Which One Are You?

The North Wind and the Sun had an argument one day. They disputed which of them was the stronger. A traveler came along the road at that time, and the Sun suggested a way to resolve the argument. Whoever was able to cause the traveler to remove his coat would be the stronger. The Wind accepted the challenge and the Sun hid himself behind a cloud. The Wind began to blow. Yet the harder he blew, the more the traveler clutched his coat about himself. The Wind sent rain, even hail. The traveler clung even more desperately to his coat. Finally, in despair, the Wind gave up. The Sun came out and began to shine all his glory upon the traveler. Quite soon the man had removed his coat. "How did you do that?", asked the Wind. "It was easy," said the Sun. "I lit the day." Through gentleness I got my way."





as i raise my girls, my desire for them is to be able to keep their gentle and soft spirits, yet keep a firm foundation as they travel though their awesome journey....choosing to do right, just becos it's right, not becos it's popular or easy, listening to God even when things are going perfect, learning that they only have the power to change themselves and to never attempt to dominate or control others.





in my experience it is only thru our choices and actions in our lives, that others may be able to look through us to see God's glory.




unfortunately, there will be many times in our lives that we will never see the full effect of just exactly how much we have been been a wind of change in so many lives. for my daughters, i challange you to walk in what may be one of the most difficult, but very much needed strengths...gentleness.

memos from your child

1. don't spoil me. i know quite well that i ought not to have all i ask for. i'm testing you.

2. don't be afraid to be firm with me. i prefer it; it makes me feel more secure.

3. don't let me form bad habits. i have to rely on you to detect them in the early stages.

4. don't make me feel smaller than i am. it only makes me behave stupidly big.

5. don't correct me in front of people if you can help it. i'll take much more notice if you talk quietly with me in private.

6. don't protect me from consequences. i need to learn the painful way sometimes.

7. don't nag. if you do, i shall have to protect myself by appearing deaf.

8. don't make rash promises. remember that i feel badly let down when promises are broken.

9. don't be inconsistent. that completely confuses me and makes me lose faith in you.

10. don't tell me my fears are silly. they are terribly real and you can do much to reassure me if you try to understand.

11. don't put me off when i ask questions. if you do you will find that i stop asking and seek my information elsewhere.

12. don't ever suggest that you are perfect or infallible. it gives me too great a shock when i discover you are neither.

13. don't ever think it is beneath your dignity to apologize to me. an honest apology makes me feel surprisingly warm toward you.

14. don't forget how quickly i am growing up. it must be very difficult for you to keep pace with me, but please try.

*lists to live by; gray, stephens, diest

Good Times!

the girls were invited to do their intepretive sign worship dance (praise in motion) this weekend at the "battle of the bands". the weather was beautiful, just a little on the hot side! the hosting church did a great job at providing a variety of things to do and keeping even the little kids entertained. got to meet some new and great people (hey "bill") and got to spend some much needed time with some very dear friends.

there were lots of bands there through out the day and one of them was "beggers promise" and another was called "33" something. they were very hard rock.

stacy, the girl that sings with the girls entered a contest they were having and she won the local american idol, so that was exciting, too.

then a group of us went to eat at chili's and that was great, as well.

The Baddest Boy in the Bible

i've begin reading a book, sent to my by a very dear friend..."the sampson syndrome". in the last few months i've read lots of "guy" books, and just today i think it hit me as to to why. well actually, there are probably two reasons...i have been blessed with all girls and (1) thru the years we've read so many "girl" books, and (2) realizing that my girls are somewhat (ok VERY) interested in guys, i figure i better stay a step ahead of them. (grin) seriously, i do see my girls' personalities and hearts coming alive and see them looking to their future.

i'm not feeling stressed, yet i do feel it's my responsibility to have wisdom for them as they ask. not that i have all the perfect answers, but that at least they can have some options from someone they trust. i've covered everything in prayer and now i'm enjoying learning from others who are much wiser than me.

so, anyway the sampson syndrome talks about strong guys. my girls are definitley drawn to the strong type guy...i don't mean the macho, physically strong, but the inside strength that God created in them. the kind of strength that shows that God gave men everything they need to "make it happen", "succeed", "come thru". as john eldredge puts it "do guys really dream of being a nice guy, or do they dream of being dashing? and girls, are you looking for nice, or do you dream of the knight and shining armor....strong enough, brave enough to resque you from the villians." (paraphrased)

to me their are two types of guys...guys who aren't afriad to be leaders (even tho they may fail at times) and the ones that won't even consider leading (becos they already know they will fail).

of course as i study sampson, i see that he has no problem accepting the leadership role, however allows his strength to get in his way. men of strength have many great aspects...full of adventure, fun, excitment. at the same time there are many tendencies that can cause these mighty warriors to fall. some of these things may be, strong men tend to

1. break rules...sometimes they find it difficult to realize that most rules are good. take any rule you can think of and ask yourself what what happens if everybody disobeyed it. your imagination will tell you if it's a good rule.

2. disregard boundries...not that they wake up one day and suddenly decide to trash their bounderies. instead they generally slip gradually into a life of disobedience by making a series of small compromises....and all the time relying on their great strength to be the saftey net. "i can handle it" was probably sampson's motto.

