Relationship with God – Page 2

Unlock a Life of Purpose: An Extraordinary Assignment

Around 10:30 a.m. on the morning of August 7, 1998, trucks heavily loaded with explosives parked outside the United States embassy in both cities of Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The trucks almost simultaneously detonated. In what was discovered to be a terrorist attack from a then little-known group called Al-Queda, over 200 people died, with over 4,500 injured people – mostly civilians of Kenya and Tanzania.

This tragedy took lives, property, and a sense of security from thousands. Billions of dollars of damage and years of rebuilding were required in the aftermath. Lives were changed forever.

Yet.

These attacks, while ostensibly creating the panic, chaos, pain, and loss they sought, did not result in the toppling the United States. Not the government, not the people, and not even the work of the embassies. This is because an embassy of any country, while being a physical property, is actually more of a symbol for the government of the nation it represents.

The actual embassy is the group of people entrusted with a mission to a sovereign or government, especially in reference to an ambassador and his/her staff.

Because of this, any place in which an ambassador dwells and works from can in fact be an embassy. So long as there is a ruling sovereign or government to represent, an ambassador and any other diplomatic officials appointed can still carry out their work.

In the same way, we who follow Christ have been given a mission: We too are called to represent Him and His Kingdom to the people and places we find ourselves stationed. We too are tasked with the diplomatic job of declaring the glories and policies of our King, creating connections and relationships that cause others to become familiar with our “Homeland,” our Ruler, and His important message.

Because we are the ambassadors, an embassy of the Kingdom of God is anywhere we live and work.

Each day we must be actively communicating with and listening to our King’s communiqués, training ourselves in the ways of our Sovereign, and seeking to most accurately and winsomely reflect and represent Him to others.

Each of us have been given a unique place to operate in and represent the Kingdom of God. We have also been gifted with certain abilities and strengths that were deliberately chosen for the mission we have been given.

Each of us will need insight, discernment, and an incredible amount of wisdom in correct protocol and interactions with others. Each of us are representing something and Someone much greater than ourselves – and we are strangely odd choices for the honor of these positions, with our brokenness, faults, and failings.

Yet in our dustiness and flaws, in our weakness, we have been given this incredible gift: we get to represent the most magnificent, powerful, and supreme Ruler in this and any universe. We get the astounding privilege of declaring the glorious, joyful assurance that our King has not only created a way for anyone who wishes to become a full citizen of His beautiful Kingdom, but that He wants to make every person who joins an heir-apparent, with the full rights and privileges of His own sons and daughters.

We have been chosen for this work, so that we might display our Sovereign’s beauty and love in a jaw-dropping way to the rest of the world (Ephesians 3:10-11).

And even when enemies come, even if my embassy is shaken or broken by attacks, pain, fear, and loss, even if I should lose my own life – I know my King and His Kingdom still stand, unshaken and perfect, for eternity.

This is our confidence. Our hope unshakeable.

My work, then, and yours – is to stay as closely connected to Him as possible, that we might represent Him the most accurately during the course of our sojourn here. And then – the mission’s end will be sweet, when we finally get to return to our real home, the one for which we have been homesick all our lives.

And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”
(2 Corinthians 5:18-20, NLT)

Your Excellency, your assignment awaits.

– Maria

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Your Ultimate Life with God: An Invitation-Only Dance Party

In the middle of another family dance session. We bust out some pretty intense moves around here.

The other morning after breakfast, I turned on some upbeat music while I cleaned up the kitchen. The eight kids, initially scattered around the house, heard the tunes and almost like magic, all showed up in the living room and started a dance party.

Our living area is not large, so basically our family “dancing” together entails skipping, twirling, or stomping in a large chain around the sofa and coffee table in an unceasing loop. (Frequent interjections from a parent to slow down, stop running, no pushing past siblings, etc. are also usually a part of these dancing outbreaks – because sometimes competition is a factor.)

This is a pretty common occurrence in our home, and everyone usually has a good time… with a few minor caveats like the kid who inevitably bumps into the hearth or bookshelf, or the child who, in a contrary moment, decides to go the opposite way from everyone else – incurring the frustration and angry protests of the others. Or the youngest who trip on their long dress-up gowns and wail mournfully because the others just keep dancing over and around them. But in general, everyone enjoys themselves and the happy music helps uplift the general atmosphere in our home.

My husband happened to be home this particular morning and was still at the table finishing his coffee. One of our youngest daughters broke from the circle of happily dancing kids and skipped over to him.

Smiling joyously, dimples all showing, she looked up into his face with big excited eyes and cried, “Come dance with us, Daddy!” and reached out to grab his hand.

