Counting the blessings and the way God shows himself faithful in my life. This is a habit that I am still very much working on but I believe the more I work at this the more I will see Jesus in my life.
"When my life is organized around Jesus, who is Beautiful, my messy life is organized beautifully."
My life is messy...I can't stand to admit that four kids later...8 years later there are still failures that I witness everyday in myself. The big one...forgetting that God doesn't see my life like I do. Sometimes I feel the strong urge to get every toy put back exactly where the kids got them from...worse yet...exactly in the bin I bought for that exact toy. My patience is tried when "pick up" time comes and the kids instead are exploring their imagination but that is not what I asked them to do....so my patience level lowers. I yell...I regret. I get on my hands and knees to clean up spilled milk, I get on my hands and knees to wipe around the toilet one more time wondering why in the world can't they make it into the toilet. While I'm down there I notice blue toothpaste on the floor, in the sink, on the carpet and I wonder....why? can't they just keep it in their mouths and over the sink. I walk into their room and once again pick up clothes off their floor and fold them and put them...sometimes calmly and other times not.so.much. I fix the broken chair surrounding our dinner table one more time from the child who acts like a monkey every time he sits in it. Scattered lego pieces...well I pick those up for everyone's safety. The point is...most times I view these things as an inconvenience but today....I got this love letter....and I think every mom needs to hear it. Because when I got it? I thought how can I get this on my walls? How can I get this on my heart? How can I get this in every square inch of my life?
"You have one of the most beautiful hearts in women that I know of, and I am so in awe of that and how much you love the Lord, and it is evident. But if Jesus, came and knocked on your door, I can only imagine, that he would not for a moment think about a messy house. I think he would walk with you, and in the living room, thank you for playing with the children he had entrusted you with. He would take you to the kitchen, and instead of seeing piles of dirty dishes that never seem to be done, he would thank you for feeding and providing for not only your children, but for your husband, and your friends, and the people in need. He would see what you had done with those dishes. He would go into your bathroom and see toothpaste in your sink as a symbol of your worship to him for taking care of the mouths that the Lord has blessed you all with to verbally worship him. He would see the kids' bedrooms as safe places for the boys to be themselves, not as messes. Many alters are built and either wear over time or are destroyed, but the alters and their messages stand. The piles of lego's, and dishes, and towels, and so much more that you find yourself overwhelmed and worried with, are symbols and alters of Gods gifts to you. His continual faithfulness to provide your family with food and necessities. We can build alters as fancy as we want them and we can work as hard as we possibly can to make the most beautiful alters of all, but there are all these small alters that God has already provided for us that we must choose to see as the Alters of His faithfulness and Grace. All in all- you are an amazing mom, wife, friend, sister, and servant of the Lord. Your home, your kitchen, your van...they are all symbols of that. We choose our alters. And you are surrounded by them."
We have this event at our church called the W4 and this years theme is "Alters that alter us" ... I asked a bunch of women, old and young how they "create" alters in their life to mark when God is faithful? I was asked to come up with some examples and to be honest I am struggling. To me seeing God as faithful is a habit that we must choose daily. Do you think God shows himself faithful daily? If you only see God when you want to then your answer will be no. But if you choose to see God in the small things then you can attest to the fact that God is faithful...daily. I don't necessarily mark it but I fill my house with it. I write scripture that is written on my heart around our house because this scripture shows God faithful to me. So I asked my sister how she would build alters that mark God's faithfulness in her life. These thoughts above came from the popular passage of Martha and Mary. How often I forget about that passage. Although she claims she isn't calling me a Martha...I am one. I need to daily make the choice to sit at the feet of Jesus, soak in His words and teachings and rely fully on him. Why do I think I am doing this alone? Why do I so often forget that God has entrusted these kids to me and he rejoices when I take care of them in love.
so moms....how do we get this on our walls? ;)
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