by Stacey | Sep 12, 2011 | Devotionals, reflections, and encouragement
On any given day you could walk into our home and eavesdrop on this conversation:
“Jon, please go get your jammies on.”
“Okay Daddy.”
Jon starts off for the bedroom but on the way he spies an ant crawling under the front doorway. “Look at this Daddy!” Before Daddy can rise from his chair Jon follows the ant with his eyes and finds Katie’s sparkly red dress-up shoes. He picks one up and inspects it.
Jon slips the shoe on the wrong foot and sees a hat he thought he had lost under the bench. He slaps it on his head and pretends to be one of the Disney Super Sleuths. “Look Daddy, I slapped my cap!”
“Jammies Jon,” Daddy gently reminds.
“Oh ya.” He makes his way around the corner and walks past the mirror. He stops to admire his sleuthing cap and spies a chocolate smear from his corner lip to his cheekbone. He gallops off toward the bathroom to wash his face.
Once there he remembers he needs to brush his teeth. He gets out his toothbrush and pops open the toothpaste tube and a cheery flavored bomb spurts out plopping in the sink. He takes his toothbrush and starts scrubbing the paste off the enamel.
This is where Daddy finds him. Not putting on his jammies, but hard at work scrubbing the sink with his toothbrush, hat askew, and his sister’s shoe on the wrong foot.
Nothing Jon did was wrong. Well maybe scrubbing the sink with his toothbrush was wrong. But Jon fell into the same snare many of us are trapped in: a lack of focus.
No one can do a million things well, but we can all do one or two things well. There are many good things that can steal our focus. The challenge is to discover the one thing God has called you to do and to that one well. Stay on task. Remain focused. Do it well.
by Stacey | Aug 22, 2011 | Devotionals, reflections, and encouragement
One e-mailed changed everything. Bad news rained down determined to drown my commitment to be thankful in everything. Is this a challenge from God – to remain thankful in the mess? Is it temptation from Satan to throw in the towel? I don’t know.
News struck with a severity that stole the breath from my lungs. My limbs trembled – literally. A week ago I had no idea what a lifeline my thanksliving list would be. What started as a private challenge morphed into a lifesaver to which I clung during the storm. God is good.
Still.
Always.
Never changing.
Good.
Do I have answers? It depends on the question. I have no idea why God allows heartache. I have no idea why He can, but He doesn’t. But I will tell you what I do know.
God is who He says He is.
I am who He says I am.
I can do all things through Christ.
God will do what He says He will do.
God’s Word is alive and active in me.
Sound familiar? It might to some. Week One, Lesson one, Believing God .
My thanksliving list grows. I’m thankful that God put in place the support I would need to survive this week before the first day dawned. I’m thankful for teachers of His Word. I’m thankful for the challenge to list my gratitude. The big things don’t seem so overwhelmingly big. My God can do ANYTHING.
81. Believing God is in control. 82. Knowing God can provide. 83. God is bigger than any problem I face. 84. Moments of calm, however fleeting. 85. Deep breaths 86. High work ethics 87. Visitors 88. Competency 89. Our medical system 90. Fast service 91. Smiles 92. Answered prayer 93. God’s transforming power 94. That God doesn’t need my help 95. Miracle of changed lives 96. A warm bath 97. Prayer Warriors 98. Freedom to choose 99. For a God bigger than my questions and doubts 100. FOR NOT NEEDING THE ANSWERS 101. Victory 102. Quiet enough to hear God whisper 103. Omnipresence 104. Corrected thinking 105. Father/daughter projects 106. Mornings out 107. Praise music 108. Obedience when it is difficult 109. The cross 110. Spontaneous worship 111. Feeling God 112. Personal reflection 113. Fearless love 114. Singing out loud 115. Overcoming 116. Private worship 117. Theologically correct lyrics 118. Time 119. Adult conversation 120. Road trips 121. Hugs 122. Accomplishment 123. Ready on time 124. Going with the flow 125. Afternoons at the beach 126. Cousins 127. Sleepover giggles 128. A cool breeze 129. GPS 130. Tim Hortons 131. Gathering of God’s people 132. Preaching His Word 133. Brothers and sisters in Christ 134. Study of His Word 135. Community prayer 136. Full rain barrels 137. Intercessory prayer 138. Holy interruptions 139. Early bedtime 140. Uninterrupted rest
by Stacey | Aug 4, 2011 | Devotionals, reflections, and encouragement
Last fall our small family of three grew to a family of five. The addition of two busy boys added volume, laundry, and crazy activity to our days while subtracting sleep and sanity.
For those that know Kaitlyn, (our sweet almost seven-year-old daughter,) you understand what a culture shock this was for us. Our quiet, orderly, predictable life hurled out of control for months as we all struggled to find our sea legs in this wavy transition.
I read books, one of my favorites being Wild Things, the Art of Nurturing Boys by Stephen James and David Thomas. I discovered that the crazy, energy filled, always curious and often-destructive children who stole my heart were normal. Adventurous toddlers explore their world with an intense need to touch, taste, or dismantle everything around them.
