This video is making it’s way across the web and may I just say – AH-MAY-ZING. Those cats are talented! Gifted! Anointed! It’s incredible. Goosegump inducing awesomeness. Watch it, would ya?
The lyrics of this old favorite caught me and flat jostled me upon hearing them; moved me in a way they never have before.
This little drummer boy is heading out to see the King; the King of Kings, in fact. He sees those around him gathering up the finest gifts they can find for this new born babe. But he? He has no gift. He has nothing to give that is worthy of this royalty.
I am a poor boy, too – pa rum pum pum pum
I have no gift to bring – pa rum pum pum pum
That’s fit to give the King – pa rum pum pum pum
I kind of chuckled because I feel his pain. I get that – we are in the same boat, my drumming friend. There is so much I want to do and so much I want to give and so much I want to give towards, but it’s hard right now. In this season of ThanksGIVING, I want to open my hands wide and pour out blessing after blessing after blessing to honor Him but I find myself short. What can I give? What can I bestow that would honor the King in a way He deserves? Even if I was a millionaire, what could I lavish Him with that would be worthy enough? What could I heap upon Him that would beat in line with His heart?
Shall I play for you – pa rum pum pum pum –
on my drum?
I played my drum for Him – pa rum pum pum pum
I played my best for Him – pa rum pum pum pum
In those moments, the Lord spoke to me and showed me how I can give gifts to Him using what I do have; gifts that are worthy of a King, gifts that would still truly honor Him.
Speak kindly to your husband and your kids. (This season of life can get crazy. Boundary testing and sleep training and diaper changing and shoe tieing all on top of the holidays – don’t let it rule you. These people are your biggest blessing; let your words make them know that.)
Be patient with them. (No one is going to do things exactly as you would do them. Your husband trusts this home to you and is willing to help when needed, so show him some grace. Your kids are only little once. They’re still learning how to do things and how not to do things. Show them some grace.)
Enjoy them. (My second best gift to you is under your roof. Take delight in them. Their differences, their similarities, their quirks and their ticks. Press into those hugs and be quick to make memories.)
Spend quality time with them. (Time is ticking by, isn’t it? Let the dishes rot in the sink. Let the floors be covered in crumbs. Let the laundry go and resort to mismatched clothes. Play more dress up. Play more farm. Play more games. Read more books. Leave a legacy of the fear of the Lord, not a legacy of cleanliness.)
Spend quality time with Me. (Oh! I have much to show and teach you. About you. About Me. I long to be with you even more than you long to be with your family. Hard to fathom, yes? But it’s true. Keep carving out chunks for me and I promise to keep meeting you like I did today, too.)
Tell them what I’ve done for you. (I’ve saved you from so much and am saving you still! I don’t want mediocrity for you. I don’t want survival for you. I want life and life abundantly for you!)
These are gifts that will definitely delight Me.
Then He smiled at me – pa rum pum pum pum
Me and my drum – pa rum pum pum pum
Six simple gifts that will genuinely bless His heart and bring honor to His name. Isn’t that my goal after all? I have much to be thankful for, much to sing His praises about…and much to give in return. Happy Thanksgiving, friends! May your heart beat in line with the King of Kings and may you lift up thanks to Him today.
The Phipps family is heading to Denver to celebrate Thanksgiving with our family in the faith and we are soooooo excited! We’ve made a few quick trips now and then but this time we’re going to have four solid days with some really solid people. Wrex has to work Friday in Wyoming – HUGE BUMMER. In an effort to save money, we’re only taking one vehicle which leaves me transportation-less on Friday. So? I put out the all-call on Facebook and we were humbled and blessed to have so many friends respond with offers for us to borrow their cars/trucks/vans.
The first friend to reply is such a dandy. When I called her back, she said she’d leave the carseats in and that we could borrow the vehicle all weekend if we needed. She said, “Heck, come in, eat a meal and have a party at my house if you want – I don’t care!” She and her husband are THOSE people. You know, the ones that send you home with way more than you came with…the ones who feed your kid snack after snack and drink after drink and let them take the cup home…the ones who upgrade their things and bless people with the earlier version instead of selling it for a little pocket money. They are those people who really get what our stuff is all about and Who it really belongs to.
This house we live in? It’s the Lord’s. The car I drive? It’s the Lord’s. The car I borrow? Also the Lord’s. The paycheck my husband draws? The Lord’s. These kids of mine? The Lord’s. The clothes in my closet and the shoes on my feet? The Lord’s. The animals in our pasture? The Lord’s. He’s allowing me to borrow them, to care for them and to use them for His glory.
