Tea Time Tuesday: Doing God's Will: Accepting Limitations

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How I wish I could have you join me for a cuppa and a long chat. I am finally in my Colorado mountains again and trying to catch up on life. Such a joy to be able to soak in love and fun my precious ones who live in the UK.

I treasured the fact that the day before I had to leave to come back to Colorado, I was able to meet Jack, my newest grandchild. As I held him gently in my arms, looking into his lovely eyes, I was able to pray for him, bless him and ask for God’s flourishing in the lives of Sarah and Thomas, my other darling grands and of course Jack. Every child a human being made in God’s image with a story to live, capacity to live into. It was precious.

Today on Tea Time Tuesday, I will be sharing a story of how I learned very early in my children’s lives that in order to reach their hearts and minds with the messages and ideals God had given to me, it meant that I had to give up, just for a while, activities that brought too much stress and havoc into our lives. Embracing ideals that matter always comes with a cost, and yet, the giving of our rights and expectations to serve God and to follow His will is always worth it. God’s ways change us, deepen our faith, build humility, teach us the value of love and perseverance and of course deepen our appreciation for the life and model of Christ. As I look back, I can see that these choices to be a servant leader in my home brought light, beauty and grace. I learned these truths one day, one step at a time.

Trying to mount over jet lag, catching up on deadlines, getting my house back in order, but I take it little by little.

Peace and rest for you this week, my friends. Praying for you.

Your Little One's Life Will Have Consequences For Eternity

Jesus whispered this into my heart when I was a young mama: This child, whom I created, has special significance to Me. Will you take this child for My sake and show her the touch of the love of God, whisper the messages and truth of Scripture, teach her to have the character of Christ in living and serving with integrity, and show her how to give her life to a world that is longing for redemption? Will you raise this precious gift I have given you for Me, as an act of worship?

I understood that no matter what other work I would accomplish, part of my service of worship to God was to serve the child He had given me. Children are the adults of the next generation, and so our love, education, training, and modeling of all that is valuable in life will indeed shape the history of the next adult generation.

Read more about this in The Lifegiving Home.

Crafting A Place Of Beauty And Comfort

There is always a cost to building intimacy with others. Giving comfort to one who is ill requires time and practical labor (attending to physical needs). Listening to the feelings of a teen or young adult usually involves lost sleep because the deepest conversations take place at night. Buying groceries, cooking meals, making cups of tea, providing snacks requires the sacrifice of time and energy.

Love is indeed a choice, an obedience, a service and a sacrifice, an initiation. But love is also the most powerful source of joy. And it is the means through which God would have us extend His hands, His words, His redemption to our world, within the walls of our homes.

Read more about this in The Lifegiving Home.

Tea Time Tuesday: Living In The Moment

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What a week! High tea in London, many subway rides amongst masses of people everywhere, a Sunday roast, miles and miles of walking, talking, having fun and making memories. I didn’t know how much I needed to “feel loved,” cared for, filled up. I am heartfelt grateful for a week I didn’t know I needed and for the precious ones who made me feel so very “seen” and special. Join me today on my Tea Time Tuesday podcast and hear all about it. 

Through it all, I was thinking about how very important it is to make space and to planned time with loved ones so that our hearts can be filled to overflowing. Sometimes we don’t realize how much life and duty have drained us and how much we need filling. But it isn’t the activities, “things” or accomplishments we need—it is the real live moments of relationship and loving one another well, to be heard, to feel close and understood that create the type of relationship we all long for. And for this week of such filling and belonging I am most grateful. 

Loving The Ones Right In Front Of Us

Is there anything more important than the building of a righteous soul?

Love is given through lighting a candle and serving a special breakfast one more time on Sunday before church as we open the gospel together, giving up what we wanted to do or the job we hoped to have in order to build a soul, looking into a child’s eyes with true interest and compassion instead of looking at a screen while only half- listening.

These are the sacrifices of our love, the ­ moment-by- moment giving up of ourselves, the constant, year- in, ­ year-out practice of worship as we serve those in our home in order to please His heart. It is for Him, for His Kingdom that we serve with willing, generous, lifegiving hearts, building His Kingdom one heart and one sacrifice at a time.

Thank you for loving your children well today. It is the very best way to show the world true love.

Read more about this in Mom Heart Moments.

Give Your Children The Gift Of Play

Too often today,children are starving for real life and drowning in the midst of an empty one. The ­old-fashioned way seems to be the healthiest way to raise emotionally, intellectually, physically, and spiritually resilient children.

