God's Beauty Found in a Halloween Costume

Isn't this the most precious thing?!?!  I missed it the first time, but there is even a little dog sitting next to the little girl dressed as a bumblebee!

When I saw this, first I just went, "AWWWWW!"  Then I heard all kinds of thoughts go through my head - how this image just screams out what a wonderful job this couple is doing raising their little girl and how this family costume says it all.

I'm a person who likes to put abstract ideas into concrete images, so let me share what I saw in this picture.

There sits little Violet.  Yes, her name is really Violet!  (hence, the costumes!)  Violet is a fragile, beautiful, precious little thing that God brought into this couple's life.  I know He was thinking of these two beautiful people as He created Violet - He had to have been!

Now, I could go on all day about this family, and I intend to talk about them a lot, but I want to start by talking about flowers - especially violets - and what they need to survive.

Flowers need water - plain and simple.  They cannot survive without it.  It keeps them supple, yet it gives them the strength they need to stand tall and stand strong in the world they face every day.  Without good, clean water a flower cannot process its food.

Flowers need sunlight - they cannot survive without the sun.  Sunlight and water combine within a flower to produce the food it needs to live.  Without the sun a vulnerable flower cannot grow to it's potential - it cannot become the flower God intended for it.  If it survives at all, it would be weak and pale and nothing at all like its intended beauty.

Flowers also need bees.  Yuck!  But it's true.  Bees take bits of the sweet goodness that is within the flower and share it with other flowers so they all can grow and reproduce.  The one flower itself does not need the bee to live and be beautiful, but to be all it was intended, a flower needs a bee.

God provided these things for this beautiful Violet when He sent her to this couple!

Look at mom - a watering can.  I remember when she left the job she loved as a teacher.   Almost overnight, she walked away from her career when God put Violet in their life.  She refocused her life for Violet.  This mom literally is pouring her life into this beautiful little girl.  Every day she spends her time making sure Violet get what she needs.  Mom's whole life is focused on one thing right now:  that Violet is taken care of.

I love how Mom is dressed AS the watering can, not just holding the watering can.  This isn't a role she can put down and walk away from - this is who she is at the moment.  This role she has chosen is one that she doesn't set down when it gets heavy or difficult - it is who she is.  Her role doesn't end when she leaves Violet in others' hands for a while.  She is still Violet's main lifestrength.  What she is pouring into this little one is making her strong and allowing all the wonderfulness in her life to sink down into the core of who she is and who she will become.  Without this wonderful water, Violet could never take what is provided for her to its full use.

Then there is Dad dressed as the sun.  What a wonderful provider he is to be able to allow Mom to stay home with Violet.  He makes sure she has all she needs - shelter, food, and lots of love.  I think I've only met Dad in passing once or twice, but I know that he is doing great things for his family.  His love and care, protection, and hard work are providing the basics necessary for mom to be able to pour all of herself into this beautiful Violet to help her grow into a strong woman.

And Violet needs her dad.  More and more, research is showing how important a dad is to a child's life.  Dads are the ones who instill modesty into a young girl.  Dads are the backbone.  Dads bring the morals.  Moms grow them and refine them, but those basics are actually brought in by the dads.  Dads are lifeshapers!  Just as the sun is needed to make a flower all that it was intended to be, so a dad will bring out all a child is intended to be. 

Then we bring in the little bee... what a cute little thing.  And what an awesome first friend for Violet.  This little dog will help teach Violet how to be a good friend - how to spread her love for her family and her love for God to others around her.  As Violet grows she will learn to be gentle, to sometimes give space to those around her when they need it, to spend time with, and to care for others in her life.  This little dog will help her learn to look outside of herself to see others and how she can help care for them. 

Then there is just the overall beauty of the picture.  All these elements working together to not only create a beautiful flower, but also a beautiful picture of life.  This is a family working to create beauty in their child and those around them.  As this mom and dad work to raise Violet, their care will spill over into their neighborhood and town, making it healthier and better.  It makes me want to live next door!

