Jesus and Sweet Tea...

Boundaries?

2010-05-20T10:17:00.000-07:00

Jeremiah 5:22- (NIV)- Should you not fear me? declares the LORD. "Should you not tremble in my

presence? I made the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting barrier it

cannot cross. The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail; they may roar, but

they cannot cross it.

Should we set boundaries? Should we set boundaries for our children but, not for ourselves? Should we set boundaries for ourselves but, not for our children? I believe God wants us to set boundaries for ourselves and for our children. Spiritual boundaries, personal boundaries and even... literal boundaries.

Literal boundaries are necessary to keep our children from getting physically hurt, who wouldn't agree with that...

Why in the world are there so many questions today about placing boundaries. Children are not born knowing how to set their own boundaries. It is our responsibility as parents to first, set boundaries for them and then to guide them as they learn to set their own...

God gives us a place to turn, He makes it very clear that we need to depend on Him and not on worldly things. The world is full of things ready and willing to "take over" for God. These things are shoved in our faces every hour of every day. The world would have you believe that boundaries are not necessary, that boundaries are a way of keeping us from growing. But, I feel the opposite is true. If we set boundaries for ourselves we are able to accomplish more for the Kingdom.

Psalm 62:7- (NIV)- My salvation and my honor depend on God; He is my mighty rock, my refuge.

Personally, I have had to set boundaries with my morning coffee. It may sound trivial to those of you that don't enjoy coffee. However, I was looking forward to that cup of coffee in the morning more than I was looking forward to my quiet time with God. Because of this, I had to set some boundaries...It sounds strange, even to me, that coffee would keep me from spending time with God...so let me give you a visual- I wake in the morning, get out of bed, grab my Bible and my study book and head for the kitchen...so far so good, right? Okay, I get in the kitchen switch on my Keurig (oh how I love that thing), while waiting for the water to heat up, I start to unload the dish washer, then I fix my coffee and continue to unload the dishwasher. By that time I feel like I need to hop on the elliptical because I need my exercise...blah,blah, blah.. So now my family is up and I can't spend any quiet time with God because when the family is awake it is NOT quiet! So do you see why I need to set boundaries? It is as simple as this: I need to wait to have my coffee AFTER I sit down with my Bible and start my study.. It is not about the coffee. It is about whatever keeps me from God....which leads me to...

Someone asked me the other day, "why in the world would you limit your children by home schooling?" What a question...LIMIT, boy do we see things differently. I believe I would be limiting her if I put her into a factory school where everyone is learning the same thing. THAT would be placing unhealthy limits on my children.

However, once again I do believe in setting boundaries for my children. Especially my teenager. If we allow our children to just roam aimlessly without any boundaries then we have grossly misled them. Life is full of boundaries. As an adult, in most jobs, you can't just show up whenever you feel like it. You will have a time to arrive and a time to leave... there are limits on what you can wear, where you can go, what you can do in a business or if they choose to stay home...there are certainly boundaries there as well.

Some of the boundaries we set for our children seem foreign to others. Such as friends...we have set such tight boundaries on friends. I can't help it...we are just picky. Call it over protective, call it limiting, call it whatever you want. These boundaries keep my children from feeling pressured by the outside world. Boundaries keep them from broken hearts and from unhealthy attitudes, they'll see enough of that when they get older. For example, if a child comes to visit one of my children and the child isn't nice to my other children then that child is no longer on the "approved" friend list. Why in the world would we allow someone to come into our home and treat one of our children badly in their own place of refuge. It just makes no sense.

I am glad God sets boundaries for us...It makes me feel safer. Hopefully my children feel safer in our home for the short time that God has allowed me to have them home.

Faith~

A picture is worth a thousand words

2010-05-14T05:35:00.000-07:00

I received this in an email and I just love it! It speaks for itself....don't you think?

Judging others

2010-05-04T13:13:00.000-07:00

Have you ever noticed how every book you read whether it be fiction or nonfiction, secular or Christian, long or short, shapes you in some way...some small changes, some big changes. It might make you think about things that you never would have considered before. Certain books help you to grow into the person God intended you to be. Some books make you weep and some make you laugh...some even do both. When you read a book you are basically opening your mind and pouring in information whether it be good or bad.

I hope that I continue to remember this fact throughout my life so that I can become a better person than I am today.

I am reading a book about life after the Jewish holocaust. One of the characters in the book is a young female survivor of one of the camps. However, it was not her choice to "be a survivor". She would have much rather been sent to the hole to be burnt along with her parents and siblings. See she was chosen, because of her beauty, to be tattooed along with her identification number with the words Nur Fur Offizere. Translated into English these words mean "For Officers Only"...now this "mark" was not used so that she would be treated honorable, it was used because the officers wanted to have her for their pleasure, ONLY. The whole concept is so degrading and horrifying for me to even think about. I can't even imagine what this poor girl and others like her must of thought of this treatment. It is just terrible.

One of the struggles she goes through in her life after the holocaust is with her own people, so to speak. Jewish women and men who knew what the tattoo meant. They were full of judgement, full of accusing words and looks. Never caring to ask how she came to have that tattoo.

It makes me think of what Job must of felt like in Job 3 when his "friends" came to comfort him but, instead seem to accuse him of some unconfessed sin. Neither his friends or Job knew about the conversation between Satan and God...they couldn't know. So they were just judging Job on what their little human brains could come up with.

So many times I have been like these accusers and judged based on my own knowledge or rather, lack of knowledge. It is hard not to judge...I'm not sure why God has allowed this fault in we humans but, it is evident all around us. Most of us tend to condemn others at some point in our lives. The world is full of judging...we witness it on television, in books we read, in church, in social settings and even within the walls of our own homes. Judgement among young and old alike is just as strong as it has ever been. .

I can tell my kids not to judge but, in the next breath I am judging someone. It is such a challenge...

I hope to remember what the Bible says in Matt.7:1-2 Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Small towns...

2010-04-24T10:36:00.001-07:00

It is so nice to live in a small town...there are many reasons that I could list however, the first one will be everybody knows everybody. Sometimes that is a bad thing and sometimes (like this morning for example) it is a VERY good thing.

Andy, my dear husband, left his wallet on top of his car when he went to get gas and it flew off (without him even realizing it). Anyway, we got a phone call from a friend saying someone saw money flying all over the four lane highway and then they found Andy's wallet...by the time we got there (in our PJ's) several wonderful citizens of our small town had already walked up and down the road and collected almost every dollar! Andy had to retrieve a $100 from a drain..YUCK! But, other than that these kind people had already collected the money, receipts and credit cards...

Thank God we live in area with honest and kind people who are willing to look out for one another.
(thanks Pam, John, Johnathan, and the rest of you whom I do not know your names)