of gratitude. I also underlined the word “all” with two blue lines.

Here’s the deal, it does not matter what color or symbols you use. Here’s the cool deal; every time I went through with a different color pencil to mark a new word or words, I re-read the whole chapter! So far that’s five times through the day. Right now I’m not necessarily reading for depth and that’s ok. What I have so far is a page that instantly draws my eyes and attention to a particular word set of words.

Here’s a verse that has caused me some consideration as I kept passing it…

“I want you to know, beloved, that what has happened to me has actually helped to spread the gospel…” †Philippians 1:12

I would like to think I’d be calling my family and friends “beloved” were I in Paul’s situation, when it reality it would probably more along the lines of “Hey y’all!! Help! I’m in prison here!!” And then, although I’d like to think I would be spiritually minded and try to relate my sufferings and trials to some greater good…I would probably complain…a lot.

But not Paul. He speaks with a fatherly affection…something I think he learned from intimate time spent with our Lord. I think that kind of selfless love can only come from lots of quality time spent in the presence of Love Himself. And his recognition of his suffering serving for the good for the Church…again, another totally selfless act.

So my first revelation in reading St Paul’s Letter of Joy…

Joy exists where selfishness does not.

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