How We Change

Change is inevitable.

Nothing stays the same for long. Where I live, we are currently inching from winter to spring. Snow is on the mountains, trees are starting to bud out, the temperature climbs a little more each day.

I look at my kids and I see change. My teenager is suddenly looking me in the eye, excited to pass me up in height this year. My 11 year old is growing more confident, my first grader is trying to read more. Nothing can stop the change.

In life, we change; I look back at who I was 16 years ago when we moved to Utah and I’m thankful parts of me have changed. Motherhood, ministry, experiences, walking with friends through hard things. All that continues to work through me and I’m {prayerfully} being changed to be more like Christ.

But how do we look at things in our lives and know if a shift is necessary?

We are told many places in the New Testament that there is an “old man” and a “new man” for those who trust Christ. The old represents who we were in sin, living for ourselves. The new is who God has changed us to be and is currently sanctifying through the rest of our Christian walk.

We know we will change after salvation because our desires and habits are transformed. We are no longer given over to worldly things but our desire is to pursue Christ. We want what God wants, we mourn over things that grieve him, we view our lives as made for God’s glory.

However, this reality of being transformed has limits. Over the last several years, I’ve heard of Christians deconstructing their faith and many times, it leads to them completely abandoning their faith for secularism. We also have bitterness and anger changing people after a tragedy or unexpected situation. I would argue change is not always good or helpful.

So how can we know we’re changing in a good way?

First, we need to honestly ask if in our change we are moving away from God or closer to him. Questions aren’t bad but we need to be going to the correct place to find the answers.

Which leads to the second point. We need to stay in our Bibles. I’ve heard many deconstructionists say that in their attempt to get a fuller picture of the truth they turned to secular sources. This is not how we find out about God or truth. The world is at odds with its Creator. If we ask an atheist about God, we’re going to get a warped view of who God is. That will not help us change in a beneficial way.

The Christian life shouldn’t be stagnant. Sometimes in our questions and experiences, we might falter as we walk through difficult valleys. But don’t stay there! Don’t turn around and abandon the path. May we keep our eyes on Christ and pray that everyday, we are changing to be more like him.

Slowing Down for Beauty

When you think of beauty, what pops in your mind?

Maybe a flawless face, a certain piece of music, a rose. Beauty can be seen in many different ways and different people appreciate different applications of beauty. But all beauty is appreciated more with time and attention.

When we see something beautiful we want to stop and consider it, look closer. It’s sometimes difficult to put into words why something strikes us. Other times we immediately put our finger on why we call it beautiful. But to fully savor the thing or moment or experience, we have to slow down and give our attention.

The reality of this fully took form when Tommy and I went to Paris last year. We were able to experience amazing food, incredible historical sites, and surround ourselves in completely new things at every turn. One of the top things on my list of “want to dos” when we were planning our trip was to visit Musee de l’Orangerie {Orangery Museum} where the famous Waterlily paintings by Monet are.

I don’t know exactly when I started loving them, but Impressionist paintings are my favorite style and Paris museums are filled with Monet, Degas, Renoir, and a host of others. But l’Orangerie is especially magnificent because Monet himself worked on the plan to renovate the building, planning how his studies of the waterlilies from his garden pond would look on display. The panels are over two yards tall and when put together are almost 100 yards wide. Stretching in ovals around two rooms, there really is nothing like it.

The immensity of the paintings hits you, especially when you’ve only seen them in books. While the paintings weren’t the tallest or the most detailed paintings we saw, the scale of them arching around the room, the calming colors set off by stark white walls, and the quiet as visitors took them in was beautiful.

But while Tommy and I stood in the middle of the room and I attempted to etch every color and detail into my memory, other tourists were there for an entirely different reason. They stood at the painting, back toward the masterpiece, and smiled for a friend to capture the moment on camera. Picture secure, they headed to the next room, some of them spending less than a minute before Monet’s 30 years of work.

Can you appreciate the beauty of the thing and the experience in such a blink? You certainly can’t capture the whole painting or the feeling in a snapshot. These were not beauty seekers. They were focused on the adage, “If I have a picture of it, it happened.” Or maybe, “If I post it on social media, it happened.” We saw similar tourists at Versailles, the Louvre, even restaurants. So absorbed in their phones, their pictures, their posts that they didn’t care about what surrounded them.

What a waste of beauty! Maybe you believe they took those photos and look at them and reflect on what they saw now, months after the trip. But I doubt it. If you can’t appreciate beauty when you are in the moment, will you ever have time to look back? And it won’t be the same.

Sunsets are my favorite. I love the splash of color that is ever changing. No two sunsets are the same; the temperature, the air quality, the position of the sun makes each one a unique painting from God. And try as I might, a picture of a spectacular sunset is never the same as watching it happen in real time. Same with rainbows. Pictures never seem to capture the colors, the expanse, the shimmer of a rainbow. To fully enjoy them, we must slow down and look right then! So it is with all beauty.

Our society seems to be based on a breakneck pace. Do more, faster! Be more productive in less time! These types of attitudes don’t go well with savoring experiences, looking for beauty, and enjoying what’s in front of you. The thought something better is just after this moment keeps us from finding contentment where we are and slowing down. We think if we slow down we’ll miss something but the truth is, in our race to the next thing, we’re missing hundreds of beautiful things and moments.

Don’t stand with your back to the masterpiece and rush to the next photo op. Look around, enjoy the moment now, while it’s here, and you might be surprised that you can find beauty in so many things.

Photo by Richard Hedrick on Unsplash

Why Work Matters

The beginning of the year is filled with resolutions and new ideas and entire lists of wishes.

