1. Wisdom and discernment in all the plans and decisions to be made.
2. Extra strength for the girls and me as we plan and make preparations.
3. For the wife of the city mayor, Idalia Garcia de Diaz, to be able to attend.
4. For the wives of the former mayors to be able to attend.
5. For extra finances for the cost of the Banquet, hotel reservations, plane reservation, etc. for our guest speaker.
6. Preparation of the special music, and choice of each song.
7. For our guest speaker, my son, David Sloan, missionary to Ukraine, as he prepares his message for the evening.
8. For the Hotel staff to be reached with the Gospel.
9. That the Lord would prepare the hearts of the ladies who will be attending, and for many to be saved, who will be an influence to others. We have had ladies saved in every banquet for the past nine years, including two former First Ladies.
10. For wisdom for my son-in-law, Ulises Martinez, our banquet administrator.
NOTE: This banquet is an annual affair, and will be attended by ladies, who for the most part are unsaved, and who either because of religious preferences, or pressures from home, do not attend our Church. The Lord laid these dear ladies on my heart several years ago, and I am as burdened for them as I am for the ladies in my Sunday School class.
Billie Sloan
Nahum 1:7
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, October 11, 2010
October 2010 Prayer Letter
Dear Friends of México,
I can say with all my heart there is no place else on earth I had rather be than right here in Chiapas, doing exactly what I’m doing. I long for more results from my labors, but I rest content, knowing that God is the One Who gives the increase. My job is simply to be faithful.
You may have heard about the flooding in Chiapas. My daughter, Anna, and her husband, Andrés, and their two children were unable to get out of the village where they were attending the wedding of his nephew last weekend, until a canoe arrived, and they rode over water covering the tops of trees. The 20-minute dangerous ride ended safely, and God saw them to the other side of the river. Thank you for your prayers.
It was my joy to have won two ladies to the Lord since my last letter. Another lady who has been attending my monthly ladies’ prayer breakfasts invited me to her home to teach her how to pray. I told her the most important prayer she would ever pray is “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.” Pray that Eva will soon be saved.
Our good friend of many years, Pastor Louis Horton, and two of his members, Bro. Warren Stallard, and Bro. Ernie Flores, were guests here during the month of August. Pastor Horton preached a conference. When they returned to Decatur, TX, Bro. Ernie surrendered to start a Spanish work in their town. Thank the Lord for answering my prayer of nine years!
On the personal side, I received the joyful news that my grandbaby #33 is on the way. Steve and Ruthie are looking forward to the birth of their 7th from Heaven in April, 2011.
In about a month, Lord willing, we will be holding our 12th Annual Ladies’ Christmas Banquet, on November 19. I am sending a list of special requests, and ask that you pray regularly for this event. The greatest need I have is for wisdom.
Your friend and servant,
Billie Sloan
Nahum 1:7
I can say with all my heart there is no place else on earth I had rather be than right here in Chiapas, doing exactly what I’m doing. I long for more results from my labors, but I rest content, knowing that God is the One Who gives the increase. My job is simply to be faithful.
You may have heard about the flooding in Chiapas. My daughter, Anna, and her husband, Andrés, and their two children were unable to get out of the village where they were attending the wedding of his nephew last weekend, until a canoe arrived, and they rode over water covering the tops of trees. The 20-minute dangerous ride ended safely, and God saw them to the other side of the river. Thank you for your prayers.
It was my joy to have won two ladies to the Lord since my last letter. Another lady who has been attending my monthly ladies’ prayer breakfasts invited me to her home to teach her how to pray. I told her the most important prayer she would ever pray is “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.” Pray that Eva will soon be saved.
Our good friend of many years, Pastor Louis Horton, and two of his members, Bro. Warren Stallard, and Bro. Ernie Flores, were guests here during the month of August. Pastor Horton preached a conference. When they returned to Decatur, TX, Bro. Ernie surrendered to start a Spanish work in their town. Thank the Lord for answering my prayer of nine years!
On the personal side, I received the joyful news that my grandbaby #33 is on the way. Steve and Ruthie are looking forward to the birth of their 7th from Heaven in April, 2011.
In about a month, Lord willing, we will be holding our 12th Annual Ladies’ Christmas Banquet, on November 19. I am sending a list of special requests, and ask that you pray regularly for this event. The greatest need I have is for wisdom.
Your friend and servant,
Billie Sloan
Nahum 1:7
Sunday, September 5, 2010
MY KIDS AND ME - Chapter 6
“Hedges”
Did you know I’m using you? You’re my “practice audience,” since I decided to put this book on my blog before actually turning it into a physical book you can touch. Thank you.
Since we have this special relationship, I’ll let you in on a secret: I believe this chapter about Hedges should have gone before Chapter 4, “Blending Routine and Schedule With Extras.” But when it appears in book form, it will be in that order, hopefully.
It’s been a long, long time since my children were little, and times have changed since then. I remember walking into the bedroom of my daughter, Ruthie the day after the birth of her first baby, and gasping at the sight of little Steven lying on his back. I calmly asked her if he shouldn’t perhaps be on his tummy. She also calmly walked across the room and brought me a book entitled, “Why You Should Never Place a Baby on His Tummy.” Wow!
When my babies were little, disposable diapers and Wet Wipes were exclusively for travel and nurseries. Those are common necessities for my grandbabies.
I know there are a lot of things my children do differently in the raising of my grandchildren, and I would never attempt to challenge them, even though their father was a pediatrician. But I stand strong on my convictions concerning hedges.
A hedge is a shrub of sorts. It’s a living plant that keeps in the good, and keeps out the bad. I know that’s oversimplifying, but basically that’s what it is.
But what do hedges have to do with my kids and me? Because that’s the way I survived motherhood.
I am a firm believer in confinement. Confinement is control, and control is order, and order is safety, and safety is security. Hedges are about security. What is it the Bible says about “a child left to himself?” A child left to himself is a child without hedges. A child left to himself is a child out of control. If you live in a home where a child is out of control, there is no order. Where there is no order, there is danger. And danger robs a child of security. Hence poor grades, rebellious teenagers, and drug addicts.
I often have people ask me, “How did you manage eight children when they were growing up, especially the little one?” And I reply, “Playpens, highchairs, car seats, seat belts (even before they were the law), walkers and strollers.”
I remember a missionary lady walking into our little travel trailer one day. Tommy was about a year old, and was playing in his crib. “Your baby will never develop normally if you don’t let him crawl on the floor.”
She had two children about ten and twelve years old, so I really considered her to have much more wisdom than I did. But after observing her uncontrollable son at the dinner table that night, I figured I’d just stick to my confining methods of raising my son.
There is a tendency to feel sorry for a baby who spends most of his waking hours confined to a crib or a playpen. And I believe each mother should let her instincts guide her in many areas of childrearing. But at least from my own experience, when my children ran around all day, pulling out drawers, climbing onto the table, and turning over lamps, just so I could say I didn’t cruelly confine him, “Mama wasn’t happy. And when Mama’s not happy, nobody’s happy.”
When your children are small, you are his hedge maker. You set the boundaries, the limits and the borders. The more physical the hedge, the clearer the limits. I’ve heard of mothers who purposefully put expensive candy dishes…with candy in them…down on a coffee table, and spend half a day spanking little hands. Baby spends the other half crying. I don’t judge you if that’s your method of training. That’s up to you and God.