No one could have resisted such a sweet invitation, least of all her daddy.

And the next thing I knew, I was laughing helplessly over the kitchen sink while my husband spun and twirled in the living room surrounded by a swarm of utterly delighted children. He then unexpectedly jumped up on the middle of the coffee table for an intense air guitar session! The kids cheered wildly while still dancing all around.

Every little face was wreathed in a huge smile, each was laughing, each was moving exuberantly but also more thoughtfully of each other, and everyone’s pleasure in joyfully dancing together was greatly increased… because their daddy was there, too.

Tears came to my eyes, even through my laughter, as I watched this beautiful, happy family moment.

What if we deliberately invited our Father to dance with us each day, too?

We know He’s there, present, in control and able to take care of us, but what if we behaved like a little child and ran over to Him, smiled up at Him and asked Him to join in our small moments, the things we do, the everyday pieces of our life?

What would happen if we were so excited with the idea of having God be in the middle of everything with us that we behaved like it by asking Him to be present in each moment each day, because we truly believed He would make it better?

I think He would be thrilled to be invited into our days and hearts in this way.

The exuberance and hilarious joy my husband showed in this quick interlude of our family’s day was so precious to me because it illustrated something I firmly believe to be true about our Father – His presence will only add more joy, greater pleasure, deeper consideration for others, and increase our delight in Him and each other.

This is because this is the kind of Father He is.

In this year, I want to always remember to take a moment to break free from whatever it is I am caught up in, run over to my Father, grab His hand, look up into His face, and smilingly, trustingly, invite Him to come be with me in whatever comes.

He’s always in control, He’s always there, but I want to know the joy of dancing together with Him – today, and in every day, no matter what it brings.

Because where He is, my joy – and yours – is fullest.

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Psalm 16:11, NLT

It’s as simple as a heart-whisper to Him, “Please come into this moment,” or “You are welcome here, now.”

The difference will be astonishing. Let’s not miss out on extending this invitation.

He’ll always say “Yes!”

– Maria

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Unlocking a Hard Heart: How to Create Safe Reconnection

Confessions from a Mama of 8

This may come as a shock to you, but I’m not a perfect mother.

I’m not even terribly patient – which seems counterintuitive for a homemaker with a slew of eight littles.

Wait for it: My children are also imperfect, as incredible as that may seem.

And sometimes after a “situation” erupts, the child who has done wrong and is clearly at fault often becomes hard.

It’s like a grim, defiant varnish falls over their face, mind, and heart, and they stand there, refusing to apologize or make things right. They are clearly miserable, but unwilling and apparently unable to make the move to the safer, higher ground of repentance and reconciliation.

Often the initial problem is actually overshadowed by their belligerent attitude while being corrected – to the point where they experience the interesting phenomenon of a receiving a consequence for their ongoing attitude rather than the initial wrongdoing.

It’s difficult for me to fight a natural justice-driven instinct: I want to remain hard and cold to the one at fault, as if I think any softness on my part will seem like an encouragement or a reward for the bad behavior or choices.

The worrier in me anxiously frets that the child will have some kind of permanently flawed character if I don’t react with appropriate, cool sternness. I fear that if I don’t address their error in an appropriately punitive way, they will become a shallow, entitled, willful adult who mocks at upright living. And I will be seen as a weak, capitulating parent unworthy of respect or attention, world without end, amen.

Yet most of the time, any hardness, harshness or strict reproach from me, even if totally justified, usually tends to bring out only more hardness in my child.

In fact, it often escalates the situation, igniting more conflict rather than bringing any sort of resolution, much less the kind of heart-change I hope for.

One time I found myself again confronting a defiant, unrepentant and stone-faced child – but this time, by God’s grace, the usual Molotov cocktail of anger, bewilderment and fear in my own heart wasn’t there. Instead I felt an unexpected peacefulness, and a loving tenderness toward my child which startled me.

Looking down into the little stony face, I reached out and enveloped my child in a warm hug, gently rocking back and forth, stroking their hair. And the stiff little body suddenly melted into softness with relief. Arms were thrown around my neck and a little voice choked out very sincere apology while tears streamed down.

My undeserved gentleness and kindness brought on a sudden softening – a genuine repentance that I could never have forced or manipulated.

Can you relate to the child described above? I sure can.

When I’m angry, hurt, embarrassed, sorry but too ashamed and proud to admit it, sometimes I am my own worst enemy in being able to find the peace and comfort I long for and the reconciliation that brings it about. But an unexpected kindness brings swift softness and acknowledgement of my wrong.

