Problems, Whether First World or Third World......

There is a lot of talk lately about "first world problems"...........and I think that there is some validity to remembering our blessings and seeing our problems in the bigger picture of what is happening in the world.  

BUT................................

Does referring to our "problems" lessen them or hide them?

Do we deal with our feelings, our thoughts of discontent by burying them, not dealing with the root of what is really bothering us or do they magically disappear when we refer to them as "first world problems"?

Do we mean that our contentment, our happiness is based on the things we have, the circumstances we find ourselves in or have we learned to be content in ALL circumstances?


¹¹ I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry,whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
                          - Philippians 4:11-13

Isn't it interesting that Paul says that he has learned to be content whether he is well fed or hungry, whether he is living in plenty or in want................hmmmmm, I always focused on the want part.  How bout you?

What if we have to learn to be content when we have a house, a car, a job, good food and healthy children?  What if our contentment comes not from what we have but from God himself?  I think we say that it does but then we say things like oh, I have healthy children and a great family and a job so I should be happy.  I don't have any real problems or heartaches so I should be shouting from the rooftops, I have a house and food and a husband so I should be joyful.............right?

WRONG.

I have God so I am joyful.

I have Jesus so I am shouting from the rooftops.

I have Love, who walked right into my heart, and so I am content.

To base our contentment on anything else leaves us open to Deception.  And when those things - your house, your job, your children, your spouse fail you..............Deception walks in and makes his home.  And when you say your problems aren't worthy of being problems, aren't worthy of being dealt with..............Deception walks in, makes himself comfy and begins to wreak havoc on your heart because you haven't acknowledged the root of your discontentment because the guy next door, the next world over has it worse.  Deception wins.

So the next time you are TEMPTED to dismiss your problems remember Paul's words that he had to LEARN contentment in ALL situations.  That Paul, who has been referred to as one of the greatest apostles, had to LEARN to be content in plenty, when well-fed.  Who has to do that?

He did.

We do.

I have learned to be content when my children are healthy and with me.

I have learned to be content when my arms are empty and waiting, waiting to be filled with my child - whether in this life or the next.

I have learned to be content when I have a warm house overflowing with food.

I have learned to be content when I don't know where my next meal is coming from.

I have learned to be content when I have friends aplenty.

I have learned to be content when I am alone.

I have learned to be content when I have my dream job.

I have learned to be content when I don't have any job,

I have learned my contentment comes from Him.

I have learned my contentment is based not on circumstances but on the Everlasting, Unchanging, Mighty God I love and who loves me.

Nico's Take on Girls

Setting:  A beautiful fall day spent playing in the mud, digging holes, finding worms and basking in the sun.

Me:  Hey, buddy, Fia's bringing home a friend after school today, McKenna.

Nico:  Oh, good.  We can play.  Well, maybe they will play princesses or something.  Francesca and me will play in the mud.  Some girls are messy girls, mom and some girls are princess girls, they like princess stuff, girl stuff.

Me:  Oh.  And Francesca is a messy girl?

Nico:  Yeah, she's a messy girl.

Me: And Fia?

Nico:  She's a princess girl, mom.  She likes to do lots of girl stuff and princess stuff.  She doesn't get as messy as we do.

Nico is actually dead-on with this observation.  When we have groups of children over and they are all playing in the mud and dirt and water and such we will actually have to HOSE THEM OFF.  Fia?  She will have been down there playing with them and in the midst of all the mess but she will have a drop of mud on her face, maybe, and her hands will be a bit dirty.  Otherwise?  Nothing.  She is hardly ever a messy girl.

Me:  What about Livvie and Annie?  What kind of girls are they?

Nico:  Well, they are sort of princess girls...........sometimes.  But they are messy girls, too.  They like to play in the mud, too.

Me:  What about Caris?

I was interested in this one because I would not put her in either category - princess or messy.  I was wondering what Nico would have to say.......

Nico: (scrunched up face, thinking) She's a teacher, mom.  She's more a leader.  She does a lot of work.

DEAD-ON............Caris, I think, would FULLY approve of this description :)  

Me:  Well, what about me, buddy?  What kind of girl am I?

Nico:  You're a working girl, mom.

Huh.  A working girl.  Let's not repeat that phrase to anyone else, ok, buddy?  Can you imagine......at storytime? at church? at school?  What does your mom do, Nico?  She's a working girl. 

So there you have it.   Nico's take on girls.  We have the messy girls, the princess girls, the leader and the working girl.  Care to venture a guess on what kind of girl you are or what kind you are married to?

