Real Living Only Happens On Purpose

(Photo by Bria, courtesy of Robin @ Celebrating Motherhood)

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” (John Lennon)

Is it possible, in this noisiest-of-ever-century, that we hardly ever hear, hardly ever see anything much?

Have you ever noticed your world when the power goes off? It’s not just that you can’t check you  email…it’s a deafening silence that might drive some crazy if it lasted long enough. All the hums and quiet roars are dead, and we are left with much less–or is it more?

I think if we don’t live on purpose, we won’t live at all. If we don’t see through the daily whir, and hear through the daily buzz, we might just miss the life we were intended to live.

If you’ve lived very long, you know that life isn’t that long. Can we say as someone did,

“I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I have just lived the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.”

It’s not hard, really. It’s not “sky-diving and Rocky-mountain climbing”…

It’s another warm hug today.

It’s stopping, looking up, smiling, listening, being in the moment fully.

It’s choosing to cast a gentle glance in the direction of one you love, rather than a day-worn scowl.

A walk outside, closing your eyes, and raising your face to the warmth of an autumn sky.

Saying out loud to your children…”Isn’t this world glorious–the one our Lord created?”

Curling up to read Dr. Seuss again, ending with a tickle.

Noticing the forlorn look in your daughter’s eye and being willing to stop your day to draw it out.

Speaking words of life into someone’s heart, taking time to really hear what they are saying, instead of what you are going to say when they’re done.

All these smallish things, woven together over a lifetime…that makes a life well-lived.

Live deliberately if at all.

Warrior-Mothers…Guarding Home

I’ve used the term “warrior-mother” before and I like that word. I think it is accurate, and oddly ironic up against the culture’s drum beat of “I am woman, hear me roar”.

If we could pin point just one place where more erosion to our society has occurred, it is without a doubt the HOME. Broken marriages–the home. Troubled children–the home. Redefining of traditional family life–the home. Women broken and searching for their own worth–the home.

The home is a concentrated point of attack from an enemy who seeks to steal, kill and destroy.

In battle, a known point of attack would be heavily fortified and guarded. I find it no coincidence that “keeper” as in “teach them to be keepers at home” from Titus 2, is translated from a Greek word meaning “to guard”.

Sadly, our enemy has done a stellar job at offering all the right decoys, blinding us to the very NEED to defend home.

We are warriors in the greatest, spiritual sense. Fighting for our homes, our marriages, our children and our own integrity as women of God.

This isn’t about “well, good for you but I’m not made for that sort of thing…it’s not my calling”.

If we have homes, we are called. But we are not called to go at it alone! God has always called the weak and the incapable and then when they admitted, “I can’t do this!“, He replies, “I will go before you…my strength is made perfect in weakness”.

Part of the fighting will be against the battle that rages within us. We can’t give up. Here’s what we do:

• Prepare for the attacks, knowing they are an expected part of life, whatever form they may take.

• Stay mentally alert to the task. We guard, we fortify, we nurture, we restore, we prepare soldiers, we hold up the arms of our commander-in-chief…we do A LOT in a day. Throwing every ounce of energy into that is not wasted time. Anything less, and we won’t have enough resources to guard properly.

• Get up and do it again. Every single one of us has those days where the task feels too hard. Giving up is not an option. We divert the enemy. We change pace, change scenery, change tactics. Then we get on our knees and utilize the power God offers to us. We spend some time in God’s Word, meditate on truth and get ready to do it again the next day.

We ARE called. We are called to fight, defend, guard and build our homes. To build a legacy that will continue beyond us.

The question is, will we answer?

“His master said, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant’..”

How to Find Happiness

Happiness…we orchestrate our lives around finding it, yet it’s like grasping oil through fingers.

Why is it so hard to find? “I’ll be happy when…”

Because contentment, the thing we’re really wanting, is NOT found in our circumstances. Happiness is not a better something, more of something, or a different something. We immerse ourselves in the search for that “something” that doesn’t exist to make us happy.

Happiness is finding peace wherever we are.