3. ignore good advice...they often are bound and determined to do things their way, even at the risk of disaster. sampson is a perfect example of what can happen when strong, capable men close their ears to good advice. the book suggest that strong men tend to feel that asking for advice appears to make them seem weak. when actually, look at some of the most strong, successful men in history...they have surrounded themselves with great advisors. it's said that woodrow wilson once asked a member of his staff to identify the most intelligent, most informed, and most eloquent member of the opposing political party. "what for?" the staffer asked. "becos i want to hire him," wilson responded. "hire him , what in the world for?" "i want to keep me from going blind." wilson said. point is before you willingly blind yourself to all opposing points of view, stop and consider a simple but powerful truth that pres. wilson must have understood: the world is full of people who have achieved great success without doing things your way.

these are just 3 of the 12 negative tendancies that this study gives. and i must say that "strong" men have sooooo many great postive effects and purposes. and personally i hate focusing on negatives, but there's just wisdom in knowing some things.

The Crown of Creation

God sets his own image on the earth. He creates a being like himself. He creates a son.

"The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." Gen. 2:7

It is nearing the end of the sixth day, the end of the Creator's great labor, as Adam steps forth, the image of God, the triumph of his work. He alone is prounouned the son of God. Nothing in creation even comes close. Picture Michelangelo's David. He is....magnificient. Truly, the masterpiece seems complete. And yet, the Master says that something is not good, not right. Something is missing...and that something is Eve.

"The Lord God cast a deep slumber on the human, and he slept, and He took one of his ribs and closed oved the flesh where it had been, and the Lord God built the rib He had taken from the human into a woman and He brought her to the human. Gen 2:21-23

She is the crescendo, the final, astonishing work of God. Woman. In one last flourish creation comes to a finish not with Adam, but with Eve. She is the Master's finishing touch. How we wish this were an illustrated book, and we could show you now some painting or sculpture that captures this, like the stunning Greek sculpture of the goddess Nike of Samothrace, the winged beauty, just alighting on the prow of a great ship, her beautiful form revealed through the thin veils that sweep around her. Eve is...breathtaking.

Given the way creation unfolds, how it builds to ever higher and higher works of art, can there be any doubt that Eve is the crown of creation? Not an afterthought. Not a nice addition like an ornament on a tree. She is God's final touch, his pie'ce de re'sistance. She fills a place in the world nothing and no one else can fill.

j. eldredge-captivating

The Story of Cinderalla Turns Upon An Invitation

up until the moment that the courier from the palace arrives at her door, cinderella's life seems set in stone. she will always be a washerwoman, a cellar girl. her enemies will forever have the upper hand. she will live a life of enduring disappointments, though she will suffer them nobly. no other life seems ossible. this is her fate. then, word from the prince arrive--an invitation to a ball. it is at this point that everything breaks loose. her longings are awakened. her enemies becaome enreaged. and her life is never the same.

how gracious that it comes by invitation. as a woman, you don't need to strive or arrange; you don't need to make it happen. you only need to respond. granted, cinderalla's response took immense courage, courage that came only out of a deep desire to find the life her heart knew it was meant for. she WANTED to go. but it took courage not to abandon all hope even after she danced with the prince. (she ran back to the cellar, as we all do.) but she became the woman she was born to be, and the kingdom was never the same. it is a beautiful parable.

in much the same way, the invitations of God come to us in all sorts of ways. your heart itself, as a woman, is an invitation. an invitation delivered in the most intimate and personalized way. He has written something on your heart. a call to cultivate the beauty you hold inside, and to unveil your beauty on behalf of others. and it is a call to adventure, to become the ezer the world desperately needs you to be.

j. eldredge

Celebrate Your Differences!

1. EXTROVERT OR INTROVERT: extroverts love crowds while introverts would rather spend time in solitude or with a close friend. Extroverts are energized by people and intoverts are worn out by people.

2. SPENDER OR SAVER: if spenders have extra money, they want to spen--on themselves, on others, on worthy causes, on anything. if savers have extra money, they want to put it away for a rainy day. they do not like to spend uless it's very important.

3. PLANNER OR FLEXER: planners love structure with everything organized and neatly packaged. they like schedules and deadlines. flexers ben with the flow of life and take things as they come. they tend to be spontaneous and laid back. loose ends dont bother them because they believe everything will work out.

4. THINKER OR FEELER: thinkers focus on facts and principles. they base decisions on objective data and ten to be task oriented. feelers focus on people and emotions. they base decisions on subjective data and tend to be relationship oriented.

5. DREAMER OR WORKER: dreamers are creative people who love to come up with ideas. they are optimistic and oriented toward the future. workers are practical. they like to take other people's ideas and make them happen. they tend to be realistic and focus on the present.

6. COLLECTOR OR TOSSER: collectors gather things. they hate to throw anything away because they know they just might need it sometime. tossers get rid of things. they hate clutter and they insist that if you haven't used something recently, you probably never will.

7. JUGGLER OR HOLDER: jugglers are multichannedled and can deal with many things simultaneously. holders are singlechanneled and can only deal with one, maybe two, things at a time. if they try to do more, they become stressed and overwhelmed.

8. LOOKER OR LEAPER: leapers take risks; when they see an opportunity they want to jump on it before it's too late. lookers are more cautious. they like to carefully check everything out before making a decision.

9. OUTLINER OR DETAILER: outliners have a general focus and look at the big picture. they think in terms of direction and getting things done. detailers loook at the nuts and bolts. their concern is how to get things done.

s. stephens

as i look at this list, even tho' i think my way is always the best way (grin), i'm actually thankful that God allowed us to be different. life would sure be boring if everyone was just like me. but there are definitely challanges to having relationships with people, especially if we aren't able to celebrate the differences! so, look around and find a reason to be thankful when someone you love has a different perspective.