May 2017


A Word for MOM…….

Among the many things I think of when I think “May” is that of Mother’s Day and the challenge’s our ‘moms’ face on a regular basis. While everyone has their own list of things that never seem to get done, I think it’s especially true of mothers. It’s probably because their live are so connected with babies and children who need their constant help. Maybe you’ve heard the expression, “You need to learn to stop and smell the roses.” And I can hear many mom’s replying, when in the world do I have time to do that?!” Finding simplicity in a hectic world isn’t always an easy thing to do, for sure. Here are a few thoughts that might help:
1)    Try taking things one day at a time. “For which cause we faint not; ….the inward man is renewed day by day,” (2 Cor. 4:16)  We complicate our lives when we borrow trouble from the future. We waste energy worrying about what might happen tomorrow; we become frantic and pressured looking at the many responsibilities on our to-do list for the next week; we lie awake obsessing over our plans for the upcoming month…..and miss out on today, this moment. The present is just that…a present. (Mt. 6:34)  Children live the same way, delighting in the here and now,  untroubled by the future.
2)    Enjoy small pleasures. (Luke 10:21 NIV)  At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.” It’s amazing the little details children notice, isn’t it? “The best things are nearest,” Robert Louis Stevenson tells us. ”breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feel, duties at your hand, the path of Right just before you.  Do not grasp at the stars, but do life’s plain common work as it comes, certain that daily duties  and daily bread are the sweetest things in life.
Someone said: “Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and discover they were the BIG things.” (Author unknown)
3)    Forget the Past. (Philippians 3:13 NIV)  Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. We can lose our peace of mind when we dwell too much on the past. Satan like to try getting us stuck in the past. It robs us of our hope of better days and stops God from working in our lives RIGHT NOW. In our own power, we can never “fix things.” When we trust Him, we are doing what we can do best, so He can do what He does best.
4)    Slowing Down and traveling light. (Hebrews 12:1 NIV)  “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”
In the midst of our busily scheduled lives, make room for peace. Books on peace and simplicity climb the bestseller lists and we’re all hoping that some author will have the magic answer how our lives can be fused with serenity. But we’re looking at peace like it’s one more thing to fit into our lives. The truth is, that’s not the way peace works. We  need to stop the mad rush, say no to some responsibilities, and take time to come quietly into God’s Presence, so He can breathe ‘peace’ into our hearts.
5)    Enjoy the Riches of Serenity. (Psalm 23:1-2 NIV)  “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. 2  He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul.” Serenity and water are often connected. The Bible speaks of peace being like a quiet river. David writes of the Shepherd who leads us beside the still, calm waters quieting our hearts.
6)    Pray. (Colossians 3:3) “Your life is hid with Christ in God.”
Stand Still, and lifting your hearts and hands to God, pray that the mighty wind of His Holy Spirit may clear all the cobwebs of fear,  selfishness, greed, narrow-heartedness away from the soul; that His tongues of flame may descend and give courage to begin again.
Thank you mothers for your tremendous ministry in our homes, churches, and world.