Accept the Invitation

When I set the table for Father's Day breakfast, or any other event of celebration in my home, I see myself as sort of a spirit of creativity. I choose the china I will use, bake the breads favorite to the person being celebrated and lay the table to be colorful, beautiful, and a proper celebration of the person being honored. I have put so much time, thought, work and attention to these celebrations over the years because of the deep love I hold in my heart for my beloved husband and children and friends. It is a physical expression of my love and delight in them.

I would be so disappointed if, after I planned such a meal or celebration and had done all of the work and put on the finishing touches, if no one ever came to the meal or sat down. I create the beauty to show my love and also to show a part of my own soul in crafting a place of warm fellowship and feasting. The pleasure of preparing it is not as much as the celebrating it with the ones I wanted to show my love--they are necessary to complete the celebration.

Yesterday, the Lord prepared a party for me.  I almost didn't go, because I had planned busy-ness and duties for the hours of my day. But, something deep inside spoke to me of His invitation, and so I put everything else aside and drove to the party where He was graciously waiting for me. I am so glad I showed up, as He had prepared so very much for me to enjoy. I would have missed out on so much, had I ignored the invitation.  His decor was exquisite, His design, breath-taking. I sat on His table and looked out over what He had crafted for me to enjoy.

The gentle music of wind whispering amongst the aspen trees, ruffling their glorious gold across the mountain side and the leaves shivering in rhythm of the life all around, the birds singing with all their hearts, nature crying out, filled my ears with delight and my soul with rest, comfort, assurance and awe that comes from such beautiful music.

I played amongst the trees, and drank in the sun. Pleasure abounded in my day as I a picnic-ed with Him on the side of a cliff,  gloried in my my sugar crisp apples, roasted pecans and strong organic English Cheddar--the tastes beyond compare. What a feast, deep therapy to my thirsty soul. An unforgettable memory made with my Father who had prepared so much.

My heart was joyful and I was hesitant to leave the party, but as I left, I realized, I felt His love so much more deeply than when I had awakened to face the responsibilities earlier that morning. Being at His party had changed everything.

As, so few people attended the grand event,  and my sweet friend, Denise and I celebrated almost by ourselves at His banquet table, I wondered where are all the others He invited? I hoped He was not disappointed since He had gone to so much trouble to prepare the celebration for our pleasure.

And now, my precious friend, Denise, and I, have this treasure of a secret memory shared with Him, my ourselves. I am so glad I said yes.

Have you rsvp's to your invitation yet? You will not regret it!

 

Small and Insignificant

Tonight I feel small in the scheme of things. The world seems so caught up in the impressive--who has the most numbers, who is the smartest, the most beautiful, the most successful.

What is the loudest voice? The most commanding person. Who is organized and on top of things and has it together? There are some who pretend to have all the answers and who are confident that their way is right.

I cannot compete with those people or with other's standards. Comparing myself to anyone else always brings me up short. I must live happily in my own skin.

A wise friend said, "Never compare yourself to others because you will either come up short and feel inadequate or you will think yourself greater and be filled with false pride."

So very true.

But when I look to His ways, and observe what He has made, and listen to the voice of creation, I see that He has made even the insignificant, a small vibrant red leaf, a thing of glory, beauty to behold, heavenly art in which my heart and soul is amazed. In His hands, the small becomes significant. And so I take hope.

Those who humble themselves will be exalted. The little boy with only 5 fish and loaves fed 5000. The idealistic youth defeated the giant. The poor widow with meager drops of oil,  fed the famous prophet Elijah.

And so, my comfort is not in who I am, or how well I am doing, or in what I accomplish. My strength is in the one who is strong. My miracles are dependent on the God who threw the stars and galaxies into place.

Whatever task is ahead of me, if He is the wisdom for that task, or the strength to complete it or the understanding to show the way, then I know I will find the miracle I need.

Always, this has been my success--He is adequate, I am dependent on Him. I am weak but He is strong.

He, the heavenly Father who created, provided, instructed, saved, redeemed and forgave, and is preparing a place in heaven for me--He is the one who is committed to my well being, He who began a good work will complete it.

