Martin Luther on parenting (alluding to King Manasseh's actions in 2 Kings 21):
What else is it but to sacrifice one's own child to an idol and burn it when parents train their children more in the love of the world than in the love of God, and let their children go their own way and get burned up in worldly pleasure, love, enjoyment, lust, goods, and honor, but let God's love and honor and the love of eternal blessings be extinguished in them?
Thursday, January 24, 2008
When I Can't Find a Parking Space
My sweet husband forwarded this post to me and I really got a lot out of it. I will give a little teaser, but I highly recommend reading the real thing. Just save it until you have 5 free minutes and read it then. It is very applicable to anyone living the christian life.
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Rich Bledsoe says that when we get all miffed because we can't find a parking spot (or can't...you fill in the blank) we should train ourselves to give thanks because that is the training ground for much bigger things. If we are used to grumbling when little things go wrong then what will we do when the big disaster hits our life? We train ourselves to give thanks in all things knowing that there is a reason that God has ordained these little inconveniences. He also wrote a follow up dealing with how to balance grief and thanksgiving. Very good!
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Rich Bledsoe says that when we get all miffed because we can't find a parking spot (or can't...you fill in the blank) we should train ourselves to give thanks because that is the training ground for much bigger things. If we are used to grumbling when little things go wrong then what will we do when the big disaster hits our life? We train ourselves to give thanks in all things knowing that there is a reason that God has ordained these little inconveniences. He also wrote a follow up dealing with how to balance grief and thanksgiving. Very good!
From a forward...
I got a forwarded e-mail today and took this little excerpt from it to share with you...
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When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'You're gonna love it there.'
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How true. I hope that that is what we are creating here: a home that does put extra demands on our adult kids...that does not stress them out. Instead I want to create a home that comforts and blesses them. A home that they can't wait to visit. And, I hope that we are, by then, friends that they can't wait to sit down and chat with.
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When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'You're gonna love it there.'
~~~~~~~~~~
How true. I hope that that is what we are creating here: a home that does put extra demands on our adult kids...that does not stress them out. Instead I want to create a home that comforts and blesses them. A home that they can't wait to visit. And, I hope that we are, by then, friends that they can't wait to sit down and chat with.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Another great one...
Yes, here is another wonderful post by Nancy Wilson. It is practical things to do to stay in fellowship with your spouse. No matter how good of a marriage you have there are always bumps in the road. After all, we are both sinners! The difference is seen in how those bumps are handled. Humility and forgiveness need to be common in the christian marriage.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Late Afternoon Routine
I came across this post a while back and printed it off for myself. It outlines what this gal does in the afternoons with her kids to keep things under control.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Birth Control
I happened upon this post by a woman who used to be part of the "Quiverfull" movement and has since been conviced that birth control is ok. I really appreciated her honesty as she recapped her journey.
Also on this topic, Douglas Wilson wrote a wonderful and balanced post that can be found here. It is not long, but definitely worth your time.
Also on this topic, Douglas Wilson wrote a wonderful and balanced post that can be found here. It is not long, but definitely worth your time.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Cinnamon Rolls
I love them. I really love cinnamon rolls. I have tried numerous recipes during our almost 10 years of marriage and have never found one that was worth making twice...until now. Here is a wonderful recipe that makes 7 round pans of rolls. You can make a smaller batch, give them away, or make them and freeze them for later. I froze them and they were still great. I have a couple of notes about this recipe. When she says pour 1 1/2 to 2 cups of melted butter on the dough, that is for the entire recipe, not just the 1/2 that you just rolled out. That goes for the 1 cup of sugar too. I made this mistake the first time and had a lake of cinnamon, sugar, and butter on my counter when I tried to roll them up. Second, I loved the maple icing, but this recipe would also be great with a cream cheese icing. I hope you like them!
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Name the sin
N.T. Wright said the following in an interview here. I have posted my own little application after the quote.
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In Miroslav Volf’s excellent book Exclusion and Embrace, his basic argument is this: Whether we are dealing with international relations or one-on-one personal relations, evil must be named and confronted. There must be no sliding around it, no attempt—whether for the sake of an easy life or in search of a quick fix—to present it as if it wasn’t so bad after all. Only when that has been done, when both the evil and the evil doer have been identified as what and who they are—this is what Volf means by “exclusion”—can there be the second move towards the “embrace” of the one who has deeply hurt and wounded us or me.
If I have named the evil, and done my best to offer genuine forgiveness and reconciliation, then I am free to love the person even if they don’t want to respond.
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When I read this I thought about an application to child rearing. You have to be able to "name" your child's sin. You cannot effectively train them to be a holy person, a good Christian, if you are constantly glossing over their sin and calling it something else. True, kids sin more when they are tired, hungry, or dirty and we should help them by keeping them well rested, fed, and clean. But, when they sin we need to see it as sin and teach them to see it that way too. Only then can they learn to confess it and fight against it with God's help. We cripple our kids if we constantly make excuses for their sin. We need to help them fight it and gain the victory! Then they will "...give you peace; he will bring delight to your soul" Prov 29:17.
*As a side note, another book by the above mentioned author looks good. It is called Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace.
