Holiness ~ A Goal to Achieve

Main Entry: ho·ly
Pronunciation: 'hO-lE
Function: adjective Inflected Form(s): ho·li·er; -est Etymology: Middle English, from Old English hAlig; akin to Old English hAl whole
1 : exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness
2 : DIVINE
3 : devoted entirely to the deity or the work of the deity
4 a : having a divine quality b : venerated as or as if sacred
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"Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy'." I Peter 1:13-16
As I was reading these verses this morning, I decided that since this is a command given to us from our Heavenly Father, maybe I should understand more fully what the word holy means.
The first entry is one that I can only strive for. It is a goal that can never be completely realized because God is the only one that is worthy of complete devotion. I can only hope to become perfect in goodness and righteousness!
The third entry is what I want most. To be devoted entirely to the Lord Jesus and His work. I like how it uses the example of a temple. I am a temple of the Living God! This is a goal that is reachable for me as a mortal being. It will not come naturally. I must work to obtain it. I must be immersed in His Word and in communion with Him at all times. I must be a broken vessel that is constantly being poured into so that what I receive from my Father can freely spill out for others to see...especially my family.
I realize that right now, my husband and I are the main influences in the lives our children. They are gaining more influences as they get older, but right now as they are still young, they look up to their parents as an example of how to live.
Lord, help me to endeavor to be holy as You are. When my children look at me, help them to see a child of God wholly devoted to You and Your work.

Unique kids

Lord, thank you that my kids are all so different and unique! Please help me to remember this in the midst of the daily struggles to raise and train them. Help me to not deal with them as a group, but to deal with each child as an individual with individual needs.
Thank you that Julia has such a maternal touch with the little ones. Thank you that she is willing to help me with them when I need to be with one of her other siblings. Help her to learn to truly care for all of her brothers and sisters. Thank you for her ability to sing and play the piano. Help her to use this ability to glorify You.
Thank you for Jim's sensitivity to the Spirit working in Him. Thank you for his desire to be helpful to me. Thank you for the love that he has for small children. Please help him to not compare himself to others. Thank you for his artistic talents.
Thank you for Christiana. Thank you for her ability to make others laugh. Please help her to know when to use this ability and when not to! Thank you that she loves to serve others!
Thank you for Mark's love for work. Thank you that I can give him a job and I can know that he will get it done. Please help him to respond to his siblings with kindness. Thank you for his love of learning.
Thank you for Nathan's tenderness towards his Dad and me. Thank you that he still loves to sit and cuddle! Please help him to learn perseverance. Thank you for his love of animals.
Thank you for Matt. Thank you for his outgoing personality and his ability to make friends so easily. Please help him to not to react so strongly to negative situations. Thank you that he is so quick to forgive.
Thank you for Amanda. Thank you that she is learning to talk and to pretend with her siblings. Please help her to be happy even when she doesn't get her way. Thank you that she loves to sing.
Thank you for Alyssa. Thank you that she is such a content baby. Please help me to learn about the things that make her unique. Thank you for yet another blessing in our family.
Thank you Lord for all of my children and for my husband. May our family glorify You and be a blessing to You in all that we do!

Dirty, rotten, scoundrels!

