The Season of Harvest

There is a summer season of life in which the lives and hearts of children are open to the sowing of seed. It is a season in which we need to be ready to respond to their open hearts and to make the most of each moment. God requires that we cultivate, sow into, and water the gardens of our children's hearts in this season of growing.

The season of planting does not last forever; it is a gift of time granted for a single fleeting season. But what precious time! What is planted in their lives in this time will determine the future harvest in the lives of children — great stories of heroic believers, living words of biblical wisdom and encouragement, pictures of godly character, memories of daily love and affection.

The outcome of their souls depends in large part upon how well we till their hearts and plant the seeds of love and righteousness. In many ways the heart of the mother's soul is reflected in the soul harvest of her children — what we sow we will indeed also reap, and this season will come sooner and more quickly than we expect.

The season of harvest will be a season of plentiful celebration if we have planted well. If we have lived daily in touch with our heavenly Father, and we have responded to our children as they have passed through their own seasons, then we can be confident that God will work in our children's hearts and lives.

Read more about this in Seasons of a Mother’s Heart.

Discipleship Takes Hard Work & Heart Work

I often felt these teatimes were our way of reaching toward the ideals that most drove us—the dreams of study, artistry, travel, or ministry that filled our hearts. Together, we marveled at the scope of God’s goodness over a steaming cup of tea and a delectable treat. In those sweet pauses of sipping tea and listening to one another, we also discovered a deepening sense of purpose and a clearer picture of our stories within God’s greater story.

I would sprinkle in questions: What is on your heart today? What do you hope for? What are your dreams? What do you think God is calling you to become?

Companionship of soul and mind requires planning, purpose, and choice. Those treasured shared spaces in so many of our homes and shared moments and the community of family and friends that grew from them didn’t happen on their own. They were crafted, sought, chosen, and claimed times, times when we said no to other commitments or work.

I chose to intentionally spend time beyond the lure of my writing deadlines, work, or sleep, often sacrificing my personal time. When we are together, our conversations continue to be shaped by thoughtful questions purposefully asked, by our intent to know and be known. This is one of the threads that connects our hearts, convictions, values, and faith because these priorities were shaped over many years of intentionality.

Read more about this in Teatime Discipleship For Mothers & Daughters.

Initiative: An Attribute that Transforms the World

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Tea Time Tuesday: As young children, my little ones were fascinated with nature. Living on 200 acres of wildness in the middle of Texas provided many opportunities to catch and classify butterflies, catch bugs, put snakes into large jars to observe (I found one on the kitchen cabinet!) and to see how God had built lessons of life into the very warp and woof of his world.

One evening about sunset, Nathan and Joel were running ahead as we sauntered on our traditional walk after dinner. With the summer hours at night, we still had full light. Joel was captivated by a tiny any that was carrying a leaf almost 5 times its size.

"Mama, if a tiny little bug like that can work so hard for his family aunts, maybe we could do a lot more than we think."

Three days later, we received a shipment of a printing of one of our books. Boxes were stacked high and would take quite some work to empty them onto our shelves. Late in the afternoon, however, Clay came out of our little office and found Joel, sweating profusely in the Texas summer heat, but he had emptied 30 boxes of books neatly onto the shelves with only 2 more to go. It was quite a task, and we were amazed.

"Joel, this is amazing! What made you decide to do this?"

"Well, when I was thinking about the ant and how he carried so much more than we could ever imagine possible, I thought, I want to be like that ant! I want to be strong and dependable. Something came into my head and told me to empty the books." Yes, he really said that — 9 years old. Maybe the Holy Spirit came into his head! :)

Romans 5: 8 tells us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He saw our failures, our sin, our heartbreaks; He heard our cries; He, out of the driving force of His own nature that always causes Him to redeem, He took initiative to serve us an then die for us.

