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“We have the privilege of ushering in a new generation of women who love to be with their children…and want more of them!”

One of the by-products of the “seemingly harmless” notion that women shouldn’t think twice about pursing their own interests, having a career despite having a family, can be seen in many women’s attitudes toward their children.

So often I watch women interact with their children. Summer time is an interesting time to do this. Because now if you see Mom and children together, they’ve probably been together all day. And Mom isn’t used to that!

It hurts my heart to see so many scowling faces, from Mom and child, biting words and raised hands in anger, as they struggle to even be in one another’s presence. The child isn’t accustomed to being in a grocery store, Mom isn’t accustomed to being with her questioning 5-year old who lacks self-control, and the whole thing just looks painful.

It’s very easy to see how birth control gained such a popular opinion among a culture that once eschewed it. We didn’t see it coming: pursing other interests away from your family naturally erodes relationships within it.

As a Mom home all day with her children, let me tell you…IT AIN’T EASY. So I wanted to encourage you to work on liking your children. Let them be with you while you cook and clean and do projects, even if it takes a little longer. Don’t let the temporary chore you’re doing rob you of nurturing a relationship with that little person who will still be there long after the chore is forgotten.

I’m encouraged, too, that our own children are learning to be in each other’s presence, and my older girls are growing up learning how to cope with daily tasks while dealing with little ones. We have the privilege of ushering a new generation of women who love to be with their children…and want more of them!

Let’s not push them aside; this is a short time. Every moment is a chance to knit their hearts to ours.

Last night I put all the supper on the table, and when I got the carrots and potatoes out of the oven, I found they were not yet done.

I guess I appeared distraught??? I mumbled something about “I can’t believe the carrots aren’t done yet, sorry guys”, and carried on.

Last night during my sleep, I felt a card in my bed. Being only semi-conscious, I tossed it on the floor and forgot about it.

So this morning, my sweet, quiet little Alexa brought it to me and pretending not to know, she asked, “Whose is this?”

I remembered tossing it and so I surprisingly grabbed it and explained why it was on the floor.

I opened it and it read:

“Mom, you dont hav to be emberesed. the kerrits wer good.” Luv, Alexa

It was the sweetest thing.

And so I took her little face in my hands and said to her,

“Alexa, did you know the Lord has given you a gift of encouragement? (She’s always asking to send a card to somebody.”) I want you to know what a gift that is, and how you bless other people when you take the time to write kind things to them. If you let Him, God will always use that gift in a tremendous way…don’t forget that.”

Thank you Lord, for these little, tender hearts!

Let’s don’t forget to look for and nurture our children’s gifts!

You should know this about me…

Despite my good intentions and goals, and ideas, I am one scattered individual.

On a good day I chalk it up to being a fabulous multi-tasker…

Although I don’t know if stopping in the middle of washing dishes because I remembered I left the check book half balanced, and then on my way to finish the check book I think it would be a great idea to read Beatrix Potter to my children, so I huddle them around on the porch to begin the book, but we all get distracted by a mama bird feeding her youngsters, so we hurry in to retrieve a book about birds.

But on the way in to our school room, I stop and check my email and realize I need to answer a commenter from this blog, so the children busy themselves with the book.

THEN, I join them, for a few minutes, and remember the check book again…no the dishes…oh wow, it’s time for lunch!

Can anybody relate? Don’t tell me your kid needs to be on Ritalin 😉 Maybe they just need to practice discipline early in life to avoid what I am.

OR, maybe I’m not impaired at all 😉

Maybe multi-tasking IS my gift and I should just try to keep up with the constant adrenaline….

I just remembered something–must run!

I just almost burst whenever I have an epiphany like I had today–whenever truth, seemingly clouded by confusion and doubt, breaks through and bares itself, naked and undeniable.

Wrapped in the thoughts of last week’s post about the grace of God vs. the command for obedience, seeing how we all have such differing interpretations of Scripture, left me scratching my head a little, trying to sort through it all.

But this morning, a quote from C.S. Lewis made me see something I had not seen earlier.

Get this:

“If you don’t read good books, you will read bad ones. If you don’t go on thinking rationally, you will think irrationally. If you reject aesthetic satisfaction, you will fall into sensual satisfactions.”
 

