Tag: children

Gift-giving Season

11/15/2013Spiritual Growth, , 4 Comments

As I was out this morning, I passed a “Salvation Army” truck, and I was reminded that when I was little, about this time every year, we’d go through our toys and donate those we no longer played with to the Salvation Army.

I don’t ever remember asking why we had to give our toys away; we just knew we did. We understood the reality that there were other little boys and girls who didn’t have toys and we had enough to share. That was reason enough. I don’t ever recall fussing about it, though my mom might recall things differently.

We didn’t have tons of toys, but we were never, ever without something to play with. I played with my brother’s guns… and well, I won’t say he played with my dolls, because I don’t ever recall him playing with them, but I played with his GI-Joe tank! And, I never had a baseball glove of my own, but when all the kids in the neighborhood played baseball, there were always plenty of bats, gloves and balls. And, we all had bikes (with baseball cards clipped to the spokes).

It wasn’t a big deal to give away toys we didn’t play with anymore.  Plus, we all knew the verse: … Acts 20:35 “…remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

The Bible says that giving is a gift from God, and if we have this gift, we should give generously. Romans 12:6-8 “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is giving, then give generously.”

What does ‘generously’ really mean? I looked it up: abundant, magnanimous, bountiful, not selfish.

It’s easier to not be selfish with ‘things’ than it is with my life. Am I willing to give away time? Am I willing to give up half an hour to chat with a friend who’s hurting? Am I willing to babysit in the church nursery and give up time with my family? Am I willing to lead a Bible study and give up my TV time in the evening? Am I willing to give up a child, or grandchild to the mission field? Am I willing to give up vacation to serve on the mission field?

I also looked up magnanimous: generous in forgiving! I never really thought about giving forgiveness as a gift. I have plenty of forgiveness, I won’t ever run out.

God always forgives me when I confess my sin, but am I willing to be generous with my forgiveness? Or do I hold onto it tightly?

What has the Lord put on your heart to give this time of year? Is it time to clean out the toy box? Garage? Storage room? Your closet? Your heart?

I’m going to go through this toy cabinet; the grandsons probably won’t notice! And, I’m also going to search my heart and get rid of any unforgiveness that’s hiding there.

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Eating Peas

11/12/2013Prayer, Spiritual Growth, , , , , 11 Comments

This is a picture of our grandson Jake when he first started eating solid food. He’s about to get a bite of peas.

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He quickly learned that he doesn’t like peas!

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However, he opened his mouth again! He trusted the person feeding him. He knew we loved him, and we would never ever hurt him.

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Today, Jake is four. If I were to put peas on his plate for dinner, the conversation would probably go something like this:

Jake: Yaya, I don’t want peas.
Yaya (me): Jake, you have to eat them, they are good for you.
Jake: No, I don’t like them.
Yaya: Don’t you want to grow up to be big and strong like your daddy?
Jake: Yes, but I can do that if I eat cookies!
Yaya: No you can’t Jake, you need your peas.
Jake: Yaya, I’m not hungry!

We give our children healthy food, even if they only want candy, because we know that candy won’t produce a strong, healthy body.

We are a lot like Jake when it comes to eating our ‘spiritual peas’. What are spiritual peas? That would be the hard things in life that the Lord puts on our plate. I don’t have to imagine what that conversation would sound like, I’ve had it…

God: Marcia, you have to go through this difficult thing.
Marcia: God, I don’t want to.
God: You have to, it is good for you.
Marcia: No. I don’t like this.
God: Don’t you want to grow up to be like Jesus?
Marcia: Yes, but I can do that without having to endure this.|
God: No, you can’t, Marcia, you need to walk this path.
Marcia: God, I’m ok where I am.

God knows the future. He knows what I need to experience now in order to be prepared for what the future holds. He knows where I will need to be strong. He knows where the Evil One is going to come against me. He knows where I need to grow. Therefore, God very carefully prepares my plate with just the right amount of peas.

Romans 5:3-5 because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame…”

God will not overload me with suffering. I know that there will also be sweet desserts – times of celebration and rejoicing. And, there will be some really nice steaks because he knows how much I love to study the meat of doctrine.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Just as Jake’s peas produce a healthy body, so our suffering produces a healthy spirit: a spirit that hopes, even when things appear hopeless.

What difficult thing has God put on your plate? Do you believe that He has your best interest at heart, because he knows what you will need in the future?