What we really need in those moments after we screw up (and realize it) is grace: Someone to extend undeserved kindness and mercy and provide a place of safety in our brokenness, because we yearn for acceptance and reconnection in our repentance, and mourn because… We know we don’t deserve it.

In our hardness, defiance, rebellion, anger, pride, and shame, our God reaches out to us with loving arms, showing us stunning mercy and kindness. Especially when we have done nothing to deserve it.

Being responded to like that melts the hardness, coldness, and shameful fear away. And we find the courage and safety to know we will be held and loved and forgiven without harshness or shaming (even though we might still face the consequences of our actions).

The Apostle Paul says it this way: “Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?”
Romans 2:4, NLT

The times I have experienced the most kindness and grace when I have done wrong often are the times I react with the greatest contrition and true repentance.

I have seen the same happen in my kids again and again.

Let’s ask God for the courage and ability to gift His loving kindness to our children and those around us, to show His glorious grace and stunning tenderness even when it seems undeserved and counter-intuitive.

And we’ll know that it’s a way to most closely resemble God Himself, and to represent His love to a broken world desperately in need of reconciliation with Him.

We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:20-21, NLT

– Maria

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How to Skyrocket Your Joy: The Gift of Anticipation

_{(Published as an Instagram Post on 12-17-2020)}

And the anticipation builds…

This is the first year my oldest kids voiced their understanding that waiting for Christmas was what made the day so special when it finally came.

Anticipation is a powerful joy-multiplier.
And in many ways, the time of looking forward to this holiday is a gift of time given to look inward, back, and forward –

INWARD at our hearts and lives, making careful evaluation, taking stock of whether we truly understand and cherish the gift of a Christ given to us, preparing room in our hearts just as He made room in His for us, welcoming His reign and inviting Him as rightful King of our lives.

BACK at the astonishing mercy on a broken human race who needed a Savior, expected a Conqueror, and got both – but not as they expected. The Utmost King humbled Himself to become a fragile baby born in scornful scandal and rejected even before His birth – “no room for them at the inn.”

Outcasts and celestial beings both worshipped at His birth:
All are welcome, and worship is the only appropriate response.

FORWARD to the time to come when He will return to dwell among His people once more, this time not as sacrificial Lamb but reigning Lion, when the celebration will be unprecedented and truly, deeply glorious and the joy will be perfect.

Our anticipation of Christmas is a picture of the anticipation we should hold in our hearts every day – He has come and He will come again.

We anticipate Christmas with a mere shadow of the true and weighty joy that is to come.

Even so, come.

How to Make Water Into Wine: 3 Steps to Joy

Look at these babies! (And I would do it again in a heartbeat.)

On this day, years ago, I once heard a sermon on the Wedding at Cana (John 2) which I have never forgotten. The pastor, a sweet-faced, white-haired gentleman, spoke sincerely and earnestly.

He was my grandfather, and I have always remembered this sermon because it was at my own wedding, nineteen years ago.

The story of the wedding at Cana is significant because it was the setting of Jesus’ first miracle. While attending a wedding feast with his disciples, Jesus becomes aware that the couple have underprepared and are about to run out of wine for their guests – an embarrassing and disgraceful predicament, for which there is no quick or cheap solution.

Jesus quietly tells the servants to fill six large stone jars nearby full of water – each able to hold twenty to thirty gallons – and then when they dip some out and take it to the MC to taste, it has become excellent wine. Only the servants know where the wine came from, and the celebration joyfully continues without interruption.

Like the couple married in Cana who ran out of wine for their wedding celebration, even the most prepared person will eventually run out of something in the relationships in their life.

We are imperfect, selfish and broken people, unable to maintain levels of altruistic, unconditional love and kindness for any significant length without needing to be refilled or renewed.

Pride, hurt, self-centeredness, distraction, laziness, or sometimes just exhaustion creep in and our first fiery, intense and purposeful strength begins to fade, slowly burn out, and trickle instead of pour.

Even if we try to refill the supply on our own, what we often find we have is just… water. Great for survival, perhaps, but not so much for celebration.

This is why we must invite Jesus into our lives, our marriages, and our relationships!

We need to seek His grace, trust His compassionate kindness, and ask for Him to step in and do something we cannot: transform our acts of duty, of faith, of slogging service into deeds done from love.

He comes and takes the water we have and transforms it into wine.

Something ordinary and draining like serving and caring for a husband, a wife, a sibling, a parent, a child, in the gritty, unfiltered, day-to-day scenarios of living life together becomes a beautiful, celebratory, joy-filling delight.

