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Blog — SallyClarkson.com

The Joy Set Before Us

He gently broke my dependence on those things that could never satisfy. The choice to hold his hand through the dance of suffering resulted in greater emotional freedom. I learned to let go of temporal things more quickly, and the joy of just living and being with him through moments of my days became more real.

As I have made time to search after joy, I have been able to remember all of the joyful paths he has already led me down, and again I am learning to savor each moment as one in which I can learn, grow, and love him more.

God has stepped into this world, into our lives, to assure us that we really can follow Jesus in enduring suffering for "the joy set before us," being in heaven with our Creator, our Father.

Read more about this in Dancing With My Heavenly Father.

Growing Strong In Marriage

At this stage of my life, I 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.

To grow strong in marriage takes a mutual commitment by both partners to keep going, to keep learning, to keep loving, to stay faithful through all the seasons. How wise God was to provide such a design of two persons working out their own story by faith and with love.

Read more about this in Well Lived.

What I Remember Most

So often we get caught up in the immediate things, the practical tasks — getting the housework done, doing our jobs, checking homework, paying bills, disciplining our children. Yet it is the emotional and spiritual ­ atmosphere our children and friends breathe — the way we treat people, the foundations of grace we live by, that will attach their hearts to ours and ultimately to God.

As I reflect back on all of the years of our family’s life together, what I remember best is not the mountains of dirty dishes and pots and pans and socks left on the floor and piles of laundry. I reflect instead on precious times shared with Clay, the kids, and those we welcomed into our home — snuggling on the couch together, nursing babies and rocking them to sleep, sharing movies and huge bowls of popcorn, comforting children after a nightmare, and all those heartfelt kisses and cards that said “I love you!”

Read more about this in The Lifegiving Home.

Tea Time Tuesday: Pathways of Faith: Canal Pathways in Oxford

Click here to play today’s new podcast episode.

Walking, exploring pathways has been a love of my life. Daily I walked the pathways in Oxford. Quiet times of prayer, dreaming, pondering life on these pathways shaped my decisions and destiny. Scripture is filled with walking and pathways verses. It is a vibrant metaphor of our journey through life. God led me to walk a less traveled road, and my children followed my pattern.

When your children walk with you, are you leading to follow pathways of God’s desires?

Can they look at your seasoned responses, insightful understanding of people, steadfast fortitude in difficult times as they walk the moments of your daily life with you? Children watch us, listen when we talk to others, see us in public. Our lives are the walk that our children will imitate.

Pathways of children's lives today are a battlefield of conformity. With relative morality, temptation, confusing voices, compromise of ideals, secular media values, opposing opinions. Where will our children find clarity, strong, secure values to embrace?

We walk with integrity, giving confidence step by step, staying close to them, holding their hand, and gently showing them sure footsteps to follow.

No matter how old your children become, you are their example. They will always look at you to see faith lived out in the day to day, how to interact with God. The longer you provide wisdom based on truth, the more they consider your advice as they walk their own adult journey. They learned to trust their "path guide" on the trail of life we walked together, day by day. And now, as adults, they guide me on pathways of wisdom.

We lead the way, set righteous direction for the paths our children will follow. Teaching them to walk truly never ends.

Paul reminds us, "Do not be conformed to this world," Following ways of Jesus requires a road less traveled.

Verses to ponder: "He who walks with the wise will be wise, A companion of fools suffers harm." Proverbs 13:20

But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, That shines brighter and brighter until the full day” Proverbs 4: 18

Tea Time Tuesday filled with thoughts about walking in righteousness.

You Need Someone To Hold Onto

A mother's life is a whirlwind of seasons, changing from one to another without much warning, and then to another the next day. If your heart is prepared, you can adjust to whatever season comes upon you, weathering the changes with faith and grace; if your heart is not prepared, you will find yourself reeling and twisting in the winds of life, grasping for something or someone to hold onto.

This is what makes the changing seasons of your life meaningful and purposeful: God uses them to accomplish his purposes in your life and, through you, in the lives of your children. The seasons are not to be resisted but, rather, welcomed and embraced. It is through them, not in spite of them, that your faith will be strengthened and perfected, and that the faith of your children will be cultivated and grown. The seasons of your heart are the means by which God will prepare you and your children for his work, both now and for generations to come.

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

Feasting As A Family

In all the years that the Clarksons have been a family, feasting together has been a lifegiving activity for us. And we’ve always called it feasting, whether it involves a full-blown banquet, a one-on-one treat of milk and cookies, or a bowl of fresh-popped popcorn enjoyed around the fire.

