All in Challenge
When her baby brother was born, our 2 ½ year old daughter had a rude awakening. Suddenly, she wasn’t the only child. Her parents’ attentions were divided, and in the early days, the division did not seem fair. For almost a year, when referring to her brother, she called him ‘the boy’.
As a child, I sang, “His Banner Over Me Is Love” with much gusto and hand motions. My own children would dance around their rooms with this proclamation.
I pulled into the rest area and looked around. The people I observed were as varied as the vehicles. Where were they all going? The adventurist in me began to imagine several possible scenarios. For some reason we had all converged in that one location at precisely the same time. Momentarily, we each would continue on our individual routes.
Do you like to please people?
Most of us do… it just seems right somehow.
What about pleasing God? I want to… but look at this truth…
I don’t forgive easily… do you?
When things are peaceful… it is easier to forgive.
But what about in a storm of life?
We don’t use the word watchman much in present-day-terms, nor do we really appreciate the concept of someone whose entire job is to look out, ahead, in front of….to just observe. In reality, a watchman’s role is broader than this simple definition. There is purpose in the watching.
I have older teenagers at my house, so the laundry is never done! They take things off and put things on multiple times a day for any event or change of emotion. They take the school clothes off and replace them with hanging-around-the-house clothes until friends drop by…and this necessitates yet another change. And of course, when they take something off, it must be dirty! All these changes and choices are very intentional.
While babysitting one day, my daughter observed the older child chiding his younger sibling. He opened the cabinet and said, “God is watching you!”
At the wedding reception of my daughter and son-in-law, friends and family united with us to celebrate. I hoped to acknowledge each guest personally. There were just too many people and too little time to visit. The responsibilities as mother of the bride pulled me away as well. The reception was a blessed event, but it was not a time to enjoy a good heart to heart conversation.
I thought my word for 2022 would be contentment. The more I contemplated, the more I realized my word would be discontentment. I am not content with staying where I am spiritually. I want to know God more deeply. I want to pray more intentionally for my nation and family. I want to increase in loving and giving.
Tomatoes, when they need pruning, have little growths (sucker shoots) that spring up between the stem and branches that becomes another stalk. This little shoot is in constant competition for nutrients with the original plant. It might result in more tomatoes, but each one will be smaller. The bigger the shoot grows, the more cumbersome it becomes and more effort it takes to keep it staked.
One of the fun adventures I got to enjoy with my daughters as a Girl Scout Troop Leader was our camping trips. We had many opportunities to camp in a scout’s backyard, camp by the lake, and even camp at SeaWorld in San Antonio. On each of these trips, one of the most essential items to have was a flashlight.
My girls loved playing hide and seek when they were younger. The thrill of finding the perfect hiding sport with the hope of outsmarting the seeker created a fun game for the whole family. Hide and Seek may be a fun game to play with family or friends, but we can never play it with God.
My husband and I had invited several of our neighbors over for dinner. Glancing around the dinner table this verse came to my mind.
My Grandmother had a funny way with words in order to get her point across. Some of her favorite sayings were: “This is how the cow ate the corn”, as she grabbed your knee to get your attention, “Well, shoot a monkey,” when things did not go her way, and “A little bird told me,” when she was curious about something she had heard.
Israel was faced with impossible odds when they looked at what was before them in the land of Canaan. God promised them this land, but seeing what they were up against was beyond their comfort zone and physical capabilities.
My son wants me to cut his hair. This is surprising. He likes his hair long. It’s not just long, but ponytail long. He could play a convincing role as Jesus. He does have beautiful hair. It is thick and shiny and wavy.
In the movie “Facing the Giants,” one of the themes that runs throughout the storyline is loving God even when He doesn’t answer our prayers the way we want. The main couple, Grant and Brooke Taylor, struggle with infertility. This is a heartbreaking disappointment that is part of many women’s stories. So much pain and grief accompany such loss.
Over the last seven months, my world has felt uprooted. We left my hometown for my husband’s job in Fort Worth. It was fun for a while. We looked for a home, putting in many offers, but nothing landed.
Were there tears of frustration? You bet. Lord, I don’t understand. You promised to provide.
The Lord’s speech out of the whirlwind is over. Only once has He stopped for a breath and Job dared to speak: “I am unworthy—how can I reply to you?” (40:4).
