A Blessing Box And A Heart Happy Start To The Christmas Season

We had a truly joy-ful  Thanksgiving. It was more like an entire week-end of blessings. On Thanksgiving day we all pitched in with the food and we had a sweet time around the table reading scripture from our Thanks-giving tree, and sharing things we're thankful for with family and friends. I think my favorite was little Becket... He was thankful that he was going to get to shoot stuff later that afternoon on the Farm with his Daddy. :)  My in-laws blessed us with a girls and boys day out on Friday and bowling and Fargos on Saturday. It was a treat of a weekend. :)

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and December is so close I can taste it.

And to tell you the truth when I think to long about the holidays I kind of want to hide out in my bed. I know, I know, Christmas is supposed to be such a sweet season with family and friends and treats and parties and giving and gifts and joy... oh-my-goodness!

I guess it's another one of those areas in my life that I have unrealistic expectations for myself and I end feeling disappointed when all that I try to create for the joy of the ones that I love most doesn't work out.

But this little dilemma of mine can be easily solved by this Mama simply making a different choice.

So we choose to do the things we love most. 

We love each other, we love others, and we stay super close to our Jesus.

The best  mantra for a Christmas filled with Christ...

Slow down, Soak up, Pour out

Slow down, Soak up, Pour out.

It's what I start telling my heart in the middle of October. :)

Cuz really what good is Christmas if I insist on blending into the world and forget to Seek and Savor my First Love? 

So I wake up on a Tuesday and I find that my Siah has been a busy bee and I ask him what he's doing. His answer kicks starts Christmas for this heart of mine and I glow all morning at the thought of all that the Spirit in doing in the heart of my boy.

Every year since he was three, our family has done a blessing box at Christmas time. We go through all the toys and books and clothes in the house and we pick things to pass on to others who might not have as much. And we try not to just pick junk toys, but we encourage each child to give something from the heart, to sacrifice the best way they know how. :) 

At the top of the stairs there are piles of things neatly stacked. I didn't even say a word, and My Siah, he tells me that Thanksgiving is over and that it's time to pull out the blessing box. He's cleaned out all the trash in his room and he's set aside some things. He's smiling from ear to ear and he asks, "Do you think they'll like the things I picked out?" And the truth is, I could care less what he picked out because I'm on my knees thankful that he has a generous bone in his body, that he's seven and it's Christmas and there is a part of him that's willing to give and he hasn't been completely over taken by the "I want" bug.

Later that week the girls and I conquer their out of control attic hide-away and they surprise me too. That spunky girl makes my heart chuckle when she belts it out (cuz she really only has one volume, loud) as she puts one of her favorite toys in the bag. "Oh my goodness Mom, whoever gets this thing is gonna be stoked!" Then the Charmer pipes in, "Oh ya!" I love it when he says that. He's still small and squishy and he's finding his words and he talks with this subtle lisp that makes me smile every time he opens his mouth. 

We work together all the morning, the kids and I. 

And I can't think of a better way to start a school day, to start a season really, than to learn to think about others above ourselves in an attic room with my many small children.

In the closet as we fold up clothes that are too small, My Siah and I, we talk about His upside-down kingdom and the way that He calls the weak, strong, and the least, great. We talk about storing up treasures on earth and how all the broken toy pieces that we keep finding scattered throughout the closet are a picture of the greatest things that the world can offer. The truth about the world is that even the finest things are rubbish in comparison to knowing our Jesus. I love the days when we can talk about these things, the days when he asks questions, the days when my little man seems to be growing up into Him. 

Christmas is coming.

Or maybe it's already here?

Maybe as we learn to love like He loves we realize that Love has already come down. He came, and He comes, and He's here now, and with His life he taught us how to really live. 

I love that. 

I love that Christmas doesn't have to be anything more than some soul-deep gratitude bubbling out of us folks who know who He already  is... some thanks-giving for we've already received the absolute greatest gift of all,

Jesus.

Sweet, sweet Jesus.

The Christmas season has begun.

We're learning to give, they're rooms are clean (a bonus that lasted for a whopping five minutes :), and my Mama heart is happy with true Christmas joy. :)

I Hope She Knows

When she asked me if I could come with her to the airport, I said yes. But when I left to drive back home I couldn't help but wonder why she would even want to go there. Everyone else's husbands would be coming home... but hers wouldn't be.