The Big One

10/03/2013contentment, Spiritual Walk, The Furrowed Brow, , 3 Comments

We left off talking about ‘the little ones’ and that God reminds us we are little so that we might see him as ‘big’, but I have to ask, “How big is God?”

Or perhaps the question should be. “Is God bigger than me?”

And the answer is: “Yes, but only when I’m OK with being the little one.”

Why am I not always OK with being little, and letting God be bigger than me? Because so often, I don’t credit Jesus with being big enough to do all the things I need him to do, or want him to do. Does that sound familiar to you?

If, like me, the answer is sometimes, yes, then naturally we have to be ‘the big one’ because if he isn’t big enough, someone has to be. It might as well be us.

OK, I know that sounds shocking, but let’s be honest, is Jesus big enough to… — rescue the world from terrorists? — have your back if you step up at work and act like a Christian? — cause 90% of your money to go as far as 100% — reconcile you to a friend you haven’t spoken with in years? — go into a jail cell and comfort your family member who sits there? — equip you to teach that Bible study you’ve been asked to teach? — overcome a porn addiction? A substance addiction? — pull bitterness out of your heart by its root? — strengthen you to choose to forgive even if you don’t feel like it? — fill your heart with love for the un-loveliest person you know? — set aside resentment, jealousy, covetousness? — pry your hands open to let go of the thing he’s wanted you to let go of for years? — fill your heart with love for him instead of anger? — remove the grief from your heart and replace it with joy? — sit in a college dorm with a lonely and hurting student? — take care of your children/parents when you are not available — handle emergencies so you can turn your phone off for an hour on Sunday? — walk into a hospice room and welcome a tired child into his loving arms? — find you a job? — be your date on Friday night? — teach you to be content in all your circumstances? — love you even with all the ugliness in your heart? — save you? — use you?

Is God big enough? The problem isn’t that he’s not big enough; it’s that we don’t trust him. Yet, we know that he is totally trustworthy. The barrier is the distance between what we know in our minds but refuse to believe in our hearts.

Oh, that we could be like little children all day, every day, sitting at Jesus feet, trusting him to run the world. Trusting him to run our homes. Trusting him with our hearts. Trusting him with those we love.

Isn’t life so much easier and better when we agree to be the little ones.

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My goal with this blog is to share my life with you, to be vulnerable, to be honest, to be open, to be small, so that we might all see God bigger and bigger.

The Little Ones

10/03/2013contentment, Spiritual Walk, The Furrowed Brow, , Leave a comment

Every now and then I see her. She is a happy little girl with blonde hair sitting on a tricycle with the handlebars broken off. There are other toys around for her to play with. But she always chooses the tricycle. It’s not safe. If she were to fall, she could really get hurt. But she doesn’t seem to care. She pedals and with both hands on the gooseneck, she tries to steer. I’ve never seen her actually succeed. But she’s always smiling.

There is something about her that makes me think of the verse in Matthew 18 “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Why didn’t Jesus say, “unless you become mature and serious and all grown up?”

What is Jesus looking for? What must we change? What is it about little children that we’re missing?

I’ve thought a lot about that recently. I’ve thought about what it means to be a little child, to be small, to be insignificant, and to be little.

The little ones are totally dependent on the big ones to take care of them. They are told when to get up, and when to go to bed, and though they may whine or complain, they still go. They are told when to eat, and what to eat. They are given limited choices, this shirt or that shirt. Every day in the future is ‘tomorrow’ and every day in the past is ‘yesterday’, there is no real understanding of ‘time’. And, they never worry about whether or not the rent will be paid, or if there is food in the pantry, they just assume there is, or will be.

The little ones trust the big ones completely.

The little ones are not afraid to laugh at silly things. They poke bugs. They wear diapers. They can’t pronounce all their words. And they’re not embarrassed by any of it. They are content to sit and hear the same story told over and over. They like to cuddle before bed. They like to hear bedtime songs sung off key.

The little ones just like to be around the big ones.

I think this is what Jesus wants. He wants us to abandon all of the things that separate us from him and from each other. Independence. Self-protection. Worry. Complaining. The need to have everything ‘just right’.

He wants us to trust him completely.

He wants us to like being around him.

It is not easy to be little. It’s not easy to let go of all the things that keep us from sitting at Jesus’ feet and worshiping with abandon. People might be watching. We might get laughed at. There’s work to be done.

Does God ever bring you a memory, like me on my broken tricycle, to remind you that it is OK to let down your guard and be little, so that you might more fully love and trust your very Big God?