DAY 16: Drawing Closer to God (Loving No Matter What)

Most mother's out there can attest to the frustrations of dealing with a preschooler. They have a tendency not to listen, not to sit still when asked, not to follow direction, get angry or upset at the drop of anything, call their friends names, play the blame game, tell on their friends and so on. They have SO much to learn. I remember the trying times with my own kids and am thankful to God that we made it through relatively intact and sane. Now, as a preschool teacher assistant, it is taking the power of God to seriously keep me from wanting to blow a gasket. My frustrations, mind you, are expressed to my fellow teacher who is also at the end of her rope so we manage to keep our cool and maintain an even keel. Today, I walked them through the story of the Good Samaritan with little Lego figures. They were engaged for the moment which was a total blessing but the rest of the day brought anger, cutting in line, blaming, not being kind to each other and so on. There are constant teaching moments in a preschool and especially when you have several students that have special needs at this time in their life. At the end of the day, I was to conclude the lesson by letting them take two chocolate hearts from a gold shaped heart bowl that I told them was God's love. We got back from music and the other teacher was in the frame of mind that no chocolate was going to go to the kids but I called on her to trust me and I sat down with them and talked to them about being frustrated and not very happy about how their behavior had been today. I told them that although I could choose not to let them come to the bowl and receive some love from God and also take a chocolate heart to give to someone else, I told them that I prayed to God and asked him to help me love them right now despite the not so good behavior they had presented this day. They were listening intently. As, I called them up one by one to get their hearts of chocolate, I noticed one girl waiting and crying. Did my talk get through to her? Hmmmm? I suppose maybe we will see in the days ahead of how setting the example of loving no matter what will hopefully take root in their hearts.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 26

I had to take off 8 days of work for my shoulder surgery. My first thought was there goes Christmas but as I got through those days and had to start telling my daughter no can’t buy this or that because I don’t have any money, I found that this is a blessing in disguise.  Although our Christmas may be with less stuff, it will still be filled with family and our time together. Christmas gift giving should be done with love but tempered with some self-control. So, this Christmas God has given me the blessing of forcing me to have self-control in shopping for stuff for my family. Christmas is about God’s love and I am thankful to God for helping me keep that focus. God’s love is all we need and everything else is just icing on the cake that he blesses us with.

Matthew 6:24-25  ”No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.  “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge

I was reminded of a lesson I learned on love a few years ago. I found out I had some abandonment issues and learned why. My mother who had been going through her own issues at the time didn’t show up to my sisters 3 birthday party. I was 5 at the time. She was gone that whole weekend and when she came back it was only to move out to an apartment. To a five year old girl I felt abandoned and rejected. Thru some therapy and discussions with my mom, I was able to recognize my need to forgive her. Her love had failed me but what I learned was that indeed we are all capable of failing our loved ones. We are not perfect. But God’s love will not fail us. His love endures forever. I made it my mission to not only love on my children but to teach them about God’s love so that if at any time I fail them, they will know that no matter what the people in their lives do that they are loved by a God who cannot fail, who’s love will endure forever. If you haven’t learned this lesson on love or need a reminder of God's enduring love, read Psalm 139.

Psalm 139:26 Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 73

Friday was my 16th wedding anniversary. Thanks to the snow we didn't do anything as planned but I told my hubbie we have Valentine's Day as our back-up so our dinner out will happen eventually. I was looking at this scrapbook page I created on God's love and contemplating what my journaling would be. I chose a photo of my hubbie and I that was taken with my iphone this last Thanksgiving and the connection of the day came to me. We met on the Friday after Thanksgiving in 1994. At that time although I believed in God and Jesus in my head, I did not have them in my heart. Our marriage didn't begin with God in it but it has certainly grown to be that way. God is now a central part of our marriage and has made it stronger and better than ever. God first loved us and it's because of his love that Nathan and I are truly able to love each other. Without God, we never would have been here and never have been put in each other's path. So thank you God for loving us and creating us and bringing us together to live out your love through loving each other.
1John 4:19 We love because he first loved us.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 67

A smile. It's something so simple and yet so profundly effective in helping change someone's day for the better. I learned that lesson a long time ago when I was a server at Applebee's. "Mr Grumpy" came in with his downcast family and got to sit in my section. My first initial face to face with Mr Grumpy wasn't so great. I went back to the kitchen to put in the order and something just clicked in me. Maybe I just need to be as cheerful as possible, maybe smiling and disregarding his grumpy face would make some kind of difference? It did! He actually smiled back! I have always held that memory with me and recall it everytime I hear about what it says in the bible to, in my words, killem' with kindness. I was reminded about this last night as I got into my hot tub to let the days stresses float away. I looked up into the clear night sky and there was the moon. It was a crescent moon with the light shinning from the sun on it from the bottom giving it the look of a smile. There was God smiling down at me and my grumpy mood was gone and I smiled right back. Thank you Lord for this wonderful reminder of something so simple and yet so effective in helping make someone's day better. Challenge yourself this week to smile more and know that every smile is a little bit of God's love shinning outward to others.
Psalm 80:3 Restore us, O God; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.