May 2011

[bl]T[/bl]he sun hidden by clouds, my positive attitude hidden by discouragement. Rain poured from the sky, complaints poured from my mouth. This was the week we moved, and this was the week it rained every. single. day. I was set up to fail…or, missed an opportunity to rise above. The husband I love to be with is either in the other car or at the other house. All five children in tow for my tasks because Mark’s seem more urgent. We’re doing renovation to one house, while closing and packing up another. And suddenly time has run out and even […]

[bl]I[/bl]t’s not the paint. But I sure love to surround myself with color. It’s not the furniture. But the wood piece we call The Moses is super special to me. It’s not the kitchen. Though I can’t wait to organize the room I frequent the most. It’s not even the beds. But ours are cozy with feathers and down. It’s not the framed pictures, though I love filling my rooms with the faces of people I love. It’s not the big comfortable couch. But I can’t wait to pile on it for family movie night. What makes a house a […]

[bl]H[/bl]is predictions were wrong. No one was left behind because we all remain. Remain to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. And even though the world didn’t end for all people, it has for some. Tornadoes touched, and the whole world of a city lies in ruin. What’s left behind is rubble, death, loss. A gun shot in Texas buried the world of a family and what’s left behind is grief, emptiness, and unending questions of sorrow. And we can only hope in confidence that God will rapture the hearts of those hurting. That he will take them […]

Boxes stacked. Cabinets and closets mostly empty. A kitchen that doesn’t serve. Clean laundry waiting for hands to fold and put away. Children under foot. Bedrooms disbanded. Rain interrupting. Husband and wife going in different directions to the same place. And the heavy weight of having too much stuff. This is not the kind of environment that encourages grace. It’s more likely to produce bickering, impatience, disconnect, and anger. And I, for one, stand guilty today. Of all of it! Guilty of letting my environment negatively influence my responses and behavior. We are affected by our environments. They have the […]

[bl]T[/bl]oday I share a recipe for my all time favorite cleaning solution. It is especially great for windows and mirrors – in my opinion the best solution around! But I also use it on counters in my kitchen and bathrooms. You can find the recipe online, but I got it from my sister and teacher of how to keep a clean house. The recipe makes a gallon of solution to be divided into several empty cleaning bottles. After you get used to the proportions, you should be able to make smaller amounts, even wing the ingredients for one small bottle. […]

[bl]I[/bl] made the statement in my last post that lowering expectations is essential to being and creating environments of grace. I want to be clear what I mean by this. I believe expectations create disappointment and failure. Whether you place them upon yourself or others, expectations foster an environment of pressure that often leads to unmet goals and discouragement in the reality. But a friend raises the question How do we reconcile becoming more like Christ – becoming holy as he is holy – with lowering expectations in order to be more gracious? Good question. Christians are called to strive […]

…because we fill our homes with our spirit. The email went like this: Okay, so don’t roll your eyes or panic or get frustrated…..I found a house I want to look at. I said don’t roll your eyes. We were worlds apart. Mark in Africa, me in Michigan.  But our hearts were comforted knowing we journeyed the same road of transition.  Six months prior we had moved home. Home from what had become home. We had been away for four years. Long enough for a move home to initiate a time of struggling, a season of reinterpreting. We moved back […]

[bl]E[/bl]leven years ago today, I welcomed a child into our home, into our family. It’s all the years that followed that are teaching me how to receive life. This learning how to let someone take from me, and trusting that God will fill me. At the heart of hospitality is exhaustion. Emptiness. Because receiving life means giving yours. Which is why, more than anything else, children have prepared me for a life of hospitality — a heart that welcomes, a spirit that invites, and a life that is interruptible. For these children, they enter. They take. They interrupt. And there […]

[bl]W[/bl]ords I hate to hear: I’m bored. We live in a time and place where children have more toys and games and things to watch on TV than ever before. And they’re bored? And don’t you dare speak these words when I’m stepping over a pile of laundry to get to the oven to see if dinner is ready. There are many days I wish I was bored! My children should know better. They’ve lived in a place where children make toys out of wire clothes hangers and bottle caps. They make soccer balls out of bags and ropes or […]

[bl]F[/bl]or Mother’s Day I received a basket of herbs. Fresh mint, basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano and cilantro. I will set this basket in the sun and let it grow, watch it overflow it’s wicker container. And I will pick from it to season, to enhance taste, to make delicious. Mark knows I want to be a mother that grows. But what I really want to grow is children. Grow them to love the Lord, to respect others, to engage people, to participate in God’s redemptive mission. What I really want to grow is love. Love rooted in Christ. Genuine love […]