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

Being Consistent

On our family trip to Hawaii last year, our children were allowed to pick out souvenirs at a few places we visited. At one stop, my son chose a lucky cat {much like the picture above}. When the sun hits the cat, its paw waves up and down with a slight clicking sound.

Every morning, when I open the curtains in his room and the morning sunlight falls on his cat figure, the clicking and waving immediately begin and they continue until the sun moves and the cat is covered in shadow.

This daily routine and noise caused me to think about being consistent in aspects of life. Consistency is a trait that seems to be falling away. People have so many pulls on their attention and time that they have trouble being consistent, especially in areas where it matters.

I freely admit that this is a struggle for me at times. Consistency requires time, effort, and a conscious drive to do what we know we should do, not only what we feel like doing.

Bible reading

We know we should and yet…it’s difficult to consistently open God’s Word and read it. Why? Maybe we find it boring. Maybe we believe there’s nothing new to understand. Maybe we don’t make it a priority so it naturally gets squeezed out of our routine.

None of these are valid excuses. The old adage “You make time for what’s important to you” is very accurate here. If we love the Bible, if we hunger to know God better, we will certainly prioritize time reading the Bible. But we have to decide and commit to consistently be in the Word.

I prefer to read a physical copy for my daily devotions but if I know it’s going to be a crazy day, I listen to the Bible on my phone while doing my makeup, washing dishes, etc. However it works for you, do it!

Prayer

One of the hardest things for me is prayer. Not because it’s difficult but because I get so wrapped up in other things or worry that I just don’t think about it. Until I’m convicted that I’ve been trying to solve the problem on my own instead of laying it before God.

Having a consistent prayer life is important for every Christian. Not because it gives us a step up in bragging rights or eternal glory but because we are coming before our Creator and he hears us! Our worries, requests, hardships, questions, praise all matter to him and he welcomes us into fellowship with himself. We should be clamoring to spend time in prayer!

Consistently talking with our Lord strengthens our faith, teaches us to rely on him, and helps us grow in our Christian walk.

Discipline

Until you’ve told a child to stop a certain behavior several times in one morning, you might not realize what a struggle for consistency this is. It’s easy to think we’ve said no enough, we’ve sent them to their rooms enough, they’ve been punished enough. But if your children are still struggling with that sinful habit, we must keep being consistent in how we deal with it.

I’m not telling you how to discipline your kids here, although I certainly have thoughts on it. I’m telling you being consistent in dealing with sin is an important part of discipline in general. If we correct our children for throwing a fit up until the tenth time then let them go because we’re tired of dealing with it, they will always persist until that tenth time because they have learned you can be worn down and then they get what they want.

kindness

This shouldn’t need to be said but we are sinful people living with and among other sinful people and sometimes we snap! I have found being kind, compassionate, nice, etc. are not taken as the norm. In fact, in some situations, smiling and speaking kindly stand out as a rare thing. Think of moments where frustrations, tempers, and attitudes tend to run high. Now imagine being the person working in that environment, where everyday people are yelling, glaring, or upset with you but you can’t always solve the problem {I’m thinking of customer service and flight representatives, hotel staff, but I’m sure there are others}.

Most of these interactions will probably be the only time you’ll speak to the people in question, but if we choose to just be kind consistently, it will be easier to default to that attitude when we might be tempted to blow up. And of course this applies to family, coworkers, friends, and people we see on a regular basis.

Every morning, that clicking, waving cat greets me and it doesn’t show signs of slowing down. But every morning I’m reminded why being consistent in my Christian life matters.

Photo by Charles Deluvio 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

Faithfulness

We’re still in that bubble at the beginning of the year where people are envisioning and resolving and dreaming of all the possibilities that 2022 might hold. But sometimes, we struggle to take that first step. We know the end goal we want to achieve but how do we get there?

Maybe we’re afraid of doing it wrong or making a mistake or failing. Maybe we believe we need to sit back and let God work. Maybe we’re waiting for a sign that never comes so year after year we press toward the same goal but we never get any closer.

One thing I’ve learned in life is that it’s not passive. Yes, we need to be wise and sometimes steps are slow and steady instead of fast and furious. But we need to keep showing up and doing what God has called us to. Often that means just doing the next thing. And sometimes we don’t know exactly how the next thing is going to help us or serve God but we keep going.

