We recently picked up a book from the library entitled “Dear Mr. Washington
by Lynn Cullen. It is a humorous look at the story behind Gilbert Stewart’s famous portrait of the first President. This one.
The book follows Stuart’s children as they attempt to follow George Washington’s Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior on Company and Conversation while the President sits for his portrait. These rules (110 of them) were copied down by Washington by the time he was 16. Continue reading
Siblings fight. It’s the nature of life. My children adore each other most of the time. They spend hours reading, going on imaginary adventures, coloring, “cooking”, playing card games and creating entire worlds for themselves. They are mostly considerate and kind to each other. However, in the midst of all the love, there are times when they go after each other like Ali/Frazier. Is that a good reference? I hope so. It’s pretty much the sum total of my knowledge of boxing. So, really, I have no clue if it even makes sense. But I’m pretty sure those two were fighters, who fought each other at one point, as my kids did today, so I’m going with it.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.
-Psalm 19:14
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One of my most cherished memories as a child is reading the Christmas story from Luke 2 on Christmas morning. My 4 siblings and I would snuggle onto my parents bed with them, while my dad read these verses from Luke. Zack and I will continue that tradition with our own kids this year as they are both finally old enough to get out of their own beds and run to ours tomorrow morning. I can’t wait! We practiced this morning as both the kids wanted a little snuggle before we got up for breakfast. Tomorrow is going to be so fun! I wish each of you a heartfelt Merry Christmas – may the simple, perfect gift of Jesus wash your holiday celebrations with joy and peace.
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1 Corinthians 7:34 …An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband.
So. True. How often do I find myself going twelve different directions in a vain attempt to get it all done? I want my house to be clean, I need to workout, Madison wants to play polly-pockets, Donovan wants to point out every “fruck” (truck) in a 30 yard radius of his body, dinner needs to be made, the laundry is now so wrinkled it really should be thrown back in the dryer, I should probably at least run a brush thru my hair so Zack recognizes me when he gets home and try to save some energy for actually being a wife…and on, and on, and on. Where does my devotion to the Lord fit in? Continue reading
1 Corinthians 12:20-22 & 26 But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. 21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
Two weeks ago, I injured my pinky toe. Badly. I was thrown from a mechanical bull and very gracefully landed wrong on my foot, smashing my baby toe against some concrete. Yeah, I know – I live an amazingly exciting life to have an injury like that. Not as great as this story from Seinfeld (a classic), but pretty good for me. Sorry, you’ll have to click on play and then on to youtube, cause the embeding is disabled for this clip.
Anyway, my foot was horrifically bruised for about a week, too swollen to put into any kind of shoe for 5 solid days and has been causing me pain with every step for almost two weeks now. Actually, it was getting better, un-swollen, almost all the bruising gone when I kicked it hard against the corner of my parents couch leg a couple of days ago. Today it’s pretty much just as bad as the day after the bull incident.
It’s really amazing to me how God can use even a mechanical bull to demonstrate His point to me. Are you ready for the connection?
As I was limping around today, I remembered a passage about the body suffering if any part of it suffers. I couldn’t remember where it was located, but thankfully, I live in the era of Bible Gateway and it only took me a few seconds to find it. Bam. 1 Corinthians 12. The whole chapter is amazing and perfect for the a relationship situation I’m currently struggling with. Apparently I don’t listen properly to God because He always seems to need to use an object lesson to drive home the point to me. I guess I’m just thick-headed. Really Lord, next time can you find a different avenue to ingrain your idea into me? There’s got to be an easier way than to pick on my poor little toe.
So here goes my epiphany. My whole body is suffering because of a one-and-a-half inch piece of skin, bone and muscle. My baby toe seems totally unnecessary most of the time. I’m sure I could stand, walk, run etc without it. And yet, the pain radiating from that little nub is causing me to walk differently, which is making my knees and hips kind of ache. I tried running on it the one day it started to feel better and woke up the next morning in spasms of muscular soreness because my stride was all messed up from favoring that toe for three miles. Pretty much the smallest, least important part of my body is causing the rest of it to suffer.
