The Art and Science Of...Me

Who am I?

That The Lord of all the earth,

would care to know my name...

would care to feel my hurt...

If you really knew me...you wouldn’t like me. Do you ever catch this thought beetling through your head. Usually followed closely by the troublesome: Am I good enough? Am I worthy? Or recently thanks to the popular rock song.... Am I pretty enough?

When I was a little girl I used to spend hours pretending to be somebody else...not just anybody, specifically those I perceived to be beautiful, attractive, successful, even fascinating. I was often frustrated by my gawky self, my unruly straw coloured hair, my voice that was just lacking “something”, my freckly face, chubby body and totally un-appealing flat chest!!! I longed to be as sensual as Sandra Dee (Olivia Newton-John in “Grease”), as beautiful as Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn in “My Fair Lady”), as free-spirited as Maria (Julie Andrews in “The Sound Of Music”) and I’m super embarrassed to say....as voluptuous as Dolly Parton!!! 

With these beauties of stage and screen to compare myself too, I never really stacked up! I often felt awkward and uncomfortable with my body, my singing voice, my “self” and my um lack of a bust! And then I stumbled over Psalm 139. And over time have come to accept the “me” that God made! It didn’t come easily! I didn’t wake up one morning and suddenly think “I’m gorgeous – strike a pose!” Quite the opposite actually. It took me a while. I would take all my insecurities, stinging comments (like “do you have a baby in your belly” when I wasn’t pregnant) to God and pour out my heart in prayer. There, curled up in a tight little ball in the arms of Jesus, repeating all those hurtful, critical remarks and comparing myself to someone else’s beautiful outsides....God slowly began to reveal to me just how carefully he put me together, how dear I am to Him, how He deliberately wired me for His plan and His purpose! And each time I come back and sit in His presence I am reminded that it only matters that I’m His! He knows me, He sees my very thoughts, He thinks about me more often than I can even comprehend....and He loves me just the way I am! Of course it helps that I married an Electrician, a fella that really sees me...and likes the way I’m wired!

God is with you and rescues you from your troubles. You are not alone in this world, quite the contrary actually. The one who lovingly pieced you together, who knows your very thoughts; has a plan and a purpose for your life! You are not some random collection of cells coming together unexpectedly...you are a delicate framework, put together with great care and consideration, knit together, formed in His image! I love that song that goes... “You made everything Glorious! You made everything Glorious! And I am yours....what does that make me?” He walks with you and calls you His own...How blessed are you to have God as your companion in life! Cling to that thought...God is with you! He will not forsake you! 

“even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” Psalm 139:10

 Read through Psalm 139

Take a moment to capture your thoughts; the verses that speak to your core and the areas you feel need ACTION

1) What jumps out at you?

2) How are you wired? What specific gifts and abilities has God given you?

3) Psalm 139 speaks volumes of a Father’s love...I love the verses about how His thoughts towards you outnumber the grains of sand. (vs 17-18) Take a moment to tell your LORD and Saviour what it is you love about Him? “How do I love thee...let me count thy ways”

4) SEARCH ME: Read Psalm139:23-24 Ask God to show you where you need a little “tweaking?”

Application verses:

Joshua 1:5

“As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Jeremiah 29:11

“For I know the plans I have for you”, declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”

Psalm 103:1-5

“Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits - who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

Psalm 103:12

“as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us”

Proverbs 20:24

“A man’s steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way?”

Proverbs 31:30

“Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.”

When tears Flow...

“When words fail, tears flow. Tears have a language all of their own, a tongue that needs no interpreter. In some mysterious way, our complex inner communication system knows when to admit its verbal limitations and the tears come. Did you know God takes special notice of those tears?

In Psalms 56:8 he tells us that he puts them in his bottle and enters them into the record he keeps of our lives.

David said, “The Lord has heard my weeping” (Psalm 6:8).

A tear drop on earth summons the King of Heaven.

Rather than being ashamed or disappointed the Lord takes note of our inner friction when hard times are oiled by tears. He turns the situation into moments of tenderness; he never forgets those crises in our lives when tears were shed.”

From Chuck Swindoll’s, “For Those Who Hurt”

Having Fun Yet?

The ache for home lies in all of us; The place where we can go as we are and not be questioned -Maya Angelou

From Karen A-D's cluttered desk… (Because she’s out, involved in frivolous or hectic activity!)

FUN=a source of enjoyment, amusement, diversion, etc. Pleasure, gaiety, or merriment. Jest or sport. Frivolous or hectic activity.

FUN! Have you ever heard the saying that “the family who plays together stays together”…? Perhaps you’ve heard it with the word ‘couple’ substituted for ‘family’. Either way, it’s a compelling thought for all of us parents today!

How do we put that ‘Fun’ element into action?

How do we make it happen?

How do we take our eyes and ears away from the tyranny of the urgent and turn them onto our little children, and spouse?