When I was going into my last year in high school, the seniors had the option of taking one university class for credit. Most of my friends were taking History of Civilization which was a class famous for the amounts of reading you needed to do and dates you had to memorize. I wanted to do something different. I decided to take a language since I knew my major would require two years. But which language?

My mom had been working with a lady from the Ukraine and I loved how the Russian language sounded, not harsh like German but fluid, smooth. So with no reason but that, I signed up for first year Russian and bought my textbooks. I’ll be honest and say it was hard. I spent hours in the language lab after class listening to phrases and repeating them into a microphone and practicing writing in a different alphabet.

I enjoyed the class, my teacher made it interesting, but it was hard. There were times I wondered why I was doing this and if I’d made the wrong choice in choosing this class, this language. At the beginning of second semester, our teacher gave us a heads up: our final for the year would be to recite the wordless book with at least two Bible verses per section. It ended up being two pages of Russian text to memorize and we had to understand what we were saying enough to answer questions our teacher asked about the Gospel.

During this same semester, my senior class was preparing to go to New York City for a missions trip. It was a busy few months but just before finals, we loaded into buses and drove to Brooklyn. One of the afternoons, we held a children’s club at the church and we shared the Gospel message using wordless books. Just before we started, several classmates excitedly ran up to me and said there were two Russian children in the back who didn’t understand much English.

With nerves rattling, I approached and introduced myself and asked if I could explain this book without words to them in Russian. They sat by me while I slowly staggered through every section, every Bible verse I had spent the semester memorizing for my final. They left the kids club with a Russian tract, a wordless book, and the gospel. I have no idea if they ever visited the church again but a seed was planted by a very overwhelmed and nervous high schooler.

It’s an extremely humbling experience to be used by God. To take your simple efforts and things you’ve unknowingly been cultivating and have God use them in ways you never imagined. When I set out to take Russian, I never dreamed that nine months later I would be witnessing in another language to two children who knew nothing of the Gospel. When my teacher assigned us that final project to work on, I had no idea my missions team would be sharing that same material in the children’s program. But God…

I often think when we set out to make resolutions and reach our goals, we only have that in mind: our goals. Our desires. Our purposes. But how much richer our lives become when we set our priorities on God’s desires for us. What he has for us this year, this month, this day. And while we can’t anticipate everything God has for us, we can practice faithfulness, right here, where he’s placed us.

It’s impossible to know how God will use what we’re doing today for the future. But that’s okay. We don’t need to know the ends and outs of what God will do or how. We just need to be faithful where we are. We need to be praying for opportunities and studying the Bible so we know what to say when the need arises. How will you be faithful today?

Photo by Charles Black on Unsplash

Good, Better, Best

One of the joys of being a homeschooling mom is that I get to teach my kids about many different things.

The hard thing about being a homeschooling mom is that I have to teach my kids about many different things.

Do those seem at odds? Let me explain. I don’t just get to teach the fun things that I love and find interesting. Things like literature, history, geography, and art are all really fascinating and, I think, fun to teach. But then I also have those other subjects. Things like math and science and grammar that just aren’t…fun. And because they don’t appeal to me, I don’t always enjoy the process of laying out the facts behind these subjects.

But what! You might be asking, “How can a person who loves reading and writing not like grammar?! Aren’t those related?” Well, here’s the thing. Because I’ve been reading and writing for so long and have loved to for so long, the grammar is kind of lost on me. I don’t think about the rules or parts of speech or the technical terms of what I’m doing. I just use the language and it makes sense to me. It sounds right.

So when I’m faced with explaining to my children how to diagram a sentence, what the different phrases in a sentence are, singular vs plural rules, and tenses…it just doesn’t excite me. I find it monotonous and it’s really hard for me to not just say, “Can’t you hear why that’s not right?” to my second grader who’s never heard a word labeled as a direct object before.

I know a lot of people have issue with the weirdness of the English language {been there} and one of the harder things to teach and get is when a word doesn’t follow the rules. My son and I were talking about adding an -er or -est to a word {like fast, faster, fastest} to help us describe something more clearly when he — totally believing he had caught on and was about to impress me — said, “Like good, gooder, goodest!” To which I took a deep breath, prepared myself, and said, “Nope. Some words, like ‘good’ have their own rules.” His eye roll and frustration were completely understood.

