A Happy Home
May. 23, 2007
7:51 AM
Where are My Links?
Come visit me :)
Blessings,
Keri Mae
Keri Mae
Permanent Link
May. 22, 2007
9:39 PM
There's No Place Like Home...
...even when the address changes....
I've moved my blog to Homesteadblogger.com/kerimae. I am hoping that I won't have the same troubles with logging on to that site. So......please update your address book and come visit me soon. I am going to try allowing comments again, but if it becomes a stumbling block for me again, it will have to go (again).
See, Dad? Once a military brat, always a military brat. On the move.......
I've moved my blog to Homesteadblogger.com/kerimae. I am hoping that I won't have the same troubles with logging on to that site. So......please update your address book and come visit me soon. I am going to try allowing comments again, but if it becomes a stumbling block for me again, it will have to go (again).
See, Dad? Once a military brat, always a military brat. On the move.......
Blessings,
Keri Mae
Keri Mae
Permanent Link
May. 21, 2007
7:56 AM
SleepThinking
Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
I awoke early this morning to a wee foot pressed into my thigh and fingers entangled in my hair. I had already been up twice with the baby and once with a sour stomach, so I pushed my toddler over towards my husband, hoping her little mouth would stay agape with whispers of dreaming. A minute later she turned over, her knees finding my back. I got up, leaving my nest of cool cotton sheets, and turned on the shower.
A thought that floated around in the fuzz of my mind was that one day I was going to get a full eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. I wasn’t going to be traipsing up the stairs to rock a baby, no child would be throwing up into her hair, and a toddler would not be brushing my forehead to tell me she was scared. How sad that next morning will be, myself refreshed but my home empty of little hands. By the time I had gotten dressed, my toddler asked if she could go do the same and hubby had gotten up. And so here I lie finally alone within the down comforters, laptop on my (where else?) lap and morning breaking through misty clouds out the window.
There are things I hope to consider today:
* What would moving my blog entail? I’m ready for a less frustrating experience in dealing with my account. Would my blog look the same? Do I want it to?
* How to decorate and entertain for my friend’s baby shower; not too goofy, but goofy enough to be fun.
* How to thicken up the grapefruit curd I made; beautiful color, great taste, runny texture.
* How to plow through my latest “health” book for my class, even though it is laden with New Age (and I would also say “cultish”) jargon and beliefs. Do I continue to write Scripture all over it, or just plan to throw the thing away?
It will be interesting to see what comes from those ponderings today with a mind half rested. Of course, I do still cultivate the hope that the whole house will snore soundly one night. When that happens, I will probably awaken on my own at 4am, wondering “what happened” and unable to go back to sleep anyway. In the meantime, I will rest upon His peace to keep my heart and mind today, and not give heed to the pull of dreamless discontent.
I awoke early this morning to a wee foot pressed into my thigh and fingers entangled in my hair. I had already been up twice with the baby and once with a sour stomach, so I pushed my toddler over towards my husband, hoping her little mouth would stay agape with whispers of dreaming. A minute later she turned over, her knees finding my back. I got up, leaving my nest of cool cotton sheets, and turned on the shower.
A thought that floated around in the fuzz of my mind was that one day I was going to get a full eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. I wasn’t going to be traipsing up the stairs to rock a baby, no child would be throwing up into her hair, and a toddler would not be brushing my forehead to tell me she was scared. How sad that next morning will be, myself refreshed but my home empty of little hands. By the time I had gotten dressed, my toddler asked if she could go do the same and hubby had gotten up. And so here I lie finally alone within the down comforters, laptop on my (where else?) lap and morning breaking through misty clouds out the window.
There are things I hope to consider today:
* What would moving my blog entail? I’m ready for a less frustrating experience in dealing with my account. Would my blog look the same? Do I want it to?
* How to decorate and entertain for my friend’s baby shower; not too goofy, but goofy enough to be fun.