But this can happen only if:

1. We invite Him and welcome His presence. (Jesus didn’t party-crash. He was an invited guest.)

2. We admit our own lack and ask for His help in our need. (His mother noticed the problem and told Him about it, trusting that He could and would do something about it.)

3. We listen to His instructions and obey them quickly. (The servants didn’t balk at the strange request but chose to humbly obey, thereby earning the place of being witnesses of the Messiah’s first miracle.)

This is not some rose-colored, pie-in-the-sky pipe dream of wedded (or other relational) bliss worthy of any Hallmark movie.

This is the same miraculous, stunning alchemy that happened when water transformed to wine: Our daily lives filled with miscommunications, dirty diapers, burned pancakes and traffic lights can become times to celebrate and rejoice because Jesus is present.

God with us.

Immanuel.

It’s not just a word for a baby in a manger.

It’s for a loving Friend who comes into your home and touches your marriage with hope, joy, and fresh life when you are burning out and feeling empty.

It’s for a tender Father who holds your hurting bewildered heart when you don’t have the foggiest idea how to parent your child but He does.

It’s for a sweet freshness and renewed strength in carrying on with a work you’re bone-weary of walking in.

He can come. He wants to come! He knows our need. He can take our offered colorless normal and transform it into something intoxicating and delightful, rich and vibrant, worthy of a party.

Because if we are His followers, the life we live now should carry notes of the music in the Wedding Feast to come. We should be practicing the steps to dance now. We should be looking ahead with joyful anticipation of the celebration and the smiles of hope should be shining on our faces today.

He gives that joy – He IS that Joy. His Joy is our strength, and our water becomes wine in His presence.

Nineteen years ago I married my best friend. We invited Jesus to our wedding, and into our marriage. Despite our own brokenness and frequent failings, in His gracious kindness He meets us daily in our lack, and we celebrate our love because of His.

{To my faithful, courageous husband – I love you. Thank you for marrying me.}

Cheers!

The Ultimate Golden Ticket: You Are [Already] a Winner!

Recently, I saw a hilarious announcement: the owner of a company had a great plan! He was dressing up as Willy Wonka (complete with purple top hat and floppy golden bow tie), and had a handful of “Golden Tickets” which gave the recipient free goods and bonus just-released items. He was going to put the tickets randomly in various orders that were made that day.

It was a unique and creative way to encourage business!

Although you probably already know about Willy Wonka, the reference is from a children’s book by Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It is a fantastical, imaginative tale about a young boy from a very poor family who finds a golden ticket in a chocolate bar. The ticket grants the bearer a special tour of an amazing and mysterious candy factory run and owned by the eccentric millionaire Willy Wonka. There are only five tickets hidden in specific chocolate bar wrappers, and are greatly coveted and sought after by thousands of young hopefuls.

The five children who win the Golden Tickets and arrive for the tour later discover that they are the five candidates for Willy Wonka’s replacement – he wants to retire and the tour is in actuality a sort of interview to determine who the next owner of the factory will be.

Only one can emerge the new heir, and the series of events in the chocolate factory tour show that it will need to be a very uniquely qualified person indeed.

Who doesn’t love the idea of winning a “Golden Ticket”?

Especially if it was unexpected and entirely unmerited through your own effort or talent!

Going from a gritty and gray daily grind to suddenly having an entirely new opportunity that includes joy, creativity, pleasure, authority, and wealth – what an incredible prospect!

So guess what? For anyone who is a follower of Christ, you are already the winner of a Golden Ticket!

Granted sudden and immediate access to God through Jesus’ sacrifice, you’re invited into the Kingdom. And not only as a tourist or a day-visitor: You have been invited to become part of God’s Kingdom operations – given the work of growing and furthering it (Daniel 7:18).

And it wasn’t random chance that you received this ticket. Nope! You were hand-selected by God, chosen and called (Ephesians 1:4), because He sees you, knows you, and loves you. And He wanted you to be the one specifically in charge of the work He prepared for you before time began (Ephesians 2:10).

This Kingdom work is so multi-faceted and so greatly varied that there is plenty of space for everyone who is called to have their own particular area of operations. For me right now, this means taking a good hard look at the roles I have currently been given (mama and wife, homemaker, teacher/mentor, friend…) then, with passion, focus, and humility, getting up each day to fill those roles with all the strength and ability He helps me to have.

What roles and what work have been assigned to you in this time? Whatever it is, be encouraged to do it with all your strength (Ecclesiastes 9:10), knowing that you’ll be giving a project report on it at some point (Hebrews 4:13).

