Away In A Manger

Li'l Bit's Black Baby Jesus

and her Amazing Technicolor Santa

Sanctifying Discipleship

Luke 9:45-46 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it...”

Phil 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

In a discussion on “dying to live” (see post on 11/11) this question arises: “So, how long is it going to be this way?”

How long is it going to be: hard, suffering, painful, etc.? I think the answer has a few different layers. According to Luke and Philippians, it will be daily and it will be forever. The root of the the pain of living this way is our struggle with obedience.

The Father has given us they way to live in relationships all throughout Scripture. We are to glorify Jesus by our love for one another (our Christian family). However, inside, it is very hard to look past people’s selfishness, rudeness, manipulation, recklessness, _________ (fill in whatever sin in others’ pushes your buttons here).

Love Hurts.....ooooo ooo ooooooo love hurts. How will we respond when we try to love and we get hurt. Will we be patient, kind, bear with them, endure, or will we be rude, arrogant, resentful, or just plain ole mean? I must confess, I can get mad, even angry when I feel wronged. The question ensues, will I be obedient in my response to that anger. Jesus had righteous responses when he was angry. I should do the same. Oftentimes my anger comes out as meanness.

I find that when I do not display the qualities of love, it’s usually because I have a plank in my eye that must be removed before I can start removing the speck from whomever has wronged me. This self analyzing is very difficult, but usually results in me finding the depth of my selfishness, which then allows me to righteously respond in love. I tend to find this sin by asking myself "Why am I so angry? What emotion is this stirring up in me? Why am I reacting this way? How should I be acting? Why am I not acting this way?" I let the questions linger, until I am able to discern my heart. This helps me to repent and recognize these sames feelings in the future. I gradually learn how to respond in righteousness.

Though most of us begin discovering this pain when committing to a love relationship during the boyfriend/girlfriend or husband/wife stage, scripture indicates that we are to always respond this way in love. The cool thing is that as we grow in love, we will learn to have joy as we see ourselves and others grow in spiritual maturity.

Though sacrificial love is a daily and lifelong process, there is joy that follows as we mature. I believe that this also creates the foundation for natural discipleship relationships. Because it becomes less about what we “do” to disciple people, and more about how we love those we are discipling. It teaches us how to examine our own heart, thus leading the way for us to learn how to gently rebuke, encourage, and how to teach them to examine their hearts and respond in obedient love as well.

Happy Birthday, Momtopia!!

I have no pictures, and I am ashamed.

I visited Momtopia tonight to wish her a Happy 1st Birthday. I drove into the mall parking lot on Monday and saw on their billboard, "Come celebrate the Kids' Play Area's First Birthday, Nov. 20 3-5 pm." I could NOT believe it! They actually know how much I love this place?! They actually anticipated that I'd want to sing Happy Birthday to a...space?! (And I did, by the way, sing.)

Yes! The mall had a birthday party for their kids' play area. I'm tellin' ya'-I'm no idiot for loving this place so much. It really is an immense relief to have a free, indoor, no-strings-attached play area--in the dead of winter you will find me there, with my three children, once every week. Like clockwork. And like a true evangelist, I forced Courtney to bring her babe, Amelia, so they, too, could fall in love with the space. I think they did. :) The party was loud! Disney Radio was there, as well as a Chick Fil A cow and a Rainforest Cafe frog. Cake, games, raffles, dancing! OMG, I was overstimulated. At 6:15 we pulled into my driveway with four very tired children ready for bed and two moms who could not agree more.

Now that I've hussled mine off to bed without takin' any lip I am ready to crash!