* How to thicken up the grapefruit curd I made; beautiful color, great taste, runny texture.
* How to plow through my latest “health” book for my class, even though it is laden with New Age (and I would also say “cultish”) jargon and beliefs. Do I continue to write Scripture all over it, or just plan to throw the thing away?
It will be interesting to see what comes from those ponderings today with a mind half rested. Of course, I do still cultivate the hope that the whole house will snore soundly one night. When that happens, I will probably awaken on my own at 4am, wondering “what happened” and unable to go back to sleep anyway. In the meantime, I will rest upon His peace to keep my heart and mind today, and not give heed to the pull of dreamless discontent.
Blessings,
Keri Mae
Keri Mae
Permanent Link
May. 18, 2007
9:35 PM
High Five, Y'All!
Two days ago as I sat with the “mentor mom” before my talk at MOPS, she said that all these moms really wanted to know is that they’re going to make it. Boy, isn’t that the truth?! So I was very happy to be there, to encourage my fellow mommies and to give them some things to think about, along with some tools that may be useful in organizing their day. I wish I could have been a little fly listening in on their animated talk afterwards, but as my hubby reminded me that morning when I asked how I looked, it wasn’t about me . THANK GOD. Because if it was gonna be about me, then I’d would have had to decline the invite to begin with. I know I’ve said this a lot of times, but it’s still the same: I have no idea how you mommies out there do LIFE, much less parenting, without Jesus. So I was very happy to share in part my story and how He is the true source of joy and encouragement that we all so hungry for.
So, yesterday I was driving behind a motorcyclist, and I felt a bit envious. Not because I want to ride a motorcycle (I’m not even going to pretend that I want to), but because every time another motorcyclist passed by on the other side, the guys would stretch out their hands to each other in a visual “high five” (actually, “low five” was more like it). I start thinking that we mommies need something like that. You know, when you’re driving your vanload of hungry and tired children home from the two and a half excursion from shopping various marts and your mind is debating on whether drive-thru Mexican on the way home is all right for the third time this week......wouldn’t it be cool to have some other mommy driving by the other side give you the sign that meant “Atta girl! Good job! Hang in there!” And then four miles down the road, you’d get another one. I don’t know about you, but I’d sit up taller. Hauling the children around might actually become more fun, and hey, we wouldn’t have to dig insects out of our noses afterwards.
So, I don’t know how that would go. Just know that the next time I see you in your big ol van with a fork in your hand as you try to balance the Southwest Chicken Salad on your lap, I’m mentally tagging your (other) hand and giving you a “You GO girl!”
So, yesterday I was driving behind a motorcyclist, and I felt a bit envious. Not because I want to ride a motorcycle (I’m not even going to pretend that I want to), but because every time another motorcyclist passed by on the other side, the guys would stretch out their hands to each other in a visual “high five” (actually, “low five” was more like it). I start thinking that we mommies need something like that. You know, when you’re driving your vanload of hungry and tired children home from the two and a half excursion from shopping various marts and your mind is debating on whether drive-thru Mexican on the way home is all right for the third time this week......wouldn’t it be cool to have some other mommy driving by the other side give you the sign that meant “Atta girl! Good job! Hang in there!” And then four miles down the road, you’d get another one. I don’t know about you, but I’d sit up taller. Hauling the children around might actually become more fun, and hey, we wouldn’t have to dig insects out of our noses afterwards.
So, I don’t know how that would go. Just know that the next time I see you in your big ol van with a fork in your hand as you try to balance the Southwest Chicken Salad on your lap, I’m mentally tagging your (other) hand and giving you a “You GO girl!”
Blessings,
Keri Mae
Keri Mae
Permanent Link
Ladies at a 4H meeting in 1949
Today my 9yo daughter and I took one of her new baby rabbits to our first 4H club meeting. It was a nice group of people, and I was fairly impressed with how well the meeting ran. The group is currently getting ready for the county fair in August, so one of the tasks this afternoon was to practice "judging"" different tables with regards to which water bottle was best, which rabbit had the best fur, which medication would you choose, and so on. During it all, I think my daughter was still starry eyed from the earlier talk of "4H Summer Camp", and my eyes were glazing over: you mean there's a "right" water bottle?! And that medicine pushy plunger goes where?!
