Time

Thank You for this gift of time--

The days, the hours, minutes flying fast, so fast

And passing swift--

The ages run

The setting sun 

That once was bright as morning-day

And now the aching embers lie 

Almost asleep

They creep as if into the shadows 

Smouldering 

Beneath the ragged night

Its edges choking hold of me 

I grasp this gift of time 

It struggles underneath my fingers

Struggles' til 

I slowly let their creaking joints outfold

A flower in the autumn night

The light 

The last of embers light looks upward in the darkened sky 

And flies into the cooling mist 

The gift- 

The gift of time 

I let it go--relinquish all my dying hold 

And darkness falls

My eyes close dim

But in the giving I awake 

Into eternity.



You might find me on these link-ups:

Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth, The Modest Mom, What Joy is Mine, Yes They Are All Ours, Missional Call, A Mama's Story, Mom's the Word, Rich Faith Rising, Time Warp Wife, Cornerstone Confessions, Mom's Morning Coffee, So Much at Home, Raising Homemakers, Hope in Every Season, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Woman to Woman Ministries, Whole-Hearted Home, A Soft Gentle Voice, My Daily Walk in His Grace, Messy Marriage, My Teacher's Name is Mama, The Charm of Home, Graced Simplicity, Children Are A Blessing, Mittenstate Sheep and Wool, Imparting Grace, Preparedness Mama, A Look at the Book, Essential Thing Devotions, Count My Blessings, Beauty Observed, Christian Mommy Blogger, Renewed Daily, Soul Survival, Good Morning Mondays, The HomeAcre Hop, Mommy Moments Link Up, Grace and Truth Linkup

My Parenting Method

Since I've become a parent, I've realized more keenly that I'm not an "expert" on anything... 

I'm continually learning as I seek to grow daily in the way in which I "train up" my children in the way that they should go. 

And my heart longs for more of Jesus in my parenting, for more grace, for more direction, for more guidance from the One who promises to shepherd me as I shepherd my babies. 

There are so many "methods." 

So many methods that I stopped really paying attention to them. 

Oh, sometimes I'll read an article here and there--

But I keep coming to the same place...

That it's really about Jesus. 

And I find--

That the more I read His Word--

The more my heart is filled with His Word, 

The methods fade away--and I am filled with His Spirit--leading me, guiding me in my parenting. 

I'm starting to see that my time is better spent learning of Him than listening and struggling and wondering over what every Mabel, May, and Sally has to say. 

What does His Word say to me?

And what can I learn from other godly mothers who take the Lord Jesus very seriously in their everyday lives? 

What wisdom can I glean from them? What wisdom can I glean from other godly mothers who have sought Him in their parenting and striven to bring their children to Jesus' knees?

Something that I'm learning in my parenting--

That there is a balance--a grace-saturated, life-giving balance between unstructured, child-focused parenting and completely rigid, strict-as-nails parenting. 

My children are very strong-willed--I struggle on a daily basis with how to guide them.

Some very wise words have helped me--have guided me in how I raise up my babies--

My mom, quoting advice that she had heard . . .  You must break the will, but not the spirit.

(the will in terms of rebellion, self-will---) 

You must, you must, you must--

Break the will, but not the spirit.

Susannah Wesley said, 

When the will of a child is totally subdued, and it is brought to revere and stand in awe of the parents, then a great many childish follies may be passed by. I insist on the conquering of the will of children betimes, because this is the only strong and rational foundation of a religious education. When this is thoroughly done, then a child is capable of being governed by reason and piety.

A shepherd doesn't crush and subdue, a shepherd guides, gently leads--

He watches over, he protects, he loves. 

And sometimes he disciplines. 

My Mom brought us up with very loving discipline--and I thank God for it--

She rarely spanked us (though she would if she needed to)--mainly she guided us--

When we wanted to "go our own way," her first response wouldn't be NO. It was usually, "Well, why don't we try it this way."

