One stone (and a lot of logs)

Monday morning musings as I settle in to work mode. The back garden is a log pile after we trimmed back some trees and the neighbour removed two big trees. I am still waiting for the tree company to come and cut up the wood and remove the excess. However, I am inspired to reuse and recycle as much as I possibly can as logs, planters, walkways and stumps for our new firepit area that I have in my head but need muscles to implement. Pinterest has LOTS of great ideas. Adam's lifting his eyebrows at me a lot!

I have been pondering (amidst the sound of chainsaws) a couple of things:
1. Pruning is drastic. When I see our poor denuded trees, it's painful beyond description. Yet I know that our Brazilian pepper tree will regenerate in just two years.
2. Roots go deep and have unintended consequences. The neighbour took out his trees because they got into the sewer lines and he can't use his toilets.
3. Sometimes we need to cut down trees to let the sun through into the shade areas. My back wall now gets sun for 7 hours a day (2 before, if that), and my grass is now getting the sun it desperately needs.
4. You need help to carry out the logs left behind after pruning.
5. Pruning is messy.
6. Some things in our life are good (i.e. not bad) but still need to be cut down to make way for God.
7. If you are intentional, it can take you just 15 minutes to cut down something that took 50 years to grow.

OK, leaving the buzz of the imminent chainsaws behind, although I am waiting for them to arrive to finish off the cutting, here's my report back on the 5 Stone Challenge:

1. I managed to wear a dress every day except Sunday.
2. When I didn't put music on, sometimes Jessica did.
3. I was up when they all left (albeit frantically making sarmies)
4. De-clutter. Well, Jessica's cupboard looks better, so does Luke's, mine is ordered, the lounge is tidier, the study... er. Help.
5. Exercise. Still a bit of an ex. Mmm. Need some encouragement here.

Leaping sideways, here's my thought for the week and challenge ahead. Just one stone to add to my pile this week: quietness of heart.

 Isaiah 30:15:

¹⁵ This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:

“In repentance and rest is your salvation,
    in quietness and trust is your strength,
    but you would have none of it.”

May I live this week in repentance and rest. May quietness and trust be my strength.

One billion visions of Jesus

So today has been a tough one. Several moments where my small girl and I lost it - both with each other and with the small boy. Rough. Very rough.

So after 8, when I went in to turn off her light and say prayers, we sort of talked about it. And sort of prayed about it. About grumpy angry cross (red hot cross) hearts. Then, as topics do with the small girl, she leapt sideways and complained about not seeing Jesus. So I reminded her of the time when she visited heaven. And then she told me about a scary picture/vision she had had.

"Mom, you have to write this down. But it might be too scary. Really scary. I saw Adam and Eve in a cage, a CAGE! And then the cage door opened and they went up some steps into heaven and they were fine."

I asked her what she thought it meant. So she ummed and then said:

"The cage is their hearts. But when they forgave then they could get out and go to heaven."

So after our day, I asked her if she thought that it might be the same for us.

"I guess so, mom."

Then...

"Mom, why doesn't God answer my prayers? When I was 4 and 5 and 6 and 7 I prayed for a pony in my garden, and He never gave me one!" 

I explained that you are not allowed to have a pony in your garden - or a sheep - where we live.

"I know what I can pray. I am going to ask God to give me a billion visions of Jesus for my birthday!" says the small girl.

And that is what we prayed for tonight. And my mommy heart said "Please Lord, answer this prayer in the life of my small girl!"

Today I choose...

Listening to Brian Doerksen sing some of the songs he wrote several years back. These lyrics struck me in my "didn't-sleep-much-last-night-thanks-to-cats-mozzies-etc" fog as I started up my computer: 

Today I choose to follow You 

Today I choose to give my 'yes' to You

Today I choose to hear Your voice and live

Today I choose to follow You

As for me and my house 

We will serve You 

As for me and my house 

We will spend our lives on You

Today

Update on the pebbles: I am wearing a green dress, I tidied out Luke's cupboard and Jessica's drawers (note to self: take a photo before they get home!!), I did listen to some music though Jessica blasted it out, I did get out of bed this morning despite little sleep. I did not make it into shower and out of PJs before the kids left, but I did before Adam left (that counts). Um, exercise. Does running around after kids at school count at all, or hanging washing?

This week's challenges to myself

Monday morning and it's that moment when, having whizzed around my home and tried to neaten a few things, I have sneaked sideways into my study and turned on the computer (trying not to feel guilty that there are still dishes to wash and books to pack away and kids rooms to vet). My second cup of coffee is next to me, and the week lies before me.

So, goals for this week.
1. Wear a pretty dress each day. I might need to put leggings on with today's dress as it's colder than I thought it would be. And do UGG slippers/boots go with knee high dresses? Not sure the brown fleece does either, but hey. I am warm.
2. Get out of bed faster. No waving kids off in PJs (this happens quite often, especially on Tuesdays when Jessica leaves just before 7).
3. De-clutter some area of our home each day. Last night it was Jessica's cupboard bomb which looks incredible this morning. (I have to take a pic).
4. Keep worship playing in my home all week so that it filters into my/our heart/s.
5. Exercise. Somehow and somewhere.

Lord, five small things with big implications. My five small stones for my slingshot this week. Express beauty, make time, create space, love extravagantly, find movement. Help my dearest friends reading this to choose their small stones too, so that together we can overcome the Goliaths of our lives. Amen. 

I am a woman of worth

I found this on a blog tonight. It rings some bells in my life, so I thought I would share this excerpt from a lady who participated in a conference called Women of Worth:

"... made me remember that My King, My Father, My Friend Jesus, loves me with an Agape Love. A love that RELENTLESSLY CONTENDS for the best in EACH AREA of MY life.

Sometimes I feel so alone in my journey and as much as we don’t like the spirit of self-pity, we allow it to take up residence as we welcome its friend, loneliness. “Too much God, why me, how much more, what have I done wrong?” are the questions that race through my mind when I recall the past 5 years of my life. I have had Breast Cancer, lost a child, sibling and nephew, and now facing breast cancer once again. I found myself caught up in the world’s way of dealing with these trials instead of His way. Women of Worth reminded me that I need to listen to the Truth. For every lie of the enemy, is God’s powerful truth. To get this truth, I need to read the word of God until I get the promise of God for me and my particular situation. Getting into God’s presence can feel like hard work when one faces so many trials, yet Women of Worth prompted me to “Enter His courts with Thanksgiving in my heart, to enter His courts with Praise.” When I don’t have the energy to do anything, simply worship Him, talk to him, lie down and rest in Him, and He fills my cup.

Each lady has a testimony and it is Powerful when we allow God to mould us, build us, and use us."

Something worth being reminded of. Thank you! And a reminder to simply worship Him, talk to him, lie down and rest in Him... and He fills my cup.

(From http://www.liv-village.com/blog/i-am-worth-a-fortune-to-him)