Sacred Mundane: The Blog

Today when I put your 3T jeans on I stared at your bare ankles in disbelief.  We stood you up against the measuring stick and confirmed our suspicions–2 inches in 2 months!

You’re growing up.

This week I sat and re-read all my posts from this week four years ago, all the pregnant anxious waiting and feeling heavy with hoping and wanting to see you and longing to hold you in my arms. And when I expected a fast labor you surprised me with your looong hard labor and then you came with your head full of dark curly hair and you’ve been surprising me ever since.

You’re entirely different from anything I ever expected.

Of course, I see bits of me in you. You cry–hysterically–when you do something naughty and get caught. You’re sensitive. You’re silly.

But this is what makes you so altogether fascinating and captivating: You’re absolutely convinced that everyone loves you.

That is a precious quality, Heidi, one that will get you into trouble but should be preserved nonetheless. It’s so far from pride. It’s innocence and delight all rolled into a ball. The other night as we sat around the dinner table, we took turns sharing what the highlight of our day had been. When it was my turn, I sat and thought for a moment, “Hmm…what was my highlight?”

You beamed and chimed-in to help me:

“Being with me!”

Yes, Heidi. My highlight was being with you. Of course it was. And of course you know nothing but love. You haven’t met rejection yet. You know nothing but shining. And it is this assurance-of-being-loved that makes you so fascinating. You twirl and laugh and run and play tricks and tell jokes and throw your three-year-old self into this world with reckless abandon.

I pray to God to preserve that precious quality of yours. 

Because this is the last day of 3. And tomorrow you’ll be four and then fourteen and your jeans no longer fit and  you’re growing up and someday you will feel the sting of rejection. The deep pain of a blow to the heart. You’ll look in the mirror and not absolutely adore what you see.

This world shouts its harshness at us loud.

But if this assurance, this foundation of being absolutely convinced that you are loved–if that can be rooted deep enough, nothing else will shake that. 

That’s my job.

That’s your job.

If, by our tenacious affection and our tireless nurturing, training, discipline, by the truth of God’s Word and the power of God’s Spirit, we can show our children that we are wildly fond of them, that we’ve gone completely cuckoo crazy for them, we can convince them to the core that they are loved. By us and by God.

They will trust us when they know they are loved by us.

They will trust God when they know they are loved by Him.

We spend most of our time celebrating firsts. But today I’m celebrating your last day of 3 and praying–pleading–that you’ll continue to know with everything in you that you are loved beyond comprehension. For all the parenting books and child-rearing techniques, it boils down to showing you the love of Jesus Christ.

On your last day of 3, that is my prayer:

For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:14-19)

May you continue to be absolutely convinced that my day’s highlight is being with you, and may you know the crazy-love of Christ all your days. Happy birthday baby-girl.

{May you all know this love too. Thanks for reading.}

Thanks to Anna for this post today. Perhaps today the simple gift you can give your husband is an honest confession and a humble request for him to pray for you. You might find yourself happier … and he might stand a little taller because you asked for his help.

~

Ephesians 5:25-27, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any

other blemish, but holy and blameless.”

I love Anna’s heart in this post. Perhaps you might ask your husband to pray for you today. And however he does that — with confidence or riddled with insecurity — receive it with thanks and encourage him in EVERY effort he makes to lead you closer to Christ. Happy Valentine’s Day. Thanks for reading. 

Every single year I read through Exodus 18 in late January or early February and every single time it’s a schedule tune-up.  Once a year, God inevitably puts His finger on some aspect of my life and says, “What you are doing is not good.”

Here’s the scene: Moses was sitting, from morning until evening, every single day, listening to the disputes of people and giving direction, wisdom–leading them.  His father-in-law Jethro comes to visit, sees all this, and says, “What you are doing is not good. You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you.  You are not able to do it alone.”

What you are doing is not good.

Hmm.  I can only imagine how Jethro expanded on this: Not only is it not good for yourself, because you will get worn out, but it is not good for the people either, because the leadership, wisdom, and advice that they will receive from you will be less than stellar–it will be tired, irritated, annoyed advice and leadership rather than rested, well-thought-through advice and leadership.  Not only that, but perhaps (total speculation here), Moses’ father-in-law looked down with the eyes of a grandpa and a father and looked at his daughter Zipporah and at his little grandbabies and was a little protective, realizing that these Israelites were getting 90% of Moses’ time, rather than his family. Again, it says that nowhere in the Bible, but it’s interesting that it’s Grandpa who steps in and says, “Enough is enough!  You’re doing too much. Get out of there and spend some time with your babies and wife!”

All of this reminds me of the book of Nehemiah. In Chapter 3 Nehemiah assembled the team to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. It took a team of many people it took to pick up those stones and assemble the various portions. Each person had their our own stones to pick up, carry, and stack on the wall, and they each needed to shoulder their own stones.  As leaders, people often come to us with their ideas for ministry and activities (hinting that we should do it). I remember Joel once saying that when people do that he would wag his finger playfully and say, “Are you trying to give me your stones?  It sure feels like you’re trying to give me your stones… I think those are your stones!”

So true. Some of us have this tendency, as we’re picking up our own stones, to look around and see all the heaps of stones around us and feel so overwhelmed that we just start picking up everybody else’s stones too!  Heck, there are stones to pick up I might as well pick them up!  I remember a few years ago I had this vision of myself, with Dutch hanging on my back, Heidi in a front pack crying, holding my husband’s sack lunch in one hand, my Bible teaching notes in the other, my laptop tucked between my knees, a laundry basket balanced on my head, picking up toys off the ground with my toes, and then trying to figure out how in the world I was going to pick up all these stinkin’ stones that are laying around!  Then God’s Word walks up beside me, and taps me on the shoulder:

“Hey, guess what? Those aren’t your stones.”

So as with any adjustment period, it takes a while to figure things out, make adjustments, and discern what stays and what goes.  I’m sorting through my stones and asking God exactly which ones He’d like me to stack on the wall, and which ones He wants me to leave on the ground, because they’re someone else’s stones to stack.

And now, it is 7am and the house is awake and alive with energy and little hungry bellies.

It’s time to stack some stones.

Thanks for reading.