Contemplations of a Mommy "Monk"

Last week I challenged our students to do some math while they are doing school at home and to motivate them I promised to dye my hair blue if the majority of students participated.  I was thinking a little about how hard it is to be motivated to do your work from home when there isn't someone in front of you requiring you to sit down and get it done.  How hard it is, in general, to be self-motivated and self-disciplined without a clear goal, personal purpose, and possibly even a reward at the end of all that hard work. At the same time, our new puppy has been doing a lot of treat training in the past couple of weeks; a treat for sitting still, a treat for coming, a treat for going potty, for shaking my hand, for walking by my side, for obeying in general.  The 5-year-old lab, however, has to be sometimes be trained with negative reinforcement.  She won't listen or stay in the yard so she has to have the electric fence as a reminder of her boundaries. We can al...

It's been a month - 32 days since the Safe at Home order was first issued in Wisconsin and 44 days since school has been closed.  It's about this time that we need to remember to count our blessings and look for all the things to be thankful for and I'm going to try to find 32: 1.  It's been wonderful to be outside in the mornings with my beautiful Bella.  She lights up my day! 2.  Bailey and Jingle, the other two furry friends in our home also are a blessing. 3.  Morning coffee 4.  Peepers chirping each night and chickadees singing in the mornings 5.  Good books - I just finished Becoming by Michelle Obama and Educated   by Tara Westover 6.  Praise and worship music (Rend Collective does socially distant worship every week) 7.  Family time playing cards, board games, spike ball, etc 8. Baking and creating delicious beauty 9. Dusted off the espresso maker and finally figured out how to froth the milk 10....

On my many trips to the outdoors this week (you can't go anywhere else), I noticed that my daffodils were starting to sprout.  That's one thing I love about perennials - even though they've died off in the fall, they will grow new again each spring.  They are a beautiful visual of God's seasonal purposes and the value of a long winter's rest.  This whole coronavirus situation has got me thinking about growth.  There are lots of different kinds of growth.  Some growth is cyclical like my daffodils, hyacinths and brown eyed susans.  Death and rebirth reoccur regularly throughout the cycle of each plant's life.  Sometimes it feels like that in my spiritual life too.  I go through spiritually dry seasons where reading the Bible is a laborious task and nothing seems to awaken my soul.  And then I find myself thirsting for the Word, finding new insights daily, hearing God's voice on a regular basis as I seek Him each morning.   On the ...

28  “Come to me,  all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.   29  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,  for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.   30  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Have you ever noticed how dogs and cats can just lay down in the middle of the day, multiple times a day and fall sound asleep?  God made them with internal clocks that need breaks and sleep and truth be told, God made us with the same rhythms in our bodies.  We need rest and that's why God created the Sabbath.  God values our work but He tells us to rest from it one day out of seven, to set aside time for Him, for reflection, for quiet, for family.  I think He knew that we could get wrapped up in our work and never put it down and that if we weren't commanded to stop, sit down and rest, we would just try to keep going like the Energizer bunny.  But no matter how energ...

When I was a young adult, living away from home for the first time and feeling pretty alone in my faith, I found a way to be at church almost every time the doors were opened.  I took on a second job working at the preschool because I genuinely loved working with the people from church.  I hardly knew anyone and most people were old enough to be my grandmother or even great-grandmother, but I joined their prayer circle and I soaked up Sunday morning service even if it wasn't the denomination I was familiar with.  The old church was within walking distance of my apartment and it was a place of refuge from the world, an unwelcoming place for someone who wanted to follow God's Word, so it became my home away from home.  I was only there a short time but I dove into that church and served, and found joy and peace in the family of God. And here we are today in 2020 where the world is a bit unwelcoming in general (we have to be, I know).  And we can't meet together ...

2 Chronicles 7:14 "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." This is definitely a time for us as the body of Christ to come together in prayer.  There are so many things to pray for:  healing for those who have contracted COVID-19, safety for those who are vulnerable, that the spread of the virus would come to halt, for all our medical professionals on the front lines, and for the researchers who are trying to find a vaccine or medication that could lessen the symptoms.  YES, let's pray together for healing from this virus and let's fall on knees before God for His intervention because only He has power over disease.   But when I look at this commonly quoted verse in 2 Chronicles, I notice a few things:   One, what is the attitude and heart of this prayer? Two, what is it t...

As a part of a missions class, my daughter has to interview a missionary about their experiences.  We just dug through the bookshelf to find some great biographies for her to read as well - about people like the "Jungle Doctor," Hudson Taylor, Isobel Kuhn, Amy Carmichael and Elisabeth Elliot.  If you haven't read any of those biographies, I highly recommend them - those stories inspired me to be willing to go against the crowd, take big risks, do hard things and lay down my life for the cause of Christ.  I love to read biographies and get a feel for what it was like for those people who lived each day for the Lord, especially the really hard days. In all honesty, it's doubtful that you or I will have a biography quite like my spiritual heroes but regardless, we have a story that we are passing on to our children and our grandchildren.  This virus truly is a historic moment and we get to choose how we are going to handle and what will be remembered in history bo...