And so in my smallness, I find rest, quiet, comfort. It is not my striving that will accomplish His will, but it is in trusting in His provision.

He whispers to me, "Be still and know that I am God."

I am quiet. I listen. I look at what He has made  in all the small corners of my world, and through these glorious works, I am aware of His glory and comforted by His adequacy and strength and I know that all will be well, because He is with me, and He is big enough.

 

I believe in angels! And a giveaway! (Trying to get it to show up!)

Today, after much gnashing of teeth and writhing on the ground, a wonderful mom from one of my Bible studies, came forward and helped me for two hours to get my blog up on networked blogs. I am trying this out to see if my posts will automatically go up on FB and on Twitter now and trying to see if you can put them on yours, too.

But I need your help. Please go to my side bar and sign up at "Follow this blog" so that I can see how it works and if people are able to connect. I want to reach the many sweet moms who have been writing me and telling me that they could not figure out how to do my posts or get them on their sites! Hopefully this will help.

If you sign up or connect it, just let me know in comments and you will be entered for a free book giveaway of your choice of the books listed on my sidebar. I will choose the winner on Tuesday morning. This is a sort of experiment, but I am grateful for you who have supported me and seen me through this whole blog.

 

I send my best wishes for a beautiful Sunday with your family and be sure to celebrate the vibrant outside color of the changing leaves if indeed your time zone is in autumn. To my other international friends,  I am planning some trips for the next year and would love to come your way. Let me know if any groups out there that are interested in doing some small international conferences. Of course we only do one or two international trips a year, but I love knowing who is dreaming of something like that.

Blessings of peace tonight--my heart is very full from a lovely, God-blessed day.

 

Now I know why I am not depressed! It's my coffee

Now I know why I am not depressed........

Since my early days in my 20's, when I fell in love with Austrian cappuccino's, I knew that it had to be somehow healthy for me. After all, I gleaned so much pleasure from my civilized cup of velvet coffee. Surely anything that came from a plant must be somehow organic and God made it good for my body.

Finally, I found an article that said that coffee kept women from having gall stones. Well, that was enough for me. At least 2 cups a day was the cure, and heaven knows I do not want gall stones.

How happy I was to read this most recent article that said that women who drink coffee are much less likely to be depressed. Well, maybe that is one of the underlying reasons I started a blog called itakejoy--it was helped by my predisposition to be positive because I drank coffee every day! Well, what do you know!

I like mine, at home, with just a dash of vanilla and natural sugar. What is your favorite?

Here's the rest of the story:

http://lifehacker.com/5844229/drinking-coffee-may-help-lower-the-risk-of-depression-in-women

Let me hear your opinion! And go have a nice cup of ......................?

My mama has lost everything dear and chosen not to be bitter

Larla, Gwen's mom, with Sarah, a couple of years ago

For the past two days, I have slept, eaten, been served and talked and talked to my sweet, kindred spirit friend, Gwen. In between as I sipped my tea in her living room, she would get her mom out of bed, bathe her, cook for her, dress her, undress her, feed her medicine, and all the other things a 96 year old needs to do, but cannot manage.

Throughout, I have heard a gentle, loving voice. "Hi, mama, you are dearly loved today."

"Sweet precious mama, are you hungry? You sure look pretty today."

Patient, kind, tenderhearted, for 10 years, as her sweet mom's brain has escaped into other regions beyond her grasp, at least most of the time.

Last night as we both put her to bed, there was a smile from ear to ear. "I love you, quietly slipped from her smiling mouth." Her crystal blue eyes sparkled as if she had secret delight, but we realized she was delighting in us laying with her and kissing her soft cheek.

"Gwennie, you are so amazingly patient and kind and content, even though now you have to stay here 24/7. How do you stay so joyful and content, knowing you have been in this place for 10 years," was my sincere question as I witnessed amazing strength and patience through out these days, as all of the days of the last years I have visited her.

"My mama has lost everything dear to her over the years. She saw my brothers die too early, she lost all of her relatives and friends one by one. She has seen tragedy. But through it all, she resisted bitterness and chose to be joyful and give love. And so, even the model of my 96 year old mom has spoken to my own heart. If she can do it, I have learned how. Every day she greets me with a smile and gentle soul. It is what she practiced and so it was easy for me to copy."

