Five Minute Friday: Tree

Psalm 1 references how a man who delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on His word will be like a TREE firmly planted. The thing with trees is there is way more than meets the eye. The whole support system of a tree is hidden from view, it stretches deep underground and spreads out in the form of roots. When the winds blow and the rain comes, the tree stands tall because it's roots are sprawled out, deep beneath the ground.

Our house is surrounded by trees. They are everywhere! Apparently, whoever lived here originally had quite the green thumb. Too bad the subsequent owner/owners let them go crazy! We have 4 trees on our patio and while they provide great shade for both us and our neighbors, they drop sooo many leaves! Our planter is probably covered with a least a foot of leaves and our cement is stained with the dark colored berries. Our front yard has some huge trees that also provide great shade but are growing out of control, towering high over our yard and house.

Both the unseen and seen parts of trees are cause for LOTS of work. Pruning, choppping, raking...it seems the work is never done. It seems to me that our lives are a lot like all these trees. We have unseen roots that have shaped us and made us who we are. Hopefully our "roots" keep us grounded and keep us from falling when storms come. What is visible to the outside world is sometimes messy and needs upkeep and often times, takes a lot of work! If we are firmly rooted in Christ, we can dig deep and grow tall.

How's that for random?!

Five Minute Friday: Grace

Undeserved, unsolicited, unending

The gift of a 2^nd chance. The slate wiped clean and the past forgotten. How often we take grace for granted and don’t recognize it’s value and importance in our lives. Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes about “costly grace” in his book, The Cost of Discipleship. The idea is simple…so often we take advantage of God’s grace. We make poor choices, we choose the wrong, we deliberately sin, knowing that God’s grace has covered it all and that we can start anew. We cheapen His grace by our lack of gratitude and living as one SAVED by such grace. When we truly understand the cost of the grace offered to us, we choose to live differently. We remember His death, his suffering, his pain…and we choose to live in gratitude.

Grace. A favorite of one I hold dear. A gift freely given and undeserved, yet I can claim it as my own. Grace. A new beginning…the old has gone and the new has come and we never have to turn back to what once but instead look forward to the future filled with hope and excitement because His grace has saved us and has made whole what once was broken and incomplete.

Five Minute Friday - Together

When I think of "together", I think of my sweet little family. Maybe that's because there's no one else I'd rather be with. The nights we all get to be home together, those are my favorite. Dinner, bathtimes, bedtimes filled with stories and sweet prayers for those we love, catching up with my better half, watching a show, enjoying a glass, crawling into bed to snuggle up to my better half...wouldn't trade those moments for the world!

It's when we're all together that I am reminded of how perfect we are for each other. He knows me so well and understands me without words needing to be spoken. He pours into our family endlessly and makes the times together matter...whether it be building Lego houses and contraptions or coloring masterpieces, he takes time to make "together" count. He wraps up the baby after a bath in a nice clean towel, turns on the light saber, carries on a conversation, and gets the jammies on with great intentionality and love. I look at this gift, this better half, I have been given and I find myself so thankful for being together...as a family, as a couple, as a team. Everything is definitely better when we're TOGETHER!

5-minute Friday!

Team 365

Yesterday I embarked on a journey that I hope and pray will become habit forming and life changing. Thanks to facebook, I discovered that there was going to be a group of women committing to read through the New Testament between Sep. 24th and Dec. 31st. The plan was to use the One Year Chronological Bible. A group was being formed that would provide accountability, insight, feedback and support over the next 3ish months. The mention of this group came at the perfect time as God has really been stirring in my heart about a lot of things.

I have never been good at consistent time in the Word. I've started various reading plans and plans to read through the Bible but I don't think I've ever gotten past Leviticus...or if I have it is because I have skipped that book but then later stopped reading anyway. I am the type of person who needs a plan, to know what I "should" be reading. I always liked reading through Proverbs as there is one chapter for each day of the month (and they were short). I have come to a point where I am realizing that if I truly want to shift my thinking when it comes to finances and time, then I need to make sure that God is 1st and that I am truly seeking Him and focusing on Him.

