Week 6

Week 6: September 24-30

Open Our Mind

Focus Verse

Romans 12:1-2

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God--what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Scripture Readings:

• Monday: Romans 2
• Tuesday: Romans 3
• Wednesday: Romans 4
• Thursday: Romans 5
• Friday: Romans 6
• Saturday: Romans 7
• Sunday: Romans 8

Children's Activities

Blogging Mommy of Two

Prayer:

Merciful God, we present our lives as a sacrifice.  We come before you awkward and clumsy.  Give us the courage to consider ourselves worth giving to you.  Fill our minds with joy and transform us into people who believe wholeheartedly and whole-mindedly that the Kingdom of Heaven is here, and fill us with the certain knowledge that life is full and abundant and holy.  Open our minds to the hand of the creator in the world around us.  Help us to tread deeply in the Spirit and step away from what our minds conceive into the mystery of your kingdom.

Amen   

I have a dream...

Or I would have if I ever slept more than three minutes together. You know that moment when you are crying-tired but the minions are so determined that you will not sleep that you give up?

I day dream about night dreams. There was the time that Luke spent the night in a cardboard box and came home feeling kinda rested.

Kids are bad for your health.

But, here I am, forced to my knees. I find it is so much easier to notice the little things in life when I'm lying on the floor in a puddle of drool. And praying without ceasing goes without saying. Faith as life-support.

God created us in God's image. I feel like a crazy mirror right now. My personal reflection of God looks a bit wild around the edges. Today's scripture affirms our need to cling tenaciously to God. Not with well-rested, self-reliant effort, but with untamed fury. We have tamed these words with memorization and children's songs and apathetic half-application, but these are deep and strong words that run to the core of who we are in God.

Consumed.

Wild.

Determined.

Sleep-deprived-crazy.

Thinking seriously about not driving anywhere today.

Week 5

Week 5: September 17-23

Open Our Hearts

Focus Verse

Luke 10:27

He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”

Scripture Readings:

• Monday: Luke 10:25-37
• Tuesday: Deuteronomy 6:4-5
• Wednesday: Luke 12:13-21
• Thursday: Luke 12:22-34
• Friday: Luke 14
• Saturday: Luke 15
• Sunday: Luke 17:20-21

Children's Activities

Blogging Mommy of Two

Prayer:

We are made in the image of a loving God.  
God help us receive your love.
We are made in the image of a loving God.
God help us to reflect your love.
We are made in the image of a loving God.
God help us share your love.

Amen   

From Mary to Martha

So, I was reading something yesterday that suggested we start each day with a moment of stillness with God.  What a moron.  You know what that would look like for me?  Sleeping.

Guilty sleeping.

So, maybe I went at that one a bit backwards.

Maybe we need to start our morning moment of stillness with sleep.  At night.  Kinda early.

At least that would help me.

So, I dare you to turn off the stuff (after you finish this fine blog) and rest.

Here are some true facts from the internets...

Stepping on a Rake

So, sometimes when you try something you fail.  Like, preschool and blogging and church and housekeeping, so that is why I think it is so funny that this week is my great home preparation week.  It's like life reaches up and smacks you on the forehead and says, "no, mine."  I am not sure why it says that, but it seems that all of creation says that (or MY particular creations anyway).

For example:

Me: Annabel, don't pick on that scab.

AB: NO! STHOPB! ITHBS MINESTH!

Or:

Laine:  Moooooommmmm...why did Annabel eat all the cucummmbeeerrrrrsssss?????

Me: I am sorry, Laine.  Those are her favorite snack.

Laine (for the next 45 minutes): Annnaaaaabbbbeeeeelllll, wwwhhhhyyyyyyy diiiiiiiiid yyyyyooooouuuuu eeeeaaaattt aaaalllll ttthhhheeeeeee cuuuuuucuuuummmmbbbbeeeerrrrrsssss.

ME: AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHGGGGGG!

Laine: Buuuuuuuutttt, ttthhhhhheeeeeeyyyyyy aaaaaaarrrrreeeee mmmmmmiiiinnnnnneeeee.

(Sound of all the air leaving the universe and I refrain from hulking out on him)

Or:

Ollie:  Giggle. (Pulls out all the toilet paper)

Me: No, honey...(moves baby out of the bathroom)

Ollie: aaaarrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhh!

So, sometimes I totally fail.  Sometimes my kids are stinkers.  Sometimes I just want to quit.

But, then God whispers in my ear that God is not found in the organization of my home or the doneness of my laundry or the behavior of my kids: God is in the stillness.  

