6April2007

Breakfast Transparency

Posted by Michelle under: Humility; Mealtime; Prayer.

Psalm 78:4

We will not hide them from their children,
Telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD,
And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.

While we shouldn’t display empty ritual for the purpose of showing our children how spiritual we are, there is a sense where it is good and right to be transparent when God truly works in our lives. I think it is right to allow some of our normally private spiritual life to be public for this reason.

This feels awkward. Right after the Pharisee post, I prayed for breakfast with the children. After we say thank you for the food, I usually pray for them (obedience or kindness), to be a blessing to any particular people we will see that day, and then for me. I want my children to understand that talking to God isn’t simply a ritual prayer (God is great. God is good.)

Now, normally when I pray for myself, I pray in the affirmative, as in Help mommy to get her work done, to be diligent, give mommy wisdom in situation X, and so on. This morning, my heart had been stirred to repentance by God’s word, and my natural inclination was to thank God for this gift, but because I was praying out loud, I found it difficult to actually say, “Thank you for your gift of repentance for my selfishness.”

I found it interesting that I could easily (by practice) say, “Help me not to be lazy” but find difficulty saying, “Thank you for helping mommy to see she was wrong to be lazy”

There’s a lot I don’t know… how transparent should I be? How deliberate should my transparency be? should I have specific thoughts/ facets of spiritual life that I want to share with my children in response to their needs, or should it be completely spontaneous? perhaps if I’m aware of the needs of my children (lack of understanding that confession is a part of prayer), God will give me the opportunity to model it (and the grace to recognize the opportunity).

Guess I need more wisdom… and I know where that comes from.

That the generation to come might know them,
The children who would be born,
That they may arise and declare them to their children,
That they may set their hope in God,
And not forget the works of God,
But keep His commandments;

Psalm 78:6-7

Popularity: 35% [?]

Popularity: 35% [?]

23February2007

Why do we pray for our food?

Posted by Michelle under: Prayer.

Why do we pray for our food? I was reading the Lord’s prayer this morning and asked this question of my children. Here is what I told them:

We tell God thank you for our food because Jesus tells us to pray each day (”this day” “daily bread”) for our needs.

And I’m reminding myself that this is why I must pray each day for wisdom and strength to be the Christian, wife, mom that He wants me to be. Sometimes I forget to ask (evidence of too much self-reliance).

Popularity: 16% [?]

Popularity: 16% [?]

29August2006

teaching along the way

Posted by Michelle under: Discipleship; Introspection; Prayer.

(in light of the previous post) Today, several times we talked about God seeing everything. When I prayed for breakfast, I told God thank you that he could see us eating breakfast.

Later, as we were driving home from the grocery store, I asked David if God could see us in our van, and he said, “no.” I simply said He could. I need a verse!

I wonder if he has the ability to comprehend such an abstract truth. This three-year-old boy seems a long way from being able to comprehend salvation!

Popularity: 19% [?]

Popularity: 19% [?]

8August2006

O Taste and See!

Posted by Michelle under: Discipleship; Prayer.

After watching F-15s and F-117s flying overhead for awhile, David, Bethel, and I drove home. We told God thank you for sending us to New Mexico where we could see fighter jets every time we go grocery shopping (and often from our backyard).

Then I remembered Psalm 78– how parents are to tell their children about our wonderful God and His wonderful ways. So I took a moment to tell David that Mommy and Daddy didn’t ask to come to New Mexico. We wanted to go other places. But God knew what was best for us, even though we didn’t. He always does! He knew how much we would love it here (really, all of us!). The we talked about how King David tells us that we will be happy (blessed) if we trust in God’s goodness, and it reminded me that God will provide…. a church, a babysitter, friends for the kids, and all of our daily needs. How can Mommy worry about these things, when God has proven Himself to be allknowing and all-loving?

Popularity: 18% [?]

Popularity: 18% [?]

6July2006

evening and morning observations

Posted by Michelle under: Bedtime; Obedience; Prayer.

Evening Observations:
Last night, Bethel wanted to pull her suitcase around, and I wanted to get her dressed for bed. She was very (overly) tired. She did not want to lie down and kept a death grip on the suitcase handle. When I pried her hands off, she screamed. Here is what I did: I sympathized with her (”It’s hard to stop what you are doing”), and just kept on changing her. I don’t want her to think that her crying has any effect on what I do in these cases. I didn’t say anything about anger (although it was anger) because she wasn’t really rational to hear it, I think. Once I was done, I carried her into the bedroom and she was fine (she goes to bed well, actually).

Morning Observations:
I don’t require the children to close their eyes when they pray. I’ve told them why we do it (it shows repect for God and helps us not to think of other things), but I’ve figured that they’ll close their eyes to pray as they mature. And they do. It’s fun to see them imitating the prayer habits of their parents.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Popularity: 20% [?]

30May2006

The Great Imitators

Posted by Michelle under: Prayer.

What do my children imitate in me?

expressions, verbal clutter, mannerisms, habits (good and bad), food tastes, and many other things I’m sure we could identify.

Today we went to the dry cleaners. I needed to get a suit of Lee’s cleaned for his graduation on Thursday (and inspection on Wednesday). We realized on Sunday that there were some spots on it, and since yesterday was a holiday, this was the earliest I could take it in. After checking out one cleaners who didn’t do same day or next day service, and knowing that the time was getting late (9:45am) I stopped the car, and as is my custom, I pray out loud that God would give Mommy wisdom to know what to do, and help finding a cleaners in time that would have next-day service. (actually, David hears me pray for wisdom a lot!)

When we pulled up to a store, I heard David in the back saying, “Thank you, God, for Mommy finding a cleaners to get Daddy’s suit cleaned.” Now I wasn’t ready to thank God yet, since I didn’t know if I could get the suit back, but my heart did a double flip in gratitude with the knowledge that my son was responding to our custom of thanking God (out loud) when he answers our prayers. And we thanked God together when we got back to the car without Daddy’s suit. Would David have offered thanks if I didn’t make a conscious (and awkward, to be honest) effort to pray out loud for these “silly” requests? I doubt it. I pray that God would give me more opportunities like this, and that I would recognize them when they come.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Popularity: 15% [?]

14April2006

Prayer for the Potty Training Mother

Posted by Michelle under: Potty Training; Prayer.

Here it is:

“Help the mommy to see evidence that the child is about to poop.”

Today after catching David before an , inspecting a large specimen spin away, and later rejoicing in the two-candy award, I asked David, “It’s a lot more fun to poop in the toilet, isn’t it?”

My dear son replies, “No, it’s not.”

To which I stubbornly repeated, “It’s a lot more fun when we poop in the toilet,” and to my relief, David’s eyes get a little glassy, and he agrees with me. Child-conditioning at its finest. We may be successful yet. (Update: the candy reward has suddenly become of interest. We’ll see how long it lasts!)

Popularity: 18% [?]

Popularity: 18% [?]