We had our electricity turned off by the electric company once for non-payment.  It was when we were first married.  The issue was not lack of funds, but lack of communication between my husband and me over who was paying the bill.  It was terrible to come home to a hot, dark apartment.  It was also embarrassing to try to explain that we really did have the money to pay the bill, but we each thought the other had paid it.  Talk about looking stupid! :)

There have been several times throughout our marriage that finances have been tight and other times when we thought they were good, but now we realize that we could not have handled any major emergency expense coming at us.  Praise God that He was watching over us! During those tight times God has always provided and thankfully we have never had the electricity cut off again.

This week I watched as two of my neighbors had their water turned off.  My heart caught in my throat as I watched one household, who I knew had two children, lose their water connection.  Just a few weeks before, there had been a domestic dispute and the children were removed, and the Dad taken away in handcuffs.  I knew they were all back living there again though.

Sometimes I shake my head at the sad state of people’s lives.  As much as I would love a bigger house or nicer car, I realize that I really am blessed.  My husband is a great father and husband.  My children are wonderful.  I have an extended family that loves us, includes us, and helps us.  I have kind, caring friends.

Today as I sorted through the children’s clothes, putting up winter clothes and getting out summer things, I realized how blessed I was.  Here a whole new season was approaching and I had more than enough weather appropriate and size appropriate clothes for each child.  I did not have to buy one thing! In fact, I have 8 LARGE trash bags full to pass on.  I can not believe it is so many!  I am stunned by God’s blessings. 

The clothes that fill my children’s drawers and closets came from a lot of different places.  Some were bought new from Grandma and Aunt D, or homemade with love by Grandmother. I love hand-me-downs and had some given to me by three different neighbors, some from my Hubby’s cousin, some from a fellow blogger who is a friend to my cousin. A few things came from church friends, some from my sister-in-law and some from a friend I have known since the 5^th grade.  It may seem silly to you, but I am amazed at all the different ways and people God used to provide for my family. 

Psalm 73:28 (KJV)

But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works.

I was anxious how well my son’s letter would be received at school today.  I prayed God’s protection over him and asked God to give him this victory.  In case you were also wondering, it went well.

 Bubba said, “When the other students were reading, ‘Thank you, Mother Earth for creating me…’ I just knew my letter would shine like gold in a room full of dirt.”

Praise the Lord for his confidence in his beliefs and God’s power.  He said that his teacher complimented him on his beautiful letter and said she especially liked the part about God.  Bubba said that he hopes God speaks to her so that she will not give an assignment like this again.  I mentioned that maybe God used his letter to speak to her already.  He brightened at the idea and proclaimed, “I feel like a deliverer of God with His message!”

Psalm 24:1-2 (NIV)

The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.

Today was Earth Day.  It is a day to make people more aware of the Earth and their environment. It is a worldwide effort to teach people better ways to take care of the place we live.  As a Christian I have no problem with Earth Day in general.  I think God gave man dominion over certain things of the Earth (Genesis 1:28-29) and we need to take care of them.  The problem I have is that most Earth Day lessons, discussions and such do not center on the Creator of the Earth and man’s God given responsibility, but sometimes bend in the direction of Earth worship (Google it, Earth worship is growing, and sneaking in even among Christians).

Today my oldest son came home from school with an assignment to write a letter to “Mother Earth” telling her what he appreciates about Earth.  He was stirred up! I did not have to say a word.  He knew it was not right.  “Mom”, he said referring to his classmates, “You should hear their letters.  It sounds like they are worshiping the Earth!”  He did not want to do the letter.  He said he felt like he was writing to an idol. He felt like he was writing to something dead. His younger brother was worked up as well and wanted to call Bubba’s teacher.

 I happily offered to help him write a letter to God instead.  I said we could thank God for the Earth and ask Him who “Mother Earth” was anyway.  He liked the idea.  In case you are not sure who “Mother Earth” is I included this definition from Wikipedia.  Remember, as you read, God is the giver and sustainer of life, not “Mother Earth”.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Mother Earth may refer to: Mother Nature, a common metaphorical expression for the Earth & its biosphere as the giver & sustainer of life. Mother Nature is a common anthropomorphized representation of nature that focuses on the life-giving and nurturing features of nature by embodying it in the form of the mother. Images of women representing mother earth, and mother nature, are timeless. In prehistoric times, goddesses were worshipped for their association with fertility, fecundity, and agricultural bounty.  

I was proud of my son for recognizing Satan’s subtle way of sneaking into a good thing.  We saved the letter to the very last and as I sat down to help him; he had already come up with all his own ideas.  All I had to do was help with spelling. 