We tend to view hardship, loss and waiting as surprising elements of life. We avoid them at all cost (this is natural, of course) and maintain that we could never find happiness there.

The reality is that hardship, loss and waiting are every much a part of life as prosperity, gain and “arriving”.

Life is made up of all these things and contentment is found when we rest in His knowing, His love and His goodness in ordaining whatever comes to pass.

I’m writing this to myself, learning hard–in this place–what true contentment is. It feels like I could be really content when there is more quiet spaces in our home, more room to put our clothes, more shelves for organizing our things, more sleep, more security for my husband’s future work, more counter space on which to cook…

My storm really began after the tornado. The battle for inner calm amid chaos and uncertainty. It brews even now, in the daily challenges to keep this home, to solve the dilemmas waiting each morning, to find contentment in the world that defied my best efforts to keep it constant and unchanging.

And then we all lose perspective, don’t we? Our “problems” so petty compared to others’.

Life is changing. Life is sometimes good and sometimes not. God loves us all the same and promises, not to orchestrate each detail to make us more comfortable, but to be sufficient in every place.

Learning from a tubless bathroom shared by eleven people

Thinking Like a Christian–Part 2 (What Does the Bible Say About Public School?)

(continued from Part 1...)

“There is no God and no soul. Hence, there are no needs for props of traditional religion. With dogma and creed excluded, then immutable truth is also dead and buried. There is no room for fixed, natural law or permanent absolutes …. Teaching children to read is a great perversion and a high literacy rate breeds destructive individualism … the child does not go to school to develop individual talents but rather are prepared as “units” in an organic society …. The change in the moral school atmosphere  … are not mere accidents, they are the necessities of the larger social evolution. -John Dewey, “Father of Modern Education”

Religion of the state.

If once we understand that the government actually teaches a religion–Secular Humanism (John Dewey declared Secular Humanism as “our common faith” and it has been granted a tax-exempt status as a religion)–the Christians’ duty should be clear. Just as I would not allow any other religious institution to educate my children (this would be precisely a “false god or teaching”), so I should not consider the most dangerous religion of all…worship of man and his wisdom.

“Education is thus a most powerful ally of humanism, and every American school is a school of humanism. What can a theistic Sunday School’s meeting for an hour once a week and teaching only a fraction of the children do to stem the tide of the five-day program of humanistic teaching?” Charles F. Potter, Humanism: A New Religion (1930)

“”The classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old and new – the rotting corpse of Christianity, together with all its adjacent evils and misery, and the new faith of humanism…”
John J. Dunphy, “A New Religion For A New Age”

“I think that the most important factor moving us toward a secular society has been the educational factor. Our schools may not teach Johnny how to read properly, but the fact that Johnny is in school until he is 16tends toward the elimination of religious superstition. The average American child now acquires a high school education, and this militates against Adam and Eve and all other myths of alleged history.” -P. Blanchard, “The Humanist”

(For more chilling humanist quotes and the aim of public education…Quotes and Dirty Little Secrets for as many shocking quotes about the intent of public education as one can stand in a day.)

The Bible does instruct us how to educate our children: in “the way he should go” and “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord”. Are these mere cliches, or do we study them and allow them to permeate our lives and our parenting?

If we are to train our children “in the way they should go”, it goes without being said that the their education MUST be Christian. If we are to avoid false teaching, we certainly can’t give our children to the tutelage of a truth-hating system (regardless of where a particular teacher stands). If we are to disciple them in the instruction of the Lord, we must be with them more than anyone else. We must talk to them more than anyone else. We must tie our heart strings to theirs, talk to them in the thousands of moments of life about wisdom, showing them how to walk in the ways of the Lord in the details of the day. This is difficult enough to do without the daily influence of a teaching system opposed to our values.

Moreover, the only true knowledge must begin with “the fear of the Lord”.

“Listen , my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding. I give you sound learning, so do not forsake my teaching. When I was a boy in my father’s house, still tender, and an only child of my mother, he taught me and said, Lay hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands and you will live.”

“My son, obey your father’s commands, and don’t neglect your mother’s teaching.”

