He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Psalm 1:3 NIV
Faith walked in the door with her arms crossed, and I knew there was a problem. “How was the second day of first grade?” I asked. “Well, we can only have our water bottles at snack time,” Faith complained. “When I come in from outside, I’m so thirsty, and I wanted to use my water bottle, but the teacher told us we could only have them for snack. After playground, we are supposed to use the water fountain instead.”
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The look on his face said it all. “But-,” he started. My son couldn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth.
“You heard me,” I told him, “turn the television off.” His steps were slow and methodical. He turned again to look at my eyes before he hit the off button, just to make sure he heard correctly.
After turning off the TV, he stood frozen looking completely baffled. “I haven’t even watched a single show today. Not one!”
He continued, “My room is clean. My bed is made. My teeth are brushed.”
My child felt it was his right to watch television – like he could turn in ration tickets for his favorite shows.
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“Tell me all the fun things you did today?” I questioned my eight and six-year-old about Bible school.
“Well,” Faith began, and took a deep breath. I knew I was in for a story…
“We were outside playing games and it was hot. So they gave us cups from Sonic and you won’t believe what was in them,” my daughter told me, getting more and more animated.
I equate Bible school with Kool-aid so I had a pretty good guess. “What?” I asked, waiting for her reply.
“HOSE WATER!” She spat it out in the most exasperated way. I wasn’t sure I understood what she said, so I made the mistake of asking again.
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Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. Psalm 86:4 NIV
Every woman fantasizes about the day her husband will say, “It’s okay, honey, I’ll clean the house for you today.” Well, friends, my dreams just came true.
I clean the house on Fridays. It’s my routine. But last Friday was the first day of my husband’s vacation time. As I grabbed the disinfectant spray and headed for the bathroom, he grabbed me by the waist and uttered the most charming and heart-stopping words a man could utter, “I’m going to clean for you today.
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You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great. Psalm 18:35 NIV
You are lounging on the couch when the doorbell rings. Not expecting anyone, you are surprised and run to the door to see who is there. With windows running down either side of the door, you can easily view the visitor. But it is not just one. There are hundreds of visitors at your door. Your skin crawls with dread as you see line after line of men in full military dress armed with guns. You do not recognize their insignia – they are not on your side, and from the looks of their faces, they are not happy.
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Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4 NIV
My mom loves to shop. Now I know a lot of people love to shop but not like my mother. Shopping to my mother means finding the absolutely lowest price on the absolutely best product. If you meet someone in my family and compliment something they are wearing, they are likely to tell you the story of how they got it and what a bargain it was.
You must understand this about my mother to understand how her wildest dream came true. K-mart was going out of business.
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“En nombre de Padre, de Hijo, y de espiritu santo.”
The waters stirred as the dark haired gentleman followed the pastor into the baptismal pool. The pastor introduced himself and this gentleman to the congregation. Hundreds of eyes rested on these two as they readied to represent Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. “This man comes to us tonight to be baptized.” Those were the last words I understood.
The pastor then spoke beautiful Spanish as fluid as the water in which he stood. The words were engaging but made no sense to me. I followed as closely as possible listening for chunks of words I understood comparing them to the words I knew and expected at a baptism.
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“DON’T JUST EAT THE MARSHMALLOWS!” I print this on a banner and wave it madly over the breakfast table. Every time I buy Lucky Charms, it’s the same. The kids beg to eat it and then pick out the fluffy sugary sweetness and leave the cute oat shapes floating aimlessly in the bowl. You would think that I’d wise up and quit buying it. But as I decidedly march down the cereal aisle looking for healthy, low-sugar, proves-I’m-a-good-mom cereal, there he is. His cute little leprechaun face luring me in – promising gold at the end of the rainbow and before I know it I’m in the check out line with yet another box of Lucky Charms.
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