Refelctions on Poo (no, not Pooh, just Poo)

So, I'm so engrossed in cleaning my kitchen (one has to become completely engrossed when one waits a week to do dishes) that I lost track of where both girls are. I glance over my shoulder, and my firstborn is dutifully cleaning the living room windows. Girl number 2 in the dynamic duo is meandering. You know, that "I'm so bored and I'm not old enough to do anything real constructive so I'll just get into trouble" meandering.

She's itching her rear end.

Poor kid. Stinks to have eczema on your biscuits. Then, I squint and look closer. She quickly stuffs her two middle fingers into her mouth. She sucks these regularly and is ambidextrous. Oh no.

I yell out loud to the heavens, "Oh, dear Father, no!!" But it's too late.

She has transferred whatever was looming in her diaper to her mouth. I am nauseated, and yet, I have to act. Lets just say, 30 minutes later both mom and kid are poo free and smelling much better. I silently thanked the Lord that it was me and not her dad; he's a wonderful father but has a significantly weaker stomach. Wow, the days of my life.


While I wait for the King, I become much more humble, much more resilient, much more thankful for the small things.

I truly believe that all you poo cleaning mamas out there deserve a big ol' badge to wear that says something to the effect of, "I cleaned up nasty poo and all I got was this stinking badge."

On second thought, badges? We don't need no stinking badges. Just chalk it up to treasure in heaven. Very few people will ever know the sacrifices made by mothers (that is, unless you become a mother yourself, or you read my blog in which I detail with precision just how much of a giver I am) but thank goodness, really and truly, that the Father knows. He will indeed reward all of us who give up many other things to change diapers...but also... to receive those smiles and giggles and read those books and tell those kiddos just how much they're worth. They're worth everything.

May I never forget what a blessing these precious moments are. I won't be their favorite person for very much longer.(Just ask my firstborn, she'll tell you, and she knows! She is, after all, almost 4.)

Walking the Tight Rope

In light of my last post, I wanted to make sure that I am not mistaken for one that does not understand the Love of God.

I was awake at 1:00 in the morning last night, unable to sleep. A picture flashed through my mind I was not expecting. I was suspended high in the air on a tight rope. As I looked down, I could see clearly that there was no safety net.

On my left hand side I could see the word grace painted in red on the ground; to my right I could see the word truth. As I stared downward, I could feel myself start to lean in one direction until it felt as if I was being pulled down by an unseen force. A hand reached out and steadied me. No sooner had I been steadied than I began to stumble in the other direction. Again, God's right hand, the Lord Jesus steadied me.

That hand then gently lifted my chin so that I could not look at the ground, but only straight ahead. As I gazed ahead, I could see the Lord on the platform in front of me at the end of the tight rope. He was beckoning me forward. A flood of scripture came to my mind.

I was Peter, tossed on stormy seas, able to walk on water if I kept my eyes on Jesus. I was fixing my eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of my faith, running a race surrounded by a cloud of witnesses.

The walk of faith demands that we understand grace and truth as dual sides of a beautiful reality that culminates in the person of the Lord Jesus. Only when we fix our eyes on him can we steady our walk, can our vision become clear, can we see the world around us through the eyes of faith.

As aliens and strangers here, pilgrims on a journey, living in tabernacles waiting for our glorious redemption, Let us fix our eyes on Jesus. It is through the power of his Spirit that we are changed, that we are conformed into his likeness. It is in him we live and move and have our being. It is through his life, death, and resurrection that the whole counsel of scripture, the whole magnitude of God's plan and character is revealed.

How should we tell people about him? How should we live for him? Let us look to who he is for the answers. He is the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. He is the Lord of all, the great I AM, the bright morning star, the Messiah, the Anointed One, our Passover Lamb, the Lamb that was slain, the Lion of Judah, our peace, our sin offering,the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being... the punishment and wrath we deserved was laid upon his shoulders, and by his wounds we are healed.

Faithfulness. A steady walk looking into the eyes of Jesus.

Hem me in, before me and behind me. May I always hear your voice saying, "This is the way, walk in it."