That launched us into a conversation on good, better, and best and why it gets special attention. Then we practiced using each word correctly {He is good at math but she is better at spelling}. And it got me thinking about the good, better, and best situations in our lives.

Sometimes in practical living it’s difficult to distinguish between what is good and better. We want to believe that the opportunities we choose are the best options for us. The things that we want to do, the choices that offer the biggest paybacks or results or growth. We want to be people that choose the best for us and our families.

Often the problem comes when we have to stop doing something good in order to do something better. If you’re like me, you think, “I can just cram this other thing into my life because it’s a good choice but I don’t want to give up anything I’m currently doing…because those are all good things too!” But then all the running around to all the “good” things wears us out. We become short and temperamental with our families because we’re tired. We don’t fully enjoy the things we’re doing because we always have one foot out the door to “get to the next thing.” We moan over our busyness but we don’t want to give anything up. “It’s all good,” we tell ourselves.

But sooner or later, something will break. Something will have to be given up, no matter how “good” it is. And sadly, as a pastor’s wife I’ve often seen church as one of the first “good” things to go. People have offered reasons like “Our family just needs a day to ourselves” “We’ll be back when schedules slow down” “We want to be there but we’re so busy” and on they go. What breaks my heart in these excuses is that people are choosing to give up the best thing for their family {being in a church community, learning about God together} for a good thing.

These “good things” vary but when I talk with people, it usually comes down to prioritizing other things and getting so tired they need a free day and that becomes Sunday. Because it’s easier to not come to church on Sunday than miss a soccer game on Saturday. You see, extra curricular things for your kids aren’t bad. Those can be good things that teach valuable lessons. But when you choose to spend so much time on those that your family is too tired to come to church, the “good” activities have replaced a better option {i.e. church}.

Now I know vacations, sickness, unforeseen circumstances happen and keep us from meeting on Sundays. Even as a pastor’s family, we miss services on occasion. But when we get into the habit of making Sunday our “free day” and we do all the good things through the week, thinking we can always regroup on Sunday if it’s too much, we need to seriously reevaluate what we consider good, better, and best in our lives.

And this isn’t just about church. Think how easily we can push daily Bible reading and prayer out because “We have to get to work, take the kids to school, get homeschool done, have coffee with that friend, tackle those chores, make dinner, get everyone to their after school activities…” Now when we read this list, these things aren’t bad. Most of them are necessary {work, food, education, etc.} but when the list takes the place of spending time in God’s Word, we need to think about our priorities and how things can be rearranged to give more time for the best thing.

It’s difficult to stop doing something “good” in pursuit of something “better.” Sometimes it feels like we failed or gave up. But the truth is we can’t do everything and our culture is constantly bombarding us with possibilities. Sometimes certain seasons of life mean we can’t do all the good things we want. But that season will pass and we can say yes to other things.

As nice as it would be, there are no hard and fast rules for what is “good, better, and best” in our lives. Choosing the best requires us to take an honest look at our lives continually. What is good today might need to be replaced by something better next week. But, unlike pesky grammar rules, I can guarantee that choosing God over whatever the world throws our way will ALWAYS be the best choice. Reading your Bible, praying, being in a church family should never be cut out to make room for something better. Because that “something better” will not be worth it.

Photo by Patrick Bald on Unsplash

Making Sense of the Puzzle

We’ve been a puzzling family lately. By that I mean we’ve been working a lot of puzzles!

When my oldest was younger, she worked puzzles constantly. We started with 9 piece puzzles, moved to 24 then 48. She would ask for a new puzzle every time we went to the Dollar Store and work it as soon as we got home. I was always amazed that as a four year old, she could look at the pieces, observe the colors and patterns, and patiently work through it.

I showed her to put the edge together first and work from the outside in. She would try a piece, turn it all four ways, then pick up the next piece. We did puzzles more than we played games.

My son was completely different at that age. He loved the idea of a puzzle — of taking all those pieces and making one picture — but he hated the process of doing it. He didn’t like turning all the pieces face up before beginning, finding all the edge pieces before jumping into the ‘fun’ part of the actual picture, trying a piece and not having it fit. Even wood puzzles with the shapes cut out were never his favorite.

But recently our family interest in puzzles has picked up again. We bought some educational ones for school and have made family nights of working them by the fireplace, taken breaks during our school morning to put a few pieces together, and turned on movies to serve as a nice distraction for the kids while Tommy and I work through the difficult parts.