But wouldn’t it be a lot simpler to put the candy dish out of reach or out of sight? Why complicate your already challenging job? I wonder if a mother like that actually looks forward to each day. I’m sure her child doesn’t.
Should motherhood indeed be a life of battles? I don’t think so. Make it easy on yourself and on your child by making visible hedges. Once the hedges are in place, then the disciplining comes into play when he steps across them. Once a baby is in his crib for naptime, or bedtime, he definitely should not be allowed to convince his mother by crying to take him out.
There are different kinds of hedges you should build around your children, regardless of your philosophy of childrearing. You don’t put your baby to sleep on the front porch the night you bring him home from the hospital. You don’t put him in a tub of water, and take him out when he’s soaked clean. Your arms are the first hedge your baby knows after his birth. Just as your womb was his hedge before birth, so your arms protect him, and provide warmth and security. We’ve all read of abandoned babies left on doorsteps of hospitals, and how that precious little one responds to the arms of a nurse, and the warmth of her body. The first hedge your baby needs is
1. Your love.
Have you ever had company, or gone out to dinner with friends, only to have your little one outdo herself by misbehaving? It is very, very possible that she is vying for your attention. I just had dinner with my daughter, Sarah, and her husband, Jason, and we were discussing how hard it must be to be a working mom with little ones. Whether these children are left with a grandmother, or a “professional” nursemaid, there surely must be a gap in their hedge of security. A child needs the attention of her mother, that no one else can provide, no matter how much that grandmother loves her, or how professional the nursemaid. The second hedge you provide for your child is
2. Your attention.
There is another hedge that is perhaps the hardest to construct, because it requires quite a bit of disciplining your own life. You should live by schedule and routine. That is almost an obsolete concept, I know, in our “do as you please, when you please, with whomever you please” world. There are no hedges around our own lives, and so we find it difficult to put them around our children’s. In a home where self discipline is not practiced by mothers, the children never know what to expect. They don’t know what time dinner will be ready, or if there will even be dinner. They sleep late on weekends, because there is no schedule for weekends.
When our children were growing up, the sky could have fallen in, (and it almost did the day our quiet little mountain village town was attacked by an Indian uprising), but we had three sit-down-around-the-table meals a day. We had family Scripture reading, memorization, songs, and prayer every single morning. Our children knew what the sound of my whistle from the kitchen door meant three times a day, and especially in the mornings. Routinely, they would wash their hands, get their Bibles and come to the table. That was as natural as breathing. Our children were secure in that little routine. Routine and schedule build character. Like it or not, they did it, or they didn’t eat. To my knowledge, not one of my eight children dislikes the Word of God. They love it. They grew up on it. It’s part of who they are, and the times they have disobeyed the Lord, His Word drew them back to Him. While you’re building hedges, please include
3. Schedules and Routines.
I hope that you would never endeavor to raise a child without the help of the Lord. I enjoyed the blessing of having a wonderful, supportive husband, who was a model father. There were times when I don’t believe I could have survived without his guidance and wisdom. I feel compassion toward women who are compelled to bring up their children without the help of a husband.
But there were dark days and nights when only the Lord could bring me through certain times involved in the rearing of our children. I could never have survived, not even with my husband by my side, had the Lord not strengthened me, and comforted me. There were times when it was impossible for their father to be with them, to protect them from danger, in making adult decisions. It was during those times that the sustaining power of prayer was all we could provide to hedge them about. There is no other hedge as valuable as that of
4. Your prayers.
I pray for each one of my children, their spouses, their children, their material needs as well as their physical ones every morning of my life, no matter where I am, or what kind of schedule my day holds. I pray for their particular problems and needs that I am aware of. I pray for their finances, and the unique challenges of their ministries, and ask the Lord to help them to work in harmony with their co-laborers. I pray for their different relationships, and their children’s education. I pray for those who may be traveling, and a special prayer for my girls who are expecting babies.
At night before I go to bed, since it is early morning in Ukraine, I pray my morning prayer for David and Jolene and their three little ones.
After praying for them, I pray for the ones who live on my continent, for the Lord to bless each one of them with a sweet and peaceful night of rest. I call all of my 29 grandchildren by name, praying that the babies would all sleep through the night so that the parents could get a good night’s rest. I pray for those who experience sleepwalking and nightmares (please don’t bother quoting me the Scriptures that prove they’re not right with the Lord.) Then I commit them to the Lord’s care, asking Him to build a hedge of protection around their houses, and that He would help them to wake up early, refreshed and encouraged about the challenge of a new day.
About 2:00 in the afternoon, I pray my nightly prayer for David and Jolene.
“Is that all you do…pray for your children?”
Yep, that pretty well sums up the story of my motherhood.
And I don’t hesitate to say, that if you want to be a good mother, that will be the story of yours.
I didn’t really enjoy writing this chapter, because it goes against my principle of never writing a book on child rearing. It’s too preachy. But at the risk of sounding authoritative, I believe there is a mother out there who believes the same way I do, but because all her friends who are young mothers “un” hedge their children to run about as they wish, you shy away from hedges. You wish with all your heart you didn’t have to go behind that baby, spanking him all day, just so you can prove your training abilities. Well, latch on to this chapter the next time you feel lonely. The stronger the hedge, the easier your job.
Since we have this special relationship, I’ll let you in on a secret: I believe this chapter about Hedges should have gone before Chapter 4, “Blending Routine and Schedule With Extras.” But when it appears in book form, it will be in that order, hopefully.
It’s been a long, long time since my children were little, and times have changed since then. I remember walking into the bedroom of my daughter, Ruthie the day after the birth of her first baby, and gasping at the sight of little Steven lying on his back. I calmly asked her if he shouldn’t perhaps be on his tummy. She also calmly walked across the room and brought me a book entitled, “Why You Should Never Place a Baby on His Tummy.” Wow!
When my babies were little, disposable diapers and Wet Wipes were exclusively for travel and nurseries. Those are common necessities for my grandbabies.
I know there are a lot of things my children do differently in the raising of my grandchildren, and I would never attempt to challenge them, even though their father was a pediatrician. But I stand strong on my convictions concerning hedges.
A hedge is a shrub of sorts. It’s a living plant that keeps in the good, and keeps out the bad. I know that’s oversimplifying, but basically that’s what it is.
But what do hedges have to do with my kids and me? Because that’s the way I survived motherhood.
I am a firm believer in confinement. Confinement is control, and control is order, and order is safety, and safety is security. Hedges are about security. What is it the Bible says about “a child left to himself?” A child left to himself is a child without hedges. A child left to himself is a child out of control. If you live in a home where a child is out of control, there is no order. Where there is no order, there is danger. And danger robs a child of security. Hence poor grades, rebellious teenagers, and drug addicts.
I often have people ask me, “How did you manage eight children when they were growing up, especially the little one?” And I reply, “Playpens, highchairs, car seats, seat belts (even before they were the law), walkers and strollers.”
I remember a missionary lady walking into our little travel trailer one day. Tommy was about a year old, and was playing in his crib. “Your baby will never develop normally if you don’t let him crawl on the floor.”
She had two children about ten and twelve years old, so I really considered her to have much more wisdom than I did. But after observing her uncontrollable son at the dinner table that night, I figured I’d just stick to my confining methods of raising my son.