“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” Deut. 6:6

“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.” 1 Corinthians 3:19

Scripture is clear: those who aren’t for Him are against Him. Those who do not walk in light walk in darkness. A worldview (i.e. education, standpoint from which one is taught) is either biblical or worldly, and those are at enmity. This is not neutral ground. We let them walk in the counsel of the godly, meditating in His law day and night, or the counsel of the ungodly, standing in the way of sinners, sitting in the seat of the scornful.

May we be vigilant to seek the Lord and allow His Word to permeate our lives, raising strong men and women of faith to advance the Kingdom of God into the next generation.

Training the (Deceitful) Heart @ Raising Homemakers

Join me today at Raising Homemakers for a powerful reminder of the most important tool we can give our children…

“‘Parenting is hard’.  My friend announced their family motto.  I agree with her 100%.

There’s the delicate balance between “training them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” and all that entails, and the work that only the Lord can do in a heart…We teach them character, to be thankful, to be cheerful to be servant-minded, but all those things must spring from a heart that acts in gratitude toward a risen Savior.

Sometimes it all seems to flow together naturally….

But sometimes, we see the Deceptor’s hand at work using love of Self to breed rebellion and ingratitude.

It brings every parent to the throne of grace faster than anything.  We can talk, we can plead; but it soon becomes evident that only a work of God can soften that heart, bringing it to a place of joyful submission to the Lord….

We can’t change the heart.  But there are things we CAN do do bring them toward the One who can…

Read all of “Training the (Deceitful) Heart: Giving Our  Children the Mighty Weapons”

 

Thinking Like a Christian: What Does the Bible Say About Public School?

Most parents believe “school is neutral”, are not aware of any agenda outside of “no child left behind”, and often make decisions about educating their children based on visible traits–the reputation of their school, the teachers they know, etc.

My intent for this series is two-fold: first, to reveal some history and background into the admitted agendas of key influences in the educational system, and get you to think beyond “is my school a good school”. (See part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4) But secondly, to challenge Christian parents to evaluate their biblical responsibility for educating their children.

Education is NOT neutral, even from a secular standpoint. Social agendas in the last 60 years or so are gaining momentum and academic interests are taking a backseat while our children are being indoctrinated with values not our own. The system is, by and large, interested in making “good citizens”, and often see the family as a hindrance to that aim.

Definition of a “good citizen”? Docile, easily managed, believe-what-we-tell-you men and women driven by consumerism and not likely to challenge the status quo (or recognize the influence of said agenda).

“Schools today do not teach adequately the essential academic subjects. They do not lead by good example. And they do not support traditional family values.  Quite to the contrary, they teach that there is no right or wrong, that tolerance is good and being judgmental bad, that competition is wrong and cooperation good; that all children should have high self-esteem, and that they should explore life and enjoy themselves to the fullest.  Learning to learn, becoming lifelong learners and fitting-in and getting along with the crowd is all that matters. “Progressive” educators, today, promote consensus and group-decision making, and they discourage individual thinking as being egocentric.  They want our children to become “good citizens” that can’t distinguish right from wrong and will fit into the “Global Village” under a “New World Order” that function under a new set of moral values.”  Education News

But for the Christian parent, the stakes are much higher. Does the Bible even speak about education? Since the words “public school” are not found in Scripture, is this an area of neutrality?

The truth is that the Bible most certainly tells us how to educate our children and we are accountable to that knowledge. To think that God would remain silent on such an important issue is naive at best.

Two commonly violated biblical principles of education:

Commonly, it is argued that a child can attend school but still have his parents fulfill the biblical command of nurturing him in the admonition of the Lord. I will not suggest this can’t be true when the child is not at school. Yet the fact remains, that for the majority of the day that child is NOT being nurtured in the admonition of the Lord. The majority of the day the child is being subjected to “the counsel of the ungodly”, even if he has a gagged Christian teacher here and there. The curriculum of the state is decidedly opposed to Christianity and separates the knowledge of God from every subject.

This fact alone violates two biblical principles: “walking not in the counsel of the ungodly” and “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”.

To be continued…