It’s the same with relationships. Especially family. Super especially the family of Christ. We’re all a part of the same body. This chapter in Corinthians could not make that any plainer. We need all the parts to make it work, this chapter says there should be no division in this body of believers, that we all should show care and concern for each other. If the pinkie toe in my relationships with others is bruised – it’s going to affect more than just the toe next to it. It’s going to impact the foot, the ankle, leg, hip, back etc. There is no part of my body that has been spared the discomfort caused by my silly little toe. Likewise, to believe our relationships are some kind of vacuum, that they are individualistic and don’t impact others just makes no rational sense. Nor is that what God’s word says.
The other thing I found fascinating when reading this passage is that chapter 12 is the lead-in to the famous 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians. You know, the one about love that gets quoted at weddings every single day. Reading both chapters together made me realize something. I wouldn’t look at my hand and say, “I love you so much, but I really wish you were an eye in the back of my head. You would be so much cooler then.” Before I can get to the business of love in chapter 13, I need to realize the perfection and beauty in each member of the body. How can I love others if I’m wishing they were all mouths like me? What good would it do if every part of your body was an ear? If I’m not accepted for the part of the body that I fill, the whole body suffers. If we spend our time as Christians picking apart the foot for not being an elbow, we’ll be hard pressed to get anywhere. Get it? Cause the elbow is hard…and feet take you places? Yeah, ok. I’m not funny.
For the next few days, or until my pinkie toe stops being painful and swollen, I’m going to remember this lesson with every step I take. When one member of the body suffers, we all suffer with it. The relationship of mine that is wounded is bleeding that pain over lots of other relationships as well. The ramifications of my toe are far-reaching. Even after the toe is better, I’ll probably still be dealing with whatever I’ve done to my hips by walking wonkey for two weeks. So, unless I focus on the multiple effects of a single relationship, none of the other members of the body will be able to rejoice with me at the healing. Because they’ll all still be suffering.
God, help me to see the unique way my relationships fit together to form one body in you. Be with me as I struggle to right any wrongs I’ve committed that have led to my relational broken toe. Bolster my conviction to rely on your word as my backbone, rather than rationalizing my own hurt feelings. Amen.
I love my mom. I think it is fantastic that I want to talk to her on a daily basis. What’s even better, is that I always come away with some amazing insight from our chats. I recently have really enjoyed talking to my mom about God. She is the most spiritually mature person I know. She’d probably laugh at me if she read that, but it is totally true. My mother has had an hour or more quiet time every day since I was very young. I cannot remember a time that I didn’t wake up to Mom’s Bible, journal and her concordance strewn near the big chair in the living room. She loves hanging out with God. During one of our recent conversations, my mother said something that showed such discernment, I was blown away. First, a bit of background on our talk. Continue reading
John 16:21 – A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.
I started my devotional today reading a couple verses from John 16. Not the verse quoted above, but a passage about having peace in the midst of trials. Being of “good cheer” because the Lord is with us. (John 16:33) I’ve found the past few days in beginning a pattern of daily devotions that a couple paragraphs and a scripture or two don’t really satisfy me. I keep looking for context in whatever few verses go along with the day’s reading. Today, I flipped back a couple pages and read starting at the beginning of the chapter. Actually, I pulled up the chapter on Bible Gateway so I could read a couple translations at once. I love that site. Anyway, verse 21 practically jumped out of my computer at me. I have never read a verse that so accurately describes the feeling of wonder and joy after my children were born. I had no idea there even WAS such a verse! I went back to mark the verse in my own Bible, and found that it was already marked. Sort of. An area I’d underlined on the opposing page had bled thru so it looks like the part about labor is already marked. God is so cool. I’ve been wrestling with possibly having another child lately, and for mostly selfish reasons am heavily leaning towards a “no way” answer. But told my husband I’d consider it if he would consider being done. We’re in the “pray-and-seek-God” time of making this decision. I’m so thankful that God knows where I am, and is reminding me of the joys associated with children. Family members, calm down. This does not mean I’ve decided to get pregnant. Just that I’m allowing God to speak to me on the subject.
Dissonant Symphony 