Home is about the life, not about the perfection

A few years ago, I was visiting a family and everything in the home--I should say, estate, was perfect. A garden without weeds, a home in perfect order, a meal with no mess. But the children were afraid to move, the environment seemed sterile, and there was something wrong. We all felt it and talked about it as we left. There seemed to be form without art.

A home is a place of life filled by a mother whose life is contagious because of her sparkle in the midst of messes, her laughter in the midst of duty, her song pervading the whole place--the music, feasts, art, joy of life..

‎"To build a home of ideals means a life of sacrifice. It means a lot of work, and it's never going to be over. These ideals don't come easily to anyone; they come through battle. It's an illusion to think that building a place of beauty ever happens naturally to anyone; it happens little by little ... through hard work ... when we cultivate our souls, our kids will have something to draw from .. the house with the life of God isn't a perfect house, it's a redeemed house! It's not a home without sin, or without messes or without spilled milk, but we redeem one more moment ... " Sally Clarkson

So, today, it is not about perfection, but about peace, hope, life, vision and love.

I heard Him call, come follow........

"Take my will and make it thine, It shall be no longer mine, Take my heart, it is thine own, it shall be thy royal throne, It shall be thy royal throne." Exhausted, drained, like the lady who touched Him and He said, "The strength went out of me," defined how I felt as I stumbled in out of the pelting rain, last night.

After 2 hours of driving the Kentucky back highways, after a weekend of speaking 10 hours to a sweet group of moms in a Tennessee lake house, I was spent. It wasn't just the weekend, or meeting with more surgeons, or finding an oral surgeon for Joy or working on Dolphin Tale with Nathan, or finding Sarah with a 103 temp and needing advice about a ruptured ear drum or hearing that a sweet friend had borrowed her car and had an accident and totaled the car and trying to figure out how to proceed, it was the cumulative weariness that just comes with some seasons of life. I think there are parts of me that are bone tired and soul weary from many years of being in the battle.

My heart, though, was swimming in hope and excitement and child-like anticipation,  because my borrowed car was headed to the small, hidden in a tiny town of Western Kentucky, home of my forever sister, friend, Gwen, where I knew that God lived.

Sleeping for 9 hours, (unheard of for me), I crept through the rooms and found her, candle lit, Bible in hand, cup of coffee steaming, with Gwen in her quiet time chair. "Curl up in my bed and I will pour you a cup of tea and we will be friends," she whispered, as she gently wrapped her blankets around my shoulders and puffed up the pillows where I had just laid my head.

And so, two friends, a beautiful little candlelit tray came to rest in my room, and life and beauty took place. I have many friends and thousands of sweet women in my life, but few who, when I am with them, I know I will find the palpable life of Him, glowing, living, stirring in our midst. But I always know I will find it here in Earlington, Kentucky, an old mining town, with sweet Gwennie.

After, journeying over bits of life, events, people, illnesses, deaths and heart sharing, we came to the most important subject.

"Why are we so blessed? What shaped our lives so that we have been able to live purposeful lives, we have seen dramatic answers to prayer, we have watched the life of God's spirit swirling amongst the events of our lives our whole lives. Why, in spite of the battles, do we see God's favor?"

And she showed me a poem she had written in her Bible many years ago,

"I heard Him call, "Come follow."

That was all.

My gold grew dim, my soul went after Him.

Who would not follow IF they heard Him call."

That was it. The secret. At an early age, we were both challenged to follow Him, to listen for His voice, to be His bondservant, to let Him show us the path, to live by faith, to believe in the power of prayer, to invest in His kingdom, to put aside the voices, the peer pressure of the world to conform, simply to follow Him.

Both of us have had to reject the voices of "Job's friends" in our lives, and the world's voices, and all of those voices who seemed to have "God's will in mind for us," and we could see, looking back, that holding fast to His voice, His way, His direction, as our pearl of great price, was the secret. Always, He is at the center. Always, His paths are the right paths.

And so, both of us, bow our hearts before Him, together, thanking Him for the miracle of the lives He has allowed us to live.

