Work For The Lord

My house was a mess.  After weeks of an extra busy schedule, the neglect had built up and I couldn’t take it any longer.  I couldn’t find anything and as I rushed through my house/disaster zone, the mess made me feel like a total failure.  Plus we were hosting Bible Study Sunday, so I had to get it presentable! 

Laundry, clean and dirty, littered every room.    Toys everywhere and it seemed the shoes were procreating in the hallway at an alarming rate.  A clean sippy-cup was nowhere to be found.  Every counter and tabletop was cluttered and full.  I poured myself a glass of juice, but after I put the pitcher back in the refrigerator, I couldn’t figure out where I had left my glass.  It had been swallowed up by the chaos!

The kids were still asleep.  (Praise the Lord)  I opened up the window and let the sunshine in, like I was in a coffee commercial.  I ate my champion breakfast and thought about how productive I was about to be.  I put on my favorite comfy pants and my Superwoman tank top and pulled my hair back.  I even read today’s Bible reading!  I was ready to go.  I had all the super-power I needed to terminate my enemy: the anarchy of my possessions.

Wait – one more thing.  My favorite verse for tasks like these:

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.  
You are serving the Lord Christ. 

Colossians 3:23-24

Alright.  Place that where it is good and visible... Now I’m ready!

What’s that?  The baby’s just woke up and is crying?  Of course he is... :)


Lord, inspire us to work for you in everything we do today.  Whether it is changing a diaper, washing dishes, conducting a meeting, or comforting a friend.  Help me to focus on gaining my strength from you, not looking for inspiration in a lucky shirt or a favorite song.  Fill me up with your strength and your wisdom, Lord, as I tackle my week.  Amen.

We shall dwell with the Lord

Surely your goodness 

and love will follow me

all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the 

house of the Lord

forever. 

Psalm 23:6

Being a mom sure has its moments. Probably the hardest is when there is the death of a loved one. Usually this would involve a fish being unceremoniously flushed down the toilet. There are tears from the kids and then talk about going to the store and getting a new one.

Being a wife of a pastor has brought a lot of talk about death in our house. “Why is dad not home?” “A man in the congregation died.” There would be a quiet calm, and then my youngest son would say, “Well he’s in heaven now.”

While we know that those who have faith in Christ will be in heaven, it still doesn’t make it any easier for us who are left behind. This is especially true when talking to our children about the death of a grandparent or another loved one. I have found that the best way is to be as open and honest as you can about the matter.

Being open and honest is best, but what should a parent say? One of the best things that I would recommend is going to your local funeral home and seeing what kind of resources that they have. They often have great handouts that will give you great advice speaking to your children about death.

Death is something that no one really wants to talk about. In fact, our society really shelters us from the idea of death. But death is a reality. Death is the result of sin entering this world. But God sent a solution: Jesus Christ. As believers we know that death doesn’t have the final word. For, through Jesus’ perfect life, death and resurrection we have the forgiveness of sins and the free gift of eternal life. Jesus truly guides us through the valley of the shadow of death in to the green pastures of eternal life.

Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us the victory over death through your Son Jesus Christ. Send your Holy Spirit upon us in those trying times in our lives when we need to talk to our children about the death of a loved one. In Your name we pray, Amen.

Let My Prayer Be Counted

O Lord, I call upon you; hasten to me!  Give ear to my voice when I call to you!  Let my prayer by counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!"  
Psalm 141: 1-2

CONFESSION:  I’m bad at prayer out loud. 

Especially with people who might be uncomfortable with it. 

I know!  Everyone is gasping!

But seriously.  It’s pathetic.  I didn’t have great role models for public prayer growing up.  And I’m terrible at praying with my kids. 

At some point I forced myself to start implementing prayer on the way to school.  And that was good.  In fact, some mornings it was downright holy.  Actually, I’m sure the implementation of it had little to do with me and everything to do with GOD. 

Then we moved and my daughter started riding the bus and I didn’t replace that time.  It’s hard to sit down and pray with a scowling 8 year old at 6:30 a.m.  (She’s not a morning person and neither is her mom.)

But here’s the really shocking part:  I’m not even enforcing it at bedtime.  (Is “enforcing” the right word in the context of prayer?)  I know.  I’m kindof afraid I’m going to be kicked off the Altar Guild for this.  But I’m trying to be honest.  Because I suspect I’m not the only one out there who struggles with it.

I’m not sure when it stopped with my oldest.  At one point it was part of the routine.  She is very uncomfortable praying together when it is not scripted and instead of trying to fix this, I’ve gotten into the habit of ignoring it. 

