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Motherhood: The Measuring Stick – Part 2
Yesterday after reading my post, my sweet and thoughtful friend Eileen questioned me on my use of Jesus as a measuring stick – her concern being not only I was setting impossible standards but was attempting to attain the same position as God, something that got the Archangel Lucifer booted from Heaven. I don’t believe that godliness (a term often used in Christian circles) means deeming oneself to be like God or on the same level as God. I believe…
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Motherhood: The Measuring Stick – Part 1
By nature, I am a student. I love the entire process – the initial curiosity, the exploration, finding answers, applying the answers, and the evaluation. When I finished my PhD back in 2007, I found myself at a loss. I switched to the role of teacher and suddenly the only measurement of my work was if I was kept employed and student feedback. Typically the students that give you feedback are the disgruntled ones. As a mom I feel it’s…
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Tough Hearts, Soft Hearts
I love the paradox of gentle toughness. I see it primarily in the life of Jesus with his deep sensitivity to the hearts of people and his ability to shoulder the greatest verbal and physical insults. It would seem that truly tough people would also lack tenderness. My own son defies this as he shows great awareness of people around him, concern when someone is upset, and checks on me when I cry; but when he falls and scrapes his…
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From Busyness to Malice – Separating from Community
In the song “By Thy Mercy”, J.J. Cummins writes: From the depth of nature’s blindness, From the hardening power of sin, From all malice and unkindness, From the pride that lurks within: By Thy mercy, O deliver us, good Lord, good Lord. Last night, I was on my way to deliver some tomato plants to a friend, who was volunteering at church, and was debating sticking around for the service. I was in preggers’ sweats and still a little dirty…
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Engineered, but not Reversed
Our church does this yearly practice in early January called “Reverse Engineering”. Individuals and families are asked to prayerfully assess nearly all aspects of their lives: priorities, habits and patterns, relationships, finances, daily schedules, vacations, emotional and physical health, spiritual development, family life, etc to make the most of the time and resources they have available. The idea is to look at where you see God directing your life – 1,2,5 and 40 years into the future – and begin…
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Lies About Longing and Wholeness
It terrifies me that as Christian women we often propagate the idea that we are not whole until we are both married and have children. We train single women’s hearts and minds in preparation to some day be good wives and mothers, and we teach mothers how to be better mothers. Often, all other classifications of women (married no kids, widowed, divorced, abandoned, once had children and have suffered their loss, celibate anyone?) slip through the cracks. While I believe…