Every. single. thing. we. “own.” is the Lord’s. They are not ours. When we regard them as His, we tend to hold them a little more loosely; we don’t put our hope in them, we don’t idolize them, we don’t hold them with selfish ambition. When we know that these things were provided by THE Provider, we gain a mindset that acknowledges His provision. It’s an understanding that pushes out that orphan mentality that makes us snatch up our stuff, hold it close to our chest and shelter it from outsiders; the mentality that tries to convince us that we better not lend them out because “what if?” What if something happens and they are damaged? What if something happens and they aren’t repairable? It’s the mentality that tells us that the Lord will never provide again; it’s the mentality that puts the something above the someone.
But, when our faith isn’t in an object, a funny thing happens. When we release our grasp on these “things” and share them more freely…when we are willing to open our hands to give them away…
our hands are now open and ripe for the receiving of the blessing that lies ingiving. When our fists are so tightly clenched around our stuff…stuff that moth and rust will destroy or that thieves can steal …we can’t possibly receive any of the blessings and goodness of the Lord; our hands just can’t contain it.
He is a giver. He doesn’t withhold good things from His kids – why should we withhold our things from our fellow brothers and sisters? He will provide. He always has. He always will. And sometimes that provision comes in the form of our being willing to share what we have been given with others.
Thank you, sweet friends, for living a life with hands wide open. I pray the Lord blesses you; blesses you with His presence, His goodness and His grace…and with even more for you to give away.
The question that will be asked around countless dinner tables a week from tomorrow. The question that shouldn’t take much thought to answer…
The Lord’s grace…my family…my friends…my home…my amenities…my freedoms…
I’ve written about some of the things I’m thankful for here and here. And here and here and here. Gratitude is a beautiful thing! I know it delights the heart of the Lord to hear His children thanking Him for the good gifts He has given; gifts we don’t deserve but gifts He gives regardless.
What if the question around holiday tables wasn’t:What are you so grateful for?
__
But rather: How are you changing the world because you are so grateful?
Good question, yes?
Shouldn’t we be acting out our faith and moving mountains for other people because we can’t contain our gratitude? Shouldn’t we be tripping over ourselves looking for moments to bless and aid and assist because we’ve been so blessed and aided and assisted? Shouldn’t we be giving so sacrificially of our time, resources and talents that we’ve nowhere to turn and no one to point to except the Lord?
Yes, let’s give upwardly! Let’s give the Lord due praise – EVERY.SINGLE.THING we have comes from Him! He is most worthy of our gratitude…but less us also give outwardly, in His name…
I have a friend who posted on Facebook about her morning experience. She was in the waiting room of her doctor’s office waiting to be seen when an elderly lady came in; one who was obviously sick and needed medical care. The elderly lady didn’t have money to pay her copay so they had her reschedule her appointment to a day when she would have the funds. My lovely friend, jumped up and paid the co-pay.
That is Christ in action. That is a life changing the world because of gratitude. That is a life living out the ‘giving’ piece of ThanksGIVING…because how can we have Thanksgiving without the giving??
I pray that as you’re enjoying your family time and your turkey dinner…as you’re counting your blessings and recounting the goodness of the Lord…that the borders of your heart are expanding and that the world around you starts changing because of your gratitude. And not changing just for this season…for good. We are blessed to be a blessing so let’s live it…
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name. Psalm 100:4
The first of the month kicked off our family’s thankful tree activity. Nothing fancy – just pure, unadulterated gratefulness for the countless blessings we have in our lives.
We ARE a blessed people! We have a roof over our head that is comfortable and climate controlled…we have access to a clean, safe water supply (that can be heated for comfort and cleanliness)…we have the cheapest, safest and most wholesome food supply in the world…we have the privilege to worship how we so choose…we live in a democratic society that although, not perfect, is better than every other alternative… we are healthy and thriving…my husband has a job and one that provides for our financial needs…I have the benefit of staying home to raise our children…we have more than enough food in our cupboards and freezers and stomachs…we have totes of clothes we aren’t currently wearing…we have extra shoes in our mudroom…we own animals for pleasure…we have access to more than one vehicle…we have MORE.THAN.ENOUGH.
Let us not forget from whom all blessings flow.
Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. James 1:17
So, we will praise Him. We will praise Him with our voices and words and blogs. We will praise Him with our attitudes and the posture of our hearts. We will praise Him with our paper leaves.
It’s funny how something so simple can evoke such emotion. To hear Sawyer say she’s grateful for her…
Baby brother
just takes my breath away. She gets it.
Daddy said he was thankful that…
We live in America.
to which Sawyer quickly replied, “No, silly! We live in Holyoke!”
And the past couple of days? I’ve been especially thankful…
That my husband prays for me.
The ways in which He provides for us are many and we’re really good at celebrating the gift…but let us not refrain from worshiping THE GIVER.
My heart overflows in gratitude for all He has given…and for the things He took that He knew I didn’t need. Really thankful for those things, too…
Let us cultivate a spirit of gratitude among us, in all things and in all times. It leads to joy. It leads to selflessness. It leads to a greater perspective. It leads to Him.
Five years ago, I took a trip that would change my life in ways that I didn’t know were even possible. In the spring of 2008, I received an invitation to go on a missions trip to the Home of Refuge orphanage near Valencia, Venezuela. I looked at the dates of the trip, saw that it coincided with a state fair my husband was going to be judging and I immediately dismissed it. Nope. Couldn’t go. Already have plans. Plus, why would I want to go on this trip without my hubby (and he was already under contract with this fair)…the orphanage isn’t in the safest of countries (and I’m not much of a risk taker)…I wasn’t the biggest fan of children (or so I thought)…plus, I remember missionaries coming to our church when I was growing up and I was HELLBENT not to be one. (It just seemed so foreign, unglamorous and scary to me.)
And then…isn’t there always an “and then?” The Holy Spirit convicted me and made me realize that I wasn’t committed to anything during this time. Wrex was, but I was not. I was just planning on going with him to have fun and support him…and in that moment, I think I knew I was called to go, not to Indiana, but to South America.
After praying and attending an informational meeting, the Lord confirmed it to me through worship one Sunday using verbage our group leader had used in a previous meeting.
Break my heart for what breaks Yours
Everything I am for Your Kingdom’s cause
As I walk from earth into eternity
It didn’t exactly whack me in the face when she said it, but that Sunday, He ministered to my heart regarding this trip and I paid in full to go. Can I just say, obedience is a BEAUTIFUL thing and that’s definitely what this trip was for me. Every ounce of my being was kicking and screaming “no” but the Lord was whispering “yes.” So glad I listened and obeyed.
The orphanage was run by an American man and wife who, too, were obedient to the Lord. Read about their AMAZING history here. (Seriously. Read it. The Lord’s faithfulness is astounding.)
As a team, we put on a VBS of sorts during the day, and at night we ministered solely to the older kids. The Lord had put that task on our leader’s heart as she planned our trip because there were a couple of students there that were 18 or were turning 18. They would soon be entering the world beyond the fences of the orphanage and we wanted them to be as prepared as they could be to stand firm for the Lord in a country that would be ready to eat them alive because of Him.
Edickson and Bryan
It was SUCH an anointed, majestic, holy time. The kiddos learned to give their testimony and how to lead others to Christ; they got to gain a deeper understanding of the Lord from a different set of mouths; they got to play games and have fun and be joyful and do creative activities apart from school; and most importantly, they got smothered in love.
Sweet girls
There were so many sweeties there, it was hard to have a favorite…but there was a little girl that specifically caught my eye and attention. Her name was Eduangeli. She was around 2 or 3 and had the biggest brown eyes and the curliest brown hair…and she called me momma. I was sold. Smitten. Completely in love.
Oh, my heart still longs for this girl
She loved being doted on and carried around and loved on and was so content just to sit. I’d sing to her and play with her hair and pray over her. We’d get out bubbles or a ball and she’d play, but she was so content just to sit and snuggle. And I was content to do so.
Snuggle bunny
That’s what a lot of the kids wanted. We’d sit and “talk,” which mainly consisted of me trying to attempt a conversation in my simple, left-a-lot-to-be-desired Spanish. But they didn’t care. Smiles and laughter and self-deprecation are a universal language, yes? They just wanted to be included…to be wanted…to be known…to be loved…to be accepted…to be in…to be heard…to be in the presence of someone who cared.
A normal scene
Don’t we all? I’m so thankful that we have a Father that sees that need in ALL of us and should we choose to believe…should we choose to sit at His feet and be in relationship with Him…He adopts us into His family, forever.
