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How to Find Time for Everything
“Do not love sleep or you will become poor; Open your eyes and you will be satisfied with food.” — Proverbs 20:13
This verse has always bothered me because I do love to sleep. It may be because I have such awesome dreams. Some day I’ll tell you about the one where Courtney Cox — who played God — helped me save African orphans by finding a secret door down a city street that led to a land of giant mushrooms. That was fun! Hmmm … maybe I should keep my dreams to myself. I promise I’m not on drugs. I just have a very vivid imagination and an incredibly active REM cycle.
Nobody wants to be poor. Some people take this verse to an extreme claiming that the only people who are poor are so because they’re too lazy. That’s absurd and not at all what this verse means! The point of this verse exceeds economics. Yes, it says “food,” and food is generally tied to wealth, but the point is not bounty; it’s satisfaction. Satisfaction comes in many forms.
Everywhere I go I hear people lament their lack of time. “Oh, I would love to read more! I just don’t have the time.” …
“I wish I could play with my kids more, but we’re just so busy.” …
“I haven’t the time to be creative.” …
“I’ve always wanted to learn to play piano. If only I had time …”
It’s funny how many of these people always find time for Words with Friends or watching their favorite TV shows.
One of my favorite quotes — and I wish I knew who said it — is this: “There’s never enough time to do all the nothing we want.” Read the rest of this entry
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A Boy, A Shattered Femur and My Life One Year Ago
It’s Memorial Day. While most people are celebrating their freedom with burgers on the beach or picnics boasting red, white and blue treats, our family is celebrating an anniversary.
It’s been one year since Zach broke his leg.
This blog goes back over five years. No topic discussed in that time has garnered as much interest, as much traffic, as that. Every day someone lands on this site from a google search for “hip spica cast” or “broken femur.” Everyone wants to see pictures. And everyday someone reads about our summer with a handicapped child. It was 10 weeks with a 5-year-old in a half-body cast followed by 4 months of 3-times-a-week PT.
I feel terrible thinking this is something special when so many parents raise permanently handicapped children. Many parents will never see their kids leave the wheelchairs behind. Their struggles may be greater and definitely longer-lasting, but that doesn’t diminish the impact of our story. As I flipped back through the posts of last summer, I remembered how difficult it was. (Can you believe I forgot?) I also remembered how incredibly faithful God was.
Our son has been healed! One year from his accident and we’re spending the day playing baseball and taking turns at the batting cages. How awesome is our God? Rejoice with me!
This all happened “so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead. He delivered us … and He will deliver us!”
“We have set our hope on Him that He will deliver us yet again, as you also join in helping us by prayer, so that many people may give thanks to God on our behalf for the gracious gift given to us through the help of many.” (2 Corinthians 1:9b-11)
If you missed it, or if you want to remember and praise God again, here are all the posts from that adventure. I’ve bold-faced the most relevant.
June 3rd: The Newest Dennis Adventure (The accident, hospital stay and cast photos)
July 7th: When A Boy Breaks His Leg … (Photos of x-rays, the wheelchair and life at home)
July 11th: Only Two More Days
July 14th: I shouldn’t blog today. (Disappointment)
July 20th: What I’ve Learned (so far) This Week (Adventures in wheelchairing)
August 2nd: On Many Things (Talk about gardens, hot summers, and inaccurate doctors)
August 4th: Big Birthday Wishes (Zach turns six and gets his wish!)
August 5th: The New Leg of Our Adventure (The cast is off!)
August 9th: A Quickie (First PT appointment)
August 31st: Not Yet Four Weeks Later (videos of his mobility less than 4 weeks after the cast was removed)
Who is your life about?
We’ve reached the end of this season’s Big Word Bible study! I am both delighted that we’ve completed what we started and saddened that it’s done … for a while. We will pick up the second half of the story by studying 2 Samuel this fall.
In our discussion this week we talked about a lot of details from the last few chapters of the book.
Why did David lie so much?
Did he truly align himself with the Philistines?
Was he really eager to fight against the Israelites, even after refusing to harm “God’s anointed” Saul?
Why did Saul wait until after Samuel’s death to finally cleanse the land?
What differences exist between confession, apology and repentance?
