Showing posts with label Summer activities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Summer activities. Show all posts

Friday, July 12, 2013

Brush Stroked Memorials

Oh summer days…we have been waiting for….sleeping in, staying up late, lazy days at the beach.  Often summer expectations include; drinking lemonade; playing in the sprinklers; catching fire flies and eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

One of my favorite childhood memories is “painting” my Grandfather’s picket fence.  
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When my cousin, brother and I would spend lengthy summer days at my grandparent’s home in our humid Virginia town, my precious grandfather would fill empty paint cans with water.  He gave us paintbrushes and sent us out to their fence to “paint.”  What an ingenious idea! No mess and he ended up with a clean fence.

Over and over God’s people remember God’s provision and God’s protection and God’s power.  In doing so, they remind themselves and their families of the One they can always trust.

I doubt my grandfather was considering he would be leaving a memory of “painting the fence.”  However, Christ spent His entire earthly ministry preforming miracles and telling stories that are never to be forgotten.

We never know what may become a special memory for our children. We should encourage them to remember what God has done for them.


Challenge:  Begin to store special memories of Christ’s faithfulness in a “treasure box” with your children.  It can be as basic as a shoe box to as elaborate as a shadow box.  You can place a piece of the “memory” in the box and tell their story over and over.  This can become your child’s memory/memorial box.  Over the days, weeks and years, your child will be able to pull from their memorial box a piece of the memory and repeat over and over the amazing experiences and memories they have of their faithful Heavenly Father.

Friday, May 17, 2013

What or Who is Calling you?


Summer is calling!!
Don’t get me wrong I’m a firm believer in academics, but my heart…not so much! I’m thinking I really fit in the “unschool” category of American mommas.
            I love my babys being home, sleeping in, and eating waffles with sticky kisses that follow.  I love watching them carry a favorite book and sit in their tree houses until they figure out how to dress as the character they are reading about.  I love a peanut butter sandwich on the beach.  As you can see, I’ve got “summer fever” bad.
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            As much as I love summer, I already see endless possibilities of activities for them…and for me!  With as many summers as I have under my belt as a mom, can I share one piece of advice; make a plan for your summer with your children.  
            I am only on the third day of a new Bible study, Gideon by Priscilla Shirer.  She is making a case for Gideon’s call.  Priscilla says one reason she believes God lead her to study Gideon is to remind us of the significance of his unique calling.  As a mom with three young boys, she can certainly relate to the call we have as mothers.
           
In talking about spheres of influence 

Priscilla says…

I’m convinced that God lets me witness their cute, comical lives to give me good material in my teaching.  But without a doubt, outside of my relationship with the Lord and my husband, my sons are my highest priority, and I have been commissioned by God to be their mother.  Being a parent may seem like a commonplace human relationship, but I will not be lulled into downplaying it as ordinary.  My role as a mom is a deliberate strategy initiated by God to rear young boys into godly men.  AND I AM RESOLVED TO FUFILL THIS CALLING- to be for them what God needs me to be during this critical stage in their lives.

         
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Yes Moms, summer is calling, our friends are calling, and our kids are calling.  Don’t miss God’s call!  Don’t miss opportunities for the summer. Be the mom who has a plan and is “unschooled” enough to enjoy the unexpected.
            This is His Summer, enjoy His Call!

Judges 6: 14  The Lord turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hands.  Am I not sending you out?"