So, let's do stillness first!  Let's freeze our bodies before we begin each day because quiet may never come.

Week 4

Week 4: September 10-16

Prepare Our Homes

Focus Verse

Philippians 4:8-9

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

Scripture Readings:

• Monday: James 1
• Tuesday: James 2
• Wednesday: James 3
• Thursday: James 4
• Friday: James 5
• Saturday: Proverbs 13:11
• Sunday: Proverbs 24:30-34

Children's Activities

Blogging Mommy of Two

Prayer:

We long to sit at your feet, but our lives are busy with the everydayness of life.  We long to serve you, but our schedules are tight.  We long to serve others, but we just need to tidy up a but first.  Help us to discipline ourselves so that we are available to your call both to sit and to serve.  Help us to simplify our lives to give us room to reach out.  Bless our homes that we might bless others.  

Amen   

Week 3

Week 3: September 3-9

Prepare Our Minds

Focus Verse

Micah 6:8

He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Scripture Readings:

• Monday: Acts 2:1-13
• Tuesday: Acts 2:14-41
• Wednesday: Acts 2: 42-47
• Thursday: Acts 3:1-10
• Friday: Acts 3:11-26
• Saturday: Psalm 1
• Sunday: Isaiah 58

Children's Activities

Blogging Mommy of Two

Prayer:

Triune God, we are stumped by you.  We cannot comprehend your greatness and we never fail to pare you down to our size.  Forgive us for our lack of courage and imagination.  Today we are asking you to open our minds to the things you love.  Help us to have minds that are capable of imagining what it is you are calling us to do.  Help us not to limit you to our capabilities.  Give us the courage to ask.

Amen   

No, Actually I Am Superman

Laine...

Actual quote.

Also, his new favorite phrase is, "[Distracted Parent], I have a question."  "Yes?"  "I do not understand why the [light is red...the floor is down...it takes a long time to be my birthday...]"  Oh, almost four, I giggle at you.

Also, he wants to be big but it is killing him.  He wants the thrill of being able to do new things, but he is terrified of leaving babyhood.  The little guy still uses his plugger at night time (go ahead and judge our parenting...I dare you) and I am pretty sure he is worried that growing up will end that.  BUT, he is begging to read and write.  My plan was to hold him off until he turned five or six to introduce any visuals besides picture books, but we kinda live in a world full of words and he is noticing.  So, Mama's plan is being deferred to honor Laine's natural rhythm.

So, you ask, did you set up the class room?  Is everything ready?  No.  I tried.  The kids were patient.  I am close, but I couldn't finish.

In true homeschooler fashion we will be using the kitchen table.  Isn't that where all the action is anyway?  I am nervous about really saying it out loud, but we are doing this.  Homeschooling.  Please pray for us.

And what about the soul searching?  I am here.  Searching away.  And God is such a gentle God.  My prayer is that God will prepare my heart this week, and each day I feel myself healing from all these incessant moves.  A gentle God.

Except I keep getting glimpses.  Exciting.  Heavy.  Heartbreaking.  Joyful.

And Jesus only expects perfection, so no worries.

Salt and Light

We are starting preschool next week.  Yes we are.  And we are so excited.  

This is requiring that I move the junk in the basement.

Turns out we have lots and lots of...things.  Tools, fabric, yarn, toys, frames (why do I have so many frames...I don't buy frames), shovels, flashlights, scrap wood and about 200 canning jars.  So, I am sorting and trashing and giving and realizing that there has to be a time for this.  Before I can focus on preschool, I HAVE to order our space.  

I have always been puzzled by the story of Mary and Martha.  Why is Jesus so hard on Martha?  I mean, didn't he want dinner?  Wouldn't it have been nice if Mary had helped with the dishes so they could both go visit?  Sometimes I want Jesus to just walk in with a couple of bullet points listing which behavior will be the right flavor of the day.  Is this a sit at your feet day or a find some loaves and fishes day?  Is this a harvest grain on the Sabbath day or a "consider the lilies" day?

Truth is I don't know the answer, but along with the sermon we read today, Jesus also told a story about ten virgins with lamps.  Five took the time to fill their lamps when they got low, and five didn't.  

So, Jesus tells us that we have to be salt and light.  

Light.

With energy.

So sometimes we just have to jerk a knot in ordinary time and plop down at Jesus's feet and get refilled.  Pull over and check our directions if you will.  

Because at the end of today's reading Jesus puts on his mommy voice and tells us he is really serious about us being obedient.  He didn't let his followers off easy.  He came to fulfill the law.  

Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and mind and soul and love you neighbor as yourself.  

Jesus came to make that real.  

So, snuggle in at the feel of Jesus.  Soak it up.  Fill up those lamps.  

PS Anyone need a screwdriver?  I have about 97.

Returning

They say you can never go home.  I don't agree.  You can never reclaim childhood, but you can return to the arms of your family.  Sometimes you NEED to go back home and reconnect.  

We went back to the church where my oldest kids were baptized today.  The children's sermon was about following Jesus.  Laine, in the simple, laser insight of children, told me that it was hard to follow Jesus and he would probably have to wait until he was bigger.  While ushering him out of the sanctuary into the nursery I acknowledged that it was hard to follow Jesus but that's why we do it together.  Then I stopped and thought about what I had just said.  That IS why we bother with all this stuff.  We meet together in so many ways because following Jesus is hard and being together makes it easier.

So, how was this week.  Every moment was transcendental and meaningful, right?  The scriptures opened up and you were filled with holy purpose, right?  Your spirit found refreshment and encouragement through the collective prayers, right?  Well...I do hope that last one is true.  I was praying for you and I hope you were praying for me.  I struggled to keep up.  I struggled to keep from dashing ahead and guessing at what the end of this journey will bring, but we are here--week 2.  

Week 2: August 27-September 2

Prepare Our Hearts

Focus Verse

Psalm 51:10-12

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.

Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.

Scripture Readings:

• Matthew 5:1-12
• Matthew 5:13-20
• Matthew 5:21-26
• Matthew 5:27-42
• Matthew 5:43-48
• Mark 7:25-30
• Psalm 51

Children's Activities

Blogging Mommy of Two

Prayer:

Lord, we are tired.  We try to love you and your people, but we find that our hearts are weary.  We are stretched and empty.  Prepare our hearts.  Soften them.  Give us the discipline to protect our hearts so that we are available to love.  Give us hope--make us hopeful.  Give us mercy--make us merciful.  Give us love--make us loving.

Amen   

Ruth 2

A word from Chris Osteen (my mom):

Dearest Lord, You who knit us together know our coming and going and every hidden hurt in our human hearts. We are in the midst of our own personal chaos trying to minister to those supposedly more broken than we. You are the perfect place for all to come in our frailty and brokeness. You alone can make the rough places smooth. Strengthen us as we continue to minister. Help us to feed your lambs. Calm our swirling hearts and keep us from growing weary. Bless us oh Lord with Your presence and Your grace. It is our sufficiency. Amen

Thanks Mom!

Stiff Upper Lip

Ruth 1.  Everyone dies then they go home.  Story kinda stinks at this point.  BUT, Ruth is brilliantly played here.  She sneaks in and leaves you breathless.  She sinks her teeth into life and refuses to miss Act 2.  

Some days are just stinkers.  Some days you go to eat with the least of these because you desire to know them and they end up getting in fights and hurling profanity at each other.  Sometimes the sublime meets the real and life is gritty and stupid.  

Sometimes the kids whine and whine and whine!!!

Sometimes you end up sitting on the floor in the back of the church just waiting for everyone to get it together enough to sit in the dang pew.

Sometimes you gamble and lose.  And that is where we meet Ruth.  

And that is why we are opening this time with a prayer for strength.  Because it will take strength to keep going and to try and to lose.  

Luke says I shouldn't go into sales.

Love you all...praying!  

Don't forget to check out Blogging Mommy of Two for more fun!

Week 1

Here we are!  Tomorrow starts Day 1!

Here's how it works: I will post the week's stuff here on the night before it starts and also under the Refresh 2012 tab.  That way, if you don't feel like printing, you can easily find what you want.

Use these resources however you like.  Together we can do this...whatever this is.  Whatever it is, it will be different for each of us, so feel free to share what God is showing you.

I am praying for us!

Week 1: August 22-26 

Give us Strength

Focus Verse (Memory Verse)

Ruth 1:16-17

But Ruth said, “Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; Where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die— there will I be buried. May the Lord do thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!”

Scripture Readings

• Wednesday: Ruth 1
• Thursday: Ruth 2
• Friday: Ruth 3
• Saturday: Ruth 4
• Sunday: Exodus 33:12-23

Children's Activities

Blogging Mommy of Two

Prayer

Dear God, Creator and Parent.  Meet us here in this time and give us strength.  Spirit, fill us as we ask for your blessing and direction.  Jesus the Christ, give us grace to be vessels of your perfect love.  Protect our minds and hearts as we open them to you.  Fill us with the courage to ask to see our neighbors and to be seen by them.  Give us the grace and strength to ask to see your face.  Teach us to love and to hope and to live fully and abundantly.  May your Kingdom come.  Amen

Refresh 2012

I am so excited!