And how can we wisely discern them, both protecting ourselves and always hoping in love?
First Samuel provides a historical account of the end of Israel’s judges and the beginning of the monarchy. But at its essence, it is the story of Saul.
Saul … a man forced into a job he didn’t want, to lead a people he feared and serve a God he didn’t trust, led by a prophet he disregarded … Poor Saul was in over his head before his toes even got wet. Every decision he made seemed to sink him further. His pride magnified his incompetence, his cowardice belittled his leadership, and his volatile temper stripped him of any respect due the throne.
We read of Saul’s suicide and postmortem humiliation in chapter 31 of 1 Samuel. You’ll find another account in 1 Chronicles 10. There we read this sobering assessment of Saul’s life and kingship:
“So Saul died for his breach of faith. He broke faith with the LORD in that he did not keep the command of the LORD, and also consulted a medium, seeking guidance. He did not seek guidance from the LORD. Therefore the LORD put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.” — 1 Chron. 10:13-14, NET
Of all of Saul’s successes and failures — the protection he provided his people, his erratic behavior, the countless laws he kept and broke, the battles he won and lost — the thing that mattered most was his faith.
Some might read this passage and balk: “But Saul did seek guidance from God and God didn’t answer him!” This is true in chapter 28, but by then it was too late. The 1 Chronicles assessment reflects much more than that last battle. It’s about Saul’s entire life. This king fostered a habit of seeking God’s blessing and God’s approval, but never His guidance. He wanted God to do for him and to give to him and to protect him and to honor him and … For Saul, it was all about Saul.
Remember when Samuel confronted him the last time? It was in chapter 15. Samuel revealed to the king that God rejected him and that His Spirit would no longer be with him. What was Saul’s response? He confessed, but he did not repent. In fact, he urged Samuel to keep up appearances and honor him in front of all the people!
For Saul, it was never about God.
When we get into 2 Samuel we’ll study the life of David, a king in great contrast to Saul. There we will discover one for whom it was all about God. Well, within human possibilities. We all know David wasn’t perfect, but his perspective was something we can emulate for God’s glory.
As we close this study, here is my question for you:
Who is your life about?
We can do all the right things — prayer groups, Bible studies, teach Sunday School — and still have the wrong motives. We can have the perfect homes, the perfect lives, and do it all for our own honor. Are we keeping up appearances? Or are we truly, actively seeking God and God alone? Not just His blessing or His approval, but His righteousness.
Your Turn: What is a consistent theme you recognized through this study? What impacted you most?
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Obsessions
What is the one thing you can’t stop talking about?
You know there’s something. Everyone has a pet topic that, when brought into conversation, friends roll their eyes and relatives groan, even if miles away. They don’t hate the topic; they may even agree with you. But they are tired of you talking about it.
My husband is a Disney nut. Let me take you back a couple years. We’ve been to Disney World twice now, but the first time we went, we believed it to be an obligatory, once-in-a-lifetime trip all parents must make with their elementary-age children.
One hour. I think that’s all it took for my husband to fall in love.
Since going he has talked up our experiences with everyone. I’m not kidding. EV-ER-Y-ONE! He follows Disney blogs, subscribes to special touring plan websites and spends his evenings going through pictures of food and vacations. It doesn’t even have to be our vacation. He’s content to look through strangers’ albums, too. He reads books and watches documentaries about how the World was built and what goes on behind the scenes. Even cooking shows! He subscribes to more than one Disney youtube channel. Obsessive may not be a strong enough description.
Why is he so crazy? It’s not just the parks with their amazing details, the impeccable service or the decadent foods. He absolutely loves having his family all to himself with no distractions and no worries. The perfect Florida weather helps, too. It’s like his little glimpse of Heaven.
Throughout the New Testament we read of believers who, so excited about Christ and the salvation He offers, simply couldn’t stop talking about it. They shared the good news with everyone they met!
To emphasize the significance of the Gospel, some have paralleled it to a cure for cancer. If you discovered the cure, would you keep quiet? Of course not! You would contact all the leading papers and television studios to broadcast your findings to the world. Imagine how many people you would save!
As Christians we do not possess the cure for any single disease; rather we possess life everlasting. So what is it that keeps us so reserved?
