Ninjas

I never know what these two are going to conjure up when they lock themselves in their room for extended periods of time. Joshua was the costume designer this time around.  And yes, those are their pajamas.

Honor

Honor. This has been the theme of discussion at our church and in our home the last couple of weeks. And I've been so convicted and impassioned by what I've heard and experienced (especially as a mother) that I couldn't just let it slip by without mentioning. In the midst of the sermon series titled "Honorology", we also took part in our second annual "Love Week" which you can read more about here and see the video here. As a church, we partnered with 25 other churches to spread love across our city in the form of community service, and at the same time honor our outreach partners who already work so hard to provide for those in need. Our goal was 25,000 hours which was surpassed with a total of 34,257 hours served in one week. As a family we served at Jackson Park Ministries cleaning homes and doing yard work, spent time at Bright Blessings putting together birthday gifts for homeless children, and collected school supplies to meet the needs of some of our local outreach partners.

I cannot tell you how blessed and honored we are to have the opportunity to serve and be a part of a church whose mission is to reach people far from God with the love of Christ, and whose desire is to be known for what we are for and not what we are against. What a great opportunity for our children to see the needs of a city and to know that they themselves can spread the love of Christ in practical ways and make a difference in so many lives.

This brings me to the next point that has invaded my thoughts and pierced my heart as a mother in these last couple of weeks. It's not a new concept to me. It is actually something I witnessed in the lives of some dear friends as I watched them parent their children shortly before becoming a mother myself. It had a huge impact on me and has greatly influenced the way we try and parent our own children. And it involves showing honor and respect to the children that have been entrusted to us. After hearing Pastor Steven preach on the subject of honor the last few weeks, all these convictions concerning our children came rushing to the surface again. There is no question that honor and respect have lost their value in the world we live in. And scripture is very clear on the subject. We are to honor one another above ourselves (Rom 12: 10). Husbands are to honor their wives (1Peter 3:7) and we are supposed to respect our husbands (Eph 5:33). Children are supposed to obey their parents and honor their father and mother (Eph 6:1)...ask my kids what this verse says and they'll tell you!

[Side note: last night at the dinner table Donnie had Joshua look up Eph 6:1-3 about obeying which continues "...that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth. To which Donnie translated, "That means if you don't obey I have the right to cut your life short!"]...way to demand respect sweetie.

This is all important and could certainly be improved on in my own life. But what pierces my heart the most as a mother, is seeing children being disrespected and dishonored by their parents. How are we to expect them to honor us (or anyone else) if we don't model it for them; not only in the way we treat our husband, our own parents, or complete strangers, but in how we treat them? How much work have we put into training them to say please and thank you, yet don't extend them the same courtesy? How many times do we demand their direct attention, yet we ourselves are too busy composing an email, checking Twitter, putting away laundry, or cooking dinner to stop for a few seconds and give them our full attention when they have a need or a question? We expect them to come immediately the first time we ask, yet I'm sitting at the computer, fingers flying while CJ has asked me 20 times to please come to the kitchen and help him open his string cheese....seriously. *pause* OK, I'm back :) The definition of honor is "value, worth, or weight". What are our actions or lack thereof saying to our kids about their value or worth? In Matthew 18 we see Jesus answer the disciples’ question, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" "He called a little child and had him stand among them....unless you become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven...and whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me." Unfortunately that little speech (which also included what should happen to you if you caused one of them to sin...not good...involves drowning) didn't quite sink in with the disciples. Because in the very next chapter they rebuked some parents for bringing their children to be blessed by Jesus. And the Lord didn't waste any time driving his point home...again. "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (Matt. 19:14) The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these! I think Jesus placed great value on children. It sounds like to me, we can learn a lot from them.

As a matter of fact I learned a great deal about having this child-like faith through the life of our first born this past week. As a part of Love Week, the kids were given a "mission" to invade their schools with love, and they were given ideas as to how to bless their teachers and classmates. We had to be a little creative seeing as how we homeschool. Joshua made cookies and a card for his guitar teacher. But we ran into a road block on Friday when he was supposed to invite a teacher to church. His primary teacher (me) and his guitar teacher both go to Elevation. What to do? He immediately thought of our neighbor who is a local school teacher and asked if he could invite her. The words that first escaped my lips were "sure!" but my immediate thoughts were, "How should I invite her? What do I say? I don't want her to feel cornered or pressured. What if she has a church of her own? What if she says no and my precious son's heart gets broken into a million pieces and we are forced to pack up and move when I can't control my motherly instinct to avenge his shattered spirit?” Before I could even begin to construct the ideal conversation in my head, Joshua comes walking in the house after an afternoon of playtime and says nonchalantly as he's washing his hands for dinner, "Oh, I asked Mrs. G about coming to church with us on Sunday and she said yes!" And so she came.

Lastly, Pastor Steven mentioned that dishonor isn't always blatant disrespect. "Dishonor is to treat something as common or ordinary." Our children are far from common or ordinary (Have you met Caleb?...love you CJ!), so let us not dishonor them by treating them as such. Our children are a heritage of the Lord...a reward from Him (Ps 127:3). May we honor them for who God created them to be...and watch them change the world...one neighbor at a time.