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.