The Change Must Be Ours

"God will not compromise, and He need not be coaxed. He cannot be persuaded to alter his Word nor talked into answering selfish prayer. In all our efforts to find God, to please Him, to commune with Him, we should remember that all change must be on our part. "I am the Lord, I change not." We have but to meet His clearly stated terms, bring our lives into accord with His revealed will, and His infinite power will become instantly operative toward us in the manner set forth through the gospel in the Scriptures of truth."

A.W. Tozer

The Knowledge of the Holy

Photograph: Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Darrell Gulin 

Allposters.com

On Imperfections and Failures

I spent a good part of the day taking out the quilting I'd done on the baby quilt I'd hoped to finish this week. I got about a fourth of it quilted yesterday, but it was a really sloppy job. I'm attempting to learn to do short-arm quilting on an EQ3 frame. Half of me wants to give up. The other half wants to learn how to do this. So today I meticulously picked out all the sloppy quilting I'd done and started over. The first change was to use a thread color that wouldn't show up as much. That way I could hide a lot of mistakes! I watched a couple of videos online and re-racked more precisely. I'm glad I started over. It's looking a lot better.

Don't you wish life could be that way? Just rip out the failures and start over. We've been going through family pictures and getting our daughters organized into years. Birth-1-2...8...15...19...23... Married and gone. Our time together went so quickly. So many joyful years, yet many things I'd love to just start over and do differently. But that would be a life of perfection, and it simply doesn't exist this side of heaven.

That's a good thing. As much as we'd like it to be otherwise, imperfections and failures in ourselves, others, and life's situations send us to the Redeemer. He is the only one who can give us beauty for ashes, joy for mourning, praise for heaviness.

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. ~ Isaiah 61:3

Be further encouraged with these words from C.H. Spurgeon....

"It shall not be the spirit of praise for the spirit of heaviness, though that were a fair exchange, but as your heaviness you tried to keep to yourself, so your praise you shall not keep to yourself, it shall be a garment to you, external and visible, as well as inward and profound. Wherever you are it shall be displayed to others, and they shall see and take knowledge of you that God has done great things for you whereof you are glad."

I have trusted in Your lovingkindness; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, Because He has dealt bountifully with me. ~ Psalm 13:5-6

Painting~Summer Evening at Skagan, Peter Severin Kroyer

Manners and Courtesy in the Home

As My Beloved and I were leaving church on Sunday, we stopped to chat with a young couple and the conversation turned to men being chivalrous. This young man was commenting that chivalry has left our culture, and that it is to our shame. How encouraging it was to hear a young man lamenting that loss, yet how much more encouraging to see him carrying his young lady's bags and opening the car door for her. It's such a blessing to see our own sons-in-law doing to the same for our daughters.

I often comment to My Beloved how much I appreciate his gentlemanliness toward me, as he is always attentive to opening doors for me, helping me with my coat, assisting me into the car, and so many other thoughtful acts of love. Too often I see husbands who give no attention to these little acts of kindness, and thankfulness stirs within me for the heart of My Beloved. When kindness reciprocates kindness, gracious courtesy is set in motion.

I'd like to share the following piece from Grenville Kleiser's Inspiration and Ideals: Thoughts for Everyday, 1918.

"There is special need for gentle manners and courtesy in the home. The familiarity of family intercourse may unconsciously lead to laxity in kindliness, willingness, and considerateness. Habits of self-restraint, intelligent tact, and self-sacrifice are frequently needed where people of varied tastes and temperaments are in intimate daily contact. It is remarkable what one member of a household can do by means of right personal example. When you apply the qualities of sincerity, graciousness, courtesy, cheerfulness and affectionate regard toward those in your family circle, you have set in motion an influence which can not be adequately estimated. Love always wins, and it is still the greatest thing in the world."

Chronological Bible Reading

I finished reading through The Daily Bible today. It's arranged in chronological order and has been a tremendous help in my understanding the chronology of biblical happenings and writings. It's divided into 365 daily readings, but I like to read meditatively, so I don't always read an entire day's selection. It's NIV, which I don't use as a study Bible, but reading in a translation that isn't as familiar to me helps me to read more carefully since I can't read on auto-pilot. This is the third time I've read through the New Testament in The Daily Bible. The first time through it, I read Old and New.

