12 Books to Celebrate Dad

He’s the wrestle champion, BBQ extraordinaire, advice giver, spiritual leader, firm foundation, trend setter, bread winner, shoulder to cry on. Yes sir, I am talking about Dad! It’s June and time to celebrate the fathers in our life. Below are 12 books that highlight dads and the special place they hold in the family, and in their children’s hearts.

A few ideas for sharing this particular stack of books:

  •  place these in a book basket and encourage your older, literate children to read them to your younger children
  •  have this special stack set aside for dad to read aloud
  • snuggle in close with your children and read them aloud yourself

In my own community, there are several families who will endure this day as they remember the man no longer here. A dear friend of mine wrote a post several years ago about her own family’s experience with Father’s Day soon after the death of her husband. If this sounds like someone you know, please pass this post along. Also, read it for yourself to see how you can help a family during this holiday. While these book suggestions below may not meet the needs of a family in such a situation, I may have one recommendation. Why not grab a copy and read aloud a stack of books, or a book, that your children’s father loved reading to them? Or maybe you could read a portion of his favorite book. I think this would be a nice way to remember the man and honor his memory even while acknowledging the huge loss.

For the dads still present with us today, we can’t wait to celebrate you! Here are 12 books to get started:

Danny’s dad takes him on illegal excursions (pheasant poaching), but this is a fun father/son story that you and your children won’t forget!

 

What books would you add to this list? Happy Father’s Day!

 

 

 

 

Purchase my book, Thirty Balloons: An Adoption Tale, on Amazon.

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Classical Conversations Booklist Cycle 1: Ancient History

Welcome all Classical Conversation families! Additionally, welcome to homeschooling families that use this list to supplement their ancient history study!

A few notes about the arrangement of books in this post:

  1. This booklist is a tool and not a checklist! Please use it to supplement your morning time routines or studies of CC memory work.
  2. My family will not read all these books listed each week. Instead, this will be a reference list for me to utilize in weekly book selections and in chapter book read alouds.
  3. The pictured links in the twenty-four week lists are my top suggestions for families new to Classical Conversations or with first year, abecedarian, students. I wanted to make this easy for you!
  4. The books are arranged in alphabetical order per week first by picture books, and then chapter books.
  5. Please leave any additional suggestions your family enjoys in the comments below. Thank you!

*All links below are affiliate links.

Week 1:


How Many Animals Were on the Ark?
Cabinet of Curiosities: Collecting and Understanding the Wonders of the Natural World
Karl, Get Out of the Garden!: Carolus Linnaeus and the Naming of Everything
The Seven Days of Creation
The Real Story of the Creation
The Real Story of the Flood
Adam and His Kin: The Lost History of Their Lives and Times
How to Think Like a Scientist: Answering Questions by the Scientific Method

Week 2:


The Assyrian Empire’s Three Attempts to Rule the World : Ancient History of the World | Children’s Ancient History
The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian’s Art Changed Science
Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reverso Poems

Week 3:


Something From Nothing
Snow in Jerusalem (Albert Whitman Prairie Books (Paperback))
The Bronze Bow

Week 4:


Hosni the Dreamer: An Arabian Tale
Pyramid
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

Week 5:



Cleopatra
Exodus
Pagoo
Temple Cat
The Egyptian Cinderella
the How and Why Wonder Book of Sea Shells
Tutankhamun
Boy of the pyramids, a mystery of ancient Egypt;
The Golden Goblet (Newbery Library, Puffin)
Mara, Daughter of the Nile (Puffin Story Books)

Week 6:


Galileo and the Stargazers
The Hero and the Minotaur
The Librarian Who Measured the Earth
Archimedes and the Door of Science (Living History Library)
The Children’s Homer: The Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy
The Children’s Homer (Audiobook)

Week 7:

Augustus Caesar’s World
Beyond the Desert Gate
The Bronze Bow
The Cat of Bubastes: A Tale of Ancient Egypt (Dover Children’s Classics)

