Simplify

Thirteen years ago I was the mother of four growing children. I had the normal checklist of grocery shopping, laundry, cooking meals, making lunches, helping children with homework. I spent a good deal of time shuttling my children to and from school, basketball practices and games, youth group, and an assortment of other lessons, parties, and events. In addition, I was involved in launching a Christian school in our community, mentoring a group of high school girls, working with the high school youth group, and hosting guests in my home multiple times a week.
In other words, my life was full.
One particular day, while I was driving my children to a basketball game, I found myself using that time to plan out the next few things I needed to do. My mind was so occupied that I wasn’t even aware of the conversation my children were having in the backseat. I wasn’t using that time to communicate with them, hear their hearts, or try to understand the things they were dealing with and going through.
I wasn’t all there. I was distracted. Rather than pouring myself into relationships, I was focused on “doing.” I was missing out on the important things going on in my own family.
God has given each of us a certain capacity to deal with our individual lives. How can we give God His proper place if we just “fit Him in”? Aren’t we really saying, “Lord, my activities and stuff are more important that You”? When we do that, we make ourselves higher than God by communicating that our schedule is more important than Him.
If we want to live lives focused on God, we need to reorient our priorities. When we find ourselves at capacity and there is no margin, we need to give something up. Only then will we be free to enjoy the simplicity that is necessary for building relationships with God and our families.

Just Words?

I am going to begin blogging again with little bits taken from the book I am writing. Here is the first excerpt.


Just Words?

I have heard young people comment that swear words are offensive only if we assign importance to them. I understand what they are saying: words, after all, are nothing more than combinations of letters strung together to form expressions. Combine that with the relativistic thinking so prevalent in today's society, and the idea actually makes sense.

But there is another aspect to this topic: what you say is a reflection of your heart and mind. Jesus said, “The words you speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you" (Matthew 15:18, NLT).

The words that come out of our mouths reflect what we allow to permeate our minds. If we justify speaking careless, crude, or hurtful words, we are not submitting to Him. We are arguing with Him!

As Christians, we need to surrender to God our “right” to carelessly speak anything that comes to mind. But first, we have to desire close relationship with God more than we value our right to say whatever we want. The choice to honor him with our speech will grow out of that sincere desire to please Him.

Enjoying the freedom of living a Spirit-controlled life means accepting and embracing the Spirit's control in all areas, including language. We do this by deliberately filling our minds with wholesome, good things; then He gives us the desire to speak in ways that please Him.

Carry It Forward: When you consciously allow the Holy Spirit to act as a filter, the words that pour forth will serve as evidence of the Spirit's fruit in you: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and self-control. Isn’t that what you want your children to see?