Woman to Woman
Vol. 8, No. 1
“And ye are complete in him.” Colossians 2:10
Jan./Feb. 2005
G
ood
as
N
ew
By Rachel Paxton
If I’ve learned anything
from my husband, it’s to
take care of what you’ve
got. It’s so easy to let
things go—to let everyday
household items deterio-
rate to the point where
they just aren’t useful anymore and you end up just
throwing them away.
There have been many times in my life that I’ve been
ready to throw something away because it doesn’t work
anymore or because it’s slowly deteriorating to the
point that it’s no longer useful. I often just don’t have
the patience to try to fix something; it’s much easier to
just throw it away or give it away and buy a new one.
Not my husband. If some household item quits work-
ing, he takes it all apart, cleans each and every piece,
and then puts it back together. What’s the worst that
could happen? It still won’t work. But nine out of ten
times it does work, and I never would have believed it if
I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. My husband has
brought back to life dozens of household appliances, in-
cluding answering machines, telephones, CD players,
bicycles, and car stereos, just to name a few.
We’ve even benefited from other people’s castoffs.
Family and friends often pass off to us their unwanted
gadgets and appliances that no longer work, and those
items often end up finding themselves a new home with
us, working good as new.
This idea of taking care of your things affects every area
of your life. Not only do you have to change your think-
ing, it could actually be considered a state of mind, or a
way of life. We are trying to pass this idea on to our
daughter. Take care of your clothes, and they will last
longer. Vacuum the carpet and keep it clean, and instead
of spending money on buying new carpet, we can spend
the money we save on a family vacation. Take care of
your CDs because you aren’t going to get any new ones
to replace the ones that have become scratched from
neglect.
Every household appliance that you take the time to
clean and maintain will save you money in future re-
pairs and replacement costs. If you can just instill this
idea in your children or discuss it with people you inter-
act with in your daily life, we all will be that much
closer to valuing what we have and begin to get away
from the idea of “if it breaks I’ll just buy a new one.”
?
[From www.creativehomemaking.com. Used by permis-
sion of the author.]
Inside This Issue:
Editorial
A New Year, A New “Book” ··········· Page2
Big Changes ····················· Page3
Dead Dog, Royal Son ················ Page4
Greetings from the Isle of Creete ·········· Page5
Nature Trails
The Day God “Hugged” Me ··········· Page6
Hypothermia ····················· Page7
A Page from My Experience
TheUnspeakableGift ·············· Page8
A Little Boy Follows Me ··············· Page9
AWinterSong···················· Page9
Health is Wealth
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made (Part 15) · · · Page 10
Can You Control Your Destiny? ··········Page12