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In Miroslav Volf’s excellent book Exclusion and Embrace, his basic argument is this: Whether we are dealing with international relations or one-on-one personal relations, evil must be named and confronted. There must be no sliding around it, no attempt—whether for the sake of an easy life or in search of a quick fix—to present it as if it wasn’t so bad after all. Only when that has been done, when both the evil and the evil doer have been identified as what and who they are—this is what Volf means by “exclusion”—can there be the second move towards the “embrace” of the one who has deeply hurt and wounded us or me.
If I have named the evil, and done my best to offer genuine forgiveness and reconciliation, then I am free to love the person even if they don’t want to respond.
~~~~~~
When I read this I thought about an application to child rearing. You have to be able to "name" your child's sin. You cannot effectively train them to be a holy person, a good Christian, if you are constantly glossing over their sin and calling it something else. True, kids sin more when they are tired, hungry, or dirty and we should help them by keeping them well rested, fed, and clean. But, when they sin we need to see it as sin and teach them to see it that way too. Only then can they learn to confess it and fight against it with God's help. We cripple our kids if we constantly make excuses for their sin. We need to help them fight it and gain the victory! Then they will "...give you peace; he will bring delight to your soul" Prov 29:17.
*As a side note, another book by the above mentioned author looks good. It is called Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Sayers on Christian Living
Pastor Lusk once again sent out a great quote by Dorothy Sayers. I just had to share this...
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The Church's approach to an intelligent carpenter is usually confined to exhorting him not to be drunk and disorderly in his leisure hours, and to come to church on Sundays. What the Church should be telling him is this: that the very first demand that his religion makes upon him is that he should make good tables. Church by all means, and decent forms of amusement, certainly—but what use is all that if in the very center of his life and occupation he is insulting God with bad carpentry? No crooked table legs or ill-fitting drawers ever came out of the carpenter's shop at Nazareth. Nor, if they did, could anyone believe that they were made by the same hand that made Heaven and earth.
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The Church's approach to an intelligent carpenter is usually confined to exhorting him not to be drunk and disorderly in his leisure hours, and to come to church on Sundays. What the Church should be telling him is this: that the very first demand that his religion makes upon him is that he should make good tables. Church by all means, and decent forms of amusement, certainly—but what use is all that if in the very center of his life and occupation he is insulting God with bad carpentry? No crooked table legs or ill-fitting drawers ever came out of the carpenter's shop at Nazareth. Nor, if they did, could anyone believe that they were made by the same hand that made Heaven and earth.
The family and the church
Below I am copying a great post by Peter Leithart. The original post can be found on his blog.
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As soon as Adam sins, his marriage is disrupted, as he becomes Eve’s accuser instead of her guardian. In the next generation, sibling rivalry escalates to the first murder. The family is a fallen institution. It cannot redeem. It needs to be redeemed.
The story continues throughout the Old Testament. The families of the patriarchs are often riven by rivalry between son and son, wife and wife, father and son. David’s sons compete and kill for the throne, and in the very last book of the Old Testament Malachi is still talking about divorce. The family cannot redeem. It needs to be redeemed.
It can only be redeemed by incorporation into the family of God, the church. Families are independent. Fathers and mothers have real authority over their children, and elders do not micromanage family life. Each family has its own table, its own proper ways and habits and memories and hopes.
But families function rightly only if they submit to the oversight of the elders in a church family. The family table is a place of joy and celebration only when the family also gathers together at the table of the heavenly Father. Marriages are healthy when they are engrafted into a network of marriages. We can raise our children well only with the assistance of the brothers and sisters, the aunts and uncles and mothers and grandfathers, the kin network of the church.
This doesn’t happen by magic. It happens when we all take responsibility for the next generation. Through the Spirit, we are all members of one another, and that means that we need to be assisting one another in raising children. Whenever we have a baptism, we promise to assist the parents in the Christian nurture of their children. Are we keeping those promises?
~~~~~~~~
As soon as Adam sins, his marriage is disrupted, as he becomes Eve’s accuser instead of her guardian. In the next generation, sibling rivalry escalates to the first murder. The family is a fallen institution. It cannot redeem. It needs to be redeemed.
The story continues throughout the Old Testament. The families of the patriarchs are often riven by rivalry between son and son, wife and wife, father and son. David’s sons compete and kill for the throne, and in the very last book of the Old Testament Malachi is still talking about divorce. The family cannot redeem. It needs to be redeemed.
It can only be redeemed by incorporation into the family of God, the church. Families are independent. Fathers and mothers have real authority over their children, and elders do not micromanage family life. Each family has its own table, its own proper ways and habits and memories and hopes.
But families function rightly only if they submit to the oversight of the elders in a church family. The family table is a place of joy and celebration only when the family also gathers together at the table of the heavenly Father. Marriages are healthy when they are engrafted into a network of marriages. We can raise our children well only with the assistance of the brothers and sisters, the aunts and uncles and mothers and grandfathers, the kin network of the church.
This doesn’t happen by magic. It happens when we all take responsibility for the next generation. Through the Spirit, we are all members of one another, and that means that we need to be assisting one another in raising children. Whenever we have a baptism, we promise to assist the parents in the Christian nurture of their children. Are we keeping those promises?
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