My kids have set up a construction zone just outside the back door. We are building an addition, and so there is plenty of dirt for them to dig in. They have all their little bulldozers, dump trucks and cranes lined up and ready to go as soon as they step outside.
Well, someone had the great idea to add water to the construction site, because mud was more fun to dig in. While this may be true, mud is much messier to clean up than nice, dry dirt. Dirt just brushes off with your hand, and you can go inside the house. Not so with mud.
I went into the kitchen to start making dinner when I discovered the mud. The kids had first attempted their clean-up in my new sink. My blue counters were now brown. I noticed some little brown streams of water running down the cabinet doors. My floor was spotted with little muddy puddles. These puddles led to little drips of mud that led all the way to the back door.
After a bit of fussing on my part, I got around to sweeping and scrubbing both the kitchen and dining room floors as well as my counters. I heaved a sigh of relief that my new kitchen was now mud free, and went up to the bathroom. Surprise!!!! My tub was covered in a thin film of reddish brown mud. I guess the clean-up attempt at the sink didn't do a good enough job, so they moved on to the bathtub! What a mess! I must confess, I did a little more fussing after seeing that tub! Would the kids never learn to clean up after themselves??!!
The answer to that question is of course they will....Eventually! Until that time, I guess I will just resign myself to the fact that I am the resident maid in our house! I will have to clean up after the messes my children make many, many times, no matter how weary I am of doing so.
How tired God must get of cleaning up after my messes! Often, they are the same messes that I keep making, over and over again! Yet, He manages to clean my messes with such loving patience and kindness, that it shames me to think of my complaining attitude! Kids aren't born already trained. They need a tender, loving, and very patient hand to teach them. God has blessed me with the privilege of training these kids for Him, and I manage to find reasons to grumble and complain about their little messes! Really, what fun is playing in the dirt if you can't get dirty! It's the heart issues that I need to be concerned with, not a little mud on my kitchen floor.
Thank you God for blessing me with such wonderful kids! Help me to look deeper than the dirt on their outside, and help them clean up the "dirt" on the inside....where it really matters!

My patch of rich, juicy kids!

Our family went to a hayride at a farm with some of our friends this weekend. While all the kids and the dads were on the wagon, my friend and I and our two little ones decided to visit the raspberry patch. Well, the patch had already been harvested, and it looked like it was pretty dry and wasted, but if we looked carefully amidst the prickly bushes, we could still find some nice juicy berries. Mmmmm! What a treat! Once we discovered that the berries were there, we spent almost an hour searching carefully for the delicious fruit. We didn't put any of them in a basket - we ate every single one! (we were joined by our kids half way through, and we did share our find with them)
I am reminded of how often I look at my kids and only see the dried up leaves and the tangled prickly bushes of their lives. Our children's lives our so precious to the Father! He would not allow them to waste away to nothing. We need to carefully prune back the "dry branches" to find the rich fruit that is most certainly there.
Each one of my kids has something special and unique about them. I need to be diligent to uncover these characteristics daily. I need to look past their tangled sinful nature and discover the beauty of what they are becoming by God's grace.
Lord, help me to not only see the areas that my children need to improve in, but help me to rejoice daily in the areas that they excel in and be quick to point these areas out to them. It is not good to only look for the things that my kids need to change. They would probably feel like they could not do anything worthwhile. If I show them the good that I see, it will be an encouragement to continue to excel in that area and to persevere in other areas that need improvement. May I be faithful to always point them towards You.

Did you hear me?

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says."
James 1:22
I can't count the number of times that I've given one of my kids instruction, heard them respond correctly with "yes ma'am", and then find out that they went and either didn't do what I told them to or did what I told them not to do! Like when the boys asked me if they could out side and have a light saber duel. I said, "Sure, as long as you don't really hit each other." (okay, maybe that's expecting a little much from three little boys all under the age of 6, each holding a plastic light saber!) With in 5 minutes I hear someone crying! The offended comes running in - "Mom! he hit me with his light saber!", and naturally I respond with, "Well, if your going to play light saber battles, someone probably is going to get hurt. That's why I said to not hit each other for real."
Now, I know thay they heard me, but they didn't do what I said! How many times have done the same thing to my heavenly Father? As much as I get frustrated with my children for doing this, I know that this must frustrate God when His children do the same to Him.
Lord, may I not only hear what You have to say to me, but may I be diligent to follow through with Your instructions to me!

