Tea Time Tuesday: We May Never Pass This Way Again

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Tea Time Tuesday

Greetings from snowy Colorado, my lovelies. Praying grace, peace, joy and strength for you these next weeks of holiday celebration.

Today, I looked at this photo and already it is a sweet memory. The house was filled with children’s voices, laughter, chatting, and the noise of 7 people living together, for that moment, together in a charming cottage. As I had my treasured moments to hold baby Elanor close in my arms, I knew to live into the moment amidst the busyness of the household. She was here, healthy, lovely and soft and I could will my love and God’s love to seep deep into her little soul. I was holding a treasure at this moment in time.

I already look at Lilian, Samuel, and Lucie, my other grands, and see how quickly they have grown up and their own “babyhood”—slipped away right in front of my eyes. So many times, when I have been in a particular season, like nursing my babies, or tucking my children into bed and night and they want to talk, or sharing a companionship moment with Clay when partnering in this group called Clarksons, or hearing the secrets of my teens, and I have taken it for granted. I can suppose that “I’ll have another chance to do this again.”

My friend, Jacqui and I were talking about how, for a time, we had adventure days where, as friends, we would plan every Tuesday to foray out into a new English hamlet near Oxford, to discover a new charity shop or beautiful fields to walk in, or a tea house where we could sip and tell secrets. And yet, suddenly, without warning, our ability to get together on Tuesdays changed. Schedules shifted, responsibilities came and our committed time of friendship adventuring together on Tuesdays was over, at least for now.

When I spent my last days in Oxford some days ago, I made sure to make the most of each person I spent time with, to look them in the eyes, to listen to what was in their words and on their heart—because I knew that I might never have this moment to enjoy, to remember, to celebrate.

The holidays bring such an array of activities, things to do, traditions to occupy our time. Yet, if we want to make this holiday memorable and special, we need to determine to be present in the moment with those in our midst, our children, friends, relatives, neighbors. This is the day, this is the moment the Lord has made.

Today on my Tea Time Tuesday podcast, I share some of my Oxford experiences, favorite Thanksgiving food, of course music, books, and a challenge to make advent season a time of delisting in the Lord. Give Him the gift of your whole heart this season, worship Him, enjoy His presence, take time to experience His companionship, look for His fingerprints in your days, and tell Him how much you love Him.

Happiest of Thanksgiving to you, my friends. I am thankful for you.

We Are Living Sacrifices

As a young mother, I found that embracing God's call to motherhood once and for all brought me great peace. Instead of seeing fusses and messes as irritations in my day, I was more likely to see them as opportunities to train my children to be peacemakers and to learn to be responsible. Instead of resenting the interruptions to my schedule, I was more likely to accept them as divine appointments. More and more, I learned to see my children through the eyes of God.

To fully experience our fulfillment in Christ and fulfill his will for our lives, we must come to the point where we give our whole selves to him — our freedom, our time, our bodies, all of our possessions and gifts — trusting hi, to show us how to use all that we are for his glory.

To sacrifice means to give up or surrender something of value. We are living sacrifices, which means that moment by moment, out of our worship for him, we are to surrender our own needs and expectations for the greater value of pleasing the Lord.

Read more about this in The Mission of Motherhood.

Celebration Proclaims The Goodness Of God

Sometimes celebrating, enjoying, and laughing seem almost inappropriate in a world as broken as ours. We look around and see panic on the faces of everyone we see. Tragedies become ordinary. How, in good conscience, can we laugh and celebrate and eat pizza?

Did not Paul say to Timothy, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7)? When we give in to fear, we give in to the dark powers of our day.

Though dark and scary events may take place, our homes and communities can still be bastions of celebration, laughter, worship, thankfulness, and fun. Our love, our friendship, our sympathy can be lifegiving instruments of hope.

We celebrate God's work in the ordinary. We create foundations of connection and relationship. We worship God for the gift He has given us of the world. Nothing could be more lifegiving than that.

Read more about this in The Lifegiving Table.

Cultivating A Vision for Home

The vision of home that began in me the day I had my first child grew clearer and more compelling as time went by. Because I knew what it was like to live in a foreign country as a young, lonely missionary without a familiar place to go when weary, I wanted to provide a space of rest and refreshment for those who felt that way too.

People from all over the world passed through our doorways and stayed in our beds and feasted at our table over the years. We cultivated our rooms into refuges for weary ones and places to celebrate births and weddings, to give solace to the sorrowing, to nurture those who were ill, and to offer love, friendship, and even counseling. Our home was a venue for feasts, Bible studies, concerts, holidays, birthdays, and intimate time with friends. In the process, our home began to have a story of its own.

Years passed, and our children grew through each season of life. At times, we pulled in together behind closed doors to deal with heartaches and disappointments — though we also celebrated joys and had lots of fun. At these times, home grew into a place of refuge, comfort, familiarity, safety, pleasure — a port to keep us safe through the storms.

During these years, God seemed to whisper to me in my quiet times: "Give foundations of strength and inspiration to these precious ones, but give them wings as well. Prepare them to take risks, to live by faith, so that they can take the messages and cherished values they learned at home and share them with a hurting world."

And so our home began a launching pad, a place of blessing, as we sent our beloved children on their way — hopefully strong, whole, and secure in the ideals, faith, and values that truly matter.

They were taking His light out into the darkness. But our home remained the lighthouse they could return to for restoration in between their adventures.

Read more about this in The Lifegiving Home.