Week 8:


From Cone to Pine Tree (Start to Finish Second Series)
Gandhi
I is for India (World Alphabets)
Oh Say Can You Seed?: All About Flowering Plants (Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library)
The King’s Chessboard (Picture Puffin Books)
The Story of Little Babaji

Week 9:



A Single Pebble: A Story of the Silk Road
Kites
Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China
Ruby’s Wish
The Curious Garden
The Empty Pot
The Magic Pillow
The Master Swordsman & the Magic Doorway: Two Legends from Ancient China
The Seven Chinese Brothers (Blue Ribbon Book)
Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt
The House of Sixty Fathers
Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze

Week 10:



Grandfather’s Journey
In the Eyes of the Cat: Japanese Poetry For All Seasons
A Tree Is Nice (Rise and Shine)(Science)
The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks (Picture Puffins)
Today And Today
My Side of the Mountain (Puffin Modern Classics)(Science)
Pocket Guide to the Outdoors: Based on My Side of the Mountain
The Big Wave (Deals with death and religion-Excellent book!)

Week 11:


The Reason for a Flower: A Book About Flowers, Pollen, and Seeds (Explore!)
This is Rome: A Children’s Classic
Polycarp of Smyrna (Heroes of the Faith)

Week 12:


Genghis Khan (Illustrated Biography)
Marco Polo

Week 13:


A Boy Named Giotto
Sam and Dave Dig a Hole (Irma S and James H Black Award for Excellence in Children’s Literature (Awards))
Zomo the Rabbit: A Trickster Tale from West Africa

Week 14:



Anna Hibiscus (Set in modern day Africa, but a beautiful and loveable story series that will charm your readers!)
Anna Hibiscus (The audiobook is equally beautiful!)
A Rock Can Be (Millbrook Picture Books)
Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain (Rise and Shine)
King of the Wind: The Story of the Godolphin Arabian
Masters of the Renaissance: Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and more

Week 15:



Around the World in a Hundred Years: From Henry the Navigator to Magellan
To the Top! Climbing the World’s Highest Mountain (Step-Into-Reading, Step 5)

Week 16:


The Corn Grows Ripe (Puffin Newbery Library)

Week 17:



Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale (Picture Puffin)
Stories From Africa
A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story (Violent content that may be suitable for your older children; however, a lovely story of hope and restoration.)

Week 18:

Secrets in Stone : All About Maya Hieroglyphics

Week 19:



Adelita: A Mexican Cinderella Story (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition)

Week 20:


Hallelujah Handel
The Snake Scientist (Scientists in the Field Series) (Geography)

Week 21:


Black Whiteness: Admiral Byrd Alone in the Antarctic (Science)

Week 22:


If You Were Me and Lived in…Peru: A Child’s Introduction to Cultures Around the World (Volume 12)
Lost City: The Discovery of Machu Picchu
My Name Is Gabriela/Me llamo Gabriela (Rise and Shine) (English, Multilingual and Spanish Edition)
Paddington (Geography)
Secret of the Andes (Puffin Book)

Week 23:


Chatter, Sing, Roar, Buzz: Poems about the Rain Forest (Poetry)
The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest
Victoria Goes to Brazil (Children Return to their Roots)

Week 24:

Additional Resources:

In studying ancient history, our children are exposed to many different religions and worldviews. A wonderful way to reinforce the Christian worldview within other cultural contexts and religions is through missionary biographies. Heroes Then and Now provide wonderful biographical accounts of missionaries in the countries we study in history and geography. If you are unfamiliar with this series, I would recommend this starter kit. It contains four missionaries in geographical locations we memorize this cycle and the fifth is Corey Ten Boom which you could use for geography;y and history study in Cycles 2 and 3.

You might also consider these two:

An action packed, science audio series we love in our home is Jonathon Park. Here is the first complete set; there are ten in all and we have enjoyed and learned so much from each and every one. This series reinforces the creation perspective and the effects of the world-wide flood.