A couple of weeks ago I found myself ruminating about trivial things like the meaning of life and such. BTW, Luke is so grateful that I have this forum to dump my brain into when it gets too frothy (saves his ears...apparently he gets tired of hearing me talk...weird, huh!?).  And I floated a "mid-lear Lent thingy" idea.  That was basically the hook.  And, amazingly, some of you lovely people thought it was a timely idea.  So, that only means one thing...

We are on the verge of a complete and total universal epiphany!

Or...God seems to be moving in the heart of God's church.  God's people are hearing the call to enter into the Kingdom--to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, minds and spirits and to love our neighbors as ourselves.  Simple.  Straightforward.

Love.

Not complicated.

But, oh, so hard.

And the question for me (and maybe for you too) is, how do I hold my neighbor's hand when my arms are already full?  How do I love my children when I haven't slept through the night in years?  Does God have a special place in God's Kingdom for the helpers?  How can I love my neighbors when I am so overwhelmed I can't get through a single hour without wanting to scream?

Easy!  Just read these 46 scriptures, pray these seven prayers, memorize these verses and voila! Done.  Check.  Call discerned, Kingdom brought, love is all around!

Only, no, it doesn't work like that.  Not at all.  God is a God of wimps and losers after all, so more likely, this here "thingy" is going to do nothing but remind you that God's love is perfect, and that you are loved with that perfect, holy, wild, unnatural, magnificent love.  You.  And you.  And me.

So, I will post the 46 scriptures that I will be reading starting Wednesday, August 22, and if you are inclined, join me.  I will post each week's readings on Sunday night along with a theme, prayer, memory verse and (this is so cool!) my friend Stacy will be posting complimentary kid's activities on her blog, Blogging Mommy of Two.  The activities will go right along with the readings and memory verses (so awesome...right?).  She has songs picked out and coloring printables (ooh...need to unpack my printer...and find a place to plug it in...and find the paper...) and all kinds of ways to help kids journey through this with us (told you it was AWESOME).  I stayed up way too late working on a printable thing for each week which looked a lot cooler in my head, but I hope to have something for you to print off.  Also, I hope to have 3-5 reflections each week based on the scriptures.  Hopefully I will have a few guest submissions along the way, so get excited about that!

AFAQ's (Anticipated FAQ's)

Do I have to sign up? No...I wouldn't even know how to do that.

Do I get a prize for finishing 100%?  Do I?  Yes.  A big one.  Do you?  No.

What is the point of this?  To help the helpers be still and remember that, not only is God God, but that God is good.

Can I reblog/repost/rewhatever this material?  Yes.  Please.  If you know someone who might benefit from a print out, send me an address and I will send it.

Can I give your kids a puppy?  No.

Well that about covers it.  I hope.  Leave comments with questions.  Remember, please don't make this a checklist or stressor.  I am simply, simply hoping that "in returning and rest [we] will find strength."

Can we name it?

So there are days when I think longingly about eight uninterrupted hours of...ANYTHING.

Sleep...Work...Reading

But, hey...they are cute interruptions.  Between being up for most of last night, FINALLY, after four weeks of intentions, installing the baby gate, trying to find a solution for the toys, trying to grocery shop WITHOUT a racing car cart (not a good thing folks...I don't care how they used to have to do it...I WANT MY RACING CART...ok...deep breath), and Oliver (my child with five teeth) biting through his tongue, I have been trying to come up with a good name for the mid-year Lent thingy.  Correct me if I am wrong, but things need names, right?!

It certainly makes them more expensive!

train $ Thomas $$
astronaut $ Buzz $$
car $ Lightening McQueen $$

But I digress...

This is what I came up with first: 

What Can I Do: serving the broken hearted when you're overwhelmed.

But then I realized that that is too determinate.  What if God tells me not to do anything?  What if God tells me to do less?  What if God calls me to be served?

So, how about this?

Refresh

You know, what you need when you start getting the spinny-beach-ball face and your voice gets edgy when someone asks for a napkin and you find yourself taking the long way home so that you can sit in the car for three more minutes.

So, join me, if you want, for forty days of asking, resting and returning.  Because, who knows, we might just find good news worth sharing.

PS  If you are good at figuring out free "printables" and would like to make some for this project...let me know.

PPS  I made a button.  So grab it.  And do with it whatever it is you do with them.