Rabbit Trails

 

I love to follow rabbit trails. I feel free when I meander along behind curiosity. The key word here is meander. It’s natural and unforced. There is no agenda, score to keep, or checkmark to check. It often starts as a small question or musing. 

Presently, I am reading the young reader’s Viking Quest series by Lois Walfrid Johnson. These charming books have introduced me to the North Sea and the mountains of Norway. I have never had a desire to travel to Norway, but my interest is now piqued, because I followed a rabbit trail. I wanted to have a better visual of the setting for these stories, so I used YouTube to look up Norway and the North Sea. One video led to another, so I have been learning fascinating things about this beautiful part of the world. At the back of each book, the author lists resources to further explore. I’ll likely look at some of those. Those of you who homeschool may already be used to rambling down rabbit trails. Children (people) learn so much when they explore ideas that interest them without external pressure to do so. Do I have a need to know about Norway? Not really. I just found it interesting. And that’s reason enough.

 I don’t know where I learned to follow rabbit trails, but I’ve done it a long time. My husband loves learning, so he probably influenced me. The internet has made it so easy too with videos, articles, and book suggestions. You can go a long way on one trail if you desire or veer off in another interesting direction.

God has taught me so many things when I allow myself to follow rabbit trails when reading Scripture. Questions pop into my mind, and instead of strictly adhering to a reading plan, I allow myself to leisurely wander off schedule and pursue that path to see where it might lead. (I also love pictures of literal pathways. You will often see them on my Facebook page when we go hiking or biking. I’m always curious as to where a path might lead.) I love when I have plenty of time to do this and to talk to God along the way. My excitement about what I am learning spills over onto other people, and they too learn a few things.

Have you learned to wander? It’s fun! As the saying goes, “All those who wander are not lost.”

I’d love to hear about what you’re learning or any paths you have explored!

joyce hague

The Road Not Wanted

 

The road of life is full of twists and turns, isn’t it? Things seem to be going fine, and then unexpectedly the road that opens up before us is one we do not want to take. If we could just close our eyes and make it go away, we would, but life doesn’t work that way. Standing at the start of that road and looking ahead, all looks hazy and the path cannot be clearly seen. But we know enough to know that that it won’t be easy, that there will be deep valleys and hard climbs, and we aren’t even certain where exactly this particular road in life will lead. Even here, as we take our first steps on this rocky path, our eyes fill with tears for the pain and challenges we know will come. How do we step forward onto this difficult road as those who are followers of Christ?

We step forward in faith, knowing that God is the One who ordains our paths (Psalm 139:16). This road is His choice for us, His plan for our lives. Although this may be hard to understand, there is comfort in knowing that this path did not come to us by chance, but by a purpose ordained before we were ever born.

We step forward in faith, knowing that God is good and wastes nothing in our lives (Romans 8:28). He will use this hard path before us for good. He is conforming us to the image of His Son, and this trial will bear the good fruit of making us more like Christ as we fix our eyes on Him.

We step forward in faith, knowing that we are not alone for God walks with us (Psalm 139:5-12). He hems us in on all sides as our refuge, help, and comfort. Not even one step of this dark path will we tread without His strong arms undergirding us.

We step forward in faith, knowing that God will give grace for each step of the way (2 Cor. 12:9). His grace will enable us to keep putting one step in front of the other and to keep our eyes fixed on Him, even in the darkest moments.

We step forward in faith, knowing that God cares for us and we can throw all our worries and burdens on Him (1 Peter 5:7). In the long nights and when the tears and trials come, when we are overwhelmed by our lack of being able to control the situation, in humility before our God who holds all things together, we surrender control and throw our fears on the very capable shoulders of our loving Heavenly Father.

We step forward in faith, knowing that we are surrounded by those who have faced their own dark roads and who have found God to be faithful (Hebrews 11:1-12:1). We realize that we are not the only ones who face hardships, and we are encouraged by the testimony of those who have gone before us and their deep trust in God. He sustained them and held them fast, and He will do the same for us.

We step forward in faith, knowing that while we may not have light to see what is on the other side of this dark path, we do know where our final road will lead (1 Peter 1:3-9). No matter what happens in this trial, we have an inheritance in heaven that awaits us and that can never be taken away. We will one day see our Savior, where all will be light, all dark paths and tears will be no more, and we will know that all the trials we faced were worth it for the glory that is before us.