Two excellent history resources that we used before include:


Story of the World, Volume 1 Publisher: Peace Hill Press (Audio Version)

For study of composers:

For a closer look at how children live in the countries found in our memory work this year consider this:

I am adding the Wilderking Trilogy by Jonathan Rogers after seeing a comment on the Classical Conversations Facebook Page that it is fantasy written allegorically to the life of King David. How exciting! So let’s say it fits shall we?  I have the first book already on my shelf and can’t wait to dive in. Also, listen to Sarah Mackenzie of the Read Aloud Revival speak with author, Jonathan Rogers about this series and his other works here.

Finally, this last book has been such a valuable resource not only in compiling this list, but in studying the world with our children on numerous occasions. If you don’t already own this book by Jamie Martin, you will want to add it to your library of books on books.

You can now purchase my book, Thirty Balloons: An Adoption Tale, on Amazon.

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Standing At the Gate

Last year my family took our first trip to Busch Gardens, a local theme park full of fabulous rides and amazing animals. We met up with some friends and our children quickly ran off to ride a few of the roller coasters. After several turns on Cobra’s Curse, a few of us wanted to try out Cheetah Hunt. Cheetah Hunt is known for its speed and length.

As several of the kids, and two of us parents, raced to the entrance, the park worker stopped my oldest son and measured him.

You have to be forty-eight inches to ride this particular roller coaster. Our son was only forty-six inches. His heart fell as did his dreams, and the empathetic feelings of this mama bear soared. We encouraged him that when he grew the required height we would be back to tackle the coaster.

Imagine his excitement as month after month he longed to grow those two additional inches to return and ride Cheetah Chase. Now, fast forward one year. Not only has our son grown three inches, we additionally purchased annual passes to Busch Gardens as our children’s Christmas presents.

Last week we took our first trip to enjoy our annual passes. The weather was a beautiful, crisp fifty-five degrees. While wonderfully unexpected cold weather for southern Florida, it was apparently not the ideal conditions for theme park rides as our two favorites were shut down for most of the day.

As we were about to exit the park without having rode a single coaster, we heard Cheetah Chase running and my two oldest kids and I ran to claim our place in line.

We patiently and expectantly waited our turn. Soon enough, we were the next to board, standing at the gate moments away from his and my first time on the ride when suddenly we hear, Ladies and gentlemen, we regret to inform you we are experiencing technical difficulties and Cheetah Chase will be closed at this time. We have no way of knowing how long a delay this will be. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Disappointment and sadness momentarily came over my son. We had to get back to my husband who was watching the two younger children, one of which most certainly needed a diaper change by now. I couldn’t wait an unknown time to be the first in line on a ride that had shut down multiple times that day. I didn’t think that would be wise of me as a mother. Let some other people be the first to try it I explained to my children after begrudgingly waiting five minutes for the problem to be fixed. All the while we waited watching a coaster full of people stuck a few feet away on the track.

As we were leaving the park, and a few times after that, I told my son how I was sorry we couldn’t ride Cheetah Chase, or even Cobra’s Curse, that day. But I was certain God was growing character in him, even as he had grown him already in height, and for that I was grateful. I explained to him that in the waiting he was developing character and patience. Delayed gratification is a good thing after all.

We as parents often pray for our children that they would grow like Christ, in wisdom, and stature, and in favor with God and man. (Luke 2:52) However, when it comes to the means that God may allow for that growth, we instead ask Him, please make a way for my child, please let this cup pass, please allow this process to speed along, please let him or her make the team Lord, please give them… xyz.

