More than a Thousand Words

A picture is a worth a thousand words. I’ve added a few more.

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I regularly talk to my children about smiling.  I try and remind them of the power of this most encouraging expression.  I've shared with several friends, of my attempt to inspire one of my children to smile.  Of course, I waited until my child ,whose name I won't mention, was in a rotten mood to bring up the importance of a smile.  I was challenged with the words, "Do you want me to lie?".  Confused, my child told me that if you're really not feeling happy, it's like a lie to smile.  So I said "Yes, you have my permission to lie in that case, I want you to smile".

Honestly, a smile is not meant for one's self.  My smile is not for me.  Likewise my look of displeasure holds no gain for myself.  How small to think that because my heart is not in the right condition, that I have the right to pain people around me with outward unpleasantness.  Our shared disenchantmant can spread quickly like a virus. I believe your countenance though, much through facial expression, is your wordless, effortless, free gift to those you encounter.

The wonderful thing about a smile is the fact that gracing someone with a grin often turns out to be a double blessing.

.A cheerful look brings joy to the heart.  -Proverbs 15:30

  It is when we look to grace someone else we are often distracted from our "heart condition"; forgetting our own complaint.  By our kind gesture, our anger or sadness many times melts leaving ample room for joy to fill our hearts.

 

 

So SMILE! 

 Your smile will either be a beautiful utterance of truth

or the best lie you'll ever tell!!

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A picture is worth a thousand words.  I've added a few....

Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden.

-Cory Ten Boom

A must read-

The Hiding Place by Cory Ten Boom

A Dutch Christian, she and her family hid many Jews and helped them escape during the Holocaust.  Her father as well as her sister died at concentration camps.  Cory often wondered why she was the survivor when she felt her father and sister were stronger in their faith.  Her testimony shows that God left Cory behind with a purpose.  Her words will touch you, leaving you longing for a closer walk with Jesus.  This is an unforgettable story of faith and forgiveness.

Pictured above: I took this picture from a puddle on our street in Trinity.  We were able to see the frog eggs hatch into tadpoles.

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Whatever is true

Whatever is right

Whatever is noble

Whatever is pure

Whatever is lovely

Whatever is admirable

-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things

 Whatever you have learned from me, or seen in me-put into practice.  And the God of all peace will be you -Philippians 4:8-9

Philippians is my favorite book in the Bible. I love these verses,.  God is lovely and he is truth; through Him comes all that is good. Make him your focus.  I have great joy and peace in knowing God has filled the world with himself.  Look for truth and nobility- that which is right, pure and lovely; things that are admirable, excellent and praiseworthy. Behold the beauty of God; He is all around you!

About the pictures:

1-My second favorite church in Trinity

2.Hallie has been our little proselitizer.  She has given out hand-made tracts at the movies and at church.  This was a message of salvation she put in the mailbox  for "any delivery guy"

3.This is a picture I took at my nieces wedding. .I was so touched that they prayed right before the ceremony.

4.I took this picture of Rylie on one of Sabbath Saturdays at Sam Houston State Park.

5.This is a picture I took of Jason and I on our fifteenth anniversary in Galveston.

6.Hayden had the awesome opportunity to go to Kenya for his thirteenth birthday.

We built a playground for one hundred orphan girls.

7. Jason looks like he's thinking in this picture also taken on out fifteenth anniversary.

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Confession:  I have an unhealthy affection for Dr. Pepper.  I drink way too many.  I’ve tried to stop drinking so many; numerous times.  I’ve tried the lesser calorie version, Dr. Pepper 10, which people have told me is man’s Dr. Pepper; whatever.  I’ve tried cutting back.  Probably least effective, I’ve quit cold turkey, for like two days.  Moving on we’ll get to the real point; this problem is for a different post.  But seriously, pray for me.

This past December I was a part of the Tour of Homes sponsored by our church.  I agreed to decorate my home for the sake of fundraising for missions with the help of my dear friends Larry and Carol Hathaway.  For several weeks, they graciously brought decorations from their home as the extent of my decorating is putting up stockings and a tree.

I’ve always said you know a person better after spending time in their home.   One day after seeing me open the second Dr. Pepper can by lunch, Larry asked me if I was addicted.  I acknowledged without hesitation that I might have a slight problem.  The next question was a bit harder to answer.  Larry asked, “Do your kids drink sodas like that too?”  After thinking a moment I shook my head no.  The same afternoon I brought Rylie home from Kindergarten.  Hayden and Hallie get out thirty minutes later.   Most afternoons, Rylie and I get a little snack as we like to celebrate our “just us” time together.  With Carol and Larry wrapping up the days decorating, Rylie walks in the front door.  She walks straight to the refrigerator and pulls out a…….. (You got it) Dr. Pepper.  To make matters worse, she taps the top of the can twice like some junkie while I’m thinking 1. Not in front of Larry 2.Do I do the tapping thing?  Larry looks at me and without a word says “mmm hmmmm”.