 
I've recently come across another chronological Bible that I've been eager to begin--Reese Chronological Bible, KJV. The difference with this Bible is that it puts the order of events more specifically in chronological order. That is, John 1:1 is the very first verse--"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Now THAT's chronological order!

The RCB has received positive reviews, and I've recently put this Bible in our church's Book Nook.

Tomorrow morning I begin this new Bible--with John 1:1. Looking forward to getting to it bright and early!

Sunday Ponderings ~ Cling to the Good

My ponderings today come from a phrase in Romans 12:9, where our pastor spoke in church this morning.

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.

I've been thinking this afternoon about clinging to what is good. Pastor explained that the Greek word for cling means to permanently glue together.

And so I've been thinking that if I cling to what is good, if I am permanently bonded to what is good, by default I will abhor evil. Good and evil cannot coexist. They cannot bond. The more my mind is filled with good, evil will find no grip. Light and darkness cannot coexist. One dispels the other. God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5).  

The problem arises as to where I allow my thoughts to go. As a believer, God's desire is that I be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29). I should be continually changing more and more into His image. Less thoughts on the darkness of evil, and more thoughts on the goodness of light.

The Enemy of all things good would have us confused as to what is good and what is evil. He would even have us enjoying evil. Many people, even followers of Christ, find enjoyment watching evil played out before them on television or in movies. We cannot say that we abhor the evil that we enjoy watching.

And so, as a follower of Jesus Christ, I turn to His Word to learn what He says about these opposing forces. And in doing so, I separate myself from that which is evil and bond myself to that which is good.  

The underlying reason?  Let love be without hypocrisy. Let love be genuine.

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength (Mark 12:30).

Clinging to that which is good, with all my heart.
Clinging to that which is good, with all my soul.
Clinging to that which is good, with all my mind.
Clinging to that which is good, with all my strength.

Permanently bonded.
And thankful for His mercy and grace.

Painting: Young Woman Reading ~ Mary Cassatt, 1876

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The Simple Woman's Daybook

Today I reflect on simple thoughts and simple pleasures. My leads are somewhat similar to others in The Simple Woman's Daybook group, yet a bit different as well.  

A picture to share... 

Daffodils in the small garden by the sidewalk. White ones show up pretty at night in the glow of the walkway lights.

Outside my window...

White daffodils in the glow of the night lights.  
 

Noticing the sound of...

My Beloved scanning through-the-years pictures.

Thinking...

Click here to go there

About a dear friend whose daughter is rejecting their good counsel. Raising children into young adulthood is often a heart-rending experience.

Thankful for...

God's redeeming grace and mercy.

Reflecting creativity, in His image...

Not much creativity happened this week. Mostly I've been going through boxes of pictures and trying to get some organization to them. Most of the pictures were before the days of digital cameras, and I've discovered that I wasn't as diligent about dating pictures as I hoped I would have been.

Looking to the ways of my household...
Cleaned out a food cabinet and tossed out-of-date food. Just couldn't pass up a No-Bake dessert, though, that was not too much out-of-date, so I fixed it for a Saturday snack. It should be chilled and ready to eat soon. 

This coming week I'm hoping to...
Hoping, hoping, hoping to finish the baby quilt that's been on hold for a couple of weeks.

Learning....

That it isn't good stewardship of our money to take an online quilting class that I could well learn for myself from a book that I can keep and refer to over and over again.  

From the kitchen....

Saturday breakfast was an egg casserole. Sharing the recipe, but I can't remember where I got it to give credit. :-( I cut the recipe in half for the two of us. It's good reheated as leftovers the next day.

Saturday Brunch Casserole

6 bacon strips, crisped and crumbled

1 small onion, chopped

1 small green or red pepper, chopped

1 tsp canola oil

2 carton (8 oz. each) egg substitute

4 eggs

1 cup fat free milk

4 cups frozen shredded has brown potatoes thawed

1 cup (4 ox.) shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese (I use mozzarella)

3/4 tsp. salt 

1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp dill weed

Saute onion and green/red pepper in oil until tender. 