Why Ohio livin' is good livin' :)

I LOVE fall.........the slowing down, the cooling down, the settling down...........love, love, love.  And my favorite day of fall, you ask?

Why it's Fall Family Fun Day.........started nine years ago when we were dating.  We had to begin borrowing Joe's little sister and brother to come with us on our outings after that first year.  We noticed on our first Fall Family Fun Day that most of the people around us had kids and were having A LOT of fun so we decided to get some kids of our own :)

Here's some pictures of our Ninth Fall Family Fun Day (and two really cute ones of Nico from harvesting grapes at Uncle Vince's and Aunt Colleen's house):

Hope your fall has gotten off to a great start!

Today

Today......

You whined............ALOT.

You made messes you didn't pick up.

You complained because you wanted things you weren't getting.

You spilled things.

You said mean things to me when you were angry.

You interrupted me AGAIN and AGAIN when I was trying to talk to you.

You didn't listen.

You were ungrateful.

You were unkind to your family, especially your siblings.

Today......

I forgave you.

I listened when you talked.

I held you as you cried.

I picked up those messes.

I understood you were tired.

I knew you were hurt and that's why you did the things you did.

I loved you.

And always will I love you.

Always will I be there - listening, forgiving, loving and knowing.



Today?

I am both a parent and a child.

Thankful for my blessings but even more thankful for a Father, a Parent who listens, forgives, loves and knows me...........even when I whine, make messes, am ungrateful and all that rest of it.

Thank you, God.

Walking Out the Door...........

Ahhh.........I love God.

I love His words.

I love who He is.

I love how He answers the prayers of my heart.

I was feeling a bit defeated on Sunday.  I wanted to hear His words because my own had failed me.  I wanted to draw closer to Him.  So I wrote out my thoughts, my desires and asked for prayer.

This week, the past few days..........God has been whispering words of encouragement and love.  It start with the first post of the month and the challenge to write every day, to be still every day, to watch my fingers dance upon the keyboard for an audience of one and if anyone else read, so be it.  But I would not get caught up in who and how many but in what was being said to me and through me.

Today as I was playing with the kids I thought of the story I  read to the children on Sunday.  It talked about Jesus' friends and helpers waiting, waiting and hiding, waiting for what Jesus had promised them - God's Holy Spirit.  As they were waiting and praying, a strong wind filled the little room and there were flames and they felt their hearts mending and God's power and Jesus coming to live within them.  They had seen Jesus go away and now he was inside their hearts.

And their response?

They flung open the door and spoke of Jesus and the love He has for all people.  Peter began to speak of God's Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love.

I love, also, The Jesus Storybook Bible.

Breaks it down for a believer in the simplest terms.

I looked it up in my big grown-up Bible, too, today.  It wasn't said in quite the same way but the gist of it was the same.

They walked out the door.

Peter spoke to who was in front of him.

Which made me think of my preacher's words...........sometimes what the Bible says, it means.  He used the illustration of asking his daughter to go clean her room.  What if she then sat up in her room and analyzed what that meant in Greek and Hebrew and what does my father mean when he asks such things?  That there is, of course merit in study and digging deeper but that sometimes we get caught up in overanalyzing things.  The Word is living and it is speaking and it is talking to you. When it says that Peter went out the door and started talking to Jesus to the people THAT WERE RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM........that's what he did.

And you know what?

All that stuff Peter said?  It was very pretty and wordy and called on Old Testament prophets and all that but when it came down to it?

He was just talking about Jesus.

He was saying Jesus is real.  Jesus is God's son.  He was sent by God and for YOU.  Jesus died for YOU.  So repent, be baptized and accept this gift, the gift of the Holy Spirit.

It's all for YOU.

So what does God want me to do if I am reading this right?

Walk out my door.

Talk about Jesus.

Tell people, show people about His great love.

This doesn't seem nearly as difficult as I was making it out to be.

Thanks, God.

Thanks, God, for keeping it simple and keeping it real.

What or who is waiting outside your door today?

What. Is. That.?

Just a teaser for now...............

It all started on Saturday night........Nico was getting ready for bed, putting his pjs on and called me in.  Mom, mom!  I still got corn kernels in my clothes, in my arms!  What?  There is no way you have corn kernels in your arms still, Nico, you are wearing your PAJAMAS!  (It was Fall Family Fun Day and we had been to Kingsway Pumpkin Farm that day)

Oh, he says.

But I feel around and there is definitely something prickly in the sleeve of his pjs.  Huh.

I investigate further.