When we learn to take initiative, we reflect the out-reaching character of Christ. Little by little, as we train our children patiently and teach them to take initiative to be responsible, we are giving them a strong character and familiarity to take initiative when they are strong adults. There will always be work to do and so the one who takes initiative will always be in action. Initiative teaches believers to be responsible with the work of God.

Jesus says that the harvest is plentiful and the workers few. Why? Because many people wait to be asked to help. Those with the character of Christ are out in the world with eyes looking for people to help, work for the kingdom to be accomplished.

Initiative causes us to start a small group Bible study for women in our own home because we see a need--not because someone asked us. Initiative causes us to reach out to strangers to show them the love of Christ. A spirit of initiative says, "I am God's and I will live my life for His glory. I will be His eyes to look out for places I might help, love or redeem, in the spirit of His initiation to me."

From early years, we always told our children that God had created them with a personality and skills and drives in order to bring light and His truth into their worlds. Teaching them to be responsible for themselves and for others, made them familiar, when they were adults, with the need to reach out to others and to invest their lives, even if it took a risk, to bring His truth into their own worlds.

When we talk to our children throughout the moments of their days and create the vocabulary and train them to learn how to think of themselves as responsible, we are preparing them to live a story of servant leadership. And when they see us taking initiative to help, to reach out to and to teach others, they will develop a self-image of one who is especially called by God to take initiative to bring light to their own dark worlds--all for the love of God's design in their own lives and for their own love of their heavenly Father.

The Essence Of The Lifegiving Table

The story of the Clarkson family has been written at tables. Not with pen and paper, but with words and people, food and fellowship, talk and time. Whatever kind of table it might be — breakfast, lunch, dinner; picnic or deck; plain or fancy; small, tall, wood, metal, or rock; bare or cloth-covered; even the ground — it becomes our family table when we sit down together to eat and drink and be and belong.

The delightful fruits of God’s creation we share together fill and fuel us as God’s life-breathed and image-bearing creatures, and our shared story grows from the table’s Spirit-infused life coming alive in us. I believe that’s true for all of us.

Even the simplest supper, meal, snack, or teatime can become, in some way, a feast — a lavish celebration of the living God’s life and goodness. It’s not just about the physical act of eating, but about sharing and enjoying life as God designed and gave it to us. That is the essence of the lifegiving table.

In order for this life to take place, our hearts must be prepared every day, every meal, every opportunity to share, from the fullness of my own heart, the truth, the encouragement, the affirmation, the challenge that I have cultivated over the years in order to pour into my children as a wise experienced mentor would do.

Read more about this in The Lifegiving Table.

If I Could Do It All Over Again

I would stop in the midst of my chores to listen to a boy-joke being shared and I would laugh out loud and tell them they were so much fun.

I would stop unloading the groceries when my husband is talking to me and look deeply into his eyes and listen to what he is saying, communicating with my whole self, "You are such a treasure to me. I want to know what you are thinking and feeling and dreaming."

I would take the moment to tousle a head as I am passing through a room and say, "I am so blessed to have you as my very own child. You make me so happy, just being you."

I would stop what I am doing, to go outside to look at a "treasure" when I hear, "Hey, Mama, come look!"

I would camp more outside on our deck and cuddle up under the sleeping bags more often to marvel at the stars and the one who made them.

I would open my eyes to take a snapshot each day, just as it is — with boy noises, loud discussions, toys being played with intently, piano being practiced, thoughts being shared, messes coming and going.

Today, engage your heart in storing up pictures of the precious ones in your home. Listen, love, wash dishes and mugs happily and live fully in the time remaining before this season flies quickly into another season, and you are never be able to live this day well again.

Tea Time Tuesday: Cultivating Great Writers, Teen Peer Pressure, Movies, Books, Ideas & Fun

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“Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think.”

-Benjamin Disraeli

Tea Time Tuesday: I don’t exactly know how it happened. All four of my children are published authors and are insightful communicators. Often people ask me, “What curriculum did you use?” Our lives were primarily organic — living naturally with the intuitive and real circumstances of a day to day life.