In a large bowl, whisk egg substitute, eggs, and milk. 

Stir in the has browns, cheese, salt, pepper, dill, onion mixture and bacon.

Transfer to 13x9 baking dish coated with cooking spray.

Bake uncovered at 350 degrees 30-35 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

A thought from my Quiet Time....
From J.I. Packer on Revival--

Revival means the work of God restoring to a moribund church, in a manner out of the ordinary, those standards of Christian life and experience that the New Testament sets forth as being entirely ordinary. This includes a longing that the Spirit may shed God's love abroad in our hearts with greater power. It is with this (to which deep exercise of the soul about sin is often preliminary) that personal revival begins, and it is by this that revival in the church, once begun is sustained.

~ Knowing God Through the Year, J.I. Packer

Currently reading...

Introverts in the Church, Finding Ourselves in An Introverted Culture by Adam McHugh.  The author is a pastor/introvert, and he gives some helpful insight as to valuing those within the church who are introverts and encouraging introverts in ministry.

You may also enjoy reading what other simple women are saying and doing these days. Just click here to go to The Simple Woman's Daybook site. I'll be posting my journal on Saturdays. Do stop by again.

Quiet Living

A few more thoughts today about quiet living, from 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 11, where God through the Apostle Paul tells us to "...study to to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands."

Study to be quiet. There are many things that I study and want to study. Being quiet should be one of them. I'm to make it my ambition, to strive earnestly, to make it my aim...to live quietly. Having this ambition is a desirable quality. A quiet life? Hardly a characteristic of our culture. Hardly a characteristic of today's women who are bombarded from all sides to be aggressive and brash, and to be loud about it. In contrast, we're told that a meek and quiet spirit is of value to God (1 Peter 3:4). There is no higher standard of value than God's, but quietness is disallowed in our current culture. Today's feminism is clamorous, boisterous, and demanding. Proverbs 9:13 tells us this is foolish and naive.

Do your own business. In other words, tend to my own business and don't be a busybody. Women who want to meddle in other people's lives are disquieted in their own. They think they have a good word to pass along, but often it's evident that they are consumed with expressing their own opinion and knowing everyone else's business... and wanting everyone to know that they know everyone's business. This doesn't mean that I don't help others, but that I don't meddle when I do, and that I don't tell everyone that I did.

To work with their own hands. When I'm doing my own work, I don't have much time to put my oar in other people's affairs. God has given us women the responsibilities of being a helper to our husbands and of caring for our home and family. It's been my observation that women who are not quiet and who are busy about other people's affairs are those who are not tending to their own home fires. There is much to keep my hands busy here at home.

We're also given the reason why we are to study to be quiet, to do our own business, and to work with our own hands--that you may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that you may have lack of nothing" (verses 11 and 12).

There's always a reason why God wants us to do something or to avoid something. He created us and knows the whys and wherefores. Here it's twofold: (1) so unbelievers will see the outworking of the gospel in our lives--Christ living in us. It's a testimony of His grace and mercy toward us. (2) It's also so that we will lack nothing; in other words, so we'll have all we need. Being foolish and naive and clamoring and disquieted is lacking in wisdom and purity and peacefulness and gentleness. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated (James 3:17).

So I ask myself--Do I desire quietness? Do I make it my aim and ambition? Do I order my days accordingly? Do I entreat others in love and compassion and seek to bear their burdens with them, or do I simply have a desire to know? When I do offer a helping hand, do I broadcast my good deeds so others will know my involvement? Do I busy myself with primary responsibilities of home and family? Do I seek wisdom from above?

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want [that I may have lack of nothing]. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside still [quiet] waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness [living quietly, minding my own business, working with my own hands] for His name's sake [so that I make the gospel believable to those who don't yet believe] (Psalm 23:1-2, with my own quiet pondering comments).

