Michimomto3
• Jan. 19, 2006 - God's ways are not burdensome....
|
I read this today in an article that was talking about doing everything from scratch. I've really been contemplating that thought. It's so easy to be overwhelmed with homeschooling, homemaking and homekeeping, doing things from scratch, and the list goes on. But this person is right. God's ways are not burdensome. However, does that necessarily mean that His ways are easy, or without effort? I'm sure the answer is no, but I'm going to have to think a bit on how to tell when I'm "burdened" or when I'm just tired from an honest day's hard work. One thing I am finding, as I strive to live "the simple life" is that simple does NOT equal easy. Simple also requires that I buck the culture more and more. It's almost like a "reprogramming" of living a fast-paced lifestyle where you are dependant on others (i.e. retailers) to provide for your needs, to one where you stay at home, and learn to meet your own needs. (i.e. your son needs a new winter hat because he outgrew the old one, so instead of packing up the kids and heading to Target and spending lots of money, you sit down and knit one in 2 afternoons. I just did this. Yes, it "took me longer" to knit the hat and it took me a week to knit one for each child, but it was far "less stressful" to sit on the couch for 30 or 45 minutes each afternoon and have the chance for my brain to actually rest and THINK while I knitted away. I guarantee you a trip to Target with 3 children in tow would have been far less restful!) |
Comments (1) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Jan. 17, 2006 -
| I went to church Sunday evening to welcome our new Pastor of Student Ministries, but I was unprepared for the overflowing heart I'd leave with after the challenge that night. You see, it was a very unique and blessed situation. After a year without a youth pastor, God brought to us an amazing servant, more grounded in the Word of God than men twice his age. He and his lovely wife are only in their very early twenties! What made the night unique special was that his father, a senior pastor in another church, was asked to come and give the challenge to his son. What a blessing to witness! Watching a godly man, who obviously has walked a lifetime with God, challenge his son to serve in the same way was a treat that God "let" the rest of us "watch"! What I wasn't expecting, however, was how this man's challenge to his son in ministry, was going to be used by the Holy Spirit to encourage me "to overflowing" in my own life. Only God can take truth and apply it to each life uniquely! A few things that stood out: First - he challenged his son that a Pastor needs to first remember who he works for. Yes, there is authority to submit to, but God alone is who he will ultimately stand accountable to. It made me think, really - it's the same with me. I might "think" there are lots of people that I need to please... but God is really my only boss. When I make decisions about what needs to be done in my home, with my husband or children... whether it's academic related or not... do I remember this? I tend to worry about "what the authorities might think if I was ever checked out", or how what I'm doing in my home "measures" up to an institutional school standard. God is my boss. He is the One to whom I am accountable. Yes, there is authority to submit to (my husband, state laws) but ultimately it is God I need to listen to and follow when it comes to guiding my service to my family. Second - He challenged his son to not shy away from working hard and devoting himself to that which the Lord has called him to do. I realized that I far too often, forget, that being a wife and mother is a CALLING the Lord has specifically placed upon my life. While my heart knows this, and I am certainly not lazy or undisciplined in my home, I am not always working as "one devoted to that which the Lord has called him to do". The position that the Lord has graciously put me in as a wife and a mother is a position of honor - and one of service. You see - the real merit of the position comes not in the job description, but it's value is in WHO has given it to me. If a King entrusted one of his servants with a specific duty, that servant would wholly devote himself to it, primarily because it was the King himself who had selected him to carry out the task. As a Christian wife and mother, the King of Kings has singled me out and put me in a place of honored servanthood in my home! I may not like some of the tasks that entails, and I may grow weary and tired, but the King Himself has entrusted this calling to me, and my response should be nothing less than unabandoned devotion! |
Comments (0) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
|
|
|
Page 1 of 1
Last Page | Next Page
|
|