Slow to Anger

Merriam Webster's definition of TRAIN: to direct the growth of (a plant) usually by bending, pruning, and tying3 a : to form by instruction, discipline, or drill b : to teach so as to make fit, qualified, or proficient4 : to make prepared (as by exercise) for a test of skill
Merriam Webster's definition of PUNISH : to impose a penalty on for a fault, offense, or violation b : to inflict a penalty for the commission of (an offense) in retribution or retaliation
I often find myself reacting to my children's actions instead of responding like I should. Instead of taking the time to actually see what has caused the problem, I let my emotions cloud my vision and once again, I find myself raising my voice to my kids. "Who did what?!! Did you do anything to them first?! Your both in trouble!"
God has called me to be a mother. One who "trains up her children in the way they should go". Training and punishing are two very different things. Punishing is meeting out justice when someone has done something wrong. Training can also be meeting out justice, but it is followed by words of love and encouragement. It is explaining why they must be corrected and what they should do in the future if the situation arises again.
Nothing is gained by losing my temper at my children. Intead, valuable teaching ground is lost by my example of an angry reaction.
Just as you would "train" a plant, we as mother's are here to "bend and prune" our children. We need to direct their spiritual growth. Pruning is not usually a pleasant experience for either the plant or the one doing the pruning. It often takes much practice. For example, my husband Dave tried to prune our apple tree in the back yard... Let's just say it's going to be a looong time until that tree starts to give apples again!
How much damage is being done to our little "plants" when we react to them in anger? Can someone who is "pruning" such a precious being really expect them to turn out the way they should if they are not pruning with carefully God-guided hands?
"for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires."
James 1:20 ESV

Searching with Diligence

It was nearing bedtime last night when it happened again. Amanda lost her "pappy". This, for those of you who don't know, is her pacifier. It's bright orange or pink, depending on which one she wants that day. It's hooked onto a string. The string has a clasp that hooks to her shirt. Still, she lost her precious "pappy" again. She doesn't like to have her string attached to her shirt anymore. Once it's hooked on, she usually pulls at it until it comes off, sucks on her pacifier for awhile, and then drops the thing whenever she gets bored with it, or distracted doing something else.
During the day this wouldn't be such a tragedy. I mean, who needs a little plastic nipple to suck on when you can play with your brothers and sisters outside, or when you can get into all kinds of things inside? (especially thing that belong to your older sister!) No, this couldn't happen during the day, it had to happen right before bedtime. The time when you need something comforting like a "pappy".
Well, the search began. She and I walked through the house calling her "pappy". Yes, I said calling it! I've found that first of all, it takes away her franticness to call out, "Pappy! Where are you pappy?". Second, its more fun to do this than to just walk around looking in every place imaginable (and unimaginable). Lastly, its just plain cute to hear a little 20 month old calling this out!
So, there we were, searching for "pappy" once again. As we retraced her steps from the last hour, (its amazing how many places a little girl can get in an hour!) I began to see a parallel to my own life. How many times have I cast aside the very things that are precious to me because I get bored with them or I get distracted with other things?
Take for instance my family. I love my family. I love my husband. I love my kids. But many times, I "drop them" for selfish reasons. I choose to sit and read a book instead of helping put on the superman cape for the 15th time. I need to "do some things" in the kitchen instead of playing a quick game of Go Fish. It seems like putting a cape on or playing a quick game wouldn't take much of my time, but so often I cast my family aside to do something really unimportant. When will I realize that it's nearing that time when I will need my family, that precious comforting group of people that I've so selfishly cast aside? Probably not until the time is at hand. Then, like Amanda, I will have to go searching for them. Hopefully, they will still be where I left them.
Our search for the precious pacifier ended. We found "pappy" right where she left it. Next to the game with all the little pieces dumped out on the couch! When I showed her my find, her excited reaction was wonderful to watch. She clapped her hands and shouted, "Pappy"!
I pray that my family is so precious to me that I would never cast them aside again. But if I ever do, I pray that I would rejoice as much in "finding" them as a little girl who finds her long lost "pappy".

I just recently learned about "blogging". I had thought about starting to journal my thoughts about my life and my family, but I think that I would be more faithful with this "blog thing" than I would be with actually sitting down with a pen and a journal. Hopefully my musings will encourage someone who happens to read it!
I don't have much to say today since it took me so long to figure out how to set this thing up!, but I will leave you with this thought: If I would pause everytime I start to get upset with one of my children and take time to first praise God for some evidence of grace in their life, would I not find that instead of dreading the "task" of discipline that is inevidently around the corner, I am anticipating the blessing of having a hand in training up a young warrior for God's army?