I Choose Joy

I am so excited about this new year.  So blessed and happy as I reflect on this past year.  What a blessed Christmas time we spent, and what a great end to my year of “Peace”.  It truly was the epitome of peaceful and more reflective and meaningful than ever.

We took almost the entire season of Advent off of school to truly rest and revel in the season.  Baking, decorating, making Christmas cards from scratch, celebrating with advent verses and ornaments and Christmas songs each day.  Sleeping in, playing games, watching movies…. ah… familial bliss.

On Christmas Eve we had our traditional Christmas Dinner followed by a Candlelit Carol service at our church which was intimate and beautiful, back home through the snowy fields to cut the scrumptious Black Cherry Toblerone Chocolate Cake we had prepared for Jesus Birthday Cake, along with Hot Cranberry Wassail… mmm (will get these recipes up over at the Pantry soon).  We then let the kids open their stockings (very untraditional I know, but since Santa  doesn’t enter into the occasion in this house, that’s just how we do things) and the family game (Ticket to Ride) which we proceeded to play.

Christmas Day was relaxing and wonderful, we slept in, had a leisurely breakfast and calmly proceeded to open ONE gift per child per hour.  What a great idea this proved to be, it really brought peace and pleasure to the whole gift opening process, which I usually find to be a very busy, loud, messy and rather riotous time that leaves me feeling dazed and shell shocked when it’s all over. 

We are still in the process of simplifying the commercial aspect of Christmas, and trying to find our personal groove.  This year we chose to go with the four point idea of buying each child “something they want, something they need, something to wear and something to read.”   It gave us something to work with, but I’m not sure it’s THE fit for us or that we won’t try something else next year.  We’ll see.  I’m thinking of  letting the kids pick names, and buy for each other and then one special gift for each child from the parents, plus their Christmas tree ornament, plus one book, movie, or cd each.

Prairie Guy and I agreed not to buy gifts for each other at all this year, which was a good thing.  We are the kind of people who when we need/want/find something, we love to buy it for each other and we do.  Year round.  Since he had just bought me a treadmill at the end of October, plus all new appliances at the end of the summer (dishwasher just got hooked up a few days ago though!) well…. it was an extravagant year in the spending department.  I have a few fun gifts in mind for him for his birthday but we decided to keep Christmas spending free, and it was a relief.  It was beautiful to just revel in each other’s presence.

My extended family decided to pool money to give to a project of our choosing.  We decided on the World Vision 12 months of giving program where you give one yearly amount but each month a specific project  takes place where a village receives, animals, clinic supplies, fruit trees, school supplies or something of the sort.  I am very excited about this pick because it will mean that each month we can look at the project, pray for that village and the gift will keep living in us throughout the year.

Now, out with the old and in with the new.  As I said, I am very excited about 2010.  I started “listening” for my word back in the start of December and it came to me mid month when we were making our Christmas Cards.  We stamped the word JOY on a distressed piece of cardstock in rich burgundy ink.  As I looked at a completed card that one of my daughters handed to me I just smiled.  Yes.  That’s my word.  Then, wouldn’t you know that in the sermon that Sunday our pastor must have used the word “joy” about 100 times.  Exhorting us to take joy in the Giver of Life and the life and goodness He bestows.  

Joy.  I’m ready.  Joy in waking, joy in baking, joy in cleaning, joy in gleaning, joy in growing, joy in sowing,  joy in jogging, joy in blogging, joy in reading, joy in leading, joy as  lover, joy as mother, joy in playing, joy in praying.  Wishing you all God’s Joy for 2010.

“You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.”  Acts 2:28

 

 

Joy blocks available for purchase here.

Sunday, Bless-ed Sunday

I humbly confess my attitude towards Sunday morning (the part prior to church, I mean) is usually more in line with the title of a U2 song that substitutes a red expletive for the word “bless-ed”. This disturbs me.

"I want my boys to love Sunday, to find it a peaceful, pleasant day, when they can rest from common study and play, yet enjoy quiet pleasures, and learn, in simple ways, lessons more important than any taught in school.

Do you understand me?" she asked, watching Nat's attentive face.

"You mean to be good?" he said, after hesitating a minute.

"Yes; to be good, and to love to be good."

Louisa May Alcott, Little Men.

I am touched and inspired and challenged anew by so much in these beloved books now that I read them to my own children, as a woman. A wife. A mother. It stirs up great desire in me to be lovely and loving. To stop getting annoyed by the little arrows with bitter tips that lodge themselves annoyingly into the cracks and crevasses of my best intentions.