It is also filled with work. Cleaning up after Christmas decorating and parties. Decluttering. Maybe scrubbing germs away from a sickness. Work fills our lives, not only in January but throughout the year.

It can be easy to just plow through the work; much of it is necessary. Cleaning, laundry, cooking, learning. All these things are needed but that doesn’t mean that it’s always fun or easy.

One of the conversations I have with my kids is in the realm of their schoolwork. They wonder why it’s important, why it matters, why they can’t just do it fast and be done. I have one child who would be willing to do a year’s worth of science assignments in a week and be done with science for the year. But that’s not helpful. Often work is slow, takes perseverance, needs focus and continual effort.

Many people in today’s society believe that work is bad; some Christians might even consider it part of the fall. However, in Gen. 2:15, we see that the LORD gave Adam the responsibility to keep and cultivate the garden before sin entered the world. We also see Adam naming all the animals in verses 19-20 {which seems like a huge job to me!}.

So if work isn’t inherently sinful, how should we approach it? Well, again, the Bible gives us a guideline. The book of Proverbs alone has almost a dozen references to work. Here are a few —

• Our work will return to us {12:14}

• Work leads to profit {14:23}

• Being lazy will have consequences {18:9}

• Our work will be noticed {22:29}

The New Testament mentions the heart motive behind our work: Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. {I Cor. 10:31} This verse doesn’t put stipulations on what type of work is valuable but rather EVERYTHING we do should be for God’s glory. Meaning putting forth our best effort because God is the one who gives us the ability for it all.

I don’t believe we can effectively glorify or accurately represent God when we do things grumbling, upset, or half hearted. Yes, the work might be hard but hard doesn’t equal sinful, bad, or wrong. Hard exists because of the curse of sin {Gen. 3:17-19} but it doesn’t mean hard things are bad. I appreciate the wisdom of Abbie Halberstadt, a homeschooling, podcasting mom and author, who wrote a book titled, “Hard is Not the Same Thing as Bad” {I encourage you to read it}.

We have this mindset that difficulties should be avoided. Work that is too hard, too strenuous, too time consuming isn’t worth doing at all or can be done begrudgingly because it’s bad. That’s not the truth from the Bible. We can learn valuable lessons from doing hard things. We can discover that we actually enjoy the challenge in some tasks.

I remind my kids — and myself — that trying new things is hard but it is necessary. We shouldn’t complain or give up when we attempt work that is hard and we don’t immediately succeed. That’s part of the learning and growing process! Despite what you might have heard, nothing is easy for anyone the first time. Musicians, craftsmen, athletes, teachers, everyone has to work to improve to the point they are at. They might naturally have good hand/eye coordination but they have to practice to gain the accuracy to make the shot. They might have good pitch naturally but they have to learn to read music and play with musicality.

It’s all work. Plain, honest hard work. And it’s worth doing because we can glorify our Creator through our efforts and attitude.

Photo by Raphael Rychetsky on Unsplash

Consistently Faithful

Why is faithfulness so difficult?

I believe most Christians would say they want to live a faithful life, serving Christ over the long haul. But I think if we were honest, we sometimes think more about the razzle dazzle of service than what faithful living really looks like.

We read missionary biographies and marvel at the adventures and answered prayers. We follow social media Christian influences who travel and speak and do all the “cool things” of serving others on a large platform. We have our favorite teachers and musicians and think they are living in ultimate service for God. If only we could have a portion of that excitement in our lives!

Instead, we moan over the routine and daily grind of where we are. Social media certainly doesn’t help as we see the vacations, ministries, parties, and activities of sometimes friends, sometimes random people we follow. But that is such an incomplete view of someone’s life and faithfulness! Online is definitely a curated place, not meant for true authenticity.

Just like we don’t see the hours of practice for athletes and musicians, we don’t see the everyday moments that create a faithful lifetime.

I believe a big part of this mentality is the “now” mindset about everything. Food, internet, movies, entertainment. Our society thrives off of the immediate gratification movement. It’s not worth doing/having if you have to wait. We want it and we want it now! But this mindset and faithfulness aren’t compatible.

The Hebrew word conveys the idea of stability and trustworthiness. Neither of those can be proven in the short term. It takes time and familiarity to be known as trustworthy. It takes day in and day out living to show you are stable in how you live and what you believe.

Consistency is not a fast and flashy lifestyle. It is small moments, unseen moments, doing what is right and necessary and needed, even if no one ever knows.

Glenna Marshall is the author of “Everyday Faithfulness”* which I highly recommend. Here are a few of my favorite quotes:

“Today’s efforts aren’t just for today! They’re for tomorrow and next week and next month and five years from now.” {p23}

“Our hearts will not casually become more holy while we sit around and no nothing to feed our faithfulness.” {p28}

“Our faithfulness isn’t just for us. It announces to the world that Jesus is worth every drop of our devotion.” {p155}

Faithfulness in the Christian life is doing what we have been called to do today — tending children, meal planning, laundry, yardwork, cleaning, encouraging someone — it all matters. And it’s these small disciplines of consistency that lend to a fully faithful life.

*“Everyday Faithfulness” published by Crossway, 2020

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Be Not Anxious

It’s hard to ignore the state of our country and world today.

More than ever, we seem divided, angry, bent on proving we are right even if it divides more. And all of this tension can bring anxiety to the calmest soul.

I am usually a glass-half-full, optimist kind of person. I can get discouraged but I have learned from experience that things out of my control shouldn’t control my attitude. So I try to go with the flow and not allow things to make me uptight. {I should add I’m still working on this!}

However, when the world is rioting, countries are on the edge of war, our country is fighting and changing what we stand for, and up seems to be down…. I have to remind myself of biblical truth because nothing else will help.