The leader Mom laughed when I told her it was a bit overwhelming, "And it just gets worse!" Oh, that's encouraging! Thankfully, I declined participating in showing our rabbits at the fair this year; I figured it was enough just to work on how to hold the little scrambler without worrying about whether its fur had good "fly back" (whatever that means!)
And as an aside, how long do you think it took to curl all that hair for the 4H meeting in 1949? God bless those mothers; I was just relieved when we got to the meeting (and home again) without forgetting our rabbit.
May. 17, 2007
10:11 PM
Taking on 4H
Ladies at a 4H meeting in 1949
Today my 9yo daughter and I took one of her new baby rabbits to our first 4H club meeting. It was a nice group of people, and I was fairly impressed with how well the meeting ran. The group is currently getting ready for the county fair in August, so one of the tasks this afternoon was to practice "judging"" different tables with regards to which water bottle was best, which rabbit had the best fur, which medication would you choose, and so on. During it all, I think my daughter was still starry eyed from the earlier talk of "4H Summer Camp", and my eyes were glazing over: you mean there's a "right" water bottle?! And that medicine pushy plunger goes where?!
The leader Mom laughed when I told her it was a bit overwhelming, "And it just gets worse!" Oh, that's encouraging! Thankfully, I declined participating in showing our rabbits at the fair this year; I figured it was enough just to work on how to hold the little scrambler without worrying about whether its fur had good "fly back" (whatever that means!)
And as an aside, how long do you think it took to curl all that hair for the 4H meeting in 1949? God bless those mothers; I was just relieved when we got to the meeting (and home again) without forgetting our rabbit.
Blessings,
Keri Mae
Keri Mae
Permanent Link
May. 17, 2007
9:40 PM
A Tour of My Garden
The man who worries morning and night about the dandelions in the lawn will find great relief in loving the dandelions.
L.H. Bailey
I have recently come to grips that I happen to like weeds. I mean, there is a vast abundance of dandelions, buttercups and chickweed, along with scotchbroom, foxglove and that incredibly tenacious blackberry vine that pops up in the middle of "nowhere", and yet, everywhere. And given the fact that we have a couple of acres cleared and nowhere near the pockets as deep as landscape divas to plant something else in all its entire place, I've decided that I may as well cultivate a love for what I don't plant. That being the case in the majority of my space, I have also begun to get into the groove and started planting seeds of flowers that I like in pockets here and there.
So I find my cultivated manicured botanical garden mind (ha!) hijacked by scenes of waving meadows, with flowers such as poppies, comfrey and speedwell, sweet rocket, borage and meadow rue. And as I read information regarding these flower habits, I learn quite quickly that these flowers are "self-seeding", "invasive", and "perennial". In other words, they are WEEDS. I guess one woman's flower is another woman's weed. The story goes that the yellow scotchbroom all over our region was originally brought over from Scotland. I imagine some housewife brought a little start with her on the boat, imagining a cute little shrub to remind her of the rolling hills she left behind. Well, I guess we are cut from the same cloth, but don't tell my neighbors. Two years ago I seeded golden poppies on three beds out front. This year I find poppies spouting up here and there and everywhere in between. So I learn to love 'em, scotchbroom and poppy alike, because life's too short to keep pulling them out where I don't want them. Besides, there's something sweet about a poppy showing up in the middle of my spinach bed.