The point of this post is not to get all of you to craft sandwich boards and stand on your soapboxes. I just want you to consider: what it is that you can’t stop talking about?
Your kids? Your house and how you decorate it? Nutrition? Education? Politics?
Whatever it is, does that speech further the kingdom of God? Or does it merely distract you (and those around you) from it?
What NOT to Say: Facing Friends who Face Infertility
Everyone occasionally suffers seizures of Open Mouth Insert Foot Disease. It can be embarrassing and awkward. Most times the only one truly injured is the one chewing sneakers.
Sometimes, however, people swallow a whole pair of shoes in a single breath, completely oblivious to the harm they’ve just done. They’ll say things they truly believe are helpful never knowing that their well-meaning verbal balms contain salt. Instead of soothing they sting. They fester and ache and often incite anger.
Infertility is one of these social minefields.
Before we became parents, we battled infertility for four years. During that time I felt rejected, forsaken, without purpose or future. Every month broadcast my failure. I felt utterly alone. People wanted to help. They tried to help. Most encounters, however, left me feeling worse and even more alone. I hated the platitudes and the “easy fixes” everyone freely gave.
I know I was irrational and hormonal. My friends and family (not to mention my husband) didn’t have simple jobs navigating my volatile emotional state. It’s not easy loving someone through something so difficult.
Having been on the inside, I want to offer some suggestions for those of you who haven’t. I’d like to share with you what those currently in the journey can’t. Read the rest of this entry
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He Will Walk With You (with guest blogger Carey Bailey!)
Welcome to Pearl Girls™ Mother of Pearl Mother’s Day blog series – a week long celebration of moms and mothering. Each day will feature a new post by some of today’s best writers — Tricia Goyer, Sheila Walsh, Suzanne Woods Fisher, Bonnie St. John, and more! I hope you’ll join us each day for another unique perspective on Mother’s Day.AND … remember to enter the contest for a chance to win a beautiful hand crafted pearl necklace. To enter, just {CLICK THIS LINK} and fill out the short form. Contest runs 5/6-5/13 and the winner will on 5/14. Contest is only open to US and Canadian residents.
If you are unfamiliar with Pearl Girls™, please visit www.pearlgirls.info and see what we’re all about. In short, we exist to support the work of charities that help women and children in the US and around the globe. Consider purchasing a copy of Pearl Girls: Encountering Grit, Experiencing Grace or one of the Pearl Girls™ products (all GREAT Mother’s Day gifts!) to help support Pearl Girls.
And to all you MOMS out there, Happy Mother’s Day!
He Will Walk With You by Carey Bailey
As a little girl, I loved baby dolls. Loved them! I played school, adoption agency, daycare operator and babysitter all day. I felt like I was born to be a mama. Therefore, I was a bit anxious when the ages, 22, 25, 28 and 32 came and went and there were no babies. Have you ever desired something so much and feared never getting it? That was me.
My day finally came at the age of 34. I soon realized that God knew what He was doing when He had me wait. To my shock, it wasn’t as easy as playing with dolls. I was surprised that it wasn’t the dream world I imagined it would be! I felt like life became a gigantic prayer.
“God, HELP me!”
“Please, God. Please, please, please make it all better. I can’t do this!”
“God, this feels impossible. Where are you?” Read the rest of this entry
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Stepping Out on Faith (with guest blogger Bonnie St. John!)
Welcome to Pearl Girls™ Mother of Pearl Mother’s Day blog series – a week long celebration of moms and mothering. Each day will feature a new post by some of today’s best writers: Tricia Goyer, Sheila Walsh, Suzanne Woods Fisher, Bonnie St. John, and more! I hope you’ll join us each day for another unique perspective on Mother’s Day.AND … don’t forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a beautiful hand crafted pearl necklace. To enter, just {CLICK THIS LINK} and fill out the short form. Contest runs 5/6-5/13 and the winner will on 5/14. Contest is only open to US and Canadian residents. If you are unfamiliar with Pearl Girls™, please visit www.pearlgirls.info and see what we’re all about. In short, we exist to support the work of charities that help women and children in the US and around the globe. Consider purchasing a copy of Pearl Girls: Encountering Grit, Experiencing Grace or one of the Pearl Girls™ products (all GREAT Mother’s Day gifts!) to help support Pearl Girls. And to all you MOMS out there, Happy Mother’s Day!