In other words, “LIFE DOESN’T HAVE OPTIONAL VOIDS”. (Sandra Boswell)

Do you just love it, or what?

Apply it to anything and it’s still true!

Now follow me…

I talk a lot about “deliberate” living. This is why. “If you don’t seek what is good on purpose, you will gravitate to what is bad by default.” (That’s mine.)

And this is exactly why we are saved by grace, taking NO credit for our own salvation, and are still commanded to “seek what is good”, meaning, that it’s OK to be concerned with “externals”!

Modesty on purpose, or immodesty by default….good books on purpose, or bad ones by default…virtue on purpose, or vulgarity by default. (And while we’re on the subject, building relationships on purpose, or TV junkies by default.)

The “default” is the baseness of our nature…that “flesh that wars within me” that Paul and all of us wrestle with.

This isn’t legalism. When Paul said, “Whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure…if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, THINK ON THESE THINGS.”

Paul was saying,

“LIVE DELIBERATELY.” “LEAN TOWARD WHAT IS GOOD AND NOBLE.”

Paul knew what Lewis knew…if you don’t think on these things, you will think on their opposites.

I ran across this post at Rocks-in-my-dryer and just LOVED it…how inspiring!

The new wave of Christianity is a message of the “palatable gospel”. It says, “we must make the gospel of Christ relevant to the culture, palatable to the lost, and gentle to the sinner.

Why does this even matter so much? Because we can so easily be deceived by this “good intentioned” plan if we aren’t aware of the dangers and the lack of truth that holds up the model.

I mentioned some terms for this new brand of Christianity last week, but I’ll give you a few more, just so you’ll know. Postmodernism, free-grace, and the emergent or emerging church. These terms are not well-defined lines; many will adhere to parts of the idea while rejecting others; some will fall in the extreme end of the camp–completely redefining Christianity.

The premise of the idea sounds great at first…”we live in a lost world and we should do whatever it takes to win as many as we can”. Pragmatism–that is, “doing whatever it takes”–has run rampant in the church. Entertainment-saturated services as extreme as motor-cycle stuntmen racing across the pulpit have created the need for more and better shows, and has turned Christianity into consumerism. If your church doesn’t have 4 flavors of latte in the lobby, you may lose a customer to the one who does.

The obsession has become numbers; the church has become a place to draw the lost and, pay attention here, TO MAKE THEM FEEL AS COMFORTABLE AS POSSIBLE. One must wonder where the original motive to draw the lost turns into building a bigger business.

There’s a major problem with this seemingly wonderful plan: it’s not God’s.

1. Church is a place for “the gathering of the saints”. A place where God’s people are fed, equipped and nourished to then go out and spread the gospel. If a sinner comes into our church, he should either fall under conviction from the preaching of God’s Word and repent, or he should hate it. One or the other.
2. We were not given instruction to “save” people. Only God can do that. We were given instruction to “preach the gospel” and make disciples. “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, exhort…for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine…and they will turn their ears away from the truth”… 2 Tim. 4:2,3
3. We are not told to make the gospel relevant because our culture isn’t “getting it”. This is not a new problem! Listen to these words from Ezekiel:

“And He said to me: ‘Son of man, I am sending you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation…for they are stubborn children. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God. As for them, whether they hear or whether they refuse–for they are rebellious–yet they will know a prophet has been among them….But the house of Israel will not listen to you, because they will not listen to Me; for all the house of Israel are hard-hearted….When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand.”

FOUR times in that passage God said, “whether they hear or whether they refuse”…it’s our job to preach truth, it’s God’s job to convict and soften hearts, open eyes, and save the lost!

If we really love God, and really love people, and really want to live as Jesus did, we must do what He said to do, and reject all the other lies! He never made the gospel non-offensive. He said, “Follow me…but it will cost you everything. They will beat you, throw you into prison, and maybe even kill you. You will lose your family, and your life.”

Let me emphasize: I am NOT leaving out our command to love. I am specifically addressing church practices, and the widespread watering down of the gospel. We love, as Jesus loved. But we don’t change the gospel.

Maybe we should be asking, What DID Jesus do?