The Luve Project: Patience

I was one of the weirdos in school who loved literature.  I loved to read.  Anything.  So, all the short-stories, poems, and haiku's assigned to us in class were a treat. It also helped that we had a fantastic teacher (who by the way, would come into our classroom every Christmas wearing a sombrero and singing, "The Hat I Got for Christmas Was Too Big").   I remember him showing us Robert Burns' famous poem, Red, Red Rose.  The first line in this piece was "O my luve's like a red, red rose."  I just couldn't get past ye olde english "luve".  I think I may be an editor at heart and I couldn't fully enjoy the poem for the spelling of 'love' (told you...weirdo...). 
I was thinking about that poem today when I read 1 Corinthians 13. 
"4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
I was thinking that if my boys could be loved and love like this...they would be pretty set for life.  Love doesn't hit their brother.  Love trusts that when Mama says wear your life-jacket...it's a good thing. Love does not cheat on a math test.  Love is not proud when big brother gets in trouble.  Love doesn't erupt in anger when something doesn't go his way.  If we can teach them how  to love, God's greatest commandment, then I think we will be successful parents. 
So, I've decided to try a little project.  I'm going to break up the "luve chapter" into the different traits of love and focus on one a week with our boys.  We'll write out the verse and memorize that little part.  Then, my husband and I have a frame of reference when our little guys provide an "opportunity" for teaching about love. 
Our first trait is patience.  Samuel helped me 'decorate' the little love poster this morning.  We'll stick that on the fridge and see how it goes. 

I'm hoping to be able to update you each Friday about how our week went.  Maybe you would like to try too...you don't need kids either...try it yourself!  Let me know how it turns out. :)

²⁹ “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.^{[e] 30} Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’^{[f] 31} The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[g] There is no commandment greater than these.”

Peace Anyone?

You may have the best husband ever (I do),
You may have a chubby cheeked baby and fun little boys (I do),
You may have sweet, wise, godly friends (I do),
You may have parents that love you (I do),
You may have in-laws that love you (I hope I do ;),
You may have enough food (I'm making a pot roast today...),
You may have clean water (I do),
You may have new shoes (that would be nice),

But...you still may not have peace.  

Psalm 62 says,
"Truly my soul silently waits for God;
From Him comes my salvation.
² He only is my rock and my salvation;
He is my defense;
I shall not be greatly moved."
.....
"My soul, wait silently for God alone,
For my expectation is from Him.
⁶ He only is my rock and my salvation;
He is my defense;
I shall not be moved."

Sometimes, when we sorely need peace and rest, we grasp frantically for something to help ease the struggle. 
The right man, the right vacation, the right kids, the right new outfit, the right friend.
These things are most assuredly blessings, but they cannot bring us true peace.  
Only God could see the things that would disrupt our peace and put them on Jesus' shoulders.
Only Jesus could take them from us and put them on Himself. 
True peace will come when we can finally hand over our burdens to Jesus, who longs to take them from us.

I pray you find peace today friends.

What to Make Monday...Bread!

I LOVE bread.
 I have a beautiful cousin who has a scar on her chin because of my love of bread. 
It was a fine day in a quiet inlet.
4 little girls, 3 sisters and a cousin, were playing like all little girls play on fine days.
The little cousin with bouncing brown curls gets a sudden longing for her auntie's delicious, warm, soft and light homemade bread.
Auntie, being the good auntie that she is, graciously rewards her little niece with her heart's desire.
What cousin and auntie were too busy to see was... oldest sister falling off the deck...
True story.

So, for years, I have stayed away from making my own bread.  I think I felt that there was some kind of bread making intuition that I didn't have.  Also, the thought of making bread even close to the same caliber of Aunt Wanda was intimidating.  I had watched my mom make bread too.  It looked pretty tricky to me.  "How much flour mom?"  "Oh...just enough to make it look like this..."  I needed cold, hard facts.  You know?  Actual measurements.

Well, I finally got up the courage and decided to give it a go.  I looked to a favorite website - www.allrecipes.com and found this recipe of cold hard facts.  Samuel (my sous chef 3 year-old) and I followed it exactly and IT WORKED!  I was ecstatic.  My husband was delighted.  And we chowed down those 4 loaves in just a couple days (just cause' it was the first time...) ;)

Here's the recipe folks.  Let me know if you try it. 

2 packages of active dry yeast
(or 4 1/2 tsp of yeast)
4 1/2 cups warm water
6 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp salt
1/4 cup butter, melted, cooled
12 cups flour

In large bowl, dissolve yeast in water.
Add sugar, salt and butter, stir until dissolved.
Add half the flour, beat until smooth with a spoon.
And remaining flour (enough to make soft dough).
Turn on to floured surface.
Knead 8-10 minutes (it will seem like a long time...but it's worth it.)
Place in greased bowl.
Cover and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size (about 1 1/2 hours).
Punch dough down and allow to rise for another 30 min.
Divide into 4 parts.
Put in greased loaf pans and allow to rise until doubled (about 30 min).
Put in 350 degree preheated oven for 30 min or until nicely browned.
ENJOY!!!!

"Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."  Matthew 4:4

Diaper Bag? Check!

Yesterday, while preparing for a little road trip, our two oldest boys were running around the house with little "lists" (scribbles on a couple of old note pads) and pens in hand, making sure we had everything covered; it sounded a little like this:
"Shoes? (a scurry to find the Backyardigan shoes) Check!"
"Sweaters? Check!"
"Baby Andrew? (a pat on the head to little brother sitting in the infant seat) Check!"
"Diaper Bag? Check!"
This continued all the way out the door and to the car...
"Keys? Check!"
"Grass? (they got a little distracted by the garden) Check!"

