Saturday, August 29, 2009

Button, Button!



Want others to see WordSpeak through your blog?



Copy and paste this into your HTML/Java Script to add a WordSpeak button on your blog:

<a href="http://www.wordspeakllc.blogspot.com/"> <img src="http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt52/JennieCBower/wordspeakbutton.jpg" />

I have to give credit where credit is due, and this blog with all its buttons and bows was created by my very talented 24-yr. old daughter. She can figure out just about anything (except perhaps her life). Blessings on you, Jennie!

Journey with me,

-L

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Things that Matter

As we breeze past summer, I am floored at how I can't seem to hold onto any season very long. I hardly even got a suntan and now we have to think about school, and pencils and paper and all the little assignments that have to be done, which is why I'm singing this mantra - pay attention to what matters.

People ask me all the time how I raised such good kids. It catches me off-guard when I hear the question, but then I started paying attention to all the little things I did that were profitable. I found it wasn't the big looming wisdom of the ages that guided my kids to do what was right, it was the little things that paved the way.

"He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much," (Luke 16:10). I've heard my husband say this so many times, and it was good for me and my kids to hear even though sometimes we felt he was nagging. When you make your bed, and put your things back where they belong, when you call people back, even the ones you want to avoid (like your mother or father), when you wipe off the counters after cleaning the dishes, when you say please and thank you, when you hang up wet towels, these are the things that matter.

For those of us who weren't trained to notice the little things, this can be annoying. Even so. . . I wish I had taught my kids more intentionally with the end in mind -- the end being thoughtful, productive people. I would have paid more attention to passing along the importance of doing the little things. Like writing thank you notes, for instance, for gifts from grandparents, or even special occasions.

Do you write thank you notes? I'd like to know what you think about that. I thought only old people cared about thank you notes. But recently I've found it delightful to hear back from someone that I have blessed in some little way. I guess that means I'm "mature." Oh dear.

Well, the good news is this - "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master" ( Matthew 25:21). Those little faithful actions get credit in the eternal scheme of things. God notices, not to mention your co-workers and family. Hope you get my drift.

Somehow I love you, even though I don't know who you are.
Journey with me,
-L

Monday, August 24, 2009

Journey with me

Today I am posting my first blog, on paper that is. Truth be known, I have been blogging in my mind for years, talking to a phantom audience full of people who feel like I used to feel - powerless to change anything.

At least, I hope you are there as I send this first post into cyberspace. I don't send it egotistically (thank heavens for spell check), but truly because I would hate for anyone to continue to feel like I did - worthless, ineffective, unguided, undeveloped and undiscovered.

I'm writing this blog because I wish someone had told me about the basics of life and parenting. Because they didn't the insecurities flourished. And yet, after all, I have managed to raise four amazingly productive kids who serve God and seem to love Him for real. They have turned out much wiser than I. And I've managed to write a book, WordSpeak: His Word, Your Voice, being published this spring by the WinePress Group.

I hope we will get to know one another along the way. It's not good to feel disconnected and isolated. So if you do, let me know. As for now, I will share with you in small increments, the incredible experiences I have walking with God in the business of living life. Whatever tidbits I have gathered that make life work, I will share with you. That's why I wrote the book and that's why I write this blog. This blog will serve as a personal connection to those who might be as clueless as I was.

I want to leave you with this thought: Pay attention. To yourself, your feelings, your kids, and those who matter to you. That's all for now. You'll see what I mean.

Journey with me,
-L