Which Child Am I?

The Parable of the Two Sons
Matthew 21:28-32(NKJV)

...But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, "Son, go, work today in my vineyard." He answered and said, "I will not," but afterward he regretted it and went. Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, "I go, sir," but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?

They said to Him, “The first.”

Jesus said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him.

This verse has stuck with me for a long time. This is the verse that got me thinking about responses.

I think there was a third son. Did you know there was a third son? Jesus did not even find it worthwhile to talk about him.

I would like to think of myself as the first son, but more often than not I am the second son. Even worse, more often than that I am the third son that Jesus never mentions. The third son doesn't even try to do the right thing; doesn't even say, "Yes." I am the son that just says, "No." to begin with and doesn't even reconsider.

My versions of saying, "No." often are about waste. They include: Wasting thoughts; wasting time; wasting talent; wasting precious moments with loved ones; wasting resources.

When I talk to my boys about wasting money, I tell them it is like taking a dollar bill and setting it on fire--a very good visual. I am trying to create visuals for myself that will help me to waste less, respond with love.

Which child are you? How do you choose good responses?

Acclimating

ac·cli·mate Verb /ˈakləˌmāt/ /əˈklīmit/

1. To accustom or become accustomed to a new climate or environment or new conditions; to adapt.
2. Respond physiologically or behaviorally to a change in a single environmental factor
3. Harden off (a plant)

I love it when I've finally acclimated to winter. I can wear one pair of normal socks in the house. I can wear one layer of clothing inside. I can open the door and not cringe. I can run out and warm up the car with a sweater thrown over my shoulders instead of completely bundling completely up. Hopefully it's not because I've added too many layers to my personal insulation. (I'm not stepping on the scale today to find out!)

Basically I've adapted to this winter and the snow and the wind and the cold.

Just in time for the weather to take a turn and show signs of spring.

But I'm not complaining. I am willing to return to warmer temperatures. I am willing to see the green grass and robins. I'd like to try to start (and acclimate a few garden plants this year).

Chameleons adapt to their surroundings to avoid sticking out and become an easy target for predators.

Acclimating to me seems like it should be a good thing. But I don't know that it always is.

I find myself acclimating to my surroundings pretty easily. I don't know about you, but I find myself out in "the world" on a daily basis. And it seems easier to acclimate myself to "the world" than to brace myself and hold on to the things I know to be better choices.

When the boys were little it seemed easier to stay insulated and, dare I say, safe. Now we are gone from home six and sometimes seven nights a week. We are surrounded by choices. Not all of them bad, but not all of them what I would wish for our family.

So often it seems easier to shed a few layers of personal convictions to avoid conflict and difficult discussions. It seems easier to at least avoid talking about beliefs and convictions anyway.

I am grateful that the LORD has blessed me and surrounded me by women who share my faith, but more and more I see, that while we can talk amongst ourselves, topics turn other directions when we are joined by others with different political or religious leanings.

Perhaps we are all acclimating.

How do you keep from acclimating to the world?

I have, in the past, "fasted" my blog for Lent. Considering that I haven't blogged for ages, and that there has been a pressure on my heart telling me it is time to return, I am fasting some other things and returning to my blog. Not all of my bloggy postings will be deep and spiritual, I am sure. But I feel the need to be obedient in returning. So...I am going to try. We shall see.

Heavenly Father, I thank you that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. You have created us to adapt and survive in many climates and situations. Please protect our hearts from becoming acclimated to worldly things. Help us to change our corner of the world to your glory. Amen.

Finding joy in all things,

Julie

Prayer Request

If you are so inclined to scroll down a bit and on my sidebar view my Twitterings...

Or click. I would be most grateful.

The end of the world, it certainly is not, but I am ill prepared for growing children.

O Beauty Ever Ancient and So New

Late have I loved you,
O Beauty ever ancient and so new,
Too late have I loved you!

You were within me, but I was outside to seek you. Unlovely myself, I fell heedlessly upon all those lovely things which you created.

And always You were with me, but I was not with you.
Created things kept me from you;
yet if they had not been in you they would not have been at all.

You called, you cried,you broke through my deafness.
You blazed, you gleamed, and you drove away my blindness.
You breathed your fragrance on me;
I drew in breath and now I long for you.

