Simplifying… me

The way to my children’s hearts is through their tummies.  They love food.  They love thinking about food.  They love knowing what’s for dinner before breakfast is over.  And they loved every delectable bite of the Ritz crackers and string cheese I served them for snack this afternoon.

With that in mind, I decided that if we were to successfully pass on the value and practice of prayer and praise, then a good food analogy was in order.

Before we begin our family prayer time, we start out with “popcorn praise”.  It took some explaining as Jackson kept expecting a bowl of popcorn to accompany his words of praise for the first several nights, but he eventually figured it out.  ”Popcorn praise” is a time when we offer random words of thanksgiving and praise to God.  There is no order.  If  you have something you want to say to God, then go ahead and say it.  Be spontaneous.  Let it pop right out of your mouth like a kernel of popcorn in the popper.

“Enter his gates with THANKSGIVING and his courts with PRAISE; give THANKS to him and PRAISE his name!” Psalm 100:4.

After we spend a little time thanking God and praising Him, we have our “popsicle prayer” time.  A girlfriend of mine found this great idea on Pinterest, and she got me started with a bundle of wide craft sticks (”popsicle” sticks).  Everybody has someone or something new to pray for each night.  It is a pretty ingenius idea, and we have found it to be a great way to get the kids involved in- and take ownership of- our family prayer time.

Just to be clear: prayer time in our home is sometimes loud, sometimes long, sometimes short, and sometimes crazy.  Yet even while we are somewhat rough around the edges when it comes to prayer etiquette (ie: not interrupting your sister while she is thanking Jesus for you!), I feel immensely joyful having this special and quality prayer time with my kids, as well as confident that we are teaching them the value and practice of praise and prayer.

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:12.

My kids are Young Champions, and they have the medals to prove it.  They just completed a week long track and field clinic/outreach that our church puts on for the community.  All three of my kiddos had an amazing time making new friends, hanging out with old friends, and learning new skills.  It was a joy for me to watch them work hard and compete.  Jackson was in heaven for sure – winning and competition are his two favorite things.  For my girls, however, Young Champions was a few stretches beyond their comfort zones.  After the first night I was actually concerned that Sydney might withdraw from the clinic and end up sitting on the sidelines with me.  In the car ride home she unloaded her frustrations and anxieties about the track and field events: “I’m not fast!  I always lose!  I’m don’t jump high and I don’t throw far.  I’m going to lose everything!  It’s so embarrassing!”

My initial feeling was irritation.  Really?  Are you kidding me?  This was supposed to be fun.  You were supposed to enjoy the experience.  I wanted to lecture Sydney on all the reasons she shouldn’t be feeling upset and discouraged, and give her a good dose of “you should be grateful for the opportunity…” etc, etc.  But I didn’t.  Instead I asked her a few questions.

1. If you lose, will Mommy and Daddy stop loving you?

Sydney’s reply: No

2. If you lose, will God stop loving you?

Sydney’s reply: No

3. If you lose, will your friends not like you anymore?

Sydney’s reply: No

4. So, what’s the worst thing that can happen to you if you lose?

After a long pause, Sydney’s reply: I don’t know.

In a nutshell, if you lose Mommy and Daddy will still love you, God will still love you, and your friends are still going to love you and be your friend.  I guess the worst thing that will happen is that you will lose.  And that’s it.  If you can handle the feeling of losing, then you will be alright, because it won’t get any worse than that.  And really, it can only get better.

I’ve been trying to take my own advice lately.  Sometimes the unknown, or perhaps our worst fears, will keep us from enjoying a moment, or taking a step of faith.  I don’t know about you, but I can almost become paralyzed as the worst case scenario plays through my mind.  I’m learning to ask myself the same questions I asked Sydney: If this happens (worst case scenario) will God stop loving me?  Will Joel, and my family stop loving me?  Of course not!  So, the worst thing that could happen is this “thing”.  And if I can handle that, and with God’s help and love I will, then I will be alright.

Because it won’t get any worse than my worst case scenario.  And really, it can only get better.

We are a family of five.  A family of five packed with lots of personality.  There is never a dull moment in our home.  It’s lively.  Feisty.  Colorful.  Passionate and Diverse.

Naturally, with all this passion and diversity comes an awful lot of disagreement (you can only imagine).  Our more recent family verse could not have been more appropriate.

This scripture prompted some interesting dialogue.  ”What does unity in our family look like?”  ”What if we made every effort at working it out, and making it work with each other?”  ”What does it mean to be held together with the bond of peace?”

We set our goals.  We thought, each one of us, of what it would take to “make every effort”.

We are going on week #2 with these goals.  We are learning.  Unity takes time.  I figure, if God isn’t finished with me yet, refining and chipping away at the rough character issues in my life, then we can take another week to focus on “speaking with a calm voice,” “using words like ‘please’ and ‘thank you’,” and “no poking, no whining…”.

I love the way Joel expressed our need for this verse in our family to our children.  He explained that this is the way God desires for all of us Christians to treat and behave with one another.  We get to practice this in our home so we will know how to treat our brothers and sisters in Christ.

This summer we are working it out, and making it work.  We are making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace…and a whole lot of love too!