Manna For Moms

Devotions for Moms Like You!

2011

Changing the Rules

Megan Breedlove 4Comments

This evening, Lindsey and I were playing the board game Sorry. I love that game. It’s relatively simple so that even young children can play it, and it’s fun. Sometimes they win; sometimes I win.

Tonight, I won. Lindsey hadn’t really been paying attention to the game before then. She would focus long enough to take her turns, then start playing with other objects around her. But when I announced that I had won, she zeroed in on my four pawns sitting in the Home circle. She froze, with an uh-oh look on her face. Then she reached into the box, grabbed a yellow pawn and a red one, and plunked them down in my Start circle. “You forgot about these,” she said matter-of-factly.

Problem solved, right? If things don’t work out, you just change the rules.

In a game of Sorry, we can sometimes get away with that. In real life, we can’t. That’s because when things don’t turn out right, there’s usually no way to change the rules. You’re stuck with the results you didn’t want, and there’s no getting around it.

The only problem is, we don’t realize this. We think that when something bad happens, there has to be a way to undo it. But sometimes there isn’t. Sure, we can mitigate the circumstances. We can find something to do that will take away our pain, at least partly. But we can’t pretend that we really did get the job, or that our disabled child is really normal, or that death or a divorce didn’t really happen. We can’t go back and we can’t go around, so we’re stuck with going through.

That’s when we usually balk: when we realize there’s no way out but to accept the circumstances and feel the pain we can’t avoid. It happened, we’re trapped, and the only way out is to move forward.

Why write about something depressing at Christmas? Because many, many of us have been there or are still there. Because sometimes when we’re stuck, Christmas is the hardest time of all. But most of all, because 2,000 years ago, a tiny baby was born so He could help us through the things we can’t survive on our own.

He came to help us find the way out of our sin. He lived 33 years, then died on a cross to take the punishment for our sin so we wouldn’t have to. Through His birth, life, death, and resurrection, He made a way for us to be reconciled to God. No longer do we have to remain God’s enemies. We can be His friends now, His dearly beloved children.

He also came to help us find the way out of our circumstances. No, not necessarily to undo them, but to set us free from having to be trapped in them. Apart from Christ, when something bad happens to us, it’s impossible to rise above the effects. Sure, some people seem to make progress by sheer willpower or by a vague kind of spirituality. But this is not the complete victory Christ promises.

This victory doesn’t mean the circumstances won’t have happened to us. After all, Christ is called the victor over death, and death certainly happened to Him. But like Him, we can become victors over what has happened.

What does it mean to have victory over a circumstance we never wanted? Just this: that our soul’s security and joy remains ultimately unshaken. Our happiness may wind up in tatters, and we may be shaken for a time. But we can know that because of Christ, because of His love for us, because of the way He holds us secure when our very soul trembles uncontrollably, we will ultimately triumph over what happened.

I don’t know exactly what your triumph will look like, or when it will come. But I do know that it will come, because God has promised not to leave us or forsake us. He’s also promised that one day, we will enter heaven, and we will never sorrow again. Sometimes, when the pain is at its fiercest, we wonder whether it will ever end. It will. I don’t say so because it’s what I hope is true, or even because it’s what I have experienced. I say so because it’s what God has promised, and I trust Him.

You may be stuck with some horrible circumstances you never wanted. But you won’t be stuck with them forever. One day, in heaven, you will never sorrow about them again. And in the meantime, you can still experience joy even in the midst of heartrending anguish.

Next week, we’ll look at what joy and victory in the midst of anguish look like. I don’t promise to have all the answers. But I will share with you at least one answer God has provided. It’s one that He wants to use to minister to your heart.

Let’s meet here next week.

Psalm 121:1-2—I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

Tons of Water

Megan Breedlove 0Comment

There’s something I love about taking my kids somewhere in the van. Something about driving a van full of children, all of whom are mine, makes me feel more than abundantly blessed. Four of the five people I love most in the world (the fifth is my husband, their daddy) all right there with me, and going somewhere together. How could I be more blessed?

