If you could only teach three lessons???

Recent Facebook post:

"If you could pick just three lessons to teach your children what would they be?"

Today's family lesson. I know there's a lot to learn in life, but these were the three things we focused in on today.:) 

• Love God passionately. 
• Work hard and always try your best. 
• Be polite/respectful to everyone. 

Here's the responses I receieved: 

• Love, forgive and don't judge!!!;))
• Follow the laws (God's and the land's), Rise Above, Stay True.
• Always have faith, never lose hope,and to always share God's love with everyone.
• Fear the Lord, fear the Lord , fear the Lord.
• Always run to God. Respect others.  Be kind.
• To love God with all their heart, mind and spirit. To love one another and yourself. Biblical diligence.
• 1.To have a realtionship with God not a religion. 2. the order of the family: God (Him first and your relationship with Him); Hubby (your marriage according the the Word); children (raising them as servants of the Lord so when they get older they will not depart from it, hopefully raising them to be stroinger spiritually when they leave the home than I was) and then everything else comes into play, but if you mess the first three up then everything gets messed up. 3. To live the Word of the Lord in all you say and do is the greatest ministery anyone can have and to do that you have to know the Word of God and prayer.

I thought all of these were great answers! 

What would your three lessons be if that's all you could teach your children?

Fresh cut flowers

"What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. 

We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow." Martin Luther

"Today, even in Christian circles, a homemaker's vocation is viewed as optional, replaceable, and more like a hobby to fulfill her own needs than as a vital asset to the family."

 Stacy McDonald - Passionate Housewives Desperate for God

Dorothy Patterson, a homemaker and  faculty member of the Criswell College says, 

"Of course, much of the world would agree that being a housekeeper is acceptable as long as you are not caring for your own home; treating men with attentive devotion would also be right as long as the man is the boss in the office and not your husband; caring for children would even be deemed heroic service for which presidential awards could be given as long as the children are someone else's and not your own." 

Today, my daughter wanted to put on the "pretty" tablecloth. 

It was time for another Home Group and she was eagerly cleaning up things. 

Not only was she helping me tidy up the house, she was enjoying it. 

What?! A 7 year old little girl...enjoying housework. 

I truly believe that God places inside of each of us a desire for the beautiful. 

A desire for order. 

A desire to share what we have with others. 

Do we always do it? 

I don't. 

She wanted to go and cut fresh flowers from our yard. 

They were beautiful and fragrant and special because she handcut each one and placed it in the vase. 

Did the young adults that come over notice them or care that she had done it? 

Probably not. 

And that's ok, because they were blessed just being in our home 

AND we were blessed by having them

AND my daughter was blessed by making it "pretty" for them. 

Win, win, win!

I want to foster her love for helping out around the house, 

loving on others, 

serving her family well, 

and knowing that loving others well matthers. 

Pure

pure

 

adjective, pur·er, pur·est.

1. free from anything of a different, inferior, or contaminating kind;

 free from extraneous matter: pure gold; pure water.

2. free from foreign or inappropriate elements

3. clear; free from blemishes: pure skin.

It's 3 AM and I'm eating "pure" yogurt while sitting on my couch with a case of insomia. 

It got me thinking about being "pure". 

I love looking up the definition of a word and then trying to apply it to the situation. 

• What in my life needs freed from something that is in contridiction to the Word?
• Do I have anything that is inferior in my life that is causing me to not walk close to the Lord?
• What do I have in my heart and life that is contaminating me?!
• Am I free from foreign (to the Biblical standard) thoughts?
• Am I free from all inappropriate elements in my life?
• Do I daily allow the Holy Spirit to clean my spirit and ask forgivess from any blemishes that are in me? 

Wow, that's a thought provoking list of items.

 However, when I scrap away all the impure junk

life becomes SO much simpler.

 Cleaner.

 Healthier. 

How much "clutter" have I allowed in my life? 

Not just in general, but more specifically - over this weekend, today, right now? 

Help me Lord to live a pure life before You -

one that is not contaminated with all the stuff of this life. 

Pure in heart. 

Psalm 51:10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Pure religion. 

James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Pure in spirit.

2 Timothy 2:22 Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Pure love. 

1 Timothy 1:5 The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

Pure from the worldliness around me.

2 Timothy 2:22 Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Hebrews 10:22 Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

I believe that being PURE helps us to fully experience the life that God has planned for us. 

We don't need all the chemicals (media, statis, clothes, food, things) that we think we do. 

We need "less" to have "more". 

The Bible very clearly says that over and over.

Why is it so difficult to grasp and live out? 

Luke 9:23-24 Then he [Jesus] said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it."

Passionate Housewives

"The godly keeper at home wisely governs the household that God places in her care so that prudence and sound judgment rule her decisions rather than covetousness or folly. though she may wear pearls and high heels, she realizes that "charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised." Proverbs 31:30 NKJV

I absolutely love this book! It's my second time reading through it and there are soooo many great thoughts inside the pages like:

"Real women need to know that being helpers to their husbands, raising godly children, and properly managing their homes takes real work, but the rich reward a woman receives by diligently tending to the ways of her household is well worth the effort."