And if that didn't work, she didn't reason with us, she didn't yell, she didn't act flustered and frustrated and overwhelmed. 

When we questioned her authority, she simply and sweetly stated, "Because I'm the mother." 

Because I'm the mother . . . 

Because God has given me charge over my children--

Because someday I will have to give an account for how I shepherded my children, whether I raised them up in His ways or allowed them to wander about and to go their own way.

Whether I was harsh for harshness' sake only--whether I disciplined out of love or out of anger.

Whether I taught them right from wrong and used His precious Word as my guide in bringing them up. 

Whether I prayed over my children and sacrificially gave for their best interest, whether I lived the Gospel for them day in and day out. 

I'll never do it perfectly. 

No one is perfect; and that's where His grace comes in. 

But this is something that I'm also learning--and oh, how thankful I am for His grace--

That His grace is not an excuse to slack off, to give less than He is urging me to give--with heart and soul and mind and strength engaged. 

This burning question haunts me--runs through my veins--

Will I pour myself out in raising my children, in bringing them up to love and serve the Lord?

Will I give and give and give and love and discipline and guide and protect and cherish and nurture until I feel like there is nothing left to give?

Because that place is where He fills my lack with grace--His strength comes in and floods my soul and body with His strength, His ability, His power--made perfect in weakness. 

Oswald Chambers says, 

“…having nothing….” Never hold anything in reserve. Pour yourself out, giving the best that you have, and always be poor. Never be diplomatic and careful with the treasure God gives you. “…and yet possessing all things”— this is poverty triumphant (2 Corinthians 6:10).

Pouring myself out... lovingly disciplining my children, lovingly guiding my children--

Because they are children! They are not adults; they need guidance! They are hungry for guidance; they crave and desire it. 

So let me guide them--as my Father in Heaven guides me and gives me the wisdom to show them the way they need to go. 

I love my babies. 

Because I love them, I will shepherd them, I will guide them--I will look to Jesus for the wisdom that I need to do it. 

Sometimes I don't know what to do--

But what does His Word say to me?

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. (James 1:5 NKJV)

And to him who asks, will He not give with abundance?
 
Shepherding a child, leading, loving, giving--

I need to embrace Jesus, not a particular method for parenting. 

Am I saying that I should never read articles, take any secular advice, heed common wisdom? Absolutely not--

What I am saying is to test everything we hear--everything we read--against the authority and the wisdom of the Word of God. 

Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. (I Thessalonians 5:21-22).

Where it lines up with Scripture, embrace it--being filled with the Spirit and seeking Him continually. 

And where it doesn't, reject it--even if it's a popular method of parenting, even if its "en vogue," even if it "feels right" to embrace it. 

And trust the Word of God. Trust His wisdom. Cling to Him. 

And He will bless you.

My method for parenting is Jesus Christ--learning from Him, listening to Him, trusting Him.

I have never found Him to fail. 

And so I feed the sheep that He has entrusted to me. 

So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?”
He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”
He said to him, “Feed My lambs.”
He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?”
He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”
He said to him, “Tend My sheep.”
He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?”Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?”
And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.

(John 21:15-17 NKJV)

You might find me on these link-ups:

Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth, The Modest Mom, What Joy is Mine, Yes They Are All Ours, Missional Call, A Mama's Story, Mom's the Word, Rich Faith Rising, Time Warp Wife, Cornerstone Confessions, Mom's Morning Coffee, So Much at Home, Raising Homemakers, Hope in Every Season, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Woman to Woman Ministries, Whole-Hearted Home, A Soft Gentle Voice, My Daily Walk in His Grace, Messy Marriage, My Teacher's Name is Mama, The Charm of Home, Graced Simplicity, Children Are A Blessing, Mittenstate Sheep and Wool, Imparting Grace, Preparedness Mama, A Look at the Book, Essential Thing Devotions, Count My Blessings, Beauty Observed, Christian Mommy Blogger, Renewed Daily, Soul Survival, Good Morning Mondays, The HomeAcre Hop, Mommy Moments Link Up, Grace and Truth Linkup

Choosing Him All Over Again . . .