We ask for growth in wisdom and stature and we need to lean in and trust God’s processes even when it hurts. Moreover, we, you and I, emphasis on I, must learn to thank Him for those times. That’s hard! As fleshly parents we want the easy way for our kids. But the Bible tells us that God’s way is the straight and narrow road, even as His yoke is easy and His burden is light, and few find this way.  (See Matthew 11:30 and Matthew 7:13)

You see, my son has lamented his size in comparison to his peers only a few times. I’ve prayed and sympathized over it multiple times hoping he wouldn’t be burdened with comparison! He accepts who he is and leans into the gifts of determination, tenacity, grit, and encouragement that God has given him. Even if he doesn’t consciously recognize this at his young age. His size is something God is using to conform him to the image of Christ.

What about you? What are you standing at the gate of, next in line and awaiting your turn? What seems like you are forever waiting on? Now ask yourself, what lessons am I learning in this waiting? How have I changed as a person because of the delays in my life? So that, when your turn comes, when my turn comes, we will walk through the gate a changed person from the one that first approached it.

Standing at the gate with you,

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Training Our Children for Spiritual Warfare

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My nephew turned six in June, and for his birthday he requested to fly to Florida to see his cousins. Accompanied by my sister and mother, he flew to Tampa to celebrate with our family. That beautiful Monday morning with the palm trees towering just under the sunshine, we loaded up the car and drove to LEGOLAND in Kissimmee, Florida to celebrate. While my sister and I waited with three of our kids for the Flight Lessons roller coaster, I did what all parents do at some point: I worried about the safety of the ride. The what if’s seemed to flutter in my mind.

As we climbed aboard the flight coaster, our feet dangling beneath our seats, I asked the worker, this doesn’t go upside down right? He assured me that this roller coaster didn’t. All the same, as the coaster began, I reached over and grabbed my son’s arm and held on tight. Let go mama! he politely squealed with excitement. No! I am holding on, buddy. As he wriggled his arm away for the second time with the biggest grin on his face, I acquiesced…but then later grabbed on again. In the event that something did malfunction, I am quite certain my arm would most likely have been a futile safety net. But it did wonders for my conscience.

Isn’t your child’s first (or maybe 200th) time on a roller coaster a bit of a foreshadowing of the rush of feelings we as parents have when our children approach adolescence and then soon after head out the door to college? We work to ensure that every precaution is taken, instructions given and followed, or restated, reinforced, and tried again. Then we send them out the door with friends, off in the car for the first time alone, or out the door to make their own way in life most hopefully in the will and admonition of the Lord Jesus. We watch with baited breath as they are given more liberty and freedom, subsequently tempted, and then wait to see how they will respond. Will they stay the narrow course? Will they detour? Will they fall?

To continue reading and for Five Ways to Equip Your Children for Spiritual Warfare, head over to iBelieve.

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A Brief Note to Parents on the State of Humanity

A Somber 4th of July

Today we deeply mourn the loss of life and the latest evidences to the degradation of humanity within our culture. These days we can wear our grief like a cloak never fully making it to the wardrobe.

We have turned on one another; which frankly isn’t new in human history. However, this turning against our brother at this scale and with this fervency is new in the course of recent history within our own particular sphere of the globe.

Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream that little black boys and little black girls would hold the hands of little white boys and little white girls as brothers and sisters. I would argue that his dream has been realized. I am sure of it. I witnessed this dream in action only this morning.

Loading up the kids, we headed to the local zoo. Inside the zoo were a slew of children at the splash park area. Brown, white, yellow, and black children all splashing together in the same water. Oblivious to the hateful murders of the night, they played together in one accord. The children were busy laughing in the warm Florida sun, sharing space and time in the chlorinated waters of the zoo playground where a mere 60 years ago this would have been unlawful for those not white skinned.

The color of a man’s skin need not have been an issue in our past, and it most certainly should not be one any more. Yet, we can’t get away from it all together in the grown-up world. Lord Jesus save us from ourselves.

I do not briefly address the audience on this blog today with any semblance of answers that are easy, quick, or flippant. Nor do so with any intent to sweep away the violence and loss of life occurring as recently as last night. But I come to you today offering hope and a few words of encouragement as we pause and grieve, weep, repent, pray, and express thanks to those who serve and protect.