The thing about puzzles is that it takes time. There is prepping an area, sorting the pieces, getting everything face up and spread out. Then you find the corners and edges and just start trying to fit pieces together. It is daunting at first; the perfectly clear picture on the front of the box looks nothing like that jumble of shapes staring at you now. Sometimes it’s hard to know where to focus or what you’re doing. You may sit at the puzzle an hour and see very little progress. But if you want it completed, you have to keep coming back and working through the impossible sections and trying again.

This is the way Bible study is at times. We love the thought of knowing God’s Word, of having an answer for difficult questions, of growing closer to God. But when we sit down to read, we get discouraged. Maybe we’re confused about what the Bible is teaching or why certain passages matter.

However, just like working a puzzle, if we give up when it gets difficult, we’ll never get any farther. Our understanding of the Bible will only grow if we put in the time and effort to actually study it. This means reading it daily, praying for guidance and understanding, consulting commentaries or reference books when we’re stumped, and looking up words we don’t understand.

Psalm 119 is all about why God’s Word is so important to not only know but to apply to our lives and meditate on. It shouldn’t surprise us that the longest chapter in the Bible is about the richness of the Bible!! Consider these words:

How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.

With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!

Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You. {119:9-11}

My soul melts from heaviness; Strengthen me according to Your word.

Remove from me the way of lying, And grant me Your law graciously.

I have chosen the way of truth; Your judgments I have laid before me.

I cling to Your testimonies; O Lord, do not put me to shame! {119:28-31}

Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, For I delight in it.

Incline my heart to Your testimonies, And not to covetousness.

Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, And revive me in Your way. {119:35-37}

And those are just in the first 37 of 176 verses! Reading and studying the Bible is a necessary daily habit for all Christians. No matter how long you’ve been saved or how many times you attend church, you need to daily, personal practice of being in God’s Word for yourself.

Even when you don’t see the whole picture of the puzzle and the pieces of what God is doing don’t seem to fit, don’t get discouraged! Keep reading, keep studying, keep praying. It’s the most important way you can spend your time.

Photo by Hans Peter Gauster on Unsplash.

Hospitality in a Socially Distanced World

One of the strange things about this whole quarantine thing is how it changed relationships.

As a pastor’s family, we would regularly have people into our home for dinner, brunch, chats, playdates, and parties. We have always viewed our home as a part of our ministry and since March, it’s been difficult to use it as such.

We realize that different people are comfortable with different things; we have friends who wear masks all the time, who take six feet of distance seriously, and we also have friends who don’t mind a quick hug and maskless visits. Tommy and I have talked about how we go forward, respecting the boundaries and feelings of others while still showing hospitality and concern.

And we’ve come to the conclusion that it all comes down to grace. We step forward and ask if they would be comfortable coming to our home. And if they say no, we graciously accept it and move on. As humans, we have a tendency to take things personally. A no for any reason is viewed as some kind of personal rejection. But in this time of pandemic, we can’t take affront at others choices. We need to be gracious and caring.

The true gift of being hospitable is that it isn’t about the person showing hospitality. It’s about the person receiving it. Just like gift giving, if we give gifts because we want to be praised or loved or seen, the value of the gift is diminished. Instead, we give gifts to show love, appreciation, and because we enjoy helping others. We have people to our homes for the same reasons; not because we want recognition for how amazing we are but because we want to demonstrate care and love for those invited.

The difficulty comes now. How do you show hospitality when you aren’t comfortable opening your home? Or when those you invite politely decline for social distancing. Or maybe your state has limited what you are allowed to do. Does hospitality cease in the times of COVID? I hope not. In fact, I believe hospitality is important now more than ever.

We feel disconnected, lonely, absent from each other lives. Studies have shown depression is on the rise as events are cancelled, visits postponed, vacations impossible, and people confined to their home. We need to share hope and love and encouragement in Christ like never before. And that might mean how we show hospitality looks a little different now. Here are some ideas to encourage others when faced with isolation.

1. Send notes. I love getting mail, even a postcard, and I know other people do to. It takes a little effort to write and stamp and address and mail a letter but the encouragement is just as heartfelt. My kids loved drawing pictures that we sent to some elderly people from church to brighten their day.

