Morning prayer

Dear Father,
Open my eyes to the things that You would have me see. Open my heart to the ways You want to change me. Make me soft to Your guiding touch, quick to sense Your Spirit. Cause my heart to long for you like my dearest friend, my closest love. Don’t let me fall prey to the numbing ways of this world. Keep me ever running hard after You!

Kiss anyone?

There are reasons why you're not supposed to give candy to babies! One chocolate kiss. One little tiny piece of happy for my sweet boy. One CRAZY one year old! (Dilated eyes, kicking, screeching, pounding, hysterical laughing, frothing chocolate drool...) Yes, there are reasons.... (I think I'll be keeping my chocolate for myself from now on thank you!)

Holiness

I’ve been thinking about the holiness of God a lot lately; and more specifically His call upon our lives to “Be holy, for I am holy.” It’s not even so much how far short we all fall from this calling that stands out to me as it is the astonishing lack of remembering this as the goal of our lives.

“Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean,… let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2 Cor. 6:17 - 7:1)
Throughout the course of any given day we may have any number of goals in mind but as followers of Christ our highest goal ought to be to walk in holiness, to set ourselves aside from the world for our God.

Often times it’s not so much the unclean things that we touch but the unclean things that we let touch us. Every aspect of our lives ought to be touched by the holiness of God. Is there pride or selfishness in my heart? Are my thoughts and the things I let my eyes see pure and pleasing to the Lord? The question isn’t, “Do I live a pretty good Christian life?” but, “Is my life Holy?” Am I striving for the holiness of God in my life above all else? Is this my greatest desire, my passion, my hunger?

You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light,… (1 Peter 2:9)

Lemuel's Mom

There are so many "mother figures" that I have known and watched and loved and learned from throughout my whole life. I have been so incredibly and richly blessed! First to the list of course and most profoundly to impact me would be my own mother; and so before I go any further I would like to officially "rise and call her blessed"! (I love you mom!) I feel so honored to be ranked among these women! Honored..., humbled…, and a bit frightened.

 

My children are just getting to that age where I know that so many of the things I do and say will be permanently etched in their minds...in detail. Yes, the things I have done till now have greatly impacted them and influenced them but somehow the weight of the responsibility upon me has seemed to grow heavier of late. They aren't just learning to walk and talk and hold a spoon, they are learning to pray to the living God, learning how to solve conflicts, learning how to be polite and how to forgive. And most of all? They are consciously knowing and remembering that they've learned it from me. I have witnesses to my crimes when I fail!

 

Oh Father, help me to be a reflection of you! Help me to be patient and always loving. Blind them to all that is me! Protect them from learning my often snappy ways and impatient words!

 

Wanna know the most amazing thing?! He really does! The other day I was just having one of those "failure days". I had been irritable and short with the boys too many times to count. My dishes were dirty, the house was a mess, the baby wouldn't take his nap and I had no idea what to make for lunch! Yes, it was a bad day! And then Aiden walked into the room and out of the blue said, "Hey mom? You're the greatest mom in the UNIVERSE!" Blind! Blind to my failure! Our God is so gracious and His love truly does cover a multitude of sins!

 

The way we live in front of our children truly does carry such enormous weight! They will learn to use our tones of voice. They will imitate our words and how we handle stress. They will to a great degree be permanently shaped by who we are. But God's grace is also sufficient for all our needs. Failure days will come and go and none of us are perfect but He who began a good work in us will also be faithful to complete it! (And in the mean time possibly also do a little bit of blinding.)

 

Here is what helps me stay on track:

1. Start my day at the feet of my Lord remembering what my goal is and how I need to get there. Goal: I want to be the kind of mother and wife I see in Prov. 31. (Isn't she just the greatest?!) How I need to get there: The daily choice of letting God's grace rule in my life.
2. Have a daily meeting with the kids before the day starts and discuss the practical things we need to get done that day and openly talking about the things we need to work on for that day (i.e. mom = I need to work on not being so snappy with the boys and yelling when I get mad. Aiden = needs to work on obeying the first time he's told something and not arguing.) Admitting out loud where I'm wrong and need to change and asking for forgiveness of the person I've wronged both holds me acountable and sets an example for them to do the same.
3. Prioritizing my day. No matter how much we need to get done, regardless of how important any task may be, there can never be anything more important than how I lived for the Lord not what I got done.