Painting: Taking Out the Washing ~ Arthur Claude Strachan

The Supper Table ~ A Good Time for Discipleship

My Beloved and I were out to our homeschool class today and stopped at a family-owned restaurant for supper on the way home. There was a family across the way with two sons who were playing chess on their laptop computer. No conversation was going on among the family--just passing the laptop back and forth. Recently we were in a restaurant, and grandparents had their young grandson with them. They had brought a DVD player, and he was watching some cartoons. At another restaurant not long ago, a family with three children had come in and while the children were coloring, the parents were both busy with their cell phones. The same thing was true on another occasion. And just last week when we were out, there were a couple of women at a nearby table with their daughters, who were on their cell phones. At least the women were talking to each other! None of the others seemed to exchange more than a dozen words. Physically together, but emotionally disconnected.

As I was watching this family today, my mind went back to when our daughters were younger and living at home and the depth of conversations we would have at supper time. We'd more often than not spend an hour or so at the table, simply sharing happenings of the day or talking about some pertinent topics or struggles they may be having. That was a time purposefully set aside for our family to come together and talk. Supper was a major tool for discipling our family.

If parents aren't diligent about redeeming the time they do have with their children, the years will be gone before they know it. Our culture has become noisy and cluttered to the extreme. The fast pace gets many people addicted to their own adrenalin, and they speed up life far beyond what they can emotionally or physically handle. Such a condition gives birth to depression and hopelessness.

If you have a family at home and you aren't doing so already, I encourage you to be diligent about providing time and space for your children to reflect and contemplate. Bring some quiet to their days, and be cautious of adding activity upon activity that rushes them through each day. I encourage you to disciple your children. That takes conversation. At least leave the technology out of the room when you sit down to eat together. Look each other in the eyes and talk to one another. You just might be surprised at what you hear. Maybe even more surprised at what you say.

Painting ~ One of the Family, Frederick George Cotman, 1880

Letting Down the Nets—One More Time

And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat. When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Simon answered and said, "Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets." When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break. —Luke 5:3-6

This narrative is a reminder for times when we grow weary—when our nets keep coming up empty, when we’re tired of trying, when we’re more than a little weary of offering another prayer that seems to go nowhere, and we’re catching nothing.

But God is asking us to trust anyway, and to let down the nets one more time. Yes, let them down once more where we’ve done it time and again and we’ve come up empty.

Why?

• Because He is in the boat with us. He knows that we are growing weary. We are not alone. He is our strength.
• Because He is sovereign. He brings us to the fish and the fish to us. He sees what we don’t see.
• Because He is the Master. Even though we've done it before, He tells us to put out into deep water. It makes a difference when He is master of our nets.

He knows that we’ve worked hard and haven’t caught anything—yet. So we continue in the Word and listen to Him. We obey. We continue in prayer, and if need be, we confess that maybe we've been master of our own nets.

But do rest in Him, and do be encouraged that He is in the boat and that He is sovereign. When He is ready, our nets will be full. So trust and wait, and let down the nets…one more time.

• And let us not be weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. -Gal. 6:9
• Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass. -Ps. 37:5

The painting is Land's End by Edward Holmes

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A Life of Ease

Sharing a portion today from my quiet time reading with J.I. Packer on Knowing God Through the Year.

God’s almighty wisdom is always active and never fails. All his words of creation and providence and grace display it, and until we can see it in them, we just are not seeing them straight. But we cannot recognize God’s wisdom unless we know the end for which he is working.

Here many go wrong. Misunderstanding what the Bible means when it says that God is love (see I John 4:8-10), they think that God intends a trouble-free life for all. Hence they conclude that anything painful and upsetting (illness, accident, injury, job loss, the suffering of a loved one) indicates either that God’s wisdom or his power, or both, have broken down. Or they conclude that God, after all, does not exist.

But this idea of God’s intention is a complete mistake. God’s wisdom is not pledged to keep a fallen world happy. Not even to Christians has he promised a trouble-free life; rather the reverse. He has other ends in view for life in this world than simply to make it easy for everyone.