There is a tendency to feel sorry for a baby who spends most of his waking hours confined to a crib or a playpen. And I believe each mother should let her instincts guide her in many areas of childrearing. But at least from my own experience, when my children ran around all day, pulling out drawers, climbing onto the table, and turning over lamps, just so I could say I didn’t cruelly confine him, “Mama wasn’t happy. And when Mama’s not happy, nobody’s happy.”
When your children are small, you are his hedge maker. You set the boundaries, the limits and the borders. The more physical the hedge, the clearer the limits. I’ve heard of mothers who purposefully put expensive candy dishes…with candy in them…down on a coffee table, and spend half a day spanking little hands. Baby spends the other half crying. I don’t judge you if that’s your method of training. That’s up to you and God.
But wouldn’t it be a lot simpler to put the candy dish out of reach or out of sight? Why complicate your already challenging job? I wonder if a mother like that actually looks forward to each day. I’m sure her child doesn’t.
Should motherhood indeed be a life of battles? I don’t think so. Make it easy on yourself and on your child by making visible hedges. Once the hedges are in place, then the disciplining comes into play when he steps across them. Once a baby is in his crib for naptime, or bedtime, he definitely should not be allowed to convince his mother by crying to take him out.
There are different kinds of hedges you should build around your children, regardless of your philosophy of childrearing. You don’t put your baby to sleep on the front porch the night you bring him home from the hospital. You don’t put him in a tub of water, and take him out when he’s soaked clean. Your arms are the first hedge your baby knows after his birth. Just as your womb was his hedge before birth, so your arms protect him, and provide warmth and security. We’ve all read of abandoned babies left on doorsteps of hospitals, and how that precious little one responds to the arms of a nurse, and the warmth of her body. The first hedge your baby needs is
1. Your love.
Have you ever had company, or gone out to dinner with friends, only to have your little one outdo herself by misbehaving? It is very, very possible that she is vying for your attention. I just had dinner with my daughter, Sarah, and her husband, Jason, and we were discussing how hard it must be to be a working mom with little ones. Whether these children are left with a grandmother, or a “professional” nursemaid, there surely must be a gap in their hedge of security. A child needs the attention of her mother, that no one else can provide, no matter how much that grandmother loves her, or how professional the nursemaid. The second hedge you provide for your child is
2. Your attention.
There is another hedge that is perhaps the hardest to construct, because it requires quite a bit of disciplining your own life. You should live by schedule and routine. That is almost an obsolete concept, I know, in our “do as you please, when you please, with whomever you please” world. There are no hedges around our own lives, and so we find it difficult to put them around our children’s. In a home where self discipline is not practiced by mothers, the children never know what to expect. They don’t know what time dinner will be ready, or if there will even be dinner. They sleep late on weekends, because there is no schedule for weekends.
When our children were growing up, the sky could have fallen in, (and it almost did the day our quiet little mountain village town was attacked by an Indian uprising), but we had three sit-down-around-the-table meals a day. We had family Scripture reading, memorization, songs, and prayer every single morning. Our children knew what the sound of my whistle from the kitchen door meant three times a day, and especially in the mornings. Routinely, they would wash their hands, get their Bibles and come to the table. That was as natural as breathing. Our children were secure in that little routine. Routine and schedule build character. Like it or not, they did it, or they didn’t eat. To my knowledge, not one of my eight children dislikes the Word of God. They love it. They grew up on it. It’s part of who they are, and the times they have disobeyed the Lord, His Word drew them back to Him. While you’re building hedges, please include
3. Schedules and Routines.
I hope that you would never endeavor to raise a child without the help of the Lord. I enjoyed the blessing of having a wonderful, supportive husband, who was a model father. There were times when I don’t believe I could have survived without his guidance and wisdom. I feel compassion toward women who are compelled to bring up their children without the help of a husband.
But there were dark days and nights when only the Lord could bring me through certain times involved in the rearing of our children. I could never have survived, not even with my husband by my side, had the Lord not strengthened me, and comforted me. There were times when it was impossible for their father to be with them, to protect them from danger, in making adult decisions. It was during those times that the sustaining power of prayer was all we could provide to hedge them about. There is no other hedge as valuable as that of
4. Your prayers.
I pray for each one of my children, their spouses, their children, their material needs as well as their physical ones every morning of my life, no matter where I am, or what kind of schedule my day holds. I pray for their particular problems and needs that I am aware of. I pray for their finances, and the unique challenges of their ministries, and ask the Lord to help them to work in harmony with their co-laborers. I pray for their different relationships, and their children’s education. I pray for those who may be traveling, and a special prayer for my girls who are expecting babies.
At night before I go to bed, since it is early morning in Ukraine, I pray my morning prayer for David and Jolene and their three little ones.
After praying for them, I pray for the ones who live on my continent, for the Lord to bless each one of them with a sweet and peaceful night of rest. I call all of my 29 grandchildren by name, praying that the babies would all sleep through the night so that the parents could get a good night’s rest. I pray for those who experience sleepwalking and nightmares (please don’t bother quoting me the Scriptures that prove they’re not right with the Lord.) Then I commit them to the Lord’s care, asking Him to build a hedge of protection around their houses, and that He would help them to wake up early, refreshed and encouraged about the challenge of a new day.
About 2:00 in the afternoon, I pray my nightly prayer for David and Jolene.
“Is that all you do…pray for your children?”
Yep, that pretty well sums up the story of my motherhood.
And I don’t hesitate to say, that if you want to be a good mother, that will be the story of yours.
I didn’t really enjoy writing this chapter, because it goes against my principle of never writing a book on child rearing. It’s too preachy. But at the risk of sounding authoritative, I believe there is a mother out there who believes the same way I do, but because all her friends who are young mothers “un” hedge their children to run about as they wish, you shy away from hedges. You wish with all your heart you didn’t have to go behind that baby, spanking him all day, just so you can prove your training abilities. Well, latch on to this chapter the next time you feel lonely. The stronger the hedge, the easier your job.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
August 2010 Prayer Letter
Dear Friends,
I hope when you hear my name, the name MEXICO comes to your mind, because I’ve lived here almost all my life…since I was a sixteen year-old. México, and in particular, San Cristóbal, Chiapas, is truly my home. It’s where almost all my memories have been made. México is where I lived when God called me to be a missionary. And I’m glad I answered “YES!” I hope you’re this happy, wherever you are, and if God has been half as Good to you as He’s been to me the past two months, you are blessed.
Since my June letter, I have been privileged to have won two ladies and a little girl to the Lord. I was honored to have been invited to once again speak to eight different ladies’ sessions at the annual Family Conference (in Spanish) in Elgin, IL. Pastor Fernández, and his wife, Martha, as always, were delightful hosts, and treated my daughter in law, Liz, and me royally.
Pastor Danny Ortiz was our conference speaker June 16-18, and while he was here, he helped to inaugurate the lovely “Casa de Recuperación”… Home for Drug Addicts…a beautiful complex situated in a garden on the side of a hill. Pray for the two young men who head up this much-needed ministry.
Vacation Bible School was lots of work, but I had lots of help, and the results: a high attendance of 149, and seventeen saved. I’d say it was worth it.
Please continue to pray for our monthly Ladies’ Prayer Breakfast. A former lady mayor attended our breakfast June 30, and last Wednesday a CPA who attended for the second time invited me to her house so I could “teach her to pray.” And I did: “God be merciful to me a sinner.” She didn’t pray that prayer, but she understood, and I pray she won’t rest until she asks God to save her. Pray for my new friend, Eva.