The other day, we were going somewhere in the van, and I realized I needed to take some medicine. The only problem was, I didn’t have any water. Knowing that we often carry bottles of water with us, and hoping someone had a leftover one in the back somewhere, I called out, “Does anybody have some water I can have? I need to take some medicine.”

Bottle of Water“I do!” Lindsey responded. “I have tons of water.”

I stretched my hand back to receive the bottle from Ellie, who had received it from Lindsey. As I felt Ellie place the bottle in my hand, I brought it forward and saw…a third of a bottle.

“Tons” of water. A third of a bottle.

It was certainly enough to take my medicine, but that wasn’t the point anymore. What struck me as I looked at the couple inches of water in the bottom was how Lindsey saw it as plenty—“tons”. She offered what she had and saw it as abundant.

I bet that’s the same attitude with which the boy with the five loaves and two fishes offered his lunch to the disciples. And I’m absolutely certain that it’s how Jesus wants us to view the material blessings in our lives.

Too often, we look at what we have and see it as “not much”. Especially at Christmas, many people seem more likely to think about all the things they can’t buy that they wish they could, instead of rejoicing in the things they can buy. Do most of us really look at the material Christmas we are providing for our children and see it as “tons” of presents? Or do we more often see it as “adequate”, or even “insufficient”?

And what about the rest of the year? Do we look at our houses and cars and see them as blessings, or as “not as big/new as we wish they were”? Do we view our husband as a huge blessing from God, or do we mainly see his faults? Do we look at our children as blessings far greater than we deserve, or as problems to be dealt with? What about our material possessions? Are they “more than sufficient”, or are they “not as much as what our friends/neighbors have”?

I’m not suggesting merely a Pollyanna outlook that calls white, black and black, white. I’m not recommending being merely a “glass half full” person (though that is valuable). I’m urging all of us to realize that what we have is what God has given us, and that if it’s what He’s given us, it’s enough. I’m encouraging us to be people who recognize the truth that whatever God does is “enough”, even if it might look like only a third of a bottle (or less). I’m pointing out that we would have an incredible effect on a watching world by demonstrating our satisfaction with God’s provision. We’d show them how great He is by living our lives as if He is enough (which He is) and what He provides is enough (which it is).

Even difficult financial times can become the means by which we demonstrate our love for God and our trust in His provision, even when we don’t see how it can possibly be enough. Will we trust Him only when we see where “enough” money is coming from? Or will we find what He provides to be sufficient, maybe not for our comfort, but to accomplish His purposes?

No matter how much money we have, it could all be gone in an instant. The sufficiency of our material blessings rests not in how many we have, but in the fact that God has said they are enough. Let’s be grateful for what we have, no matter how much that is. Let’s see it not as “not enough”, “insufficient”, or “less than”. Let’s be like Lindsey, and see God’s provision as “tons”.

John 1:16—From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.

A World Like This

Megan Breedlove 0Comment

As of today, I’m almost 28 weeks pregnant with a son. Maybe that’s why I’ve had baby boys on my mind a lot lately. That, and the fact we’re about to celebrate Jesus’ birth. I’ve been thinking about what it must have been like for the Almighty Christ to be born as a virtually helpless human infant, to subject Himself to hunger and fatigue and needing to have His diaper changed. It’s incredible to me that He would take on these limitations, entrusting Himself to very human parents—even ones who loved God—and making His home among more human beings, some of whom hated Him and eventually succeeded in killing Him.

That’s because the world then was a lot like the world is today. No, people in the first century didn’t have iPhones or computers, but they did have many of the same problems we now have. And Jesus came to earth to show them that they didn’t have to live like that anymore.

He came to show them—and us—that we no longer have to be strangers from God…

…no longer have to suffer broken relationships…

…no longer have to be ruled by greed and hate…

…never again have to worry…

…never again have to fear we won’t be taken care of…

…never again have to wonder if God cares.

He came to a world distorted by sin and showed us that it didn’t have to be that way, that even now, in the midst of a messed-up society, we can live in joy. We can walk in intimate fellowship with God and the confidence that this world isn’t all there is waiting for us. We can know that we’re taken care of and that one day, everything is going to be okay. We can know who God is because we’ve seen Him in the person of Jesus.