In any case, taking a walk around the property (oh, I love to say that, "property", being that I was in a condo sandwiched between two floors in our last living quarters), I get a little discouraged at the amount of work that still needs to be done. We're talking at least a decade until we can reign in the outside chaos, and mark boundaries with things such as a pond, goat pasture, and small apple orchard (in my mind's eye they live). I watch my childrenblowing dandelion seeds reweeding the garden, and then grab my camera to take a tour of all the good stuff growing in my yard. I purposely left out the dead rosemary, the scrawny pea plants (all two of them), and the slug's slimeprints of chewed up and spit out leaflets.
So, if you're in the mood, and have the time, come take a look at what's growing:
my garden as it is now, roped off, planning for the raised beds.......
....that my man is building for me (isn't he cool?)
yea! beet sprouts! Too bad I'm the only one in my family that likes beets, but hey: sprouts!
lilac blooms from a tree a friend gave me...there are a grand total of seven blooms on the tree; it was pretty mad at me for thepruninghack job I gave it last year.
climbing rose from same friend's yard....I think the blooms are purple, but nothing's popped open yet. Maybe the aphids will leave them alone this year.
yea, spinach!
I like this bed of lavender and lamb's ears together. I keep finding lamb's ears popping up in other odd places......from same friend.....does she know something about these that I don't???
ohh! first year of clematis blooms! I've killed three other clematis, so this is a miracle.
my garden bed right now with pipes for irrigation. Each pipe will go to a different raised bed. I told you my man was cool.....
some sort of daisy plant. I ordered three from some plant mail order. Two are the same and one is different. Guess they weren't cheap for nothing!
this is ajuca (sp?); it's some ground cover I bought for $3 at the community gardener's sale last year. Aren't they pretty? Behind them I seeded some sunflowers. Hopefully the birds will leave the seeds alone this year with the flashing tape fluttering in the breeze.
limey colored spirea, one of my favorites.
I like the furry edged leaves of my tri-colored beech (or is it birch?)
limey ground cover with a geranium. Guess I like lime!
another spirea mixed with catmint (or is it catnip?) In either case, I'm sure I'm commiting some great gardening sin by allowing the noxious weed to grow by my door. But I like them. I can't remember what's growing up the trellis, but it only gave me like 5 small purple flowers earlier. So much for "fragrance".
yellow climbing roses on a trellis (that same cool hubby made); I have to fight aphids every year on this plant. Yesterday I noticed some powdery looking mildew. *sigh*
look at this one! It's columbine. Pretty, huh?
my apricot rhodies are about finished blooming and making way for.....
....the fuschia popping up!
now, this smells heavenly! It's sweet woodruff, grows in the shade, and whafts up its fragrance up to my porch swing. Too bad it covers up everything else!
cool ground cover I got from the market; aren't the rock steps neat?
can't remember the name of this guy, but I like his little blue flowers. It's also a shade plant.
just one of a zillion poppies. Good thing I love poppies. And I plan to seed more, especially a very neat grapey purple variety. Hope my neighbor won't mind.....
raspberries from a friend. The little guys look good (from last year); the bigger ones look a little ill. Maybe we'll see a raspberry or two.....like next year???
look! a little cluster of blueberry flowers! We might get half a dozen blueberries this year! (no, I mean that, like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 berries!)
forget-me-nots. Yes, I know they're weeds. I like them anyway. They came back from last year.
more columbine
I got a bunch of amazing irises by accident. Turns out when my lilac friend's hubby pulled up the lilac tree, a bunch of iris bulbs came with it. So I threw them into the ground lining up my driveway. They came up!
see? And can you see the "Narnia" lamppost my hubby made?
more rock steps with ground covers from the market.
I like these guys. I got them from Home Depot; they are orange and the centers are purple. Too fun! Too bad they're annuals.
another lamppost hubby made (isn't he impressive?)
lupines that survived my "weeding the garden bed" last year. I pulled up a BUNCH of them last year before I realized, "Hey! Those are my lupines I planted from seed!" Whoops!
That's it! Hope you enjoyed the tour!