Children need to be outdoors. They need time to be bored. They need to be around books, have lots and lots of imaginative stories read to them, and then have time to act out the stories. They need lots of time with adults so that they can pattern their values and manners and relationships after mature people.

Read more about this in Mom Heart Moments.

Tea Time Tuesday: An Unexpected Adventure

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My dear friends, can you guess where I am? A hint, “And of all this, I might have been mistress.” This was a famous quote from the heroine of a movie the Clarksons loved to watch many times over the years. 

Today, after a series of unexpected adventures and plans, Joy and I had the opportunity to visit this amazing historical home where part of one of our favorite film series was filmed. 

Join me today for Tea Time Tuesday to hear our story. What a day of deep delight and whimsy as we spent hours exploring this wonderful place. 

Be sure this week to plan some unexpected delight in your life! A movie, perhaps, or a romp in the woods or mountains, always followed by a cup of tea and small chocolate to create a little fun. Have a lovely week. 

Giving Them A Reason To Believe In The God Of Love

The practice of hospitality is not just for strangers. Serving and welcoming spouse and children, family and friends, is an art that will truly reach their souls and give them a reason to believe in the God of love and holiness.

When body needs and emotional needs are met and minds are filled with nobility and inspiration, then souls are predisposed to want to follow the God who is revered in all of these rituals. It is not the indoctrination of theology forced down daily that crafts a soul who believes; it is the serving and loving and giving that surround the messages where souls are reached.

Would Jesus’ message have had the same impact without His feeding thousands and taking children into His arms and washing the feet of His friends? It is in service that God incarnate is recognized. And service begins with serving those who are closest to us, making home the very best place to be.

Read more about this in The Lifegiving Home.

The Wisdom God Wants You To Know

As I look back, I wish I had been even more intentional about enjoying each season and celebrating the joy of having my precious ones in my home.

A friend reminded me of this once. As we talked, her eyes filled with tears. "I finally got to the point where I was enjoying my children, their home education, and all of us being together. And now it's all changing, and we will all go our separate ways, and I don't like it at all. As a matter of fact, I hate it! I am not ready, but that doesn't really matter, does it? I might as well just accept it and move on."

I have to agree with her. A difficult "move on" time for me was the transition away from the elementary school years when I had my little Clarkson Club that did everything with me. We pretty much did all of our activities together—we read our books out loud, took our walks together, and every foray into town was a group trip.

But suddenly, and with little warning, my kids began to pursue their own lives and activities, splitting up our little club and scattering us all in differing directions.

I see these seasons of change as times of resolve for me as a mother. I have learned that it is God's will for me to resolve, in my heart and spirit, to accept the seasons of my life as he brings them. If I fight against them, and resist receiving them as gifts from my gracious heavenly Father, then I will miss what God intends for me to experience from them.

I can either resolve myself to being faithful and joyful, or I can let that opportunity pass me by. If I resolve to be faithful, I will be able to celebrate all of life as God gives it to me, without regret. I have only this one life to "get it right," and I am resolved in my heart to accept each season by faith.

Read more about this in Seasons Of A Mother’s Heart.

Tea Time Tuesday: Choose to Be Joyful, Learn to Be Content

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This is one of my favorite photos from last year. I was walking in Christ Church Meadow in Oxford with my son Joel and I found this beauty. It delighted me, I felt like a child who had found a precious new toy. It is a picture to me of “Stopping to smell the roses,” or in this case, “Stop to find the biggest leaf and don’t miss the beauty in the moments of your day.”

Every day, perhaps every hour, our lives are filled with potential stresses, irritations, pressures that tempt us to grumbling, anger, irritation. Life is fraught with so many little details that can tend to overwhelm. As a young woman, I had to learn over time to accept the small constant limitations of my normal life and the minor irritations as a part of life, but to not allow these moments to steal my joy.

Instead I made small goals of learning to be thankful and choosing to be content. It is a lifetime quest. I am not there yet. Now, though, my habits of years of practice find me not giving in to being bothered by the little things, not to waste time fretting on all the small details, but instead learning to practice gratefulness for the moments of my days.

On my podcast today, I tell a story of when grumpy mama me had to retreat from a bad attitude so that I could fully enjoy a precious moment to experience joy and laughter with my young children. Join me on Tea Time Tuesday on the Life with Sally podcast. May you have many large beautiful leaves in your autumn days this month.