One of the most distinguishing attributes of human beings is that they have the ability to communicate with words. We were all created to be message makers, to use words powerfully, to adequately give value to what is true in life and brings glory to God.

In the same way that strong health comes from eating organic fruit and veggies and consuming what is healthy, so a strong brain comes from ingesting truth, great thoughts, and then exercising our brains by discussing these thoughts and ideas.

Great thoughts become good messages from discussing and integrating many true thoughts in forming our character, and then acting on and practicing these great thoughts.

Our messages come from what we have cherished in our hearts, stored in our minds, or valued in our souls.

The student becomes like his teacher. So if the teacher is growing intellectually, communicating profoundly and leading her students in rigorous discussion about these ideas, the natural consequence will be shaping a strong communicator.

Then imagination grows as it connects all of the thoughts and ideas and a communicator/writer is born.

What are you, the mentor, reading, thinking, writing in your journal that becomes the real life curriculum for the messages you are passing on.

More on Tea Time Tuesday: Birds have nested in my wall; yellow pollen was in my coffee; I have some fun stories, great movies, interesting books, one of my favorite artists, and so much more. Hope you will join me and pass it on to your friends.

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Ministry To Others Changes Lives Forever

Mothers are the keepers of lives entrusted by God in every generation. Once I understood that it was through Jesus making food and feeding his crowds, washing feet, lifting prostitutes off the dusty ground, holding squirmy babies, and giving His life that he reached hearts, I realized that it is through serving my children that their hearts would be opened.

What does it mean to practice servant leadership as a mother? I believe it starts out with a choice. I often sacrificed my own needs and desires for the purpose of giving them what they need and modeling for them the depths of Christ's love.

For me, choosing servanthood meant sitting on a child's bed, listening to sorrows, encouraging them — when I would rather have had time to myself. It meant being exhausted from caring for three children under six, yet still getting up in the middle of the night to soothe the pain of an ear infection. It meant making the effort to plan an outing — a picnic lunch, a drive to the mountains, a favorite audio book — even though I had a million other things to do.

Learning to give up our expectations keeps us from becoming angry when our expectations of life don't turn out exactly as we thought. Children have been the same from the beginning — growing, eating, making messes, crying, laughing, playing and going from infant to adult over many years, with much love along the way.

Read more about this in The Ministry of Motherhood.

A Place To Belong

“Mama, I can't wait to come home and just be together as a family."

Every home has its own personality. The favorite food cherished, the traditions kept, the emotional song within the relationships inside the walls, the flowers planted, and they reflect the ones who live within. Each of us longs for home to be the place we are loved, invited as we are, part of the crowd.

With the chaos of voices clamoring for our soul allegiance, the world can be a calamitous, draining and confusing place. Yet, home can hold one and keep them fast to the values and faith celebrated within the treasure of the community valued there. Home fires, traditions shared, meals eaten in fellowship together discussing over life, values upheld, histories made and stories told and celebrated are the roots that go deep into the heart of a child to keep them tethered to the truth of the gospel and the foundations of faith.

The crafting of our home-life validates the reality of God's love and redemption in a place that satisfies souls that long for stability and foundations that cannot be shaken. Creating a home is about the life of Jesus incarnating the moments with love, truth, beauty, and faith so that every child who leaves its walls will always have a place to come home to and feel that they will always have the gift of belonging to a people, a history and a place that is safe and strong.

Tea Time Tuesday: Attentiveness Reaches Hearts

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Tea Time Tuesday: Oxford photos coming!

“My child, be attentive to my words; to my sayings incline your ear.” Proverbs 4:20-22

When my children’s cell phone numbers come across my texts, or I see they are calling me, I still get so excited. I drop everything because I cherish talking to them, sharing life, encouraging one another, being intimate companions. It is something I treasure.

I think this close relationship started when they were infants. I read everything I could about babies, attachment, care. I stumbled across research that said when babies were attended to quickly upon crying, they learned their needs would be cared for and they would become calmer babies, more responsive, because their brains told them they would be cared for.

