My Parents and My Kids

I love being with my parents and my kids all at the same time. It's a time for me to enjoy them enjoying each other. 

I love to watch my Mom noticing the same things about the kids that I do. I love watching my kids fall in love with the things I love about my Dad. 

I love watching them succumb to Mom's natural Grandma charms. And I love the way my little girl can make my big tough cowboy father march around the living room playing a Mickey Mouse harmonica while she beats a drum and her brother plays the kazoo. 

I even love how much more obnoxious my Dad and my oldest son get when they are together. They play off each other and egg each other on until you nearly have to leave the room! 

No matter how much I try to relay information to Mom about what Hannah did today, or tell Dad some cute story about what Cache said, or how Bodie's got this horse he's dealing with - it's not the same until they're all here. And we are just living it together. Catching up. Soaking it in. Being together. 

It's great when someone you love loves someone else you love. When you see traits of them in each other, and traits of you in them, and traits of them in you. 



"Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am . . . . I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them, and that I myself may be in them." John 18: 24, 26

Women's Bible Study Devotional

I feel like I'm cheating here, because I actually wrote this for a different purpose. But it just fits here, so I'm posting it. 

John Chapter 17

When I first read through this chapter, after a few times, it made me think of the movie ‘My Life’ with Michael Keaton and Nicole Kidman. I’ve never watched that movie, because I’m a coward, but I know the premise from the trailers that were out at the time. This man is dying, his wife is pregnant, so he gets the idea to record videos of himself so his child will get to know him and his wishes for said child. 

In a way, Jesus’ prayer here is like that movie. 

In fact, He says in verse 13 “...but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.”  

He speaks the prayer out loud for us - the disciples listening at the time, and for those who will “come to believe in (Him) through their message.” That’s us. 

Nice, tidy example right? 

Well, if we were dealing with just some GUY- like Michael Keaton - then it would be. 

But after I had that example all worked out in my mind, I realized it was wrong. 

This is the Creator we are dealing with here. When He speaks, whole universes come into existence.

What He prays here aren’t the wishes of a human father for some offspring he will never know. 

These are the words of our Creator; creating once again.  Creating for us a future filled with things we will read “So that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.”  

Any Downton Abbey fans here?

I know, I watch too many movies - but in my defense - I never actually watched My Life. 

Anyway, in Downton Abbey Season 1 the big drama is that the inheritance is legally tied up with the estate. No matter how hard any of the main characters try to undo what the deceased Lord Grantham did in his will, the grand-daughter can NOT inherit the money. Or the estate. It will all go to some distant relative that none of them knows. 

The will is impenetrable. 

That, ladies, is what we have here. Not some sing song wishes of a dying man, but the WILL of the Creator. The Prince of Peace. Our Messiah, The Savior, The Son of God. 

Impenetrable. Except we try to thwart it by our own free will. 

You are the only one who can deny yourself the enjoyment of the glorious inheritance laid out here in John, Chapter 17.

So what are we talking about? What exactly is this inheritance? 

-Well, joy we mentioned - vs. 13 - the full measure of Christ’s Joy.

-God’s protection by the power of His name - vs. 11

-Sanctification through truth - His word - vs. 17

-Complete unity through and for His glory vs. 20-23

-God’s love and Jesus’ love - vs. 23

-To be with Him and see His glory - vs.24

-To know God the Father - vs. 26

-Jesus Christ in us - vs. 26

Basically a life purpose to bring Him glory while living in unity with our fellow believers in this full measure of Christ’s joy which can NOT be taken from us and which death will only make more complete because at last we will be with the author of it, the creator of us, our Savior and the writer of this IMPENETRABLE WILL - John Chapter 17.

That’s some inheritance you’ve got. 

Now go live up to it. 

Getting Directions

I had a get together at my house recently, and had to give directions to a couple of people.  It occurred to me again, how important it is to not give TOO MUCH information. 

One time I got off track in a mid-sized town here in New Mexico and asked a friendly looking local for directions. Unfortunately, he spent more than half the time telling me where NOT to go, rather than where to go. I had to mentally edit out all the non-directions and just focus on the true directions. 

"Do you know the so-and-so store? Yes, well, don't turn there. In fact, you won't even get that far. You want to turn about two blocks before that."

Exhausting. 

In all my ruminations about the new year and how best to approach it - You know, what goals to set, both for myself and for my littles - I've been asking God for directions. 

He is an excellent giver of directions. 

Never too much information. 

If he's silent, keep on going the way you are going. 

That's it. When you need to turn, or make a change, He will let you know. 

He's not trying to play hide and seek with His will. He will not only make it known, He will accomplish it. 

Be confident in that. And press on. 

"Whether you turn to the right or the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, "This is the way; walk in it." Isaiah 30:21

I'm Losing My Hair, but God Loves Me Anyway

The WRONG hairdo for a boat ride!

As you can tell from the above picture, my hair is fairly long and fairly dark. So when some falls out, it's pretty painfully obvious. Our bathroom requires almost daily sweeping up of stray hairs. 

My hairbrush is shameful - even with weekly cleanings. 

I could let this aggravate me, but I choose instead to let it REMIND me. 

1) My hairs are all numbered. By God. 

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.  And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." Matthew 10:29-31

God must be busy keeping count of my hairs at the rate I seem to be losing them. But it's nice to think that He's thinking of me that often throughout the day. 

2) I have many sins, and yet His love and truth protect me. 

"Do not withhold your mercy from me, O Lord; may your love and your truth always protect me.  For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me." Psalm 40:11-12

By the way, I read recently that people with blond hair have about 140,000 hairs on their head. If you have black or brown hair (like me), you have about 110,000 and redheads have around 90,000.  

Evidently, there is no end in sight to the shed-clean-shed cycle around here.

The Book I'll Be Starting the New Year With

Here's a link to a little book that is life-changing if you will let it be: 

And it's FREE! :) 

Merry Belated Christmas and Happy New Year. 

It's called The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life. And I love it. 

If the title doesn't hook you, I certainly couldn't with some lame-o review. 

I read it at least once a year, and this year I'm starting a new tradition by making it the first book (besides some of the Bible) I'll read in the New Year. 

Won't you join me?