Stepping Out on Faith by Bonnie St. John
“Darcy . . .”
“Yeah, Mom?”
I momentarily held the undivided attention of my teenage daughter. Her thumbs, free of their ubiquitous texting keypad, quietly dangled by her side. Her computer and its omnipresent Facebook page were completely out of sight. I had almost forgotten what she looked like without all these adolescent accoutrements. As we sat down together on the burgundy leather sofa in our living room, I realized this fleeting state of electronic dislocation was my chance to hatch a plan I had been formulating for the past several weeks. Carpe diem. Read the rest of this entry
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What I Am Not by author Tricia Goyer
Welcome to Pearl Girls™ Mother of Pearl Mother’s Day blog series – a week long celebration of moms and mothering. Each day will feature a new post by some of today’s best writer’s (Tricia Goyer, Sheila Walsh, Suzanne Woods Fisher, Bonnie St. John, and more). I hope you’ll join us each day for another unique perspective on Mother’s Day.AND … do enter the contest for a chance to win a beautiful hand crafted pearl necklace. To enter, just {CLICK THIS LINK} and fill out the short form. Contest runs 5/6-5/13 and the winner will on 5/14. Contest is only open to US and Canadian residents.
If you are unfamiliar with Pearl Girls™, please visit www.pearlgirls.info and see what we’re all about. In short, we exist to support the work of charities that help women and children in the US and around the globe. Consider purchasing a copy of Pearl Girls: Encountering Grit, Experiencing Grace or one of the Pearl Girls™ products (all GREAT Mother’s Day gifts!) to help support Pearl Girls.
And to all you MOMS out there, Happy Mother’s Day!
What I Am Not by Tricia Goyer
Becoming a mother is a complicated thing. Not only am I trying to negotiate a relationship with my child, I am trying to negotiate a relationship with myself as I attempt to determine how I mother, how I feel about mothering, how I want to mother and how I wish I was mothered.
Sometimes the easiest way to discover who we are is to know who we are not.
• We are not our children. We all know mothers who go overboard trying to make themselves look good by making their children look great. I saw one woman on the Oprah television show who had bought her preschool daughter more than twelve pairs of black shoes just so the girl could have different styles to go with her numerous outfits! Just as we -don’t get report cards for mothering, we also -don’t get graded on our child’s looks or accomplishments. While you want your children to do their best and succeed in life, your self-esteem -shouldn’t be wrapped up in your child.
Life as I See It:
My individuality will never end. There will be no one exactly like me, not even my child. She will be like me in some ways, but not at all in others. I -wouldn’t have it any other way.
• We are not our mothers. I remember the first time I heard my mother’s voice coming out of my mouth. The words “because I told you so . . .” escaped before I had a chance to squelch them.
It’s not until we have kids that we truly understand our mothers — all their frets, their nagging, and their worries.
It’s also then that we truly understand their love.
Since you are now a mother, it’s good to think back on how you were raised. If there were traditions or habits that now seem wise and useful, incorporate them into your parenting. You also have permission to sift out things you now know -weren’t good. Just because you’re a product of your mother, that -doesn’t mean you have to turn out just like her. Repeat after me, “I am not my mother.”
• We are not like any other mother out there. Sometimes you may feel like the world’s worst mother. After all, your friend never yells at her son — and sometimes you do. Then again, your friend may feel bad because you have a wonderful bedtime routine that includes stories and songs. In many cases, the moms you feel inferior to only look like they have it together. All moms feel they -don’t “measure up.” Instead of feeling unworthy, we should realize that everyone has strengths and weaknesses. The key is where we place our focus.
The Bible says, “Let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without . . . comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we -aren’t” (Romans 12:5 – 6, MESSAGE).
The problem with comparison is, we always measure our weaknesses against the strengths of others.
Instead, we need to thank God for our strengths. We can also ask God to help us overcome our weaknesses — not because we want to compare ourselves, or look good in someone else’s eyes, but because we want to be the best mom out there.