I have tasted, now I hunger and thirst for more.
You touched me, and now I burn with desire for your peace.

Amen

~ St. Augustine, Confessions of St. Augustine

Freedom Is Never Free

Never forget that freedom is not free.

Thank a veteran today.
Thank a veteran's family.

Prayer Request

A very dear, across-the-miles blog friend
is in the hospital
and needs prayer.
Please help me lift her and her family up to our Father.

With many thanks,

Julie

Grains of Gratitude July 5, 2009

Happy Sunday! It turned out to be a gorgeous day here. I am so grateful because friends from church invited to boys to their house to have lunch and go fishing. They invited my husband and I, too, but we know they really wanted to see the boys! ;^)

What a special day. The boys had not really fished before and each caught three fish (threw them back too--yay!) and ate waaaaaaayyyy too much sugar and were all in all spoiled rotten. My husband and I enjoyed the time with these couples immensely and we were entirely blessed.

My husband took some vacation time at the end of the week to spend with me while the boys were at their classes. It has been a long time since we've done anything like that. We had lovely lunches, did a few of my husband's favorite acitvities, did a few of my favorite activities, shopped a little and just hung out and finished sentences and thoughts. We certainly felt weird without the boys around, but it was most enjoyable knowing they were busy at things they liked too. Three days with my husband...priceless.

We had a close to home Fourth, no plans but to stay home. It was a good day, though. Thousands of dollars are spent on my street alone every year during the week leading up to the Fourth of July. I am grateful that everyone remained safe even after one of the neighbor's canisters tipped and fireworks hit another neighbor's house.

About four families or groups of friends put on competing "shows" and it was quite a sight to see. Rockets red glare, bombs bursting in air on every side. I always feel just a teensy bit bad when I hear about people driving and waiting for fireworks shows put on by communities. All we've had to do for the last six years is walk out, put a lawn chair in the drive and sit and watch the show.

My husband took the boys up to one of the tents and they got to buy some (much smaller than our neighbors) fireworks. They had a few fountains and strobes and something I call "fizzy whizbangs" and a few other things. They had a great time lighting their own with Dad's supervision and then had about another hour of watching the neighbors. Again--soooooooo grateful for everyone being safe!!

I am so grateful we have our freedom to celebrate. I am thankful to the men and women who continue the work that begain over 230 years ago. Recently we were told of a friend of a friend who was severely injured overseas and we are praying for this soldier's life and for his family. They will never be the same after this, I just pray that they will allow God to comfort them during the coming days.

Grains of Gratitude is from Christine at Brady's Bunch!

Red Letters

Send a Red Envelope to our president. Let him know we care about all innocent lives.

Praying

For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood,
but against the principalities,
against the powers,
against the world-rulers of this darkness,
against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Please oppose the "Freedom of Choice Act."

Today I Choose...

Lord, I cannot do
everything today.
Please help me choose to do
the things which will give glory to
Your Most Holy and Precious Name.

The King Shall Come

Preparing for Jesus: Meditations on the Coming of Christ, Advent, Christmas and the Kingdom by Walter Wangerin, Jr.

Friend, unto you the Lord says, “Surely I am coming soon!” (Rev. 22:20).

And what do you say to that promise? Do you by your unconscious behavior utter doubt? Does and earthbound vision deny the possibility? Are you scared to consider an end to the world?

“Can’t be.”

“Prove it.”

Sadly, the sign of our mistrust shall be the doubt itself, together with all the anxieties and suspicions and loneliness which doubt engenders. And these will last until we come to trust, or else until his coming comes to pass.

Jesus says, “I am coming soon!”

And how do you respond? Oh, let it be as a bride responds to the promise of the bridegroom, adorning yourself for his return, joyfully shouting with the Spirit, “Come!” (Rev. 21:2, 9;22:17). Then your joy, your present beauty, your complete sense of assurance and belonging—these shall be signs of the Lord’s trustworthiness and of our turst, signs of his love until he comes in glory.

“Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!”

The King Shall Come when Morning Dawns

The King shall come when morning dawns,
And light triumphant breaks;
When beauty gilds the eastern hills,
And life to joy awakes.

Not as of old a little child
To bear, and fight, and die,
But crowned with glory like the sun
That lights the morning sky.