2. Call or text. I have friends who regularly check up on me via technology. We text Bible verses, prayer requests, give life updates on Marco Polo and Messenger, send GIFs. It’s all about letting people know we think and care about them.

3. Socially Distanced coffee. If the weather is still nice, meet at a park or outdoor restaurant for a quick catch up.

4. Drop off treats. Put tasty treats, candle, lotion, etc. in a gift bag and leave it on someone’s front porch. Or wrap up homemade bread or cookies and deliver it. Even if you don’t see their smiling faces of gratitude, the gesture will be appreciated.

It might require thinking outside the box of what we consider being hospitable but really, it’s the thought, the time, the action that makes the difference. Hospitality doesn’t have to be having people into our homes. It is anything we do for others. And we can still be thoughtful even with the wild ride that 2020 has been.

Photo by Kate Macate on Unsplash

Does Worldview Matter?

In Christianity, there are many ‘buzz words’ that people talk about, debate, and hold as important.

Something we don’t often think about is our worldview.

We think, “I’m a Bible believing, born again Christian” and that’s the end. While it should be that simple, our culture and world has a way of making everything more complicated. Or maybe you naively believe it’s not important to have a worldview. So what is a worldview and why is it important?

The dictionary definition of a worldview is “a comprehensive conception or image of the universe and of humanity's relation to it.” Let’s break that down.

Comprehensive - a large scope or a thorough understanding of something.

Conception - an idea, beginning, or plan.

Universe - the cosmos, space.

Humanity - the human race, all people in the world.

Relation - a connection, or the association between things.

By putting all these pieces together, we could restate that your worldview is a “thorough understanding of an idea or plan of the cosmos and how the human race connects with it.”

Despite what the world may tell you, everyone has a worldview. Everyone has some framework or idea for how all people relate to the rest of the world and all the universe. It’s basically the backbone of what you believe and how you interact with the world because of what you believe. Even if someone doesn’t believe in a god or follow a certain religious belief, everyone believes in something. Even humanism is a belief. Even atheism is a belief.

So if you don’t think a worldview is important or you don’t think you have one, what do you think after reading these definitions? Does it sound important for how you frame your thoughts on…

relationships with others {respect, love, empathy}

issues of life and death {abortion, euthanasia, murder}

authority {government, The Bible, God}

responsibilities {work ethic, gratitude, family}

Hopefully, you are beginning to see that your worldview — literally the way you view the world — touches and affects how you see everything!

Why can this be a difficult topic for Christians? Because there are a lot of ‘pastors’ and ‘Bible teachers’ who say they are Christians but do not have a biblical worldview on issues like a seven day creation, the authority of God, who Jesus is, homosexuality, abortion, race, marriage, etc. But because they call themselves a Christian or Christ follower, many people are led to believe the Bible is silent, neutral, or oblivious to these issues. And people follow those false teachers in the belief that the world or science has the answers and the Bible is outdated or ignorant. When you aren’t using the Bible as the lens for how you see and live in this fallen world, it’s going to be very easy to simply follow the game plan of the world.

Put that way, worldview sounds a little more important, doesn’t it?

This may sound shocking but hear me out. There are two sides — God and Satan. If you aren’t following what God has laid out for us in the Bible, you are following Satan. The Bible is clear that the Devil is not a passive participant in what goes on {I Peter 5:8}. He knows God wins in the end but he isn't a quiet loser. He wants to deceive and bring down as many people as possible and he uses any means he can to do it.

When we don't keep the truth of the Bible before us and use it as our guide for how we live and what we believe, we will be susceptible to believe what we hear in the world. Satan is a good liar! Remember his deceit with Eve {Gen. 3:1-5}? He tempted her with half truths. He didn't directly attack God or his character. He asked a question and lied. The fruit looked good {Gen. 3:6}! The lies of a secular worldview look good! False Christians sound like they get it and they throw in enough truth to make us listen. If we are only hearing them and our own wisdom, we will easily be swayed.

Second Timothy 3:16-17 reminds us that Scripture was given by God to teach, rebuke, correct, and train us. Not so we can claim wisdom on our own but to complete and equip us. So when Satan throws his lies via the world, we can know we stand on a firm foundation.

In case my arguments don’t convince you of the importance of your worldview, I highly recommend this podcast episode from a man who has been in the secular college circle and strongly advocates for Christians having a biblical worldview. Parts of his interview are specifically about preparing your children and teaching your children a biblical worldview, not just expecting them to ‘get it’ from living in a Christian home, but his points are worth considering for everyone.

