A Loaded Quote for Parents

What is life really all about? Yards and homes and possessions are just a physical vanity, all destined to decay. Our children are our masterpieces - our life's spiritual work. They are the only works we will leave behind by which others will know who we were. Michael Pearl

The Summer of Matthew

Matthew enjoyed his first "swim" this week. It was rather impromptu as he just "jumped in" clothes and all! :>)

Recipe Disasters

Last week, my sister wrote on her blog about her recipe disaster. It brought back a memory of one of my worst episodes.

We were at a home school swim party, and I had brought the ice cream freezer along to make homemade ice cream for the children to eat after swimming and eating lunch. I started it as soon as we arrived, but two hours later, two bags of ice later, and nearly a whole box of ice cream salt later, the ice cream was still no where near ready. A helpful dad had taken over my position at the freezer and was a bit bewildered himself. So, he took the motor off the top of the freezer and removed the lid to the canister to investigate. He immediately noticed what the problem was. I had forgotten to put the paddle into the canister!

I had another disaster last week, but thankfully ice cream was able to save the day this time. We had invited some friends over, but they were unable to make it (if you're reading this, you should be thankful you were unable to make it!). The main dish was grilled chicken, and evidently I didn't let the coals get hot enough or didn't use enough, but after what seemed like a very long time, I took the chicken off the grill thinking it was ready. But it wasn't. So, I threw it in the frying pan to let it finish cooking. Unfortunately, it still wasn't completely done when we finally sat down to eat it. Thankfully, though, no one later exhibited any evidence of salmonella.

I had also (successfully) made some homemade ice cream. When I realized the chicken was going to take forever, I asked "who wants dessert first tonight?" I didn't get any complaints about that!

Seeking a Meek and Quiet Spirit - Part 2

As Tammy mentioned in her comment below, seeking a meek and quiet spirit is "a lifelong journey." Wouldn't it be great if we could just read a book, study all the scriptures on the topic, and be there? That's obviously not the case for me since I'm reading the book by Teri Maxwell for the third time! In my reading this morning, Nancy Leigh DeMoss made some good points regarding this:

We're not talking about moralism or self-correction or making ourselves something better than we are. We're talking about Christ who lives within us, who has paid the price for our sin and lives within us. By the power of his Holy Spirit, He pours His grace into our lives to make us something supernaturally that we could never be apart from Him.

There's no formula. Godliness is a process. Sanctification is a process. It's Christ in us who fulfills the righteousness of God in us.

....there are no shortcuts to godliness. It's day in and day out. Humbling ourselves. Acknowledging our need. Letting God form Christ in us.

Seeking a Meek and Quiet Spirit

Like my friend, Camilla, often says "If you ask God to show you what you need, He will answer." I recently finished reading and studying through one of John MacArthur's books "The Gospel According to Jesus." It was great, but I'm not going to get started on that as it would be a blog post in itself (maybe another day). For the past week or two since finishing that study, I haven't really known what direction to go in, but I've been searching.

After some recent discipline issues with the children and me not really liking my handling of the situations, I remembered a book I've read a couple of times before and thought it would be a good time to go through it again. It's called "Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit" by Teri Maxwell. I read the first chapter yesterday morning and have decided that this time I will do the assignments at the end of each chapter. Later in the morning, I checked my e-mail and found that Nancy Leigh DeMoss is doing a study on meekness right now. I printed out the transcript and began reading through it this morning also. Then I received an article from a homeschool organization on the same thing. Okay, Lord, I get it. You've made it plain and clear what I need to be studying and working on right now.

One of my assignments from yesterday was to start finding Bible verses on meekness. Nancy made this easier for me as she had a printable list on her site. So I started reading through those this morning, writing them down in my journal and adding my thoughts as well.

Another assignment was to write out a prayer to my Lord asking Him to help me in this area. I enjoy doing this as it really helps me get my thoughts together on what I want to ask.

The last assignment was to write down a record of every time I am not exhibiting a meek and quiet spirit. I did that this morning also as I looked back on yesterday.

Then I thought about times in the past few months when I said things to others that I shouldn't have. Have you ever had someone say something offensive to you and your heart is burning within you, and you feel like you have to say what is about to come out or you're going to explode? I've had that feeling, and I've gone ahead and spoken when I should have been silent. I always, almost immediately, know that I shouldn't have said what I did.

Nancy is using a Matthew Henry book for some of this study material and here are a couple of great quotes she shared in regards to what I just mentioned:

We have often been the worse for our speaking, but seldom the worse for our silence.

There is nothing said or done in passion but it may be better said and better done afterwards.

She shared a letter from long ago that exhibits a meek spirit:

George Whitefield, an 18th century British revivalist, received a vicious letter accusing him of wrongdoing. He responded with the following -

I thank you heartily for your letter. As for what you and my other enemies are saying against me, I know worse things about myself than you will ever say about me.

With love in Christ,
George Whitefield

Oh to exhibit that kind of meekness. I have a feeling that as I am studying this topic that God might just give me some opportunities to choose meekness. I hope I'll be able to. Only with the help of Jesus my Savior will I be able to. After all, he was the ultimate example of meekness -

Isaiah 53:7 - He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

On the path to simplicity, a meek and quiet spirit definitely sounds like something I should take along.

Galatians 5:22-25 - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

We won!

My daughter's travel ball team spent all day Saturday in Alpharetta at a fast pitch tournament that was held to raise money for juvenile diabetes. There were eight teams in their division, and they were the only ones to go undefeated the whole day! They played five games yesterday with the championship game starting at 10 p.m. They beat teams that have already beaten them this season, so it was just great all the way around. I am so proud of them. Winning is so much fun!!

Happy Father's Day!

We enjoyed a nice afternoon at my sister and brother-in-law's home. She prepared a yummy meal for us in honor of the great dads present - my dad, husband, and brother-in-law. We took this picture later in the evening at our home. Brad's eyes are almost swollen shut from allergies, but Matthew seems especially happy!