L.H. Bailey
I have recently come to grips that I happen to like weeds. I mean, there is a vast abundance of dandelions, buttercups and chickweed, along with scotchbroom, foxglove and that incredibly tenacious blackberry vine that pops up in the middle of "nowhere", and yet, everywhere. And given the fact that we have a couple of acres cleared and nowhere near the pockets as deep as landscape divas to plant something else in all its entire place, I've decided that I may as well cultivate a love for what I don't plant. That being the case in the majority of my space, I have also begun to get into the groove and started planting seeds of flowers that I like in pockets here and there.
So I find my cultivated manicured botanical garden mind (ha!) hijacked by scenes of waving meadows, with flowers such as poppies, comfrey and speedwell, sweet rocket, borage and meadow rue. And as I read information regarding these flower habits, I learn quite quickly that these flowers are "self-seeding", "invasive", and "perennial". In other words, they are WEEDS. I guess one woman's flower is another woman's weed. The story goes that the yellow scotchbroom all over our region was originally brought over from Scotland. I imagine some housewife brought a little start with her on the boat, imagining a cute little shrub to remind her of the rolling hills she left behind. Well, I guess we are cut from the same cloth, but don't tell my neighbors. Two years ago I seeded golden poppies on three beds out front. This year I find poppies spouting up here and there and everywhere in between. So I learn to love 'em, scotchbroom and poppy alike, because life's too short to keep pulling them out where I don't want them. Besides, there's something sweet about a poppy showing up in the middle of my spinach bed.
In any case, taking a walk around the property (oh, I love to say that, "property", being that I was in a condo sandwiched between two floors in our last living quarters), I get a little discouraged at the amount of work that still needs to be done. We're talking at least a decade until we can reign in the outside chaos, and mark boundaries with things such as a pond, goat pasture, and small apple orchard (in my mind's eye they live). I watch my children
So, if you're in the mood, and have the time, come take a look at what's growing:
my garden as it is now, roped off, planning for the raised beds.......
....that my man is building for me (isn't he cool?)
yea! beet sprouts! Too bad I'm the only one in my family that likes beets, but hey: sprouts!
lilac blooms from a tree a friend gave me...there are a grand total of seven blooms on the tree; it was pretty mad at me for the
climbing rose from same friend's yard....I think the blooms are purple, but nothing's popped open yet. Maybe the aphids will leave them alone this year.
yea, spinach!
I like this bed of lavender and lamb's ears together. I keep finding lamb's ears popping up in other odd places......from same friend.....does she know something about these that I don't???
ohh! first year of clematis blooms! I've killed three other clematis, so this is a miracle.
my garden bed right now with pipes for irrigation. Each pipe will go to a different raised bed. I told you my man was cool.....
some sort of daisy plant. I ordered three from some plant mail order. Two are the same and one is different. Guess they weren't cheap for nothing!
this is ajuca (sp?); it's some ground cover I bought for $3 at the community gardener's sale last year. Aren't they pretty? Behind them I seeded some sunflowers. Hopefully the birds will leave the seeds alone this year with the flashing tape fluttering in the breeze.
limey colored spirea, one of my favorites.
I like the furry edged leaves of my tri-colored beech (or is it birch?)
limey ground cover with a geranium. Guess I like lime!
another spirea mixed with catmint (or is it catnip?) In either case, I'm sure I'm commiting some great gardening sin by allowing the noxious weed to grow by my door. But I like them. I can't remember what's growing up the trellis, but it only gave me like 5 small purple flowers earlier. So much for "fragrance".
yellow climbing roses on a trellis (that same cool hubby made); I have to fight aphids every year on this plant. Yesterday I noticed some powdery looking mildew. *sigh*
look at this one! It's columbine. Pretty, huh?
my apricot rhodies are about finished blooming and making way for.....
