Mountain Pinks

This is a beautiful flower that is native to our area. It is called the "Mountain Pink". Pinks can live in very harsh and very dry conditions. They can survive drought, rocky soil and scorching heat. Even in these harsh conditions they thrive. Even in these harsh conditions they are beautiful.

I have decided that I will be like a Mountain Pink. Lately, we have been going through a time of difficulty. What we thought was going to be our future does not look like it will be. We have been sad and discouraged and feel like we are walking around in the dark. In some instances we have felt betrayed and brushed aside. It seems like we are thriving anyway. We still love the Lord, we will always serve Him and know that He is in control. We will forgive and grow from this. We will get up and dust ourselves off and move on. We will continue doing what God puts in front of us to do. We will live through these harsh conditions and grow anyway. May God help you to be like the Mountain Pink in your time of trouble. May you bloom and be beautiful in the hardest of times. photograph: Handprints on the Window

Building

Tonight I was talking with a friend about how it is so nice to receive encouraging words from those that we look up to in the faith. You know, when you are just walking along and minding your own business and someone pats you on the back and says, " hey, you are just a great person! I know you will do great things someday!" You walk away feeling lighter. You walk away taller.

For so many of us this edification does not come natural. I know for me that I have to make myself say thank you to people sometimes because I am in my own head a lot. We have so much going on around us that we do not stop to tell those around us how great we think they are.

I also know that we all desire to be affirmed. Whether it is affirmation for our work or how we sang a song. That we have grown up and become the person that so and so always thought we'd be or that it is amazing that you are the way you are because everything around you should have made you dive off a cliff. Yet, you haven't. You are a miracle!

We seem to use kind and affirming words sparingly in this society. Maybe we are jealous of the person that we feel needs the affirming word. We don't feel like they deserve and affirming word because they have sat on their butt for an entire year and have done nothing with their life. Or the opposite, so and so probably does not need to hear how great she is, she probably hears it all the time. Maybe she does. Maybe she doesn't.

I am making a challenge to myself. I am challenging me to not hold back on encouragement. I think God needs more cheerleaders out there for his kids. I am going to try to listen more closely to what He is saying about Susy 123 who has been working 24-7 who is going through a horrible divorce but doesn't want anyone to know. Or about Chad, who doesn't have a mom and just desperately needs to hear how his would have been so proud of the person he has become.

Did you know that affirmation is Biblical? My friend that I was talking to earlier sent me a Scripture text. It says, " Encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing." 1 Thessalonians 5:11

I have a warning though. This does not mean to tickle someones ear with flattery. Flattery is lying and it is flat out wrong. This Scripture is a great filter for how we must affirm. Philippians 4:8

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoeverthings are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
I will update you on the affirmation project soon. I hope all of you know how much God loves you and so enjoys you. There, my first affirmation! Blessing!

Restoration

Restoration: the action of returning something to a former condition

I have been thinking a lot about this word lately. I have been praying for certain things to be restored. Relationships, states of mind and even my house. Haha! It will take a while for my house. Not kidding.

I have been petitioning God about restoring . He has been very faithful in the past to restore certain things to me. I had to get on my knees an awful lot to get there but He was faithful to do so. In fact, he made what was restored better than it had been before. That is what He does. He will allow some things to be torn down in your life only to build them back up the way He wants them. He does not promise that it will not hurt because crushing and breaking does hurt. He does promise to hold you through all of it though. He is also a Master Restorer. He sands off all the old varnish and dirt, takes out all the old fixtures that are broken, scrapes away the peeling paint and puts a new finish on all of it. In the end it looks better than how it started. So I hope if you are praying for restoration that God does all that and more for you. I think it is best not to fight all the change but ask God what He is saying in the change. If you have been praying for God to restore, hang in there... He has a plan. He will work it out and He will restore. It is up to us to listen through the process.