You and I haven’t seen Jesus with our eyes—at least, not exactly, not in the human form He took on. But we can see Him clearly in the pages of the Bible. We can know what He is like, and therefore, what God the Father is like. We can walk intimately by faith with Him on this earth and then face-to-face in heaven.

I’ve known all these things for a long time. I’m sure you have, too. But until recently, I had never thought about how Jesus came to a world just like mine. The world I live in is full of wars and lying and betrayals, killing and stealing, hate and neglect and selfishness. So was Jesus’ world. He came to a world just like mine. He was frustrated and offended by it sometimes, too. He was angry. And by His words and actions, He showed the world that there is something better than all that, not just in eternity, but right here and now.

Jesus loved and still loves people in the world. Yes, even the ones who don’t please Him. And His way of showing people that things could be better was to come among us, love us, and serve as our example. Too often, instead of loving the world, I roll my eyes at it get disgusted with the way things are going, and complain about it, when what I should be doing is pouring out Jesus’ love.

Maybe you can identify with me. Maybe you, too, have a hard time loving a world like this. But Jesus didn’t, and doesn’t. He knew exactly how to show love to us. And He wants us to show that same love to a world that desperately needs it.

Does Jesus’ love show through you and me? Do people see our lives and realize how much Jesus loves them? Even people who are “undesirable”, or who do undesirable things? I pray that they do.

May you and I become more like Jesus, especially in the way we show love to those He has created.

John 3:16—For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

The Mooch

Megan Breedlove 0Comment

My daughter Jessica is a mooch. She’s a happy, cheerful little mooch. In fact, she admits to being one. Sometimes, she will say, “Mommy? Guess what I’m going to do after I finish my lunch.”

“What?” I ask, as if I don’t know.

“I’m going to mooch your lunch,” she’ll say with a mischievous grin.

Other times, there’s no warning at all. As I sit eating a snack, I’ll sense a presence next to me, and I’ll look up to see Jessica standing there with her mouth open, her index finger pointing to her tongue, a grin crinkling her eyes. “Aaaaahhhhh,” she’ll say cheerfully when I notice her.

Jessica comes to me when she knows I have what she wants. She comes confidently, expecting to receive what she asks for. She comes to her mother the way we should come to our Father: eagerly, cheerfully, and expectantly.

I’ll confess that I don’t always approach God that way. I sometimes ask Him for things, knowing He can provide them, but not really expecting Him to. I don’t come confidently; I come out of a sense of obligation. I know I’m supposed to make my requests known to God, so I do. Not that I think it’ll do any good, I think to myself.

Maybe you too sometimes have difficulty believing God will grant what you desire. True, there are times when God says no to our requests. He knows far better than we do what would be a good thing for us, and He sometimes says no when we think He should say yes. But that doesn’t mean we should approach Him merely out of a sense of duty, not out of a sense of expectancy. You see, each time we make a request of God, He grants us what’s best for us. It may not be what we asked for, but if not, it’s going to be something better.

This can be a tough pill to swallow. Some requests seem so obviously good that we can’t imagine their ever being denied. But God often denies the seemingly good in order to give us what is certainly best.

That’s because He desires to give good gifts to His children. He rejoices in giving us what is best for us. He looks forward to our requests, because He knows He will have the chance to give us a gift. Yet when He goes for the “best” instead of the “good”, we get mad or hurt. We think He’s done nothing, when in reality, He’s done even better than what we asked for.

I’m still learning this truth myself. Even now, I can think of situations where I might make a certain request, be denied, then wonder how God’s actual answer could be better than what I asked for. But either I believe God or I don’t. Either He knows what He’s doing, or He doesn’t. Either He’s God in times of suffering just as much as He is in times of joy, or He isn’t.

I choose to believe that He is. I hope you will choose the same. Then we can both look forward to bringing our requests to God, knowing that either way—whether our request is denied or fulfilled—we will receive something good.

Psalm 107:9—For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.

In Everything?