But I’ll have to admit; the most exciting thing that has happened to me recently, was the phone call from Ukraine on June 30, and my son David’s voice: “We’re going to have another baby!” Pray for Jolene, and for the safe arrival of my grand-treasure # 33, due to arrive in February, 2011.
Time and space fail me to tell of the wonderful Conference that ended Sunday, with Bro. Nathan Patterson, and our dear friend, Deacon Horace Clowdis. Bro. Clowdis played an enormous role in the life of my husband, Tom Sloan, even before we met. Not many like him around these days!
Billie Sloan
Nahum 1:7
I hope when you hear my name, the name MEXICO comes to your mind, because I’ve lived here almost all my life…since I was a sixteen year-old. México, and in particular, San Cristóbal, Chiapas, is truly my home. It’s where almost all my memories have been made. México is where I lived when God called me to be a missionary. And I’m glad I answered “YES!” I hope you’re this happy, wherever you are, and if God has been half as Good to you as He’s been to me the past two months, you are blessed.
Since my June letter, I have been privileged to have won two ladies and a little girl to the Lord. I was honored to have been invited to once again speak to eight different ladies’ sessions at the annual Family Conference (in Spanish) in Elgin, IL. Pastor Fernández, and his wife, Martha, as always, were delightful hosts, and treated my daughter in law, Liz, and me royally.
Pastor Danny Ortiz was our conference speaker June 16-18, and while he was here, he helped to inaugurate the lovely “Casa de Recuperación”… Home for Drug Addicts…a beautiful complex situated in a garden on the side of a hill. Pray for the two young men who head up this much-needed ministry.
Vacation Bible School was lots of work, but I had lots of help, and the results: a high attendance of 149, and seventeen saved. I’d say it was worth it.
Please continue to pray for our monthly Ladies’ Prayer Breakfast. A former lady mayor attended our breakfast June 30, and last Wednesday a CPA who attended for the second time invited me to her house so I could “teach her to pray.” And I did: “God be merciful to me a sinner.” She didn’t pray that prayer, but she understood, and I pray she won’t rest until she asks God to save her. Pray for my new friend, Eva.
But I’ll have to admit; the most exciting thing that has happened to me recently, was the phone call from Ukraine on June 30, and my son David’s voice: “We’re going to have another baby!” Pray for Jolene, and for the safe arrival of my grand-treasure # 33, due to arrive in February, 2011.
Time and space fail me to tell of the wonderful Conference that ended Sunday, with Bro. Nathan Patterson, and our dear friend, Deacon Horace Clowdis. Bro. Clowdis played an enormous role in the life of my husband, Tom Sloan, even before we met. Not many like him around these days!
Billie Sloan
Nahum 1:7
Friday, August 6, 2010
MY KIDS AND ME - Chapter 5
“Circles”
Do you ever feel like you’re going in circles? Especially if you’re a Mom?...and especially, especially if you’re a mom to small children?
If you’re old enough to remember the days (“Please, Mom,” I hear my daughters wail, “no ‘good ole days’ stories!”)…please don’t interrupt me…the days when Birdseye was more than a brand of frozen peas. It was a well-known brand of diapers…CLOTH diapers. You know, the kind you soaked in Ivory Flakes, and washed separately. Then you dried them, and folded them in such a manner that they stacked neatly in your diaper stacker, ready to reach for and use at 2:00 a.m. I remember a neat little gadget that amounted to a clothes pin on the end of a plastic stick. When baby would soil her diaper, you would simply pin a clean corner of the diaper to the stick, and swish it around in water until the “soil” was off. Then you didn’t get your hands dirty. And then we went to pre-folded diapers. There were actually diaper services…companies dedicated to laundering your babies’ diapers. “Laundering” has sure come a long way, Baby, in its definition, hasn’t it?
Having spent almost all my mothering days on the mission field, except for the first nine months, I can even remember washing diapers in a creek.
So the term “going in circles” had to have been started by a Mom, because there are days when you finish the last load of laundry, and another one is in the making. A sink full of dishes is washed, and it’s time to start dinner. You get through the last bath, fall into bed, and the vicious CIRCLE begins all over again in just a few hours.
But I learned from my kids that circles are important in raising children. You can look at a circle as something that you run in (horrible grammar, I know!), or you can use circles to your advantage.
I once had a Pastor, Dr. Jim Vineyard, who is the father of my present Pastor, Bro. Tom Vineyard. Dr. Vineyard made a statement one time that I’ve never forgotten. It didn’t contain many words, and I don’t think it was the title of his sermon. But one of the basic things I’ve learned from living 66 years on this earth is this: “Go to church. Listen to the preacher. Do what he says.” I believe with all my heart if we would apply that simple, basic principle to our lives, whether we’re seasoned Grandmas, or new Moms, there would be less need for private counseling sessions, and pastors could spend more time with their families, and dedicating their ministry to winning people to the Lord. That’s what I’ve always tried to do. Just before leaving my house to attend church I pray this simple prayer, “Lord, speak to me through the preaching of your Word. Help me to be obedient to it. I pray that it will convict me, comfort, and guide me, and show me a truth I’ve never seen before. Amen.” We’ve gotten away from basics. We’ve complicated motherhood and marriages. We’ve created false idols. There are no perfect moms or marriages. And here comes the lesson.
Pastor Vineyard said, “Draw a circle. Everything in that circle corresponds to you: your responsibilities. Everything in that circle is what you’re responsible for. Leave everything outside that circle alone. Don’t mess with it.” That was it! But I’ve never, never forgotten it. I’m saying it’s been twenty years since Dr. Vineyard made that statement, and here I am sharing it with you.
You have a circle. Yours is a Mom circle. You might have a big circle which includes wife, Sunday school teacher, and home responsibilities. Have you ever sat down and thought about all your duties? Do you even know them? Maybe that’s why you’re literally “going in circles,” when you should just be “going in circle”…YOUR circle.
I’m going to address the older moms: The older we get, the smaller our “Mom portion” of our circle gets. From the moment our children leave home, whether it’s to study, marry, or follow a career, our circle of mom responsibilities becomes smaller. Other duties may take their place, but once Johnny or Susie leaves home, throw away the diapers.
I would like to write a later chapter on “Hedges,” the “circles” we make for our children. Hedges, like circles, provide security. If a child stays within protective hedges, he’ll be happier. And so it is with circles. When we live within our circle of responsibilities, well-defined duties, we live happier, more fulfilled lives. And I’ll tell you a little secret: so does everyone else. When your child marries, she has her own circle, much like yours. But it’s hers, not yours. I’ve gotten into more trouble by stepping into other circles! Do you know what happens simultaneously when you step into another circle that doesn’t belong to you? You’re stepping OUT of yours. You’re neglecting duties of your own, and attending to those that don’t belong to you. I once heard a pastor say (here I go again!) “The bad thing about sinning is not only the offense against God. When we sin, we’re not doing the good things we should be doing.” And that’s the way it is with circles. If you’re telling your daughter in law, let’s say, how to fix noodles without having them stick together, you’re missing out on the fun of playing with your baby grandson. Leave the noodle circle to her, and remember the grandma-grandson fun is inside your circle, once you become a granny.
