Musings

I love the family that God has given me. I love the challenge of creating domestic bliss out of chaos (Or at least managing the chaos down to a low ebb)whether it be menu planning, curricula planning, or chore planning. I love knowing that these things glorify God according to what He said in Titus 2. There is an eternality about the mundane, and all parents need that reminder sometimes. There is an enormous heaven focus in our mindset when it comes to training and teaching the children that the Lord has given to us. I know what our goals are, yet in the trenches I am apt to forget. The opportunity to point my child toward a greater understanding of the Savior, and their need for Him is a BLESSED interruption, not just an annoying attempt to derail my schedule. Ginger Plowman reminded me of this in her book Don’t Make Me Count to Three! A Mom’s Look at Heart-Oriented Discipline . Mrs. Plowman divides her 12 chapter text into three subheadings: Reaching the Heart of Your Child, B...

Years ago, my father mentioned that Jonathan Edwards wrote a treatise on spiders when he was 17 years old. He pointed out to me that Puritans often studied creation to observe and marvel at the attributes clearly declared. There truly are many things we can perceive and learn from God’s amazing creation, but I never thought of the spider as such until several weeks ago. We have a book containing addresses to young children by J.C Ryle. One evening, while reading through a sermon on Proverbs 30:24-28 I was convicted and encouraged. Ryle was illustrating how the Proverbs instruct us to learn from four animals that are little and wise. Verse 28 historically reads, “The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’ palaces.” As I began reading to my kids, I thought, “this will be cute and instructive…” We have spiders outside the front window that we watch build their webs, so I hoped that it would actually make some sense to their little brains. Ryle says, “The spider is a poor litt...

Last week, our Pastor preached out of Ephesians. If you feel like being convicted about your prayer life, you can listen here . I did, and was. I think the most important thing that stuck with me was a quote when he pointed out the priority of not being distracted- I will paraphrase, "Who cares if the world falls apart? YOU meet with GOD." I have been this week, and I am so amazed by the sin in my life. I guess you may have expected me to say something like "everything is fraught with spiritual meaning!" or "I have achieved victory over my short tempered responses to my children" or "I think of others so much more." I actually don't think any of these things are true, but what has become true is that God has convicted me more of the constant allowance I make fore my little sins against the little people I spend all day with. To be honest, I could involve myself in scandalous sins if I wished, but the Lord has given me the discipline to ...

I had one resolution this year. To make it extra easy, I even decided it would only be my focus for the month of January, because if I can do something successfully for a month, then another month won't be hard, right? It worked for menu planning, and breakfast-for-husband making. Of course, the laundry thing still hasn't turned out too well, but dropping some money at Costco to organize the area should take care of any lingering issues in that department. I hope. No, with this resolution, I determined to break out of years of bad habits and destructive patterns groomed by my family life pre-marriage. To make it easier, I narrowed the scope of this behavioral shift:                                           I would not interrupt.                                        ...

Sometimes an opening sentence will not come to me. It is evening, on the Lord’s Day (and yes, I know they are all His), my Littles are in bed, my Handsome Man is studying for his firefighter test on Wednesday, and my house is tidied. I just finished washing dishes. The last dish to be washed was my yellow bowl. This is what I want to muse about. My yellow bowl. I make all my scones in it, eat all my popcorn from it, and generally look upon it with fondness. It was my Grandmother’s bowl, and I got it from her kitchen after she passed. I have a few things of hers: a brown leather coat, a volume of Shakespeare, and a middle name….which I gave to one of my daughters….maybe I will give the bowl to the other one. Every time I wash this particular bowl, I am flooded with memories. She made delicious peanut butter cookies in this bowl. This very same bowl that I serve others out of is a reminder to me of her selfless love for others. The examples of this are too many to mention. Not only di...

My kitchen table is many things, but its most important function is creating a comfortable place for my sweet littles to wax eloquent. Typically, I try not to be one of those moms who talks about their children on every media outlet they can find, but let’s be honest, there are some Great Aunties who eat this stuff for…well, breakfast. Several things this morning. We often listen to Dr. Mohler’s podcast as a general news source in the morning. As a recap of some of the recent executive orders came over, Gabriel was paying more attention to it than I was. Suddenly, he says, “WHAT???, does this mean I won’t get to keep my Cap gun?” Later, sated by several waffles and a sausage, he looked across the table and politely queried, “ Mama, do you want to know what I am going to name my three wives?” Let me tell you, Irish Breakfast is not supposed to go down my bronchial tubes like that, but I coughed it out somewhat safely. I pondered which worldview to sort out first, and decided to clari...

I admit it. Sometimes I just want to read fluff. The old sort of novel that entertains yet motivates me to serve my family sweetly. Louisa May Alcott writes like this, as does Elizabeth Prentiss (specifically in Aunt Jane’s Hero ). These seemingly simplistic works of fiction that extoll what now seem to be considered archaic virtues in women draw me more and more. Since my teenage years I have kept one of these nearby. Recently I was gifted a copy of Mother , by Kathleen Norris. I thought the name was cute and the vintage cover art attractive, so I used it as a decoration for a few months. When Christmas came, I moved around decorations and ended using the book, well, as a book. I read it. In one sitting. I loved it. Really loved it. I will make my daughters read it. Originally released in 1911, this particular edition was restored and published by Vision Forum, which re-inserted some Christian worldview references that had been removed in secular editions. It follows the post high sch...