Meanwhile, I’ve been convicted on multiple counts of PRIDE.  Not enough kneeling.  Not enough humility.  Not enough pause-and-listen.

So tonight as I was heading up to tuck-in my girls, I heard the Holy Spirit tugging –

     “Prayer would be good.”

     “But how do I do that with her? I don’t need one more reason for us to fight.  I feel like she’s constantly at odds with me.  I need a book to tell me how to do this!  I need some direction.  I need some advice!  I can’t do this out of the blue!”  I argued.

     “Seriously?”  The Holy Spirit responded.  “You don’t think I’m enough in this moment?”

So I walked in, cold-turkey.  I dove in, without testing out the water first.  I threw caution to the wind.  No plan.  Not like me. 

I just started praying silently, “Lord, you have to take control of this situation.” 

And of course, it was great.  Turns out the Holy Spirit DOES know what it’s doing. 

“We need to talk,” I started… “We need to work on something… I’ve been struggling with pride… You need to learn some humility before the Lord… You’ll find it awkward at first (she loves to use that word), but it’s something we have to do… Which side of the bed do you want?”

We knelt.  And it was a little awkward.  But she wasn’t resentful.  Just as little silly because she was nervous.  And I told her tonight we’d just start with being thankful.  Come up with 3 things.  And I’ll start.

And I did.  And she did.

Then she giggled and jumped back into bed.  Pretty painless.  Pretty great. 

Thank you, God.  Looking forward to tomorrow night.  Amen.

Homecomings

“And now, brothers and sisters, I want you to know what will happen to the Christians who have died so you will not be full of sorrow like people who have no hope.  For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus comes, God will bring back all the Christians who have died.”  1 Thessalonians 4:13, 14

This evening my husband and I went to the airport to pick up our two oldest sons.   They were returning from a trip to our previous home.  Our family moved in the midst of our sons’ high school career.  Our oldest, a senior, wanted to go back for the graduation ceremony of his former classmates.  The trip, for both boys, was a joyful homecoming celebration.

Their return was also a happy homecoming.  Our family missed them.  We were happy they had the opportunity to go, but it is comforting to have them back under our roof.   We are thankful that their travels were safe and that the household dynamic has returned to “normal.”   Homecomings are marked by smiles, hugs, and rejoicing.

My daughter’s teacher, a friend of mine, is preparing for another homecoming.  She has been fighting aggressive cancer.  She recently heard from her doctors that there is nothing more that the medical community can do for her. 

I can only pray, that if I were in the same situation, I could face this news with as much courage and faith as this dear friend.  When I last visited with her, she smiled, laughed and joked, joyfully welcomed visitors, and spoke of what she had to look forward to.

It would be so easy to act otherwise.  Many people given similar news might retreat from loved ones, questioning, “why me?”  Because she is loved by hundreds of people, it would be so easy to cling to this life and her many earthly relationships.  It would be expected that she be overcome with sorrow.   I’m not saying that she doesn’t battle fear and sadness, but she has not allowed these emotions to dictate her behavior.  She has been an incredible witness, especially to all of her current and former students.

While we all would love for her to be physically healed, she is accepting that this may not be God’s will.  She trusts that the “Great Physician” has provided her with a more significant spiritual healing that will someday grant her a homecoming celebration more joyful than we can humanly comprehend.  Through Miss Nelson we see the beauty of the Christian life - that we need not grieve as those without hope!  All who die in the faith will partake in a glorious homecoming!

Dear loving Father, we praise you for the healing and promise you have provided through Jesus.  Please continue to uphold Miss Nelson, granting her strength of body and mind.  Grant her, and all who love her, peace beyond all human comprehension.

Living the Dream

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 

2 Corinthians 5:21

What is your “dream job?”  If you could do anything in the world, what would it be? When I was a little girl, I LOVED babies. Being an only child, I wasn’t around younger children often, but I had plenty of dolls with which to play pretend. I couldn’t wait to be a mom someday. “Someday” is here, and I guess you could say that I’m living the dream. I’m doing what I always wanted to do, after all. 

In honor of Mother’s Day, I did a little internet research on mothers of the Bible and what God has to say about mothering. I learned some interesting things, but this sentence from one article struck me: “Motherhood is not a chore or unpleasant task.” Of course, this is just the writer’s take on things, but there have been more times than I’d like to admit that what is technically my dream job has been unpleasant and chore-like, and that’s putting it nicely. There are moments, although fleeting, that I could even call it a nightmare.