Raising A Lion

How do I raise a man in this day and age? When men are constantly demeaned and made to look like they have nothing good to offer to a family other than comic relief? He is past my chin now. In church my chin would rest on his head as we worshiped, now my head tilts back. I will do this thing until I cannot do it any longer. I will rest my head on his and hold him close when his friends are not watching. He still lets me kiss his cheek and hug him in front of them though. He is strong enough to not care what they think. I hope we can always give him that. Strength. I was thinking the other day how do we teach him to be the spiritual leader of a home someday? I know he watches his dad and his dad is a great example for spiritual leadership but where do I, as his mom, fit into that? I have begun to give him a Scripture every day that he has to look up in the Bible by himself. I help, a little. He is then required to read that Scripture to his sisters at the breakfast table. This was the first week. Everyday I gave him Ephesians 6:10-19. Everyday he lead them in putting on the full armor of God. Everyday he lead. He was not made into the funny, dumb sidekick of his "much smarter sisters" he was made the leader. He was given dignity. I realized as he and his dad went out to shoot the crossbow together that I am raising a lion in a world where men have been made to be lambs. Don't get me wrong, I want him to be a kind and sensitive husband someday. I want him to be gentle toward his children and be able to hug them and tell them how much he loves them but I also want him not to be the doormat that I see often portrayed in the entertainment industry. That is not and never will be OK. It does not mean that we as women should not be strong and have an opinion but I want him to rise up someday and hold steadfastly to the leadership in his home. I want him to be confident as he claims responsibility for his family. I am raising my son to be a MAN.

Love

Love is getting up every morning and making breakfast . Love is running errands and taking the kids from you when you absolutely cannot handle another moment with someone else in your bubble. Love is when, on the verge of exhaustion, you go and work a little longer for your family because you absolutely need the money to pay that extra bill. Love is not choosing yourself when there is a choice. Love is writing a love note on the mirror in the middle of morning rush, telling the one you love that they are amazing ( with a bar of soap). Love is hearing about how everyone else does it so much better than you both do and texting sweet messages instead of bashing you over the head with that knowledge. Love is strong when you are weak. Love snuggles on Saturday mornings when there are so many other things that you should be doing. Love is being satisfied with a bad movie and the time with the one you love. Truly. Love says things at the right time even when it seems like the wrong time because you love the person so much that you do not want to see them go another minute in their discomfort. Love is keeping your mouth shut for the same reason. Love lets you go run when you should be washing dishes. Love does not comment on the condition of your dirty house when it comes through the door. Instead it gives you a smile and a hug and asks how your day was. Love tries when you tell it you are not happy. Love pushes itself to the brink. Love makes a date in the middle of chaos and takes you away from it for a few hours. Again, does not matter if it was a cruddy movie. It is the time. Love holds your hand in the car on the way to church. Love prays for and with you every day. Love races to be at your side when you have a medical scare and absolutely cannot face it alone. Love holds you through the pain of childhood remembrances. Love laughs with you at the silliness of your children. Love argues with you and then chooses to love in the face of imperfection. Love changes diapers. Does dishes. Cooks. Love says "thank you" instead of why couldn't you do more? Love hopes for better but will be with you through the "worse". Love says you look beautiful even when you have a little belly after the third one that never seems to go away. Love says the right thing at the very best time. Love bears all things believes all things hopes all things endures all things. Love never fails.

SO Powerful!

This was just so powerful I had to share it with you! It made me cry. I only wish that I could get a loop of the whole thing and leave it on in my house all the time. Enjoy!

The sink

Yesterday I was doing my dishes. A thing which I seem to do an awful lot. Hmmmm. I was almost done putting them in my dishwasher when I got this feeling of joy that washed over me. Seeing the bottom of my nineteen fifty's white ceramic sink gave was an inspiration! I was about to go to bed and the thought came to me that I like to wake up to a dish less sink. A clean scrubbed sink with nothing in it. I don't think we realize it but that is what we have every day when we walk with God. Everyday is like a clean dish less sink. It can be whatever we want it to be. Most of the time I feel like I have figurative dishes in my sink before I get out of bed but it is my choice how I choose to react to the day. Hang in there. Every day you get to start fresh. Everyday is new "with no mistakes in it." To quote Miss Stacey from Anne of Green Gables. Everyday is like a gleaming white sink with no dishes in it. May your faucets shine and sparkle and may your dishes be few.