Extreme Make Over

This is it. This is the summer we have decided to make-over our daughter's room. Last year the girls decided they wanted their own rooms and the only way we could make that happen is if one of them moved into the guest bedroom. One of them volunteered to move to the smaller, multi-functional room that currently looks like a hospital room - white and drab. Last time we spent any amount of time or effort on the kids rooms they were quite young. Dave and I made the decisions and they dutifully loved their rooms, or were too young to care!

This time around is different.

As is inevitable, our children are growing up, and being responsible parents, we are encouraging them to make wise decisions and in this case, to make wise decisions in spending and choice of personal expression in room decor.

The dilemma? Our tastes are different!

We look at bedding and I get really excited over a duvet cover and she completely shuts down!

I say, "oh, I love this pattern!" and she diplomatically says, "that looks like a mom pattern!"

I see a colour combination and code my dislike with, "Wow, that's bright," to which she responds, "I love that one!"

Now, there's part of me that wants to say, "You know this room decor has to have some longevity. We can't just pick something for now, we want it to last till you're done high school. (The possible deal maker/breaker and power play) I'm paying. (Icing on the cake) Aaaand, guests will be staying in your room!"

These statements all have truth to them but I have to admit that they are deceptive and selfish. I'm all for, and completely convicted about helping my daughter navigate through life in a godly manner. However, the difference between pleasing Mom and pleasing God can be likened to the difference between slavery and freedom respectively!

Words like "love", "grace", "Spirit-filled" and phrases like "freedom from sin" and "dying to self" come to mind. I believe strongly that God came not just to save us for eternity with Him in heaven but also that we are able to live well for Him here during our stay on earth as well. I believe God is the God of large and small moments. Only, it isn't easy to entrust myself fully to this Way.

My daughter and I have been on this road before for different issues and God has been faithful in changing my heart. I have tried to change and convince her using my own tactics, but they NEVER work. They only made her dig her heels in more and cause her to want to recoil into a ball of fear.

It was Truths like;
"A gentle answer turns away wrath." "Perfect love casts out all fear," and "Love comes from God" that spoke slow, gradual change into a heart that held tightly to personal expectations and dreams.

I am revisiting these promises anew, under new situations and with new questions.

Why can't her preferences be more like mine? It would be so much easier! I have such good rationale for these decisions and I know quality and longevity and trends so much better than she...

I am hit square between the eyes...

"You shall have no other gods before me." "Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?"

Well, we're in the throes of picking out paint colours. I'm extremely aware of the importance of my reactions and I think through the passage I've been reading over and over.

Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them-living and breathing God! Romans 8:5 MSG

So I'm believing God, knowing that even in these little moments He is faithful to grow me. More importantly, He is willing and able to perform the ultimate in extreme make overs; to work through my rather grim leanings to pass on a faith to my children that is filled with freedom and perfect love. That is my hope.

Seeing Things Through

Twenty-nine weekly lessons. About 4,350 practise minutes. Songs. Weight on bow. Bow hold. Scales. Positions. Rosin. Bow hold! Pizzicato. Open Strings. Bow Hold!!!



Initiation into orchestral playing. Joy in experiencing your part beautified by the contribution of other parts.



Two inspiring and world class concerts. The bold, emotional playing of Shauna Rolston; the passionate, gracious and expert playing of Colin Car.



Six weeks of interval training from run one minute, walk 2 minutes to run 10 minutes, walk one. Sun. Rain. Clouds. Humidity. Cramps. Sore shins. Chocolate milk. Gum. Feeling like the wind. Crying into the wind. Modifying training. Defying it.



Anticipating. Planning. Practising. Physical training and mental training.



Reaching goals in the Super Run together. Learning from the ups and downs. Celebrating the culmination of an event.






A lifetime of loving, praying, confessing, sacrifice, fear and growing. Of tears, pain and risk. Overwhelming joy and hope. Of trust in a loving God.



Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6

Lessons in the Classroom

Two years ago as part of the Brandon Jazz Festival, Suba Sankaran and Dylan Bell were doing a workshop with my vocal jazz group - Vocal Point. One of the warm up activities they did with us was a breathing exercise. They asked us to completely exhale all of the air in our lungs by the time they counted down from 10. We were to refrain from inhaling until further instructions. At 1, they then instructed us to exhale further. We all did. Of course the follow up question was, "why did you still have air to exhale when your instructions were to expel all your air?"
Hmmm.
So we tried it again. All the wiser.
Funny. Same thing happened again. We thought we were spent but there was still air to be had.

I felt I was in the middle of this exercise a few weeks ago - like I had expelled more air than normal. The startling realization that I had more to give. Only it wasn't air I was expelling - it was love.

I was able to sub in my eldest daughters class for a few days. I LOVED the experience. I LOVED being with her and being in the same school as all my kids. I LOVED having lunch with them in the family lunch room. First day was my request, second day was theirs!

