Monthly Archives: August 2007
What a great day!
The day started at 6 am. Two little kids wide awake, one eager for her first day of school. Actually, it wasn’t her first day — rather, her open house. It was the day she would meet her teachers and see her classroom for the first time. It was the day she would see who would soon be her best friends and classmates. It was the day she had waited for all summer long. Welcome to preschool, baby!
Even in the little laws
“We know that everything in the Law was written for those who are under its power. The Law says these things to stop anyone from making excuses and to let God show that the whole world is guilty. God doesn’t accept people simply because they obey the Law. No, indeed! All the Law does is to point out our sin.” – Romans 3:19-20 (CEV)
Romans is my favorite book of the Bible. Set aside the exquisite writing, it quiets every argument against grace. Since the beginning of time, people have been trying to be God. We want to prove we’re excellent enough to set the rules. Even when faced with God’s rules, we try to convince ourselves and everyone around us that we meet the standards without exception. We claim to do everything right, but we never do. None of us is perfect. None of us truly meets God’s standard of righteousness. To prove this, God gave us the Law. If you’re Jewish, you know what that means. If you’re a Gentile like me, you may understand something about the Law, but you have no idea of the weight of the law. That is, unless you’ve actually read through Leviticus and Deuteronomy and tried to live by the 614 regulations stated there. The Law was given to humanity not to offer a path to salvation, but to highlight our need for grace. Even the “little” laws do this.
I got a ticket today. I’ve been driving for sixteen years and have only been pulled over twice.
The first time was the day before my wedding. I was so giddy about becoming Mrs. Richard P. Dennis that the officer let me go with well wishes for our nuptials. Our wedding memories included over three feet of snow, a fire, lost contacts, cancelled flights and a bunch of relatives trapped in a hotel with nothing more than frozen dinners and a microwave. And, of course, my almost speeding ticket. I loved that day!
The second time was today. I wasn’t giddy today. We were driving to the mall for a price adjustment. A certain sale is offering the school clothes I bought three weeks ago for Isabel at one-third the price I paid. I was already frustrated at the need for the trip and my impatience to wait for a sale in the first place. Then, in the car, Isabel started arguing with me over something, I don’t remember what. I missed my turn and was forced to take the longer route. I continued barking at Isabel then saw the police officer step into the street in front of me. It was then I looked at the speed: 50 mph in a 35 mph zone. It gets worse. I couldn’t find our proof of insurance. I found four insurance cards in the glove box, but none of them were the right one and all were expired. Fortunately, the officer was merciful. Yes, I got a ticket. I actually have a court date and a point on my license, but he didn’t impound the car. That’s good – right? He waved to the kids and told me since I had them with me – well, if I hadn’t had them with me, he would have impounded the car immediately.
I spent the rest of the drive and our entire time at the mall blaming everyone but myself. If Isabel hadn’t been so argumentative, I would have been more focused on my driving. If the store didn’t have such high prices, I wouldn’t need an adjustment and we wouldn’t have been on the road in the first place. Why is the speed limit thirty-five there anyway? It’s clearly a nonresidential road and so the limit should be higher! I’ve never seen any kids around there. And where is my insurance card?! I blamed the city, the other drivers (who prevented me from making my turn), Isabel, Rick (poor guy wasn’t even in the same county), and just about everyone. Everyone but me. But none of them were at fault. I was speeding. I am to blame.
The Law is not intended to prove how good we are. Its purpose is to prove how good we are not. This was just the speed limit, but the implications are vast. This one little law, when broken, shed light on so many of my imperfections: my pride, arrogance, slanderous thoughts, impatience, unloving attitudes, disrespect for authority … I am in desperate need of God’s grace! Praise God for the Law!! Without it, I would think I was doing pretty well. With it, my shortcomings are unmistakable. My only way out is through repentance.
Praise God for His goodness! May it always be more obvious than my faults.
Photo by Elvis Santana, used with permission. yotophoto.com
First Person, Present Tense – Part 2
I finished the book. You can read my review over on the Bookshelf.
I received a lot of flack about finishing the book, especially from my husband. Poor Rick had to suffer through my emotional roller coaster and constant complaining. So the big question is why did I finish it? Why was I reading the book if it annoyed me so much? Why did I labor through a style that irritated me? Well, I didn’t want to waste my investment. I had already read so many pages, I felt obligated to finish. And I’m an optimist! It had to get better – right? Well, it didn’t. Honestly, I don’t know why I kept reading, but I don’t want to do it again. There are thousands and thousands of authors and millions of books. There is no reason to read anything I don’t enjoy!
