"Never A Question"

We had our first parent teacher conferences for the boys on Monday. Sunday night Caleb crawled into the bed with me and said..."I'm scared about my conference tomorrow." I asked him if he had reason to be scared. "I just don't know if I'm doing as good as I think I am. I get in trouble sometimes for standing up, talking and singing in the bathroom. I'm really nervous."  Up until that point I had not been nervous, but now my stomach was a little jumpy. What if my perfect, well behaved, well mannered children are really not? I met with Caleb's teacher and he had all "E's" which in second grade is the equivalent to all A's. They said he was a very respectful young man, a friend to all and the only thing he needed to work on was doing his best in all things and not trying to hurry. I started wondering if this was the same child I had spoken to last night. Caleb was convinced that his behavior was not up to par and that he was going to get a bad report. So I asked, "Does Caleb ever get in trouble for standing up, talking or singing in the bathroom?" "We had to ask him once to stop singing so loud in the bathroom and the other Caleb gets in trouble for those things, but not your Caleb." Ok, yes I had to fight the prideful Mommy moment of "That's my boy." Remain humble Monica, it is not you, it is by the grace of God and Him working in the lives of your children that they obey and are an example. I came home to Caleb with his shining report, but also with a lesson that I hope he will take to heart in life. Apparently, Caleb had not been living his life completely above reproach. He did not have the confidence that nothing was going to be brought against him. He was struggling within his heart and mind wondering how much the teachers would share. Apparently he had been standing up and he had been talking  and singing in the bathroom, it's just that the teachers have noticed others doing that more. Caleb felt the conviction in his heart. As I mom that means more than the straight "E's." I shared with Caleb that day that we are to live our lives in such a way that no one is able to bring a charge against us. We are to live blameless in every area of our lives. We are to stay as far away from sin as possible. If Caleb had been living above repproach he would not have had anything to worry about. He could have slept that night with full confidence knowing in his heart that he was blameless. Oh the torment my poor little man must have been in Sunday night and Monday morning until I arrived home. I don't wish that kind of worry on my children, but I pray that it was a teachable moment in life. I pray that it was a defining moment of character building in his life. I pray that he will walk blameless each day. I pray that for me and you as well. I've stayed awake before wondering if the things I said were going to come back to charge me. I have lived in fear over actions, attitudes and careless words wondering if brought to the attention to others or more importantly brought to the attention of my Savior I would be convicted. The truth is, He always knows, always sees and nothing is hidden from His eye. Lord Jesus, may I walk and live a holy and blameless life before you in all things.

1 Peter 2: 12 "Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us."

2 Peter 3:14 "So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him."

"Aunt Bee Never Kept Her Leftover Chicken in a Ziploc Bag"

I have always wanted to open my refrigerator and find a plate piled high with left over fried chicken just like Aunt Bee. The problem is we never seem to have leftovers. Saturday I decided to cook supper and I cooked enough for our church picnic on Sunday. Sandwiches just never seem to be good enough for "this" over achiever's picnic basket. I might lose my nomination for Martyr, I mean Mother of the Year. I stood in my kitchen for 3 hours remembering why we only eat fried chicken twice a year. After I was done, I had enough fried chicken for all of Mayberry. I wanted so badly to find a really old platter and pile it high and place it on a shelf in my frig, but instead I filled up 2 gallon ziploc bags with chicken and shoved them in the refrigerator. My dream of being Aunt Bee was within reach, but for the sake of convenience I let the dream die. Aunt Bee never kept her leftover chicken in a ziploc bag. As I was standing their literally shoving these bags onto the shelves I thought about the convenience of this world we live in and how spoiled we as present day Americans really are. I want it all and I want it now! Have you heard that before? We want drive-thru food, drive-thru dry-cleaning, drive-thru pharmacy, drive-thru gas, drive thru banking and a drive-thru Jesus. We want Him there for our convenience, when we need Him and on our terms. We want to pray fast, read the word even faster and do nothing that will cause us sacrifice or take time away from our "busy" "convenient" life. We feel like the martyr if do anything for our family, for others, or for God that takes longer than 30 minutes. We wear the sacrificial servant badge if we spend more than 3 hours at church on a Sunday, if it takes over 30 minutes to prepare dinner or if we wait in line for more than 10 minutes with a good attitude. We are living in the day of ziploc bags than can be molded to fit our shelves, used as long as we need them and then tossed in the trash when we are done. The sad truth is that Americans as a whole are living for the wrong thing because one day all that remains of us will be stored in those ziploc bags deep within the earth and our REAL life will begin. I want to put ALL of my time, energy and resources into preparing for my eternal home. Convenience is but a fleeting reward if in the meantime we sacrifice that which will last forever. The next time you put something in a ziploc bag, commit to using the extra time it would have taken to wash that dish and spend time preparing your heart for eternity. It may not seem like much time, but if your home is like mine we use more than 12-15 ziplocs a day. Imagine adding even just that extra 15 minutes a day to the time you spend with the Lord. That's 5,475 more minutes with your Savior this year! May we live each moment of our lives for Him and His glory, preparing for eternity!

Ecclesiastes 3:11 "He has made everything beautiful in His time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end."

"What's That Smell?"

We all have smells that remind us of something! Crayons and paste remind me of my kindergarten class. Skin-so-soft reminds me of catching lightning bugs in the evening and being covered from head to toe to avoid what we now call "West Nile Virus." The smell of oranges reminds me of sitting in front of Grammie and Pappy's fireplace in the winter and watching Grammie peel and feed us oranges. Bath and Body Works "Plumeria" reminds me of when Matt and I were dating. The smell of baby lotion takes me back to 4 precious years of my life as I slathered each of my babies from head to toe. Celery and onions and green bean casserole cooking reminds me of Thanksgiving and cinnamon and spruce reminds me of Christmas. We all have those certain smells that take us for a walk down memory lane. Joshua and Caleb are my two boys with super sensitive noses. (Poor Matthew can't smell because that would require breathing through your nose and his allergies prevent that.) They can smell pork chops cooking a block away and anytime they smell Clorox or Pine sol, they want to know who is coming over. Joshua and Caleb walked in from outside the other day and both said, "Hey, I didn't know it was fall already. It smells like fall in here. Yippy, fall is here." It took me a minute to understand where this talk of fall was coming from and then I remembered. I had just changed my wallflower plug-in to pumpkin spice. Now, normally year round I'm an apple girl, but we were all out of apple and fall was getting close so pumpkin spice it was. This smell sparked a memory in my boys. This is the smell of fall! This sensitivity to smell reminded me of a passage of scripture. 2 Corinthians 2:14-15 "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him, For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being save and those who are perishing."  Wow! God has commissioned us to be His fragrance of Christ to the world. It makes me ask a few simple questions. Could that waiter today smell Jesus or a stench? Did those in the line at Walmart get a whiff of Jesus or were they turned off  by the smell? Do my neighbors and friends desire to spend time with me so they can take in that pleasant aroma or do they turn their nose and walk the other way? We are the aroma of Christ to those being saved and those who are perishing. I'm sure you have heard "You may be the only Jesus they ever see." Try this one "You may be the only Jesus they ever smell." Have you ever noticed that sights are not has repulsive as smells? It is hard to get a nasty smell out of the lining of your nose. However, a pleasant smell makes you want to linger and breathe deeply. I want to be such a fresh fragrance of Christ to this world that they long to breathe in the aroma of Jesus. I want to live is such a way that people chase after me and ask "What's That Smell?"