And my mind can be so selfish sometimes and all I could think of was all of us looking down that long corridor watching solider after solider find the arms of their loved ones, and we would just be standing there knowing... knowing that he had already gone home back in August when a suicide bomber took his life.

I couldn't wrap my mind around it until a kind friend explained as we carpooled down to the airport last night.

"She represents him in their military community...
Showing up tonight, it's just one more way that she  can finish strong and honor her man.
Sometimes showing up can be beyond hard, but in her willingness to show up, she's showing these men and women Jesus alive and well in heart."

And as she explained I felt almost ashamed of how internally I think about things sometimes, how I center so many of my decisions around myself and what makes me feel comfortable.

I know it wasn't easy for her to welcome those men home with a smile. But she did it, and she did it so gracefully.

I was there at the airport. I was there to support my precious friend. But as it happens often, the privilege of being there was just another moment in my life where I saw my Jesus a bit clearer.

When all the families had left, it was just us left standing there. She asked us to pray. And right there next to  baggage claim we knelt down and surrounded our friend. We prayed and she wept, and I knew in my heart of hearts that even though she might have felt completely broken, she was in fact illuminating His strength.

It's strange how the world defines strength. But it's really in our shattered brokenness that we are our absolute strongest. It's really when we are aware of our utter weakness that we can live completely free in the only One is who is strong.

It's backwards from everything in this world. And for most of us it's nearly impossible to grasp... that is until He's been gracious enough to walk us through the valley of vision.

Paul said it perfectly...

Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,

My grace is enough; it’s all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.

Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.

We left the airport and went to a brewery in town. 

And in all honesty, I haven't laughed that hard in ages. Together in that corner booth we found ourselves some joy in the absolute midst of the pain. We ordered pretzels and donuts for dinner and we laughed long about things that we just might not be family blog appropriate information... LOL. :)

I felt privileged to be there last night. 

I feel privileged to call her my friend. 

I hope she knows how He uses her to grow me up towards Himself.

I hope she knows that her life displays His splendor.

I hope she knows that when she feels beyond broken she's really this pillar of strength that stands tall and shows the world without a word that her Jesus is the epitome of an unshatterable strength, a strength that outside our weaknesses, the world might never know. 

Living Love; The Best Way To Grow Up A Family

Sometimes I get so wrapped up in checking off the boxes that I forget the purpose of why we're doing what we're doing. Three years ago when we first ventured out in this home-schooling venture, I came across one family's seven daily goals on a blog. This amazing, godly woman described them so eloquently and I closed my computer screen inspired after reading her post several times over.

And why reinvent the wheel when God brings wise women all around?

So I wrote down the seven daily goals on an old piece of wood that I had found in our barn when we first moved in and I set the wood up on a shelf in our school room. Days and weeks have gone by and the wood is now covered in dust.

But this past month I've been wondering about the ways that I'm being intentional about pouring into the hearts of our treasures. Sometimes there can be so many tasks that need doing in a home-schooling day that I forget that the tasks are just that... tasks. And tasks in and of themselves do not grow up oaks of righteousness, oaks that display the splendor of GOD. (Isaiah 61:3)

If I accomplish the tasks, but forget to tend the souls, then really, I just might have missed the boat.

If I want my treasures to be knowledgeable and wise then I must remember that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. (Psalm 111:10)

So we have begun anew.

We continue to complete our tasks.

We dip into math, and we soak up bits of science.

We read books and we attempt grammar.

We write stories, we jump on the trampoline, and we bake cookies for the neighbors.

We read silly poems and laugh at ourselves as we aspire to be great artists.

But in the midst of all of it, we ask Him for purpose.

Ann chose seven goals for her family, but for us, in a season with many small children running around, we aspire to daily live four...

First to,

1.LISTEN...

"My Sheep, hear my voice; I know them and they follow me." (John 10:27) 

The best days on the farm are the ones spent reading, listening, soaking up, and memorizing The Word Of God. 

More often than not, that's the place that He speaks. That's the place where we gain more than knowledge, we gain pure, unadulterated  wisdom. That's the place where we ask, where we seek, where we knock, and He promises to open the door to all His glory. (Mathew 7:7) And when we learn to listen to the tender yet mighty voice of our Savior, we learn how to better listen to one another. 

When we practice the discipline of listening, we find that James was right when exhorts, "be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry." 

Listening... a way of the Spirit... and the best way, to live any day.

2.LOVE...

"Love never gives up.

Love cares more for others than for self.

Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.

Love doesn’t strut,

Doesn’t have a swelled head,

Doesn’t force itself on others,

Isn’t always “me first,”

Doesn’t fly off the handle,

Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,

Doesn’t revel when others grovel,

Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

Puts up with anything,

Trusts God always,

Always looks for the best,

Never looks back,

But keeps going to the end."

Who can live this way apart from Christ? No one. No one in this house anyways! :)

Ann said it so well, "If we, with our children, only grab hold of this rung daily, laying down time for Jesus and for others, we’ve scaled the one rung that ultimately matters. Love for Jesus and for those made by His hand is the one needful thing of each day."

Love, a way of sacrifice.

We learn to put ourselves aside, daily, often hourly, that we might learn to love the way that He loves.

3. LABOR

A way of serving. "Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,  and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mathew 20:26-28)

The continual giving of ourselves and thinking about others above ourselves, can be best learned through a continual flow of opportunities to serve our family, our community, and our nation.

Plainly put, no education is complete without some good old fashion hard work.

"Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." 

(1 Corinthians 15:58)...

 "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters." (Colossians 3:23)

May we see it as our privilege to work hard and serve each other each day.

4. LITERATURE...

In our home... we read good books. We read books about quality people. We read books about how things work. We read that we might discover the glory and sovereignty of God in all that He has allowed throughout history. 

The ultimate goal of not only our days, but the entirety of our lives, is that we would use each moment that He gives as an a moment to know Him more deeply, more intimately.

"These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.  Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates." (Deuteronomy 6:6-8)

For the Cowboy and I, these younger years with our treasures have been, and will continue to be, this incredible gift to grow up together with them towards our sweet Savior. 

Might we learn to LISTEN to each other, 

to LOVE one another selflessly, 

to work hard for the glory of God, 

and to read a lot of really great books?

A simple, yet brilliant way to grow up our family towards Jesus. 

The Truth About Motherhood

"When I stop being “Kingdom-minded”, I stop making Kingdom choices.

 Choices like

devoting a life to raising the next generation to love God, to honor authority and to live wisely...

When we understand that our whole existence is to glorify the Lord, we live each moment

differently. We get about our Father’s business. We don’t measure “if we should have children” by

their convenience or how many vacations it will cost me or whether I can pursue my favorite pastime

or career. We don’t have children to look cute in their ball uniforms and homemade hair bows.

We fall down on our knees with the grave responsibility of stewardship over these children, these

people who will either further the Kingdom or be a blight on society, based largely on our diligence

to the duty of raising them.

I must govern my home well. It is the cruelest act of motherhood that I should

neglect to teach my children to obey the loving authority over them. For in doing so, I make

them unable to submit to God.

Children who have not learned self-government stand to be the most wretched of all men and women,

loathing you for your indulgences.

But don’t you see, it isn’t harsh! It wells up from the deepest love, the deepest desire to see our

children walking in truth and evokes sheer delight to walk beside them.

When I see my children through Kingdom-eyes, their vices aren’t irritations that bug me and cause

me to be angry; they are offenses that sober me and call me to the tireless and tender action of

praying for, teaching and tending the garden of their souls. (Teach me this Lord? Please teach me how to live this way each day.)

My children are the very happiest when I have loved them enough to require gratitude, obedience and

honor. Their little faces light up into mine when they sense my tenderest sincerity toward their

character.

And then, to place my hands on their heads, kneel over them and pray…

“Father, you have blessed me with this child. Thank you that she is growing to

love You, thank you that she is obedient, and I pray that she will serve you all

the days of her life”….

causes a heart-smile to break across their faces, and they know–it sinks down deep and they KNOW

that I am in this for life, through tears, joys and hardship. I am their advocate, and I will stop short of

nothing to give “my life for yours” in these few years they are mine." 

(An exert from When Motherhood Feels Too Hard, By Kelly Crawford)

In this world it can be so difficult to remember the privilege of tending souls. But in my Savior's world, He knows that He has bestowed on me the greatest of all great gifts, when through humility, hardship &  uncomprehendable joy, He's made me a mother. :)

Just This...

Oh the privilege of Motherhood. 

How do I so often forget? How do I lose my joy when I know that every bit of it is a gift. Even  in the most heart-breaking moments, it's still a gift.

"A mother toiled with all her might

Tending needs both day and night.

Cleaning, laundry, dirty dishes,

Changing diapers, giving kisses.

