Hello all! Reminder that our Brazil mission team (Denise , Adrian, and Karen) are flying out tonight for a week+ in Brazil!
Please pray for safety, clarify, strength!
Friday, March 12, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Notes from God
Today, when I picked up Gray from school, his school note said "Grayson had a very hard time listening and following directions today."
Pause.
WHAT??? My perfect Grayson? Has she not ever noticed how perfect his smile is? Or his perfect blue/gray eyes? Even the way he smells is perfect....
As I was preparing to march myself into that room and inform the teacher of his perfection, Grayson ran from me toward the door, and when I told him to "come here" he simply grinned and kept running. And that's when it occurred to me. The truth hurts. Fortunately for my ego (and for the teacher), I didn't make it into the room to give anyone a piece of my mind. I ran after Grayson! Poor Gray got grounded from the TV for the rest of the day for not minding at school. Poor sweet baby. Don't you know how that hurt Mom?
Isn't disciplining difficult? Doesn't it require work on our part, as parents? I might have actually cooked supper tonight if Gray had watched a 30 minute Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (or some other chore I should have done but didn't get to.) Plus he asks for TV like 732 times and 732 times I explained he did not get to watch TV tonight because he disobeyed at school and 732 time he whined about it. Frankly, it would have been easier to give in. But I disciplined Gray because ultimately, I want him to know that it is right to obey his teacher at school. And I love him SO much, I want him to grow to be a good, self-disciplined, godly man.
As I was rocking my sweet baby Gray to sleep tonight, my mind thought of what the notes would look like if God wrote us notes everyday on our behavior. Mine would probably say something like, "Jamie continues to worry about the same things over and over today" "Jamie has delusioned herself into thinking the world revolves around her today" "Jamie was moody and tempermental today, and took it out on her friends and family."
What would your notes say?
But aren't we blessed that our Heavenly Father disciplines us - otherwise, wouldn't we be a mess? An embarrassment? Unhappy? Chaotic? Selfish?
Hebrews 12:5-11 says: (New International Version) - parens my own,
"5And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons (daughters):
"My son (daughter), do not make light of the Lord's discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son (daughter)."[a]
7Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons (children). For what son (child) is not disciplined by his father? 8If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons (daughters). 9Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
It is encouraging to know that when I experience God's discipline, it's validation of his love for me as His child - that there's something in my behavior that, if not fixed, will cause me grief down the road, and He doesn't want that for me. Aren't we blessed?
Pause.
WHAT??? My perfect Grayson? Has she not ever noticed how perfect his smile is? Or his perfect blue/gray eyes? Even the way he smells is perfect....
As I was preparing to march myself into that room and inform the teacher of his perfection, Grayson ran from me toward the door, and when I told him to "come here" he simply grinned and kept running. And that's when it occurred to me. The truth hurts. Fortunately for my ego (and for the teacher), I didn't make it into the room to give anyone a piece of my mind. I ran after Grayson! Poor Gray got grounded from the TV for the rest of the day for not minding at school. Poor sweet baby. Don't you know how that hurt Mom?
Isn't disciplining difficult? Doesn't it require work on our part, as parents? I might have actually cooked supper tonight if Gray had watched a 30 minute Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (or some other chore I should have done but didn't get to.) Plus he asks for TV like 732 times and 732 times I explained he did not get to watch TV tonight because he disobeyed at school and 732 time he whined about it. Frankly, it would have been easier to give in. But I disciplined Gray because ultimately, I want him to know that it is right to obey his teacher at school. And I love him SO much, I want him to grow to be a good, self-disciplined, godly man.
As I was rocking my sweet baby Gray to sleep tonight, my mind thought of what the notes would look like if God wrote us notes everyday on our behavior. Mine would probably say something like, "Jamie continues to worry about the same things over and over today" "Jamie has delusioned herself into thinking the world revolves around her today" "Jamie was moody and tempermental today, and took it out on her friends and family."
What would your notes say?
But aren't we blessed that our Heavenly Father disciplines us - otherwise, wouldn't we be a mess? An embarrassment? Unhappy? Chaotic? Selfish?
Hebrews 12:5-11 says: (New International Version) - parens my own,
"5And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons (daughters):
"My son (daughter), do not make light of the Lord's discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son (daughter)."[a]
7Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons (children). For what son (child) is not disciplined by his father? 8If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons (daughters). 9Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
It is encouraging to know that when I experience God's discipline, it's validation of his love for me as His child - that there's something in my behavior that, if not fixed, will cause me grief down the road, and He doesn't want that for me. Aren't we blessed?
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