Exciting News – the latest Pearl Girls book, Mother of Pearl: Luminous Legacies and Iridescent Faith will be released this month! Please visit the Pearl Girls Facebook Page (and LIKE us!) for more information! Thanks so much for your support!
She’s … My Everything (Guest Blogger Suzanne Woods Fisher)
Welcome to Pearl Girls™ Mother of Pearl Mother’s Day blog series – a week long celebration of moms and mothering. Each day will feature a new post by some of today’s best writers (Tricia Goyer, Sheila Walsh, Suzanne Woods Fisher, Bonnie St. John, and more). I hope you’ll join us each day for another unique perspective on Mother’s Day.AND … enter the contest for a chance to win a beautiful hand crafted pearl necklace. To enter, just {CLICK THIS LINK} and fill out the short form. Contest runs 5/6-5/13 and the winner will on 5/14. Contest is only open to US and Canadian residents.
If you are unfamiliar with Pearl Girls™, please visit www.pearlgirls.info and see what we’re all about. In short, we exist to support the work of charities that help women and children in the US and around the globe. Consider purchasing a copy of Pearl Girls: Encountering Grit, Experiencing Grace or one of the Pearl Girls™ products (all GREAT Mother’s Day gifts!) to help support Pearl Girls.
And to all you MOMS out there, Happy Mother’s Day!
She’s…My Everything by Suzanne Woods Fisher
“A mother is one who can take the place of all others, but whose place no one else can take.”
Just a few more months. My mother was hoping Dad would hang on long enough so they could celebrate their sixtieth wedding anniversary in April. But on January 1st, as the sun rose on the new year, my dad’s worn out heart beat its last. Dad had battled Alzheimer’s Disease for ten years. As many of you know, AD is a long, hard journey. Hard on the one afflicted with the disease, hard on the caregivers.
But not without its blessings.
Four years ago, as I began researching stories for Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World, my path crossed with a handful of Plain families who were coping with Alzheimer’s. It was just about the point when Dad’s illness was shifting from early to mid stages AD and the timing was a divine accident. I learned so much as I observed the calm acceptance of these families. Rather than waste time shaking a fist at God for allowing this disease to take their loved one, they put their energy into trusting God’s sovereignty. They didn’t deny the difficulties and complications and sadness of Alzheimer’s, but they didn’t dwell on them. “God has a plan,” one woman told me. “He always has a plan.” Read the rest of this entry
Joy Comes from Perseverance (with Guest Blogger Sheila Walsh!)
Welcome to Pearl Girls™ Mother of Pearl Mother’s Day blog series – a week long celebration of moms and mothering. Each day will feature a new post by some of today’s best writer’s — Tricia Goyer, Sheila Walsh, Suzanne Woods Fisher, Bonnie St. John, and more! I hope you’ll join us each day for another unique perspective on Mother’s Day.AND … don’t forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a beautiful hand crafted pearl necklace. To enter, just {CLICK THIS LINK} and fill out the short form. Contest runs 5/6-5/13 and the winner will on 5/14. Contest is only open to US and Canadian residents.
If you are unfamiliar with Pearl Girls™, please visit www.pearlgirls.info and see what we’re all about. In short, we exist to support the work of charities that help women and children in the US and around the globe. Consider purchasing a copy of Pearl Girls: Encountering Grit, Experiencing Grace or one of the Pearl Girls™ products (all GREAT Mother’s Day gifts!) to help support Pearl Girls.
And to all you MOMS out there, Happy Mother’s Day!
Joy Comes from Perseverance by Sheila Walsh
One of the most important lessons I have learned in my own life is the joy that comes from perseverance. Eugene Peterson, borrowing a phrase from Friedrich Nietzsche, wrote his book “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction …Discipleship in an Instant Society.” He points to the Psalms as the way believers have always learned to pray what they live and live what they pray but it is not a short journey. It is an intentional commitment to keep walking even when you are worn out.
*If we want to see lasting results in any area of life it’s important to keep walking in that direction.
*If we want to have a better understanding of the Gospel of John then it takes time and commitment to dig deeper day after day.
*If we want to be thinner this summer than last summer then the work begins now not then.
So too in our relationship with Christ….. Read the rest of this entry