One of my take aways from reading Proverbs is that the wisdom of the Lord is far greater than that of man. One verse I have been continually coming back to in this season is:

The heart of man plans his way,

but the Lord establishes his steps. Prov. 16:9

We might feel like the world is out of control and crazy. But that doesn’t mean God is thwarted. Man is out there trying to work his plans and God is not bothered. Nothing we do can keep God’s ultimate plan from happening.

I’m also reminded of Psalm 140. David pleads with the Lord to save him from the evil/wicked people that seem to be winning and surrounding him. He uses words like “deliver me,” “guard me,” “preserve me.” He is asking for help, not revenge. And he knows God is the only one that can help him. Lydia Brownback in her book on Psalms, says, “Revenge isn’t his {David’s} motive. His hope is the triumph of righteousness over evil.”* And so should our goal be.

When we are anxious and crying out to God about the state of our world, our prayers should be focused on God showing his strength and justice in an unjust world. What strikes me about Psalm 140 is that it ends without God judging the evil. However, David has a firm assurance that his prayers will be answered in God’s time.

I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and will execute justice for the needy. Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name; the upright shall dwell in your presence. Ps. 140:12-13

Do not be discouraged or anxious. As much as everything is in turmoil and the wicked seem to be thriving and winning, God’s plan will ultimately come to pass. Everything that happens today is moving us toward what God has planned and foreseen from the beginning. Nothing catches him by surprise, nothing forces him to change strategies. He is the Ruler of all and we can live in full hope of that.

*Sing a New Song: A Woman’s Guide to Psalms by Lydia Brownback copyright Crossway 2017

Photo by Mario Álvarez on Unsplash

A Poem for Summer

I usually don’t write poetry; I’m too much of a rule follower. :)

But as I prepared for teaching two creative writing classes in our homeschool co-op, I realized if I was going to talk with kids and teens about poetry, I needed to get poetry in my mind. I’ve been reading different types and styles and decided to try my hand at writing a free verse-inspired poem about our summer.

This was the Summer

This was the summer

I bought water balloons,

Which the kids filled

And flung around the yard.

This was the summer

For both new and familiar things:

Baseball and movie marathons,

Youth group and playdates;

Trying to say yes when possible.

This was the summer

Of a stomach bug

That knocked us out,

Of allergies

That tickled and itched.

This was the summer

We cuddled on hot days

Because next summer, will you ask?

We talked past bedtime

Because tomorrow, will you want to?

This was the summer

We ate ice cream and snow cones,

Of hiking, swimming, laughing;

For enjoying every moment we could

Because next summer won’t be the same.

At the beginning of the summer, I realized time is passing fast. My oldest is almost 13, quickly approaching the age of summer jobs and doing her own thing. These carefree days of simple joys experienced together won’t always be there. I know time changes things, not in a bad way, but life becomes different.

This summer, I wanted to set aside the things that could wait and be completely present for my kids when possible. I wanted to say yes to things that were nos in the past {like water balloons} and let them try new things {like baseball}.

It was a great summer. Full, exciting, memorable. This simple effort captures just a glimpse.

Photo by Sergey Shmidt on Unsplash

The Wonder of Creation

One of our favorite family activities is watching nature documentaries. Our kids have always loved animals and animal facts, and it’s relaxing to see creatures and landscapes from all over the world.

The BBC’s series “Planet Earth” and “Blue Planet” are some of our favorites. While there are mentions of evolution and global warming, our kids can spot those lies a mile away! From the beginning of reading library books about dinosaurs and watching Wild Kratts, every time millions of years, big bang, evolving, etc. was mentioned, we stopped and walked our toddlers and elementary kids through the truth of the Bible and the falseness of evolution theory. Now, we can watch those programs and they will usually point out the errors before we have a chance!

But the reason we put so much thought and effort into still watching programs that have evolution is to show our kids how amazing creation is and to talk through the incredible attributes of God. I want to highlight a few animals that we learned about from the recent “Planet Earth III” documentary.

The pearl octopus lives deep in the ocean. To keep their eggs warm enough to grow and hatch, they travel to hydrothermal vents where water temperatures can be ten degrees warmer. After laying her eggs, the mother stays with them as a layer of extra warmth and protection. She doesn’t leave, even to eat. When the eggs finally hatch {almost two years later!} and the babies swim away from the vents, the mothers die. They give everything for the survival of their young. Here’s an interesting short clip about this octopus.

One of the animals that had us laughing and marveling was the archer fish. This incredible creation shoots insects off leaves by accurately measuring the distance, accounting for distortion in the water reflection, and spitting water in a perfect stream at the insect! It really is fascinating to watch!

The final animal I’ll mention is the lily trotter, or African Jacanas. These birds seem to run on the surface of the water but their large feet are actually spread across lily pads. What struck us about this bird is shown at the end of this video. To protect the chicks, the father lily trotter tucks them into his wings and carries them to safety. What a beautiful picture of how God cares for us! He doesn’t leave us when we need him or expect us to figure out trials on our own. He lovingly shields us.

Creation is a wonder filled place. As we watched “Planet Earth III” and heard about animals new to us or places just now being discovered, I dwelt on the thought that God knew all along. That creature, that place has been there all along. Even when we didn’t realize it, God was getting the glory for creation that only he saw.

Take this as encouragement to explore creation with your kids. Watch documentaries. Read books. But always point them to the Creator.

Photo by David Clode on Unsplash

The Danger of Your Own Truth

The world is becoming an increasing unfamiliar place to me.

Things I never dreamed would need to be explained, debated, discussed are now huge talking points that can sometimes come to blows. Truth is no longer a set guideline. If you don’t like what has been truth for generations of mankind, you can make you own! No matter how ridiculous it is, others aren’t allowed to critique or criticize without being labeled hateful.