Photo from Adolfo Felix on Unsplash

Your Work is Not in Vain

No matter what we’ve been called to in this life, no matter how much we love it or enjoy the ministry we have to others, there will be times when we wonder why. Why is it like this? Why am I trying? Or maybe we question the whats: What difference do I make? What does it matter if I pour myself into this thing I’ve been given? Another word for this could be discouragement.

I’m ashamed to admit I get discouraged easily. It’s something I’ve struggled with for a long time and something I’m continually working on. I’ve seen my share of times when I made an extra effort, spent time I didn’t have, waded deep with someone into hard things and it didn’t turn out how I thought. My efforts went unnoticed and unappreciated. The person I had spent hours helping went off and did the opposite of my counsel, basically walking away from me. And I thought, “Why did I try? What did all that accomplish?”

It’s easy in our finite, limited view of life to see what’s right in front of us and completely miss what might come. The immediate attracts our attention and gets noticed. But sowing seeds for the long haul? Why? We often don’t see the benefit.

A few weeks ago it was unseasonably warm where we live and I sent my two oldest kids outside for the afternoon. I soon heard them rushing inside, the flow of water in the sink, then the slam of a door as they headed out again. This happened about three times before I wandered outside to see what was going on. With pure excitement, my son informed me they had found seeds from some kind of tree, planted them, and were now diligently pouring water by the cupful onto the ground. That night he asked if he could check on his seeds the next day.

“Do you think my seedling will be above the ground tomorrow?” he asked.

I gently reminded him it takes awhile before we see a plant blooming. And that it was still a little early for anything to start sprouting outside. A few days later, a layer of snow confirmed my warning to not get his hopes up.

We might smile — as the wise, older adults we are — but our short sightedness in life is perfectly parallel to his five year old expectations. We stop praying for something because we don’t see an answer. We get discouraged when our situation is less than ideal. We give up on people that disappoint us. We decide to not put in effort when we don’t see a payoff.

But a verse that keeps coming up in conversations, readings, and posts is Romans 12:12 —

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Here we have three things that Christians are told to practice: joy, patience, and consistency. And all of these take time! We rejoice because we have hope for the future in Christ. Patience is not something that develops overnight and especially when we want to give in, we need to wait for how the Lord will work. Finally, we are called to pray (I Thess. 5:17) and we need to approach everything with the attitude that God will answer — in His time and way. Our responsibility is to be consistent in asking Him to work.

It’s easy to believe that if we don’t see results for our work immediately we don’t need to keep trying. But just as it takes time for seeds in the garden to mature, we must continue on with what we have been called to do. It might get discouraging, the process might be hard, but we are not alone in our efforts. God gives the strength and ability for everything we do and everything we do is for Him.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash.

The Importance of the Journey

I love a freshly weeded flowerbed. Nothing but beautiful flowers and clean mulch, nothing sticking out where it shouldn’t be. Just beauty.

The problem is I hate weeding.

Sitting in the dirt, grabbing as close to the base as possible so I pull the root, frustration when I get a handful of weed ‘leaves’ and no root, time in the hot sun, and the knowledge that those weeds I just pulled will somehow come back next week.

I dread and put off the process while looking with envy at weed-free flowerbeds, somehow forgetting that they are weed-free because of effort on someone’s part. I want the success and satisfaction of the goal without the time and effort required to get there.

The crazy thing is my kids are the same way. My son really wants to read but he doesn’t want to learn how to sound out individual letters. My daughter wants to play songs on the piano but sighs in frustration at the simple exercises she has to practice to learn scales and fingerings. And I remind them constantly that practicing and doing the little things will result in greater things. But it takes time and energy and diligence and faithfulness. Now. Today.

I really need to apply my own peptalks to myself.

I think many of us struggle with the idea of the journey. Making the little steps now toward a bigger future goal. We want to arrive, to achieve something, to reach a goal. We want to be a certain weight or master a skill. But it’s the pesky little daily practice that proves so difficult.

