You’re praying that this year will be different. You are anxious to see most of your family, but there is always that one person who gets under your skin and deprives you each and every year of the Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving that you can only dream about.
It’s true in every family.
The sister who always seems to be critical and competing.
The aunt married to your mother’s brother who continually tells you how to raise your children.
The grandparent who insists on telling the same unpleasant story every holiday.
The child who complains and won’t eat anything on the table.
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“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” ~ Hans Hofmann
“Hey!” Kendall walked into the kitchen. It was the twinkle in her eyes more than her excited tone that captured my attention. “Can you come here for a minute?”
I dried my hands on a towel and then followed her into the living room. She walked to the hutch which now housed the collection of salt and pepper shakers I had inherited from my grandmother. I thought for sure she must have more questions about them. She reached one tiny hand out but – instead of fingering one of the sets in fascination like she had earlier – she pointed to the round tin with the letters S I M P L I F Y stenciled on the side that sat tucked out of the way on the bottom shelf.
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And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. Luke 2:52 NIV
Earlier this month, we started talking about what it takes to raise godly men. I shared a little bit about how God captured my heart and gave me the desire to be a boy mom. If you have not had a chance to read it yet, then take a minute to go back and read it (Raising Godly Men, Part 1).
I shared about how to get started if your boys are in preschool and now I want to take a minute to talk about elementary, middle, and high school boys.
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He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.
Proverbs 21:23 NIV
It’s funny how something so small as the mouth, something so seemingly insignificant, can get so many people into trouble. I can’t tell you how many times I have done this, witnessed this, or experienced this to be true.
For example… you are the 3rd party in the middle of a conversation when all of the sudden one person says something that leaves everyone in the conversation stunned.
Almost in silence.
Did you know that this is not something that’s new to today? I cannot even begin to tell you how many variations of the word “mouth” there are in the Bible; I lost track somewhere over 300 times.
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Many of us struggle with balancing family, careers, and ministries. We struggle with hearing the voice of God and fulfilling the call we feel we have on our lives. How do we really know what we should be doing, and if it’s God’s timing?
For years, I’ve asked similar questions trying to balance what I felt were my primary vocations in life. A stay-at-home, homeschooling mom and wife, pursuing a writing career. But just when I’d get my “plates” spinning and balancing on the pole of “life,” one “plate” would demand more of my attention, then another and another, and before I knew it I’d be running around trying to keep the plates spinning.
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