First, you have to know that I don’t allow the kids to break out a Dr. Pepper any time they want.  They can have one a day which I know many of you will think is unhealthy; I can understand that viewpoint completely. Lucky for me, I have the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group on my side.   Formulators of the recipe of Dr. Pepper recipe have insisted that it is medicinal in nature and aids in digestion.   Sincerely speaking, I’m not worried so much about my kids having a soda.  This can-tapping moment however did get me to thinking.

Do I flippantly and mindlessly lead my kids?  I would never pretend to be perfect in front of them or anybody else, but that’s not what I mean.  Possibly the deeper question is, am I truly the example I need to be?  I know that my kids see what I watch on TV.  They also hear me growl and gripe when someone dares to drive too slow in front of me.  They have witnessed me act like all is lost when supper turns out a flop.  They have suffered me losing it when their rooms are atrocious.  Does this put me on the Worst Mother of the Year list?  Certainly not.  But in thinking on all these things my children see, I’m wondering; are they seeing in me- a desire for and dependence on God?  I found a couple of convicting quotes I’d like to share.

 

What the daughter does, the mother did. –Jewish Proverb

And mothers are their daughters’ role model, their biological and emotional road map, the arbiter of all their relationships. –Victoria Secunda

Another frightening thought is that our boys may look to us as the measure of what a woman should be as he looks to a future marriage.

I don’t know about you, but when I have somebody else’s child in my care, I seem to be a little more attentive.  I drive a little more carefully.  I try to feed them well.  I am intentional in providing a safe nurturing and wholesome place.  My children are mine only on gracious loan.  I know they look somewhat like Jason and I.  I see certain facial expressions in them and see Jason.  I hear phrases that are echoes from my own voice.  Mini me.  Mini Jason.  And while this brings about a certain pride, it again brings about the question:  Do I want them to be like me?  Should I be mirroring Jesus more closely?   I want my children to be able to see Jesus in me.  I want to be the example.  I told you how I love Dr. Pepper; can’t get enough.  No Diet or Dr. Pepper 10; I want no lesser version.  I pray in all earnesty that I would hold for my life the same mark.  If my children are to be my mini me, I want more of Jesus. I have to know I can’t get enough.  I need to remember I want no lesser version.  I don’t want a “Sunday Jesus” or a “help me when I’m in a bind” Jesus.  More important than what my children are watching me do, is maybe WHO I'M WATCHING..

To you , O LORD, I lift up my soul……Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths….My eyes are ever on the LORD…..    Psalm 25:1, 4, 15

The meaning of the word Christian is “little Christ”.

May I look to you and listen for your voice with a steadfast devotion that would bit by bit transform me into a mini you!

Couldn' resist putting this one.  Don't know who looks like who.

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At a recent Mom’s prayer meeting we were praying for a couple of moms who were having difficulty getting their kiddos into the car-seat without a struggle.   I remember those frustrating days.  I also remember momentarily feeling some instant freedom when my children were out of car-seats and could buckle themselves in.  But as I was praying with these moms I was overcome with sadness.  My kids aren’t car-seat babies anymore.  And while I don’t have to buckle them in, I CAN’T buckle them in anymore.

Hayden will be sixteen in six months.  I won’t always be able to be in the car to tell him to slow down a little quicker when approaching an intersection.  Soon when he is finding that special someone, I don’t get to tell him she’s not enough like me.  Hallie recently shared a secret with a friend.  When I asked her to share it with me she said NO!  In the last couple of years some tears have been shed.  I haven’t always been next to Hallie, tissue in hand, there to hug her.  When Rylie is at school reading and she comes to a word she doesn’t know, I’m not there to sound the word out with her part by part.  I have lunch with her at school every Monday while volunteering.  Are they always going to let me do that?   Is she always going to WANT me to do that?  The awful part is, physically and later geographically, the distance will grow as time goes on.

I am thankful that even though my children are growing tall and independent, they still lavish me with hugs.  Hayden still puts his arm around me at church. Rylie still crawls in our bed occasionally in the morning.  Hallie, our most independent child, spends special girl time just with me once a week.  And they all still sometimes hold my hand.

 

While in the car alone this evening, I heard a song.  Instantly I thought of my children. There are times when they will face trials and feel alone. There have already been those times. There are times when I can’t be there; times I can’t fix it- I would if I could. There are times I’ve been the one to let them down.  I am more than grateful that I have the blessed assurance that God IS there.  The God who sees is with Hayden when he takes that frightening Math test.  He is with Hallie when she sits alone.  He is right beside Rylie in Sunday School as she is learning who he is.

 

I’m a little jealous that God sees and knows their every step.  He has stolen their hearts, but how can I complain when he has given me eternity with him and with them.  I pray that every day on this side of eternity this song would be the song of their heart:

Click here:  all this time

My phone wouldn't upload this video.  If you have the same problem you can go to the youtube link and search- All This Time Britt Nicole

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