This post is part of the Choosing Him Blog Tour, of which I am delighted to be a part along with nearly one hundred other inspiring Christian bloggers. To learn more and join us, CLICK HERE! (http://www.juanamikels.com/p/for-bloggers.html)

Choosing to love...  

Choosing to forgive... 

Taking the hard way... 

And falling hard--

Into the beautiful arms of grace and redemption. 

Juana's story is one of redemption, one of salvation...

Of her soul, 

Of her marriage that seemed broken beyond repair, 

Of her future. 

Juana's open, honest, candid look into her own struggle to choose her husband all over again is inspiring. Her heart's desire for a deeper walk with her Savior and to honor and love the man that she married, regardless of the cost, is a message badly needed today. 

"A handsome husband, a dream job, and plenty of money- so why wasn't Juana Mikels happy? In a desperate attempt to find the peace and happiness she craved, Mikels left it all behind. In Choosing Him All Over Again: A Story of Romance & Redemption, (Ambassador International; January 2014; $14.99, paperback) Mikels offers an intimate account of her search for Mr. Right, a journey that ended up leading her into the arms of Jesus, and ultimately back home to her husband. 

Mikels not only includes a candid recount of her own marriage struggles in Choosing Him All Over Again, but she interviewed more than 40 people, all of whom had been separated or divorced at one time. "It is my prayer that you will be encouraged and able to love your husband and to choose him again," writes Mikels. "It is my delight to share my history with you because my story is a story of God's grace." 

Choosing Him All Over Again includes strikingly honest accounts of Mikels' personal experience of separation from her husband and their ultimate reconciliation. Mikels offers wives 11 checkpoints for refreshing any marriage including saying 'I love you' daily, not bringing up past failures, and praying for your husband every day. The book provides free resources like prayers Mikels prays for her husband, a note to Christian women married to unbelievers or married to Christian men who are not acting as believers should and access to a FREE downloadable companion Bible study guide. "

Juana Mikels wrote her own story of how God saved her marriage along with practical teaching on faith and marriage written out of her own failure, pointing us all to Jesus Christ who has the power to change lives and marriages. You can get a copy here HERE. (http://ambassador-international.com/books/choosing-story-romance-redemption/) or on Kindle HERE.

You might find me on these link-ups:

Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth, The Modest Mom, What Joy is Mine, Yes They Are All Ours, Missional Call, A Mama's Story, Mom's the Word, Rich Faith Rising, Time Warp Wife, Cornerstone Confessions, Mom's Morning Coffee, So Much at Home, Raising Homemakers, Hope in Every Season, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Woman to Woman Ministries, Whole-Hearted Home, A Soft Gentle Voice, My Daily Walk in His Grace, Messy Marriage, My Teacher's Name is Mama, The Charm of Home, Graced Simplicity, Children Are A Blessing, Mittenstate Sheep and Wool, Imparting Grace, Preparedness Mama, A Look at the Book, Essential Thing Devotions, Count My Blessings, Beauty Observed, Christian Mommy Blogger, Renewed Daily, Soul Survival, Good Morning Mondays, The HomeAcre Hop, Mommy Moments Link Up, Grace and Truth Linkup

Giveaway Winners--Congratulations! :-)

And . . . the winners are . . . 

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The Fragrance of Geraniums

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Living - and Writing - as a Revolutionary (+ a Giveaway!)

Welcoming author Alicia G. Ruggieri on the blog today with a guest blog post--"Living- and Writing- as a Revolutionary." Make sure to enter the GIVEAWAY at the end of her post--This is a wonderful opportunity to win one of two paperback copies of Alicia's latest novel, The Fragrance of Geraniums--a Depression-era story of brokenness and grace.  

By Alicia G. Ruggieri

“If it’s Christian, it should be better than the world’s stuff.”