Is this simple logic, or what? I think the title of this chapter should kindly be worded, “Keep your nose out of other people’s business.” Nosey grandmas, nosey mother in laws. It’s no wonder we’re classified as no-no’s. It’s because we’re no-no-nosey. And that’s the truth.
Write down everything contained within your circle. Your circle might look like this:
1. Christian: read Bible, pray, witness, attend church.
2. Wife: be submissive, iron shirts, fluff his pillows, cook his breakfast at 6:00, have his coffee and slippers ready when he walks through the door, wear his favorite perfume, put on a clean apron ten minutes before he comes home, etc. etc. etc.
3. Mom: bathe baby, supervise baths, brushing of teeth, monitor bowel movements (I’m very, very serious; do you keep up with that? If you don’t, you’re headed for trouble, and for the prune aisle!) home school, wash, iron, make beds, train child to make bed, wash dishes, train child to wash dishes, potty train, discipline, read Bible, teach Scriptures, and pray with children, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc……………
4. Homemaker: organize, clean, shop, garden, entertain, sew, cook, bake, decorate, pay bills, etc., etc.
5. Church member: teach Sunday school class, study, pray for members, visit members, visit elderly and sick, pray for pastor and family, show hospitality by preparing special meal for pastor, evangelist, etc.
Your circle may include other roles. If you’re a single mom, you may not have a wife role, but you play the father role, as well as Mom…you have to work to support your children, attend ball games, and teach your son to tie his tie.
It is beyond me how on earth a woman has time to step outside her circle, and into that of others. Think about this: has anyone ever annoyed you by telling you what to do? Unless you are under that person’s authority, I’ll tell you why: because they’re not minding their own circle of business. You can’t step inside another person’s circle without stepping outside yours. If that were possible, you would have to link the circles. And guess what you have when you link circles? Did you say chain? Don’t be guilty of chaining someone to you. Don’t step inside your husband’s circle when he lovingly disciplines your child. I won’t say what I’m thinking, but…well, yes I will: did you know that’s one of the causes of homosexuality? Dads with chains in their noses. A little boy begins to see his Dad as a wimp, and that’s the image he forms of himself…a feminine image. I read that somewhere. I didn’t make that up. “You keep your hands off him. He just threw his spinach across the room. What do you expect from a 5 year-old?” And we make our children to have a low esteem of their father, the authority figure in their lives. Take the chain out of Daddy’s nose, and get back into your own circle. Do you want to get a call in the middle of the night from the police station? Then right now, before that 5 year old can shoot a bowl of spinach turned gun, get out of Daddy’s circle. Go into the bedroom and close the door, and beg for mercy for your little son. But don’t interfere. We’re not talking child abuse here. If you know me at all, you know I would never approve of that. But loving discipline is part of Daddy’s circle, and yours, too, when he’s not around.
Did you know God has a circle? Part of God’s circle is calling people into full time service. I know people today who don’t serve the Lord, because Mama stepped into God’s circle when He wanted to use them in a special way when their hearts were young and tender toward Him. Mama discouraged them. I often wonder if Mama wishes she had stayed inside her own circle. God doesn’t push or shove. You want the reins? He won’t fight. But a mama that steps inside God’s circle causes her child to forfeit the peace that comes from living their life inside God’s perfect will. Don’t be guilty of that. I pray this prayer every day, “Help me never to do anything that would discourage him or her from serving You with all their heart.”
Well, you could CIRCLE the globe, and not find a mother who loves her circle more than I do mine. I think I enjoy grandmothering more than I did mothering. Half the work, twice the fun!
HAPPY MOTHERING!...and GRANDMOTHERING!
If you’re old enough to remember the days (“Please, Mom,” I hear my daughters wail, “no ‘good ole days’ stories!”)…please don’t interrupt me…the days when Birdseye was more than a brand of frozen peas. It was a well-known brand of diapers…CLOTH diapers. You know, the kind you soaked in Ivory Flakes, and washed separately. Then you dried them, and folded them in such a manner that they stacked neatly in your diaper stacker, ready to reach for and use at 2:00 a.m. I remember a neat little gadget that amounted to a clothes pin on the end of a plastic stick. When baby would soil her diaper, you would simply pin a clean corner of the diaper to the stick, and swish it around in water until the “soil” was off. Then you didn’t get your hands dirty. And then we went to pre-folded diapers. There were actually diaper services…companies dedicated to laundering your babies’ diapers. “Laundering” has sure come a long way, Baby, in its definition, hasn’t it?
Having spent almost all my mothering days on the mission field, except for the first nine months, I can even remember washing diapers in a creek.
So the term “going in circles” had to have been started by a Mom, because there are days when you finish the last load of laundry, and another one is in the making. A sink full of dishes is washed, and it’s time to start dinner. You get through the last bath, fall into bed, and the vicious CIRCLE begins all over again in just a few hours.
But I learned from my kids that circles are important in raising children. You can look at a circle as something that you run in (horrible grammar, I know!), or you can use circles to your advantage.
I once had a Pastor, Dr. Jim Vineyard, who is the father of my present Pastor, Bro. Tom Vineyard. Dr. Vineyard made a statement one time that I’ve never forgotten. It didn’t contain many words, and I don’t think it was the title of his sermon. But one of the basic things I’ve learned from living 66 years on this earth is this: “Go to church. Listen to the preacher. Do what he says.” I believe with all my heart if we would apply that simple, basic principle to our lives, whether we’re seasoned Grandmas, or new Moms, there would be less need for private counseling sessions, and pastors could spend more time with their families, and dedicating their ministry to winning people to the Lord. That’s what I’ve always tried to do. Just before leaving my house to attend church I pray this simple prayer, “Lord, speak to me through the preaching of your Word. Help me to be obedient to it. I pray that it will convict me, comfort, and guide me, and show me a truth I’ve never seen before. Amen.” We’ve gotten away from basics. We’ve complicated motherhood and marriages. We’ve created false idols. There are no perfect moms or marriages. And here comes the lesson.
Pastor Vineyard said, “Draw a circle. Everything in that circle corresponds to you: your responsibilities. Everything in that circle is what you’re responsible for. Leave everything outside that circle alone. Don’t mess with it.” That was it! But I’ve never, never forgotten it. I’m saying it’s been twenty years since Dr. Vineyard made that statement, and here I am sharing it with you.
You have a circle. Yours is a Mom circle. You might have a big circle which includes wife, Sunday school teacher, and home responsibilities. Have you ever sat down and thought about all your duties? Do you even know them? Maybe that’s why you’re literally “going in circles,” when you should just be “going in circle”…YOUR circle.
I’m going to address the older moms: The older we get, the smaller our “Mom portion” of our circle gets. From the moment our children leave home, whether it’s to study, marry, or follow a career, our circle of mom responsibilities becomes smaller. Other duties may take their place, but once Johnny or Susie leaves home, throw away the diapers.
I would like to write a later chapter on “Hedges,” the “circles” we make for our children. Hedges, like circles, provide security. If a child stays within protective hedges, he’ll be happier. And so it is with circles. When we live within our circle of responsibilities, well-defined duties, we live happier, more fulfilled lives. And I’ll tell you a little secret: so does everyone else. When your child marries, she has her own circle, much like yours. But it’s hers, not yours. I’ve gotten into more trouble by stepping into other circles! Do you know what happens simultaneously when you step into another circle that doesn’t belong to you? You’re stepping OUT of yours. You’re neglecting duties of your own, and attending to those that don’t belong to you. I once heard a pastor say (here I go again!) “The bad thing about sinning is not only the offense against God. When we sin, we’re not doing the good things we should be doing.” And that’s the way it is with circles. If you’re telling your daughter in law, let’s say, how to fix noodles without having them stick together, you’re missing out on the fun of playing with your baby grandson. Leave the noodle circle to her, and remember the grandma-grandson fun is inside your circle, once you become a granny.
