"Picture Perfect"

[This is a simple post. It's just me being thankful for my family.]

"Family...it's absolutely everything." -Ernie Barrett

Have you ever seen the Feature Films for Family video called "Picture Perfect"? If you haven't, just stop by my house sometime and my family will recite it for you. The whole thing. We watched that movie so many times that my mother finally hid it.  I'm not sure the video would even work any more. It's a good movie, however, and very memorable. 

Ernie, one of the characters in the movie says that quote above, about family being absolutely everything.   True, Christ comes before the family, but it is Christ who has ordained the family order and puts us together. 
That is something my dad has prayed for a long time - thanking God for putting us together as a family. 

I can't imagine my life without any of my siblings or my parents.  I have come to realize, as I have gone through life, how blessed in abundance I am for the family that I have. So many families these days are broken, dealing with the harsh and long-lasting consequences of sin.  Our family is by no means perfect, but we enjoy each others company, have family dinners that last for several hours and I often laugh more with my family than I do with anyone else. This past weekend, for the first time since Christmas, my entire family was together for just an afternoon, while out at Grove City College for homecoming.  It was also the first time the whole family was together with all the "significant others" in the family. We spent time at the park just being together and it was a great afternoon.  Here's a picture of the "kids":

All together for the very first time!

God has shown me his kindness and his mercy through my family.  He has taught me how to show grace and what being shown grace looks like through my siblings and my parents.  He has shown himself faithful beyond words as He continually blesses us. I do not know why He has poured out His grace on us in this way. I only know that I am thankful. 

The six of us

Thoughts from...Right Now

My Random Thoughts of the Moment:

1) I strongly dislike being woken up in the middle of the night...unless it is by my sister-in-law who has come to visit! Then being woken up is encouraged.

2) Fall is back!! If you've read early posts on this blog, you know I was a huge fan of Fall.
                    I still am. 
The cool breezes, crisp air, warm lights in the house, candles burning, the scent of pumpkins and leaves and the changing season, crunchy leaves, autumn colors...I could go on for awhile. I think it's wonderful.

3) It is only 10:17 in the morning and I have already had to deal with throw-up, several dirty diapers, being bitten and two screaming children.  Welcome to the world of motherhood?
                 
4) It is only 10:17 in the morning and I have already gotten to see cute baby smiles, to hear a child giggling, to see a child trying to stand on her own, to hold two sweet baby girls, to have a child "rawr" at me oh-so-adorably. I like being a nanny. 

5) It is amazing how changing your perspective on something can totally change your attitude, your day, your outlook on life...

6) Psalm 37 was really good today: Trust in the Lord, delight in the Lord, commit your way to the Lord. This is what is "required" of me.

7) I like apples. I'll eat apples. (I especially like apples with caramel.) But I have come to realize that I like the idea of eating apples far more than I actually enjoy eating them.
               Applesauce, however...now that's a whole different story. I could eat that at every meal. 

8) Toys that sing and talk should have been banned long ago. Whoever thought those up clearly never had children.

9) Nap-times provides a wonderful 30 minutes of peace and just enough time for blogging, cup of hot cider in hand...

10) A waking child indicates the end of such a time and a return to "reality"...

Until later...

My Plans

It's funny to look back and see how I used to plan out my future - week to week, month to month, even years ahead.  I have journaled since I was 15 and rereading those journals is both scary and encouraging - scary to see how crazy I was...and encouraging to see what God has done with that crazy 15-year-old.
And there are definitely humorous parts as I read things I was certain I would do with my life. How I wanted to be an author...and a missionary to China...and a teacher...and there was a point in my life where I was most certainly going to be an actress.
My oh my. How God has changed those plans!!
Yet here, at 22, I still find myself planning my life and expecting God to follow me instead of me following Him.  I read somewhere (I can't currently remember where) that we often invite God to be a part of every plan for our life...instead of seeking to be a part of His plan for our life.
I read in James 4 this morning these verses:
"Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit' - yet you do now know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that'." [James 4:13-15]
I have read these verses before and the end result is that I stick "If the Lord wills" in front of my planning and then I continue on...but am I really seeking the Lord's will?  Do I desire to follow His plan?  "If the Lord wills"...reminds me of Proverbs 16:9, "The heart of a man plans his ways, but the Lord establishes his steps."
God has determined a course for my life and I should be actively seeking it.  I should be seeking to bring Him glory through my day-to-day life - that His will would be done through my words and my plans and my actions.
One of the words that hit me in that passage from James was the word "live".  It says, "If the Lord wills, we will live..."  There it is. Without God, without Him continuing to give me breath - I will not even live another day. How then, can I plan out my future without realizing that it is God who will direct my steps?  That God is the one who has given me gifts, passions, desires, circumstances and counsel to lead and move me?

Oh, that we would live, listening to the Spirit's voice, seeking the face of God, and moving in response to His guidance. I know that God has led me to where I am today - even through many directional 'missteps' of mine. It is His hand that is over my tomorrow. I pray that He continues to teach me to hear his voice, that I might respond as Samuel, and Isaiah. "Here I am, Lord. Send me." That I would remember that it is the Lord who wills me to live and that it is His mercy that leads me through each day.

Sweeping the Streets

I reread "Safely Home" by Randy Alcorn over the past week. 
It truly is one of the most convicting, best books I've ever read. It is a wonderful mixture of story and truth, theology and plot. The rise and fall of the drama is interesting and captivating.  The behind-the-scenes glimpses into Heaven create a longing for this place that I have never felt before. The characters are convincing and easy to relate to. 
Alcorn is an excellent author. 
But, I'm not here to sell the book - although, please, if you haven't read it, put it on the book list. 

In the middle of the book, Alcorn has his main character quote Martin Luther. Here is Luther's quote:
"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well."

I've read this book a couple of times, and every time, this quote hits me. There are so many days when I feel like I'm not doing enough for God, or "big enough" things for Him - that my little corner of the world is small and insignificant.

I forget that God created this corner as well as every other space. As CS Lewis puts it "There is no neutral ground in the universe; every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God and counter-claimed by Satan." God has claimed my corner for His glory. 

I forget that the people I come in contact with were designed by Him and for Him, just as the Chinese Christians were, the Iraqi Muslims, the Worldview students, the Central American Indians...

I am called to serve as a nanny right now. As a gymnastics coach. As a piano teacher. As a sister. As a friend. As a daughter. 

My calling is this - to nanny so well that "all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great [nanny] who did [her] job well";  to nanny so that the God who claims this corner in space and time will be glorified by my actions, words and thoughts.  To be faithful to where God has brought me and to the task that He has appointed to me. 

I pray that wherever you are, whatever your task today, that you would be faithful to your calling, that you might be a great "street sweeper" who does his job well.