So, I just began yesterday and still have a ways to go, but I am excited about this! I am excited to be in the Word, to have a plan, and to have accountability. My prayer/hope is that this would be habit forming and life changing. I want to hear from God each day and really tune in to what He has for me. So, the plan is to sit at my table each morning during Hudson's 1st nap of the day and do my reading, journal/reflect, and then share with the group. It's only day 2 but so far I've enjoyed reading what others have gained from the reading as it's usually something I didn't notice or gravitate towards. :)

So begins my journey...

Present

"You must be present to win."

The above quote seems like such a given, but how often are we truly NOT present?! I've been thinking a lot lately about how much I hate iPhones. How does 1 little machine steal so much of our time and attention?! How does 1 tiny rectangle suck so much of our time and cause us to be disengaged?! I've had this sort of distaste for them since they were 1st introduced in our family. I used to get so frustrated with my husband when we'd be out and about and I'd look over and find him on his phone. But then a year or so later I got my own phone and became equally as guilty. To top it all off, Hope now has her "phone" (one of our old ones) and falls right into line with her parents. I hate it!

I often wonder what this generation of kids will be like as grownups. Will they be able to make meaningful/lasting relationships? Will they engage in true and deep conversations with those around them? How many milestones or moments were missed by their parents b/c there was a phone between parent and child? When they think back to time spent as a family, will the phone be a primary image/memory?

So how do we unplug? How do we truly become PRESENT in each moment and with the people we love? Do we set time limits? Do we set a proper place? How do we as parents model for our kids that connection is important, that face-to-face time is always more important that Facetime? How do we teach them to give people our un-divided attention? 

To be honest, I'm not 100% sure what the answer is but I know I definitely spend WAY too much time on my phone. It may only be for a minute or two here and there, but those are minutes that my kids deserve to have. I don't necessarily think they need to be done away with all together, but limits need to be set & boundaries need to be placed. . . for the grown ups and the kids!

Struggling

Our church just started a new series called "Surplus". The whole idea is to get beyond the point of struggling and move to a place of surplus. This past weekend's sermon came with a hand-out in the bulletin to help you figure out where you stand (struggling, stable, solid, or surplus) in various areas (financially, physically, spiritually). As Jaye and I looked at the paper we immediately knew that we fit the "struggling" category when it came to our finances. Every bullet point for the classification of "struggling" applied to us and to be honest, it was pretty depressing.

I'll be the 1st to admit that I am not good with money. I am not and have never been a very good steward of the money we earn and the things we have been blessed with. I'm not sure what it is that causes me to feel the need to buy things that we don't need or things that I know are not budgeted for, but I am 100% guilty. I am horrible at only buying what is on the list, especially when it comes to Target! Since having kid #2 I've found that Amazon Prime is my new best friend...no more trips to Target with 2 little ones when I can order it online and have it arrive 2 days later! This has been good and bad.

Matthew 6 has always hit home with me, but usually in a way that convicts me. That whole "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" thing...it gets me every time. Every time I come across it I am reminded that my treasure and my heart very often tend to be in things, in material possessions. I have become quite the consumer of things that moth and rust destroy...not necessarily big things, but lots of little things that all tend to add up!

God has definitely been moving in my heart the past month or so when it comes to our finances and I have had to apologize for poor choices and lack of stewardship.It seems that I have been reminded of Matthew 6 many times over the past month, whether it be at church, in a quote, a book, etc. On Monday I read this quote: "The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being." Again, back to "treasure". The place where my treasure is primarily places is not where I want to be and is definitely not where I want to end up.

So, all that being said, we have a long way to go but I think my heart and my head have finally reached an agreement that where I am at, is not where I want to be. We finally have a plan and an end is finally in sight...now I just need to focus my heart on Jesus and find my satisfaction in HIM and I think change may finally be in the works! I almost want to tattoo the word "treasure" in a place where I'd see it daily as a reminder to stop storing up earthly treasures and to instead, store up treasure is things that last and matter.

A boy and his food...

Hudson has recently discovered food! He got to the point where he'd watch our every bite and started reaching for whatever we were eating so we decided to give him some food of his own! His 1st food was banana and boy was that a mess! His 2nd was avocado, his 3rd was squash and he's had green beans and sweet potatoes since then too! He loves his food and gets upset now if we are eating and he is not!

Avocados were a hit!

1st banana

He's all about doing it himself already...uh oh!