In every part of our culture, we see truth thrown aside for something new. And the disturbing thing is Christians are following along! Watching a sinful world adopt these practices is difficult but it’s hardly surprising. People who don’t have the Holy Spirit guiding them are going to act like people who don’t have the Holy Spirit. But when people who claim to be following Christ develop this ungodly “live your truth” mentality, they do more harm than good.

When we “live our truth” and encourage others to follow that logic, we are falling for the lie that truth is objective. But the very definition of truth is that it is solid, unchanging, and the opposite of a lie. If there is more than one truth, it defeats its own definition!

Another danger is that if sinful men get to decide what truth is, that truth is tarnished. People are fickle. What is a convenient truth today might be out of favor tomorrow. And so we are constantly bending in the wind, not grounded on anything solid.

Speaking up in a world gone crazy is hard. We will be attacked, mocked, cut off, canceled. But the reward of standing on God’s truth and living by God’s standard far outweighs the current scorn. We need to believe that this world is not the end; earth is not our final home. We are living and longing for heaven.

Photo by Eric Lagergren on Unsplash

Friendship at Every Stage

Friends are such a gift. I am so thankful that God placed us in community and gave us people to walk through life with. I have learned a great deal from the different friends God has given me at various stages of life; things like kindness, listening, gift giving, the joy of watching others succeed, how to encourage others. I have had/do have friends in my life who have demonstrated these things to me and taught me how to be a good friend.

This week, I had dinner with two friends from childhood. I remember playing house and Barbies and dress-ups with them. Sleepovers and birthdays and lots of little girl giggles.

Our friendship has lasted decades. We’ve seen each other through hard times and life changing decisions. Babies and houses and moves and job changes. We have a familiarity because of the years of memories accumulated with each other. I am so grateful for their friendship and encouragement and the fact that time and distance has not taken anything away.

While we often think of friends as being a staple of childhood, adults need friends too! I’ve had several conversations with people lately about the difficulty of making friends as we get older, and to some extent I think that’s true. We become more self conscious, maybe more particular, busier, stuck in our habits. But with all the obstacles, I believe having friends is an important part of life.

Even after all the times I’ve read through Proverbs, I’m still surprised at the number of friend passages. Many of these are warnings to choose the right type of friend, which proves how influential people are in our lives. But we also have verses like:

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. Prov. 27:17

Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel. Prov. 27:9

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Prov. 17:17

A biblical friend isn’t just someone to have a good time with but is someone who strengths you, who builds you up and offers encouragement. And we never outgrow our need to be encouraged to stand strong in the truth of the Gospel!

This month, I will enter the decade that used to be called “Over the Hill” and I still feel the need for good friends. On the other end of the spectrum, I’ve been having conversations with my kids about their friendships. About playing nice with everyone and not excluding people from games of tag to preteen hurt feelings when old friends start heading in a different direction.

There is always a risk, always a chance of getting feelings hurt or being misunderstood and left out. And as easy as it would be to say we outgrow our need and move beyond all that, it’s simply not true. If anything, as I’ve gotten older I’ve relied on my friends more for sound advice, encouragement when I’m disappointed, and help during trials.

As I go into another year, I’m more grateful for my friends than ever. The ways they help me, point me to truth, make me laugh, enjoy life, and celebrate life’s moments. My 40 years on earth wouldn’t be the same without the people God has brought into my life at times I needed them. And I will always be thankful.

Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash

The Countdown Month

In almost exactly a month, I’m going to turn 40.

I’m not upset or worried or overwhelmed at the prospect. I don’t think a number has to change your outlook on how you live. But I know that entering another decade is a milestone and a blessing. I don’t take a day for granted and I know everything could change in a minute. I’m very thankful for these 40 years.

It’s easy to become reflective when milestones are on the horizon. We remember past moments, maybe regret previous decisions. Over the last two months, I’ve been considering how I’ve changed in the last decade, lessons I’ve learned, things I want to aspire to.

Initially, I thought I’d share 40 thoughts on 40 years but as I began writing them down, it was easy to come up with more than 40. I don’t intend to share them all with you. But over the next few blog posts, I want to highlight the ones that stuck out the most, the ones that kept coming to mind.

As previously stated, I don’t take turning 40 for granted. No age is guaranteed. Which makes the process of approaching this birthday exciting and a time to consider. How have I grown in the last decade? How have I changed and is it for the better? I try to not dwell on regrets but those can be life shaping also.

My goal in this reflective process is to put to words some of what I’m feeling going into my 40th year. And to also challenge you to look at your life. Even if you don’t have big celebrations on the horizon, there is always space to learn and be grateful for this life. I hope my future posts encourage you to do just that.

Photo by Seyedeh Hamideh Kazemi on Unsplash

The Value of Memorizing the Bible

This semester, one of our ladies Bible study groups has been reading a wonderful book about Bible memorization. Memorizing Scripture: The Basics, Blessings, and Benefits of Meditating on God’s Word is exactly what is sounds like: a guidebook to how and why we meditate on the Bible.

Memorizing is quickly falling out of favor in all areas of life. Spelling tests, multiplication facts, state capitals, things everyone had to memorize a generation ago are no longer required or even encouraged in some spheres. Why? Because we have phones, tablets, the Internet is available 24/7 with all the answers. When your math teacher told you to memorize the 12s times tables because you wouldn’t always have a calculator with you…that no longer applies. So why spend the time, effort, and brain space on things that we can look up faster than we could recall?