No one saw her faithful deeds

The sacrifice for others’ needs.

She never got a company raise

Or heard the applause of worldly praise.

But still she labored diligently

She knew what others couldn’t see.

And then one night a dream told true

About that treasure this mother knew.

She dreamt of seeing her Savior’s face

And then she felt His strong embrace.

Before she had time to even speak

The King of Kings knelt at her feet.

A water basin soon appeared

She gasped in horror through her tears.

She begged of Him to take her seat

To let her wash her Savior’s feet.

He just smiled and said with ease

“You did, when you served the least of these”.

Teach me to wash their feet Lord? For Your glory and for my growth?

I want nothing more than to  speak of you, live for you, be willing to die for you, and pass my  fervent love  for you onto  my children's children's children.

The answer to all these desires?

Just this...

To wash their feet...

with joy. 

Peace Today In An Uncertain Tomorrow

I was up a lot last night.

I have always had a love for History and Government but I'm not the first to volunteer for a political debate. In fact, I loathe conflict.

But last night my heart broke for this country.

I thought for hours in the middle of the night about things that I could say to explain why, but it's so many things and I really have no idea what to say.

It's just heart-wrenching to see that more than half of our country is in favor of big government when I think back on how hard our founding fathers fought for our freedom. The very thing they gave up their lives for is no longer important to this nation.

Freedom is most certainly not free.

And rather than take responsibility for our foolish spending, rather than be willing to sacrifice for a season to get ourselves back on our feet, our sad nation would rather have the government rise up and "save" us with more government run programs, higher taxes, less people working, and more people becoming dependent rather independent.

I can see how that sounds great at first (sort of). But the sad truth is that it ends up being miserable in the end.

It's called socialism.

And if you've ever read a history book, socialism never wins. Instead it makes 95% of a nation poor, 5% rich, and completely wipes out the middle class.

It's heart breaking that the people of this once great nation are more concerned about legalizing gay-marriage, than they are about holding it's leadership up to the standards of godly character, honesty and truth. It's heart breaking that the majority have made it clear that in fact they do not even believe that there is any such thing as absolute truth... "Whatever works for you," are now the only words of "truth" that we can hold on to.

Yesterday was a monumental day in the history of this country. And as awful as it is, it's really not all that surprising. For indeed, history has also taught us that democratic societies rarely ever last for more than a few hundred years because people want to be "taken care of." It's human nature to be attracted to free healthcare, stimulus checks, and auto bailouts. But the problem with all these seemingly great perks, is that THEY ARE NOT FREE. In fact not only are they going to bankrupt us of our money, they are going to take away our very freedom to be free.

We need to take responsibility for our poor financial choices. And the only way we're going to get ourselves out of this is with a willingness to sacrifice.

And the unfortunate truth is that we live in a generation that is convinced that there is no such thing as living within our means. Our entire culture tells us that if we want something, we can just go out and get it. We borrow and borrow and borrow, until we are so far over our heads that we find ourselves bankrupt. And the saddest part about this completely selfish way of life, is that even when we've gathered all our "stuff" we still find our souls empty, broken, and without purpose.

Depression affected 75% LESS people during The Great Depression in the earlier part of this century, than it is affecting people now in our current state. People today have more possessions than ANY other generation in the history of planet earth, and we can very possibly be deemed to saddest, least content generation that has ever lived. That's so crazy! And yet we still vote for "stuff" over character, freedom, and responsibility.

I'm heart broken and I feel helpless in so many ways.

But today as I've tried to process this new reality, I have been thinking upon these wise words...

"There is unwavering peace today,

When an uncertain tomorrow,

Is trusted to an unchanging God."

This world can be quite the mess, and the mess can easily overwhelm.

But the Lord Jesus still sits sovereign on His throne, and that, despite ourselves, will never change. :)


PS A dear friend send me this link and I find it to be much more eloquent than the words on this little blog.

What Next?

"So, if your presidential candidate or your congressional candidates won yesterday, keep the celebration short. If they lost, don’t head for the hills. We’ve got work to do. As Chuck told us four years ago, this is a time for Christians to stay involved, to, as he said, “lead, encourage, and minister to a faltering country in a faltering economy.”

So by all means pray for the President and his administration. Pray for our nation. But most of all be salt and light in a culture, in a country, that is in danger of forgetting God."

I don't know how I forget so easily, but we have a great privilege to come together in prayer for our nation and for our leadership. :)