She has seen the death of all of her siblings, grandparents, many cousins, support systems dwindling, with her precious mama still loving and smiling.

As Clay and I followed His voice, he led us to leave overseas missions, to move back to America,  to raise 4 whole hearted children and to write about  parenting, mothering, discipling the next generation, to make radical decisions that most of our Christian friends and family did not understand.

For Gwen to follow God's voice, after 25 years of serving the Lord in Austria and Eastern Europe, He directed her to live a quiet life in a tiny town,  to move home to care for her elderly mom, day after day, for 10 years as her mother is now in her 97th year. But for both of us, to live in the comfort of knowing He has guided, He has been faithful, in the end, His ways have indeed been the pathway of blessing. And in reviewing His history of faithfulness, our hearts are refreshed in the company of each other.

Gwen and her mama, Larla, (as we call her)

And so we ponder, I wonder how God might direct us to serve Him, to follow Him, to hear His voice in the next 30 years? May we both be attentive, may we both hear, and expect His presence, and may we both obey and simply follow Him.

"Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise, Thou my inheritance, now and always; Thou and thou only first in my heart, High king of heaven, my treasure thou art."

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Today, I will be interviewed live on Blog Talk Radio by Dianna Waring, about creating life and beauty in a home. If you would like to join me, please go to: (and share it with all of your friends!) and I will be doing it at 3:00 central time for 30 minutes.

 

Hollywood is paying attention--Congratulations! Amazing!

Sweet friends, I am so grateful to be a part of families who are willing to show up, to go to lengths, to pay for the ability to send a message. I have been getting messages all last night about how shocked executives are at the results of the first day! I want to you so see a part of one of the letters I received:

Wow! Just received this gracious note from Alcon Entertainment (producers of Dolphin Tale and Blind Side) and just had to share it with you! Our voice, desires, impact, and influence is genuinely appreciated. Homeschoolers want Hollywood and production companies to know that if they make quality films like Dolphin Tale , we will show up in big groups on opening day when everyone else is in school or at work!  We pulled it off and it worked!

I want to extend a personal thanks to HSLDA, Classical Conversations, Clay and Sally Clarkson, Sherri Seligson and ALL the amazing field trip coordinators and other fabulous bloggers who got the word out and pulled their groups together!  Thank you to every homeschooler who participated!!

Here is the Alcon 'thank you' letter to all of YOU!!!

as well as:

And so there you have it! Because of you, at least for now, we have the eyes and ears of Hollywood. They are astounded at the fact that an innocent family, child oriented movie could actually tie for first at the box office.

I know all of you fight battles in so many arenas for light to come, but since so many of youth's values are shaped by the stories they see on screen, I want to thank you for attending. Having your children know that they were also a part of a group that supported something also goes deep into their souls to help them understand the value of a community of believers making a difference. May God bless each of you today and may you be strong in fighting the battles of faith--your labor of love and endurance is absolutely not in vain.

Grace, peace and love to you all!

 

DOLPHIN TALE--OPENING DAY!

Today, take a break, shake it up a little, leave all of the responsibilities behind--take your kids to the movies.

We have many ways of bringing family values back into our world. Building our families is the best way of course--taking that time to invest in them and love them.

But, we can send a message to the powers that be that we want our children to be seeing great, moral, heroic, inspiring stories. We send a message by attending the movies and showing that we will support the efforts of those in Hollywood who are willing to listen to us! Dolphin Tale is just a sweet children's story, but it also shows an under story of a child who is failing at school who comes alive when he has real life problems to solve, real causes to get behind. He comes alive because his heart is captivated by the idea that he can do something, even as a child, to help.

Be sure to see the story, ask your children questions about the movie and it becomes a very profitable day. Enjoy and let me know what you think.

So excited that even the LA Times quoted Nathan about the need for Hollywood to do more great movies. Here is what they said:

Nathan Clarkson of the Homeschool Movie Club urged his followers to "make a statement to Hollywood to rally behind movies that 'get it right' and tell great stories without all the junk, twaddle and moral compromise!"

How fun that the Los Angeles Times quoted Nathan, my wonderful son!

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-word-20110922,0,6520273.story

And, Nathan, praying for you and hoping this is the best of days and your work is rewarding to you.