Is this simple logic, or what? I think the title of this chapter should kindly be worded, “Keep your nose out of other people’s business.” Nosey grandmas, nosey mother in laws. It’s no wonder we’re classified as no-no’s. It’s because we’re no-no-nosey. And that’s the truth.
Write down everything contained within your circle. Your circle might look like this:
1. Christian: read Bible, pray, witness, attend church.
2. Wife: be submissive, iron shirts, fluff his pillows, cook his breakfast at 6:00, have his coffee and slippers ready when he walks through the door, wear his favorite perfume, put on a clean apron ten minutes before he comes home, etc. etc. etc.
3. Mom: bathe baby, supervise baths, brushing of teeth, monitor bowel movements (I’m very, very serious; do you keep up with that? If you don’t, you’re headed for trouble, and for the prune aisle!) home school, wash, iron, make beds, train child to make bed, wash dishes, train child to wash dishes, potty train, discipline, read Bible, teach Scriptures, and pray with children, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc……………
4. Homemaker: organize, clean, shop, garden, entertain, sew, cook, bake, decorate, pay bills, etc., etc.
5. Church member: teach Sunday school class, study, pray for members, visit members, visit elderly and sick, pray for pastor and family, show hospitality by preparing special meal for pastor, evangelist, etc.
Your circle may include other roles. If you’re a single mom, you may not have a wife role, but you play the father role, as well as Mom…you have to work to support your children, attend ball games, and teach your son to tie his tie.
It is beyond me how on earth a woman has time to step outside her circle, and into that of others. Think about this: has anyone ever annoyed you by telling you what to do? Unless you are under that person’s authority, I’ll tell you why: because they’re not minding their own circle of business. You can’t step inside another person’s circle without stepping outside yours. If that were possible, you would have to link the circles. And guess what you have when you link circles? Did you say chain? Don’t be guilty of chaining someone to you. Don’t step inside your husband’s circle when he lovingly disciplines your child. I won’t say what I’m thinking, but…well, yes I will: did you know that’s one of the causes of homosexuality? Dads with chains in their noses. A little boy begins to see his Dad as a wimp, and that’s the image he forms of himself…a feminine image. I read that somewhere. I didn’t make that up. “You keep your hands off him. He just threw his spinach across the room. What do you expect from a 5 year-old?” And we make our children to have a low esteem of their father, the authority figure in their lives. Take the chain out of Daddy’s nose, and get back into your own circle. Do you want to get a call in the middle of the night from the police station? Then right now, before that 5 year old can shoot a bowl of spinach turned gun, get out of Daddy’s circle. Go into the bedroom and close the door, and beg for mercy for your little son. But don’t interfere. We’re not talking child abuse here. If you know me at all, you know I would never approve of that. But loving discipline is part of Daddy’s circle, and yours, too, when he’s not around.
Did you know God has a circle? Part of God’s circle is calling people into full time service. I know people today who don’t serve the Lord, because Mama stepped into God’s circle when He wanted to use them in a special way when their hearts were young and tender toward Him. Mama discouraged them. I often wonder if Mama wishes she had stayed inside her own circle. God doesn’t push or shove. You want the reins? He won’t fight. But a mama that steps inside God’s circle causes her child to forfeit the peace that comes from living their life inside God’s perfect will. Don’t be guilty of that. I pray this prayer every day, “Help me never to do anything that would discourage him or her from serving You with all their heart.”
Well, you could CIRCLE the globe, and not find a mother who loves her circle more than I do mine. I think I enjoy grandmothering more than I did mothering. Half the work, twice the fun!
HAPPY MOTHERING!...and GRANDMOTHERING!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Secrets of the Heart
“…he knoweth the secrets of the heart.”
Psalm 44:21
If you had one whole day to do anything you like, what would you do? If you had all the money in the world, what would you buy? If you could spend twenty-four hours with anyone in the world, with whom would you spend them?
Do you know anything more intimate than the heart? Jeremiah said of our heart, “who can know it?”
Matthew 15:18, 19 says, “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:”
I’m afraid we spend too much time fixing family relationships, when in reality we should be focusing our attention on relationships between children and God…between husband and God…and between ourselves and God.
I maintain that if you have an intimate relationship with the Lord, you’ll have a good intimate relationship with your husband. If you work on having an intimate relationship with God, you’ll be the Mom He wants you to be, no matter what human authors tell us, who struggle with their own marriages, and have rebellious children.
The word intimate means interior, internal; that which comes from within. And when we apply that to our relationship with God, it takes on a very special meaning, because God is Spirit. John 4:24 “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
How is your secret life? Have you ever asked yourself, “Who am I?” My pastor used to say, “The real You stands up when you’re all alone.” And that’s true. Do you want to know how your secret life is? When no one’s with you, what do you do? What do you watch? What do you read? What do you think about?
How did you answer the questions at the beginning of this devotional? If you answer honestly those three questions, I’ll tell you how your intimate relationship is with the Lord, with your husband, and with your children.
I’m convinced that if we keep our secret life clean and pure, we’ll have better marriages.
My son, Philip, preached a sermon once titled, “You Don’t Know Me.” I don’t know you. Only God really knows us.
I personally believe that every woman needs to have time alone every day with the Lord. For me, at least, that time is early in the morning, before the phone and doorbell start ringing. I guard that time jealously for the Lord. I have fellowship with Him, and He with me. This is a time that I purposely reserve for the Lord. I plan everything I’m going to do during that time. My mind is fresh, free from the burdens and pressures of the day. I’m usually in a good mood during the first hours of the day.
But sometimes the Lord gives me surprise times alone with Him, times I hadn’t planned. It’s during that time that my real character comes forth.
There are things that we do in the secret places of our heart, of our homes, in our bedrooms that are not pleasing to God. Marriages today aren’t failing because husbands don’t take their wives out to eat once a week, or because it’s been a year since he brought her flowers. Marriages are falling apart because of what happens in the secret places of our lives.
There are secret places in our minds, places we reserve for Satan: bad thoughts, inappropriate desires. Those thoughts and desires don’t stay in our minds; they become looks, glances, gestures, and then words, and finally adultery. It all started in the secret places of our hearts.
What can we do to clean out those dirty corners of our hearts, and our minds? What can we do to have an intimate relationship with God?
1. Live by principles, and not emotions. Don’t let your mood affect your decisions. Did you know that’s why we have weight problems? We feel lonely, or sad, or depressed, and what do we do? We eat. We work hard, and at the end of the day we reward ourselves with food. If you live according to principles, and you’re sad or lonely or depressed, and one of your principles says, “Thou shalt not eat chocolates,” you won’t use food as a cushion, or a security blanket. I know women who are overweight, and apparently they don’t eat a lot…in public. But what about when they’re alone?
Psalm 44:21
If you had one whole day to do anything you like, what would you do? If you had all the money in the world, what would you buy? If you could spend twenty-four hours with anyone in the world, with whom would you spend them?