The Lord did some major, life changing things in me on that trip. I owe a tremendous amount of who I am today and what my walk with the Lord looks like and what I believe as Truth to His doings (or, undoings) that occurred in a red, stucco orphanage in a communist country in South America. (So much so, that that will have to be another post for another day or you’d be reading all night.)
Leaving those kiddos – not my finest hour. My heart was, indeed, broken for the things that break His. I was a wreck; a complete, sobbing, ugly-cry, overwhelmed mess. Our leader reminded me in our last hours there as I struggled to pull it together and say my goodbyes, that there are some 150 MILLION orphans in the world and we got to know 60. As much as it felt like this was the end of the world, it was not; and though our time there DID make a difference there was still a lot of other children that were in need in the world. We couldn’t limit our vision to just these 60…because the Lord doesn’t.
A few months later, we found out why we felt so impressed to really concrete some things with those older kids… On a horrible day in November, the government stormed the orphanage at gunpoint, seizing all the kids except the handicapped individuals. The ones that were 18 were turned loose on the street and the others were sent to state run jails and orphanages. Heartbreak and anger and confusion and unanswered questions and cries of injustice poured from our lips. How can they do that? Is there something we can do? What happened to Hector? Jesus? Eduangeli? Oh, how I prayed and cried out to the Lord! If someone could just find her and get her here, we would adopt her! Any of them! All of them! But it wasn’t to be.
I think of her when I see my own little brown-eyed, curly haired beauty. There aren’t too many days that go by that I don’t wonder where she is or what she’s doing. I pray that she’s cared for…that she isn’t scared…that she has enough to eat…that someone is showing love to her…that she isn’t being taken advantage of…that someone is teaching her about the Lord…and that somewhere, in the deep recesses of her heart, that she remembers the Jesus we talked about…the Jesus that rescued her once and that will do so again, some how, some way. Would you pray for her, too? For all of them?
You love her more than I do, Lord
Our church celebrated orphan Sunday today. We prayed collectively for the persecuted church and for the orphan everywhere; there are almost half a million children in our very own country that are not in a forever home. The videos are hard to watch and the statistics are hard to hear, but we can’t look away. We can’t protect our hearts and think someone else will do the work because it might just be too much for us to handle. Much perspective is gained by getting outside of our churches and living rooms and families; a God-sized perspective, a life-changing perspective…and not just your life.
The orphan is dear to the Lord’s heart. Pray for them today; for the ones in our backyards, in our state, in our country and in other nations. Ask the Lord to break your heart for what breaks His. Ask Him how He wants you to share His name with the orphan. And then? (See, there it is again…) Be obedient to what He’s asking you to do. If it’s go, go. If it’s pray, pray. If it’s support, support. If it’s adopt, adopt. If it’s build, build. There is blessing in obedience, this I know.
By the way, my heart has done a 180 on the missionary front. 🙂 There are longings in my soul to go and preach the Good News and to make disciples and to bind up the brokenhearted and to free the captives and to pass on knowledge of production agriculture to help change a society by feeding people for more than just a day. I just want to be a vessel of the Lord. Wherever. Whenever. With whoever. And if it happened to be somewhere with more brown-eyed, curly haired girls that decide to call me momma, I shan’t complain.
So, last time, we left off here. Soak in these first two paragraphs again because they are oh-so important…
God intends for us to model His character to our children. Scripture tells us that we are to give our children affection, compassion, protection, provision and loving discipline. When we provide this kind of environment, children then believe that HE is loving and compassionate and protective and gracious and a loving disciplinarian.
But in a home that exhibits the opposite – homes with a lack of affection or compassion or where there’s yelling or neglect or punishment and especially abuse, they begin to see God in THIS way. A mean God; a God of no grace. They see Him in a way that is untrue of who He really is; a way that leads to deep, deep wounds and the inability to apply His true character to their lives. We have to act in ways that are consistent with Him – THAT is how we will connect our children to Christ the most…and this is especially is true of how we discipline.
I feel like the “d-word” can be a controversial issue and it shouldn’t be and I don’t want it to be here. I think oftentimes we hear discipline and our brain immediately thinks, spanking. Spanking is a form of discipline and it’s one of the things we use at my house, but the word itself comes from a Latin word “disco” which means to learn or get to know. It does NOT mean punishment – there’s a big difference between the two.