Painting ~ The Bracelet, Isaac Snowman 1903

Rainbows and Childhood Too Soon Disappear

 

We spent a good many hours today looking through pictures and wishing time didn't flee so quickly. These are my precious daughters when they were 6 and 3 years of age, now nearing 33 and 30. What a joy it was to have and to hold them for so many of those years. Now they live far away. Rainbows and childhood too soon disappear.

This is my brother and myself in 1955 at the Cleveland Zoo. I was 6 and he was 7. We've lived many hours apart for most of our adult lives, and we hardly see one another. I called him today to see how he was doing after some surgery a couple days ago. Sure wish I could just stop in and have a cup of tea. Distance is no friend to families.
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Sunday Ponderings ~ Psalm 119 on Suffering

My ponderings today come from Psalm 119, verses 65-72, brought to mind by our worship service this morning.

65 You have dealt well with Your servant, O LORD, according to Your word. 66 Teach me good discernment and knowledge, For I believe in Your commandments. 67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word. 68 You are good and do good; Teach me Your statutes. 69 The arrogant have forged a lie against me; With all my heart I will observe Your precepts. 70 Their heart is covered with fat, But I delight in Your law. 71 It is good for me that I was afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes. 72 The law of Your mouth is better to me Than thousands of gold and silver pieces.  

The theme of God's Word runs throughout this Psalm, and this stanza has to do with suffering relative to God's Word in a particular way. But suffering isn't the most frequently used word here besides references to God's Word. We see the word good/well used more often than the word suffering. The Psalmist begins the stanza with this thought: You have dealt well with Your servant, O LORD, according to Your word (v. 65). He understands God's goodness, and this is his interpreting factor for his sufferings. You are good and do good (v. 68); It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn your statutes (v. 71).

Probably most of us struggle with interpreting our sufferings in the light of God's goodness, but verse 72 holds the key to why the psalmist saw God's goodness preeminent in his sufferings. The law of Your mouth is better to me Than thousands of gold and silver pieces.  It holds the key for our own sufferings as well. When we know God through His Word, we learn to know His inherent goodness, and that goodness is expressed in all He sends to us or allows to reach us. He is good and does all things well.

The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

Psalm 119:72 

Painting ~ Endymion, John William Godward

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The Simple Woman's Daybook

Today I reflect on simple thoughts and simple pleasures. My leads are somewhat similar to others in The Simple Woman's Daybook group, yet a bit different as well.  

A picture to share...

The Perigee Moon From Our Backyard

 "The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork." 

Psalm 19:1

Outside my window...

The perigee moon is rising in the eastern sky.
 
Noticing the sound of...

Cars on the road across the river. Sounds carry so much farther and clearer in the night air.

Thinking...

Click here to go there

About true fellowship. We spent the afternoon at a lodge with friends from our homeschooling past, sharing what God is doing in our lives and spending time in prayer. We've always looked forward to times together and are trying to get together a couple times a year now that our paths don't routinely cross.

Thankful for...

Opportunities to reconnect with old friends of like mind who encourage and strengthen. 

Reflecting creativity, in His image...

I've been rather lethargic this week for several reasons, with no mental energy for creativity. Being with old friends today helped tremendously to get me back on the path.

Looking to the ways of my household...
The only thing of much productivity this week was helping My Beloved get the crape myrtles along the driveway trimmed back. This is their third summer and, hopefully, they'll leaf fuller this year. They're intended to hide the neighbor's trash can that sits at the side of their house, which is across from our driveway. Out of sight for them, but directly in sight for us.   

This coming week I'm hoping to...
Keep my thoughts off what it's been on this past week, taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. (2 Cor. 10:5)

Learning....
I'm taking an online class, learning to build color bridges in fabric. It's part of my interest in quilting.

From the kitchen....
We stopped for supper on the way home from visiting with friends this afternoon, and I had cinnamon pancakes. It reminded me somewhat of a delicious yogurt pancake recipe I have to share with you. The recipe calls for plain yogurt, but I've also used flavored yogurt with complementary filling and/or topping. Sorry that I can't give credit where credit is due for the basic recipe, but I don't remember where I got it.

