29 Tuesday Oct 2013
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28 Monday Oct 2013
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My Bible study this morning is dealing with God’s patience, and I have to confess I’m having a bit of difficulty getting it to sink in (beyond head knowledge into heart knowledge).
I did not grow up in a “patient” house. I am not naturally a “patient” person, and not that slow to anger, either. As Priscilla Shirer says, “Powerful people can be most intolerant of others’ weaknesses.” And as I see my own tendencies playing that out, I also see that in the impatience of the city I live in, and the impatience and intolerance of our country and culture.
And yet,
The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out, (I am) “Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.” – Exodus 34:6 (nlt)
Time and time again, we see God granting mercy and patience on His people. Especially in the story of Gideon – what we call remarkable restraint is just another normal day to God. God is obviously quite used to us humans by now.
It’s so hard to translate that when we look at it with our human experience. How do we convert this holy mystery into our daily view? How do we live out that patience ourselves? How in the world can we, when it’s so foreign to our normal existence?
I think of when I’m being my most impatient – and it’s at those times that I’m showing the opposite of God’s love. Impatience has roots in pride a bit, don’t you think? We want what we want when we want it, and why don’t we already have it, and why are you doing whatever it is you’re doing that’s inconveniencing me.
This is what the world sees in us. What our kids see in us.
And that is sobering.
Obviously patience is completely impossible on our own. It can only be done when we are filled with God’s power. He is the God of compassion and mercy! And how much easier is to be patient we we are filled with that compassion and mercy. How much easier is it to patient when we are filled with His understanding. When I am able to focus on sharing that compassion, mercy and understanding – His holy LOVE, then the endurance and patience naturally flows. Effortlessly.
We also pray that you will be strengthened with all His glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy! – Colossians 1:11 (nlt)
Please share with me your thoughts – how do you practice patience? What has worked for you in increasing your patience levels?
25 Friday Oct 2013
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Here’s a great activity adaptation we did while covering, “Jesus is the Bread of Life.”
Since I really didn’t want to make a napkin holder, I loved this idea that was passed to me on Facebook. The idea was taken from these websites:
Printable “Bread of Life” Craft Booklet
Salvation Sandwich Idea
How to Make a Salvation Bracelet
23 Wednesday Oct 2013
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I’ve been leading our Women’s Bible study group at church on Wednesday evenings, and we’ve been working our way through Priscilla Shirer’s Gideon. (If you’re looking for a new study, you should really check this out, by the way. IT IS AWESOME. And did I mention how awesome it is?)
I wanted to share this particular quote with you:
Today’s tasks-even the most mundane of them-are often preparation for tomorrow’s calling. They can carry clues to what He is leading us to learn and accomplish as we faithfully serve Him.
While it might seems comical to find spiritual principle in washing dishes or answering phones at your desk job, God is teaching you faithfulness, diligence, and integrity through every task. . . . If we take the time to look closely, we might discover that God is using these normal activities to prepare us for future tasks, each duty point to His blessings in our lives.
Sometimes a lesson is teaching us so much more than just that lesson, isn’t it? In homeschool, it might be convincing a child to finish that math worksheet – not just to do the work for a grade or for busy work, but to learn the life lesson of perseverance, and doing your best work every time.
Sometimes that lesson is not just eating the stash of Halloween candy I bought on sale last week. Not just because I’ll need all that next week for the hordes that will come to our front door, but also to practice self-discipline and maintain good health.
When I look at the mundane that I do every day – frankly the stuff in my head I call the drudgery – I can look back on the learning of that lesson in my own life, and how it has prepared me for my “now.” Being required to do lots of chores as a kid? Work ethic and family team work. Doing those chores to my slightly-OCD parents’ exact wishes? Strong attention to detail and an appreciation for doing the job right. Being required to do the chore again until it was done correctly? Getting things done right the first time.
As an adult now, I can see how God is using my daily day-to-day to build me and prepare me for what lies ahead. In fact, by looking at what that list encompasses, sometimes I feel as I’ve getting a glimpse of what is coming and I am intrigued by what that actually might be!
Are you wondering what that picture might be for you? Here is a fun exercise that might help you start putting the puzzle pieces together.
1. What are the routine tasks that are filling your to-do list right now?
2. What skills or lessons do you see that God might be trying to teach you through these tasks? (If this seems difficult to answer, try to think about your recent past. What life lessons did God teach you recently – that perhaps came through dealing with your day-to-day?)
3. Write those lessons in a list. Do they begin to create a picture? For example, here is mine:
No, I’m not quite sure of what these things will add up to be. But I can see how God is using the craziness to teach me new things and bring new blessings in my life now and and in the future.
If we do not focus on thanking God for instead of whining about the mundane, we might not ever have our eyes opened to see how God is moving in our lives and what He is trying to prepare us for in the future.
20 Sunday Oct 2013
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I saw this article today, talking about how parents should set up their lives to “flourish.”
Now, while this is talking about working parents, I immediately thought of our family. I’m sure no parent wants anything more than for their children “flourish” as well.
“Seventeen percent of adults are ‘flourishing,’ meaning, they live in a different state of consciousness than the rest of us,” Carter says. “For every negative emotion they experience, they experience at least three positive emotions. Most of us experience the opposite — one positive emotion for every three negative ones.”
If we can reverse that ratio and enter a state of “flourishing,” studies show our actual physiology changes. We become more fluid verbally, and more creative; we become better at solving problems; we have more energy… the list goes on.
“It’s not just that you’re doing different things when you enter this state,” Carter says. “You have a different engine.” In other words, when you’re flourishing, your brain is actually working better. You have more resources. Which, of course, makes you feel good. It’s a positive spiral.
Who wouldn’t want this for themselves? AND for our children? AND REALLY, isn’t this the kind of change most of us come to homeschooling looking for?
The “ideas” in this article are great – gratitude, celebrate, laugh, compassion, forgiveness, inspiration, music, exercising, breathing techniques, and good friends. Those are all things we could use in our lives, right?
Share your ideas on how you create a “flourishing home” and an environment where your children “flourish” with all of us, in the comments below. I’d love to get your thoughts!
Becoming a Modern Proverbs 31 Woman 