My eldest sister’s offhand comment has stayed with me for years now. I’m reminded of it every time I walk into a Christian bookstore and see and hear “Christian” books and music and artwork.

Some of it is well-done – glorifying to God – crafted and presented with care.

Most of it? Just a copy of what the world has already does – but cleaned up a little, made palatable for a more sin-sensitive palate. Made more “conservative.” Not necessarily more Christian. Not necessarily even better. Not exuding the sense that it was created for the King to show His beauty.

I’m reminded of her comment every time I think about cutting corners, consider taking an easier but less productive research route, or debate whether my book’s draft really needs another round of edits.

And I recall Francis Schaeffer’s remark: that authentic Christianity isn't, at its root, conservative at all.

It’s revolutionary.

And what does revolutionary mean?

Something that has a sudden, major impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor.

Something unusual.

Something out of the ordinary.

Something more than common stuff.

And no, I’m not saying that a Christian must achieve perfection in their art or their music or their writing. But I am saying, once again with Schaeffer, that, “Increasingly, I believe that after we are saved, we have only one calling, and that is to show forth the existence and character of God.”

And His character is not one of settling, but one of intense and eternal creativity. One of continual redemption. One of “making all things new.” (Revelation 21:5) Every sunset that His hand spins out comes forth new-born and original. Every soul that He saves has its own unique story to tell of His redemption – and that redemption reveals an aspect of His character previously unnoticed.

I pray that my writing – as my calling at this point in the life God has given to me – has that as its point: to create what is truly good for the nourishment of humankind’s souls; to show the redemptive thread that passes through all lives; to point to the One who promises us to “make all things new.”

What about you? Not everyone is called to be a writer or a poet or an artist, but everyone is called to create and to express the surpassing beauty of the Fairest of Ten Thousands, to preach the Gospel in some way – and if necessary, to use words, as Francis of Assisi tells us. Do you “settle”? Or are you embracing your truest calling within the role God has given you – that of showing forth the existence and glorious character of God in your everyday life and work?


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You might find me on these link-ups:

Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth, The Modest Mom, What Joy is Mine, Yes They Are All Ours, Missional Call, A Mama's Story, Mom's the Word, Rich Faith Rising, Time Warp Wife, Cornerstone Confessions, Mom's Morning Coffee, So Much at Home, Raising Homemakers, Hope in Every Season, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Woman to Woman Ministries, Whole-Hearted Home, A Soft Gentle Voice, My Daily Walk in His Grace, Messy Marriage, My Teacher's Name is Mama, The Charm of Home, Graced Simplicity, Children Are A Blessing, Mittenstate Sheep and Wool, Imparting Grace, Preparedness Mama, A Look at the Book, Essential Thing Devotions, Count My Blessings, Beauty Observed, Christian Mommy Blogger, Renewed Daily, Soul Survival, Good Morning Mondays, The HomeAcre Hop

You Never Know Who Your Cashier Is… And 5 Other Things McDonalds HasTaught Me

By Alicia Ruggieri

Alicia wrote this several years ago when working as a manager at McDonald's; I was really blessed and challenged by her words and wanted to share them . . .  

Note: Several years ago, finishing up my full-ride academic scholarship education, I would never (I repeat, never) have thought I would “lower” myself to working at a fast-food joint.  Yet, life has its unique twists, doesn’t it?  And working in fast-food has given a not-to-be-missed vantage point from which I could see my own foibles and spiritual missteps.  For some odd reason, the little world of McDonalds acts to concentrate human nature, letting us see its best and worst.  I’ve listed below some of the most interesting things McDonalds has taught me.  I hope you enjoy them and can learn from them as well.