Oh, I know what that is.........just a little bit of bread dough that must have been left on a towel that I lay over the dough while it rises.  Must have not washed it off that well and that little bit got stuck on your jammies.  No need to alert anyone else in the house.............I will just take those and see if I can pull that little bit off...........

Joe might have mentioned to me before that it's NOT A GOOD IDEA to put a towel in the wash filled with sticky bread dough.

He might, actually, have come up just the week before with a towel that was COVERED in that same sticky bread dough and scrapped it off, rather silently and fiercely, before taking it back down.  In my defense, I do think that I will just throw the towel down the stairs and there is a perfectly gross utilitarian sink RIGHT NEXT to the washer that I sort of have, kind of one, maybe no intention of washing the towel in.

Ok........got the jammies out and will take care of that later......if taking care of it later means just throwing the jammies in the basket of laundry to be washed later on............probably cementing the dough even more to the fluffy jammie material.......

Fast forward to Monday night.............

I am in a particularly good mood, energized by the day and the exciting week about to unfold (nothing really happening but Mondays are always good days here - full of hope and energy after the weekend :) so I decide to tackle some laundry.........EVEN THOUGH THERE IS NO GOOD HULU ON......yes, that is how motivated I am feeling.  Usually I begrudgingly fold laundry during a favorite show......my justification for watching hulu........LOOK! I am Folding and Putting Away!  I am doing Important Things while watching very unimportant things.............but NOT TONIGHT.  What a good wife and mother I am...............

Oh, look.......ummmm, there's a bit of dough on this shirt........hmmm, let me just pull that off before anyone sees that little bit.........oh wait, hmmmm..........there seem to be SEVERAL pieces on this brown shirt.........pull, yank, pull, scrape.................OH MY WORD, this FLUFFY YELLOW towel is COVERED in harden bits of what appears to be boogers............well, a towel is just for wiping up dirty stuff anyway so I think I will just put that at the bottom of the kitchen towel pile and see what happens....................

In fact, the entire load of laundry was covered in little bits of dough.

Huh.

Maybe Joe was right.

Maybe putting a towel covered in sticky bread dough in the laundry pile WITH EVERY, really, no INTENTION of scrapping it off downstairs is NOT a good idea.

You are right, honey.

Probably Liga and Rachel aren't.  Just last week we were answering fun questions and one of the questions was, "What are you best at?"  It was suggested I was good at being a housewife..........not so much, ladies, but thanks for your vote of confidence!  Apparently making your own bread is NOT enough, you must clean up AFTER making the bread.....................

Oh and the picture above is, indeed, what bread dough looks like after going through the washer and dryer.

The Ultimate Four Letter Word

Just.

I am just a housewife.

I am just a mom.

I just have three kids.

I just write for fun.

I have just a handful of regular readers.

I just read stories to kids.

I just encourage a few people.

Just.

Justification for who I am, but this justification is the act of excusing who I am, what I do.  This word, this justification belittles me.  It causes me to stumble and capitalizes on my inadequacies and my feeling of insignificance.  It makes small and unworthy those I serve, those I love - my husband, my children, my friends, my neighbors, all the many people I love in my life.  Do they deserve that?  Do I?

Have I forgotten?

I HAVE ALREADY BEEN JUSTIFIED.

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through  our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.  And we boast in the hope of the glory of God."
                                                             -  Romans 5:1-2

What if I made every act an act of worship instead of being weighed down by my unworthiness and insignificance?

What if I stand in this grace, what if I stood in awe of this grace that was given so freely and in doing so gave freely of myself?

What if in recognizing the one who died for me I died to my own self and my feelings of inadequacy?

How could I change the space where I stand for the glory of God if I stopped my own form of justification and fully believed that One came before, long before and proclaimed me worthy of such a love as His and I have no need to prove myself worthy, nothing I do can change this love He has for me?

There is no Just.

There is PEACE.

There is GRACE.

There is HOPE.

There is GLORY.


**This blog post is the beginning of a 31 Days challenge.  It's where bloggers are challenged to write about something for the 31 days of October.  My challenge to myself?  Admitting that I love this space, truly love this space and how God speaks to me through my writing.  So I am going to write for 31 days straight, making it a priority and a thing of importance in my life.  So often I write a blog post not knowing where it is going to go or what I am going to say but God speaks to my heart through my words and points me to His word.  I am not sure what all the posts will look like.  Maybe some will just be pictures, maybe some funny stories and  others a bit more but I want to make the time and carve out the space, the chance for God to speak.  Join me?