Learning To Be The Light

I was driving the other day to pick up my daughter when this song came on the radio.  As I listened to the words, I thought it was the perfect "theme song" for Salt and Light.  It states perfectly what I want for myself and my kids as we encounter the unsaved world everyday of our life.  Click on the picture below to hear the song.

 

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.  (Matthew 5:16)

"God Said, Let There... And It Was So"

As my kids have moved through their education career, I am amazed by the subtle way Evolution is woven into their teaching.  I have always been a Creationist and have always taught my kids that this amazing world came into existence by the mere words of God... "God said, Let there... And it was so" (Genesis 1).

Nevertheless, my 5th grader came home this past fall with a Scholastic News newsletter.  As part of her homework, she was to read a portion of the newsletter and answer a few questions.  After reading the article she looks at me and ethusastically says, "Mom did you know there is evidence that humans once at tails?"  She barely got the words out of her mouth when she realized, "Hey, that's not true!".  I was proud of her for coming to that realization herself and I think she was only able to make that determination because of the truth of God's Word we've put into her heart.  My point is this... Satan uses extremely subtle tactics and he is not afraid to use them on the youngest of belivers.  If he can divert their young minds away from God and cause them to question what God says is true, he absolutely will!

I Peter 5:8 says,

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."

My encouragement to you is to stay engaged with your kids, even at home as they work through their homework.  My experience tells me and people I've talked to have said that as children get older the teaching of evolution becomes less subtle.  My husband is finishing up a college degree (his second) and he took a science class over the summer.  His teacher was very clear that they were not to talk about God as the Creator in the classroom.  We need to prepare our kids for a world that doesn't always share their beliefs; so now when they are young we need to pump the Truth into their heart and mind, so they don't waiver when they are on their own facing a world with a completely different belief system.

Life and Death

We are now 1-2 days beyond the celebration and anniversary of two major events in the United States... one makes me thankful for how far our country has come and the other saddens me deeply.  I'm referring to Martin Luther King Day and the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade.  It's ironic that one celebrates mankind and his uniqueness, and the other snuffs out the life of the smallest of human beings.

When I was growing up MLK day was not celebrated in our circles... sad, I know.  I don't think I really came to understand Martin Luther King and his mission until my children started attending the public school and it was taught to them each year in January.  I am thankful for that teaching.  My children are growing up with a better education in this area than I did.  I want my kids, like MLK to value each human being and recognize that we are ALL created in the image of God.

So God created man in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.  (Genesis 1:27)

Yesterday, January 22nd was the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling in the Roe vs. Wade decision.  I recently read somewhere that young adults today have no idea what Roe vs. Wade means... how sad!  So I asked my kids at supper last night if they knew.  My 13 year old had heard of it, but wasn't able to tell me what the case was about and my 10 and 6 year old didn't know anything about the ruling (which didn't surprise me).  I doubt this is an issue that is addressed in our public schools, so we had a little homeschooling last night as I explained to them the significance Roe vs. Wade has had on our country in the past 40 years.  As we prayed last night, I asked God to bless our local Pregnancy Resource Center and the great work they are doing and we prayed for young girls who recently learned they are pregnant and are scared.  We prayed they would make a good choice in carrying their baby to term.

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.  (Deuteronomy 30:19-20a)

Even though we are a couple days beyond these two significant events in history, I would encourage you to engage your kids on these two issues.  They are so similar in nature; however, one brought about great change for our country and unfortunately the other is continuing to take lives.  Talk about it and pray about it with your children.

A Light to My Path

A couple weeks ago I was listening to the radio and the program I was tuned into had on several ladies who were recounting the impact a daily reading of God's Word had in their life over the past year.  One women told how time and time again she would read something off a preplanned reading schedule and it was just what she needed to hear on that particular day.  I've experienced that myself so many times as well.  It made me think after hearing this women tell her story and thinking about my own life what an amazing God we have; as millions of people across the world are reading various parts of God's Word each day, He reveals something to them that is relevant to their own life!  Just sit and think about that for a moment.

When I think back to my teen and college years, I remember hearing youth leaders, Sunday School teachers, and professors talk about the importance of a daily quiet time with God.  My parents modeled the practice for me as well.  When I was a young girl, I would read a portion of the Bible out loud for family devotions, when I came to a word that I couldn't pronounce, I was always amazed how my dad would know what I was trying to pronounce without even looking at the Bible.  His knowledge came from years and years of time in God's word.

I want my own kids to have a love of God's Word and a desire to take time daily to read from it; but the truth is, in their immaturity, they don't always see how this practice is relevant to their life.  I have struggled over the years with knowing whether to force a daily quiet time on my kids because I want it to be their desire.

The conclusion I've come to is this... my kids may feel like God's Word is being forced upon them now, but my hope is that this practice, started young, will instill in them that God's Word is necessary for their daily life.

I would encourage you to help your children develop this practice now too.  You may want to find some devotional books that are age appropriate to guide them in this journey and Christian Book Distributors (CBD) is a great place to look.  Another option is to use the 5-5-5 method, which is simply five minutes of reading, 5 minutes of meditating and 5 minutes of praying.  Or have them read a Proverb a day, since there are 31 chapters in Proverbs they can read through it once a month.

One additional note, I try to remember to often ask my children what they've read.  Generally, they just regurgitate a bible story back to me, so I take it a step further and ask them how they can apply the story to their own life.  I want them to be thinking and to know that the Bible is for them and relevant to their life TODAY!

God has much to say about His Word...