There is a brighter time coming, when we will reign with Him (2 Timothy 2:12, Romans 8:17). For right now, it’s like the part where we are faithfully learning and training as apprentices or interns. So we must not lose heart, even when it seems like the gray and the grit of our current circumstances are more real than the fact of a gleaming Golden Ticket in our hand.

Each person who won a Golden Ticket didn’t automatically receive the right to ownership of the Chocolate Factory by staying where they were – they had to act on the promise it gave, and show up on the appointed day to be allowed inside!

We can hold onto the same hope – knowing that the gate will swing open for us and we will be welcomed in, for we have been given a hope that is certain:

Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. (Hebrews 10:23, NLT)

We just need to keep faithfully showing up.

Can’t wait to be heirs of the “Chocolate Factory” with you, my friend!

– Maria

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Guttersnipe to Princess: A New Look at an Old Romantic Movie

(And Why It Matters to You and Me)

What is it about transformation stories that draw us in and get us so excited?

One of my favorite movies is the 1964 musical romance film “My Fair Lady“, an Academy Award winner. It tells the story of a conceited phonetics expert, Professor Higgins (played by Rex Harrison), who accepts a bet that he can change an ignorant Cockney working-class girl into a cultured lady who can pass for a member of high society. Audrey Hepburn played the initially grimy and raucous Eliza Doolittle, who by the end of her tutorship becomes transformed into an elegant, lovely woman mistaken for royalty.

After undergoing 6 months of rigorous training and tutoring, Eliza not only manages to charm and delight members of aristocracy, she also attracts the attentions of a handsome, high-bred suitor!

Trying to understand where she truly belongs, she returns to the surroundings where she lived before her transformation. But she discovers that she no longer fits in there. In fact, she has become unrecognizable to her former friends and acquaintances! Her change has become too complete – she is like an entirely new person and must learn to live with the life her metamorphosis now requires.

Isn’t this just like what our lives should resemble?

For anyone who chooses to follow Christ as Lord and Savior, the old ways of speaking, thinking, behaving, and presenting ourselves should be so deliberately given up to the “new management” of the Spirit of God that we become entirely changed.

No area of our lives should be withheld – we are called to represent Christ as His ambassadors, and as such need to allow His guidance, correction, and teaching to shape and mold us to what will most reflect His brilliance and wisdom.

Eliza’s natural intelligence, perseverance, and the strengths of her character were not diminished or overshadowed by her rigorous training – it actually allowed them to shine more clearly and winsomely. By the end of the film, she has become an indispensable part the household, and to Professor Higgins in particular as he confesses, “I’ve grown accustomed to her face.”

The same should be true for us. When we submit humbly to the (sometimes) grueling, repetitive tutoring and teaching that we agree to as servants and disciples of Christ, we are allowing Him to polish off the rough edges and pieces that detract from who we were made to be. We only become more of who we really are – in a beautiful, attractive, and appealing way – so as to show off our Master’s glorious skill. We become trusted, valuable members of His household, familiar with His ways and more at ease with our new role and expectations of behavior.

“…Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.” 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, NLT

We shouldn’t be able to return to the ‘old’ lives or comfortable with the old selves we were before coming to Christ. We should be so changed that we can only live lives that are in harmony with our transformation.

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
2 Corinthians 5:17, NLT

Like Eliza, I want to be a stunning transformation. I want to show a humble, diligent, and eagerly teachable heart, becoming a person who brings honor and acclaim to my exceptional Teacher. There is no greater joy than to fully trust in our “Professor”, allowing Him to shape and mold us to who He created us to be, throwing off the old with its abrasive, grimy, and crass behavior and walking in the new with grace, poise, loveliness, and beauty.

I’m so grateful for this glorious purpose and His promise to faithfully bring this transformation to completion (Phil 1:6), aren’t you?

The elegant, beautiful “Miss Eliza Doolittle” at the Embassy Ball, where she is mistaken for foreign royalty due to her impeccable speech and manners.

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Outsider? No More! How to Find Belonging – and Joy

What does it take to create a true connection and communication? How can a family be created from strangers?

In People of the Deer, author Farley Mowat writes about his experience of living among the last surviving people of the Ihalmiut in the tundra of northern Canada. A people who lived traditionally and almost entirely off the migrating caribou herds, they had warmly welcomed Mowat into their camp.

Farley was delighted by the opportunity to learn from and experience the way these unknown and isolated people lived, but there was a significant problem: He spoke no Ihalmiut, nor did they speak any English. Initially they communicated brokenly through an interpreter who had learned some of their dialect, but the man was leaving the Barrens for good. It seemed pointless for Mowat to stay if communication was not possible.

Mowat made a decision: despite being told that their language was complex and incredibly difficult to master, he would learn it, as best he could.