So, as we step onto this road that we never wanted, we fix our eyes on what is unseen and not on the darkness and uncertainty we see ahead in our physical sight. And when the tears and trials come on this path, we’ll throw ourselves onto the One who is light in the darkness and who walks beside us. He is for us, and we trust Him.

-- Amy O’Rear

 

Contentment and the Creative Urge

 

By virtue of being made in the image of God, humans are naturally creative. We love to make things and try out new ideas and display our skill. You’ve noticed it, haven’t you? Beautiful patterned fabric when plain colors would be faster and work as well. Walls painted with vibrant murals instead of perfectly functional whitewash. Music and rhythm that makes us have to get up and move. What’s the practicality in that?

We may not all have the same idea of beauty, but we do seek to surround ourselves with what we love. I grew up in the hills of West Virginia, and though we didn’t have much money, we always had enough to visit the garden center for begonias and coleuses to plant in pots for the front steps. My mother spent hours and hours cultivating dahlias that she traded with friends and neighbors all up and down the dirt road. I have driven by sad little houses perched on the hillside and noted red geraniums and yellow marigolds rising out of coffee cans and old cooking pots.  These people are saying to anyone who cares to notice, This is my place, and these are the things I value.

I have written elsewhere about a time in my life when I failed to cultivate the beauty that I love, when I let clutter accumulate, took no interest in decorating, and neglected to hang pictures on the walls. Looking back, I realize that I was just getting through each day waiting for my circumstances to change. I was discontented, looking to a day when I could move someplace else and create the home I wanted.

I was in a meeting with a group of women when the speaker said something like this: “If you are not happy with your house or your income, or some other aspect of your life, you are saying to God, ‘You’re not taking good care of me. You’re a bad provider.’” That statement made an impact that I obviously remember to this day, and it made an immediate difference in my attitude. When I accepted that I was in the place God intended for me at that time, I started to take interest in my surroundings and worked on beautifying my home, making it mine for whatever time I might be there.

Peter reminds us that believers in Jesus are “strangers and pilgrims” on earth (I Peter 2:11), and Paul reminds the church in Philippi that “our citizenship is in heaven” (3:20). But in the meantime, we live here. As children of God, we can display our gratitude for God’s goodness by living lives of contentment—certainly not complacency with situations that need to change—but a settled and satisfied feeling that our God who loves us is taking good care of us.

Then, out of a heart of joy and appreciation, we can open up the creative urge within, put there by God, to build, paint, plant, write, rearrange our environment and reflect God’s image in our surroundings.

 --Sherry Poff

The Root of Restlessness

 

I’m going to say it: school is starting in just a few weeks. I know, no one wants to talk about it. We are all in denial. Summer flew by. But it’s coming soon and truth be told, it’s causing me a little bit of dread.

There certainly are nice things about having consistent schedules and expectations. And school is important and good and all those positive things. Fall sports kick off and there are fun memories that are made through those. But what I’m feeling negative about is all the chaos and busyness and whirlwind schedules that can overwhelm a heart.

I’ve been reading Sanctuary: Cultivating a Quiet Heart in a Noisy and Demanding World by Denise J. Hughes. It’s really a fitting read to bring into the calendars and must-do’s of the fall season. The emphasis is about finding our sanctuary, our holy refuge, our quiet place in the Lord, even while being surrounded by the loudness and intensity of the modern world in which we live.

When I am pulled in every direction: kids, husband, friends, extended family, church, school, house, etc. etc. etc., and I try to do it all myself, my heart becomes restless. Can you see it now? The exhaustion that comes with trying to keep up with everything and everyone? THAT is what I dread. That is what I want to step away from and find the quiet place for my heart. 

So as I look into these two weeks ahead of me, when I know the ease and gentle flow of the summer will come to an end, how do I find that peace in the chaos? I look to the One. In my reading, Hughes has talked about how when my heart and focus are pulled in every direction that is where the worries come. I become distracted, prone to wander, and divided. I can’t keep up with all the things.

Sadly, my frequent choice has been to daydream all the possible results of the chaos of my life. If I think about it, I can be prepared for it, right? I can worry away all of the possible terrible-ness of every item on my calendar, of all the conflict. Wrong. Wandering this path keeps my heart divided and “a divided heart is at the root of all restlessness.”