....the fuschia popping up!
now, this smells heavenly! It's sweet woodruff, grows in the shade, and whafts up its fragrance up to my porch swing. Too bad it covers up everything else!
cool ground cover I got from the market; aren't the rock steps neat?
can't remember the name of this guy, but I like his little blue flowers. It's also a shade plant.
just one of a zillion poppies. Good thing I love poppies. And I plan to seed more, especially a very neat grapey purple variety. Hope my neighbor won't mind.....
raspberries from a friend. The little guys look good (from last year); the bigger ones look a little ill. Maybe we'll see a raspberry or two.....like next year???
look! a little cluster of blueberry flowers! We might get half a dozen blueberries this year! (no, I mean that, like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 berries!)
forget-me-nots. Yes, I know they're weeds. I like them anyway. They came back from last year.
more columbine
I got a bunch of amazing irises by accident. Turns out when my lilac friend's hubby pulled up the lilac tree, a bunch of iris bulbs came with it. So I threw them into the ground lining up my driveway. They came up!
see? And can you see the "Narnia" lamppost my hubby made?
more rock steps with ground covers from the market.
I like these guys. I got them from Home Depot; they are orange and the centers are purple. Too fun! Too bad they're annuals.
another lamppost hubby made (isn't he impressive?)
lupines that survived my "weeding the garden bed" last year. I pulled up a BUNCH of them last year before I realized, "Hey! Those are my lupines I planted from seed!" Whoops!
That's it! Hope you enjoyed the tour!
Blessings,
Keri Mae
Keri Mae
Permanent Link
May. 15, 2007
7:01 AM
Walking Before God
Genesis 17:1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
I’m excited to be back in the book of Genesis again, and I continue to be amazed at how God uses this Book to speak to my heart. It doesn’t matter how many times I read a passage, without fail I willl see something anew that I completely passed over before. For example, I read that when Noah got into the ark, a whole seven days passed before God closed the door. Did all of the people he had preached repentance to actually have the opportunity to get onto the boat? This was a revelation to me. God saved whomever got onto the ark at his invitation to “come”. My hubby said it is the same today; the offer stands, the ark awaits; but someday the door will shut.
Anyhow, when the Lord appears to Abram in Genesis 17:1, 13 years had passed from the time of Ishmael’s birth. You might remember that Abram’s wife Sarah took it upon herself to provide a way for her husband to have the son God had promised to her. And Abram didn’t exactly disagree with the reasonable idea of impregnating another woman to cause it to come about. After all, Abram was 75 years old when God promised him a son, and well, that’s a lot of years of waiting that occured without any baby showing up. So, figuring the Lord needed some help, Ishmael was conceived and grew up, well on his way to becoming the “wild man” whose hand will be against every man (Gen 16:12), which we see today in the Middle Eastern world.
What struck me in Genesis 17, verse 1was God’s words, “I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.” Three parts: who God is (I am), the command (walk before me), and the result (be thou perfect). Now, I know that some people read that verse and think God is saying TO be perfect, that is, manifest perfection that only God Himself embodies. I don’t think that is what He is saying here, but at the risk of being wrong (always a risk!), here is what I am thinking.
When God speaks of “walking before” in other verses, it is usually tied to a promise:
1 Samuel 2:30 Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the LORD saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
1 Samuel 2:35 And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever.
1 Kings 2:4 That the LORD may continue his word which he spake concerning me, saying, If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee (said he) a man on the throne of Israel.
1 Kings 8:23 And he said, LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart:
1 Kings 8:25 Therefore now, LORD God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel; so that thy children take heed to their way, that they walk before me as thou hast walked before me.
1 Kings 9:4 And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments:5 Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel.
2 Chronicles 6:14 And said, O LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee in the heaven, nor in the earth; which keepest covenant, and shewest mercy unto thy servants, that walk before thee with all their hearts:
2 Chronicles 7:17 And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded thee, and shalt observe my statutes and my judgments; 18 Then will I stablish the throne of thy kingdom, according as I have covenanted with David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man to be ruler in Israel.
Psalms 56:13 For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?