The day and night before I went in, I prepared. I memorized every name with every face from the class photo we had at home along with a fact or two about each student.
I prayed.
I planned some fun math extras ("fun math" not meant to be an oxymoron!) should the opportunity arise.
I struggled with anxiety and spent time handing it over to God. Then I approached my eldest about my hopes for the days and also what I feared. Not surprisingly, we both had a few fears. She was worried about how the class would treat me. I was moved.

After the two days in the classroom, I felt I had worked harder than ever before! I wanted to think that I always gave as much as I could for each call I received. But this was different. As I was reflecting, I pondered the mix of personalities in the class as well as the opportunity to collaborate with the teacher ahead of time. This was a gift that I normally don't receive for the average sub call. I shared his strategies and I continued patterns the class already knew.
Perhaps the largest investment made was emotional. I can't remember ever caring so much for one person in the class; for ever wanting so much for the whole experience of learning and relationships around this one person to be as excellent as possible given all the variables that were present in this situation. My deepest desire was that God's love be evident in the way I transferred information, checked on progress, walked with them through questions, interacted with them casually, and my response to misbehaviour. I wanted everything to go well for the sake of the one.

What was so striking to me during my reflection was the unveiling of God's love to me; love given to us all. That determined work of God to keep each one of us obedient by giving us His Spirit and sacrifice through Jesus (1 Peter 1:2.) The great lengths that God will and has gone through to love us to Himself. We can see this love through so many things, through information that is passed down to us through God's Word, through moments of victory achieved that can only be attributed to God, through the forgiveness He graciously grants as we forget and fall into wrong, how He walks us through our questions and unbeliefs, how He calls us to Himself through moments of sanctuary in our days, how He orchestrates the details of our lives and how He loves us through the caring acts of others in our lives.
He wants to save us.

He has a gracious habit of saving people like Noah, Lot, Daniel,Paul... This message is threaded through the Bible. It would make sense that we, His image bearers, would find significance in living a way that would point others to this saving grace through our daily work.

I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3: 16 - 21

Unearthing the Murky

This past week I have been saturated with messages about being thankful. These messages have permeated my mind through printed word, radio, computer, and spoken word. The force of the repetitions were plentiful and diverse and very convincing. It felt like they were meant to wash away a bit of the murkiness I had been experiencing regarding the rhythm of my days. It has been refreshing. A miracle of the soul. Answered prayer.

It has been a Psalm 119:105 gift.

"Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path."

I have a stirring memory from my college days of working through a passage of technical difficulty with my wonderful piano instructor. She would encourage the hours of intense and deliberate practise. She would beautifully demonstrate what it could sound like, describe how I should wrestle with the keys and coordinate both body and mind to submit to the beauties and intricacies of the music. Her confident statement following this masterful teaching was unforgettable and exactly what a struggling musician needed to hear. "Keep going through the motions, keep rehearsing these techniques and practising your musical imagination and someday it will fly. Your music will soar!" She said it with flair and conviction.

She was right.
Practise.
Perseverance.
Hope.
Taking flight.

Ephesians 1:17-19a

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe.

Thank you God, for your extravagant love.

Clothed with Intention

Yesterday, I witnessed this beautiful scene.

Alexander has been getting ready for soccer season and was trying on hand-me-down soccer socks from the girls. He was having trouble getting the socks on and his sister jumped in to help. Beautiful!

This morning, I woke up to this scene below; a very excited 6 year old ready for his first soccer game tonight. Everything was laid out so that he would be ready for his game after supper! I LOVE it!!!

This is a boy clothed with intention!

Years ago when my Lauren (in the purple shirt) was just a babe, I met regularly with a mentor who spoke of and showed what it meant to live a life of intention. At that time in my life I was not all that intentional. Stated simply, I believed that if I did the things I knew a believer was to do that good would result. My mentor's purposeful way of growing personal faith, family and church were intriguing and inspiring. It made sense but seemed overwhelming. Where should I start? Would I know how to do it? And how to keep doing it? God really planted a seed in my heart through her living example. It pushed me to look for answers to these questions and ignited a desire to live a life full of intention. The longer I am intentional the more my intentions line up to the goal of knowing God more.
It is a lot of work and it doesn't always turn out the way I thought but living with intention is a hope-filled way of learning while doing life and is a lot less disappointing than letting things happen by chance. I loved the point Beth made at the simulcast the other week, "we will not walk in security by accident. We need to make up our minds to use the will God gave us"
Intention has made its ways into various levels of our family and personal living. It affects so many decisions regarding things from meal planning, to my quiet time, to our family nights to name a few. I have come to find that making up my mind to do and believe something that mirrors what I am learning from the Word of God creates more room for my heart to respond accordingly.
So, my son, thanks for the reminder to purposefully, and with unmatched enthusiasm, (to choose and) prepare for each activity I am involved in.