Dying in the moment

Have you ever had a period in your life when God was working on driving a particular point home? Of course, we should always be growing, maturing, but I'm talking about one of those times when you have the perfect storm, as it were, that opens your eyes to an issue you didn't really see as an issue. I've just had one of those. One of those moments in the rock tumbler, as Rachael Jankovic would call it. My ladies book study group is reading Elizabeth Elliot's Because He Loves Me. It's pushed me a little, but most of it I sort of took as, "I've heard all of this before." I suppose that's where it started. Then we covered women's roles in a sermon at church. That chipped away a bit more. Then I read this article from over at the Femina Girls blog. Ouch. I was getting poked in a sore spot that needs a lot of work.

                                          
Woman and a child on a walk through a forest, a photo by State Library and Archives of Florida on Flickr.

That sore spot has turned out to be quite a surprise for me. When women's roles are talked about, I'm right there with you. When loving your family comes up, I'm all over it. When I read or hear of the cruciform life, I couldn't agree more. But, what I've realized is that I've been lined up in the macro line and I've been simply ignoring the micro line. Let me explain. I get the big picture - the macro. Die to yourself. Love your husband and family. Serve them. Sure. Got it. I love God. I go to church. I had quit my job to stay at home, care for the house & my family's needs, and to home school. I bake and make crafts on top of all of that, for crying out loud! I mean, I get it. I was dying to myself. Now, you would think that a girl with a blog by the name of Eating Elephants (you know...one bite at a time) would not have the problem of missing the trees for the forest, but I did. I wasn't striving to die in the moment.

I haven't been seeing my huffiness over the 3rd spilled cup of juice before 10am as sin. I haven't been considering my lack of self-control in staying on the computer "just 15 more minutes" as a problem. Most of all, I haven't been seeing the little people. My tone. My lack of compassion at times. My not treating childishness differently than willful disobedience. The effect has had dire consequences in those little hearts. That hurts.

God is gracious. Not only has He brought me to the place of recognizing this, but He has been patient with my disobedience. What a loving example. And He brings me here knowing that this is what is best. Knowing that in dying, I'll find a more abundant life. Well back to eating those elephants!

Pastor Smith's exhortation 12/27/11

During this Christmas season we are once again reminded of the truth that the eternal Word was made flesh. God the Word became a man so that he might be the head of a new body and a new creation. But in order to be the head he first had to be the heel, the heal that had to be bruised. As we have been studying in 1Corinthians, this is the wisdom of God that baffles the world. We don't tend to think about headship in this way. But the only way to lead ... really the only way to live ... is to be bruised. As we reflect upon the past year and look forward to the next is good to reflect upon our lives in light of the cross and what it means to live this cruciform life, having our lives evaluated by this standard. As Christians we don't measure our success in terms of how much money we've made over the past year (even though there is nothing wrong with making money). Neither is success measured by the social status we've gained (even though there is nothing wrong with gaining social status per se). Success in the past year is measured by how we submitted to the "bruising" we endured. Did we chafe and rebel, or did we receive it with thanks and allow ourselves to be malleable? Did we, like Christ, give up our rights and, in some sense, give ourselves over to the bruising for the sake of others? Did we husbands, as heads of our wives, insist on our own rights, or did we give them up for the sake of our wives? Remember men, you can't be a faithful head without being the bruised heel. Did wives give up their rights for their husbands? Did parents give up their rights for their children? Did children give up their rights for their siblings, friends, and parents? Inasmuch as we have done these things, 2011 has been a success in the eyes of the one who judges all things, and his judgment is all that matters in the end. Right now, we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places, ruling the new creation. This headship reflects (or is to reflect) his headship, which, as I said, is submitting to being the bruised heel. So, as we look forward to 2012 may we be resolved to rely upon the Holy Spirit given to us so that we might give ourselves over to be the heel that is to be bruised so that we might share in Christ's headship faithfully now and in the future resurrection.

Blessings,
Pastor 

The 22 Days of Christmas

So, we've gotten started on our little giving project.  Our first days was filled with a few hiccups.  We chose to take a cup of McDonald's coffee to the Salvation Army bell ringer outside of our Wal-Mart.  We dropped Jacob off at school, picked up the coffee and headed to Wal-Mart.  Well, apparently, bell ringers aren't out before 8am on December 1st.  Since McDonald's coffee is ridiculously hot and I needed to run to the ATM anyway, we ran over to the bank and came back around 8:30...still not there.  The boys were pretty determined to sit in the parking lot and wait for that bell ringer to show up. :) I decided that maybe it'd be better to go on home and decide what to do.  Consequently, I drank that coffee and I took another cup later after sunset.

On our second day, we baked Banana Bread for our sweet neighbor who is having surgery in a couple of weeks.
We used day 3 to make several types of home made bath salts and on day 4, we gave one of our elders and his dear wife a bottle of wine.
On day 5, we took a jar of our lavender bath salts to the kiddo's grandma who has a fractured vertebrae (ouch!) and is off of work.

The 12 Days of Christmas...that kinda got out of hand (in a good way)

one h ᵉ α r t... one w ᴼ r ℓ ∂, a photo by Just Kimberlee on Flickr.

For the past couple of years, we have been slowly building toward doing a Twelve Days of Christmas sort of deal, wherein we give a small gift to (1) people in our lives who we truly appreciate, but who don't hear it nearly enough, (2) people in thankless jobs, (3) people who have had a rough run of things, or (4) people who look like they could just use a bit of kindness. We have done a few more people each year. I was determined to make that list of 12 this year and...well...it seems to have turned into many more than that.

With the smaller boys getting older and grandparents now asking them what they want for Christmas and their sudden awareness of the Toys R Us Wish Book (harumpf!), I'm becoming more and more displeased with all of the introspection I've been hearing in the getting department around here. So, I've printed up our blank calendar. We have a list of about 22 people (I think we'll take one day per week off). I believe I will try to tie the giving in with our advent calendar (Who are we going to give to today?)



This will all start tomorrow. I've tried to slide a few "easy" ones in there for those days when we are running frantically. (I hope that doesn't sound terrible!) By easy I mean requiring little prep work. For example, we are going to leave some candy canes on windshields at Wal-Mart. We are going to pick up a cup of coffee for the Salvation Army bell ringer - that sort of thing. Some others I've got on the list are having the boys make some drawings and cards and taking them to the nursing home. We are taking cookies to Jacob's football coaches. We are giving a small gift card to a kid who we know has had a rough year. I'll try to list them out like I do my Eat What You Have recipes every few days. Hopefully, I'll have some attitude transformations to share, as well!

The wisdom of Shel

From Shel Silverstein, one of my all-time favorites.  This always puts into perspective for me how much time I spend telling my boys "no," "don't," "stop," and how little I take opportunities to say, "YES!"

LISTEN TO THE MUSTN'TS

Listen to the MUSTN'TS, child,
Listen to the DON'TS
Listen to the SHOULDN'Ts
The IMPOSSIBILITIES, the WON'TS
Listen to the NEVER HAVES
Then listen close to me -
Anything can happen, child,
ANYTHING can be.

By Shel Silverstein Where the Sidewalk Ends