I didn't want my Colorado porch and deck to be without color, beauty, and life while I was visiting Oxford this month, but I knew real flowers wouldn't make it without constant care. So I found these bright red silk flowers to dress up the space with. Aren't they gorgeous?
What's your go-to kind of flower for bringing beauty to your home?
Because we shared so many endless hours swimming in the same ideas, reading the same books, discussing the same messages where every opinion and engagement was valued, in the process of eating together day after day and making it a time of shared heart and soul community, the strength of our mutual values and commitments became a part of what defined us as a family.
Read more about this in Awaking Wonder.
Click here to play today’s new podcast episode.
“This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” -Psalm 118:24
Today, biblical joy is my topic. Joy is an abiding sense of well being in all circumstances with a heartfelt trust in God’s presence and goodness in every situation, despite the difficulties that life brings. Joy is not a feeling but a sense of resting in the Holy Spirit’s presence in all moments of life, a commitment of giving our circumstances into the hands of God.
It is a very happy day when I am able to see my dear friend, Jacqui. Our sense of humor is the same (we should never sit next to one another in church or a formal gathering so we don’t break out in giggles.) She is loving, sympathetic, passionate about faith and life, a kindred spirit. We planned a trip together to a lovely small Welsh town known for books and cafes. She volunteered to drive in a car she had recently purchased. What a dream this trip promised to be. On the way back to Oxford, on winding, small country roads, a big pothole jumped out of nowhere and we slammed down into it. We couldn’t tell if the car was damaged, but it rattled a bit and got louder and louder.
By the time we got back, we knew something was damaged. Jacqui remembered she had an emergency road service app she had never used. Long story short, we had a lovely breakfast together as we waited for the mechanic to show up. After a couple of hours, the service man came. He found the problem which would require a big fix before she could drive it again.
It meant she would have to be towed back to London 56 miles. But the kind man offered for her to ride in the tow truck with him so she didn’t have to buy a train ticket. The whole 3 hour dilema, Jacqui never whined or complained or verbalized concern about how she would pay for the damage. She just trusted God and remained cheerful. This is the picture of joy, the subject this week of my podcast.
Joy is not the absence of difficulty or feelings of concern, but resting in the presence of God in the midst of it.
Join me on my podcast today as we discuss what it means to live in joy through God’s spirit. Find Jacqui at Substack, The Beagle for Beauty.
Even as I take joy in planning for my children to feel loved on special occasions with treats and celebrations, I receive great pleasure when the child is blessed and responds to my preparations. God, too, delights in us coming to Him for provision and then responding joyfully when He gives it.
He has even provided things we don’t “need,” just to delight us—the reds, golds, browns, and oranges of fall leaves; the dark, steel blue of an ocean; the amber of loved ones’ eyes.
Jesus provided the crowds with fish and loaves because they were hungry, and of course He has provided a way for us to be made right with God by offering His own body as the ultimate sacrifice. He has gone and is even now preparing to provide a place for us—a home in heaven—so we might be with Him in eternity.
God loves providing for you. How can you provide beauty or love or comfort to your family in the next twenty‐four hours?
Read more about this in Mom Heart Moments.
"Your children, though, are not just a task of parenting that can be completed and checked off your ‘big biblical things to do’ list. They are God’s gift and reward to you in this life, and they are in turn your gift to the world. But there is an even greater eternal reward to parenting.
Through your children, God has given you the privilege of passing on your faith and the truths of Scripture 'so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.'"
Read more about this in Educating the Wholehearted Child.
Click here to play today’s new podcast.
“Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.”
-I Peter 4:8
All of us as families create a family culture of some kind. The traditions we keep, the meals we make, the routines we practice, the values we espouse and hold, our favorite movies, the church we attend, the generosity we practice, the way we invest time, the company we keep—all of these come together to craft our particular family culture. We can also inadvertently create a family culture that is negative—a culture of anger, neglect, guilt, discord, disharmony, worldly values.
I have realized that crafting a culture of love requires that I, as a mom, become the conductor of a loving and generous heart that leads all of my children to understand gracious, generous, sacrificial, validating, forgiving love. To create such a culture requires planning, intention, mature responses, words of life and affirmation, patience, and lots of unconditional love.
So often, we are caught up in the immediate things—getting the tasks done, housework, homework, bills paid, child discipline. Yet, it is the air our children breathe, the foundations we live by that will attach their hearts to ours and ultimately, potentially, to God.
True influence and discipleship is formed intentionally by modeling ourselves after the ultimate lover—Jesus. He who bowed his knees to wash 120 toes, to embrace sweet, wiggly children who were clamoring for attention, who touched the prostitute and gave her grace, who gave Peter, his own failing disciple, hope and affirmation in the midst of his failures on the night He was crucified. Ultimately He gave everything, out of love, for our redemption—He becomes our own source and inspiration of what it is like to form a culture of love. To be loved is a longing, a desire and need to our hearts as much as oxygen is to our lungs. To thrive and live productively, we all need love.
“Faith, hope and love remain, but the greatest of these is love.” -I Cor. 13:13
I wish you God's gracious, unconditional love and peace to have a lovely day with those you love!
Join me today on my podcast.
Do you ever feel as if everyone wants something of you and more is demanded of you than you can possibly give? Motherhood has a gazillion days like that.
Take a deep breath so you can last. Plan strategically about what you can reasonably hope to accomplish in the next few months and still be alive!
To add a few little pleasures into your day:
• have a white chocolate cappuccino
• take a walk to expel some adrenaline
• sneak into your bedroom, close the doors, light candles, put on some music, and just gaze out the window and sort out what is in your heart
Read more about this in Mom Heart Moments.
Different seasons of life found different activities and toys, according to the children’s needs at various ages. And, yes, a full life meant there were more messes to steward, more work to be done. But a life-giving home did indeed nurture a life of wonder, exploration, and discovery.
In the long run, I found it to be a worthy commitment. David danced before the Lord with all of his might, and I have often had that thought in my mind of wanting to dance before God with all of my might as I filled my home with His reality through many dimensions (see 2 Samuel 6:14).
Were there conflict, challenge, weariness, discouragement at times? Yes, of course. I was a warrior fighting to bring light into a dark world. I had few support systems and fewer encouragers who believed in what I was doing.
Yet one more quiet time, one more reflection on our ideals, and it would take me through another day, another year. And truly, the seed was growing deep roots that eventually manifested fruit.
Read more about this in Awaking Wonder.
Click here to play today’s new podcast episode.
I think my heart is happiest when I have some of my children home. Soooo, this week my heart is full to the brim. Joy came last week and Keelia and Nathan joined this weekend. We have feasted, talked, giggled, discussed every subject that concerns our lives and delighted in just being together.
Join me today on my podcast to hear from my sweet ones about life where they are — and what is going on in their worlds. I am having way too much fun. Happy Tuesday.
Our acts of kindness and thoughtfulness, our willingness to admit our failures and ask for forgiveness, our delight in and thoughts about God’s Word shared through all the moments of life will open our children’s hearts to His reality.
They will gain an understanding of who God is when we model His reality through our own life of wonder-filled worship and love.
Our children draw our accountability to live a faith-driven life, and yet, because of feeling responsible to live faithfully in front of them, we grow into our own spiritual potential. Serving through our home becomes a laboratory of our own faith and life.
Read more about this in Awaking Wonder.