Oh, if only God guided the hands of all those around us, what a beautiful world we would life in!  That just challenges me all the more to shine strong and water abundantly - to do what God has asked me to do in such a way that I strengthen those in my care, spill over into the world around me, and choke out the weeds around me through His love!

I challenge you, moms and dads, to take a moment to ponder your role in the lives of your children.  None of us is perfect, but how are you doing, really, being sunlight and water for your kids?  Allow God to speak to you.  He may give you a big 'Well Done!" or he may give you a nudge.  Listen to Him.  And remember - the lives you are pouring into right now will shape the world in the future.  Love on those kiddos - it makes all the world a better place! 

Spiritual Growth

I have to begin this blog by stating how awesomely wonderful it is to have a youth leader at RFamily!  Alex has been such a wonderful addition to the staff.  His enthusiasm alone is growing the group!  He has volunteers just lined-up to help and he is constantly thinking and working on his next group, event, plan... just always on it!

So last night at youth group (I got to be there to help one of my Jungle students with special needs transition from The Jungle to Youth) the topic was FASTING - that wonderful/horrible thing we do (along with prayer - don't forget the prayer - it's supposed to be part of it, remember?!?!!?!?) to help us grow spiritually.  The kids really got it.  It was great.  The main focus was media over food, but all was discussed.  I heard several things.  No pressure to fast, just the idea.  Many are fasting something or other.  One is fasting 'Sims' and 'Facebook'.  Another is fasting texting.  Another is fasting TV time.  They each knew what they were supposed to fast.  God is really good about letting you know that when it's time and He wants you to do it.

So there I am, smiling to myself, thinking about when I was at that stage - those first few fasts I did and how awesome I felt.  I thought about how much I have grown spiritually since then.  In fact, I had a chance to really sit back for a few minutes and think about how far my walk with God has come in the past decade and be amazed at how different my life is today!

This morning God said to me, "So, what are you doing now?"

"Well, I'm planting a church, God," I answered.

"That is ok, but what are you doing NOW?" He pressed.

"OH!  You mean spiritually!" I realized.  Oops!  I mean, I know I haven't been reading my Bible as much as I used to, but I'm really busy with the church plant.  I know I haven't had a regular quiet time in a while, but I'm really busy with the church plant and my kids!  I know I haven't done many of the things You have asked me to do, but I'm really busy with the church plant and my kids and the house!

"STOP!" I heard.  Uh Oh.  I did it again.  Excuses, excuses.  Pride.

Last night I sat and watched these kids put themselves under God's authority to be able to grow closer to Him.  I sat and remembered that stage of MY life as if I had arrived!  I looked back on where I had been as if I had arrived somewhere!  I looked back and felt PRIDE at how far I had come as if I were finished!

"What an idiot!" I thought.  (about myself, not God)

Now, I haven't taken any horrible turn down some dark pathway to hell.  I am not a complete and totally lost sinner.  I just got off in the weeds a bit and needed a turn back on path with my thinking.

But how often to we get to that point?!?  How many of us who call ourselves Christians fall into that rut of 'The Arrived' as we grow?  When someone asks us to teach, when we are voted onto a board or committee, when we begin to take on leadership roles - it's so easy to fall into that human mode of 'I have arrived!' and fill our time and energy on the roles and just gloss over and hurry through the important time of prayer and Bible study!

When we take on more and more leadership roles and spend less and less time following, we can forget how to do it.  Leading takes a lot of time and attention.  If it something God has gifted us with, then we tend to become obsessive about it- it consumes us.  But we cannot forget to follow.  We cannot forget that we are FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST first and Leaders of followers of Christ second!

We must remain followers.

But to follow someone we have to be close.  We have to have communication.  To follow Jesus we have to spend significant time in the Bible and in prayer.

What about you?  Are you reading?  Are you praying?  If I asked you today where you read the day before, could you tell me?  If I asked you what prayers of yours had been answered lately could you tell me?

It's a challenge.  It's a life change.  It's where we all need to be.

I hope you are able to take some time today and sit with God and let Him talk to you about your walk with Him.  Only He can tell you what you need to hear.  We don't often like to hear what He has to say, but it's only for our own good.