The case for Bible memory is stronger than any other subject because God’s Word is different than any other subject. It has the power to change us, help us, comfort us, guide us, convict us, and the list continues. While I still encourage my kids to memorize facts that others look up, my encouragement to memorize the Bible is far stronger because the Bible isn’t man’s ideas, it’s from God.

My own road with memorizing is shaky. As a kid, my mom would record herself saying Bible verses on an endless cassette tape {if you don’t know what I’m talking about, ask Google}. As I played or colored, I would listen and absorb those verses. It was multitasking in the 1990s. As I got older, I would read verses to myself on repeat, look away, and try to say it as fast as possible before it slipped away. In high school and college, it was required to write out our memory verses for tests and quizzes and I learned that writing something memorized is not the same as repeating it.

As an adult, memorizing became less of an emphasis in my life. I read the Bible and studied it, but not to the point of being able to quote a passage I was going through. It was now readily available on my phone! I could search for a phrase and get a whole list of verses! Surely we had arrived!

But after becoming a parent and going over verses with my kids on repeat{we no longer have endless tapes}, I became more and more convicted about my previous lack of conviction about Bible memory. I started finding a verse in my daily Bible reading and repeating it over and over throughout the day, trying to seal it in.

When Glenna Marshall, an author and pastor’s wife, posted that she had written a book on memorizing, I preordered it. And when our Bible study decided to read it together, I volunteered to lead the study and write discussion questions. It’s been a true blessing to learn about this topic, encourage each other in our personal memorization habits, and discover why this is a crucial part of the Christian life.

I don’t want to give away Marshall’s points because I want you to purchase the book and read them yourself {wink, wink}. But I will say Bible memory is not as daunting as I believed it to be. She breaks down every excuse for why you haven’t been memorizing and offers so many helpful tips to get you started. She also goes through biblical principles of why Bible memory helps us in various times.

I am currently memorizing Psalm 107. Unlike previous attempts at remembering a jumble of words to repeat as quickly as possible, I’m letting the words soak in and make sense. I’m connecting the thoughts and allowing the truth to grow my love for Who God is.

Bible memorization is for all Christians. Your age, time constraints, stage of life, profession mean nothing. God’s Word is profitable for all people to know, love, and hide in their hearts.

Photo by Sixteen Miles Out

Weeks Two and Three in Proverbs

We are moving right along in our monthly reading of Proverbs!

Over the last two weeks, we’ve entered a section I like to call compare and contrast. While not an absolute, the majority of verses in chapters 10-24 follow a pattern.

“The righteous…but the wicked…”

“Wisdom says…but the fool says…”

Like I said, there is some variation in this and it doesn’t follow a perfect pattern. But throughout most of these chapters we see a compare and contrast between doing what God says and what the wicked say.

From this, we can pull out several themes that God is warning us about: our words {tongue, lips, mouth}, our friends {counsel, advisors}, and our work {diligent, lazy, slothful}. These are not the only themes but are continually repeated in several varieties.

Why is the compare and contrast helpful? Because it shows cause and effect, that one decision impacts tomorrow’s decision, that the opposite of God’s Wisdom is earthly folly. Consider just a few examples from the last two weeks of readings:

A slack hand causes poverty,
but the hand of the diligent makes rich. {10:4}

When pride comes, then comes disgrace,
but with the humble is wisdom. {11:2}

The thoughts of the righteous are just;
the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.
The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood,
but the mouth of the upright delivers them. {12:5-6}

Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity
than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool. {19:1}

This barely scratches the surface of what we have read the previous 14 days! But can you see the pattern I’m talking about? Sometimes in this compare and contrast, we read several verses before we see the opposite action. However, you can always see how the right and wrong paths diverge.

I believe this is so critical in our culture today. All around we hear that there really are no wrong choices. Just choices that aren’t the best for us but could be the best for someone else. Proverbs {and the Bible in general} makes it clear that there is sin. Sin makes for bad/wrong/evil/wicked choices. That is a universal truth. What the Bible calls sin is wrong for everyone and will have consequences.

I have found true, and maybe you have also in reading Proverbs, that I can think of current, real-time examples for many of the warnings given. Warnings about deceit, false witness, judges showing favor, anger, pride, friendship, and we could go on.

These are not outdated, useless principles. On the contrary, they offer helpful guidance and boundaries in a world set on removing all boundaries. Read these words with care and set your mind and life on following them.

Photo by Veronika Bykovich on Unsplash

Lessons from a Road Trip

We recently went on a family road trip covering several thousand miles round trip. To say we spent a lot of time in the car together is an understatement! This was our first time undertaking a cross-country trip like this and, while we had fun and made lots of memories, we also learned many things! Here are a few tips that kept us going.

— Use your library ebook borrowing. Before the trip, I downloaded the library borrowing app to each of the kids’ tablets. Then they picked a few ebooks and audiobooks. It saved a lot of space to not have a box of actual books traveling with us!

— Check into free trial subscriptions. We knew we wouldn’t always have internet so I used a free trial of Spotify to download some ad free music to my phone. I could then connect it to the van’s system via Bluetooth. I also tried a free subscription to Scribd, which has ebooks, magazines, audiobooks, and more. It was great to have options not available at my library and it encouraged me to read more because I wanted to finish before the 30 days were up!

— Take snacks…but ration them. We bought lots of special snacks for this big trip. But my kids could have eaten them all in one day! So I packed most of them in a box in the trunk and kept just a sampling closer to me. When someone asked for a snack, I reminded them there were only so many within reach and when they were gone, no more snacks for the day.

— We only ate out for dinners. This was a huge money saver. We made sure to stay at hotels that served a breakfast and we had a cooler with sandwich fixings, crackers and peanut butter, and veggies for lunch. We would stop around noon and fill up with gas then locate a nearby park using Google and enjoy a picnic lunch. It gave the kids a chance to run and play before sitting in the car again and we found some neat parks in small towns across the US!

