Monday, February 22, 2010

Through the Eyes of a Mary

I think Marys must drive Marthas nuts. I somehow singlehandedly ruined a Women's Tea Party at my church. I don't think I ruined it for everyone, just the Marthas at my table.

My friend and partner in Maryville, Jennie, went with me to the Women's Tea Party. We entered to a beautifully arranged sanctuary of tables and women. All tables uniquely decorated and all women oogling and awing the arrangements. We were assigned a table and went to find it and get settled in.

Mary mistake number one: I didn't look for a name tag on the pushed in seats and so I sat in a seat of my choosing. Jennie sat next to me.

Mistake number two: I took the coffee mug and proceeded to get coffee.

When we returned to the table, we entered into a disturbing sight. A group of Marthas were at their wits end. The assigned seating was all messed up. Basically I took someone's seat. No biggy I thought, I will just move to another seat. As any Mary would see, it was no big thang. I moved seats and problem was solved.

Unfortunately, the problems just began. Because as you remember, I took the mug from the first seat.

Our table was called to the buffet line and we chatted all through line and returned with a plate full of food back to our table. Seconds later the Marthas were in a tizzy. Where is "THE MUG". Where could it be? The head Martha has been looking all over for it! Goodness gracious!!!

Jennie laughed and reached over and gave the unused mug in front of me to the lady without a mug. "Here is the mug!" she said, "mystery solved". I giggled and said "Whoops I must have stolen it from your spot." I thought I was funny saying the word "stolen". They took it literally and whispered amongst themselves "She (eyes glaring) stole the mug". They were visably angry with me and my inconsiderate action of mug stealing.

I looked at them and said "Wow"! I then couldn't contain myself and started laughing. Which made Jennie laugh. She, however, is much more gracious than I am and offered to get the mugless Martha a cup of coffee. The funny part was Martha let Jennie get her a cup of coffee. The whole event didn't stop there but it definitely began the mood.

We now call that day "Tea Party at the Angry Table"

It takes 10 Marthas to deal with 1 Mary.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Are you Christian, Mormon or Catholic?

My 10 year old daughter (bless her heart) must know what people believe at the very beginning of any relationship. And in her world you are either Christian, Mormon or Catholic. Three catagories only...pick one.

If they answer Christian, then she must know if they love Jesus. Who is He? Do you believe God or do you believe IN God?

I love her security and confidence in her faith. I love that she must know if her friends know the Truth. I love that she has asked these questions way before I was informed she asked these questions (usually by the parents, who typically couldn't answer her with any conviction). Deep down she just needs to know who she is dealing with and talking to.

If they are not Christian she doesn't love them any less or treat them different. She does pray for them. The knowledge of their beliefs helps her understand them and helps her understand if they our trustworthy.

Now we all know that just because you are a Christian does not make you wise counsel or have perfect discernment. We are all still human growing in Christ and stumble along the way. But to a 10 year old who desperately loves the Lord, she wants to make sure that she keeps her eyes open. And knowing if someone loves Christ or doesn't is a place to start.

Now the fact that she thinks that Mormon or Catholic is the only other options is due to the fact that my family was raised Catholic and she sees it and hears about it. And because I am studying the Mormon religion and she overhears conversations in the house, she realizes that the Mormon religion is not the religion of the Bible. There are also many Mormons in our community.

Life is simple as a 10 year old. You either follow Jesus or you don't. There is no middle ground. Everything is black and white. As it should be!

I love that girl:)

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

What do I do all day?

A friend asked what I did all day, because I always look like I am rushing around somewhere. To be honest I do not know what I do all day.

I usually workout, do my Bible study, laundry, coach.....

Sometimes I clean, sometimes I blog, sometimes I write...

Whatever I do all day, I never get it all done. My system seems to work for me because I get enough done to survive and get to another day.

Well I have to go because I need to put away groceries and pick up my daughter.

Let the lessons of today begin:)

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Lesson for Parents

Why are parents afraid to parent? This is a question I ask myself all the time. When children are yelling, behaving badly, kicking, screaming, demanding etc. I just want to say, "Would you please start parenting!" It is time to kick it into high gear.

I have a favorite saying that drives my kids nuts. When they ask me more than once for something, for example, "Can I go to my friend's house, can I have another cookie, can I watch t.v. etc.?" Once I have said no I mean no. If they ask twice I simply say,"I can't say yes because it will reinforce your behavior. And I love you too much to let you act this way."

