Pleasing the Spirit

"The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life."  Galatians 6:8

 Alyssa & Kyle 2004

Oh the sinful nature is so easy to appease sometimes...
Anger.
Bitterness.
Selfishness.
Greed.
Envy.
And I'm really good at gluttony (ugh).

It takes more effort, a conscious decision, and so much discipline to choose the opposite responses to the sinful nature inside me.  But kindness, humility, forgiveness, and patience are the responses God truly delights in.  When we exude those things, we reflect Him living in us, and we reap the abundant and joyful life God has for us.  

Oh to be "the one who sows to please the Spirit".  That is this mother's prayer for her children (and herself) today!

Lord, you are so good, and you are in everything that is good.  If you are living in our lives, we should reflect all that you are.  Help Alyssa and Kyle to recognize when they are sowing to please their sinful nature, because if they don't it will reap destruction.  Rather, I pray that they will the one who sows to please you in everything they say and do.  For from you they will reap eternal life.  Thank you for working internally in our children's lives, and carrying onto completion the work you are doing in their lives.  Transform Alyssa and Kyle from the inside out, dear Jesus, and may they forever be your children!  Eternal life in you is the greatest treasure of all!

 

Let Anger Straggle in the Rear

"If a ruler’s anger rises against you, do not leave your post; 

calmness can lay great offenses to rest." --Ecclesiastes 10:4

Sensible people control their temper;
    they earn respect by overlooking wrongs. 

 --Proverbs 19:11

"Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. God’s righteousness doesn’t grow from human anger. So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life."  --James 1:19-21

Lord, you are the great Teacher, and your children sometimes have many things to learn.  You are a God who is slow to anger, abounding in love, and you forgive sin and rebellion.  Help us to have the same attitude.  Teach Alyssa and Kyle patience, love, and forgiveness, I pray.  Calm responses can lay great offenses to rest.   Help them to lead with their ears, follow up with their tongues, and let their anger straggle along in the rear.  May Alyssa and Kyle reflect you, dear Jesus.

Stopping the "I'm Bored" Routine

"Bless all his skills, Lord, and be pleased with the work of his hands."  Deuteronomy 33:11

Kyle ready for work or play?  (1998)

"I'm bored!"  It's my least favorite statement from the kids, yet probably the greatest wish for myself in the busyness of life.  Oh to be "bored" for just a couple of hours. 

I've already heard the words this summer.  When Alyssa and Kyle were younger, the rule was, if you said you were bored you got a job to do.  What a quick cure for this habitual statement when there was nothing "fun" going on.  We even had a jar of chores; cleaning baseboards, scrubbing toilets, dusting cobwebs, folding laundry, etc.

I'm pretty tempted to relive the days of old.

My prayer is that Alyssa and Kyle find themselves useful to others around them, challenged in what they find to do with their time this summer, and joyful from a sense of productivity and accomplishment. 

Lord, be pleased with the work of Alyssa and Kyle's hands!  

I pray, dear Jesus, that you bless the skills of my children and put a desire in their hearts to use those skills to be productive and happy people.  May they be disciplined to work hard, keep busy, and avoid being sluggards this summer.  Give me wisdom to know how to lead and parent them through these dog days of summer, and push them out of boredom and into a space of usefulness and contentedness.  Please use Alyssa and Kyle's hands to bless others!

 

Patience

 

"A patient man has great understanding, 

but a quick-tempered man displays folly."  Proverbs 14:29

I'll be the first to admit that patience hasn't always been my greatest of virtues.  If there is one thing I could go back and change about myself, especially in the early years of my children's lives, is my quick temper when times were stressful.  Oh the nasty temper in stress!

But God is in the business of change and transformation.  From the inside out He can take what is not lovely, and make it beautiful and pleasing to Him.  Thank goodness.

I pray that Alyssa and Kyle don't face the same struggle of having a quick temper and being short on patience.  As they deal with friends, experience hard bosses/teachers, drive down the road, meet someone of the opposite sex, get married, and have children, I pray that they can reflect a strength and patience that comes from Jesus living in their lives. Patience is an outward sign of maturity and Christ-likeness that will be seen in their words, actions, and responses.

My continual hope is that our children are better than me in everything, patience above all.

Lord,  you are the One in the business of changing and transforming lives.  Thank you for being continually at work in transforming me.  I pray that Alyssa and Kyle live patient lives, always being slow to respond, and full of grace.  Take those quick tempers and remove their deep roots, and in their place grow patience, calmness, and a powerful kindness that reflects your Holy Spirit living in them.  Thank you, dear Jesus, for making us new creations.

Pictures taken in 2008