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God is so good.

At the risk of giving you whiplash as I record emotional states, I will share the ways He always helps me get my mind off myself and onto Him and others.

Last night my husband got done with a work meeting earlier than we thought and we met him at a Quik Trip and headed downtown together for the Lighting of the City Tree festivities. The lines were long and we only got in some face painting, but I was grateful the whole time. The boys’ joy at the lights, watching Dan carry Caleb on his back, listening to different conversations from the crowd surrounding us.

Then after we dropped Dan off at his truck in the QT parking lot, we noticed a man on the sidewalk hunched down. Being night time, the boys and I didn’t stop. But we prayed and asked God to help him on the frigid night. We asked for his physical needs to be met, but also his spiritual needs.

When we’d been home for about ten minutes and Dan still hadn’t shown up, I called to make sure his truck hadn’t gotten funky or something. He said he’d be there soon and explain when he got home.

He told us how another man had shown up near the first man we’d seen hunched over. Dan had sat in his truck praying without staring and asking what God would have him do. Then the second man walked up to his truck window and asked if he had anything to eat. Dan got out, went into Quick Trip, and got them sandwiches and Gatorade and granola bars. He also prayed over them out loud.

As he relayed the story to us, the boys and I smiled at each other in delight at how God had answered our prayers. With their Daddy. (I love this man.) As we prayed before bed, we asked for them and anyone else who doesn’t have a warm place to lay their head at night.

I thought of our Savior and His first night on Planet Earth.

I thought of all the people on the street this winter who could go to a shelter, but who also have had bad things happen to them there. So they choose a park bench.

I thought of the stories some of my seniors told me yesterday. Though they have a warm home, they have medical issues or family stuff or persistent pain.

I thought of how self-indulgent writing can be for me. And yet, maybe it can speak to others.

My Word this morning was Psalm 30. In particular:

For His anger lasts only a moment,

But His favor lasts a lifetime;

Weeping may remain for a night,

But rejoicing comes in the morning.

It always comes, doesn’t it? It comes through a friend needing my help with carpool this morning, making me grateful to serve and not always being the one needing carpool help. It comes through three sweet, sweet boys in the back of the car giggling over Santa Duck and asking good questions about life. It comes through getting to hang with my boy today and read and see friends and serve my family.

Life is hard.

But isn’t that what this season is about? That the One Who made it all beautiful chose to step into the mess we made of it and relate. He can relate. He totally gets me. Yes, He responded perfectly every single time. And I rarely do. Especially initially. But He can relate. He can say “I know” with perfect authenticity and yet without any enabling.

He can tilt my chin up and your chin up and two men’s chins up once again and help us fix our eyes on Him.

He really does get it.

And He really does transcend it.

Well, at this point I am writing completely out of obedience.

I do not feel inspired. I don’t want to be open with people.

I truly want to take a 3 month nap.

I don’t know much, but I know He is faithful. I know I need to do the next right thing. Today, aside from a couple of classes and parenting and all the dishes, that means some details for the outreach, prepping Hosea chapter 9 for group tomorrow, and writing because I said I would and, darn it all, I think He wants me to.

If I could sum up the experiential lessons from the past few weeks they would be from Inside Out:

1. Self protection is sin. And repentance is setting down my defensive style of relating and trusting Him

2. Nothing will bring me more pain than choosing to live life honestly (I so wanna perform right now. Or run away. Or both.)

3. The above is hard but I am not the only one who struggles with it. But I will share it because if I don’t I feel like I’m gonna explode.

I honestly wish He would let me write some nice blog posts and then let me off the hook in actually living them out.

That does not seem to be the way He says this thing is gonna go down.

So. In order to stave off hibernation mode, I will be writing. It will not be good. But I will process, delete, re-write and share. Because until I know what to do next, I will do the next thing.

Ever been here?

Ascribe to the LORD, O mighty ones,

Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;

Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.

The voice of the LORD is over the waters;

The God of glory thunders,

The LORD thunders over the mighty waters.

The voice of the LORD is powerful;

The voice of the LORD is majestic…

The voice of the LORD twists the oaks

And strips the forests bare.

And in His temple all cry,

“Glory!”

The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;

The LORD is enthroned as King forever.

The LORD gives strength to His people;

The LORD blesses His people with peace.

Psalm 29:1-4, 9-11

Psalm 28:7a

The LORD is my strength and my shield;

My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped.

The LORD is my light and my salvation –

Whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the stronghold of my life –

Of whom shall I be afraid?