Our Christian walk can have the same frustrations. We think how content we’ll be once we reach a certain point in our Christian life. We’ll be the one mentoring others, we’ll know all the encouraging Bible verses, we’ll understand all the difficult passages. But daily Bible reading? Who has time for that? Actually studying a passage instead of just skimming it? That would take too much effort. We want to skip the journey, the actual process of learning and growing. But as with all tasks, the journey is necessary to reach the end.

We can point to numerous biblical characters who had to wait through a long journey before they reached the desired goal. Sarah was barren for decades. Joseph was in prison for crimes he didn’t commit after being unfairly sold into slavery. The Israelites were forty years on a literal journey through the wilderness before reaching the Promised Land. David knew he would be king years before it happened and once he was king, life didn’t get any easier.

The important thing to remember is that when we’re in the process of learning, doing, waiting, God doesn’t leave us. He is walking the journey with us, helping us, loving us, proving himself faithful. As much as we want to skip this step in life, it is in the journey that we learn the most and see God work. If we skipped straight to the end goal, oh the blessings we would miss! The journey isn’t glamorous or always fun and it usually requires patience and consistent effort, but how much more satisfying it is in the end.

So if I were to sit down with you and we were to talk about the waiting stage you’re in and how I hate weeding and just want the results without the effort, I would smile and nod in agreement and then encourage you to keep on being faithful. Because the journey is just as important as the destination.

Photo by Nanda Green on Unsplash

The Long Road of Faithfulness

Our family spent last weekend mourning the loss and celebrating the life of Tommy's grandpa. Death is bittersweet for Christians. There is sorrow for those left behind, facing moments without loved ones and adjusting to new routines. But there is also joy that pain and death and troubles of this world are gone for the departed. They are with God, praising, rejoicing in ways we can't fully fathom.

As we reflected on the life of Tommy's grandpa and his many years of Christian ministry, I was struck with a theme that is present in many Christian lives but not often noticed until death takes them from us. Faithfulness. The constant, consistent, day in-day out service that adds up over a lifetime.

And that, oddly, made me think about another big day that happened recently. Last week we received our much anticipated ants for our ant farm. After a very eventful transfer from mailing tube to plastic farm {meaning the ants suddenly woke up and started crawling all over the kitchen counter} we started watching the busy ants make their home. The incredible thing about ants is how they can lift those pieces of sand and carry them somewhere else, all in a coordinated effort to make a series of tunnels.

What does a faithful life have in common in ants? Well, the job of the ants is being consistent in their task. Grain by grain, piece by piece, they transfer piles of sand from one place to another. When we first poured the sand into the bottom of the ant farm, my son looked less than convinced that they would actually be able to make tunnels. “It’s too much,” he insisted. “They have nowhere to move the sand and they’re too small to dig it out.” But to our surprise, by the time we went to bed that first night, those industrious little ants were well on the way to making a home.

My son’s biggest misconception was that the ants were going to try and move all the sand from the tunnel in one trip. He pictured moving each grain as too time consuming, an impossible task for such small creatures. But he had ignored the importance of faithfully keeping on. Sometimes the job looks impossible and difficult and days in the making. Instead of dwelling on all the reasons why we couldn’t possibly do something, we must faithfully tackle each day and do what that day requires. Even when we don’t know how we could ever get through the rest of the week, we need to focus on what we can do today. And over a lifetime, oh the things we could do!

As people shared memories of Tommy’s grandpa last weekend, it was mainly little things that added up to great achievements. It was the daily faithfulness to do what he knew the Lord was calling him to do. As a mom with young kids, I often struggle. It’s so easy to get caught up in the big things. How will I handle my kids as teenagers, what if they want to do that, how can I teach them this? But you know the truth? All those things have roots in the here and now. You want your kids to trust God in the future? Then show them how it’s done now. While they’re young, while they look to you and come to you with questions.

Maybe we want to do big things but the time and energy we have are limited right now. We think what we get done today couldn’t possibly matter in the long run. Cooking, cleaning, laundry, outside the home jobs — it might seem so monotonous and unimportant. But faithful consistency where God has us today has influence we may never know. Maybe you are moving one grain of sand at a time, but over years of working at it, think at what will be built!

Faithfulness is a fruit of the Spirit so I know it’s something worth pursuing. I also know it doesn’t come naturally. But it is such a vital part of our relationship with God and our diligence in doing what he wants us to do. Small, faithful steps over a lifetime become a journey walked in God’s grace.

Photo by Vlad Tchompalov on Unsplash