Great Friday to everyone! And thanks so much for the support!

The Fallen Kingdom of Home

"In this world you have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world." Jesus

Right in the smack dab middle of Jesus loving, teaching, encouraging, and training his disciples, they simply embark on crossing the familiar lake where they have lived all of their lives, and suddenly a life-threatening storm overtakes them.

What could Jesus possibly be thinking? Does he want to lose all of his disciples at once? Is he trying to discourage them? Afterall, they had given up their whole lives to follow Him. Their hearts were dedicated to worshipping Him. They were busy serving other people---really, now this? Is this any way to treat those who are following you? And so sometimes the "whaps" on our lives feel personal, invasive, too much.

Have you ever felt that way? I have cooked. I have washed dishes. I have lost years of sleep. I have loved and served and given--does anyone notice? Does it matter? --and now this? Another storm? Another problem? The relentlessness of life is about to drown me, Lord. "Do you not care that we are perishing, Lord?" That is the question that we, like the disciples, have on our hearts.

Just when we have the ideals of our lives in place, and we have defined what the Kingdom of home is,  and we determine to commit to creating our homes as a place where the life of Christ will flourish, storms  and battles begin to overtake us, and we feel that we may be overcome.

If you are experiencing weariness of discouragement, it just means you are engaged in the battle. The battle and its raging are not a measure of your success or failure--but how you respond in the battle will determine the outcome. Often, people have said, "Well, I am glad Sally has ideals, but that is not what my life looks like and I don't even know how to get there."

My life was a constant swirl of ideals and reality, grace and storm, walking in faith, and railing against heaven--this is the picture of fighting to bring light into a dark world, and the home is no different.

I know that I am  mixing  metaphors and have moved from storms of life to the battles, but hopefully you know what I mean. But, when we determine to make our homes a place of life, Satan is determined to thwart us. Satan knows that the most precious treasure in God's economy are His children, his handmade creations--those who have souls that will last for eternity. And so the battleground for our future is at the soul level of life.

We are living in homes where the laws of thermo dynamics take place every day--that energy is depleting at a constant rate and everything is moving toward disorder. Knowing this--understanding that it will never change--and give yourself grace. Do not expect perfection. Do not condemn yourself or become angry at your children because they are not perfect.

Walk in grace. Celebrate life. Look for joy in the corners of your life. Always find a friend to pray with, to share life with, who holds your ideals and values. Know that all moms have the same issues--just different puzzles to put together.

Our children are selfish and sinful, our husbands (and even we) are fallible and imperfect; things fall apart, get broken, cost money, people are unloving, we are unsupported by the culture around us, and we lack support systems to support the ideals we believe.

In order to know how to raise godly children, we must have a refined picture of the ideals we are aiming for, but the second part of being productive in this venture of motherhood is understanding the battle. All of our homes are broken, our children are broken and without the grace of God, we will not be able to make it. But, I believe, and have seen, that with God on our side, and with faith, our labor is not in vain, and becomes a story of His power and goodness throughout eternity.

Warfare gives us such great examples. A seasoned general becomes astute in battle because he has been successful in weathering many years of battles, and has learned to fight valiantly and enduringly. An officer at war will also not be able to advance in experience and victory if he does not understand and know how to fight against his enemy.

And so, the kingdom of our home is a battlefield from others who would steal our dominion over our family.

Feeling weary or discouraged or inadequate or guilty from failing is a normal part of the process. You are in training. Engaging in the discipleship of my children became the training ground where little by little I learned what it meant to become a more mature Christian.

But remember this---it is not the people who start the race who win, but those who finish the race. So, if God calls you to ideals, and you begin running, don't give up--don't quit. Keep building a picture of your ideals, fan the flame of your vision. More soon about the tension between the vision and the reality of life and how to walk the journey with grace and peace.

I am discombobulated, writing this on the road, between an emergency with my own family. But as a battle worn, general of life, I know He will be with me. So I will pray for you, you pray for me and for my children who are targets--and if anyone can figure out how to put this article up on face book, please help me or leave a comment as I am off to speak. Love and grace to you precious ones who are in the trenches. Love and prayers going your way today!