Megan Breedlove 0Comment

Three more days, and Thanksgiving will be here. We’ll watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, eat too much Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends (sweet potatoes, here I come!), and lie around for the rest of the day, too stuffed to move. Somewhere during the day, my husband and I will sit our kids down and have them record what they’re thankful for, as we do every year. Then we’ll pray, and they’ll thank God for things like home and family, friends, their favorite stuffed animals, and our cat.

I’ll tell them that of all the things on earth, I’m most thankful for them and their daddy/my husband. I’ll mention that I appreciate our home, the fact that we have enough food—in fact, more than enough—and all the material blessings God has given us. Those are the things that come immediately to mind when I stop to think about what I’m thankful for.

This year, I’m thankful for other things, too, even though they certainly don’t come to mind first. That’s because these things are all tied to pain in my life, and since I don’t like to dwell on the pain, I don’t usually think about the gratitude I could feel in the midst of those situations, either. But God tells me to be thankful in all circumstances. So this year, I will make it a point to be thankful for the following:

  • the strength God has built into my life by helping me deal with broken and twisted relationships. If it had been up to me, I would have chosen for certain experiences to be much different. But that’s not how life went. I can either focus on the painful parts, or I can choose to be thankful that God has made me stronger by teaching me to thrive despite it all.
  • the friends I’ve made in the course of taking my son to his therapy appointments. Kenny has Asperger’s Disorder, and though he’s doing great, he still has some skills to learn. I would not have chosen Asperger’s for him, but I can choose to be grateful for all the friends we’ve made along the journey.
  • the many times I’ve had to rest during this pregnancy. It would be easy for me to be resentful of or ungrateful for those times and to see them as burdens, not as opportunities. But God has given me the gift of allowing me to stop and rest more than I would have otherwise if I had felt better. Instead of bemoaning the fact that I’m not as high-energy as usual, I choose to appreciate the gift of rest time.

I’m not going to deny any of my painful experiences or pretend that they don’t exist. I don’t suggest you do that either. But I do encourage you to look beyond the things you don’t like to the blessings they have brought about. The circumstance itself may be undesirable and painful, but even in the midst of pain, there is always something good. Don’t let yourself get so focused on the pain that you forget to look for the blessings. They’re in there. Somewhere in the midst of the chaos or hurt, they’re very real and present. So find something to thank God for despite what might be the worst pain of your life. Being thankful isn’t going to make all your pain go away. But that blessing that you haven’t thought about? It’s a diamond in the midst of all the coal. Don’t get so focused on the coal that you forget to look for the diamond. You’ll still be stuck with the coal anyway. But at least you’ll have the diamond too.

1 Thessalonians 5:18—Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

One Hand Only

Megan Breedlove 0Comment

A few days ago, the kids and I were hanging out in the living room. I was sitting on the couch watching them all perform “tricks” for me, which appeared to involve various feats of balancing themselves on the furniture or the floor in some creative way. “Mommy, wook at me!” Jessica invited as she balanced herself with her head, both hands, and only one foot on the floor. She extended her other leg up behind her.

Immediately, the other kids tried to imitate her. Her trick wasn’t that hard for them, so I decided to throw in a little twist. “See if you can balance with only one hand on the floor,” I challenged them. “Not the other hand, and not your feet.”

They tried for about half a second before Kenny sat down on the floor and said, albeit cheerfully, “I can’t do that.”

“I’ll twy,” Jessica said. I watched her try a little longer before giving up and sitting down.

At that point, Lindsey, who had been trying the whole time, turned herself upright and looked at me. “I did it for a little while,” she said.

What a fantastic illustration of the responses we sometimes give to God when He asks us to do something. Take motherhood, for example. God asks us to parent a child going through a difficult time, or a special needs child, or simply a child who won’t sleep through the night. We try for half a second and then say, “I can’t do that.” We’ve failed. It won’t work, so there’s no use trying.

Or perhaps we’re willing to try a little longer. Perhaps we don’t mind attempting to parent three kids ages three and under. “I’ll try,” we say, but we soon find it difficult, and we give up and sit down. “This is just too much,” we say. “God’s going to have to lighten my load.”