This decision became the pivotal point in the relationship between him and the Ihalmiut people.

He writes that when he acted out his desire to learn their language to the two Ihalmiut men who had befriended him, the effect was astonishing. Once they understood what he meant, they in turn emphatically and repeatedly acted out complete acceptance of him as an adopted member of their people, claiming that he was now one of the Ihalmiut.

Humbled and deeply moved by the unexpected love these people showed an outsider, Mowat resolved to study their language with great effort. He was surprised to find, in the months following, he was able to make rapid progress and began communicating quickly. He was pleased by the seeming ease with which he mastered the basics of their language.

Somewhat arrogant about his success, Mowat tells of an encounter about a year later: Encountering a man who was a member of another related people group, he casually made a long, complicated remark in Ihalmiut – and was met with utter bewilderment. The man had no idea what Mowat was saying: it was unintelligible gibberish.

Mowat came to realize the stunning truth: the people of the Ihalmiut had deliberately created an extremely simplified version of their language to allow him to communicate with them.

Not only had this “pidgin” Ihalmiut been developed and used by the two men who were his self-assigned tutors, they had made sure the entire tribe used this simplified form of language!

The Ihalmiut language was incredibly sophisticated, with many distinct nuances and multiple precise tenses – all of which would have been too hard for him. He would have given up in discouragement immediately if he had tried to learn their language as it actually was.

Because of the love of these people for a complete stranger, and their whole-hearted acceptance and kindness in adopting him as family, they all willingly changed their language to allow him to live among them.

This is a story of unconditional love, undeserved kindness, and grace.

This is also a picture of the breath-taking love God has shown us.

In stunning kindness to us, this all-powerful, all-knowing Being chose to create a “pidgin” language to help communicate with us – He came to us as a human, Jesus Christ.

His Spirit inspired men to write in human words to help us attempt to comprehend Him, His character, and explain His glory. Yet even the most exquisite words can give only a feeble sense of His nature, His worth, His power and holiness.

It is when we make a decision to pursue a relationship with Him that everything we previously knew shifts. He knows we cannot grasp the extent of His greatness. He knows that we cannot fully comprehend the magnitude of His worth. But when we have taken that first step of stating our desire for relationship with Him despite the impossible challenge – He sees our feeble attempt and roars with joy as He rushes to meet us.

As we move toward Him, awkward and faltering, He exuberantly reaches out to us with His arms wide open and an enormous smile of joyous welcome. Declaring we are His forever and assuredly a member of His family, we are loved and accepted completely and finally.

There is no percentage in this relationship we can take any credit for – He gave us life, gave us the desire to seek Him, and then enabled the connection through Jesus’ sacrifice. This is no “lion’s share” of relationship. This is the entire share.

Why? Because He is love (1 John 4:8-10). And encountering this mind-blowing loveliness of God is what give us our greatest joy, deepest delight, and purest pleasure (Psalm 16:11, 36:8).

May we all come to a place where we, though awkward, stammering outsiders, experience the richness of love and kindness that makes us family with our King, though we have done nothing to deserve it.

The Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
John 1:14, NLT

-Maria

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Open This Now! Discovering Beautiful Gifts in Every Day

Hey Friend!
A couple of months ago I took an online course. While the course was good, the biggest thing that I took away from it was a short, daily pre-bedtime routine that the instructor encouraged.

A guided journal page was provided, for both the morning and the evening, and at first I was wary: Another time commitment? Seriously? How helpful could this really be, especially when it was the same format each day? (Did these people get that I have a lot of little kids and not a lot of free time?)

And yet, to my surprise, I have found that this small practice has been deeply significant because it has helped change the way I look at each day.

Plus it only takes me five minutes at most.

Every night in a journal, I write answers to a few questions. Two of those questions have been especially transformative for me, and I’m hoping they might be for you, too.

The questions are:

– What three gifts were you given today?

– What three gifts did you give today?

The first time I saw these questions, I was slightly smug about the first (I’m always harping on being thankful to my kids, so surely I could easily find three things each night to remember with gratitude!), and slightly irritated by the second (what if I was super busy being a household executive and mama all day? Did making three meals a day qualify as a “gift”? What about vacuuming or folding someone’s underwear? Did giving a hug count?).

But, each night, I committed to thinking, remembering, and listing: Three things I had been given, three things I had given.

Asking to remember things I had been given as a gift quickly turned out to be a little bit different than merely jotting down “things I was thankful for”, because even if it turned out that I was writing the exact same things, to see them in the light of a gift was to create a shift in thinking.