1. You Never Know Who Your Cashier Is.  This is best illustrated by a situation involving my sister Bekki, when she was cashiering at McDonalds.  A familiar-looking, middle-aged, nicely-dressed man came in for lunch with his children and his conservatively-dressed wife.  Obviously frustrated, he gave his order with that tang of polite condescension that can easily be excused as articulation.  He kindly snapped at his wife, tartly rebuked his children, and was as snobbish as he could be without incurring guilt.  At the conclusion of his order, Bekki realized why he looked so familiar.  “Aren’t you the choir director at ___________ Church?” she asked.  “My family went to their Christmas concert recently and loved it.”  His face ashen, the man stuttered a thank-you and shuffled away.  This poor choir director had no idea he would be a lesson in consistency, for we are really who we are when no one (who matters) is watching.

2. Jesus Doesn’t Care If You Flip Burgers or Are a CEO (but other Christians Do).  I take the full responsibility for the foolish pride that caused me over and over to be ashamed of working for McDonalds rather than doing more “respectable” work.  However, most of my embarrassment rose from having to tell fellow Christians where I worked because doing this usually invoked either well-concealed derision or blushing pity, the same attitude I always used to take before my fast-food career began.  With a Savior who came from low-class peasants, who did manual labor until his thirties, and who chose uneducated disciples, I wonder why we Christians covertly scorn blue-collar (or even greasy-collar) work?  My friends, this should not be.  As Eric Liddel’s father told him, “God doesn’t care if you peel potatoes [for a living] if you peel them to perfection.”  Whatever our hand finds to do, if it provides for our families and doesn’t dishonor God, we should do it with all our might and encourage others to do the same.  (By the way, McDonalds doesn’t flip their meat, just in case you’re wondering.)

3. People Working in the Drive-Through Really Do Have Souls (even if they act like monkeys or machines).  I needed to be reminded of this not in a drive-through but in a sit-down restaurant a number of years ago when I treated the overburdened waitress with snobbish disdain.  However, because the interaction is so quickly accomplished, few customers in a drive-through realize how utterly rude they are to the people who are serving them.  Let us engage in some old-fashioned courtesy.  A cell phone glued to one ear, carrying on an additional conversation (Can it be called that?) with wailing children in the backseat, throwing money toward the drive-through window somehow hoping that it will land in the cashier’s hand, and keeping your window wipers on so that the waves of water splash the worker as they open the window… All unnecessary for common unbelievers.  But what about Christians?  Why do we heedlessly engage in the same behaviors?  I think it’s partially because we are thinking of the next thing we’ll do, rather than concerning ourselves with what God has us doing right now.  We blame the mechanical (usually unbelieving) worker for not interacting.  Really, though, if we can’t demonstrate common courtesy (and have the Spirit of God elevate it to uncommon courtesy!) for ten seconds in a drive-through, how will we ever persevere in it throughout life?

4. Education Doesn’t Equal Intelligence (and intelligence doesn’t equal godliness).  From observing people, I’ve found that they assume that you are what you do from 9-5.  This was reinforced during a class in which my professor asked, “Do you ever notice that when you’re introduced to someone, the first question asked after, ‘Where do you live?’ is, ‘What do you do?’  It’s as if the only important thing to know is where that person fits into the social and economic scales.”  I think human nature causes you and I to think this, inflamed by the modern idea that education equals salvation in every sense.  Overall, we have a (completely foundationless) notion that if you’re educated, you’re intelligent (and if you’re not educated, you’re not intelligent).  And in the Church, we’ve permitted another strange idea to creep in, a twist on the worldwide conception – that if we could just make people understand (i.e. educate them) enough, they would become Christians.  And if we could just give enough knowledge to Christians, they would become godly.  My friends, neither of these ideas is true.  Though, obviously, being educated doesn’t mean you’re not intelligent, and being educated doesn’t mean you’re not godly, there isn’t much (if any) correlation among intelligence, education, and godliness.  While at McDonalds, I’ve met very intelligent, very uneducated McDonalds employees who cured me of my delusion that education equals intelligence and that intelligence will (eventually) lead to godliness.  A highschool dropout, “Jeff” has read the dictionary from cover to cover and regularly peppers his conversation with highly creative, spur-of-the-moment raps.  Another “undereducated” man, “Charlie” can do three-digit addition and subtraction in his head within seconds.  Neither Jeff nor Charlie are Christians (They may be someday!), but that state is certainly not due to lack of intelligence. 