Yogurt Pancakes

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

2 cups (16 oz) plain yogurt

1/4 cup water

Optional fillings:

Semisweet chocolate chips, dried cranberries, blueberries

Optional toppings:

slice ripe bananas, coarsely chopped pecans, cooked apple slices

In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, yogurt and water. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.

Pour batter by 1/4 cups into a hot griddle coated with non-stick cooking spray. Sprinkle with your choice of filling. Turn when bubbles form on top, cook until the second side is golden brown.Serve with your choice of topping and/or warm syrup.

Yield: 12 pancakes

A thought from my Quiet Time....

1 John 1:5-7--This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

I'm reminded that because God is light and in Him there is no darkness, that we cannot offer Him any worship that has light and darkness mingled together, which is often found in cultural adaptation. There is no fellowship with Him in such an offering, and He does not receive it.

Currently reading...

Continuing to read Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer

Sharing a brief paragraph.

Philosophy and science have not always been friendly toward the idea of God, the reason being that they are dedicated to the task of accounting for things and are impatient with anything that refuses to give an account of itself. The philosopher and the scientist will admit that there is much that they do not know; but that is quite another thing from admitting that there is something which they can never know, which indeed they have no technique for discovering.

You may also enjoy reading what other simple women are saying and doing these days. Just click here to go to The Simple Woman's Daybook site. I'll be posting my journal on Saturdays. Do stop by again.

Give Him Praise

 

Nature is but a name for an effect,
Whose cause is God. Not a flower
But shows some touch, in freckle, streak or stain,
Of His unrivaled pencil.
--William Cowper


Let them praise the name of the LORD! 

 For he commanded and they were created.--Psalm 148:5

Technology ~ The Illusion of Intimacy

I'm currently reading a book entitled Introverts in the Church: Finding Our Place in an Extroverted Culture by Adam S. McHugh. Whether introvert, extrovert, or somewhere in-between, we would all do well to be aware that our use of social networking tends to replace real-life relationships, leaving us relationally malnourished.

"Technology allures us with the illusion of intimacy but not the reality of it. We may be regularly communicating with others and yet painfully alone. Shane Hipps, author of The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture, says that "if your relationships are comprised of a disproportionate amount of mediated communication you will be relationally, spiritually, and emotionally malnourished." Technology can become for us a hiding place, a drug we take to escape from our negative emotions and experiences. It can expose the shadow side of our imaginations, taking us into a nameless fantasy world where we can feed our addictions, all the while aggravating our sense of isolation from others, God, and even ourselves. We must become aware of these traps of modern technology and use its immense benefits without letting it overpower us."

How much better to have a friend over for that afternoon cup of tea and a live chat, or meet at a local coffee shop or tea room with a group of friends. Look each other in the eyes and feel one another's emotions, hopes, joys, struggles. Be one another's encouragement in a culture that's noisy and disconnected and lonely. Then hug each other goodbye and keep them in your mind's eye for several days to come. That's real connection, folks. And if the electricity goes off, you can even do without the tea or coffee.

Photograph by Eric Kamp, AllPosters.com

Worry Empties Today

Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows;
it empties today of its strength.
~ Corrie ten Boom

Painting~ Disconsolate by John C. Lawrence, 1885

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Discipling Children

Mothers Lessons ~ Robert Walter Weir 1857

Thinking today about the devotional that was given last evening at our ladies' meeting. The gal spoke on the importance of training children in various capacities at the church and the importance of those who work with children to be loving God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength--their entire being. She spoke particularly about Sunday school teachers and the impact they have on the hearts and minds of children. 

It's a grave responsibility to have oversight of children's hearts and minds. Giving my own children over to the training of someone else when they were growing up was not something done lightly, and at times I was their Sunday school teacher. A teacher makes disciples, and we were very careful who would have the privilege of reaching into the hearts and minds of our daughters and making them their own disciples. This was one of the reasons we chose to educate our children at home. Our children's spiritual education is far more important than the 3Rs, and much prayer and scrutiny should be given to the classroom a child walks into on Sunday morning or Wednesday evening, even if it is in the church.

