Day 10 - Mama Needed a Break

I don't know if The Preacher realized it, or if God just orchestrated our day in such a way, but Jason took the boys out with him for most of the day and I spend the morning and most of the afternoon with the girls and my Grandmother. I even fit in a little nap while Anna Ruth was snoozing. (Best part of the day!) It was a much needed break for this mama who is still battling laryngitis. Ew.

My fellas went rabbit hunting with some dear friends that are in town from Jacksonville, FL. I'm not sure they saw any rabbits, but the boys had a fantastic time running around and being boys.

After the trek through the outer reaches or Haralson County, Jason dropped the boys off with me at the newly renovated library (very nice!) and went to check on his grandmother, Mamaw Sanders, who has been put back into the hospital. Please stop now and ask God take care of this very special lady who has experienced more than her fair share of illness the last 3 weeks.

We met some of our BFFs at the library and we moms quickly decided that maybe a library wasn't the best place on the planet for 8 kiddos to play and catch-up on the goings on in kid world. So, we moved our little (he he) party to Chick-fil-A. Let me give a big fat shout-out to the inventor of the indoor playground - GENIUS! Thankfully, we were there for an early dinner so our babies got the run of the place for a good hour; they worked that little playroom over. Once other families began to arrive we figured it was time to move our brood home and call it a night - early.

I had my crew showered by 6:30 and settled in ready for a movie. I was attempting to start a fire - failing miserably - and Jason came in and saved the day. We watched Madagascar 3 (not as funny as the first 2) and they are all in bed before 9pm! Wah-hoo! We are learning that Denys really prefers the Tom & Jerry/Looney Tunes type movies and this wasn't his first choice tonight. Usually J & M will give in to his desires, but he was out voted and the creepy, but hysterical, King Julian won out.

Obviously we got no school done today, but without a voice that would have been an effort in futility and we would have all ended up frustrated. I figured I would let it go and shoot for Monday. No voice does mean that there's a certainly level of control I feel I don't have right now and attempting school might have added to that feeling. The finger snap is working and the "Mom Look" can still shoot flames into their souls. However, I miss a nice elevated vocal rebuke. Maybe it is time to get creative and look for other ways to keep attitudes and actions in check. Ideas?

It's better late than never, but pray for us all as we try to begin a real "routine" next week. We've got to get some discipline back into our lives and need to figure out what our new routine is going to be. Of course, throw New Year's into that mix and it's looking like Denys's entire trip here will be nothing but a big party. I feel we'll be doing him a bit of a disservice if that is the case, but am at a loss as to how to fix it. From the outside looking in, we play all the time. This mama is tired of playing and is ready for some order in her life and home again.

So, the 3 prayer requests tonight are:

Mamaw Sanders
A Voice
Returning to Discipline in our home!

~Meg

Why I ate Chick-fil-A Today

The recent political and moral outcry over the Biblically sound words of Chick-fil-A president, Dan Cathey, has weighed heavily on my heart. As a Christian, I find that I am both encouraged and appalled by the responses from both ends of the spectrum. I feel that most professing Christ have missed an amazing opportunity to share the true gospel with a world absorbed completely in its own sin.

  Christians taking a stand on biblical marriage must do so on the strong foundation of scripture that demands purity and holiness in every aspect of sexual life – not just the area pertaining to same-sex acts. If you choose to stand for Biblical marriage then you are choosing to make a statement about the appointed place of divinely created sexual activity and the recognized responsibility that sexuality bears. The resounding call for recognition of biblical marriage is first and foremost a call to Christians, to those who actually claim to be followers of Christ, to flee sexual impurity and to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy  of the gospel of Christ. We cannot afford to adopt the “Que sera’ sera’” attitude that seems to be pervading the Facebook posts and blogs. We cannot say, “You’re free to sleep with whomever you want to as long as you don’t tell me I can’t say what I want.” That is utter foolishness and is certainly not what taking a Biblical stand on marriage means.

 I am saddened that many of you are angered more because your freedom of speech has been questioned rather than realizing that the true, effectual stand to be holy and righteous in ALL our actions has been woefully neglected by the church as a whole these last hundred years or more. Beloved ones, this is tragedy in its truest form. I see that many of you are willing to trade this opportunity to repent and scrub your lives clean of sexual immorality because you would rather “speak your mind” and have no one find fault with your personal actions. Why in the world are we acting as though an angry response to a Biblical stand is surprising? We should expect the world to have something unfriendly to say about righteousness. As Christians, persecution is our lot in life. Jesus himself reminded us that the world hated him and it will love us no more. (John 15:18&19 explains this explicitly.) I find that not only are we surprised by any amount of negativity (I’ll not call angry posts on Facebook persecution), but our response is little better. We want to whine and cry that our freedom to speak our minds is being squashed. Beware of believing your freedom to speak is more important than your freedom to be a slave to Christ and of not using this opportunity to become more like Him.

 

My dear family, let us not forget that it wasn’t so long ago that we were the ones practicing sexual misconduct and any number of depraved and vile acts. We were separated from God by our sin, but thanks be to God for the glorious life, death and resurrection of his son, Jesus, by which we are free from all practices that separate us from Him. Are you born homosexual? I believe it’s probable seeing that we are all born in sin and not one of us is righteous. I was probably born angry with a terrible temper. Oh yes, we all have our struggles, and most of us, if honest, will confess to having some kind of struggle with sexuality. Guess what? As children of the King we are all called to the same righteous and holy standard of purity, regardless of our sin of choice. This is glory of salvation through Jesus that, in-spite of our pasts and who we were born to be, in Him we are NEW CREATIONS and we are made Remarkably Whole.

~Megan