Maybe they get it from me.  I make my own list every morning and the rest of my day is pretty well spent trying to draw lines through items on my list.

tidy kitchen
laundry
read Bible
lunch prep
dinner prep
spend quality time with boys
clean bathroom upstairs
clean bathroom downstairs
check email
clean boys closet
homework
etc., etc.,

I think sometimes I put Jesus on the list. 
Pray? Check!
Acknowledge His presence? Check!

And then I go on about my day, satisfied that I completed the task...

But listen to what John 15:5 says;

"I am the vine, you are the branches.
If a man remains in Me and I in him,
He will bear much fruit.
Apart from me, you can do nothing."

I'm trying to learn how to remain in Jesus. 
Am I remaining in Him when I answer the constant "Mooooom? Maaaama?"
Am I remaining in Him when I fold yet one more basket of laundry?
Am I remaining in Him when I clean up another potty accident?
Am I remaining in Him when I splatter chocolate batter all over my kitchen?

Brother Lawrence, a lay brother in a Carmelite monastery in Paris in the 1600's said;

“The time of business...does not with me differ from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clutter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess GOD in as great tranquillity as if I were upon my knees at the Blessed Sacrament.” 

Remaining in Jesus is for every part of my life.  I can't just "check" Him off and then leave Him there.  If I expect to bear any eternal fruit, I must remain in Him...make a practice of acknowledging His presence in all moments.

I pray you find Him close today...

Molassas

No, this is not a post about one of my boys dripping in sticky molasses...I pray fervently that doesn't happen.  :)
This is about sticky molasses though - making a mess in my cupboard.
I was packing things into my cupboards a few days ago after picking up the groceries.  I tried to move the molasses and it wouldn't budge.  It was stuck in it's own drippings.  Whoops.
I love the stuff.  When I was pregnant with my last baby, I think I had bread with  butter and the sugary goodness every night before I went to bed - along with cheese and pickles.
Anyway, back to filling my cupboards...I was complaining to myself about needing to clean these cupboards and find a better storage solution for said "lassy" when I was overwhelmed with gratitude for my full, albeit sticky, cupboards.  I thought of moms in other countries, even our own country, who may be looking at almost bare cupboards.
Nothing to make for dinner.
Nothing to feed her children.

Forgive us Lord for forgetting.

We've been meaning to sponsor another child for months now.
We decided when we had our first baby that we would sponsor a little one from another country for every baby we have.  We have been delighted to have Rutendo, a little girl from Zimbabwe and Wexlex, a little guy from Guatemala be a part of our lives.  
Our youngest son is 8 months old now and we haven't gotten around yet to sponsoring another.
 Life happens.

I fold and fold and fold our boys clothes and I forget that there's a little boy somewhere with no clothes to fold.

I put cups of milk and plates of bread and bowls of fruit on our table and forget that there's a mother with nothing to put in bowls for her babies.

I fill up my boys water-guns with clean cold water a zillion times a day and forget that there are some boys who have only muddy, bacteria-infested water to drink.

Forgive me Lord for forgetting.

1 Timothy 6: 17-19 says,
"Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life."


I wouldn't call myself rich, maybe you wouldn't call yourself rich either. 
However, the food in my cupboards,
clothes in my laundry basket,
car in my garage,
toys on my living room floor,
glowing lamp in the corner and
clean water coming out of my faucet -
most definitely makes me rich to the young gaunt mom in the mud hut
               or the teenager trying to wash car windows in the city
or the feeble elderly gentleman in a house with no heat
               or the little baby lying on a cold floor in the orphanage
or a neighbor who's having a hard time making ends meet...

Help us not to forget Lord
            and help us to take action.

Thank you Molasses for reminding me to do good, be rich in good deeds and to be generous and willing to share and to take hold of the life that is truly life.

Promises

Read some great promises today...

Psalm 1:1-3

Blessed is the one...

whose delight is in the law of the LORD,
and who meditates on his law

day and night.

That person is like

a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.

Thinking about God's words through the day brings me...

steadiness

fruitfulness

vitality and life

prosperity.

Great promises.

Spring is in the Air!

Today, me and the kidlets took a beautiful, long (mostly because I was lost for twenty minutes) drive in the country. The farmer's fields are still pretty brown. The trees are still pretty bare. And, the lake is still pretty covered in ice. However, spring is most definitely in the air. The signs are starting to peek out. My boys no longer leave the house in 13 layers. I no longer don a scarf. My husband no longer wears a coat - oh wait - he never wears a coat (yeah, ask him about the time he was pushing his little car out of a ditch in the middle of a blizzard - WITH A T-SHIRT ON!).

As I was enjoying the scenery and the warm sun streaming into the mini-van, along with the static-y classical music playing on the radio - I just had the overwhelming sense of gratitude that

God is in charge.

Me and my little ol' self may think I control schedules and feeding times and cleaning times and t.v. time but thank goodness, it's not me who controls the seasons. It's not me who makes the earth spin on a perfect axis. It is not me who holds life in hands. It is God.

All powerful.

All faithful.

All loving.

Thank you God for your seasons.

Thank you that we can count on Spring coming because You're in charge.

What a relief!

"He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing. He wraps up the waters in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their weight. He covers the face of the full moon, spreading his clouds over it. The pillars of the heavens quake, aghast at his rebuke. By his power he churned up the sea.... By his breath the skies become fair.... And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him! How then can we understand the thunder of his power?" (Job 26:7-9, 11-14)