— Be flexible. We had a few hiccups on the trip but nothing major. Instead of stressing and allowing it to derail our attitudes, we adjusted and kept going! We ended up spending a day at the Indianapolis Children’s Museum that we hadn’t planned on and getting to one of the hotels a little earlier another day to allow for extra swim time in the pool.

— Pack surprises. Prior to the trip, I ordered sticker books, sticker mosaics, hand held {non electronic} games, coloring books, and quiet fidgets. I didn’t show them to the kids and wrapped each one, marking it as a shared present for all three or with their initials. Each day when we set out from the hotel, they could choose a present to open and enjoy.

— Limit screens. While the kids did have their tablets, we limited the time they could use them each day. Tommy had downloaded some movies to our Cloud but he only put one movie a day on their individual tablets. They also had a few games that didn’t require Internet. For the first stretch of the morning and for awhile after lunch, it was no tablets. They could sleep, look out the window, or do an activity they’d opened from me. Part of the afternoon was for audiobooks. It worked very well.

— Don’t think you can’t. I get it. With kids, car rides can seem very daunting. Everyone in a confined space for hours on end? Yikes! But if you prepare a little and keep a positive attitude, it can be a fun trip for the whole family. In fact, as we were on our final stretch home, having spent 65+ hours in the car in 13 days, our youngest said, “When are we doing a big trip in the car again?”

We are so privileged in America to be able to drive on good roads that get us to any part of our country! And what a variety of landscapes we have! We saw high desert, open farmland, lush treefilled scapes, miles and miles of flat land, rolling hills, big cities, small towns, mountains, mist covered hills, and windy roads. The planning, the hours, the miles we sat; it was all worth it and filled with memories for our family.

Photo by Derek Story on Unsplash

Sharing Our Burdens

I love to share and talk about so many different things. And, probably like you, I find myself talking about different things with different friends.

Motherhood and homeschooling dominate many of my conversations with many of my friends because we are in the trenches! Teaching, discipling, raising the children God has given us, and I need encouragement and advice from them. Other friends share creative hobby interests with me and we compare notes on flower gardens, books, and watercoloring.

It isn’t wrong to have specific topics and things that create a bond with a friend. It’s a healthy, helpful way to grow friendships and to grow ourselves as we learn and interact. But do you ever feel unable to talk about spiritual things with your friends? Does it embarrass you to ask for prayer? Do you struggle to bring a Bible reference into the context of a regular conversation?

I believe sometimes in our Christian lives, it becomes easy to compartmentalize and not view regular parts of our days as being spiritual. Is there really a Bible verse for everything? Well, no, not specifically. However, the Bible does give us verses and principles that are to be applied to every aspect of life.

For instance, when we don’t feel like folding another hamper of laundry, we can be reminded that, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” {I Cor. 10:31} Or, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” {I Thess. 5:16-18} No, this doesn’t speak to folding laundry itself, but rather to the attitude we are to have in whatever we find ourselves doing.

How do we bring this back around to friends? I have found for myself that I can get so carried away in the topic of conversation that I only insert my “wisdom” rather than adding biblical wisdom. I let my opinions and thoughts direct the conversation more than what the Bible has to say about it. It’s not wrong to have an opinion about things but how do I view my opinion and how do I present it to others?

I’ve also found myself hesitant to ask for prayer or wisdom at certain times. It’s not that I don’t trust my friends for good advice; it’s more pride that I don’t want them to know what I’m struggling with. I have times when it’s easy to let me daily Bible reading slip. I shouldn’t be too embarrassed to text a friend and ask her to keep me accountable. Is one of my children struggling with rebellion? Asking a friend or family member to pray is a good idea.

God created us to live in community. He instituted marriage and family and church. He wants us to commune with one another, love one another, forgive one another, help one another. And ultimately, to serve God together. We do these things best when we are honest about our struggles, open about burdens, and when biblical wisdom flows easily from our lips.

Photo by Johannes W on Unsplash

Taking Time to Pray

If I’m being honest, prayer is one of the hardest things for me.

It should be one of the easiest, but making consistent time to sit undistracted and pray can be a challenge. However, having a consistent prayer life is one of the most important disciplines we need to cultivate.

As with many things in life, we often think until we’re ready to do it “perfectly” we shouldn’t do it. The perfect time to sit uninterrupted, the perfect notebook to write requests in. But the truth is, there will not be a perfect moment or setup. We need to just begin! Here are a few things I’ve found helpful as I try to make a habit of prayer.

Make a list

Lists are helpful in many areas of life and prayer is no different. I have found it easier to stay focused and not get distracted when I have a list of prayer requests I can focus on. As I hear of needs from family and friends, I write them down and keep the paper or notebook within easy grabbing distance.

Give thanks

Days can be dark and discouraging. At times it’s difficult to find the words to pray, even with a list. At moments like this, I begin with thankfulness. Reciting the good things God has done for me or provided helps encourage me to bring more before him and also refocuses my mind.

Routine

They say it takes 59-70 days to create a new habit. Something I have found helpful in many disciplines of life is to attach the new habit to a certain time of day or regular activity. I try to begin and end my days with prayer. Before I fall asleep, I think back on that day and ask forgiveness, praise God, bring requests and burdens. Anything about that day that pops into my mind. In the morning before I get out of bed, I give my day over to God, ask for help in certain activities, etc. Here’s another blog post I wrote about attaching prayer to something else as a reminder to pray.

evaluate the day

I realized there were moments in everyday that I was wasting. I was scrolling on my phone, sitting at my desk wondering what I should be doing, researching things I didn’t plan to buy. And I decided when I caught myself doing some mindless task that didn’t need doing, I would pray.

