Break-Neck Speed March 31, 2009

Sunday was a break-neck speed day. We went from worship service to one good activity after another. I was worn out. Stress was close on my heels.

I want to live my life, at whatever speed I must, filled with the peace of God that passes understanding. I know it is possible. The abundant life is mine. Stress is a part of my life because I allow it to be. Christ offers his peace.

Why then do I have to remind myself to live in his peace? I want days filled with down time. I suppose many of my days are. I don’t do real well without it. However, there are days where that is not practical or in everyone’s best interest.

Those are the times when I am reminded that I live, not by own strength, but through his strength. He is my strength. For I died, and my life is now hidden with Christ in God. Col. 3:3

My life is hidden with Christ. I am hiding with him. There are definitely days when I want to hide!

Guard Your Heart March 30, 2009

What do you do to guard your heart? What steps have you taken to guard the hearts of your children?

Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”

The world in which we live seems to constantly attack our hearts and those of our children. How do you guard a heart?

I would assume these things will help:

• be careful who you spend time with – know the friends of your children
• watch what you allow to come into your mind – keep tabs on Internet and TV
• keep your eyes fixed on Jesus – encourage your children to be active in the kingdom of God
• pray constantly – pray for your children

What else does the Bible say about guading your heart? I did a search online.

Consider Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus,”

Did you catch that? The peace of God will guard your heart. The peace of God.

How does the peace of God guard your heart? What role does godly peace play in guarding one’s heart?

Maybe God’s peace guards our heart from:

• fear
• discontent
• envy
• jealousy
• foolishness
• greed

What do you think? How does the peace of God guard your heart? How do we guard our hearts, above all else?

The Hard Way March 27, 2009

Have you ever tried to do something the hard way? You try and struggle and fuss around till you finally get it going. Then you realize…there was a much easier way to accomplish the task.

Have you ever left prayer out of a decision or an activity? Then you have done it the hard way.

Below is a video of Meredith feeding our horses the hard way. Can you relate?

(If you can’t view the video below, try clicking HERE.  It will take you to the youtube page.)

My iPhone Bible March 26, 2009

My iPhone Bible.  Sounds irreverent.  It makes my husband cringe.  I grab my purse and my phone…(my Bible) and I’m ready for church.  Really?  Does my iPhone Bible count?

It has a daily reading to help me read through the Bible in one year.  I’ve always wanted to do that, but haven’t made it yet.  Could I do it now?  Will this make a difference?  I started late…mid March.

My phone has a back light, so when I wake up in the middle of the night or really early in the morning, I can read without turning on the light.

I can read stuck in line somewhere or waiting on my children.

I went on a trip and had my Bible with me.  The version I am using is an old version.  No one cares about the copy wright, I guess.  It was free online.  But I’ve read the NIV for so long and last year I read the NT in the Easy Reader Version.  Maybe I’m ready for the good old KJV.

I’m enjoying the poetic and antiquated language.

Have you ever read the Bible through in a year?  How did you do it?  Did you ever get way behind and have to read a ton to catch up?  Any advice?

Trust Your Instincts March 25, 2009

In a university’s teacher prep class this week, the professor was talking about caring for your students and showing them that you love them. While no one would disagree that children need to be shown love, one student expressed the concern that some middle school male students that she has worked with in the past have made her feel uncomfortable with hugs they wanted from her.

I didn’t say anything because I was a visitor in class that day, but…tomorrow, I get to teach them some and I feel compelled to go back to her comment.

I want these college women to trust their instincts.  Women, young women, in particular, need the freedom to trust their own instincts without the burden of proof.

A woman doesn’t have to prove to anyone that a man IS creepy or coming on to her to be on her guard or put up some strong walls.

I want my daughter to know that she has my permission to NOT be nice when she gets weird vibes from a man.  And she doesn’t have to prove anthing to me.  I trust her instincts, too.

Trust your instincts and teach your daughters to trust theirs.

They may need your permission to NOT be nice.

Try and Guess March 24, 2009

Do you find yourself missing the mark with people because you try and guess what they want you to do?  Have you ever felt that you have lost yourself?  You’re not even sure what you like or what you think because you are always looking after everyone else?  Consider this quote from The English American,

“…we’re always putting the other person first in our family, we try and guess what the other person wants to do.  And we never tell anyone what we want to do, in case there’s a clash with what the other person wants to do.”

Is this what it means to “consider others better than yourself.” ?  Phil. 2:3  The entire verse says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourself.”