Just a worm and a leaf
Isabel returns from the bathroom, her pants around her knees. “It just be a worm.” What she means to say is “false alarm.” I know I should correct her, but I just can’t. Instead I smile and relish her innocence, knowing it won’t last long.
Yesterday, while on our walk, the kids discovered the first signs of autumn: a red leaf! Actually, we found a handful. Cooler temperatures reigned this week, in spite of the calendar claiming it’s still August. Our found-treasure proves summer is quickly coming to an end. Fall is inevitable. Gone are the days of time well wasted … Isabel starts school in less than two weeks! Before we know it we’ll be picking apples, wearing sweatshirts and preparing for the holidays.
This all reminds me of Mark Lowry. I saw him in concert years ago. I remember well two things from that concert: (1) he said he would probably get married when he was thirty-three because “the Lord laid down his life when He was thirty-three” and (2) his favorite verse was “And it came to pass.” The audience and I waited for the rest of the verse, but that was it. Mark exclaimed: “Isn’t that great?!” He went on to explain that nothing is here to stay. Everything in this life is here for a limited time. It all will pass – the good, the bad … all of it! This is what I’m thinking about today.
And this is my encouragement to you: Savor the moments to be treasured, like the too-soon-forgotten phrases of childhood. They will pass in the blink of an eye. And don’t fret over the trials for they, too, shall pass. Yes, summer is coming to an end and winter is on its way, but winter will pass just as quickly. The best part: God is with us in the summers and the winters. He counts each leaf that falls and captures our tears in jars. May our laughter be stored in warehouses!
You gotta get this book!
On Monday, I introduced Mary DeMuth’s newest book: Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture. I can’t stop thinking about it. I recognize the effectiveness when I remember to use the principles outline in this book. Better yet: my parental guilt is gone! I no longer have this nagging whisper that I must do everything perfectly or that, if my weaknesses show, I’m truly a failure. The book has flooded me with grace and reinforced tools to provide greater freedom and stability to my family. It’s fantastic!
First person, present tense
Okay, this is a random post. I’ve started a new novel — well, not a new novel, but a new one for me. The book is Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult. The characters are complex and the plot is definitely pulling me along. However, I have a problem. This 422-page novel is entirely in first person, present tense. Does this bother anyone else? I’m cool with first person; I actually prefer it — But the present tense is killing me. It’s not a movie; it’s a book. I’m holding an inch of bound pages telling me a story, so believing that the one page I’m reading at the moment is happening at the moment I’m reading it, is … well, unbelievable. I don’t like it. Just had to tell someone.
I hope to finish it this week (assuming the kids take long enough naps). Stay tuned to the Bookshelf. Once I finish it, I’ll post a review there.
Welcome to the Authentic Parenting Blog Tour!
“As a parent, I want my children … to sing loud, abandon their inhibitions, and fall headlong in love with Jesus, who embodies everything beautiful, who sings truth unashamed. I want them to whisper His name when life’s circumstances are tough. I want them to value truth. I pray they don’t exchange that glorious truth for empty lies. Through it all, I want my children to grasp the glory of obedience to Jesus regardless of what the world around them may say.” 
This is my greatest prayer, worded perfectly by Mary E. DeMuth in her newest book: Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture. I’ve been following Mary for about a year. We have much in common: a heart for missions, a willingness to act on that heart, a passion for Truth, a love for God and a desire to raise our children in truth and relevance. When I heard about her newest book release, I immediately joined the blog tour.
The book is fantastic! Do we need another parenting book? Well, this is a different kind and so the answer is yes — but not any more. Mary has done a fantastic job looking at parenting outside of cultural definitions. This book is not about modern vs. postmodern parenting, though she does touch on that. This book is about consistent Christ-filled parenting in spite of the culture. It is a timeless resource for parents of this generation and many to follow.