After much seeking and praying, I became a mama who nursed on demand. I would hold them with their cheek touching mine and sing lullabies into their ears, while rocking them from side to side, kissing their sweet heads. A couple of my children had bubbly tummies and would take longer to soothe, but still I would hold, kiss, sing, comfort. I was an older mama when I started and so I did fall deeply in love with them, having waited. It doesn’t mean all of my moments were easy or calm, but we moved in that direction.

It was the model of God’s parenting for me, through Christ, that captured my heart in this philosophy. God longed for the companionship of His children. He walked in the garden to be with them.

Jesus came not be served, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, to give his life as a ransom for many.”

He befriended His disciples, fed them, taught them, loved them, modeled faith, healed, spoke comfort and forgiveness. He was attentive to their needs and ultimately sacrificed His life on the cross for them and for us, that we might receive wholeness, forgiveness, eternal life. He was the servant king. I learned to become a servant mama, copying His ways.

And training would happen this way as well. The words wisdom, obedience, love, forgiveness, truth, honor and more were regularly heard day to day.

Immediately responding to a situation that needed some training or instruction, like Jesus, I would teach and train all day — high love, high training. Often, I would hold them close when they would hit another child and saying, “You may only use your hands for gentleness. You may not hit.” And teaching them to ask for forgiveness, and as they were older, writing a paragraph about what they learned in Our 24 Family Ways about forgiveness and how it applied.

They learned to expect love through encouraging words, attentiveness, listening to their words and hearts. I did not do this perfectly, but my ideals led to a pathway of practicing what I believed was the pattern of the love of Christ. My adult children still respond to this sort of love.

Much more on my podcast, At Home With Sally.

FOR MORE

  • Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app.

  • Leave an iTunes Review These are so important as they help our podcast reach more women with messages of encouragement.

  • Follow on Facebook and Instagram for the latest news and updates.

  • Share with others. My prayer is that this podcast brings encouragement to women and families, and I would be honored for you to tell others about it.

  • Join my friends and me in membership at Life with Sally, a place for me to share more teaching from the Bible and messages on education, motherhood, discipleship, and more

Shaping Lives Through Dinnertime Discussions

“Here’s what I think,” was heard every day, every night as our children sharpened their brain skills and built intellectual muscle.

It was a night just like any other, which is to say it was another evening of rousing discussion. Soup spoons suspended in midair, quizzical brows, the thumping of a printed-out article on the table.

The article in question had been the source of that evening’s discussion. I can’t recall the topic of debate, but it likely had something to do with a current event, a book, an important idea or theological point. And everybody—everybody!—had an opinion about it.

Once a learning exercise that Clay and I established and encouraged, dinnertime discussions grew to be the pulsing heartbeat of the Clarkson table. It seemed dinner had two purposes—to eat and to discuss.

When our kids were young, I would ask each of them to share the most interesting thing they had learned that day, where we had gone on a field trip, or talk about what they had done with their friends. Their simple but enthusiastic sentences would tumble over each other. In those days the table was a place to practice manners, especially the arts of listening and asking.

As they grew older, sometimes Clay would bring a book or article, read or summarize part of it, and then ask their opinions. We sought to validate the thinking process in order to strengthen the muscle of thinking and engaging in ideas.

These days, we still enjoy the ease of conversation. Fostering mealtime discussion has been vital to the spiritual, social, and emotional growth of all the individuals at our table. Our lively dinnertime discussions are one of the things that most positively shaped my and my children’s lives.

Discipleship must reflect the fact that God values our voice, thought, and will. Dinnertime discussions reflect and enact this value, making a place where everyone can be heard, be exposed to truth, and have the space to develop convictions. Through dinnertime discussions, convictions can be formed, confidence can be gained, conversation can be practiced, and consideration can be taught.

Read more about this in The Lifegiving Table.