Celebrating Autumn & Enjoying the Steadfast Love of God

Tea Time Tuesday

Autumn is my favorite season of the year. Who can resist the colors, the gentle breezes and the way the leaves rustle, the slight chill in the air that makes for invigorating hikes.

Look at this gigantic leaf I found! So fun.

This week I have eaten great food, (pear-feta salad), talked of silly books, (listen to the podcast), held and cuddled my precious new granddaughter, and walked miles and miles through fields and meadows. I hope you enjoy the podcast.

*****

Don’t waste a lot of time self-condemning!

Lately, I have come across so many women who live with the poison of guilt bubbling in their hearts for feeling inadequate in living up to their ideals. “I’m ruining my children.” “I get angry.” “I haven’t done the right things or enough in my home education.” “I don’t think I can make it in ______fill in the blank.

The imposter syndrome, thinking we are not as excellent as we pretend to be, is a danger for so many. It causes us to feel distant from God, assuming we have disappointed Him. Then follows a feeling of being separated from His love and approval.

We all have feelings like this. But I wish I had given them no attention. In spite of the fact that our home had ups and downs, was in a state of mess and then clean and then do it again. We had the antics of toddlers, a variety of differing and demanding personalities, were subject to my husband’s and my weaknesses or lack of training—and still somehow by God’s grace, He made our work of faith and faithfulness enough.

And every day, even when I felt unworthy, God loved me through every minute. He was for us. He was cheering on from heaven.

But God’s love is steadfast—forever strong, real, committed. Nothing can separate us from his love, nothing is stronger than his love.

Join me today on At Home With Sally and I hope you will be encouraged.

Motherhood Is Eternal Work

Our children will become treasures in heaven if they indeed learn to love God and serve him with their whole hearts. This is eternal work — to train the hearts, minds, and consciences in righteousness. This is the vital work of building a morally, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually strong generation of children who will be prepared to function responsibly for the rest of their lives.

But before we can do this work effectively, we have to come to a point of yielding our hearts to God's will. And if we have been blessed with children, we have to surrender ourselves wholeheartedly to our role of being a mother after God's design.

When we choose to sacrifice our own goals and desires to serve our children, we are furthering God's eternal work. We know that, through our labor and love, over time he will faithfully build our children into a righteous heritage. But for this to happen, we must willingly lay down our lives. To have sufficient energy for the task, we must make the choice to embrace motherhood wholeheartedly.

From The Mission of Motherhood.

Being A Conductor Of Joy

One of the roles God wants mothers to play in their children’s lives is to be a conductor of joy, happiness, and celebration. This doesn’t mean we won’t have difficulties or times of depression. But we do have choices we can make as mothers that will determine the environment in our homes.

When we choose to practice praise, joy, and love — when we cultivate celebration even as God did — we then find that we experience the love of God to a greater degree in our own lives. He is there, walking in the garden of our own lives, looking for us to see Him and to respond and walk with Him in His providing love.

But in order to see Him, we must turn our eyes and hearts to Him, and seek to listen to Him in our souls. When we do, we validate for our children and ourselves the reality of His joy.

So today, look for joy. Seek out beauty. Model to your children what it means to live in celebration of God’s marvelous life. Look for the miracles that go unnoticed each day. Rest in the pleasure of your Lord’s companionship and revel in His creation. The end result will be that you bring celebration to the very heart of your own loving Father.

From my book, Your Mom Walk With God.

Tea Time Tuesday: A New Human Being Has Come Into Our Midst

Click here to play today’s new podcast episode.

Tea Time Tuesday

Week by week, our family waited for the arrival of our precious baby to come. Yet, this mysterious journey of motherhood means that every time a baby is born, it is miraculous and unpredictable. Finally, on her due date, my newest grandchild decided to hint that she might be on her way.

Since our home was filled with packing boxes, bags of rubbish, all toys and legos gone, I took my precious ones to the parks for a relic in nature to pass the time. Finally, after hours of waiting for the “call” and wondering what was transpiring, I got a text, “Sarah is in transition.”

Waiting for what seemed to be the right amount of time, I whisked the three littles into a taxi and headed to my daughter’s home. Not long after we arrived and were pondering making dinner and taking off our coats, their wonderful father came into the kitchen and said, “I have a new sister to introduce you to!”

Running up the stairs in utter excitement, laughter, and awe, the three saw their baby sister for the first time, nestled in her mother’s gentle embrace. Oohs and ahhs in whisper tones formed in their precious mouths, a holy moment to enjoy.

Somehow we forgot to take photos that evening because of our excitement. The next day, as I was visiting my littles once again, and before I even took off my coat, I got to hold my precious little one and tell her that Queenie loves her and always will.

What a joy. It never gets old and is always a glorious miracle — a new human being, come into the world to live a story, to bring light and goodness from the wells of their own unique personalities. The infinite possibilities wrapped up in a tiny new bundle of life.

And so, my friends, today’s Tea Time Tuesday will be a short version of life with our little community of family here. Meanwhile, I am basking in the circle of love we share together. May you have a joy-filled week.

Valuing Your Role As A "Home Maker"

Home becomes dearer each day, each year as I store up the life I have shared with my close ones. The definition of "home" is: "The place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household."

While I suppose this very vague definition is true, home is so much more than a shelter where we simply eat, sleep, and gather. It is a place of refuge, a safe haven for our children that is welcoming and beautiful.

I truly believe that the home we cultivate as mothers is the restorative training ground for our children — a place where they can be discipled and filled with love and care prior to growing up and heading to battle.

God has entrusted you with an incredible responsibility as the "home maker." What will you fill your home with today?

Read more about this in The Lifegiving Home.