It meant that I was acknowledging my place as a recipient of something (rather than continuously in the illusion of control), and that I was also acknowledging the giver and their kindness and intentional thoughtfulness toward me.

A gift is something given on purpose. So to recognize anything as a gift is also to recognize the meaningful action that someone made so that I could experience it.

Our God is the best gift-giver, of course, delighting to give good things to his children (Matthew 7:11). For me, many times a gift I wrote down has been from Him. To list something on the page and then be nudged by my own writing to tell Him, “Thank you for this today,” has been an incredible reminder of the tenderness, incomprehensible kindness, and deeply intimate nature of my Father.

He knows best what will give me the most joy and greatest encouragement, and it has been so precious to have my heart cared for in such a personal way. I have discovered that He often tucks little gift-moments for me throughout my day – but like a treasure hidden in plain sight, I have to be aware and alert to notice them or I pass right by.

For example, the other day a few of my children were in another room, discussing their favorite smells. I wasn’t in the conversation, as I was busy in the kitchen. I happened to overhear one of my younger sons tell the others that his favorite was the way Mom smelled when she first came out in the morning. (I guess he’s a fan of my shower gel and perfume!)

What made this sincere, funny comment so precious to me was the reminder that of all the people in the world, I am the one who has the ability to bring him the most comfort and sense of loving well-being – even if it’s just from the way I smell as he gives me a hug in the morning.

The gift here was not only knowing I am my child’s favorite smell (!), but that God has given me the humbling task of being such a pivotal and foundational part of my child’s formative years. He loves the way I smell because of what and who I am to him, and that responsibility is a gift from God to me.

It can often be a more intangible thing, like a thoughtful text from friend checking in on me. Or the way my husband calls me on his way home from work, then quietly listens while I tell him how hard and exhausting my day was, and then tells me he’s proud of me and thinks I’m doing an amazing job. (Yep, my husband makes it on the list very frequently.)

As for the second question: What three gifts have I given…?

To know that I will need to write answers to this question means that during my days I have started looking for things I can deliberately give: five minutes reading a short book with a struggling child who needs a little attention and a cuddle. A loving text to a friend who has been on my mind. Making a special treat for afternoon snack time that I know my kids will enjoy. Holding a toenail-painting session for my girls in the kitchen. Stopping for a minute to look one of my sons straight in the eyes and tell him something that I am really proud of and love about him. Giving my exhausted husband a shoulder massage. Writing an encouraging email to another weary mama of littles. Sending a card in the mail to a lonely long-distance loved one…

Because of this one little question, I have found that it motivates me to be much more intentional and take action on the many little things that could make a strong difference to others. And on the days when I don’t manage to complete what I had hoped, I know I will try again tomorrow.

I am grateful for grace and fresh starts.

Listing these things each night doesn’t make me feel arrogant, as I had initially thought I might. It actually only strengthens my sense of gratitude that I was able to do things that gave joy to others, and to discover the joy it gave my own heart when I did.

It’s become like an exciting challenge each day – what can I give? What can I notice that was given me? Both experiences bring joy. Both are beautiful gifts that come each day.

Each day can be full of beautiful gifts if we choose to see it that way.

There is joy found in receiving. There is joy found in giving. Becoming more aware of these joys has been a practice that gives more depth, intentional awareness, and delight to my days.

And it will for you, too.

Want to join me in my short-yet-meaningful evening journaling practice of looking for the gifts in each day?

Each night, take five minutes before you jump in bed. (Or fall in bed, or collapse into bed. Whatever it is you do, do this first!) Just grab a pencil and a blank notebook page, and answer these two questions:

– What are three gifts you were given today?

– What are three gifts you gave today?

Commit to keeping it up for a month. Then you can quit if you want. But you might find, like me, that it becomes a very valuable practice, and you might not be willing to put it aside.

Creating awareness of the gifts you have been given and the gifts you can give each day is also creating awareness of joy. Living with a heart abundant with joy and gratitude – that is the most beautiful gift ever.

– Maria

Please share this post on your social media! (It’ll be a gift you gave today, wink wink.) I’ll be thrilled and grateful!

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Five free printable cards for your home – designed by me, emailed immediately!

How to Impact the World Forever: Purposeful Parenting Now!

Your child is an eternal soul in a transient body.

Pardon my bluntness, but from what I understand, as a human, there is a 100% chance of death.

This may seem like a grim thought, but it really needs to be considered. Because how else will we decide how to live, how to spend the life we have been given, if we do not first understand that we only have it for a relatively brief span of time?

How else would we recognize the immense precious worth of the moments we have been given now to impact not only our children, but through them, their children and children’s children?