What is meant by “authentic parenting”? It is not a brutal honesty, but a lack of hypocrisy. Christianity in America often favors the picture-perfect family. Appearances matter. We want everyone to think we’ve got it all together. We also cling to our sub-culture, our Christian bubbles, rather than engaging the lost culture around us. Well, the truth is we’re human and so no one has it all together. Secondly, Scripture tells us to be in the world, but not of it. We can’t be in it, if we refuse to acknowledge it. Mary’s book encourages believers to be authentic, not just in their Christianity, but in their parenting as well.
Authentic parenting (as detailed in this book) is conversational in nature. Children and parents learn together and from each other (a truth laced throughout this blog and my writing from the beginning). Parents create a haven where children can be children safely. They seek out the treasures hidden in their kids and encourage them with optimism.
“Whatever we believe, we will pass, overtly or subliminally, to our children, who will then use what we have taught them as a filter through which they will view all of life,” (p. 49). The difference between this book and other parenting books discussing culture is the persistence of absolute truth. As Christians we know experience may be relative, but truth is not. Society is moving closer and closer to having no definition of truth whatsoever. But God is truth. He is the definition. As Christian parents, we must instill the knowledge and respect of this Truth in our children while preparing them to live in a culture that refuses to acknowledge it.
I highly recommend this powerful book. You can purchase the book through Mary’s blog, or to read an excerpt from the book, click here. Also, I invite you to visit Mary’s website at http://www.relevantprose.com/.
Finally, I want to give you a glimpse of Mary’s heart via quotes from this her newest book.
“What bothers me [is] all the pontificating. It’s as if we’ve lost Jesus in the midst of our very intellectual discussions about postmodernity. … And all the while we write and talk and parent, using words, but not living them out. … Jesus is a person. He is more than mind. He is even more than words. Perhaps we do ourselves a disservice by if we allow our minds to intellectualize everything. I preach this to myself. I love words, make a living from them. But I don’t want to be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Jesus. I don’t want to forget Him — He who rescued me from myself, sin, hell. … I pray that [when asked how I feel about Jesus] my heart would be so knitted to His, so grateful for His life, that all I can do is weep. Or maybe laugh.” (pp. 54, 55)
Ane Mulligan
A Peek at My Bookshelf
Candle Blog
Declaring His Marvelous Work
Five Bazillion and One
Generation NeXT Parenting
GraceReign
Holy Experience
Hopeful Happenings
In the Dailies
Leap of Faith
Lift My Noise
Llama Momma
sprightly
Soul Scents
Spaghettipie
The View from Here
Write On Edge
Hearing God through the static
I feel like I’ll never catch up. There is so much I want to read and learn and study. So much I want to do and teach and experience. My breath gets short forcing the familiar verse to echo in the back of my head: “Be still and know that I am God,” (Psalm 46:10).
Last week I read an article about Moses and three writers. The author told the four stories parallel with a single connection: hearing the voice of God. He asserted that Moses heard God’s voice in the burning bush because he quieted his location and himself enough to hear God. The author went on to describe these three writers who also found enough quiet to hear God: one in the woods behind his house, one in her living room before the rest of the family awoke and one in her office, sitting before her computer.
I’ve not disappeared …
I’ve been a bit busy and unable to post the last few days. Hope you’ll forgive me. This weekend was filled with family activities and a picture-perfect wedding. Isabel was honored as the flower girl.
Ellie-isms, Zach Attacks and Momese
The Ellie-isms are late! July was a month of quotes not just from our dramatic princess, but from the whole family. So, this month we’ve got a collection of Ellie-isms, Zach Attacks and Momese!
Isabel: “Only grown-ups can play with fire – right, Mom?”
Zach, ever so pensive: “I tink water is wet.”
Isabel: “Them look like balls, but them is ashley marbles.” (Translation: ashley = actually)
Zach’s favorite joke: “Hey, I know!”
Me (or Rick): “What do you know?”
Zach: “A cow!” He then bursts out laughing. If you get the joke, please explain it to me. In the meantime, I love watching him tell it.
Ellie to Aunt Tracy: “Auntie, Auntie! I fell down and Mommy and Daddy and Zach take me to the hostibol and I got stickers on my chin! (Translation: We went to the hospital to get stitches.)
Me to Zach, who was in the tub: “Please, don’t color your penis.”
Me to Isabel: “Stop dancing naked in front of the garbage men!!”
Zach: “Mommy, I tink Daddy in charge.”
Ellie to Rick after he killed a spider: “Thanks, Dad! You’re my big, strong, get-rid-of-bugs guy.”
