My dad loves hiking and taking extended walks. I have an early childhood memory of taking a long hike with him while our family camped one year. I can hear him singing with us kids as we turned another corner on the winding path.
“What’s around the corner?…Just another corner!”
We laughed as we came around each bend and sang the little song again and again. As I think about that scenario now, I wonder if we were actually lost and my Dad was just being very successful at distracting us!
In May of this year, just three short months ago, I had no idea what was around the corner for my family and me.
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I’ll admit to being fluffier than I used to be. Things like having babies, stress eating, and an honest love of chocolate haven’t helped my waistline. Over the last few months I’ve started noticing more articles from experts urging us to eat better, not less. In other words, the secret to health is not consuming less food but consuming better food. And they have a point. For most of us, moving away from the standard American diet of quick-fixes, drive-through meals, and prepackaged foods, for lean meats, produce, and whole grains results in a healthier diet and a trimmer body.
Does that same principle apply to us spiritually?
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There are days when it feels like my efforts go completely unnoticed.
It doesn’t matter where we’ve gone, what I’ve tried, or how many errands were run. Someone’s mood is less than desirable. The one thing not accomplished or that was missed on the shopping list is the one thing being talked about. And it seems to get bigger…overtaking everything else.
We tend to focus on the negative, don’t we?
The one thing that didn’t work out instead of all the things that did.
The item we would like to have, ignoring all that we do have.
The unfinished work versus the completed tasks.
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I love August. This month usually breezes past us, which is good since those fluttering calendar pages are about the only breeze many of us get. But along with the warm temperatures, August also gives us a glimpse of the fall.
I can hear the marching band practicing at the local high school. The evenings turn cooler. The mountains here in Virginia are lush and green and the weedy undergrowth is fading into fall colors. I enjoy these simple pleasures, and then my mind wanders.
Autumn deadlines, family responsibilities, travel schedules, busy college football weekends, etc.
Like clouds before a summer thunderstorm, these concerns accumulate and darken my mind.
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Sometimes it’s hard to keep my mouth shut.
My brain is always working, spewing out thoughts and feelings. When my brain isn’t in conversational overdrive, activity is the name of the game. Doing and productivity push me to want to conquer my never-ending tasks.
Sometimes the better thing is to be still. The better thing is to listen rather than jibber on. The better thing is to step away from the pressure of my day and enter in to sacred secrecy with God.
Jesus said to a frantic and frazzled Martha–the one I know–the one trying to get it all done and get it all right:
… you are worried and upset over all these details!
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Oh friends … tell me I am not alone today.
I struggle so much with my purpose here. With why I do what I do all day long … elbow deep in diapers and dishwater, I am overwhelmed.
And then-I read things like this.
Daniel 12:13.
As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.
The knowledge of, the security of where we are headed should utterly transform how we live while we are waiting.
How do we “go our way?”
Every thought, breath, word, and deed … every dirty dish, massive laundry load, floor mopping, toddler wrestling match, slow count to ten before I engage, should be tempered by the truth of the gospel.
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Susan, co-founder of 5 Minutes for Mom, here to let you moms with babies or toddlers know about an app that offers pure, wholesome music and educational videos. This post is sponsored… which as you may know is extremely rare here on 5 Minutes for Faith.
Baby’s Brilliant is an app designed specifically to soothe and engage babies and toddlers with musical and educational videos. Unlike sites like YouTube which contain inappropriate videos and are loaded with ads, Baby’s Brilliant only includes pure and wholesome content.
They have specifically selected and recorded many religious songs for parents to share with their little ones.
For parents with multiple children of various ages, this app can help engage your baby or toddler for a little while during your busy dinner preparation time or when you’re focused on helping with homework.
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In the post “Pursuing Peace” we talked about how the peace of God within us requires that we take action. We also discussed that true peace from God is not just a state of mind or a demeanor, but it is also an example we live out that will draw others to Him. So, that being the case…
How can we pursue peace? What actions can we take in our everyday lives in pursuit of peace?
1. Do your part. This means not getting even, controlling anger and not reacting. It also means choosing relationship over being right.
2.
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