Do you know anything more intimate than the heart? Jeremiah said of our heart, “who can know it?”
Matthew 15:18, 19 says, “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:”
I’m afraid we spend too much time fixing family relationships, when in reality we should be focusing our attention on relationships between children and God…between husband and God…and between ourselves and God.
I maintain that if you have an intimate relationship with the Lord, you’ll have a good intimate relationship with your husband. If you work on having an intimate relationship with God, you’ll be the Mom He wants you to be, no matter what human authors tell us, who struggle with their own marriages, and have rebellious children.
The word intimate means interior, internal; that which comes from within. And when we apply that to our relationship with God, it takes on a very special meaning, because God is Spirit. John 4:24 “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
How is your secret life? Have you ever asked yourself, “Who am I?” My pastor used to say, “The real You stands up when you’re all alone.” And that’s true. Do you want to know how your secret life is? When no one’s with you, what do you do? What do you watch? What do you read? What do you think about?
How did you answer the questions at the beginning of this devotional? If you answer honestly those three questions, I’ll tell you how your intimate relationship is with the Lord, with your husband, and with your children.
I’m convinced that if we keep our secret life clean and pure, we’ll have better marriages.
My son, Philip, preached a sermon once titled, “You Don’t Know Me.” I don’t know you. Only God really knows us.
I personally believe that every woman needs to have time alone every day with the Lord. For me, at least, that time is early in the morning, before the phone and doorbell start ringing. I guard that time jealously for the Lord. I have fellowship with Him, and He with me. This is a time that I purposely reserve for the Lord. I plan everything I’m going to do during that time. My mind is fresh, free from the burdens and pressures of the day. I’m usually in a good mood during the first hours of the day.
But sometimes the Lord gives me surprise times alone with Him, times I hadn’t planned. It’s during that time that my real character comes forth.
There are things that we do in the secret places of our heart, of our homes, in our bedrooms that are not pleasing to God. Marriages today aren’t failing because husbands don’t take their wives out to eat once a week, or because it’s been a year since he brought her flowers. Marriages are falling apart because of what happens in the secret places of our lives.
There are secret places in our minds, places we reserve for Satan: bad thoughts, inappropriate desires. Those thoughts and desires don’t stay in our minds; they become looks, glances, gestures, and then words, and finally adultery. It all started in the secret places of our hearts.
What can we do to clean out those dirty corners of our hearts, and our minds? What can we do to have an intimate relationship with God?
1. Live by principles, and not emotions. Don’t let your mood affect your decisions. Did you know that’s why we have weight problems? We feel lonely, or sad, or depressed, and what do we do? We eat. We work hard, and at the end of the day we reward ourselves with food. If you live according to principles, and you’re sad or lonely or depressed, and one of your principles says, “Thou shalt not eat chocolates,” you won’t use food as a cushion, or a security blanket. I know women who are overweight, and apparently they don’t eat a lot…in public. But what about when they’re alone?
2. Live by schedules and routine. You shouldn’t let your emotions determine what time you get up, or what you do once you’re up. I once heard a famous pastor say, “I thank the Lord there’s a place I have to be, and a time I should be there, and something to do once I arrive.” A schedule gives you purpose, and helps you to stay focused. It gives you direction and motivation. Avoid the necessity of having to make decisions. Remember, the fewer decisions you have to make, the fewer wrong decisions you’ll make.
3. Choose carefully your friends. You don’t have to be a young person in order for others to have an influence on you. The saying, “Show me your friends, and I’ll show you who you are,” doesn’t apply only to young people. It’s possible for a woman to have a good relationship with the Lord in her intimate life, but because of a negative influence, she can harm that relationship…the most important relationship a woman can have.
4. In order to have an intimate relationship with the Lord, you should reserve time alone with the Lord every day, preferably in the mornings. Don’t plan that time according to your emotions, or your mood. Plan a routine, in a private place. Ask the Lord, before you open your Bible, to speak to you through His Word, and to help you to be obedient to it. Ask Him to convict you of your sins through your reading, to comfort and guide you, and to show you a truth you’ve never seen before. And He’ll do it.
5. Remember, God desires an intimate relationship with you more than you desire it. He waits for you every day.
If you don’t know the Lord as your personal Savior, you don’t have a relationship with Him. In order to have a relationship with someone, you must know them. We know the Lord through His Son, Who died on the cross for our sins.
There’s a positive side to our lesson. Did you know God knows the secret longings of your heart? He knows the desires of your heart, the desire we have for a lost loved one to be saved, or a desire to be able to reach a goal. If you’re single, share with the Lord your desire for a husband and a home. Maybe your heart’s desire is for a baby, or the ability to win others to the Lord. Share that longing with the One who can make your dreams come true.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Psalm 139:23, 24
Monday, July 12, 2010
MY KIDS AND ME - Chapter 4
“Blending Routine and Schedule with Extras”
I am writing this chapter in the bedroom of the home of my daughter, Sarah, and her husband, Jason Knabb. They are missionaries in a very small town, about 4 and a half hours from my home. But I actually wrote the title for this chapter several months ago. Evidently, the Lord has let me wait until now to write about it. And that’s good, because I am a little out of my routine, and I am learning some things this week to teach you.
Today is Saturday, and if I were home, I would be putting my “Sunday” dinner on the table. Since I like to have a special time for my children to come together, even though they are all married, and have their own families, and since our Sunday’s are non-stop, I decided several years ago to have our big get-together family meal on Saturday.
Of course, this is only for my children who live near me, or for occasional visits by the others.
But today I’m working on my book…something I don’t normally do on my regular Saturday routine.
What do you do when you are raising children, and you are away from home…or maybe a special event at church doesn’t allow you to do your normal routine activities? This is something that was constantly a struggle with me.
I can remember, especially, our trips to the States when our children were all at home. These road trips took three long days. Children respond so well to routine and schedules, so I would try to maintain the basic ones that we had at home. For example, we would leave before breakfast. I could, and may, write a chapter on “How to Survive a cross-country road trip with Eight Children.” That would be fun, because it brings back memories of the preparation for the trip. I would pack breakfast food, and as soon as we were loaded up in our 15-passenger van, everyone would take out their Bibles. We would have our normal family devotions, exactly like we would were we around our breakfast table at home. We also did this once we arrived at my mother’s or my brother’s, or the mission apartment, exactly the same way: breakfast stayed on the stove to stay warm, and we would gather around the table; or travel down the road, and go through our Bible routine.
Then after prayer, we would put our Bibles away, and I would “serve” breakfast going down the road. Every one of my eight children who are reading this, are sighing with happy memories, I’m sure…I hope.
That would be followed by personal quiet time, depending on the age of each child. How relaxing to have your “quiet, personal time with the Lord” while traveling. Even now as I travel…not with eight children, and not road trips, but in planes, I love settling in my seat, either at my gate before boarding, or on the plane, and closing out the noise of the world, and reading my Bible, and having my prayer time.
But if I didn’t normally have a routine of reading my Bible, or if my children never had a schedule which allowed us to gather around the breakfast table at home every morning, it would have seemed strange indeed to have family devotions while going down the road. No one would have known what to do, and I couldn’t have instructed them from the front passenger seat.
