{Day 28}: On Dwelling in Christ & Fast and Swirly Surprises

October 28, 2014 By: Angela Parlin

Welcome back to 31 Days of Love in Red Letters.

Today’s a really special day. It’s my 2nd child’s birthday, so before we dig in, a birthday shout-out…

I loved one little boy, and I do mean little, when this pregnancy surprised us. How in the world would I keep up with two babies? Then Ryder came shooting out. And I do mean shooting. He turned delivery into one of those fast and swirly fair rides, where you get off and say to all the blurry people around you, What just happened?

He’s been cruising through life ever since, all smiles and adventure, turning our days into super-fun, much less painful rides.

He was the first to grow me that extra heart. You know when you love your first baby so much, you have no idea how you could ever have room for the next? And then he arrives, like you’ve always known him, and you can’t believe you questioned it.

So happy birthday, my 2nd child. I couldn’t love you any more, Ry. You make me love surprises.

Now back to our study. We left off last Thursday in John 15, with the question, how do we bear good fruit?

Remain in me, as I also remain in you.

No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

I used to pray often for specific fruit to show up in my life. It felt like nothing changed. So I questioned how to remain in Christ, like there was some magical answer I hadn’t yet found. I sat with Jesus regularly, but didn’t see the results I hoped for.

I’d jump into my Mom Day, and my joy would leave the building by lunchtime. Or even 9 am. And patience? I’ve written about that before, in a post entitled In Which I Tidal-Wave. So you know, it’s a struggle.

I wanted to remain in Jesus. Actually, I wanted Him to remain in me and for that to be visible. But then I ran through days with so many obstacles, attitudes, and mishaps. With so many kids! 🙂

Finally, I gave up.

After hundreds of prayers begging for patience, I threw my hands up and told the Lord He would have to do all these things in me, because I couldn’t get it together.

Then the strangest things happened…

I started to understand and be overwhelmed by grace.

Beauty was everywhere, and it all pointed back to Him.

I worshiped Jesus, instead of focusing on my behavior.

I let go of results, and felt doomed to being double-minded and a bit of a rollercoaster forever. But over time, He formed fruit in me. When I admitted my inability and trusted His work and His timing.

I am convinced we don’t need to try so hard. We don’t need to work on specific attributes. We just need to be with Jesus. We need to continue to look to Jesus, to dwell in Him, and to thank Him for all He’s working together for good in all the ways we cannot see.

Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. {Live in Me, and I will live in you.} (AMP)

{Day 24}: When Opportunity Knocks

October 24, 2014 By: Angela Parlin

I learned about the contest a few days before the deadline, but knew right away I would enter. The biggest reason? FEEDBACK.

It’s not often a writer gets valuable feedback from an editor. So I’m told. The truth is, I don’t think I’ve ever submitted anything to a contest in my adult life. Shame on me.

Proverbs 31 Ministries, through COMPEL, their amazing writer’s training ministry, hoped to give each writer editorial feedback.

So when I opened the email during the middle of a school-at-home Wednesday, and it said ~ Angela, you won, as well as a couple paragraphs of positive feedback from the editor, I could not stop crying.

My kids sat there, confused.

Mom, what’s wrong?…But isn’t this a good thing, Mom?…I think this is a good thing!

This good thing is a blessing to me, and I’ve been praying it will bless others also. Click here to read my devotion, The Slavery of Striving.

Have a beautiful end-of-October weekend!

~Angela

When Homeschool Beats You

September 25, 2014 By: Angela Parlin

I’m going to say a few things about homeschool. But I want to make sure you know something first.

Before we decided to homeschool, it was the last thing I was ever going to do. I don’t think it’s a biblical mandate or the only right way to educate children. There are other excellent choices, and any choice carries with it both pros and cons.

Homeschool sounded a bit like torture, for the teacher I mean. To be honest, it sounded kinda terrible to do to my kids as well—like I would be keeping them from life rather than presenting them with opportunities. That’s how I used to see it.

But when I realized I couldn’t screw up kindergarten for a child who already devoured words like candy, we set out to homeschool. Only for that year. Except that now we’re in year 6.

Most days, I love homeschool, and our kids love it too. Our first 3 years, when friends asked me about our days, I gushed about books and plans and freedom.

But then came year 4. When we had the special opportunity to homeschool with a toddler in the house. And 3 others in separate grades.

To put it simply, homeschool beat me. I was ready to throw in the towel. We toured schools, and I prepared my heart to give it up after all I’d poured into it.

While we didn’t feel peace about scrapping the whole program, God changed my perspective in necessary ways through that process. Sometimes changing course is the right choice for a family, but it wasn’t for us, not then. We changed co-op groups and took our littlest to preschool last year, but we stuck with homeschooling.

Those 2 years felt like a neverending season. But now we’ve turned this corner where we’re able to complete our studies with time to spare, and we can get through a lesson without 18 interruptions and mounting frustration. Things are fun again. Some days are still hard–but that would be true with any educational choice.

Homeschooling is like a rollercoaster. It’s the same with parenting. And life. Sometimes things are running along smoothly and you’re clicking up to the top of the hill. You’re excited, you know where you’re headed, and you’re going the right direction. Other times, you’re on that rickety, curvy part where you never know what’s coming next, you’re not having any fun, and you’re pretty sure you’re going to puke. The only way through is through, but you see no end in sight.

If you’re in a beat-down season, remember it really is only a season. It may be an exceptionally long season, but you will look back one day and see God at work between the curves and spins and upside-down loop-de-loops.