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.  (Psalm 119:105)

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  (Hebrews 4:12)

 

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.  (2 Timothy 3:16)

Brain Surgery

This past fall, I attended a one day seminar on parenting.  Although many good ideas were shared that morning, the greatest information I came away with was learning that my child’s impulsive nature, inability to focus, and sometimes bizarre behavior is due in large part because their brain is not fully developed… imagine that!  I learned that the front part of the brain called the Pre-Frontal Cortex doesn’t completely form until around the age of 25.  This new knowledge explains so much as I sit in amazement at some of the bizarre choices kids make.

I’ve shared this information with my kids too.  So when they give me a hard time because I don’t know something they consider to be an easy academic problem, I just simply tell them that my brain is fully developed and therefore I am wiser! J
 

Here is a link to explain the issue in greater detail...
http://www.hhs.gov/opa/familylife/tech_assistance/etraining/adolescent_brain/Development/prefrontal_cortex/index.html

 

And here is a verse that sums it all up, if you don't feel like doing brain surgery...

 

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.  How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!  Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.  (Psalm 139:13-18)

Love Is Patient, Love Is Kind

"Love is giving another person what they need the most, when they deserve it the least, at great personal cost"  ~Chip Ingram

Have you ever felt like the Holy Spirit was nudging you in a certain direction?  I have and do, but because the Holy Spirit doesn't speak audibly to me or send me a text message, I sometimes question (although, I do believe God speaks to me through actual people).

 

I don't usually make New Year's resolutions and this year was no exception, except this year I felt like God was asking me to do something that actually had nothing to do with me. 

At the start of the New Year, I had a thought that I can only say came from the Holy Spirit... "What if I gave more of myself away in 2013?"  The thought crossed my mind during the morning of January 1st and then later that day a friend posted in a Facebook group that God had spoken to her about making the word "serve" her focus word for the month of January.  I started to think maybe this was the direction God was leading me as well, then I got confirmation again yesterday as I was listening to the radio and wouldn't you know it but the the radio host and his guest were talking about loving others.

As I think about loving/serving others, I'm a little fearful because I know it has to start with my own family... I need to serve those closest to me and if I'm honest sometimes that is down right hard. I see their quirks and attitudes and I don't always feel inclined to love them the way God wants me to.  God loves me despite my quirks and attitudes and the very least I can do is show a servants love to those I say I love the most. 

 

This week I'm feeling pretty good about this "resolution" because I physically feel well and it has been a fairly low key and stress less week, but I know the day is coming very soon when I won't feel like pouring a glass of milk for the 4th time that day, I won't feel like making my husbands lunch... again, I won't feel like washing and folding another pile of laundry, or I won't feel like making dinner that takes me 30 minutes to prepare and is consumed in less than 10 minutes!  So it's at those times that I need to remember what God has to say about love and serving...

 

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  (I Corinthians 13:4)

 

Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.  (I Peter 3:8)

 

If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.  (1 Peter 4:11)

 

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  (Matthew 22:36-40)

 

Think about how this could radically change our families if we first model a Christlike love to our immediate family.  If we aren't showing our kids how to have a servant's love, than we can't expect them to treat those they encounter everyday with the Christlike love God wants.

God Loves Me This I Know

I was struck recently by how very fragile our kid's psyche can be.  One of my children came home last week kind of bummed.  Some of the kids in his class were being recognized by name and given what he felt was special treatment by a teacher.  This made my child feel "left out".  We talked about the practical side of the issue, discussing how this teacher had upwards of 120+ students and that it would be very difficult for any teacher to remember what face went with every name.  But I wish I had taken it one step further and talked about how special he is in view of what God says about him...

  "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him." 

(1 John 3:1)

  "Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household"  (Ephesians 2:19)

 

  "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."  (Psalm 139:13-16)

 

 

Our kids are going to come home with struggles and frustrations and while we'll need to talk them through some of the practical issues, don't forget to take it one step further and let them know how God views them.  I'm speaking to my own heart today on this matter.  I think when my child comes home today we'll revisit this issue.

Sinner's Sin

I’m not controversial… it’s not my nature, so I find it hard to confront a teacher, principal, board member or school superintendent about an area of concern.  Don’t get me wrong, I have dealt with issues that I felt needed to be addressed, but most of the time I try and use those issues as a teaching moment for my kids. 

For instance, in the past my kids have told me about a teacher who has slipped up and swore in front of a class.  Or they've told me about a friend who has been mean, acted harshly, given them the cold shoulder, etc.  Instead of addressing the teacher or student, I use those times to teach my kids that sinners sin… GASP! 

 "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  (Romans 5:8)

Years ago, I was dealing with a very personal issue and someone very wise (my mom) told me just that… sinner’s sin!  It shouldn’t shock us when a teacher slips up; after all they have very stressful jobs at times.  Let’s teach our kids that when they see something in an authority figure or in a classmate that rubs them the wrong way, they should use that as a cue to pray for that person.  After all, we are preparing them for a day when they won’t be under our watchful eye every single day and they need to learn now that sinner’s sin!  And let's remember that in reality we are ALL sinner's saved by grace... a fact that never ceases to amaze me!

"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast."  (Ephesians 2:8-9)

It's NOT All About Me?!?

I was on the Desiring God website early this morning and happened to come across the following article (linked here).  The article is John Piper's response to a teenage boy who is asking about his personal identity and insecurities... and as only John Piper can do, he responds with honesty, care and grace.  I love his perspective and I pray I can direct my own kids toward this Godlike thinking.  But I'm not going to say that it's easy when our kids are faced with a bombardment of ideas like self-motivation, self-gratification, self-indulgence, self-esteem, self-help, self-belief, self-regard, self-respect and the list could go on.

"And have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator." (Colossians 3:10)

"And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."  (2 Corinthians 3:18)

 

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."  (Ephesians 2:10)