The root of my peace and hope and security is Jesus. Just Jesus. So rather than letting my mind and heart play through every possible scenario and try to keep track of it all myself, I can bring every single thing to the Lord. This dread I feel? I hand it to Him. The scheduling conflicts and overload? I talk with Him about it. The decisions needed to be made for the kids? I ask Him for guidance. Then I find rest. 

I love this summary in Sanctuary, “How can we stitch together the fragmented cares and worries of our hearts? We can begin by laying each care at God’s feet. Today, enter the sanctuary of God’s presence and list the ways in which you feel stretched right now. Invite God into each of those circumstances. Ask for wisdom. Then ask God to give you a one-thing heart - a heart that truly wants only one thing: Christ. Since the old sanctuary in the Bible pointed to Christ, we find sanctuary when we find rest in Christ’s presence.”

--Sandy Gromacki

I Am Not Responsible!

I love being a mother!  I always wanted a big family. My first baby was not born until I was thirty-two so I was in a hurry!  Six years later my fifth child was born.  For the next twenty-five years my job was being a mother, homeschooling, as well as keeping house and running a family.  Life was hectic and even frantic at some times.  But I loved being a mother.

They are all grown and gone now.  As a parent of five adult children, four of them married, I have found that parenting adult children is far harder than parenting young children.  The first reason is that in general they may not want your advice.  They want to make their own decisions about values and beliefs, standards, and behavior.  They want their chance to make those decisions, especially when they disagree with what you would choose.  Occasionally they may want your input and they may make the same decisions you would make.  Perhaps more often they will choose differently.  Sometimes it is not a matter of right or wrong.  It merely is different from what we wish they had chosen.  They will make some good decisions and some bad decisions, just as we did.  

My problem is that somehow I feel responsible for their bad decisions.  (I would like to take credit for their good decisions, but somehow that doesn't work either!)  As an introspective individual I immediately start analyzing my parenting style, how I disciplined, how I encouraged my children, what I taught them and how I taught them, where I wish I had handled things differently.  (I do sometimes think I did something well.)

When I was busy taking responsibility for something that I was not really responsible for some years ago, I found something Ruth Bell Graham wrote.  She also had five children and did not always feel good about her parenting skills.  I would like to share her words since parents of adult children are not the only ones who need them.  It is entitled "My Part (the possible); God's Part (the impossible)".

My Part (the possible)

            love expressed

            to pray intelligently, logically, urgently, without ceasing in prayer

            enjoy being a mother

            provide a warm, happy home

God's Part (the impossible)

            conviction of sin

            creating a hunger and thirst for righteousness

            conversion

            bringing to a place of total commitment

            showing ourselves as we really are (without ever discouraging)

            continually filling us with His Holy Spirit for our sanctification and His service

For severaI years I have kept a card with these lines in a little holder on the windowsill above my kitchen sink.  I read them over and over again.  More recently I have turned these thoughts into a mantra, summarizing them into just one phrase, "I am not responsible for . . . ."  Sometimes I add what I know I am not responsible for, sometimes I don't need to do that.  I repeat these words over and over again.

I am so grateful that I can trust God's parenting.  I am so glad that He is responsible for the important things in my children's lives.

I AM NOT REPONSIBLE!  HALLELUJAH!

                                                            Faith Himes Lamb

Just Talk to God

 

This summer in Preschool summer choir, we are learning about prayer. Growing up, the kind of prayer I was primarily exposed to was either before meals or at church in the form of long prayers with big words. As a perfectionist, this perception of prayer led me to think that I needed to approach praying in just the right way. It wasn’t until later in my spiritual journey that I began to view prayer as more accessible, an avenue to come to God as I am and talk to Him about anything and everything in my life.

I think when one is asked to pray out loud, it is easy to fall into a certain mindset of making sure we say the right thing in the best way. But when that is the only kind of prayer a child hears, it doesn’t seem as accessible. It feels more like something for adults who know the right way to do things rather than an avenue of connection to God available to anybody.

In summer choir, we are defining prayer as simply “talking to God.” We are talking about talking to God at any time about anything—whether we are happy, sad, angry, or confused. My goal is to make sure the kids in my class know they can go to God whenever, not just before meals or at church. And that they can talk to God about anything, even if it’s not a “nice” emotion.