I’ve worked hard these past few months to adjust my expectations. I desire an orderly home and well-behaved children but I also want curious, brave, and energetic children. Yes, they need boundaries, but they also need a safe place to express aggression, curiosity, and determination. My stress level decreased as I learned to say things like, “It is not okay to hammer the light switch (chandelier, china plates, the glass pane in the door etc), but you can hammer and pound away at the tool bench downstairs,” rather than yelling, “Stop hammering!”
I’m finding I’ve become fairly flexible at home but I still struggle with expectations when we are out in public. When we were recently out to dinner, I spent the entire meal monitoring table manners like some kind of secret police. Jon, who shouts rather than speaks, was frequently corrected, and we redirected Nick to express his excitement without squeals and screams. The dinner went well but I felt tense and focused on them.
Then a patron from another table walked over and complimented us on our well-behaved children. Her words were like a salve to my soul. My shoulders relaxed and I looked at my wild things with blue ice cream dripping off their chin and spilled chocolate milk soaking into their shorts and staining the chair seat and carpet. They beamed with pride. Less than five minutes later, a young man came and said much the same about our wonderful children.
It felt like a great weight lifted. Until tonight, I never understood how much a few simple words could mean to a parent of busy pre-schoolers.
I’m still working with them on table manners but I’m also working on relaxing and letting them be boys. They are little boys with different needs and different urges and they constantly seek adventure. I may never fully understand what motivates my son to belch at the dinner table, randomly bark like a dog, or shout “poop” in the middle of a sentence, but I love him with my whole heart exactly the way he is.
by Stacey | Jul 27, 2011 | Devotionals, reflections, and encouragement
One wailing at the door. “Mama! Mama! Mama!” Each word emphasized with the pound of a tiny fist.
Two squawking in a tug-of-war.
The dog barking at the child barking.
The hamster runs, getting nowhere.
Deep Breaths
Love is patient
Love is patient when a child cries.
Love is kind in the battle.
Love keeps no record of wrong.
Oh, how these children keep me humble, reminding me to apply scripture to my life.
Love is patient.
The Embodiment of Love is patient with me, kind to me, forgiving me over and over.
Love is a gift. His gift.
by Stacey | Jul 10, 2011 | Devotionals, reflections, and encouragement
Four-year-old Jon slips out of his bed and paddles to the washroom. Entertaining vocal straining and groaning, complete with a soft cry of victory, float down the hall. I listen for the flush and instead hear wild sloshing.
As I leap from my chair, I imagine him elbow deep in the dirty water. But instead, he is using his superhero strength to plunge the toilet. With each thrust downward, water splashes on the vanity and his bare feet wiggle under water.
I shriek (yup, I shriek.) “What are you doing?”
“It won’t flush my poop so I ‘unging’ it.” He never takes his eyes off the toilet or breaks rhythm in his dance with the plunger. Finally, the toilet flushes. Jon looks up and grins. “You’re welcome Mom.”
Sigh. Jon is growing up.
Yikes.
Today I wrote in Jon’s journal to commemorate his 4th birthday. I want to express to this sensitive and loving boy my deep love for him that grows deeper by the day. As I wrote the words, “…I want so much more for you than simple words can express… my heart overflows with love, I can barely contain it…” It struck me how my words echoed God’s desire for each of us.
I believe God wants so much more for me, more than I could ever imagine or dare to dream. I believe that His heart just bursts with love when He rests his never-ending gaze upon me. He loves me – more than I can envision or understand.
I love the days I can sit back, uninterrupted, and read the book God wrote for me. He carefully penned the words that would convince me of His great love. As I spend time reading His Word and talking with Him I too, am growing up.
Our 4-year-old spiderman
by Stacey | Jul 4, 2011 | Devotionals, reflections, and encouragement
Sunday morning we began a sermon series that I am anxious to continue. We are working through the book of Habakkuk. (Yup, that’s right – Habakkuk.) Habakkuk is a small Old Testament book packed with content. The prophet questions God about the troubling events he witnesses in his world. God’s mysterious ways puzzle Habakkuk.
Sound familiar?
What I see around me often troubles me. Evil appears to be in the lead and going unpunished and God seems silent. Why do innocent people suffer from natural disasters and at the hands of evil?
“Just because God is silent doesn’t mean He is absent (Pastor Kevin).”
Kevin goes on to support his statement with scripture. God is working. I suggest if any of these questions resonate with you, click here to listen to the sermon on Habakkuk titled, “Why Doesn’t God Stop Bad Things From Happening?”
We only made it part way through the first chapter yesterday, but I read ahead. (Spoiler alert!) By the end of the book, Habakkuk is changed. He learns to wait and trust in God and that God’s justice is far beyond his comprehension. He learns to be content even though he doesn’t always understand.
That’s the kind of contentment I want in my life. Contentment that comes from knowing life is not about me and never has been, contentment that refuses to worry about the things I can’t control or understand. God’s purpose for the world will prevail and I choose to live by faith.
