Here are two posts that I appreciated in the past couple days:
Kim's post about simplifying Christmas and helping our children truly appreciate and enjoy it. It's always somewhat of a gamble when you buy presents for kids. It does seem like they are often tossed aside, even the "flashy" ones that are designed to catch and keep their attention. After 10 minutes, the thing doesn't do anything more than what it already did, and the fascination is over forever. We've been trying to choose things that will encourage more imaginative play...good to hear these thoughts about it.
Glenn's post about how you can't love the whole world, you've really gotta love just a few people (incidentally, this is a portion of his book, and I highly recommend it). I think this is very applicable to moms who are focused on their children. We all went to those youth conferences as teenagers, where they encouraged and inspired us to change our world. But can you really do that? Does it last? I have been frustrated looking back, because I don't remember one time those events placed a high value on raising Godly households. I know one thing - the lives of our kids are deeply changed by our involvement with them. If we can raise children who know God, who are not bound by their own insecurities and faults, who love other people more than themselves, and who are highly imaginative and intelligent...sounds pretty world-changing to me... Arrows in the hands of a warrior, like Ps. 127 says...
On our way home...Harvest Host
3 months ago
You and I have talked about this before. I think we try to love the whole world, but the reality is that we can only love the few people in our life and that is almost be difficult to love more than just a few friends. I want to do more and be more to people--but it just isn't possible.
ReplyDeleteI just try to focus on fully loving those who are in my life.
I really liked the 2nd article. We were having dinner with some of my family the other day and the conversation started about what we would do if we could have any job. I said "I would do something that I could really minister to people, it wouldn't be about the money"
ReplyDeleteAfter dinner B and I were talking about what I said. I realized that just because I am not out loving the world I still have a mission field. That my real job is to love those around me at work, to care for and love my husband (what a witness that would be to others!!), to be a good friend. I know its a simple idea but it was something that I needed remember. Thanks for sharing the article!