The third response is the best. We simply get to work, and we try to the limit of our endurance. When strength is gone, we say, “I did it as long as I could.” Not “I failed,” but “I succeeded for awhile.”

Make no mistake about it. We all will come to the end of our endurance. God knows that, and He doesn’t count it as failure. Failure is when we look at the evidence in front of us, and we don’t try, because we just don’t see any way it will work in the first place. Or failure is when we give up too soon.

That day in my living room, I didn’t help my kids balance as I told them to. Had I helped, they would all have succeeded. That’s the point. When God asks us to do something, He will help us. Why then do we ever refuse to try, or ever give up? We know we have His help. God never calls us to do something He won’t help us to perform. So knowing that we have His strength and wisdom to get us through, why would we ever consider doing something other than availing ourselves of the help He has stands ready to give? Then, like Lindsey, we could try to the limit of our endurance. The only thing is, our endurance would go a whole lot farther, because we would be operating in His strength.

In whose strength are you fulfilling your calling as a mother? Are you taking advantage of God’s strength, or are you relying on your own?

Parenting is hard and exhausting at times. Believe me, I know. But when we call upon God instead of trying to balance on one hand and our own strength only, we will make it. Not we might; we will.

Psalm 28:7—The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.

“Hempo” Blanket

Megan Breedlove 0Comment

Two or three years ago, Lindsey received a hippo blanket for her birthday. It was made by friends of ours and is hot pink, yellow, and fuzzy, with colorful, happy-looking hippos all over it. At the time, Lindsey couldn’t say “hippo”, so she came up with “hempo”.

She still loves that thing and often takes it with her when she thinks she might be cold somewhere. The other day, she gathered it up as she prepared to get out of our minivan. The only thing was, she was also holding everything else she’d brought along with her, which made quite a load. “Kenny, help your sister with her stuff,” I directed.

Right behind her, Kenny reached for the blanket, which was trailing on the floor. As soon as Lindsey felt him pull on it, she glanced back at him to see what he was doing. Right about the time I was saying, “He’s just trying to help you,” Lindsey realized the same thing on her own and released the blanket, turning her attention away from him and back to getting out.

It made all the difference in the world that she knew he was trying to help her. Otherwise, you can imagine how the scenario would have gone—about as well as when God tries to take something from us and we don’t like it.

There are times in every believer’s life when God must take something away from us as part of His plan. We feel His tug on our treasure, and we immediately try to figure out what God is doing. Sometimes, it’s obvious, but oftentimes, we can’t tell. And it’s during those times that it matters so much whether we think He is trying to steal something that is rightfully ours or to remove it for our benefit.

Some things in life, we’re just not willing to give up. We feel as if we’re entitled to them. We want to maintain control over them, and if God tries to take them away—or if He allows them to be taken away—we react as if He has stolen from us. The only problem with that reasoning is that ultimately, nothing belongs to us. It’s all His. We don’t have the right to hang onto anything He takes or allows to be taken from us because it’s all His in the first place.

The job we lost? It was never ours to hang on to. Our health? Nope, not that either. Our kids? Even they don’t truly belong to us. They are and always have been His.

Most of the time, however, the things God requires us to give up are not the truly precious things—family, for instance. Usually it’s something much smaller, such as a portion of our free time or a peaceful, uninterrupted night’s sleep. Frequently, God takes these things from us because He wants to replace them with an opportunity to serve other people such as our children. But too often, instead of willingly accepting the change in plans, we resent the fact that mothering is often inconvenient.

What do you resent? Many times, resentment is an indicator that something we believe we have a right to has been taken from us. We resent the fact that our husband wants to watch the ballgame instead of help us with the children because we believe we have a right to his help, and that “right” has been stolen from us. Or we begrudge the fact that we have to get up in the middle of the night to tend to our coughing child because we thought we had a right to a good night’s sleep.

What difference might it make in your life and in mine if we were to lay down our rights and realize that we don’t have a right to anything? Instead of focusing on our “rights” that haven’t been fulfilled, what if we started meditating on all the things we do have that we don’t have a right to because they are the result of God’s grace?