O brighter than the rising morn
When He, victorious, rose,
And left the lonesome place of death,
Despite the rage of foes.

O brighter than that glorious morn
Shall this fair morning be,
When Christ, our King, in beauty comes,
And we His face shall see.

The King shall come when morning dawns,
And earth’s dark night is past;
O haste the rising of that morn,
The day that aye shall last.

And let the endless bliss begin,
By weary saints foretold,
When right shall triumph over wrong,
And truth shall be extolled.

The King shall come when morning dawns,
And light and beauty brings:
Hail, Christ the Lord! Thy people pray,
Come quickly, King of kings.

Set to the tune: Morning Song/Kentucky Harmony

This is the tune, the words in the video are to Nunc Dimittis


Also set to Morning Song/Kentucky Harmony

Awake, Awake to Love and Work

Awake, awake to love and work!
The lark is in the sky;
The fields are wet with diamond dew;
The worlds awake to cry
Their blessings on the Lord of life,
As He goes meekly by.

Come, let thy voice be one with theirs,
Shout with their shout of praise;
See how the giant sun soars up,
Great lord of years and days!
So let the love of Jesus come
And set thy soul ablaze.

To give and give, and give again,
What God hath given thee;
To spend thyself nor count the cost;
To serve right gloriously
The God Who gave all worlds that are,
And all that are to be.

Thank You for Our Freedom

When We Pray at Night

When we pray as a family at night before the boys go to bed we all have our personal thanks and petitions to add. The boys also have a Scripture verse that they say each night. They've said these verses for maybe six years now. I think they "get" it.

Roo, "As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. Joshua 24:15."

Boo, "I will lie down and sleep in peace, for You, O LORD, will keep me safe. Psalm 4:8."

Yup. That about covers it.

My Hope is Built

My Hope is Built

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly trust in Jesus’ Name.

Chorus

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness seems to hide His face,
I rest on His unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

Chorus

His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my Hope and Stay.

Chorus

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh may I then in Him be found.
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

Chorus

by Edward Mote



Taking time to join others in fasting & prayer for our nation. See you on November 5th.

In Him,

Julie

On My Heart, On My Knees...

I've debated back and forth what to post on my blog. Some of the "big" bloggers, the mega-bloggers who have thousands of readers have suggested it is not good manners to talk about politics and religion.

Well...for today, I am going to lay the manners aside. So if you don't want to talk about politics you won't hurt my feelings. Come back on Wednesday or Thursday of next week and we'll move on to some more "joyful" pursuits.

Really. I do have some ideas.
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Okay...Is everyone gone who wants to steer clear of the big red, white and blue elephant and donkey dancing in the corner of the room?











If you are still here, you may or may not want your children to read with you.

So for today...

I kept trying to NOT write this. I kept thinking that someone else would do a much better job. But the burden of silence physically hurts these days.

My heart is so heavy with the upcoming election. America is at a turning point. The mainstream media has become a propaganda tool. I graduated with a degree in advertising and public relations from the College of Journalism at my university. So there were lots of news-writing classes, along with marketing, ad writing,and publicity classes. Had I or any of my classmates turned in articles most journalist today are publishing we would have gotten a big fat "F."

I totally get pundits, op-ed pieces, slants and endorsements. I get advertising. I know what the PR people for the candidates get paid to do. But only a few times before in history have we seen media sliding down a slope with potential leaders. And the outcome hasn't been pretty.

Thankfully the internet has provided some balance (and I know that is slanted,) too!! But there are questions unanswered and topics untouched by MSNBC, NBC, CBS, CNN and ABC. FOX is dependent on the show's host. One thing the mainstream media does not want to talk about is abortion. Basic human rights.

So I've decided to share links and videos that deal with the issues of abortion and the rights of unborn children. Feel free to click on the links, please be kind if you disagree with anything. I'm betting I am preaching to the crowd (if anyone's still reading). But, you never know.

Did you know?

Add the abortion ticker to your blog or site.

What if we substituted the word "slavery" for the word "abortion"?

Renee posted a video.

Margaret posted a most poignant piece before her fast.

Barabara at Mommy Life has so many good posts, her latest is a suggestion of things to "google" if you want information.

40 Days for Life

Elizabeth at In the Heart of My Home has a thoughtful article.