5. The World Vision Catalog Pictures Happen in the Next Town Over (and not just in the Third World).  And they’re not funny.  If McDonalds has done anything, it has caused me to realize that we Christians usually live in a bubble.  When we say we have “trials,” they are often only scratches on the surface of our bubble, not a rock that shatters it.  We live in a dreadfully hurting and dying world.  Here is a list of people I have been privileged to work with over the past four years:  “Daria,” a former prostitute trying to climb out of that darkness; “Ed,” stuck in a dizzying array of family issues (such that we would never think of) that he has to deal with; “Sam,” “Matt,” and “J.J.,” all bound in heavy drug addictions and dealing; and “Tiffany,” who decided to live with her deeply abusive boyfriend because her grandmother’s apartment is infested with cockroaches and she is afraid that the roaches will climb down her baby’s ears.  Or how about “Candy,” who wears a bald spot where her boyfriend pulled out her cornrow braid, scalp and all?  In the light of this suffering, how will we live?  What will be important to us, when there is so much hurting around us?  How will we treat others?  As cogs in a wheel or as those for whom Christ died?

6. Our Witness for Christ is Built (or Destroyed) in the Hum-Drum Moments.  When I first began working for McDonalds, I mentioned to a fellow Christian that working there gave me opportunities to share the Good News.  The well-meaning Christian gave me a puzzled smile and asked, “Really?  You get a chance to talk about the Gospel between flipping burgers?”  In a word, yes.  As Christians, we “talk” through our actions far more than through our words.  I have gotten to talk to more people about Jesus in McDonalds than I ever did in high school or college.  And I have found a greater receptivity to the Gospel as well, for did He not come to preach the Good News to the poor, to set the prisoner free, and more?  At McDonalds, I can tell people about my Lord through how I talk to rude customers, how I handle disrespect and disobedience to my requests from subordinates, how hard I work, how honest or dishonest I am, how consistent I am with what I say, etc.  This is true in all of life, from the home to the workplace to the shopping mall:  Our talk is only as good as how we behave.



We could all learn from these ideas if we applied them to the many different areas of our lives.  We will have a little more (truly) Christian compassion and demand a few less of our (perceived) rights.  We will think less of ourselves and our time (When did we begin to believe that any time really belongs to us, anyway?) and more of Christ and what He demands of us.  For our walk with our Father really comes down to that, doesn’t it?  To love the Lord our God with the utmost of our emotions, will, and mind, and to love our neighbor with the same dedication, regard, and thoughtfulness with which we love ourselves.

Challenging myself with you,

Alicia Ruggieri

You might find me on these link-ups:

Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth, The Modest Mom, What Joy is Mine, Yes They Are All Ours, Missional Call, A Mama's Story, Mom's the Word, Rich Faith Rising, Time Warp Wife, Cornerstone Confessions, Mom's Morning Coffee, So Much at Home, Raising Homemakers, Hope in Every Season, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Woman to Woman Ministries, Whole-Hearted Home, A Soft Gentle Voice, My Daily Walk in His Grace, Messy Marriage, My Teacher's Name is Mama, The Charm of Home, Graced Simplicity, Children Are A Blessing, Mittenstate Sheep and Wool, Imparting Grace, Preparedness Mama, A Look at the Book, Essential Thing Devotions, Count My Blessings, Beauty Observed, Christian Mommy Blogger, Renewed Daily, Soul Survival, Good Morning Mondays, The HomeAcre Hop

Seeing Them as Precious

Tiny Debbie, just two, drags her stool to the sink, and she wants to "wash" dishes. 

But I haven't put away the dishes in the strainer and there are knives and there is glass and my hands are full with my six-month-old baby, and I have a choice. 