There is much beauty and goodness in this world if we will take the time to witness it, and to create it. Today, I witnessed it in the laughter and play of children all shades of btown and tan on a splash pad.

Deeply saddened for the loss of life and the loss of humanity we see in our country, we need to remember this: Change starts inside our homes and reverberates throughout our culture and world. Press on dear friends as we grieve with those who grieve and mourn deeply the current situation. Change is possible by the grace of Jesus and our homes are perhaps our greatest, though indeed not our only, conduit for revival. Our job as parents is not easy…it never has been. Our task is significant…it has always been. Our time is now.

Even so come Lord Jesus,

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Investing in Eternity

 

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.

(Psalm 1:1-3, NIV, emphasis mine)

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Investing in eternity. That’s what parenting is. We plant the seeds of God’s word, prune and trim our little saplings, and bring rain and sunshine with life giving words and consistent discipline. Indeed, there are days where our words pour forth torrentially, but most days are steady streams of sunshine mixed with necessary watering and pruning as the need arises.

Our second sapling, Joshua, turned six last week. Over the last six years, we’ve diligently laid down tracks we pray he will continue to follow in the future as we tend to and nurture the young warrior God has given us. One discipline that we wanted to initiate in his sixth year, and soon to be our daughter’s eighth year, is that of saving. We’ve preached and modeled giving to God’s Kingdom, then enjoyed encouraging their dreams of giving their money away. But we haven’t as consistently modeled saving money for future use or for unforeseen needs.

On Wednesday afternoon of this week, I taxied Emily and Joshua to the local bank to open his savings account. He decided to place all of his birthday money into the savings account, which I thought was a wise decision. As we waited for the banker that would be assisting us, the lead teller walked by and we told her of Joshua’s plans. She said, “That will make your money grow!” Joshua looked a me and said, “Really mom? Will it make my money grow?” I smiled and answered his question as simply as I could to a degree satisfactory to him.

Finally, our turn arrived to fill out the appropriate paperwork for Joshua’s savings account. We gave the banker the necessary documentation (for future reference, be sure and have your child’s social security number on hand, I had to drive home and get his) and waited for him to process the request. As the banker walked away to gather the account number, he too stated, “Are you ready to watch your money grow?” When he had left us, I sensed the Holy Spirit telling me to share with Joshua the ways in which we watch our money grow.

“Joshua, come here sweetie, I want to tell you something,” I coaxed as he hopped into my lap. “There are two ways to watch your money grow, one is to invest your money in a savings account or investments which will grow your wealth on earth. The other, is to give it away to missions, or the poor, and by doing this, you grow your wealth and rewards in Heaven.” He looked at me and nodded his head in understanding, I continued, “I am so glad you are starting this savings account, and I am also glad when you give your money away to God.”

As Joshua nodded and said, “okay mama, I understand,” I gathered that was enough of a money lesson for the time, but I could not ignore the weight of this teachable moment upon me as a parent. Each time we invest in teaching our kids about godly and biblical principles, we are investing in eternity. That moment it happened to be about finances, but it could have easily been something else to do with friendship, honesty, loyalty, or discipline. Each lesson waters the saplings our children currently are to enable them to become mighty oaks planted by streams of Living Water.

What are the teachable moments you have had with a young person or peer this week? How have you sensed the Holy Spirit prompting you to make a disciple? Please share your moment so that we can learn and rejoice with you.

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Your Kids Slow You Down… and That’s a Good Thing

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We all know kids take time, but do you ever feel as if your kids are slowing you down? Maybe you long to shop alone without the help of little hands? Or perhaps you wrap all of your Christmas presents at bed time because you know you can do it faster without the assistance? You are not alone! Please join me over at iBelieve to see why it is a good thing that your kids are slowing you down and how this points to the Father. Read this slowly here.

