Recently, I've been reading in Nehemiah. The story in a nutshell goes like this: Nehemiah is heartbroken for the state that things are in after the Jews have been in captivity in Babylonia for so many years. The Jews who remain (the remnant) are not able to protect themselves in Jerusalem because the walls of the city are torn down and burned. Nehemiah feels called by God to go and restore the walls, rebuilding them one brick at a time. It is a massive project, but he seeks the help of the remnant Israelites and they take on the project together slowly restoring the walls. They face opposition, but together undertake this massive project.
I cannot help, but see the correlation between the rebuilding of the walls by the remnant that was left and the rebuilding of the Church today. As a mother who stays home with three children (three and under), I feel as though I am quite consistently facing distraction to my primary task - raising up these children to be followers of Christ and World-Changers for Him....one stone at a time.
It is easy to get distracted. Good things come and I want to be a part of them... all good things, but I have to remind myself: "What is most important? What does God have for me right now?"
When Nehemiah faced opposition and distraction he said "I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down." (Nehemiah 6:3). This needs to be my motto.
I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down.
As families of the remnant (the last few Christ followers that remain in today's world), let us keep focused on our true work. Let us rebuild the Church, one child at a time, one life at a time, and not get distracted.
What's your great project (good work) that God is calling you? Are you getting distracted?
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This week as a family we have been talking about honor. Our verse is found in Romans 12:10 "Love one another deeply. Honor others more than yourselves."
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This week as a family we have been talking about honor. Our verse is found in Romans 12:10 "Love one another deeply. Honor others more than yourselves."
How do you teach a 3 year old and a 22 month old about honor?
Well, anyone who has spent much time around our family will know that our three year old has a special liking to a particular color... PINK. When I serve the kids their meals, I serve them on different colored plates (pink, blue, green, red). Well, as one can guess, Big Sis has to always have the pink plate. So, this week we decided to have a conversation about honor and it involved the "pink" plate. We talked about "honoring" others by putting others first and at meal time we would honor someone different by allowing them to eat off of the cherished pink plate.
We hung the pink plate on the fridge below our verse as a way to remember what it means to honor someone else (putting them first). This has proved to be a wonderful teaching technique (at least for my 3 year old). All week, she has been willing to give up the pink plate to her little brother. This would never have happened previously!
So, slowly, but surely we are showing some honor in our house this week!
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