Hebrews 12 tells us five main things about discipline. It says that:
1.) God disciplines those He loves
2.) discipline corrects
3.) it is not punishment
4.) it is for our best
5.) it is to be done in the character of God
So, this (discipline) is what we’re to do for our children. Proverbs is chocked full of scriptures on the importance of disciplining children and the responsibility we have as parents in disciplining them. We are to TRAIN them, to TEACH them, to GET THEM TO KNOW God’s best. That is discipline. It’s God’s way of parenting.
We have to remember that they’re just little kids. They don’t come out of the womb knowing every rule, every social norm, every right from wrong – it’s our job to teach them these things…even if we have to teach them 15 times a day…it’s our job and we are accountable to the Lord regarding it.
When a child misbehaves, we discipline to correct the poor behavior, we invoke an age-appropriate consequence (timeout, spanking, loss of privileges, etc.) and we teach them the correct behavior.
Discipline isn’t something to be done in haste. It takes time.
We might have to take a minute to cool down.
Then we need to get on their level and get their eye-to-eye attention.
Then we have to explain to them why they are getting disciplined. – “Do you know why you’re in timeout? It’s because you were disobedient. I asked you to stop/put it down/come here/sit/pick it up and you chose not to. That’s being disobedient and that doesn’t honor mom and dad and it doesn’t honor Jesus.”
Then we need to explain how they should act differently next time. – “Next time when mom or dad asks you to stop/put it down/come here/sit/pick it up, let’s do it on the first try” or “Next time, instead of back-talking and whining, let’s just say, “Yes, mom” and then if you have a real question about it, then you could ask it politely afterwards.”
Then we should pray with them. We find it helpful to have them repeat after us. – “God, forgive me for being disobedient. Please help me to honor you and mom and dad by being obedient. I have no hope of being obedient without your help.”
Then we need to hug and kiss and remind them that we love them and then move on. Don’t hold them in their sin…because God doesn’t do that to us. It’s done and gone…as far as the east is from the west.
And that’s all a simple scenario! That’s not the time your sweet little pumpkin throws a fit or screams or cries or pulls away while you try to discipline. Please tell me that doesn’t just happen at our house on occasion? It’s hard work and it takes time.
A wise momma once said, “You can’t teach character in the fast lane.” Man, is that ever true! Discipline is one of those things that we can’t do in 10 seconds and hope they got the lesson and won’t do it again. That doesn’t work. That’s not real discipline because they aren’t learning anything positive. They might learn that mom has a temper or that she swats you from behind if you misbehave…that is punishment and that’s not effective discipline.
You can scare/intimidate/or terrify a child to get a certain response or correct action, but that doesn’t mean that they have learned WHY they aren’t to act in that manner and it doesn’t give them the choice to change in the future. They aren’t striving to be obedient because they LOVE you, it’s because they are afraid of you and the ensuing punishment. It’s just like us with the Lord. He wants us to be obedient to Him as a result of our love for Him, not because we’re afraid He’s gonna zap us.
When you consistently discipline your child and do it with the right attitude — compassionately, with emotions under control, with consistent boundaries and consequences, and you focus on the child’s best outcome — you are expressing love exactly as God expresses His love. It may seem uncomfortable at the time, but in the long run, it’s the most selfless, compassionate thing you can do to set your child up for fruitfulness in God’s Kingdom…
After our post-church pumpkin patch excursion, we came home and cleaned out our flower beds and set out our newest finds. A few of our plants are still flowering and thriving, so we left them in to pretty up the place until a hard freeze hits.
I love those stripey guysA little bit of spring mixed with the fallThis little green box was Wrexy’s first show box. Love.Hay hay hayOh yes, we have a few of thoseThe long viewAnd down the other side
Sawyer had fun helping arrange all of the pumpkins and gourds! I’m just wondering how long it will stay looking like this. 1.) I’m hoping the chickens don’t help themselves to any of my decor and 2.) Little Miss likes to REarrange them every time she walks out the door.
Setting sun, pre-corn stalksFrom the roadFrom the road, again
Sawyer thoroughly enjoyed helping us carry the corn “sticks.”
Gorgeous sunset behind the barnAnd a pretty cool moon, tooThe heavens declare the glory of the LORD!
Indeed. As we prayed tonight, we thanked Him for all of the beautiful things He made that point man to Him…including pumpkins…and especially, our pumpkins. And I don’t mean the orange ones.