He told me that he knew God was proud of him for fighting Satan.  He said that his teacher was going to hang all the letters in the hallway on the wall.  He knew his letter would be a witness to the other children and he was eager to write it now.  He said, “God can use me like he used Samson to fight those other people who were worshiping false gods.”  He was proud to be a soldier in the Lord’s army.  He proudly read his letter to his brother and sister who cheered him on.

“Dear Earth,

I thank God for making you.  I am happy to drink the water that God gave you.  I am happy that God gave you air and animals. The trees are cool to climb! Thank you God for making the Earth.

Sincerely,

E______”

I think his letter is beautiful but more beautiful to me is his discernment and eagerness to be useful for God. 

Deuteronomy 4:39 (NIV)
Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. 

Job 28:12 (NIV)
"But where can wisdom be found? Where does understanding dwell?

Proverbs 2:6 (NIV)
For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

All my life I have wanted wisdom.  As a little girl I loved the story of Solomon asking God for wisdom.  The Scriptures are full of verses about wisdom.  Eve desired wisdom and disobeyed God trying to obtain it. (Gen. 3:6)  God gave Joseph wisdom (Acts 7:10) and enabled Moses to be educated “in all the wisdom of the Egyptians” (Acts 7:22) God gave the builders of the tabernacle wisdom to be skilled in their craft.  Daniel thanked God for the wisdom given him. (Daniel 2:23)  The Proverbs are full of verses on how it is better to have wisdom than riches. (Proverbs 8:11) Jesus promised in Luke to give the disciples words of wisdom to speak.

Most of my life I have pursued wisdom.  Sometimes it has been God’s wisdom and sometimes it has been worldly wisdom.  At times, I blatantly rejected God’s wisdom and sought after worldly wisdom.  I took pride in this false wisdom.  I have always known there was a difference between the two, but I honestly thought they were both equally important.  After all it was wisdom that I was seeking and the Bible speaks often of its importance.

I have been in prayer the past two days for wisdom; wisdom from God on how to handle a particular situation in my life.  I was very confused about the whole situation because I did not fully understand the difference between Godly wisdom and worldly wisdom.  But God promises when we seek Him we will find Him.  My mouth fell open last night at the Scripture I have read before, but it had never hit home.  I had finally put my finger on it.  It summed up the issue in my heart that I could not find the words to vocalize. 

James 3:13-18 (NIV)

 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.

But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

There are two kinds of wisdom.  I’m not sure that is a correct statement.  I think it is better worded that there is true wisdom and false wisdom.  I was struggling with a situation in my life because the person believed themselves to have wisdom, but it was only false wisdom.  The problem was that I wanted to respond to their false wisdom with my false wisdom and deep inside I knew that was not right.  I kept telling myself it was the wise thing to respond the way my flesh wanted. 

After reading this passage I realized that true wisdom manifests itself in our actions. True wisdom comes from God.  It is pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy, and good fruit, impartial and sincere.  Wow! I know you may think me silly, but I had never put two and two together before.  I thought wisdom had more to do with words.  I thought wisdom was more words than actions.  I thought wisdom was proud.  I thought wisdom was mighty and harsh.  I thought wisdom was impatient.  Wrong, wrong and wrong; this is false or worldly wisdom.

Proverbs 11:2 (NIV)
When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.

James says that too.  Real wisdom is submissive with deeds done in humility. James says false wisdom involves selfish ambition.

Proverbs 19:11 (NIV)
A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.

James says this too! True wisdom is full of mercy!

Proverbs 24:3 (NIV)
By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established;

James says true wisdom is peace-loving and if you sow in peace you will have a harvest of righteousness. My prayer is that my house will be established in true wisdom that is full of peace and that my children will be my harvest of righteousness. May God grant me true wisdom; His wisdom from above.  Wisdom that will show itself in my actions; actions that are full of the fruits of the spirit and considerate and sincere so that I can raise righteous children and reap souls for him.  May I begin a new search for wisdom that honors God.

Ephesians 1:17 (NIV)
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

James 1:5 (NIV)
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

We talked about the story of Philip and the eunuch from Acts 8:26-39 in Sunday school Sunday morning.  I have been mulling it over.  Our class focused a lot on the obedience part of the passage, but I have been thinking about the listening.  I’ve decided that Phillip was not only obedient to God, a great witness, and good preacher; but a good listener as well.

He listened when an angel told him to go toward the south. (v.26)  He listened when the Spirit told him to go join the chariot. (v. 29) He listened again and heard what the eunuch was reading. (v.30)  Instead of jumping in and just telling the eunuch,” here’s what you need to know about that passage” or “here’s what that passage means”; he asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” (v30)  He listened for the reply and let the eunuch speak. Then he explained, answering the eunuch’s question. (v34) He didn’t start with what he wanted to say, but answered the question he was asked, pointing the way to Jesus with his answers.