Often the biggest challenge to prayer is our own attitudes. We don’t want to take the time or we think it has to involve closing eyes, kneeling, etc. The truth is, prayer is for every hour of every day. This is what I Thess. 5:17 is talking about when the Bible says, “Pray without ceasing.” God knows we have tasks that need to be done. He’s not saying we need to kneel at our beds 24/7. But wherever we are, we can come before him in prayer.

How will you incorporate prayer into your daily life?

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Friendship

I’ve said it before and I’ll repeat it my entire life: I have wonderful friends.

Life is never without drama but for the majority of my life, I have experienced encouraging, uplifting, helpful friendships. And as I’ve gotten older, I feel the importance and value of treasuring the relationships I have. I am aware many of my peers have pain and heartache to look back on and as I walk with my pre-teen daughter {she’s told me the correct term is “tween”}, I’ve been reminded of how difficult friend transitions can be.

No matter what age we are, it’s difficult to begin again. To find people we click with, who get our sense of humor, who enjoy the same activities, who give us hard truth when we need it and listen when we grieve. True friends that will stand by you through laughter and heartache. That will build memories and forgive the disagreements.

I’ve also been astounded to realize how unlikely some of my friendships are. I don’t have cookiecutter friends; they have different strengths, talents, pet peeves, and struggles. And they are also not all like me. Some of my friends are not into reading {I know, gasp!}, one friend doesn’t like donuts or desserts with fruit in them, several of my friends are competitive {I’ll include a few in-laws here}, and one friend, in a truly mind-shattering moment in high school, thought she was being original in creating a football team called the Pittsburgh Steelers {face palm, for sure!}. I have friends talented in music, baking, decorating, art and all things creative.

My point is, part of the benefit of friendship is what we learn and teach and give each other. It doesn’t mean I have to give up donuts or never talk about books — because both of those sound impossible. But I can discover new things, like trying audiobooks or cooking a new recipe. I can encourage them with where they are while they cheer me on in my place of ministry.

My life is richer and fuller because of my friendships. They are worth every minute, every bit of energy I invest. I never take them for granted and I am truly grateful.

Photo by Andrew Moca on Unsplash

A Summer in Proverbs

In May, I wrapped up a Bible study with some ladies. We had been going through Proverbs for several months and as we ended, I realized I was only starting to understand it. There are so many themes and pictures and repeated ideas.

So I decided for the next three months {June, July, August} I would read a chapter in Proverbs a day, make notes, study deeper into word meanings and comparisons. So over the course of the summer, I read Proverbs three times. Here’s {some} of what I learned:

1. The line between the wicked and the righteous is distinct. There is no straddling a fence when Proverbs talks about these two. The evil choose one path/decisions that lead to death and the righteous choose the opposite path/decisions that lead to life.

2. The mouth is important to God! I was amazed at how much this one book had to say about the mouth, tongue, lips, gossip, etc. Sometimes it was phrased in terms of, “Speak like this…” Other times, it was clear warning, “The fool speaks…” I was very convicted by these verses about how we use words and what we say. I anticipate a deeper study into just this aspect of Proverbs in my future!

3. The five types of fools. As I read several different translations of Proverbs, I noticed several words were used to reference a fool or a foolish person. My dad {who was teaching Proverbs in Sunday School} gave a very helpful breakdown of how five words for a foolish person were different from each other. They ranged from a simple ignorance to a blatant turning from God. I found it very helpful to keep these in mind while I read.

4. I still have a lot to learn! One would think reading the same thing three months in a row would give me a leg up! And while I do feel like I learned a lot and understand Proverbs better than I did before, I still found myself, reading chapter 28 and thinking, “This seems familiar, what chapter was this already in? What does that word mean?” Inexhaustible is definitely a word I would use to describe reading and learning from the Bible!

Now that the summer of Proverbs has ended, I’m slowly reading through Psalms and studying it as time allows and keeping up with my chronological study. There’s always something to learn!

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Cling to the Rock

Our family recently returned from a vacation in Hawaii. My husband and I had been 15 years ago but this was the first time for our kids. We filled our days with beaches, the pool, hikes, and trying as many local fruits as possible.

After the thrill of stepping in the Pacific and running up and down the beach to avoid oncoming waves, my son came to me a little disheartened.

“I see fish and things in the sand but the waves keep coming and I loose them.” I assured him we would go to a place where the waves wouldn’t be a problem. He looked doubtful.

The next day, we went to a beautiful lagoon that was by several large resorts. {Side note: our local Hawaiian friends told us no one can own beaches in Hawaii, all beaches are open for anyone to use even “on resort property.”} We parked the car, walked up a grassy hill, and down into the sand. After a layer of sunscreen, the kids made a beeline for the water. And they instantly noticed something: no waves. The water was completely calm.

This manmade cove or lagoon had rocks piled against the ocean side, breaking the waves and keeping the water inside the cove calm and shallow. There were fish, crabs, even a sea cucumber. It was a great place to learn to snorkel and we built sand castles, swam in circles, and enjoyed the afternoon.

The thing was, on the other side of that rock barrier, waves crashed and hit and were just as rough as ever. The rocks didn’t keep the waves from being waves, they simply protected those in the cove.

As I sat on the beach, happily digging and watching the kids, I couldn’t help but think about all the Psalms that mention God as our Rock. We usually think of this in terms of God’s strength and solidness, a firm foundation we can trust in. But it also points us to how he protects us. The waves of the world are constant and relentless. Sin pounds at us from all sides. It can be just as exhausting as standing up to physical waves all day. But when we seek shelter in the Rock of our Salvation {God}, we can hide behind him and find peace and rest from the waves.

