Fire

  You know, I have always heard about how we are like a fire and it is better to be in community as believers so you don't fizzle out, but yesterday a new fire analogy came to me.
  The kids and I were at my mother-in-laws house and were enjoying a campfire.  The kids were being very good with the fire and were throwing just about everything in that they were allowed to.  After a while they got in to throwing dead grass and pine needles in.  After a whoosh of flame from some dead grass I asked Josh which he would rather be in his Christian walk: grass that burns quick and hot but than dies quickly away, or coals which burn good, long and strong?
  Than I realized I needed to ask myself the same thing.  Do I jump up and burn bold and strong for a minute only to fizzle and be used up like grass on a fire?  Or, do I keep the embers glowing so that when the wind of the Spirit blows I am able to light others for Him. 
  Which are you?

Trees and kids

  I took a trip with the kids and my mother-in-law out to visit some family in western Minnesota last week.  On part of our 4 hour ride I saw some trees.  Maybe ten trees all in a line, which is not unusual for this part of the state, and all staked.  What I noticed about them is that they were fairly new trees.  As I thought about it I realized that it was very important to stake trees when they are young.  When they are young and able to be changed in their direction is when you would stake a tree. No one would try to make a crooked full grown tree straight, it's too late.
  Than I thought about my kids.  I need to train them, to stake their character when they are young.  I must pull on them and mold them while they are malleable enough to do so.  It is very difficult to change the direction of an adult, but much easier to change a child.  "Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it", now has a very new, very real meaning to me.

My own responsibility

    I have been trying to teach my kids lately to focus on their own responsibilities.  I have heard a lot lately "Why do I have to do this?  He's not working!" or "Why can't I do that?".  I have heard a lot about the other kid.  I am trying to teach them that they need to be responsible for their own actions, not the actions of anyone else. I say "What did I tell you to do?  Than worry about that, not about your brother or sister."
   As I was thinking about this training for my children I thought about what an important lesson this is for adults as well.  Often we are so concerned with other people that we don't take care of our own responsibilities.  We worry so much  about what they are doing, how much work they have, how much fun they have, that we aren't listening to our Father about what we ought to be doing.  If we would just listen and obey many things would go better. 
  I also tell my kids "You are not responsible for your brother's/sister's actions".  I need to remember that as well.  I am not responsible for others actions, not even my children's actions.  That doesn't mean I have no responsibility towards them at all.  I am responsible for my actions of influence.  Am I influencing my children for God or not?  I will answer to God for that.  Have my children followed God well?  That is their responsibility, they will each answer to God for their own walk.  
  This is the same thing with my kids.  Is Josh influencing  Caleb by being cheerfully and promptly obedient or by throwing a fit when asked to obey?  Is Hannah influencing Josh by responding quickly and cheerfully or by grumbling and complaining?  And again am I influencing my children by doing my work cheerfully and willingly or do I procrastinate and complain?
  We each need to listen to God and follow through on our own responsibilities. How are you doing?

Being God's kids

   So, I'm about to have baby #4 and I'm being a little impatient.  I was talking to God about the timing.  "Come on God, it's about time don't you think?"  And then he taught me an important lesson about himself.  I was talking to him about how it will be nice to have all the worries of the labor and delivery over, how I am looking forward to having my body back, and than thought about after the birth.  I told Him, "Now I know that having Esther doesn't mean all my problems will go away, but having her in my arms would make it al worth it".  He let me know that is exactly how he feels about everyone in the world.  He goes through labor pains to bring each child into his kingdom and he knows that just having us as his children won't make everything better, but having us in his amrs is much better than not having us with him.  No matter the grief my kids give me, I have never thought that it would be better to not have them as mine.  No matter how much grief we give God, never does he think it would have been better for us not to be His.  Let's rejoice at our position in him as his children and then do our best to make Him proud.

Teaching Obedience

  In Sunday school this week the youth were learning about the fact that our sins seperate us from God.  On thing the speaker said made me think of my training for my kids.  He said that our sins are a direct assult on God's Character, who He is, His Holiness.  I had several thoughts about this. 
  The first thought was that when our kids disobey, or sin against, us, it is a direct assult on the position God has given us as parents.  I have a hard time requiring immediate obedience from my kids, but if I realize that letting them disobey me for a time means I am letting them disregard the position God has given me before them, I need to demand prompt obedience.  One very wise woman I know says delayed obedience is disobedience.  I need to remember this as the mom and require my children to obey right away, every time.
  The second thought I had was the way we train our children to respond to us now is the way they will respond to God in the future.  We are training them to either listen to God and obey Him right away, every time or to ignore Him untill the time seems right to them.  I need to remember the bigger picture as I am training my children that it is not just about having well behaved children, or industrious children, or children who take care of others, but that raising children is about raising the next generation of God's people.  Will my children be obedient followers of their Lord Jesus or will they be luke-warm christians, ineffective in what they do?
  Well, I hope this encoourages other moms to step up their expectations of their children, but most of all I pray that God would help me change so that my kids will be effective in God's kingdom now and in the future.

The one with the power

   I have a very cool Sister-in-law and for my sons birthday she gave each of the kids a remote control car!  They loved it!  Especially the fact that they all got presents even though it wasn't all of their birthdays. So, the last few days have been full of cars racing around our home, tears when one breaks and fighting over the ones left.  Well, the little one finally got a chance to control both of the remaining cars at the same time and was having a blast.  He put them head to head and asked me which one I thought would win the fight.  Well, I could see that only one was turned on and he only had one controller, so I said, the one with the power.  God struck me as those words came out of my mouth that the only ones who win in life are the ones with the power, His power.  Wow!  A second later Caleb was trying to switch which one would win and grabbed a new controller.  The problem was it was the wrong controller for the car that was turned on.  Even if we have the power to win our battles with Satan, which we all do as children of God, we cannot win if we are not listening to the right Controller.  So, I will challenge any who read this to make sure you are connected to your power source, the Holy Spirit, and make sure you're listening to the right Controller, God the Father.

You are treasured

   I looked back at some notes I had taken from a women's conference I attended at the beginning of January.  There was a note I had written down that reminded me of being a parent.  The speaker said ," You don't have to DO anything to be treasured."  I really like that.  I like how it speaks to us as children of God as well as speaking to our relationship with our kids.    Every mother I know deeply treasures her children.  This treasuring is not because the kids were great that day or because they did well in school, but because they belong to her.  We need to remember this principle when we think of our relationship with our heavenly Father.  He loves us and treasures us, not because we are being good or successful that day, but because we are His. 
  I was also reminded of this principle recently when teaching some 7th grade girls about the Bible.  We did a very quick 4 week overview of the Bible.  When we got part way through the Old Testament, they were a little put off by God's promise to His people. 
   Deuteronomy 30:15  "See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.17But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess."
  They were surprised God would destroy His people.  This two way covenant, you do your part and I'll do mine, is not what we are use to.  See, we live in the New Covenant!  In this covenant, or promise, it is one sided.  God says "I will love you no matter what".  God has always loved His people, but now, with our sins atoned for, we are allowed to go before God like we would our own father.  In a sense He is saying "You don't have to DO anything to be treasured, I already did it, now you are mine."
  What an assurance that is!  God treasures us and wants good things for us.  Why do we not trust him?  Why do we not feel treasured?  It is because we accept the lies of the Deciever says "You are mine, I have bought you with a price, I love you with an everlasting love."  Wow!  I am His no matter what I DO.  I am treasured because I am His . . . and so are you.