Until I hear the trumpet and the shout of the Archangel summoning me to meet the King of Kings, this is my prayer. May I look into his eyes and hear those blessed words, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

"Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered in shame."Psalm 34:4-6

The Fruit of Faithfulness

At the girls group home that I do bible study at, we each have a bracelet with a fruit of the spirit on it. Each week, we trade and focus on a new fruit. Although I know that it is the Spirit who produces the fruit, we have seen the Lord's hand in orchestrating who gets which bracelet. For some of the girls, this has been a more "fruitful" activity than for others. I have already been very blessed by it. I think I drew "patience" EVERY WEEK (seriously, this is no exaggeration) since we started before Christmas until this past week. Does the Lord have a purpose? Definitely. Does he have a sense of humor? Without a doubt. Pretty soon I found out that I had to have patience with my patience bracelet because I was so tired of it rearing it's ugly patient head. Whenever I would feel overwhelmed, the Lord in his faithfulness would bring a scripture to mind about patience, and inevitably it was a verse speaking of HIS patience with me. Because of his great patience, I am not consumed. Glory to His Name!! The Lord is not slow in keeping his promises, but he is patient, not wanting anyone to perish, but all to have eternal life. Amazing. Slowly he reminds me and conforms me to the likeness of his Son.

This past Saturday, I graduated to a new bracelet. "Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles!" (I think in real life we really can break into song regularly, I'm having a flashback of our Fiddler on the Roof 8 track) I have moved on to faithfulness. I have to admit, I was at a bit of a loss as to what this means. I can recall many verses about HIS faithfulness, (If we are faithless, He is faithful, etc.) but I couldn't recall any about believers faithfulness.

True to my nature, I looked it up. God bless Internet bible search tools. Because I have been experiencing certain circumstances which require me to stand in the face of persecution for the TRUTH of God's Word, I was not surprised to see what showed itself though my search. Because God is faithful, this is what he told me this week, "It gave me great joy to have some brothers come and tell about your faithfulness to the truth and how you continue to walk in the truth."(3 John 1:3).

The faithfulness he is showing me is faithfulness to the truth; commitment to walking in the truth in the face of slander and backstabbing and false gospels.

As the end approaches, we are told to expect a falling away. We are told that many will be deceived and will turn to what their itching ears want to hear. May those who have ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says about these times. Remain faithful to the one gospel taught in the bible.

It is a gospel of truth spoken in love. Not love at the expense of truth. Love that is Godly. The bible says that God disciplines and rebukes those he loves. That if we are not disciplined, we are illegitimate children. People are not truly saved without the conviction of sin and the truth of the depravity of our own humanity. When we properly see ourselves in light of a holy God, the only choice we have is to confess with our mouth and believe in our hearts that Jesus is the Messiah, and we will be saved. Not by works, not by praying a prayer, but by BELIEVING in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus for our SINS.

Sins. The new 4 letter word in Christianity.

"Come on now Kacey," you complain, "You Christians say that you "hate" things. How can you say you "hate" anything if you follow God? Isn't God LOVE?"

How can I say this? Because God does. Because he is love, he hates what is evil. We are to hate what is evil and cling to what is good. Hate sin. Flee immorality. Avoid every hint of it. ANY HINT. Why? Because we are the representation of GOD on this earth. We are his BODY.

So what is love?

The Messiah I know is a savior who ate with sinners. He showered love and respect and attention on the least of society: the tax collector, the adulterous woman, the prostitute. He came to preach good news to the poor, to bind up the broken hearted. To proclaim freedom for the captive. Why did he keep such company? Because the sinners knew how deep their sin lived, they experienced the breadth of their redemption because they realized the depth of their depravity. Jesus told the woman who wept on his feet, washing them with expensive perfume and her hair, that her faith had saved her. She could love much, because she had been forgiven much.

The TRUE GOSPEL is not one without love. It is not the self righteous Pharisaical bull horn turn or burn gospel. It is also not one that says you can live like the world and be saved. It is through a narrow gate and on a narrow path that we are saved. Broad is the way that leads to destruction. Jesus saves. Jesus loves. Jesus came as a lamb lead to the slaughter. Jesus is coming as a lion to judge the nations. This is the truth. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. A man reaps what he sows. (I like this verse lately.)

And so, may the Lord grow in me the fruit of faithfulness. Faithfulness to his truth, the uncompromising gospel of love that is just and requires that we turn from our sinful nature and become children of the day who walk in the light.

Come quickly Lord.