Why not make a list of those things? Write down all the things you do have that you don’t have a right to—in other words, all the blessings you now enjoy that were gifts from God based on His love for you and not on what you had a “right” to.

It’s humbling, isn’t it? Realizing that God owes us nothing yet still chooses to bless us anyway—it’s incredible. That He would give us anything at all should amaze us. Yet He pours out His love on us, and as part of His love, He blesses us with gifts.

Let’s not spend more time resenting what we don’t have than rejoicing in what we do have. After all, if God gave us what we deserved on our own merits, we’d all be in hell. Literally. So instead of virtually accusing Him of stealing from us—or at least of doing the wrong thing—let’s thank Him for what He has done that’s truly unfair: lavishing us with blessings we don’t deserve.

1 Corinthians 4:7—What do you have that you did not receive?

James 1:17—Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Dirty Slippers

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Muddy Elmo Slippers

Sometimes when your kids wear their slippers outside and get them all muddy and dirty, it’s a matter for discipline. Other times…well, it just isn’t.

The other day, I was working on going through the house and getting rid of stuff. We just had too…much…stuff, and my husband and I decided we needed to pare it all down before the baby gets here, in order to simplify things as much as possible. Lindsey, who has a sweet, helpful spirit, and has been very in tune with how tired Mommy is, decided she would help me.

She sat down and made a list of all the chores she would help me do (in pictures, because she doesn’t know how to spell very many words yet). Then, she began with the first picture and started completing the tasks and checking them off one by one. She worked as hard as I did for as long as I did (which was several hours), all with a cheerful attitude and the desire to help. Several times, while I was working on something, she came to me and asked what specifically she could do next. I would give her a small task, and she would complete it, return, and ask, “Now what can I do?” It was truly amazing.

So it was no surprise to me when Lindsey looked at her list, checked something off, and announced, “Next, I’m going to water your plants.” Then she disappeared.

I have three porch plants, so I allowed her to go outside by herself. She’d been gone a little while, and I asked one of the other kids where Lindsey was. “She’s outside watering your plants,” came the answer.

Shortly after that, my husband appeared, holding two muddy Elmo slippers I recognized as Lindsey’s. “Look at Lindsey’s slippers,” he said.

Normally I don’t allow the kids to wear their slippers outside for precisely that reason—they’ll get dirty. Briefly, the idea flashed through my mind of disciplining Lindsey for wearing her slippers outside when I’ve told them several times not to do that. But I knew immediately there was a better response.

“I guess I can’t really say anything when they’re only dirty because she was outside watering my plants,” I said. I chose instead to be grateful those slippers were dirty—not because of the dirt itself, but because of what the dirt represented.

You see, Lindsey truly blessed me that day, beyond measure. Her attitude and work ethic went far beyond what a five-year-old should be capable of. She poured out her heart for me all day long, as well as the effort of her little body. Had I majored on the minors, and punished her for getting her slippers dirty…oh, I’m so glad I got this one right. This time at least, I saw her heart instead of her behavior. And I felt like I got a glimpse into how Jesus sees people.

Many times in the Bible, we read how Jesus saw and responded to someone’s heart, while the others around him reacted to the person’s behavior. Take, for example, the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet with costly ointment and wiped them with her hair. The other dinner guests were whispering to themselves about what a sinful woman she was—which was probably common knowledge. Look, she’s dirty. That woman with the dirty slippers is touching the Lord!

Okay, so that’s not exactly how it went, but you get the idea. They were focused on actions that were of far lesser importance than the attitude of the woman’s heart.

I wonder how often we truly look into our children’s face and see their heart. Often, we merely see the jelly smudges on their mouths or the fact that they’ve been on our nerves all day long. Oh, would that when we looked at their precious face, we saw their heart.

Friend, when Jesus looks at you and me, He doesn’t see merely the things we have done. He sees our heart. Sometimes, true, our heart needs correction. But other times, our heart is right even if our actions don’t reflect it. How many times have you fallen into bed at night exhausted from taking care of your children, with the house still a wreck? Jesus knows the house is dirty, but what’s more important to Him is the heart you displayed in serving your children.

