I have had those mommy days when right out of the gate the girls are fighting and I didn't get a chance to have my quiet time and the filling of the Holy Spirit was not evident in my words at that moment. It isn't bad words that flow freely from my mouth, just the tone and maybe the amplitude (i.e. yelling).
I hate when I do that.
My mom used to yell at me and Cindy (and the neighbor kids or cousins). It wasn't necessarily the loudness of her voice, but the mean tone. I can yell to get over the volume of the kids and the tone is friendly or I can yell when I am impatient and losing it. I always felt like my mom was impatient.
Devotion 2 from Out of the Spin Cycle by Jen Hatmaker is titled My Kids Are Headed to Therapy.
Matt 10:25 "It is enough for the student to be like his teacher," Jesus said.
Will I ever be enough as a mom? When the student becomes like her teacher, our failures and omissions as moms recede as the sweet spirit of Jesus covers our humanity.....It is enough for me to show patience when I want to stick my fingers in my ears and scream like a toddler. It is enough to choose mercy when they've made the same mistake yet again. It is enough to imitate my Christ, who never jumped through conventional hoops but transformed the trajectory of history through grace and sacrifice....You are enough as a mother when you act like your Redeemer...when you talk like he talked, love like he loved, forgive like he forgave, and teach like he taught. pg 18-19.
Question: As a mom, does the goal of becoming like your teacher feel like enough?
Why yes it does, because it seems like a simple goal, but yet it is unattainable if I am not filled with my Teacher. How I pray to be filled with Him. I don't want to be a bad mom. I don't want to make the same mistakes my parents did (I can make new ones :-). Oh how I pray for my legacy to be one my girls want to imitate.
Psalm 19:14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Showing posts with label Devotional Journal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Devotional Journal. Show all posts
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Friday, June 15, 2012
Authenticity
I am reading a light devotional that I think will allow me to journal here on the blog. It is by Jen Hatmaker and the title is Out of the Spin Cycle. I recently read her book Seven: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess and it has changed my thinking in so many areas.
I ran across this devotional and bought it for one of my good friends Jenni. I read some of it before I gave it to her and thought how fun this would be to do with her. She has 6 year old twins and a 2 year old firecracker. Her husband is really good friends with Mike and they are so fun to hang out with. I have been learning lately how important it is to surround myself with girlfriends who have the same values that I do. God has definitely blessed me with some really neat ladies in my life.
There is a marriage crisis going on in friends life-- this couple used to be in our marriage small group and I reached out to her and she basically said no thanks. Which is fine, but she is saying "no thanks" to all of the people in her life who are giving her biblical advice (pastors, counselor). She wants to throw her marriage down the drain for selfish reasons. She is surrounding herself with people who tell her she should live for herself. She is not thinking of her three young children. It is breaking mine and Mike's heart. This friend is pretty close to Jenni and Jenni has been seeking my counsel as she gently maneuvers this situation.
Which finally brings me to getting this devotional--to not shut ourselves off from the godly friends in our lives. To walk this walk together. We need each other. Not to take the place of our spouses, but to grow and laugh and live life together as women who want to be godly wives and mothers and friends.
I was so happy to find this devotional that made me laugh. It is so real.
Day 1: I'm Perfect and My Kids Never Fight
Matthew 23:5-7
5“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.
Jen writes: When we operate from the central concern of being seen a certain way, we can't develop healthy relationships in the messy soil of reality--the only place they'll grow. Presenting a perfect, fake life to others generates fear in our own hearts and intimidation in everyone else's, and creates nice, fake relationships--with our friends, with our family members, even with our own children. pg 15
Authenticity. Transparency. It is vital in our relationships. The friend whose marriage is falling apart has everything the world sees as success. She is a doctor, has a beautiful home, 3 healthy children, has a nanny and maid, is involved in MOPS, her husband is involved at church and wants their marriage to work. She had this front for all of us to see but says she has been unhappy for two years. It was all about appearances to her. Her life was falling apart, but she gave the appearance that she had it all together. I pray for her to be fulfilled by the One who is meant to fill the void she is filling with worldly values, for her heart to soften towards her husband and Jesus. I also pray for us to be authentic, truthful, transparent, real, to be the same person on the outside that we are on the inside. To allow Jesus to redeem and transform us.
Jen's questions from the devotional:
Do you have a struggle, doubt, temptation, or crisis no one knows about--big or small?
What is the primary reason you haven't told anyone?
Mike knows what I struggle with. As do a couple of my closest friends. Insecurity. I am a people pleaser at heart. I get my feelings hurt easy. Working on it, working on it!!
I ran across this devotional and bought it for one of my good friends Jenni. I read some of it before I gave it to her and thought how fun this would be to do with her. She has 6 year old twins and a 2 year old firecracker. Her husband is really good friends with Mike and they are so fun to hang out with. I have been learning lately how important it is to surround myself with girlfriends who have the same values that I do. God has definitely blessed me with some really neat ladies in my life.
There is a marriage crisis going on in friends life-- this couple used to be in our marriage small group and I reached out to her and she basically said no thanks. Which is fine, but she is saying "no thanks" to all of the people in her life who are giving her biblical advice (pastors, counselor). She wants to throw her marriage down the drain for selfish reasons. She is surrounding herself with people who tell her she should live for herself. She is not thinking of her three young children. It is breaking mine and Mike's heart. This friend is pretty close to Jenni and Jenni has been seeking my counsel as she gently maneuvers this situation.
Which finally brings me to getting this devotional--to not shut ourselves off from the godly friends in our lives. To walk this walk together. We need each other. Not to take the place of our spouses, but to grow and laugh and live life together as women who want to be godly wives and mothers and friends.
I was so happy to find this devotional that made me laugh. It is so real.
Day 1: I'm Perfect and My Kids Never Fight
Matthew 23:5-7
5“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.
Jen writes: When we operate from the central concern of being seen a certain way, we can't develop healthy relationships in the messy soil of reality--the only place they'll grow. Presenting a perfect, fake life to others generates fear in our own hearts and intimidation in everyone else's, and creates nice, fake relationships--with our friends, with our family members, even with our own children. pg 15
Authenticity. Transparency. It is vital in our relationships. The friend whose marriage is falling apart has everything the world sees as success. She is a doctor, has a beautiful home, 3 healthy children, has a nanny and maid, is involved in MOPS, her husband is involved at church and wants their marriage to work. She had this front for all of us to see but says she has been unhappy for two years. It was all about appearances to her. Her life was falling apart, but she gave the appearance that she had it all together. I pray for her to be fulfilled by the One who is meant to fill the void she is filling with worldly values, for her heart to soften towards her husband and Jesus. I also pray for us to be authentic, truthful, transparent, real, to be the same person on the outside that we are on the inside. To allow Jesus to redeem and transform us.
Jen's questions from the devotional:
Do you have a struggle, doubt, temptation, or crisis no one knows about--big or small?
What is the primary reason you haven't told anyone?
Mike knows what I struggle with. As do a couple of my closest friends. Insecurity. I am a people pleaser at heart. I get my feelings hurt easy. Working on it, working on it!!
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