Tea Time Tuesday: An Unexpected Adventure

Click here to play today’s new podcast episode.

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

Click here to play today’s new podcast episode.

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.

Seek To Attain His Gentle Ways

If there is anything that makes me want to quit, it is conflict or misunderstanding. And yet, if I am honest, I know it is in the times of conflict or difficulty He has worked most deeply in my soul.

It was in falling or being accused of falling that I learned more about the need to give people the grace I wanted. It was in being unjustly accused that I became more humble and in need of Him. It was in struggling through the conflict that has evolved over years in our family circle that I learned to have compassion on other women who struggle with their own backgrounds.

So, when there is conflict, I know running away is not an option. Bringing love and gentleness and courage into darkness heals and brings light.

If I want my soul to be made into the likeness of Jesus, I must seek to attain His gentle ways, His sacrificial love, His peacemaking heart.

Read more about this in Mom Heart Moments.

God Lives In Your Home

Whether it be a baby patting his mama’s chest as he gurgles milk, or a toddler giggling at the sight of a frog; a little girl pretending to be a princess, or a little boy who spilled the milk one more time and longs for the gentle voice of grace from his mom; a hormonal, reactionary teenager growing up and straining toward adult life; all of these moments and passages have the mystery and grace of God in them, just waiting to be unpackaged as evidence of His love.

Our shoulders often falter under a constant weight of performance and duty. We get caught up in the hectic cycle of endless tasks and often end up finding our lives to be a barren wasteland of burdens. We ask half-heartedly for a sip of His grace, never fully expecting Hint to listen and answer.

Yet Jesus wants us to come for a bottomless lake of His mercy, joy, fun, love, forgiveness, power, beauty, adventure, and freedom. He desires to give us eyes to see every moment from His perspective, looking out with a view over all of eternity—and seeing the stark difference between what really matters and what will soon pass.

Over the years, God has taught me to celebrate the infinite possibilities of what each day might hold. Choosing to look for the very fingerprints of God in every part of my world, as evidence of His love, has become a central life goal.

Love Is A Legacy

A​t this stage of my life, I can look back and see the preciousness of the dance Clay and I have choreographed with our lives, choices, and commitments. It has given both of us great joy and deep satisfaction.

We have only felt this sweet reward because we determined we would endure together with a focus on growing in the direction of unity, humility, sacrifice, and unconditional love.

Our unique dance gained more value with each year's mutually shared life events and experiences. Love is a legacy over a lifetime that creates a beautiful story worth remembering for generations to come.

Building Your Life Around Scripture

Many years ago, Clay and I dreamed up the idea of Our 24 Family Ways as we discussed our desire to disciple our children. As parents of young children, we wanted them to have strong foundations of godly character and an understanding of what it meant to please God so that they could develop integrity. It was one of the most important ideas we wanted to convey, as we knew Integrity is something that is developed over time. It must be taught, practiced, and lived over many years in order to grow strong and vibrant.

Our 24 Family Ways as a book grew out of that foundation of working through a simple way of teaching the most important ideas of Christian discipleship to our children.

Paul spoke of his need to remind believers again and again about the same truths so that they could keep afresh in their hearts those truths from the Bible that would never change, hold them fast, give them direction and a way to flourish each step of the way. Because of the turbulent nature of cultural storms, I feel this series is something that will encourage you and has kept me going forward through many seasons of life.

Offering Jesus Your Little-Girl Heart

I love coming into the presence of Jesus. I am usually in my wrinkled pajamas, with​ sleep breath, no makeup, tousled hair, and a fearful ­ heart—I am naturally a fearful​ person. But I light my candle and have my tea, and in His presence I find love and​ acceptance and hope.

I may not give​ perfection, or maturity, or prowess, but I can give Him my ​little-girl heart. The heart​ that sees His beauty, His unconditional love, the freedom He gives me to be me, just as​ I am. And that makes me respond with such love, appreciation, and gratefulness! How​ very glad I am that Jesus does not compare me to anyone else. He is my justification.​ He is my badge of honor.

Do you sometimes forget that the King of kings is “gentle and​ humble in heart” (Matthew 11:29), not waiting to slap you​ on the wrist but rather to draw you close and embrace you?​ How can you offer Him your own little‑girl heart today?

Hope Is Not A Feeling, But A Commitment

Hope is not natural​ — it is supernatural. Hope comes welling up from deep inside because of a belief that God is good. That He will win in the end. That there is always hope when God is present.

Women who choose hope and who choose to trust God are those who, instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle.

The God-given gift of hope is the best possible medicine for any hardship in life. Hope is the physician of each misery, and God has given us this gift to heal so that we may have a future that is full of joy and light.

Do your children watch you in your tests of faith and see you walking in hope and trust as an example to them of how they will need to live their adult lives?

Read more about this in Help, I’m Drowning.