June 5, 2011
My Sistas,
So about a year ago, Lauren took to calling me “The best Mom in the whole entire… Pfafftown!” That’s right ladies. You can drive the 4 miles down Yadkinville Road from the Food Lion to Ted’s Kickin Chicken and you won’t find a better mom than me. Oh Snap! I forgot. Pastor Debbie, you live in Pfafftown. Well, what Lauren doesn’t know won’t hurt my reputation! As of last night, Lauren had expanded her parameters and now my best-mommie-ness extends to Jupiter and Mars! Who knew? My usual response to Lauren when she says those sweet things is that she is the “best 5 year old in the whole entire world right now!” I’ve had to chose those words carefully because Grace has been in the room when I’ve said them sometimes, and I can’t let what I say to Lauren invalidate anything I’ve ever said to Grace. Once upon a time, Grace was my favorite 5 year old in the world, and before her, Katie was. And Logan had the honor for awhile, then Bryce overlapped with him for a few months. Ty and Chloe were born on the same day, and Grayden followed 3 months later, so they will overlap some. And Oh Emily will bring up the rear. No matter what I say to Lauren, she has to know that I am telling the truth, and my truth has to be true no matter who was 5 years old before her or who will be 5 years old after her. How do you make
your truths be that true and stand the test of time?
God Breathed.
My girls and Grayden and Logan and Chloe went to VBS at Kim’s and Andrea’s church a few weeks ago. I would stay for awhile after dropping them off and return early to hear the ending each night because I love seeing and hearing and watching everything they do. The VBS had a nautical theme, and if I heard it once, I heard “Aye aye Captain” a thousand times! And I am still hearing it! The Sunday after VBS, all the kids were invited to participate in the Sunday morning service at the church to sing and dance and tell the grown ups what they learned through the week.. Grace and Lauren and Morgan and Camden were shaking their groove thangs and having a blast telling us that God’s Word is Truth, Comforting, Surprising, Life Changing, and For Everyone. Then Bishop gave his sermon to reinforce what the kids had learned. He was teaching it and preaching it. He mentioned 2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is God breathed (or inspired depending on translation) and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God might be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” I got stuck right there. God Breathed. I’m ashamed to say that although I heard the rest of the sermon, I couldn’t tell you what it was about, except I know the high points were Truth, Comforting, Surprising, Life Changing, and For Everyone. I have chewed on God Breathed for days. How can the Word of God be true from before Creation to eternity? How can it be that God never contradicts Himself? How can His truths be that true and stand the test of time?
God Breathed.
It says in John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” And verse 14 “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.” Jesus is the Word of God. Period. But what does it mean that God Breathed? When you speak, you breathe. Your breath is what pushes and carries the sound. God breathed and spoke everything into existence, even the Jupiter and Mars that my mommie-ness rules. Then “the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living being,” Genesis 2:7. And in John 14:6 “Jesus answered ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.'” Jesus is the life, and so when God gave Adam the breath of life, it was Jesus. The quickening of life in the womb… it’s Jesus. When Mary was pregnant with Jesus and went to visit her cousin Elizabeth who was pregnant with John the Baptist, Elizabeth’s “baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,” Luke 1:41. God breathed the breath of life, breathed Jesus, into me at my quickening in the womb to give my body life. Then years later, I invited Jesus back into my heart to stay forever at my salvation to give me spiritual life.
Have I over-thought this, Cathie? You say I over-think. Have I extrapolated this too far? I don’t know. But it makes me think, and over-think maybe, about my own truths, and wanting them to be as real as I can make them. James 5:12 “Above all, my brothers, do not swear-not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your ‘Yes’ be yes, and your ‘No,’ no, or you will be condemned.” And it makes me wonder what to do when what I am told by others fails to live up to the test of time. What do I do when “I meant it” falls short? I don’t know.
Oh to have the gift of discernment! I wish I was Beth Moore. She would know.
Paul’s away again in Raleigh tonight and I miss him. He is working on truth. He is working on integrity. They are so fragile. So very fragile. And my little lovelies are sleeping now. They are the best 11, 5, and 2 year olds right now in the whole entire Pfafftown, and Jupiter, and Mars, and everywhere in between. I mean it. That’s the truth.
Truth Seeker,
Sandie