Those very people that we yearn to know deeply and walk through life in close relationship with! I think like everything worthwhile in life, we choose to! It’s up to us! We have the power in our own hands to determine the temperature of our homes… Our Fun-O-meter responds to the choices, decisions and actions we make! We need to step up here, take charge and make it happen, it’s up to us. Nobody wants to live a life of quiet desperation or frustration. We enter into this role of ‘Mum’ to train our little ones, to guide them, to love, nurture and protect them. The best way to do that is by making it fun for them and yourself! I admit there are times when I feel so overwhelmed that the idea of adding another thing to the agenda seems crazy… but then I take in a little bit of ‘perspective’… by asking myself; is it really going to matter in 5 years if this washing gets folded today? Or if the house was tidy today? I believe it’s going to matter more then, that the time I took away from doing those things and investing in a little silliness with my kids; dancing, reading, chasing, teasing, marveling, BEING…. is soo much more important and, necessary! Our lives are so crammed full of deadlines, schedules, meeting needs etc. that sometimes we need to take stock of where we’re headed long-term. As Dr. Heartsill Wilson put it….

A New Day

This is the beginning of a new day. God has given me this day to use as I will. I can waste it- or use it for good, but what I do today is important, because I am exchanging a day of my life for it! When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving in its place something that I have traded for it. I want it to be gain, and not loss; good, and not evil; success, and not failure; in order that I shall not regret the price that I have paid for it.

The easiest and most enjoyable way to do that for everybody; is with fun! I read recently that “your home will always be the most beautiful when you stretch out your arms in welcome!” So, I encourage you to welcome your children and your partner into your home with open arms, tender hearts, and joy on your face. Plan for and set aside a regular ‘family night’. Play board games, go on picnics, play dress-ups, lie down on the rug with your baby, go through a car-wash with your toddler sitting on your lap, turn up the radio, turn out the lights and have a disco night, run through the sprinkler on a hot summer’s day, lay out your sleeping bags in the lounge room and all have a sleep over watching movies and eating popcorn…. Add your own special touches to your family.

What do you want your kids to remember about you when they grow up?

Could it possibly be that they had a mum who was willing to play? My prayer for today is put so eloquently by Emilie Barnes: “Life is about Living! Dear Lord, let me live fully each day and find time for laughter so that Your joy is always evident in my home.”

Mirror Image

Isn’t it funny how we can just cruise on through daily life with nary a thought about those innocuous little things like the speckles of toothpaste splayed over the Bathroom mirror and then all of a sudden you can’t NOT notice.

Your reflection in the mirror seems marred by the artfully arranged spots – of, well, toothpaste spit eeeoooew- that your precious family have left there as evidence of their last several brushing episodes! Little darlings....

There’s a couple of ways to look at this I guess.

1. You have proof, they actually do clean their teeth!

2. your outward appearance really doesn’t matter that much or you would have noticed the “spots” sooner

3. or could it be more accurately said that you are lucky if you get Breakfast in the morning let alone time to put on your day face

4. you know it’s bad when your 5 year olds start playing dot to dot

5. you know who the culprits are because the “spot” line is considerably lower than your reflection

I think we are really good at going on our way, squeezing as much as we can out of each day. But every now and then the “spots” just stick out. They become glaringly obvious, and where we barely even noticed them yesterday, today we can’t stand them. Strangely reminiscent of our role as a parent. We cruise along, keeping everybody fed, afloat, organised, fed, bathed, happy, clean, wiped, fed etc and then their flaws slap us up the side of the head. Hello! You catch yourself thinking…

“Will he ever learn?” “Will they ever close their mouths when chewing their food?” “Will she ever learn to wipe her own bottom?” “Will I ever get a full night’s sleep?” “Will they just do what they’re told?” “Will I ever get on top of my washing?” “Actually will I ever get my washing sorted/folded/put away?” “Will I ever get to draw/read/watch a movie/eat my own meal/have an uninterrupted adult conversation again?”

I wonder if that is how God sees us. Are our profiles obscured by the spotty record of our comings and goings? Are our flaws more glaringly obvious on some days than others? Undoubtedly they are. However I believe that God is the only one who really sees us. Who overlooks the speckles of lingering “baggage” from our past that we insist on dragging around. And he loves us for the people we are. In his eyes you are nothing but a pure and beautiful person, and he loves you.

Psalm 139 (New International Version)

1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.

2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.

5 You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, ^[a] you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

17 How precious to ^[b] me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.

I’m off to clean by Bathroom mirror, to lovingly wipe away every spit and speckle left there by our children. And I’m going to do it with a thankful heart, thankful that God chose me to be their mum, thankful that they are a precious part of my life, thankful that most of the time I overlook these spots because I guess really in the scheme of things….it’s no biggie….

Thankful that you didn’t drop in today with it looking like that!!!!