Obedience is not an option. It is not because my husband and I have a power trip, it is because we want them to grow up and be obedient to God. If they can't listen and obey us, how will they listen and obey God?

Now if the family that has ill-mannered children are non-believers, my advice might be different Because they wouldn't understand what it means to obey God because they themselves don't obey the Creator of the Universe. It wouldn't make sense. My question to them would be, "Do you like your children?" "Do you like the child who is yelling at you and throwing his shoes in your face?" Because it is not the child's fault.

The parents have trained him to act this way. Every time a child is allowed to be disrespectful, the parent is training him to be disrespectful. They are saying with their actions it is okay to yell at me and it is okay to treat me this way.

It is time to train our child to become the adults we desire them to be. Discipline equals love. If you do not know how to lovingly discipline your child there are many resources to help. Here are my favorite:

"Dare to Discipline" by James Dobson
"Going Public" by Pritchard (I will have to look up the first name)


"Discipline your son while there is hope, and do not desire his death." Proverbs 19:18

"Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it."
Proverbs 22:6

Don't you just love Proverbs?

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Children Do Listen (at times)

Well like I said in the last blog, Jessie and I would talk again about the "Molly" situation. I have to say she handled it well.

Jessie and her buddy Maddie asked "Molly" to play with them at recess. "Molly" couldn't believe it. She was quite shocked actually, but was very happy to be included. They had a great day.

When we talked later about her decision to include "Molly", Jessie was realistic about the entire situation. She said she just couldn't let someone feel lonely at school. Especially if she could do something about it. She said she felt God tugging on her heart to do something.

I told her no matter what the outcome, whether "Molly" becomes a friend or not, she showed the love of Christ. And that is all He asks us to do.

Jessie was able to listen and hear God because she was paying attention. Sometimes our job as parents is to help our kids just pay attention to God. Make choices with a purpose and not an emotion.

Just a thought....

Friday, February 5, 2010

Th Heart of a Child

Lesson 4 (I think)

My daughter came home to share that some girls at school are just plain mean and she doesn't understand why. The story went something like this:

Three girls are best friends, usually two of them at a time. The third one is always left out. The third one or odd-girl-out changes each week. Well it appears the two girls "Jane and Kate" have excluded "Molly" forever. Very sad story, but I am sure not a new one to any of us.

My daughter, Jessie, came home with a broken heart for "Molly". She wondered why she would pick friends that were mean to her and didn't treat her with love.

I said to her, sometimes people just don't know there is a different kind of friendship. No one taught "Molly" her true worth or maybe no one ever showed her what a true friend looks like. Or maybe this situation is about how we will handle someone else's pain when we see it. God really wants to know what followers of Christ would do? He askes us to be different than the rest.

(To understand the full story would be to know that "Molly" has never been nice to Jessie. But Jessie is so grounded and confident, she picks friends who treat her well all the time.)

So I left her with this lesson and allowed her to process on her own. I am sure we will talk again tomorrow about the outcome.

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and every one who loves is born of God and knows God.......By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son in to the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
1 John 4:7-11

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

1 Samuel

After our lesson on how God uses young men to do His work, I caught our son reading 1 Samuel. He said he wanted to read the story for himself and really get to know Samuel.

Sounds good to me:)

Knowing my son, he will have a ton of questions for me (or Jim) to answer. I better be ready......I better start praying now.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

The Word is for the Young too!

Daniel, David, and Samuel were not old and wise in their faith. They were young men or more correctly boys. Yet they knew God and God knew their hearts. These boys did amazing things because they believed God.

We have been talking to our kids about these true and real characters of the Bible. Daniel was taken from his safe Jewish home and dropped in the middle of Babylon. We helped them view this image by using their safe and secure home as an example. We said, "Listen up, it would be like being taken from your safe Christian home and plopped right down in the middle of Las Vegas." We asked them if they would be prepared and could they stand firm with just God on their side? Of course, our 6 year old said, "Yes, I would be ready, but where is Las Vegas and why did we all go there." (Maybe this lesson was a little bit much for her, but she still listened and participated.)

The other two understood what we were saying. Daniel knew the Books of Law and he knew and believed God. He was able to stand firm because he knew the Word. He was a boy between 13-15 years old and was able to stand firm for 70 years of captivity.

"Daniel, servant of the living God, whom you constantly serve, been able to deliver you from the lions?"

Lets teach our children to be Daniels and get them in the Word.