Quite honestly, after an angel told me to go and the Spirit told me to get in the chariot, I would have been itching to tell MY story.  “Look what God did! Look how God directed me to you! Isn’t that amazing? I’m obviously close to God.  You should listen to what I have to say about the scriptures you are reading” Maybe that is a little far fetched, but it made me realize that if I am going to be a good witness for Christ, maybe I should be a better listener. 

James 1:19 (NIV)

 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,

Proverbs 18:13 (NIV) 

 He who answers before listening— that is his folly and his shame.

Today I attended one of the largest churches in my area.  You know the one I said I would probably never try because it was just way too big for me.  “I prefer a small church. I’ll never go to one that large.” Well… Never say never. 

One of my daughter’s friends attends there.  She has persistently called trying to get us to try it out.  So at last this weekend we relented.  This young girl had actually been an answer to a prayer that I prayed regarding my daughter almost a year ago.  When they met they became fast friends.  I wanted to encourage this girl in persistency in inviting people to church.

You may disagree with my motivation, but nevertheless, we ended up in the church parking lot this morning.  I arrived early because I was worried about the parking situation.  I had heard words like, “shuttles” and “buses” associated with this church and the parking situation and I didn’t want to deal with that.  (By the way, the Pastor brought that up in his sermon. There were worse things in life then having to ride the bus to church.)

The church was beautiful and well organized.  The kids were separated from me and from each other soon after we arrived.  I enjoyed the worship service and the preaching. I was blessed by the closing song.  I was a little surprised when I had to ride the bus from the main building to the annex for Sunday school. (God has a sense of humor).  Sunday school was good.  The class was well led with good chemistry for sharing.

The children were excited about their classes and children’s worship services too.  It was a little weird for me worshiping separate from my children.  We all were separated for 3 hours each having our own worship experiences. We like to worship together as a family, but I realize that my children have to worship God individually.  It is not something I can do for them.

I am contemplating at what age it is appropriate not to worship God together as a family.  If, we as parents, don’t show them who will?  What if the teachers are not teaching them to worship God the way we want them to learn?  Does it really matter as long as they are worshiping?  After all, most likely, their choice of church in later years will probably be different than ours.  What are my duties? Can those duties be done at home?

I’m still not sure of the answers to these questions.  I really do enjoy being together as a family on Sunday, but I can not deny the great blessings and refreshment we all got from church today.  My daughter brought a CD into the living room tonight.  She wanted to share a song with me they sung in her children’s church.  She fell asleep tonight listening to that CD that had touched her heart…and now mine.

Today is one of those days when I did not get too many things checked off my “to do” list.  In fact, I added more things than I removed.  Tuesday is my day off from any volunteer duties at school and I love having one uninterrupted day to get a lot of things done.  I feel efficient when I can focus on a project, housecleaning, or errands and knock them out quickly. So on a day when the “to do” list grows longer instead of shorter I feel like my day was a failure.  Maybe “failure” is too strong of a word, but I feel like I have not given my best.  Some days I do give my best knock things off the list only to add more immediately; on those days, though, I am proud of myself.

Tonight I was feeling frustrated at my self for not getting more accomplished.  I looked at my list and added more.  I was trying to get organized for the rest of the week so I could make up for “lost time”.  I sorted through children’s papers, school pictures, school calendars, and signed a security form so I could help with upcoming TCAP assessments.  I mentally planned out the rest of my week juggling this and that in my head in order to get everything done.  I wished I had spent my day more efficiently.   

I thought back over my day and realized why I was so “behind”.  Thinking about my day, it dawned on me that some things can’t be measured on a “to do” list.  I had spent my day much more wisely than I was giving myself credit for.  Today I strengthened my love for and friendship with my husband. 

After dropping the kids at school I came back home and had a cup of coffee with my Hubby.  It was a rainy morning and we watched the weather and news together just relaxing.  Our morning together turned into some great conversation time.  I poured my heart out to him about all kinds of things that I can’t blog about.  Things that were burdening me, but I just was starting to begin to articulate.  Things I had been in prayer about.  He is a wonderful listener.  He knows me so well and helps me understand myself sometimes. 

It was a great conversation. He talked, I talked; each of us encouraging, enlightening, and just listening to the other.  He is a wonderful man.  We have our differences, but on days like today I fall deeper into love with him. As cheesy as it sounds I would be lost without him. Today with my husband was one of those days that makes me think of Ephesians 5:28-33:

In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church—for we are members of his body. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

The relationship of Christ to His church is illustrated by that of a husband to his wife; “This is a profound mystery.”  I know our marriage is not perfect and we do not always get it right, but today I felt like I got a small moment of perfection.  I got a small instant of understanding of the relationship between Christ and the church; understanding that I could relate to and touch, hold and cry on. 

I hope more rainy days turn into nights with untouched “to do” lists…