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The Meanderings of Motherhood

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The anticipated birth-day of each of our children come. Then as we are wheeled out to the car with our new little bundles in hand it is strange the feeling of surprise that there are no oaths to take or more papers to sign to take our child home and raise them. After all, foster care and adoption require nearly a left arm and two quarts of blood. Furthermore, many of us depart from the hospital with thoughts like are we ready for this?

I think those are feelings shared by most responsible parents when their children first arrive into the world from the safe confines of the womb. We count the days, weeks, then months of our children’s age to find that the years add up before we grasp the time with our minds, much less our hands.

As the years pass, the diaper bags are placed in the Goodwill or yard-sale pile. Next, the pack-and-play too finds a new home and the toys that we once tripped over have been replaced with big-kid toys we continue to trip over.

That’s the season of life we are in now. Legos have replaced teething-toys, and baby dolls and books have replaced boppy pillows and burp cloths.

I don’t carry a diaper bag anymore, but I rarely leave the house without a few snacks and a water bottle. Even though my children are five and seven, I think they still equate sight of me with hunger. Just ask my husband or the grandparents. The kids could have eaten minutes before I arrive home and one of the first sentences out of their mouths is, “Mom, I’m hungry.” Really?! It’s quite laughable.

Like the meandering path of a river, winding, bending, and curving its way to the sea, so too parenting is not a straight course. Sometimes our children will seem to be independent and free of their need for us in certain categories of life, only to need us greatly in similar categories once again. Occasionally, our well-developed children will hit a bump in the road and need us more than we anticipated at different points throughout our lives together.

I think about the choices my children will make as they grow. These are the easy years–I’ve been told, and I agree. The decisions they make at five and seven are far less reaching than at 12, 16, 18, 21, and even 35. Jesus wisely knows that as the course of our lives wind and bend to our final destination, that we will be prone to worry–not about the bend in front of us, but about the possibility of a twist in the rivers flow a few yards, or even a mile, down. He guides our worry with these words:

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Matthew 6:34, KJV

Prayer and praises to Jesus today, and prayer and praises to Jesus in the morrow. So the saying goes, and is good advice based on Matthew 6:34, One day at a time, sweet Jesus.

Prayerfully, our faithfulness in this day reaps rewards in the days to come. Therefore, we need not face this day with worry for the next that has not dawned.

The most precious gifts I have been given in this life are a result of one of the best choices I made in marrying their daddy. I am so grateful for the choices that led me to Ron and for the gift of being a mom to two of the most remarkable people I have ever met.

Happy Mother’s Day to each woman with children of your own and to all women of spiritual children in which you have invested love, prayers, and guidance. May this be a blessed Mother’s Day for you.

Take heart and fear not the morrow,

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I Have Not Love

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Jesus,

Help me. I have not love. At least not love enough.

Your Daughter,

Brooke

P.S.

I only love because you first loved me. Thank you…

How numerous the opportunities to kneel or to break by 10:00 in the morning! Today, the rare occasion in which the children awake me…at 6:00 no less; I choose to kneel. Sending daddy off to work; kneel again. A visit with Little E’s case manager, I kneel as the kids either obey the first time… or not. But wait, wait for it, here it comes…I bend…then break.

Crayons are given, coloring pages laid out, one book is read, and the starting of another. It is at this point it all comes unglued. I bend something mighty and the peace breaks into the very pieces which cannot be picked up.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.~John 13:34-35

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 1 Corinthians 13:1

If I am in fellowship with Christ, then shouldn’t I demonstrate love in action? Even with the provocations of three children? Instead, I bend and so went the clanging pieces of broken people clashing loud… the absence of patient love.