It seems that we as moms put a lot of pressure on ourselves and on each other. I’m so thankful that God doesn’t expect perfection from me. He knew that I would make mistakes and fall short daily. That’s why He sent Jesus to be perfection for me and for everyone. While I long to be the best mom and wife I can be, I know that when I mess up, God is there to forgive me through His grace and mercy.  

Heavenly Father, 

I know I don’t thank You often enough for allowing me to live my dream of being a wife and mother. Help me to follow Your perfect example of what a parent should be, and thank You for forgiving me when I don’t even come close to measuring up. 

In the Name of Your Son, Jesus,

 Amen. 

Because

“We love because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

Today, I had the pleasure of being the substitute teacher in the grades 3-5 classroom of our church’s school. Since we are just days away from the end of the school year, the students have been a little wound up and not as focused as they usually are. In preparation for the day I did some brainstorming on what I could do to help the day go better for myself and for them. I talked to their teacher ahead of time and received her permission to make a deal with the class.

At the start of the day I placed one star at the top of the white board. I told them that this star represented 5 minutes of extra recess time at the end of the day. I let them know that I would be adding and or taking away stars based on their work and behavior throughout the day. We had a discussion about what type of behavior and work is expected from them and we started our day. Now, I did have to erase some stars as we went through the day, no one is perfect, but in the end we added more stars than we lost and got to have an extra 25 minute recess at the end of the day.

In the middle of the day, I stopped to thank the class for being so extra well behaved and working so hard. However, I also took the opportunity to have a little talk with them about the “because”. You see, just yesterday I led a Bible study for our Ladies Aid group from the LWML quarterly. The title of the Bible study was “The Reason ‘Because’” written by John Nunes and Gloria Edwards. The key point that I pulled from this study was about our motivation for what we do for others. What is the “because” of the things we do?

I shared with the class, that although I was very proud of them for doing so great, I wanted to know the “because” of their special behavior. Obviously the answer was that they love extra recess and would do whatever it took to earn a little extra. I used this as my chance to talk about why this kind of special good behavior is what we should be giving every day. I asked them who gave them the wonderful school they attend, and who brought them their wonderful Christian teacher, and who provided all of the resources that they use to learn. Of course they knew the answer to this. God! So, I asked them this question, then why should we give our best to ourselves, our classmates, and our teachers every day? Because!

Because…God loves us, we care for others.

Because…God provides for our needs, we use our resources wisely.

Because…God has placed special people in our lives to care for us and teach us, we show them respect and help make their jobs easier.

So, I ask you as fellow believers... Why do you give your best in raising your children? Why do you care for those that God has placed in your life path? Why do you share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with anyone you can? Why do you give your best in whatever job you have? Why do you support and pray for missionaries? Why do you volunteer in your church, community, and world?

Why? Because! “We love because HE first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

Prayer: God, thank you for loving us with a love that is stronger, deeper, and greater than we can ever comprehend. Help us with Your Holy Spirit to take Your love for us and share it with everyone that we can in all that we do and say. In Jesus name. Amen.

Beauty in the Eye of the Creator

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.  Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.  So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 1 John 4:13-16

Masterpieces tend to be abundant in my house.  When the girls get the urge to create, it’s like a whirlwind of paint and markers and paper everywhere, and we can end up with an entire wall full of artwork in just a half an hour’s time.  Some end up being true masterpieces, while others are, (Do I dare say it?), not so beautiful. Gasp!  Fortunately, beauty is in the eye of the creator, or something like that. 

On one recent artsy afternoon I was talking with the girls about how an artist signs every work that he or she designs and I was encouraging my little Picassos to come up with their own signatures.  1 John talks about how God signs his work. He abides in us; therefore as his creations, we must be just covered with his signature.  We are God’s masterpiece and he is in every cell, in each detail. 

We are in him too, but our work is not so beautiful.  We are in the nails in his hands and the spear in his side.  We are in the thorns on his head and the spit that was hurled at his body.  Not something we would necessarily want to put on display. 

It is only through Christ that we abide in God, and that means we are also in the resurrected body.  Ah, there’s the beautiful part.  There’s the beauty in the eye of the Creator through the sacrifice of his son.

If we could see a distinct signature of God’s I wonder what it would look like.  When I asked my girls to sign their artwork, they thought for quite a while about their signatures.  One of the girls finally decided to use her initials, while the other used a cross.  That’s it.  In baptism, confession and absolution, and the words of institution, and in every other moment we abide in God’s love, God signs his work with a cross.

Masterful Artist,

You have created us to abide with us.  Abide with me today as I mold my own masterpieces.  Help me cover every detail of my children’s lives with your words and mark them with the cross of your son.  In Jesus Name, Amen.