I had just read this the other day and it invoked one of those sentimental “my heart is welling up with warm thoughts” moments. Oh the day dreaming I did. I planned to awake Sunday morning with the sweetest intentions to make it special. Fresh cinnamon buns for breakfast, everything orderly, cheerful, romantic, blessed. Rather we were rudely awakened by the boys hard at play in the room next to ours, climbing the walls like monkeys and roaring like lions. Two weeks it has been that we call to the boys to “keep it quiet” and be respectful to others upon waking. Two weeks, every morning, the same chaos greets us from the room next door.

That got me out on the wrong side of the bed right there, and it went from bad to worse. I went in to get the boys dressed, opened their sock drawer to find approximately six stray dirty socks (none of them matching) thrown haphazardly into the mix. Something again, which I had harped on over and over in recent weeks. Stray socks go in the laundry not back in the drawer. I could go on. And on. But I won’t. You get the point.

It was not the best of mornings, but it was also not the worst of mornings. I caught myself, and I tried. I really tried. And I will continue to try. Because I really do want my kids to have sweet memories of this sweet Lord’s day, this Sabbath rest, this elusive Sunday, bless-ed Sunday.

Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room.

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"As Josiah became king at age 8, he followed in his ancestor David's footsteps and obeyed God. One of the first steps he took was to remove all idols in the kingdom.”

Faithful Christians love and obey God and should remove idols from their own lives.

It was the apostle John's final warning to his readers. "Little children, guard yourselves from idols. (1 John 5:21) "Watch out," says John. "Be on guard against anything that might occupy the place in your heart that should be reserved for God."

John never qualified that warning. the aged apostle deliberately refrained from classifying the idols or giving us a comprehensive list to follow. It's an unconditional command. ANY idol, regardless of its beauty or usefulness or original purpose, is to be set aside so that Christ might reign supreme, without a single competitor.

I don't have many temptations to worship evil things. It's the good things that plague me. It isn't as difficult for me to reject something that is innately bad or wrong as it is to keep those good and wholesome things off the throne. That, I believe is where the battle line begins.

Honestly now, can you testify to the fact that you've destroyed the idols? That Christ reigns without rival? Or would you have to admit to a personal shrine in your inner temple where you privately burn incense?...

Your Lord and Savior wants to occupy first place. Matthew 6:33 says that when He has it, everything else will be added to you.

How long HAS it been since you've enlisted your Lord’s help in a private, personal, temple-cleansing session? It's so easy to get attracted to idols- good things, inappropriately adorned. But when you have Jesus in the center of the room, everything else only junks up the decor."

From Come Before Winter by Charles Swindoll.

This devotional hit me dead on this morning. It is a culmination of many little words that God has given to me in the past year. In past months God has been showing me that my hunger for fellowship, which in and of itself would be classified as a "good thing", has been something that has consumed me to such a point that I looked at it through a skewed lens, and applied myself heartily to the wrong ends. This place, Facebook, blog hopping, etc.... all things that can be healthy and wholesome and GOOD, had become things that were being used to fill a space in me that HE desired to fill. As Swindoll said so shockingly and convictingly, they had become a shrine at which I regularly burned incense. They weren't being "added" to me. They were fundamental. They were the place I went to get my "fix" and feel uplifted and encouraged and connected.

I recognize that God wants me to feel uplifted and encouraged and connected and at times we really do need that net of fellowship to fall back into, and He has designed it to be just so. But HE wants ME to run to HIM. And if I make the computer the place I run to, I'm missing out on the blessings and grace that only HE can bestow on me. So if you notice that I am a little quieter, a little less present, a little less regular to drop in for a virtual visit, you will know why, and I believe you will understand.

Hide and Seek.

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"God wanted them to look for Him and perhaps search all around for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any of us." v27

These words have been tugging at my heartstrings for weeks.  I’ve been trying to get a vision of what this is saying.  It's not that God is capriciously "hiding himself" from us , or "playing" with us in a saucy manner, pulling stubbornly away when we are trying to find Him.

I think what it boils down to is that God wants us to want Him. He doesn't want to be the one chasing us all the time. He wants US to pursue Him. To want to catch Him so much that we are willing to set all else aside in pursuit of His presence.

And when we pick ourselves up, start really looking for Him, and then RUN towards Him, full of anticipation and enthusiasm, like a child rushing to greet their Daddy at the door, He doesn't turn and run.... He opens His arms and swings us up into the air and laughs with delight. 

He wants to be wanted. He wants us to desire Him and delight in Him. Why are we so bad at loving Him? Why are we so dull and distracted? I'm floored today by this image. I will run. Run to the door. Run to the road. Run however far I need to run to be with Him. I know He'll meet me there.

Do Plants Eat Meat?

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Okay, we've all heard of the Venus flytrap... but how 'bout the Rajah Pitcher Plant? Seriously folks, this plant eats. meat. And I'm not talkin' flies. Take your guess, a)grasshoppers, b) mice, c) squirrels.