The same goes with anything you routinely do…walking, exercising, drinking eight glasses of water a day, staying away from sweets…these don’t have to stop just because we’re in different surroundings, with unfamiliar people. Once a routine is established, it’s easier to carry it out than it is to omit it.
I’ve read stories of young men who went off to war, but they still had their quiet time. How did they do this? I don’t know, and I can’t even imagine. But they did, because their routine and schedule was so instilled in them during normal days, that it must have seemed strange not to have carried it out, even on the battlefield.
During the twelve years our eight children attended Bible College, they continued their family devotional time, as much as possible. At one point, five of our children attended at the same time. Now, this is going to seem like bragging here, but it’s not. I am simply trying to show you that the simpler your devotional routine is, the easier it will be for your children to continue it, once they’re away from you and your care. Our second son, Joel, and his four younger siblings would meet in the little living room where the student body would have devotions at 6:00. Joel would meet with his siblings at 5:30, and have the same type of simple routine devotions they used to have around our dining room table. It was always such a delight to their mother, when we would go up to visit with them, and we would gather before breakfast, to hear them quote the Scriptures they had learned on their own…together…routinely.
Had I concocted some weird, complicated deep theological series of lessons, they wouldn’t have known what to do. But it doesn’t take much of a spiritual giant to simply open your Bible, look at the reading schedule…there’s that boring word again…go around the table taking turns reading, go over past Scriptures learned, and repeat the new Scripture for the week, ending with a song and prayer. You can almost do that in your sleep…and Sarah did once. (Sorry, Sarah. There’s not a college student alive that won’t identify with you, Sweetheart.)
Do you think routine does away with spontaneity? Of course not. Routine paves the way for spontaneity. Have you ever walked into your kitchen to prepare a routine, ordinary breakfast of pancakes? You begin to gather the utensils and ingredients, and prepare your griddle. Suddenly, in your relaxed comfort zone, you are inspired to add blueberries, or strawberry yogurt. See what I mean? I’ll guarantee you, all the fancy recipes in your recipe book…at least in mine…start with a basic, routine, normal recipe. I have about five recipes for homemade biscuits, but guess what! They all begin with “sift dry ingredients,” or “cut in shortening until pea-size mixture forms.” From there, they may substitute buttermilk for milk, or suggest adding cheese.
I’m going to venture to make a statement here: the success of any project you will ever undertake in some way involves routine, schedule, doing the same thing over, and over, and over until it is mastered. There will be improvements made, maybe changes for the better. We stand back and analyze, and ask “why didn’t this work? This would work better.” Achievement and routine are best friends, and they walk side by side. Keep with your routine, improve if you must, but don’t get away from anything that produces happy results. And someday, I may be reading a book you wrote about your accomplishments, and the routine that got you there.
Today is Saturday, and if I were home, I would be putting my “Sunday” dinner on the table. Since I like to have a special time for my children to come together, even though they are all married, and have their own families, and since our Sunday’s are non-stop, I decided several years ago to have our big get-together family meal on Saturday.
Of course, this is only for my children who live near me, or for occasional visits by the others.
But today I’m working on my book…something I don’t normally do on my regular Saturday routine.
What do you do when you are raising children, and you are away from home…or maybe a special event at church doesn’t allow you to do your normal routine activities? This is something that was constantly a struggle with me.
I can remember, especially, our trips to the States when our children were all at home. These road trips took three long days. Children respond so well to routine and schedules, so I would try to maintain the basic ones that we had at home. For example, we would leave before breakfast. I could, and may, write a chapter on “How to Survive a cross-country road trip with Eight Children.” That would be fun, because it brings back memories of the preparation for the trip. I would pack breakfast food, and as soon as we were loaded up in our 15-passenger van, everyone would take out their Bibles. We would have our normal family devotions, exactly like we would were we around our breakfast table at home. We also did this once we arrived at my mother’s or my brother’s, or the mission apartment, exactly the same way: breakfast stayed on the stove to stay warm, and we would gather around the table; or travel down the road, and go through our Bible routine.
Then after prayer, we would put our Bibles away, and I would “serve” breakfast going down the road. Every one of my eight children who are reading this, are sighing with happy memories, I’m sure…I hope.
That would be followed by personal quiet time, depending on the age of each child. How relaxing to have your “quiet, personal time with the Lord” while traveling. Even now as I travel…not with eight children, and not road trips, but in planes, I love settling in my seat, either at my gate before boarding, or on the plane, and closing out the noise of the world, and reading my Bible, and having my prayer time.
But if I didn’t normally have a routine of reading my Bible, or if my children never had a schedule which allowed us to gather around the breakfast table at home every morning, it would have seemed strange indeed to have family devotions while going down the road. No one would have known what to do, and I couldn’t have instructed them from the front passenger seat.
The same goes with anything you routinely do…walking, exercising, drinking eight glasses of water a day, staying away from sweets…these don’t have to stop just because we’re in different surroundings, with unfamiliar people. Once a routine is established, it’s easier to carry it out than it is to omit it.
I’ve read stories of young men who went off to war, but they still had their quiet time. How did they do this? I don’t know, and I can’t even imagine. But they did, because their routine and schedule was so instilled in them during normal days, that it must have seemed strange not to have carried it out, even on the battlefield.
During the twelve years our eight children attended Bible College, they continued their family devotional time, as much as possible. At one point, five of our children attended at the same time. Now, this is going to seem like bragging here, but it’s not. I am simply trying to show you that the simpler your devotional routine is, the easier it will be for your children to continue it, once they’re away from you and your care. Our second son, Joel, and his four younger siblings would meet in the little living room where the student body would have devotions at 6:00. Joel would meet with his siblings at 5:30, and have the same type of simple routine devotions they used to have around our dining room table. It was always such a delight to their mother, when we would go up to visit with them, and we would gather before breakfast, to hear them quote the Scriptures they had learned on their own…together…routinely.
Had I concocted some weird, complicated deep theological series of lessons, they wouldn’t have known what to do. But it doesn’t take much of a spiritual giant to simply open your Bible, look at the reading schedule…there’s that boring word again…go around the table taking turns reading, go over past Scriptures learned, and repeat the new Scripture for the week, ending with a song and prayer. You can almost do that in your sleep…and Sarah did once. (Sorry, Sarah. There’s not a college student alive that won’t identify with you, Sweetheart.)
Do you think routine does away with spontaneity? Of course not. Routine paves the way for spontaneity. Have you ever walked into your kitchen to prepare a routine, ordinary breakfast of pancakes? You begin to gather the utensils and ingredients, and prepare your griddle. Suddenly, in your relaxed comfort zone, you are inspired to add blueberries, or strawberry yogurt. See what I mean? I’ll guarantee you, all the fancy recipes in your recipe book…at least in mine…start with a basic, routine, normal recipe. I have about five recipes for homemade biscuits, but guess what! They all begin with “sift dry ingredients,” or “cut in shortening until pea-size mixture forms.” From there, they may substitute buttermilk for milk, or suggest adding cheese.
I’m going to venture to make a statement here: the success of any project you will ever undertake in some way involves routine, schedule, doing the same thing over, and over, and over until it is mastered. There will be improvements made, maybe changes for the better. We stand back and analyze, and ask “why didn’t this work? This would work better.” Achievement and routine are best friends, and they walk side by side. Keep with your routine, improve if you must, but don’t get away from anything that produces happy results. And someday, I may be reading a book you wrote about your accomplishments, and the routine that got you there.
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