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Philippians 2:3-4

"Biblical motherhood means sacrifice, selfless love, and faithful dedication. It means we're there with our families - body, mind, and spirit. To recognize our purpose in motherhood, we must see the godly generations beyond our own children.
This means denying ourselves (Matthew 16:25) and being consumed with God and His love for us. It means starting each morning on our face in repentance and thanksgiving, pleading for His grace and for the strength to glorify Him in our daily endeavors. It means loving God more than we love our children - and consequently, He will equip us to truly love them and prepare us to serve them through Christ our Lord. It means impacting future generations by our faithfulness now."

Amen

Excellence...not perfection

Ok, I know I've been on a Darlene Zschech kick the past week (or month) but her book The Art of Mentoring has so many great nuggets of truth.

"Those who really know the goodness of God do not pursue perfectionism, which only produces fear - they pursue excellence, which is the willingness to risk everything for love of the Lord.

Any form of honest leadership required the leader to teach the most excellent way. Not the easy way, or a shortcut way for a quick-fix compromise, but the way of integrity that sets a standard of excellence."

Proverbs 22:29 says, "Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank."

"In your home, excellence will mean serving, forgivign, respecting, and taking responsibikty for your actions so that others can see God's Word domonstrated and practically applied through your example. In your local church and community, excellence will require sensitivity and generosity to the needs of others, time to build relationship, and a willingness to lay down your life so others can get ahead. We do the extra mile becaues we care. Yes, excellence takes more time, more heart, and more devotion than you and I can muster in our own strength, 'but we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.'" 2 Cor 4:7 (DZ)

"One of our highest goals in life should be to have an excellent spirit. And Daniel is our champion example in this regard. Daniel 6 reports that he was put in charge of the whole kingdom because of his excellent spirit.

The world has no match for an excellent spirit - it will outrank any gifting, talent, or charisma. And even though the sacrifices will not be without cost, the results will be a timeple that is absolutely stunning, a showcase temple for future generations to model." (DZ)

"If you are going to achieve excellence in BIG things, you develop the habit in little things."

 Colin Powell

Hard Work and Flexiblity

I'm very grateful that I was raised by a family that believed in working hard, doing what you said you would do, and not making excuses when you didn't complete the task. I have watched my grandparents and parents work hard their entire lives.

I just spoke with my "Granny" a few days ago and asked if I could say Hi to my "Pops" and she said that he was out helping an "older" man (my grandpa is turning 80 this year!) build a porch on his house and clean up some things. The "older" man had said that he'd like him to build the deck when he got enough money but Pops knew that he wouldn't have it anytime soon so decided to just go and build it for him. It has turned into a community project. My grandpa has went around asking his neighbors if he can have the old lumber that has been laying behind their homes for years to help this man out. They donated it willingly because they know my grandpa is helping someone that can't help himself. He has others involved with different clean up projects around this man's home and is hiring a lady to go and do a good cleaning of the inside.

It reminded me that he (and the rest of my family) have helped mold me into who I am today! They are not afraid of work. They are not afraid to get their hands dirty and complete a task. They are not afraid to see a need and do their best to help meet it. My grandpa is not a believer unfortently (please pray with me that he turns His heart to the Lord), but he is a good man that believes in hard work and in helping others. It makes me proud to be his granddaughter.

I pray that I can pass along a strong work ethic to my children.

Darlene Zchech says in the Art of Mentoring, "Work is nothing new for God's people. For generations, men and woman of God have worked hard and defied all odds to bring the gospel to all men. And that's my point: all this preparation means a lot of hard work, being generous with time and resources, working together to see the church be everthing she can be - simply stunning.

But to deprive our children and our spiritual children of these building blocks in life means we short-change them in developing tenacity and spiritual muscle. Even though we don't want to create ridiculous hardships for them just to prove a point, eventually they need to feel the weight of responsibility on their shoulders.

Flexible things are rarely broken - they simply spring back when the stretch is over!

While trying to protect our spiritual and natural kids from everything, we strengthen them for nothing, raise them to be idle and to hide, train them to run from conflict. The meeting in the middle is that in order to train them to lead, they have to partake in all that life has to offer, the highs and the lows, yet be given the tools to overcome their trials and share in the seasons of blessing."

Let's not shy away from training our children to work hard and be flexible!

Lemons to Lemonade

"It's pressure that turns a lemon into lemonade, and it's pressure that turns your mess into a message for His glory." 

Darlene Zschech in The Art of Mentoring

Have you even been given some lemons in life? 

We all have! 

Some more than others.

It's simply how life works. 

God uses situations to test us, stretch us, strengthen us, encourage us, and ultimately help us grow to be more like Him. 

Let's take the LEMON of a situation that your faced with today and turn it into LEMONADE for His glory!

Psalm 32:7
You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.

Psalm 59:16
But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.

Best Lemonade Ever Recipe 

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups white sugar
• 8 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups lemon juice

Directions

1. In a small saucepan, combine sugar and 1 cup water. Bring to boil and stir to dissolve sugar. Allow to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until chilled.
2. Remove seeds from lemon juice, but leave pulp. In pitcher, stir together chilled syrup, lemon juice and remaining 7 cups water.