I am not one to kneel down and pray for extended periods of time. I applaud those who do; it is an admirable practice. My thoughts have a tendency to wander, and there will end up being twenty minutes of thinking about a variety of other things before I remember that I was praying. But that is not to say that prayer is not a part of my life. I talk to God throughout my day about anything and everything going on in my life. I have thanked Him, questioned Him, and poured out my feelings to Him while at work, in my car, and lying in bed.

This is the kind of prayer I think of when I read 1 Thess. 5:17: “Pray without ceasing.” It does not mean we need to always be on our knees. It means to have an ongoing conversation with God throughout our everydays. We can get so caught up in our lives that we forget to let God be a part of it. We can get so focused on praying “the right way” that we either over-focus or ignore doing it. My encouragement to you today is that praying to God can happen at the grocery store or driving to work, when you’re excited about how life is going and when you’re mad at God.

Just talk to God.

    --Concetta Swann

Reflections on Independence Day

 

Our family is a nerdy bunch. When we go on vacation, we always work in trips to museums, historical sites, and other educational activities. Recently, we visited the Missouri State Capitol and the Lewis & Clark memorial in Jefferson City, MO. On a previous trip to Missouri/ Kansas, Dan and I visited Harry Truman’s home and presidential library, Ulysses Grant’s home, and an amazing World War I memorial. I cannot say that I remember every detail of the many things we have seen and experienced, but cumulatively, they have laid the groundwork for the love I have for my country. It has instilled in me an awe and reverence for those who came before us, those who made a huge sacrifice for the freedoms and benefits I enjoy today.

Those who colonized and settled America faced incredible challenges – hunger, attacks, back-breaking work, weather challenges, sickness, pestilence, and government oppression. The Revolutionary War and its era are sometimes romanticized in novels and movies, but in reality, it was quite ugly. and every man who signed the Declaration of Independence paid a high price for doing so. These strong, resolute men (I love that word – resolute) did hard things – things that took courage and grit. Many who followed them paid with their lives and limbs to keep us free. Mental health challenges followed them for the rest of their lives. These trials should not be taken lightly. I live comfortably because they lived heroically.

I am so grateful and humbled to be an American, but I often feel unworthy since I know that there are many people worldwide who do not enjoy such liberty. Why did God choose to place me here? I am no more important than anyone else. Today, (I am writing this on July 4) I thank God Almighty for creating this country. You know it was a work of God, right? It was an unlikely win. So many came here seeking the freedom to worship freely (among other reasons) and no doubt they were praying the whole way. Our Founding Fathers had a respect for God and His guiding principles. Their words and Scripture are written on memorials all over this land. Their astonishing wisdom and understanding of the fallenness of man are reflected in systems of government they established. They understood tyranny. I believe their acknowledgement of God and requests for His guidance are why we have been so greatly blessed. I know they had shortcomings, as do we, but God used them anyway.

So, I encourage you to give humble thanks to God for leading men and women to found this land and for sustaining them in terrible hardships. Pray for our leaders to follow and obey God’s commandments. Thank veterans and military personnel for their hard work and sacrifices. Pray over our country’s brokenness too. Satan continues to find ways to divide and destroy our people. We have broken families, drug addiction, immorality, sex trafficking, depression, anxiety, suicide, murder, violence, unrest, porn addiction, etc. We deserve God’s judgement, but I am praying for His mercy and for revival. Let us “appeal to Heaven.” 

Independence Day

When we think about the birth

of this great nation,
Congress declared July the 4th 1776
and issued a proclamation.

With this decree, the thirteen colonies
are now free.
We will no longer live
under England's Monarchy.

Five great men
were given the task
to draw up papers
for freedom at last.

Thomas Jefferson,
we can remember.
A founding father,
Patriot and a Continental member.

Together these men
drafted the amendments.
Franklin, Livingstone, Sherman and Adams,
united they authored the Declarations of Independence.

Battles were fought,
and blood was shed.
Life was lost,
and men were dead.

"FREEDOM" came with
A heavy price.
War is not pretty,
nor is it nice.

We can thank
the Lord above.
He gave us these United States,
a country we can love.

Men fought for our freedom,
and with their lives they did pay.
That's why we celebrate
Independence Day.

(Debra L. Brown. "Independence Day." Family Friend Poems, June 26, 2019)

  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” 

Beautiful words from the from the “Declaration of Independence”

 

joyce hague