I wish I could say having the right formula makes it magically easy to get through. But there’s no simple fix for hard seasons. We need to live through them and let life teach us. Yes, seek God. Acquire outside help. Change things up whenever necessary. But you’ll probably still need to puke.

Then the ride will end, and you’ll step back on, buckle up, and head toward those ups and downs all over again. It’s worth the ride. Turns out, there’s so much beauty in all this chaos.

Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. James 1:2-4, MSG

What Do You Need to Try?

September 3, 2014 By: Angela Parlin

I think we’re born thinking one of two ways.

I can do whatever I decide to do.

–Or–

I can’t.

A couple weeks ago, I read Bob Goff’s wonderful book, Love Does. In the middle of one of his stories, Bob said,

“When you’re in high school, you don’t give much thought to what you can’t do.”

This wasn’t at all the point of his book. But I highlighted it, because in high school, and every other kind of school, I thought often about what I couldn’t do.

I missed out on trying things because I assumed I couldn’t do them. Rather, I couldn’t do them right (on the very first try), but that’s another issue.

I see these two trains of thought in my boys. One of them needs us to persuade him often, that He can. We’ve been cheering him on since long before he wouldn’t enter the pool as a toddler. We’ve pushed him down tall slides and required him to learn to ride a bike without training wheels, only forcing him to get on or in when we knew it was in his best interest.

When he learned he could do it each time, he was surprised and thrilled. I think he’s growing out of the I can’ts, because he’s taking on all sorts of new challenges with confidence these days.

On the other hand, another of our boys is certain he’s going to rock the World Cup one day. Or anything else he decides to do. If he needs to improve, he’ll just practice more. It never occurs to him he might not pull it off. I can’t only comes out to play when schoolwork includes an exceptional amount of handwriting. Other than that, he doesn’t think about what he can’t do.

When I was young, I dreamed of painting, among other things. But I thought I needed some special talent. I thought I should do it well, right from the start, or it would be a waste–or I would be a failure. That was too much pressure. I hated to fail back then.

So I never tried.

Then we studied the late Grandma Moses as part of our Art curriculum. And up from the grave, this spunky little woman ignited a fire in me. She began painting in her late 70’s and created beautiful works of art for the rest of her life.

I poured myself into awakening the art within my children. But then realized, there was art to awaken in me.

It was my turn to stop holding myself back. A neighbor invited me to a painting class, so at three and a half decades, I first brushed color to canvas. I became an artist who practiced her art, wondering how I ever lived without all this color and creativity. It was love at first try.

And now every time I paint on my own or with others, I hear it.

I can. I really can.

It’s never too late to try something new. What have you always wanted to try? What have you always wanted to learn and do? Make a plan to do it now. This fall. 2014.

Because you can. You really can.

Who Will You Tell?

August 16, 2014 By: Angela Parlin

At the crack of every dawn, he burrows into our cozy bed like a puppy dog, making himself at home.

“I LOVE your big bed, Mommy!”

I roll out after cuddles and kisses, and little man stays. While his Daddy and I work on waking up, he jumps and dives, tosses pillows, and messes the whole bed up the way only a 3-year-old can.

At some point each morning, I tell him, “It’s time for no more jumps…time to make Mommy’s bed.” Of course, he wants to help. But he wants to do it his way. As do I, tugging and smoothing and rearranging.

There’s one forbidden little pillow that I keep in the corner. It used to belong front and center in the pillow pile, but now there’s a thread loose. Whenever we move it, tiny black sequins fall off onto the bed. I keep it around because it’s still beautiful, but I only use it on special days, like when company’s coming. The other days, it stays hidden in the corner beside the bed.

Little man just doesn’t understand my position on the sparkly pillow. He loves that pillow.

He considers every day a special day.

Without fail, he grabs it out of the corner when we’re making the bed. He jumps, and sequins fly.

I tell him to put it back. We don’t need it on the bed today. I don’t need more sequins to chase down today. He disagrees. We discuss it again, and again. Finally, this morning, he finds the right words for his argument.

He schools me in the art of love, from his little point of view.

“Mommy, I have to put the sparkly pillow on top…because you like the sparkly pillow, and then it means I Love You!

Oh my. How did I miss that in our argument over which way is better?

Sometimes it takes the little ones to show us how to really love.

Do it all. Spend it now. Say it big. Pull out the sparkly pillows.

Tell everyone you love, that you do. Don’t assume they already know. Don’t save it for later. Let them hear it again, today, now.

People are hurting and losing hope. At a luncheon yesterday, I listened to statistics about people who feel alone. Most of them live near or with others, but they don’t feel like anyone really cares.

Who will you care for today? Who will you tell of your love? Who will you show? With whom will you spend time and listen to and follow up with?

Who will you remind of a love that never fades or fails?

This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us. 1 John 4:10-12

Love is patient, love is kind.

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

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{Day 28}: On Dwelling in Christ & Fast and Swirly Surprises

Remain in me, as I also remain in you.

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{Day 24}: When Opportunity Knocks

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When Homeschool Beats You

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What Do You Need to Try?

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Who Will You Tell?

At the crack of every dawn, he burrows into our cozy bed like a puppy dog, making himself at home.

He considers every day a special day.

Do it all. Spend it now. Say it big. Pull out the sparkly pillows.

Like this:

Compassion International

Remain in me, as I also remain in you.

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At the crack of every dawn, he burrows into our cozy bed like a puppy dog, making himself at home.

He considers every day a special day.

Do it all. Spend it now. Say it big. Pull out the sparkly pillows.

Share this:

Like this:

Compassion International