The word feasting reminds us of God’s bounty, the gift of our relationships, and the response of pleasure and thanksgiving that the act of sharing a meal requires of us. Somehow it makes “eating” sound more significant.

One favorite feast as of late has been my special salmon with a brown sugar, real maple syrup, and mustard glaze, with creamy brown rice and a fresh salad on the side.

What have you all been enjoying lately? Tell me in the comments!

The Reward Of Learning To Endure

The only way to get through life with grace is to mount up over the challenges, seeking to live a focused life that fills us a little every day, with a heart that is valiant and unwilling to give in to the woes that tempt us. We have choices to make, a life to tame, but living in the joy of God is possible.

The best part of learning to endure through difficult seasons is the legacy I now see in the lives of my four children. They watched our responses of keeping growing, keeping faithful, growing stronger, and becoming wiser over many years. Now they are standing on our shoulders because our attempted faithfulness has gifted them with wisdom and courage to keep pushing for excellence in their own lives.

Read more about this in Help I’m Drowning.

Tea Time Tuesday: Kindness Saved My Faith

Click here to play today’s new podcast episode.

“And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.”

Matthew 10: 42

The day a cup of tea and kindness saved my faith.

Weariness...

Of a husband with a ruptured disc, always in pain.

Three teenagers amidst hormones and anxiety.

Selling a home in one state and moving to another with not quite enough money to get the place we felt we needed.

Trying to give my youngest daughter an innocent, focused childhood amidst the bigger issues that consumed our lives with teenagers.

Feeding everyone every day, being responsible for their well-being, health, emotional life, spiritual life.

This found me depleted, discouraged.

Clay was holding down the fort in Tennessee with me looking for houses to rent or buy in Colorado. Our other house had sold. I had 2 days to find a place for us to live. Lack of sleep from worry, fear, pressures of life left me exhausted.

Staying with a friend, I tiptoed downstairs early in the morning to be sure not to awaken anyone.

There, on a little table in her breakfast area was a beautiful feast: a wisps of a flower in a small drinking glass, two tea cups, 2 stemmed juice glasses, a slice of fresh apple bread, a card that said, “I just wanted you to know you are precious to the Lord. He sees you, loves you, will provide your needs. I am here today to be your friend, to help in any way I can. Be encouraged, you are not alone.”

Tears began to flow. It had been so very long since someone had thought of me — to encourage me, to think of me. I did not even know how depleted I was until this act of kindness opened the floodgates of my heart, and the realization that I had felt so alone in life.

One little act of kindness gave me the energy I needed to trust God that day, to keep going, to have hope. That day, that moment, hope began to fill my heart.

I looked up the definition of kindness in the dictionary — kindness: benevolence, humanity, generosity, charity, sympathy, compassion, tenderness, good will

Why kindness is at the heart of what we need to pass on to our children, not moralism.

More on today’s Tea Time Tuesday podcast: the heart of discipleship, food, a song.

Helping Your Children Attach To The Vine

In John 15:1-6 Jesus said, "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing". That's an eternal truth I must take to heart if I want to give our children the gift of faith.

To me as a parent, this "vine" reality has two implications. First, I must do what I can to stay connected to Jesus. Only when he lives through me will I have the patience, love, faith, strength, perspective, and understanding I need to raise godly, faithful children. Spiritual fruit in the lives of our children even depends—up to a point—on my staying connected to the Lord.

But the other side of this truth is that eventually my children must attach themselves to the Vine, not to me. I can love my children, nurture, comfort, teach them. I can model for them what life as a "branch" looks like and show them ways to stay "attached." But I cannot be their "vine," and I cannot play the role of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

My children must learn how to walk with the Lord without my help. But they won't be alone. As Jesus promised, the Holy Spirit will be with each of my children every step of the way.

Knowing the limitations of my responsibility as a mother has actually been quite freeing to me. I can be God's agent for cultivating the hearts of my children; in fact, I'm supposed to fill that role. But only God can give them life, strength, and divine guidance.

Read more about this in The Ministry of Motherhood.

Walking As A Spiritual Practice

For me, walking isn't so much a form of exercise as it is a spiritual practice. It calms my nerves, gives me perspective, and draws me so much closer to God. It offers me a kind of peace in my heart and grace of my soul. I often pray, release my burdens, ask for wisdom. I have been walking as a way to center my life for over 35 years.

Is there a daily practice or rhythm in your life that does the same for you? Tell me about it in the comments.