There is always more than the lesson content being taught and being learned. The entire belief system and worldview of a teacher comes into play. I recall sitting in on one class when our girls were in their teens and having the wife of the teacher tell my daughters that surely they didn't want to sit beside their mother. I cringed at what was being implied about the parent-child relationship. I've taught every age level in the classroom and understand the vulnerability of children. They have a tendency to believe every word a teacher utters, whether explicitly or implicitly given. I would often ask a parent if her child had told her thus and so about what went on in class that day. Oftentimes the parents had not been told. Children don't tell everything they hear, but it enters the heart and mind nonetheless. First and foremost, spiritual training is the responsibility of the parents.

We ended the meeting last evening in prayer groups, praying for our Sunday school teachers and the responsibility to give God's Word clearly and without error. Some of the children come to the church without their parents, as did the speaker when she was a young girl. The church took her under its wing, and her mother came to know the Lord when this gal was a senior in high school. The impact a church can have on children can be a tremendous opportunity to share the gospel and train them in God's Word.

During the week, pray for those in your own church who will be training the children this week. These teachers are making disciples.

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The View We Need ~ From the End of the Platform

Sharing a bit from my morning devotional reading from
Knowing God Through the Year, J.I. Packer.

York Station

"If you stand at the end of the platform at York Station, you can watch a constant succession of engine and train movement that, if you are a railway enthusiast, will fascinate you. But you will only be able to form a rough idea of the overall plan.

"If, however, you are privileged to be taken into the magnificent electrical signal box that lies athwart platforms seven and eight, you will see a diagram of the entire track layout for five miles on either side of the station. At once you can look at the situation through the eyes of those who control it. You will see why this train is diverted from its normal running line and that one parked temporarily in a siding.

"Some people feel that if they were really walking close to God, so that he could impart wisdom to them freely, then they would find themselves in the York Station signal box. We might suppose that the gift of wisdom consists in an ability to see why God has done what he has done in a particular case and to see what he is going to do next. But in truth this view would be more than our human minds could comprehend. God gives us the view that we need--from the end of the platform."

J.I. Packer ~ Knowing God Through the Year

Sunday Ponderings ~ On Elders

My ponderings this evening are on Acts 20:28, from the passage taught by the pastor of Laura's church, where we attended this morning. The Apostle Paul is writing to the overseers/elders in the church of Ephesus, and one of the things he reminds them is that they were made overseers/elders by the Holy Spirit.

"Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers..."

Except for the vocational pastors/elders, other elders in the church are not usually thought of as being Spirit-called, but Paul reminds them that they have been chosen by more than votes on a ballot.

One of the charges that Paul gives them is that they are to be on guard for the flock--they are the spiritual watchmen. As the writer of Hebrews says,

"they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you" (Hebrews 13:17).

There was sobering confession given by the elders and the people this morning in regard to failure to uphold the care of the church and the submission of the congregation. This itself is well worth pondering throughout the week:

Elders: We have been commissioned by You, O Lord, to shepherd our flock. In our thoughts, our words, and our deeds, we have often failed to lead Your sheep to You, the Great Shepherd. We have neither been diligent to protect Your people from false ideas, false morality, or false teaching, nor have we pastorally led them by the hand to Jesus as their hope and stay. We forget who needs the most encouragement and for whom to pray. We avoid conflict because of fear, and we avoid compassion for lack of words. Our own souls have needed to flee to Jesus, so that we can direct others to Jesus.

People: In our thoughts, words, and deeds, we too have failed in our responsibilities towards those whom You have placed over us, and therefore we have sinned against You. We have not prayed for, showed respect, or been in submission to the shepherds Christ has placed over us. We speak disparagingly about our leaders. By our actions we show disdain for decisions made. We have thought more about what they are not doing for us than how we can be a help and ministry for the sake of Christ's kingdom.

All: Forgive us for our sins, and by the blood of Christ on our behalf, do not count our sins against us. Teach us your ways, O LORD, that we may walk in your truth; unite our hearts to fear your name. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ the great Shepherd of the sheep Amen.

Painting: To God be the Glory Barbara C. Thompson

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