How do you mesh Phil. 2:3 with being honest and having integrity when dealing with people?  Can you be assertive and open, yet consider others better than yourself?

Can you maintain your own identity and opinions yet possess humility?  How do you nurture your family, put their needs first, be on call all day and long into the night, and still maintain some sense of self?  Do you?

Symbol of Hope March 23, 2009

I just returned from a conference in New Orleans.  I wasn’t really excited about visiting this city.  All of the scary stories that I heard on the news after Katrina caused me to be quite leary of exploring the city.

But I was traveling with a colleague who has enough energy for all of us and can’t stand to sit around in a hotel room when there are interesting places to go.  New Orleans has lots of interesting places to go…so we went.

We traveled on a street car away from the French Quarter toward the Garden District.  A place that didn’t flood during Katrina.  The houses were old, southern mansions that have been around since the beginning of the city.  It was a beautiful area, until darkness slowly creeped upon us.  We finally got back to our hotel, but not without witnessing a fight on our street car. Yikes!

A tour on a charter bus was our next attempt to see New Orleans.  The bus took us to the 9th Ward.  The part of the city that was the hardest hit by Katrina.  It’s been 4 years and the evidence of the hurricane were easy to see.

Population before Katrina – 600,000

after Katrina    – 300,000

Many houses were boarded up or just abandoned.  A few houses had been fixed back up.  Brad Pitt is building new houses for the people left homeless.  And during the summer, sunflowers bloom all over the city.  This was unexpected.  The plant flourishes in the murky, sometimes toxic water in the devastated areas.  It may even help to remove the lead that is present in the water.

What a beautiful symbol of hope for the people of New Orleans.

Are there symbols of hope that you can think of?  The ultimate symbol of hope is the empty tomb, but what about:

• the cross
• a baby
• sunrise
• graduation

Can you add to the list?

The English American March 20, 2009

Synopsis

When Pippa Dunn, adopted as an infant and raised terribly British, discovers that her birth parents are from the American South, she finds that “culture clash” has layers of meaning she’d never imagined. Meet The English American, a fabulously funny, deeply poignant debut novel that sprang from Larkin’s autobiographical one-woman show of the same name.

In many ways, Pippa Dunn is very English: she eats Marmite on toast, knows how to make a proper cup of tea, has attended a posh English boarding school, and finds it entirely familiar to discuss the crossword rather than exchange any cross words over dinner with her proper English family. Yet Pippa — creative, disheveled, and impulsive to the core — has always felt different from her perfectly poised, smartly coiffed sister and steady, practical parents, whose pastimes include Scottish dancing, gardening, and watching cricket.

With an authentic adopted heroine at its center, Larkin’s compulsively readable first novel unearths universal truths about love, identity, and family with wit, warmth, and heart.  from barnesandnoble.com

Read a Sample

This was a fun book to read.  This was my first book to buy and read on my kindle for iPhone.  I had to purchase the digital book from Amazon.com.  I am not a complete kindle fan yet, but I’m getting close.

What do you think about digital books?  Are they the wave of the future or a passing whim?

Insert a Period March 19, 2009

Have you ever tried to carry on a conversation with someone and you couldn’t? Not really. You listen and think and want to respond, but you keep waiting for a period….and one never comes.

Some people continue talking  beyond a reasonable limit and keep the conversation all to themselves with ands…buts…umms. These come between their thoughts and would be perfect places for periods, but, alas, one doesn’t come.

What do you do?  Do you jump on in and interrupt?  Do you wait it out and nod your head, letting them talk themselves silly?

Talking too much is a temptation for all of us.  I pray that I will be sensitive enough to sprinkle my sentences generously with pauses and curious enough to listen…really listen to my friends.

I need to remember to insert a period.  Someone may be waiting for a period.

The Gift of Barbie March 18, 2009

Barbies were everywhere.  There was a plethora of barbies.  My friend told her 2 girls that it was time to go through their barbies and get rid of the ones they didn’t use.

The girls lined up about 30 dolls, ragged and dirty, to give away.

“Put them in a box and we will get rid of them.”  she told her girls.

“Mom”, they said, “we can’t give them away like this.”

They got a wash cloth and cleaned them all off, found a brush to make their hair pretty, and went to their closet and picked them all out some pretty clothes.

“Now they are ready.”

The children boxed them up and gave them away.

How many times have I gotten rid of ragged, worn out things without a second thought to the people who would receive them?  Without a pause to make them nice for the next owner?

Way to go, girls!  Thanks for the lesson.