This verse talks about the vanity of life, in that no one escapes the grave, regardless of how they walk:
Ecclesiastes 6:8 For what hath the wise more than the fool? what hath the poor, that knoweth to walk before the living?
And,of course, in light of all of that, isn’t Ps 116:9 our heart’s cry?
Psalms 116:9 I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.
So, what does it mean to “walk before” the Lord?
To walk, in Scripture, is “to live and act or behave; to pursue a particular course of life.” There are many ways to walk:
*To walk with God, to live in obedience to his commands, and have communion with him. Genesis 5.
*To walk in darkness, to live in ignorance, error and sin, without comfort. 1 John 1.
*To walk in the light, to live in the practice of religion, and to enjoy its consolations. 1 John 1.
*To walk by faith, to live in the firm belief of the gospel and its promises, and to rely on Christ for salvation. 2 Corinthians 5.
*To walk through the fire, to be exercised with severe afflictions. Isaiah 43.
*To walk after the flesh, to indulge sensual appetites, and to live in sin. Romans 8.
*To walk after the Spirit, to be guided by the counsels and influences of the Spirit and by the word of God, and to live a life of holy deportment.
*To walk in the flesh, to live this natural life, which is subject to infirmities and calamities. 2 Corinthians 10.
I looked up “before” in the 1828 dictionary. To walk “before” the Lord, means: In presence of, with the idea of power, authority, respect, in sight of; as before the face. This was a great definition! I was thinking about these two little words, “walk before”. Was God saying to walk ahead of Him? Doesn’t He want me to follow Him? And if He did, wouldn’t He have just said “follow”? And then of course we have so many promises about His presence, so wouldn’t that include His walking with us? Popping open the 1828 dictionary is so great in illuminating words and meaning.
Lastly, I had to continue and ponder the whole “perfect” part. The word comes from the Latin perfectus, and it means (get this) “to complete”. To complete! Does this sound familiar?:
John 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
You don’t have to be perfect. Not only has God perfected you in Christ Jesus, the job is finished. When God sees you, He sees nothing defective, a perfect likeness to His Son, someone complete. When WE see OURSELVES, we see the IMperfections, the mistakes, the weaknesses, the failings. I guess this begs the question: whose eyes do you trust more?
But going back to our orginal verse:
I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
I see that God, the only wise and glorious Father and Creator of us all, commands us to to live and act or behave as one of His own, walking in obedience to his commands, having communion with him, in the light, by faith, after the Spirit and by the word of God. He is our completion and perfection.
Genesis 17:3 And Abram fell on his face......
May we have the same heart’s response as we walk before God.
I’m excited to be back in the book of Genesis again, and I continue to be amazed at how God uses this Book to speak to my heart. It doesn’t matter how many times I read a passage, without fail I willl see something anew that I completely passed over before. For example, I read that when Noah got into the ark, a whole seven days passed before God closed the door. Did all of the people he had preached repentance to actually have the opportunity to get onto the boat? This was a revelation to me. God saved whomever got onto the ark at his invitation to “come”. My hubby said it is the same today; the offer stands, the ark awaits; but someday the door will shut.
Anyhow, when the Lord appears to Abram in Genesis 17:1, 13 years had passed from the time of Ishmael’s birth. You might remember that Abram’s wife Sarah took it upon herself to provide a way for her husband to have the son God had promised to her. And Abram didn’t exactly disagree with the reasonable idea of impregnating another woman to cause it to come about. After all, Abram was 75 years old when God promised him a son, and well, that’s a lot of years of waiting that occured without any baby showing up. So, figuring the Lord needed some help, Ishmael was conceived and grew up, well on his way to becoming the “wild man” whose hand will be against every man (Gen 16:12), which we see today in the Middle Eastern world.
What struck me in Genesis 17, verse 1was God’s words, “I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.” Three parts: who God is (I am), the command (walk before me), and the result (be thou perfect). Now, I know that some people read that verse and think God is saying TO be perfect, that is, manifest perfection that only God Himself embodies. I don’t think that is what He is saying here, but at the risk of being wrong (always a risk!), here is what I am thinking.