Seriously.

Over the Top

Deb, at He Gave Me A Dream tagged me with this fun award. If I had to pick I’d rather be over the top than scraping rock bottom *wink*.

 
The rules for accepting this award are to copy and change the answers below to suit you and pass it on. Answers can only be one word! Pass the award to a deserving blogger and alert them they have been awarded.

Here are my answers to these questions:
1. Where is your cell phone? charging
2. Your hair? chestnut
3. Your mother? funny
4. Your father? wise
5. Your favorite food? oh…..
6. Your dream last night? bizarre
7. Your favorite drink? coffee
8. Your dream/goal? heaven
9. What room are you in? dining
10. Your hobby? literature
11. Your fear? Loss
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? here
13. Where were you last night? home
14. Something you aren’t? rich
15. Muffins? bacon
16. Wish list item? closets
17. Where did you grow up? britishcolumbia :P
18. Last thing you did? baked
19. What are you wearing? pyjamas 
20. Your TV? off
21. Your pets? shivering
22. Your friends? rock
23. Your life? sweet
24. Your mood? bliss
25. Missing someone? no
26. Vehicle? guzzler
27. Something you’re not wearing? watch
28. Your favorite store? Pier One
29. Your favorite color? brown
30. When was the last time you laughed? Today 
31. Last time you cried? yesterday
32. Your best friend? God
33. One place that you go over and over? Costco
34. One person who emails you regularly?  Laura
35. Favorite place to eat? out.

I am passing this award on to my crazy and beautiful friend, Chris.  Sorry folks, her blog is private but trust me when I say she TRULY merits this reward.   I am also awarding it to Outdoor Mom at Yak Adventures, and to her entire family by proxy.  Again, utterly merited and last but not least to Berry Girl, whose regular dose of dry humor makes her my favorite comedienne in the whole wide world (okay, okay, at least my little corner of it).  

Learning Is Lovely

 

“…Grandpa March cultivated the little mind with the
tender wisdom of a modern Pythagoras, not tasking it with long, hard lessons, parrot-learned, but helping it to unfold as naturally and beautifully as sun and dew help roses bloom.”

“Boys at other schools probably learned more from books, but less of that better wisdom which makes good men. Latin, Greek, and mathematics were all very well, but in Professor Bhaer's opinion, self knowledge, self-help, and self-control were more important, and he tried to teach them carefully.”

Jo’s Boys, Life at Plumfield.

We read these quotes the other night and my heart just warmed within me.  They were brought to mind again today as my daughter quietly looked over her science pages for the day.  How dry facts and dates and monotonous explanations of how things work can be.  How extraordinary and delightful the journey of discovery where a child can find the study of atoms and molecules not dry and boring, but fascinating!  The motto of our curriculum is; “The way you wish you’d been taught.  Guaranteed.” Oh, how it’s proven true time and time again. 

My daughter makes a knowing exclamation as she reads about how atoms are made up of 2 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen atom.  At no time is the word H20 referenced.  She looks up with her eyes shining and says; “I think I know why water is called H20.” 

“Oh?” I say.

“Yes.  The H stands for hydrogen, the 2 stands for 2 Hydrogen atoms and the O stands for 1 oxygen atom.” 

“That’s exactly right.”  I smile.

No one had to tell her bare facts, she deduced it herself with a brain that has been taught to unveil facts and truths by observation and discovery.

And for the record, my eyes lit up with their own wonderful discovery as I read over her lesson as well.  Did you know that the number of atoms within ONE grain of sand is comparable to the grains of sand on an entire beach?

Parenting Is Your Highest Calling.

Or is it? Sounds good doesn't it? Think about it carefully. Prepare yourself to get schmucked upside the head, in a really good way and read THIS book. I could say so much. I have wanted to say so much as I have read and re-read this book. I have wanted to do a chapter by chapter light bulb moment play by play, but in wanting to share so much I have held off sharing at all because I didn't have time to put into words all the great insights I have been pondering via Leslie's message.

A few thoughts to tickle your tastebuds.

Parenting is not our greatest calling. Living lives that glorify God and love Him above all is.

Think about this. God calls Himself Father, to Israel, and to the Church. He has faced disappointment, rejection, frustration, sorrow, you name it, as His children rebelled, tested, and ignored His counsel. Can we expect perfection in our own parenting tecqniques when God Himself shows us that parenting is only ONE side of the equation?

These are only summary thoughts from the first TWO chapters. The book is FULL of practical, freeing, inspiring truths that will help you gain clear insight into what parenting is all about, and what it isn't. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Thank you, Leslie, for the gift of your book, and for the gift of your words that serve to build up, encourage and equip us as Christian parents.