One thing I ask of the LORD,

This is what I seek:

That I may dwell in the house of the LORD

All the days of my life,

To gaze upon the beauty of the LORD

And to seek Him in His temple…

I am still confident of this:

I will see the goodness of the LORD

In the land of the living.

Wait for the LORD;

Be strong and take heart

And wait for the LORD.

Psalm 27:1, 4, 13 & 14

Media Fast Lessons – Part Two

A friend asked the other day what kinds of things I do with my kids – especially when Dad is gone often in this season. Please know that the following list was slightly out of desperation. These are not things we always do and are therefore awesome:

1. Somehow we got a Secret Decoder Pen along the way. So we write and “crack” codes.

2. Paint nails (yes, their toe nails. And they love watching me paint mine)

3. Make bracelets (yes, they like the small rubber band kinds)

4. Paint our faces (here is where they redeem their boyness – they ask for things like Transformers)

5. Cut out pictures in magazines and paste to make collages

6. Look up cheap science experiments online

7. Make a “picture album” with extra copies of older photos in a notebook (are we the only people who have a jillion notebooks lying around?)

8. Make a canvas painting (Still want to do this from Pinterest)

9. Go through Hope Chest in guest bedroom and clear it out. That includes narrowing down art projects and birthday cards saved and every school paper ever done and throwing some away. (Clutter can stress me out and I’m not super sentimental about every project. If we have a couple from each year, I’m good. They loved doing this, by the way. They reminisced and compared paintings and looked through pictures and cards.)

10. Gather up all the stuffed animals and let them go to town (this usually involves acting out a war scene of some sort)

11. Actually use the chalkboard easel and draw with chalk

12. Our neighbor ladies are into rocks/geodes. We have cheap magnifying glasses and can look at all the sparkles and crevices in the rocks they gave us, then record observations a la Sid the Science Kid

13. Make our own battle box game like in a restaurant activity menu

14. Good old fashioned coloring books – we have some good talks while trying to stay in the lines

15. Old Standby: Set a blanket on the floor with a snack and read a book out loud!

This all leads into what I call “The 5 Minute Rule.” If I start out doing one of these projects for the first few minutes with them, they usually are cool if I then get up and fold some laundry or wash dishes or prep dinner or whatever. Not that I wouldn’t work even if they weren’t “cool” with it (because Moms have jobs to do, too) but it’s nice to not hear fussing.

(And if you’re a homeschool mom you probably feel like this is Parenting 101 here. But, hey, gotta pass on what works for us! And you’re still my hero.)

Another thing you might already do: Rotate your kids’ toys and crafts and books. Every few months get out some new stuff and it’s like Christmas!

For this month, starting the day without media wasn’t too bad at their ages. Set a few things out, remind them of the rule, plan ahead to have breakfast first, or just listen to a bit of whining if you don’t get any of those things done. After several days they were used to it and stopped asking first thing. Just like anything else.

And, finally, Caden’s most-oft quote of the month: “I can’t wait until December.”

You can’t win em all, friends.

I love the house where You live, O LORD,

The place where Your Glory dwells.

Psalm 26:8

We survived the stores today.

For the past several years Dan and I have made Black Friday a day date. It’s a fun way to get on the same page for how we want the Christmas season look. What we’re gonna make people for gifts, what we want to do for a “bigger” kid gift, what teachers/friends/carpoolers/helpers we want to bless and thank, what to do for Christmas cards (only every other year), and when to get in a trip to my grandparents’ over the break (love the GGs).

We tend to get it all talked through and written down, along with about 70% taken care of that day. We accomplish something for my man, dream for me, and laugh and connect for us.

In my hometown, Santa arrives at the airport in a little single engine plane to all the children’s delight. Our boys included. Then they all venture to the square downtown to sit in his lap and whisper their requests. I still can’t tell how much of it all they believe. I hope every last drop of it.

I’ve had nostalgia hit me again in a visceral way while at my parents’ for Thanksgiving. I sorted through books and toys in their basement. Including one of my favorites: the out-of-print Richard Scarry’s Busy, Busy World.

Then I moved on to books from my older childhood years. These mostly consisted of Sweet Valley Twins and The Babysitters Club. (Anyone else?) Not Austen or Bronte, but they walked me through some coming-of-age-type themes.

I’ve been thinking about God’s pruning process. Cutting branches that don’t bear fruit. Pruning others so they will become even more fruitful.

Cutting, even pruning, is not exactly painless. And it doesn’t happen overnight.

Our only hope is to remember that the single way to bear lasting fruit is by being connected to the Vine. No one can be there for us the way He can. The only love described in His Word as unfailing is His love.

And it truly is enough. He is relentless in showing me this experientially.

There’s nothing else to which I’d rather submit.