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People are fond of quoting the verse, “God is love.” But, C.S. Lewis rightly questions the meaning behind these words. Are we misusing these words as mere semantics for the thought that every love people express is God? Here is what Lewis has to say in this regard:

But they seem not to notice that the words “God is love” have no real meaning unless God contains at least two Persons. Love is something that one person has for another person. If God was a single person, then before the world was made, He was not love. Of course, what these people mean when they say that God is love is often something quite different: they really mean “Love is God.” They really mean that our feelings of love, however and wherever they arise, and whatever results they produce, are to  be treated with great respect. ~ Mere Christianity, p. 151

God is love expressed in his three state relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and then to His creation. To sustain my relationship with others I require the love of God as infused by daily filling of the Holy Spirit. The filling that I should seek and lean into through prayer and the reading and memorization of Scripture.

In the church, love is the most needed as the culmination of gifts that God has given His people: teaching, acts of service, giving, admonition, etc., are utilized. Whether preaching the gospel in our home,  to the body of Christ, or to a lost world, love is the essential key for others to see Christ in us; for others to know that we actually believe what we profess.  I realize this  especially when I have chosen to stomp my feet, dig in my heels, and demand the obedience that is required from our children as their mom.

Jerry Bridges perfectly illustrates the effects of the absence of love in the following story:

I remember hearing of one university student of whom it was said, “He can lead people to Christ, but no one wants to room with him.” Whether he could, given that immaturity of character, truly lead people to a saving knowledge of Christ may be questioned by some. But whether he could or not, it is true that a great big dose of love was needed to make him truly effective. ~ True Community: The Biblical Practice of Koinonia

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After the kids had listened to the second story and sat there as quietly as possible in obedience I penned the note above. I need more of Christ because I need to love others more… I must choose to kneel.

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Broken and Overflowing

“Mom, I need to go potty.” “Okay, go on and I will come and help you in a minute,” I told our middle son, Joshua. I, as usual, hurried to complete a few tasks and forgot about Joshua being in the bathroom. That is, until I heard the water running.  With Little E close on my heels, I hastily made my way to the bathroom door, only to find that it was locked. “Joshua, don’t lock mommy out of the bathroom honey.”

I reached for the gym clip above the door. Joshy calls it my key.  After a few tries I successfully unlocked the door, unprepared for what lay on the other side…

Picture my two year old, hands splashing in soapy water as it filled the sink to the brim and overflowed onto the floor. Within seconds I turned the water off, pushed the lever so the water would drain, and quickly dried my son’s hands. Then I grabbed my camera as any self-respecting, American mom of the twenty first century; digital documentation of woes is a must!

As I began my verbal correction, the sound of breaking glass in the hallway quickly diverted my attention. I knew instantly what the sound was…the teacup nightlight, a wedding gift we had used for the last ten and a half years of marriage. Little E experiences a gravitational pull towards electrical plugs and outlets; certainly of which included the hallway nightlight.

There we stood, the three of us, with Ron and Emily barely out of our neighborhood to run errands: puddles in the bathroom and glass on the floor.

I cleaned up the glass and instructed Joshua to wipe up the water with the towel I provided. In my mind I pondered how events could take such a quick turn, and how on earth do moms I know with four boys do it?

A few minutes later the boys were splashing in the bathtub, giggling and playing like the two adorable children that they are. I kneeled on the cold tile floor thinking how thankful they should be that they are cute!

God would have me live just like that moment: kneeling, broken and seeking the overflow of His presence. He loves a contrite and humble heart that knows life is more than we can handle independently. God strengthens my weak knees and feeble arms. He wants me to live out of the overflowing measure of the Living Water, Jesus Christ himself, that is available to all who would repent and believe…to all who would ask for His filling in our lives.

I wonder, do you have broken places that you need to confess to the Lord today? Are there areas in your life where an invitation to the Holy Spirit to come and do His work, to fill you with His desires and wisdom, needs to be extended? I certainly have those. God works in our lives according to His will, however, He longs, as most parents, for His children to seek out His help on their own initiative. Run to Daddy today dear friends and let us ask Him to take our broken lives and fill them to overflowing with His presence.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. ~1 Peter 5:6-7

 

 

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