What does that mean for you, precious mom? It means that if Jesus were talking to someone who was accusing you, He would say, “Yes, I see the dirty house. But better than that, I see her heart, and that’s what I value.” Or, “Yes, I know she failed in that area. But she’s trying, and that’s all I ask. I’m proud of her.”

Yes, Jesus sees your sins, too, and His Holy Spirit will convict you of them when necessary. But take a minute right now and just close your eyes and sit in Jesus’ presence. If you need to confess anything, confess it. Then rest in His approval. Know that He loves you and that He knows how hard you’re trying. Know that He’s proud of you. And realize that as much as I valued Lindsey’s heart toward me, He values yours far more.

Matthew 26:10, 13—Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me…I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

Cleaning House

Megan Breedlove 0Comment

I can tell my kids are growing older.

It’s not just because before next Sunday, I have to buy Lindsey a bigger pair of “church shoes”. Nor is it because Kenny just turned seven, or because I’ve seen a new maturity in Ellie that the Holy Spirit is working in her.

No, it’s because the kids have finally figured out something I tried to keep secret for as long as I could: exactly what happens to their stuff when I clean their rooms. Previously, I don’t know whether they ever really thought about it. All they knew was that sometimes, Daddy took them places while Mommy stayed home to clean, and when they got back, their rooms were nice and straight. Apparently it never occurred to them to wonder where their stuff went—at least until this most recent round of cleaning.

Now, all too soon, they realize what you moms know: when Mommy has to clean their stuff, lots of it disappears. Sometimes permanently.

Two days ago, my husband took the kids on a day-long excursion to do various errands and visit fun places (the park, the library) while I stayed home to take care of the playroom and the girls’ room. For the first time ever, the kids were a little worried when they left. They had spent the morning lobbying for various of their favorite toys not to get given away, but I made few promises. Some of the stuff, I intended to put up in the attic. (“Just leave it up there for a few days until we forget about it and don’t want it anymore,” Ellie advised.) Other items, I planned on putting into the car for donation to one of our favorite charities.

I spent six hours working on the playroom/schoolroom and the girls’ room. Apparently I did so good a job that when Ellie returned and saw the playroom, she said, “Wow! It’s like living in a new house!” When Lindsey walked into her room and saw the now-almost-bare shelves, her mouth dropped open, and she stood there in amazement. Or maybe it was shock. My husband was pretty pleased, too, and considering the fact that he is far neater than I am, that was a significant compliment.

Turns out it’s kind of like when I clean house spiritually speaking. I realize that my spirit needs cleaning out, and I decide to do something about it. I pull out all the stuff that really doesn’t belong and dispose of it—at least temporarily. True, some of the things, I get rid of immediately. They’re gone, as they should be. But some of the things I shove into the “attic”, where they’ll still be accessible later. Maybe I even do such a good job that people compliment me. But remember that stuff in the attic? It’s still there. And that’s where the problem comes in.

My purpose in putting the kids’ stuff in the attic is to buy us some time in case I decide I want to bring it back out later. Unfortunately, sometimes I do the same thing with the spiritual stuff I should be getting rid of. Instead of really, truly getting it out of my house, I put it in reserve in case I decide to go back to it. It’s a temporary cleansing that can be undone if I decide I really wanted that stuff after all.

Maybe you can identify with me. Maybe there have been things in your life that you should have gotten out of the house, but instead, you stored in the attic because you couldn’t quite bear to part fully with them yet. And then later, you brought them back downstairs and they became part of your life again. I’ve done that too. And I’ve regretted it every time.

It would be pretty tough for me to take some of that material stuff that’s in my actual attic and give it away permanently. Why? Because my emotions and memories are involved. Likewise, it would be difficult to give away some of my spiritual stuff. Why? For the same reasons.

The solution to the problem is obvious—give it away in the first place, so I’m not tempted to take it out again. But it’s hard. Sometimes the pull of emotion is too strong.

So what can I do? What can you do, when you’re faced with needing to clean out a part of your life but aren’t emotionally ready to let it go?