While Nat Waits for the King, and Bumpers

Random kid observations for the day

Nat: Mom, when Jesus comes back, I'm going to be two things. I'm going to be a princess and a cheerleader. With the pom-poms that uncle Ryan gave me I'm going to hear the trumpet and say,"Yeah Jesus, you came to take us to heaven, yeah!" oh, and I'm going to wear these shoes. (For Nat, it's all about shoes. These particular ones are pink princess sandals with a large flower on the front. I'm sure they'll go well when she's clothed in white.)

Annie: Mama...bumper? bumper?(Peanut butter bumpers are small round peanut butter flavored cereal sweetened with molasses. Healthy and tasty, one of Annie's favs.) Annie walks into the laundry room, faces the dog food bowl and says, bumper? bumper? I realize, they do look remarkably alike. I better keep all the eyes behind my head on that one. She's the stealthy one.


priceless.

Redacted

I recently had a post about bitterness. It was NOT deleted by me or redacted. For reasons unknown to me, it has disappeared. Truly, just gone. For those who read it in time, blessings.:)

speaking of guilt trips

I know that some of my millions of readers are new to the blogging world. I would like to say THANK YOU to Karen who is really the ONLY one who ever comments on my blog. I'm beginning to think that I'm just alone in a small room screaming and no one is noticing. (oh, that's just me trying to get the girls attention, sorry. I'm projecting... and digressing.) Anyway, thanks Karen for commenting on my posts. It really means a lot to me. And those of you who read and never say so, thanks. (Mom, this means you. I know you read it, such a great mom!) I appreciate you caring about what I have to say, as trite and silly as it may be.

I think I'm brilliant, however, and I'm sticking to that.

Feel free to comment though, really. Anonymous is fine. Anything is fine. Really. Hello? Hello? (echo, echo, echo)***sigh***.(sometimes I feel just like Charlie Brown)

I know, I'll post more pictures of my girls, that'll get em! (diabolical laughter)

a little here, a little there...

While I wait for the return of Jesus, I have two things that I think about on a daily basis that keep me grounded. One is living a life above reproach at work so that I have a living testimony to my co-workers and show them the grace and truth of serving Christ. The other is finding things to do with my ACTIVE children who are VERY social.

On the first count, I was able to share my testimony and the gospel message with a coworker today. His wife has been unfaithful and he's kind of at the end of himself. He can't sleep, his health is tanking, he has 3 daughters to take care of and has no foundation or source of hope. I won't mention his name, but please pray for him, that the Lord would show him how faithful he is and how much hope we all have in Jesus, not just to escape Hell, but to have life abundantly here on Earth.

Speaking of life here on Earth, my girls are doing me in lately. If any of my faithful readers would like to subsidize pre-school for my 4 year old next fall, please, let me know. I have confronted my own introversion and I cannot keep up with a radically extroverted daughter. I've come up with what I feel to be a brilliant idea. What do you think of having "play dates" (who came up with that phrase anyway? Can't kids just play anymore? NO, because we are so BUSY and we don't know are neighbors. Oh, and there's crazy people out there so the kids can't just play outside)oh, sorry. Play dates for introverted moms. Bring your kids and a book. BYOB.

You don't have to talk. In fact, talking about meaningless and trivial things is strictly prohibited. No obligatory ramblings about how brilliant your child is, their latest sport or outfit, your new car or new house or new hair color. You MAY show up in your pajama pants and you MAY have no make up and show how many facial blemishes you really have. Slippers are a plus. Your kids should be clean and not snotty but may also be in pajamas. It can be last minute. It does not need to be in my date book for 2 months as long as you don't expect sparkling floors and pristine glass.

Are there any of you out there? Anyone who relates with the fact that I only have 1200 square feet to live in and it JUST GETS MESSY QUICK? Anyone who avoids the park and the library because everyone feels the need to talk about themselves and their children but NEVER introduce themselves? What a bizarre world.

Introverts of the world unite.

I suppose that will never happen unless it's a blogging play date because we're all at home, hunkered down, playing Candyland and reading books and going for walks and praying that our children won't be damaged from our solitude.

There is an endless amount essentially benign and unimportant things to get your nighty in a knot and feel guilty about, huh?

Mom, you were right. When you become a mother you should get a T-Shirt that says "Bring on the Guilt."

Amen. Come quickly Lord.