A common current way of thinking is to work to establish a ‘kingdom’ in one’s own lifetime, of things, money, and a reputation that will bring a sense of success or value while one is alive. But a far more reasonable and worthwhile mentality is that, while recognizing our own mortality, we deliberately aim to produce value and lasting impact for when we are no longer here.

The best way to do this is to invest in our children’s character and relationship with their Creator-King.

As immortal souls, they truly will be one lasting thing that we will have had the privilege of helping create while on earth. Businesses may close, wealth may be spent and pass to others, reputation and significance will fade. But to impact another person’s character – to help imprint them and shift them from one aspect into something different – that is to bear the weight of co-creation, in a way. It’s working to build up a Kingdom that is going to last through eternity – God’s Kingdom.

That God has seen fit to allow such a flawed and imperfect person as myself the exquisite honor of using my time and efforts to guide my eight young children’s minds and hearts on a path that leads towards Him is something truly incredible. How I choose to steward my time with them impacts their minds, hearts, and lives. I have the opportunity to shape these eight little people like no other human will.

So how am I using this season I am assigned to this work? How are you using the time you have?

Once we recognize our limited time given for this task, not only because we are all mortal, but because there is only a relatively short span when we have the undivided attention and respect of our children when they are young, parenting becomes (rightfully) something we should look at with seriousness and earnestness.

And probably a little something akin to a holy panic.

Because how in the world are we actually supposed to do this?!?

Exactly.

Again to be quite blunt: We’re not. Our job is to enable God to do His in the hearts and minds of our children, while allowing Him full authority over our own.

We are to be the under-gardeners. The under-shepherds. The teaching assistants, the mentors, the stewards, the butlers and housekeepers. None of it is truly ours to hold in the first place.

It all belongs to the Great Overseer of our souls, our Good Shepherd, our Teacher, Master Gardener, High King and Lord of all. We can find comfort knowing that our children are ultimately not our responsibility, but our Father’s.

He is the One who will plant the seeds – we are to help keep the soil soft and as weed-free as we can, watering and fertilizing, building fences and staying vigilant to keep marauders and pests out.

He is the One who the sheep listen to – we are to help guard the lambs and teach them to know His voice and follow Him quickly to find life-giving food, clear water, and nurturing care.

He is the Teacher – we are to help with the lessons and homework He gives, provide encouragement and pointers during hard tests, and cheer and congratulate when successful learning takes place.

And in that knowledge, we can find the galvanizing reality that we will answer to Him for how we have spent our time with the littles in our charge, whether they be our own children or anyone in need of guidance and discipleship that He has brought into our lives in the season we’re in now.

He has chosen each of us specifically for good works that He has planned out for us before time began (Ephesians 2:10). So, we can find the strength, hope, wisdom, love, and courage to walk in those works only as we daily seek direction and help from our Father.

And the main source of direction and help that He has lovingly provided for us: His Holy Word. Click to read my article on Why a Bible-Shaped Life is Vitally Important to Any Parent.

There is a saying that God has no grandchildren. Our faith is ours, and our children must grow and develop their own faith-relationship with Him. Our job, then, is to enable and encourage and guide that relationship, not to try to be a representative or surrogate for them to God. It would perhaps be more accurate to say that God wants you to represent Him to your children!

We should disciple and teach our children while holding the idea that eventually they will become mature adults and followers of Christ – and as such, will become our brothers and sisters in God’s kingdom. This means we should behave toward them with the respect, kindness, and grace we would give others outside our family, and not grow careless or lazy in how we treat or train our children, even when they are young.

“Who then is adequate for such a task as this?” (2 Corinthians 2:16). As stunning and overwhelming as it may seem, if you are a parent or a caregiver of young children, God has chosen you to carry out this awesome task. And He promises to give you everything you need for it:

“And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”
(2 Corinthians 9:8, NIV)

“We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.” (2 Corinthians 4:7, NLT, emphasis mine)

Our children don’t need us to be perfect. They already know we’re not. They just need us to keep shining out the Light through our broken places so that they can see the path toward our perfect God for themselves.

And the brighter the better.

We are not promised tomorrow. Let’s make the most of the time we have today.

Make a commitment to yourself and to God today to be the parent He has called you to be. Pray and commit yourself and your kids to Him entirely. Want extra accountability? I would love to hear your story! Send me a reply, and I will read it and pray for you. Parenting is a high and challenging calling, my friend.

You do not have to walk it alone.

With you in this!

Maria

(To connect to the companion article that shows how a Biblically-based life is foundational to raising children who walk with God, click to read Why a Bible-Shaped Life is Vitally Important to Any Parent!)