Innocence of a child

This is my favorite little man in the whole world. His name is Steven and he is 5 months old. He is my cousin, and he has brought so much joy to my heart!

It's hard to believe that a little baby could teach us so much about life, but he has taught me a lot in his 5 months.

The thing that touches me the most about this little child is his innocence. He looks into the eyes of those caring for him with complete trust. He is dependent for everything in his life right now.

As he grows, he is getting more independent. He can roll over by himself now, and he can almost hold his bottle by himself. He laughs all of the time (well, except when he's hungry and man, has that kid got some lungs!).

He will continue to grow and learn to do things on his own; and as his independence increases, he will not need those around him to do things for him like he needs us to now. I can already hear him in my mind say "I can do it myself!". He will think he doesn't need us anymore.

Don't we treat God that way at times?

When we come to Christ as a baby Christian, we become dependent on the "milk" of the Gospel. It feeds us and nourishes us, and as we grow, we move from "milk" to "meat". Sometimes, meat gets a little hard to chew...and we want to spit it out and move back to the "milk" that's easier to swallow. But when you grow up, you can't live on milk like you did when you were a baby; you have to eat "meat" to survive. Your diet must consist of something with substance; so your spiritual life must grow on the meat of the Gospel - the substance of it allowing you to live in Christ.

Our independence also gets in the way as we grow - we feel we become "self-sufficient" and tend to look at God and say, "I can do it myself!".

But we can't. John the Baptist knew this and said, "He must increase but I must decrease" (John 3:30). The Christian life seems a little backwards to those who don't know Jesus - as we grow, we "decrease" and allow Him to live through us. We become less dependent on the world and on ourselves, and more dependent on Him.

God's goal is to make us more like His Son. We need to move out of the way and let Him do His work in us. Jesus tells us in Mark 10:13-16:

13And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them.
14But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
15Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.
16And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.

We need to come to Jesus with the innocence of a child - with complete trust and dependence on Him for everything. And as God grows us to be more like His Son, we need to allow that trust and dependence to grow.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm tired of saying, "I can do it myself".

It's just what's on my mind.

Husbands...Wives...blessing!

It was an interesting weekend.

One thing that happened last night at home was that I woke up around midnight with this little tickling on my leg. Half asleep, I reached down and scratched…then I felt it again. I sat up and looked, and in the faint light coming from the window, it looked like I had a huge monster on my leg. I brushed it off in the floor and immediately identified what I call a “water cricket”. We used to find them in the bathrooms at Camp Little Cross Roads when I worked there. For those of you who still don’t know what that is, to me it’s the body of a cricket with the legs of a spider, and they can jump like crazy! I chased him into the hall with my shoe, and then the little guy met his maker. I don’t like anything waking me up.

I went back to bed and felt another tickling, this time in my heart. I brushed it off. I tried to go back to sleep. Then I woke up and looked, and it seemed like a huge monster in my heart. It was called anger – and it was not Godly. And God had to show me what it looked like. And just like the water cricket met his maker last night, my heart had to meet its maker…and it wasn’t God that put this feeling there.

The verse on my calendar this morning was this “See if there be any bad thing in me. Lead me on the road to everlasting life – Psalm 139:24”. God continues to work on all of our hearts…and He reminds us to love each other in the process. I need to remember that.

I thought about obedience, and the things that God puts in our lives to orchestrate His purpose – and how He uses circumstances, and His Word to show us His way. And about how when we are obedient to the roles that He has given us, he not only allows us to show His love to others but will reward us in His time. I had a conversation recently with a friend who shared this story with me:

She said that last year, she was asked to fill in for a few weeks and teach a Sunday School class at her church. She said she immediately accepted, but when she went home and told her husband, he had a problem with it. Knowing that for whatever his reasons were, he did not want her to take this role, she called and explained to the Sunday School director that if this teaching role was going to cause conflict in her home, that she would have to say no. Her answer was greeted with the utmost understanding.

Now, fast forward a year. This friend of mine was at church recently and the church needed someone to fill in teaching a class for a few weeks. This woman and her husband were a part of the discussion, and it was decided that two of the class members would teach two of the Sundays, but they needed one more person. My friend’s husband spoke up and said that he knew someone that would be incredible for the job. My friend said she stared at him, waiting for him to make this great revelation, and this man pointed to his wife and said, “She can do it.” My friend said she almost fell out of her seat, but she remembered the year before when she had respected his wishes and declined the position, being obedient to God by being obedient to her husband. God used that experience, and the time during that year to grow her husband’s heart, and he used her obedience as part of that lesson. My friend said to me that she knows God calls her to do things, but He has called her first and foremost to be a wife to her husband. And in her obedience, they both grew.


This story so touched my heart that I had to share it with you all today. I pray that if God ever sends the right man my way, that I can love God and love my husband enough to be an example of a Godly wife.

“Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives.” 1 Peter 3:1

Our hearts can get so cluttered that we forget what’s right and good, and that is to obey God as He has called us to obey Him, in the circumstances He has placed us in. Our hearts can get dirty and we don’t even know it…it may seem like a tiny tickling feeling, and turn out to be a darkness eating away at us inside. We need to ask the Lord to show us if there is any bad thing in us, any disobedience…any selfishness disguised as “righteousness”. I just pray He continues to help me learn humility by submitting to Him and those around me.

It’s just what’s on my mind.

Are you stealing someone's joy?

Are you stealing someone’s joy?

I remember when I was in college and I would get really excited about something, then someone would come along and bust my bubble. My dear friend, Vicki, would say to me “Don’t let the devil steal your joy!”

I have been wondering in the past few weeks if the devil ever uses me to steal someone’s joy. Or more than that, do I ever get in the way of someone else’s opportunity to serve?

I think sometimes we get so caught up in wanting to serve that we forget those around us and their desire to serve the same Lord that we serve. We get to a place where we feel like if we don’t do it personally, it won’t get done right. I see people around me every day, in different churches and circumstances, running themselves ragged and then see others wanting to help and not knowing how to jump in, some of them even feeling that there’s not a place for them. As we mature in Christ, it is our responsibility to take others and disciple them…to teach them about the Lord we serve and not deny them the opportunity to learn more about Him and serve Him the best way that they can. Everyone has a gift and the Lord can use all of our gifts for His glory. We get joy from the Lord when we serve Him with the right heart. Does your heart feel that joy when you serve? If not, maybe it’s time to step back and pray and make sure you are serving for the right reasons.

Paul tells us about the Body of Christ:

1 Corinthians 12:11-13 (New International Version)
11All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.
12The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by[a] one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

None of us can do it alone – each one of us is a part of the Body of Christ. Hands can’t function without arms, feet can’t function without legs. Can you imagine trying to walk without toes? A head may have a brain, but the head and the brain can’t live without a heart to pump blood, blood can’t circulate without veins and arteries, veins and arteries would just be hanging out if we didn’t have skin to cover us, skin would just be floppy if we didn’t have bones…get the picture? The parts can’t function on their own – we need our entire body to be able to function (except I can’t quite figure out that little hangy-thing at the back of my throat and what it does).


Sometimes we can get so caught up in service that we forget Who we are serving. Keith Green once said, “Don’t get so caught up in the work of the Lord that you forget the Lord of the work”. If we so busy serving that we are actually forgetting the people around us, then maybe we have lost our focus. Maybe we need our spiritual eyes to be opened and for God to show us what’s wrong.


Most of all, let’s not get in God’s Way – He’s been doing things for years without our help. I’m thankful He chooses to use me – and I need to remember that He’s still in control no matter what happens. Even if we mess up and fall, He is going to use that experience for His glory.
It’s just what’s on my mind….