When God speaks of “walking before” in other verses, it is usually tied to a promise:
1 Samuel 2:30 Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the LORD saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
1 Samuel 2:35 And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever.
1 Kings 2:4 That the LORD may continue his word which he spake concerning me, saying, If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee (said he) a man on the throne of Israel.
1 Kings 8:23 And he said, LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart:
1 Kings 8:25 Therefore now, LORD God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel; so that thy children take heed to their way, that they walk before me as thou hast walked before me.
1 Kings 9:4 And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments:5 Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel.
2 Chronicles 6:14 And said, O LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee in the heaven, nor in the earth; which keepest covenant, and shewest mercy unto thy servants, that walk before thee with all their hearts:
2 Chronicles 7:17 And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded thee, and shalt observe my statutes and my judgments; 18 Then will I stablish the throne of thy kingdom, according as I have covenanted with David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man to be ruler in Israel.
Psalms 56:13 For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?
This verse talks about the vanity of life, in that no one escapes the grave, regardless of how they walk:
Ecclesiastes 6:8 For what hath the wise more than the fool? what hath the poor, that knoweth to walk before the living?
And,of course, in light of all of that, isn’t Ps 116:9 our heart’s cry?
Psalms 116:9 I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.
So, what does it mean to “walk before” the Lord?
To walk, in Scripture, is “to live and act or behave; to pursue a particular course of life.” There are many ways to walk:
*To walk with God, to live in obedience to his commands, and have communion with him. Genesis 5.
*To walk in darkness, to live in ignorance, error and sin, without comfort. 1 John 1.
*To walk in the light, to live in the practice of religion, and to enjoy its consolations. 1 John 1.
*To walk by faith, to live in the firm belief of the gospel and its promises, and to rely on Christ for salvation. 2 Corinthians 5.
*To walk through the fire, to be exercised with severe afflictions. Isaiah 43.
*To walk after the flesh, to indulge sensual appetites, and to live in sin. Romans 8.
*To walk after the Spirit, to be guided by the counsels and influences of the Spirit and by the word of God, and to live a life of holy deportment.
*To walk in the flesh, to live this natural life, which is subject to infirmities and calamities. 2 Corinthians 10.
I looked up “before” in the 1828 dictionary. To walk “before” the Lord, means: In presence of, with the idea of power, authority, respect, in sight of; as before the face. This was a great definition! I was thinking about these two little words, “walk before”. Was God saying to walk ahead of Him? Doesn’t He want me to follow Him? And if He did, wouldn’t He have just said “follow”? And then of course we have so many promises about His presence, so wouldn’t that include His walking with us? Popping open the 1828 dictionary is so great in illuminating words and meaning.
Lastly, I had to continue and ponder the whole “perfect” part. The word comes from the Latin perfectus, and it means (get this) “to complete”. To complete! Does this sound familiar?:
John 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
You don’t have to be perfect. Not only has God perfected you in Christ Jesus, the job is finished. When God sees you, He sees nothing defective, a perfect likeness to His Son, someone complete. When WE see OURSELVES, we see the IMperfections, the mistakes, the weaknesses, the failings. I guess this begs the question: whose eyes do you trust more?
But going back to our orginal verse:
I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
I see that God, the only wise and glorious Father and Creator of us all, commands us to to live and act or behave as one of His own, walking in obedience to his commands, having communion with him, in the light, by faith, after the Spirit and by the word of God. He is our completion and perfection.
Genesis 17:3 And Abram fell on his face......
May we have the same heart’s response as we walk before God.
Blessings,
Keri Mae
Keri Mae
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All material contained on this page and this website are protected under international Copyright. Permission is granted to reprint any article from this site as long as the article is printed in its entirity, and the website address is included with my name. Thank you!