Forcing Pro-Life Doctors Out of the Baby Business?

And finally, can Gianna Jessen be ignored? She survived an attempted saline abortion. She is vocal about the right to life.



The first ad Gianna Jessen did for BornAliveTruth

God is in control. There is nothing that happens without His knowledge. Why should I bother? One person is not going to change anything. Alone. But one person standing with another, and another...well we can move mountains.

Really the subject is not funny, but sometimes a joke will illustrate as well as something more serious.

A man was sitting on his front porch when it started to rain. The rain came down harder and harder and the man realized that it was a flood. So the flood waters were rising and when the water started to spill over the porch, a man in a rowboat comes by. And the man in the rowboat says, "Need any help?"

But the man said, "Nope, the Lord will take care of me!" A few hours later, the man was standing on a chair on his front porch and another rowboat comes by.

And the man inside yells, "Need any help?"

But the man smiles and says, "Nope, the Lord will take care of me!"

A few hours later, the man is on his roof and a helicopter comes by and the pilot inside yells, "Need any help?!"

But the man just says, "Nope! The Lord will take care of me!"

A few hours later, the flood gets to be too much for the man and he drowns. When he enters Heaven, he asks the Lord, "Lord, why didn't you take care of me?"

The Lord says, "Well, I sent you two rowboats and a helicopter!"

First and foremost our prayer and then our vote are our rowboats and helicopter.

Psalm 139

1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.

2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.

5 You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.

19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.

21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD,
and abhor those who rise up against you?

22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig...

Sunday night I kept feeling like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, "There's no place like home, there's no place like home..." Praying that if I'd click my heels I'd wake up and it would all have been a dream.

Unfortunately it wasn't.

But I was so blessed by your prayers. Thank you ladies, so very much. My heart was so touched. And it really helped me survive.

Until the vehicle incident it wasn't a bad weekend. Somewhat stressful, but not anything surprising. We celebrated my youngest son's birthday with family (the "real day" was last week). This weekend was also the one year anniversary of my mother's death.

I've been trying not to let the two events meet in my son's mind. When he is older I don't think he will have an issue. Grandma did not die on his birthday--but mighty close.

The van thing...just was one straw too many on this camel's back. And it was...ahem...rather pricey. Over $500 pricey.

But, if you remember back a bit I talked about us not moving. Thankfully that choice and others we've made (and GOD!!) have allowed us to have money set aside so we could cover the repair. It wasn't something we wanted to do. But I felt so blessed that we were able to do so.

The time the boys and I got to spend with my father was good. We spent time with my sister and her children. We visited our second zoo in eight days.

And so now I am home. Stiff from the drive. But so ready just to have my little idiosyncratic life back. I will make an attempt to catch up on my blogging over the next few days.

Be it ever so humble...











Thanks again for your sweet prayers.

Off in search of my pillow...

Julie

Prayer Request

The boys and I are on the road. My husband is at home. Four hours from here. Our vehicle broke down about an hour from where we are staying.

If you have a spare prayer could you offer it up for us for the repairs to be minimal, honesty from the mechanics and that the repairs be made in an expedient way.

Compared to what other people are going through, this is one of those teeny, tiny, very little, very annoying setbacks. But I am just a little overwhelmed. Everyone is being very kind and thoughtful, I just wanted to be headed home tomorrow morning. Whine, whine, whine...but I'm still asking.

But as I see it, my situation could have been so much worse. And the tow-truck driver was very nice and helpful. Small mercies.

Hopefully I will be blogging from home soon.

Thanks,

Julie

Memorial Day 2008

To those who have laid down their lives, to those who are prepared to lay down their lives, to their families, many prayers and deepest gratitude.

Spread Some Love

Maria at Free to Fly has graced me with the Spread the Love Award. Thank you Maria, you are such an encourager. The award originated at Garb-oodles Soup with Mica. What a sweet admonishment to spread the love.

I can’t be stingy here, love is to important not to pass on. So I am not being lazy, but truly everyone on my blogroll deserves this award. Spread the Love everyone, spread the love.

And as long as we are speaking on love, I would ask that you visit sweet Kelli and send her some prayers and love. She is at a serious point and is asking a crucial question. Your part might be a prayer, maybe a link, maybe more, but spread some love to Kelli for me. ‘K?