This Temporary Home

As I re-wipe counters that were morning clean, fold and put away the same shirts and underwear as last week, and re-sweep floors that were a few days ago Swiffer fresh, I must remember this…

Since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, everything here on planet earth is temporary.

Man is like a breath, his days are like a passing shadow. ~Psalm 144:4

That I like Moses should pray,

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. ~Psalm 90:12

Feet will not always dangle from seats too high.

Imaginative play lasts only for a season.

Even tantrums, the “no” stage, and time-outs will eventually fade away.

I must remember that the little girl and little boy will soon stand up and take their place in God’s world.

Time on earth is temporary and fleeting. Eternity lasts forever.

Shouldn’t I work for the eternal? See my children and their fleeting days till adulthood as a gift and a heritage to be cultivated in tiny hearts? Seek to serve the poor and the persecuted? Indeed. I must remember that each assignment the Lord gives me on this earth will last, at most, only a lifetime. Perhaps that is why I was drawn to this quote  from Joan Walsh Anglund:

Where is the yesterday that worried us so?

I must remember that today is a gift, yesterday a memory, and tomorrow is a hope yet unrealized. I want to be a good steward of today and the resources God entrusted to me within it. There is pressure in this knowledge, but also freedom.

In these days of uncertainty with our foster child, Little E, I very easily become discouraged and drained. I fear as we start a year of homeschooling in the coming weeks that I will  not be able to keep up, perform, be the mom, wife, writer, teacher child of God that I am called to be.  I am overwhelmed and fearful because of the domestic demands, motherly demands,foster care demands, and self-inflicted demands that I place on myself. Putting one foot in front of the other, one load in the wash after another, one dish in the dishwasher after another can seem so mundane and, even worse,  never ending.

It is okay to confess these feelings of drain fellow parent. To pretend it is not so is to live a lie. To accept it and not try to take these feelings to the foot of the cross is selling out for a lesser life. He wants us to live in abundant, holy joy.

I must remember that in this small piece of a breath of life, the thing my children will remember more than all else is the love and affection they did or did not receive. The pieces of  daily offerings added over time may not be remembered in vivid accounts but more as a picture of wholeness. For they were wholly…holy…loved.

Dear Father,

Please teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Help us to live for the eternal, hold onto things loosely, and work for Your glory and fellow man’s good. Help us to seek the things that are above and remember that all victories or defeats in this life are but fleeting. Help us to delight in You and spread your fame through all the earth. Help us to be rich in good deeds both within our home and without. Help us to pursue a godly and peaceful life. Let us do the work you give us with joy and sow a godly heritage in the children you have blessed us with. In Jesus Name, Amen.

*An edited re-post.

I saw him digging in the dirt and thought that his hands were instinctively finding more yard-work to tackle. It wasn’t until the rocks began to pile in the back of Joshua’s metal dump-truck that I realized what Ron was working on.

He was clearing the dirt of the unyielding hard surfaces of rocks; making room for roots to run deep.

The next day I was adding space to breathe in our outside storage closet. I walked around the corner to assist the children with their play, when I noticed the new edging that Ron had carefully constructed in first one corner and then along the bend of another. The rocks that, had they laid buried, could have prevented growth within our flower beds, now lay as a shining washed border to mark the boundaries of the beds.

The rocks that lay in the dark were washed and exposed to the light. They were given a new purpose as a boundary with distinction. 

What if  we view those rocks as our hidden, or deeply buried, sin? Are we presently digging them up or pushing them further down into the layers of dirt? Are we covering them with the fertilizer and mulch of excuses, blame, denial, or avoidance?

When we unearth the rocks of sin through confession and repentance Jesus washes us clean. He will use the past experiences to lay boundaries in our present paths. Experiences of unwise, unhealthy, and flagrantly wrong choices are a painful teacher.  However, after we identify the rocks, sin, for what they really are, He can use them to lay boundaries or guard rails in our lives so that we need not experience the dark, lonely confines of a life buried in the consequences of sinful choices again. Rather we can soak in the Son and glisten with newness of life as we walk in a new way of life.

The rocks that were a suppressed reminder of our sinful demise, are re-purposed into a protective border of choices for today and guidance to those who happen to walk our path.

One day a stone was rolled away that all who believe on Christ Jesus may have new life in Him. (John 20) The same Jesus who rolled away the stone, and rose from the dead, wants to take the rocks from your soul-laced soil and breathe new life into the dead places too long buried.

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable. So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. (Hebrews 4:13-16, NLT)