I can snap, "Not right now, Debbie; you need to come down from that stool," - because that would be easier for me in the moment. I can do what is convenient for me, I can give her the "righteous" no, while smugly insisting that she is learning obedience that way and giving myself the excuse that my hands are full, and that I am tired, and that it's been a long day, and the baby has been fussy; I can give her the "righteous" no.

Or I can see little Debbie as precious. 

I can look my little girl in the eyes, made in the very image of God and loved by Him, and I can hold Elisha with one arm and I can put away the dishes with the other and I can bring my tired body over to the sink and I can stand next to Debbie (or sit in a chair next to her) and engage my daughter and engage my son and I can talk to Debbie while she washes the dishes and talk to little Elisha about washing dishes and I can see them as precious. 

There are times to say "no," but right now, this isn't one of them, and I sense the Holy Spirit speaking to my mother's-heart - my tired mother's-heart and holding me close to Him and whispering Listen. 

You are tired, but this too shall pass -

Wouldn't it be easier to just let them play on the floor and supervise them? 

Maybe "easier" but not what the Lord is leading me to do right now. 

The Lord has been teaching me - teaching me slowly, to see my children as precious. 

They will only be tiny once, and I have this window, this small space in time, to nurture them, love them, instruct them, teach them, lead them... to Jesus. 

Do I want to be distracted during this time, trying to "get through" these years, pushing my children to crawl, to walk, to leave the nest, so that I can be "free" again? 

Or do I want to see them as precious? 

Lord, help me to see my children as precious... precious gifts, precious charges, precious souls... eternal souls. 

There is freedom in giving. 

Not in "taking back" what we think is ours. Our time, our bodies, our lives. 

Because they aren't ours - They belong to Jesus. 

A conversation that I had with a very dear friend burns in my heart -

I asked, Do you think that I should have more children?

And she paused and spoke to me and she said, "I don't think that it's an issue of how many; it's an issue of whether or not you are faithful with the ones that the Lord gives to you."

Her words, her words keep burning in my heart and she referenced the parable of the talents and she said that the Lord gave different amounts of talents to different people, and the issue was not about how many talents each one had, but rather with what was done with those talents...

It's not so much an issue of how many...

And I think that as humans we're tempted to make it into an issue. 

Whether we're advocating for large families or whether for small ones. 

But maybe it's not so much an issue of how many - rather whether we're faithful with the ones that we've been given... these gifts that we've been given. 

Because we can be unfaithful with one child or unfaithful with ten - The issue is a heart issue and a life issue and not a number issue. 

Are we being faithful? Am I being faithful? Am I engaging my children, leading them through all the events in the day to Jesus? Or am I merely trying to get through the day? 

It's not a matter of how many we can have or how few we should have... but about being faithful with what the Lord gives as we follow His leading and obey. 

And then we will see our children as precious... when we look into their eyes, as if looking at the face of God Himself. 

We will see them as gifts, as precious. 

You might find me on these link-ups:

Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth, The Modest Mom, What Joy is Mine, Yes They Are All Ours, Missional Call, A Mama's Story, Mom's the Word, Rich Faith Rising, Time Warp Wife, Cornerstone Confessions, Mom's Morning Coffee, So Much at Home, Raising Homemakers, Hope in Every Season, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Woman to Woman Ministries, Whole-Hearted Home, A Soft Gentle Voice, My Daily Walk in His Grace, Messy Marriage, My Teacher's Name is Mama, The Charm of Home, Graced Simplicity, Children Are A Blessing, Mittenstate Sheep and Wool, Imparting Grace, Preparedness Mama, A Look at the Book, Essential Thing Devotions, Count My Blessings, Beauty Observed, Christian Mommy Blogger, Renewed Daily, Soul Survival, Good Morning Mondays, Oakhill Homestead, Grace and Truth Linkup, Faith Filled Friday, Faith and Fellowship Blog Hop, The Weekend Brew