Meditate on these words from Psalm 62:

1 I am at rest in God alone;

my salvation comes from Him.

2 He alone is my rock and my salvation,

my stronghold; I will never be shaken.

No matter how high those waves struck on that Hawaiian beach, we were safe behind the rocks that made our lagoon. We didn’t even think about the possibility of the tide pulling us deeper into the water or the waves knocking us down. We were happy, secure, and enjoying the beauty around us.

God does the same. Life isn’t perfect or trouble free because we’re clinging to the Rock but we know he’s there. We know the sin and wickedness of the world can’t move him. We know we can always find refuge in him. When you feel as if the waves are pulling you away from the safety of the Rock, read Psalm 91. God is our refuge, our fortress. In him we can trust.

Photo by Wei Zeng on Unsplash

Why We Read the Bible

I know hard things aren’t bad; in fact, many times it’s the difficult, frustrating things that grow us the most. But if we had a choice, I think we would gravitate toward the easy side of things. I think this is also true of our Christian growth. We WANT to be more biblically literate, we WANT to have a close relationship with God, we WANT to have wisdom for how to live. But those take time, effort, energy. It doesn’t happen overnight or reading the Bible one morning. It takes commitment for the long haul {your lifetime}. You will read hard truths, you will come across things that take extra time and study to understand. But you will grow.

I believe Bible reading and prayer are two of the hardest disciplines we need to cultivate. In theory, they sound so easy but in practice, it takes commitment and a conscious decision to include both of these in your day.

One of the most helpful things for me to remember when I’m struggling with Bible reading is that God wants me to know him. He gave us the Bible so we could know him personally, so we would know how to live in this world and what he has promised. This isn’t an impossible task set before us by an impersonal God. It is an invitation to grow closer to the One who created all things. Yes, maybe it’s hard some days but it’s worth every effort and every moment of time.

I’ve found it the most difficult to read my Bible when it becomes a task, a checklist instead of something I’m looking forward to. So how do I look forward to it? Below are some ideas.

• I always have a notebook with me when I read the Bible. I write down questions I have about the passage, verses that stick out to me, and things I hadn’t noticed before. This helps keep my mind engaged and it keeps familiar passages/stories fresh.

• I look for what the section I’m reading is teaching about God. When I was younger, I was always curious why God included some things and not others. Out of all the history of the Israelites or miracles of Jesus, why were these given to the biblical writers to record as inspired? God doesn’t do anything on accident or mistake. So what we have in the Bible has been given for a purpose: to teach us about God and who he is compared to who we are. {NOTE: this is one of the things I love about The Bible Recap podcast and book. The host/author offers a “God Shot” of what in that day’s reading taught her about God. It’s so helpful!}

• Some days when I know it’s going to be crazy, I choose to listen to my Bible app for that day’s reading. This engages my mind in a different way than reading and it keeps me in the Word even if I know I won’t have time to sit a read. I also like having it on for my kids to listen to.

• Ask a friend to keep you accountable or have someone you can text each day with one verse or thought from that day’s reading. I love hearing what my friends are reading and learning from the Bible and I often benefit from their insights.

Imagine a world without the Bible. It truly is an amazing gift from God that we can read, listen to, and share it. But it won’t just happen. We need to make the decision to include it in our day and then to live out the principles we discover. I’d love to hear what you are reading! Comment below and let’s encourage each other on!

.Photo by Rachel Strong on Unsplash

Longing for Home

Recently I was walking around my neighborhood with my four-year-old who had chosen to scooter. After about 15 minutes, she declared her legs were giving out and she just couldn’t go on. We stopped for a minute to rest and than I told her we were on our street. We were almost home.

She immediately began singing the chorus to “Almost Home” by Matt Papa and Matt Boswell. It’s become a favorite of hers, although she doesn’t understand it’s talking about something much better than just our physical home. The song is urging Christians to keep fighting and pressing on here knowing heaven — our eternal home — awaits.

While she eagerly stood on her scooter, swinging her left leg to hit the pavement and send her down the sidewalk, I thought about the song she continued to sing. And as her volume got louder the closer we came to our house, I wondered if our enthusiasm for heaven is as exuberant as that little girl cruising into the driveway.

It’s interesting to me that many Christians have recently begun to talk about longing for heaven because things are so bad in our broken world. But really, even if everything was perfect here, our true desire should be heaven, right? Eternity in the Lord’s presence, free from the distractions of this world, nothing tarnished by sin.

You see, this world has been flawed since Adam and Eve chose the fruit over obedience. People have been longing for heaven and communion with God for thousands of years, not only based on what was happening around them but because they believed eternity with God was better than anything a sinful world could give.

But it’s very easy to get used to this world and it can be difficult to long for something that’s completely foreign: a sinless existence. I remember as a child, thinking of heaven in terms of just like earth but with nothing bad. But as I got older, I realized how much sin has polluted and corrupted everything — even things we might consider good or nice have a shade of this fallen world about them. It’s difficult to imagine a place perfect, whole, sinless.

And it’s incredibly easy to get used to what is around us, what we are familiar with, the only thing we know. Yet in the heart of every believer should be a longing, a fervent desire for our eternal home. Even though we’ve never seen it, we should have an excited anticipation for what God has promised.

If you aren’t familiar with the song I mentioned above, I encourage you to look for it on Spotify, Apple Music, wherever you listen to tunes. It’s a joyful, encouraging reminder that this place is temporary; it may be dark but dawn is coming. Press on, Christian, we’re almost home.

Photo by Dawid Zawila on Unsplash