We could do the same thing I could do with my kids’ material possessions: get someone to pick up a box as soon as I’ve filled it and cart it right out the door, heading for charity.

I’m not necessarily suggesting we have to do this with physical objects. But I’m definitely suggesting that we do the same thing spiritually. Let’s take what we need to get rid of, hand it over to the Person helping us clean, and let Him dispose of it before the emotional pull becomes too strong and we take it back.

The only way to be sure we won’t bring possessions back down from the attic is to make sure those possessions aren’t within our grasp anymore. The charities we frequent are always more than glad to take what we donate. Likewise, the Holy Spirit is always ready and willing to take our castoffs and put them far away from us.

Is there something in your life that you need to get rid of this week? Perhaps even right now? Let the Holy Spirit have it. Ask Him to take it away before you can grab it back. I guarantee that the temporary pain of its being gone is less than the pain of knowing it is still there, up in the attic. Or worse yet, the pain of knowing you’ve brought it back down.

Job 11:13-15—Yet if you devote your heart to him and stretch out your hands to him, if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent, then you will lift up your face without shame; you will stand firm and without fear.

The Whole Picture

Megan Breedlove 0Comment

I love it when we’re on a long trip in our minivan and the kids are watching a movie on the DVD player, using headphones so that Phil and I don’t have to hear it. We’ll be driving along in relative silence for awhile when one of the kids will say, in response to the video, something so seemingly random (because we haven’t heard the part of the movie to which they are responding) that it’s hilarious.

Take, for example, our recent trip to San Antonio (about 4.5 hours away). We were on the way home, and Lindsey and Jessica were watching Word World. Suddenly, Jessica called out, “It’s because he’s allergic to peaches!”

That struck me and Phil as funny because to us, it was completely out of the blue. Of course, if we had heard the part of the episode leading up to it, I’m sure it would have made complete sense and probably not been funny at all.

As I thought about this—about how the reason it was so funny was not because of the words themselves, but because they were out of context—I realized something. Lots of things seem “out of context” to us in life. They appear random, completely unexpected. But that’s because we don’t have the big picture of which they are a part. Some of these things are funny; some are confusing; and some are sad or even tragic. But all of them would make sense if we could only see the whole picture the way God sees it.

The problem is that we can’t see things that way. We see only a fraction of what is going on, only a thread of how a particular happening or event is being woven into the entire tapestry of our lives and the much larger tapestry of God’s plan for the world. When something happens that we can’t imagine what kind of picture it might fit into, we get confused. This can’t be a part of any picture I would approve of, we think to ourselves. Maybe we even say something like it out loud. I can’t imagine why God would do this or allow this, or, more to the point, A loving God wouldn’t do that.

In other words, we question God because we can’t see what He sees. My friend, I assure you that God doesn’t randomly hand out pain with no purpose behind it. He has a purpose. We’re just so far from being able to see the entirety of what’s going on that we don’t “get it”. In our limited, finite humanness, we’re bewildered. How could this happen?

I don’t know why bad things have happened in your life, or in mine. I don’t claim to know God’s purpose behind it all. But I do know that God is God when I’m in pain just as much as He is when things are going well for me. He’s not a loving God when I feel blessed and an unkind, capricious one when I hurt. He’s the same God always, and if I could only see the way He sees, I would understand and accept why a particular event had to happen.

But I can’t see everything like God does, and I never will. So what do I do—what do you do—when something seems out of place to us? When it’s painful?

During those times, we pray for the grace to truly believe that God sees the whole picture and that He knows what He’s doing. You and I will never entirely share God’s perspective. He is so infinitely far above us that we will spend all eternity learning new things about Him. But we can choose to believe what we know to be true and not let painful circumstances cause us to doubt. They may temporarily steal our peace from us, our possessions, or even our loved ones. We don’t have to let them steal our faith too.

Ecclesiastes 8:17—I saw everything God has done. No one can understand what happens on earth. Man might try very hard to figure it out. But he still can’t discover what it all means. A wise man might claim he knows. But he can’t really understand it either.

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