Visiting the Subject of Messes

For He Himself is our peace...Ephesians 2:14

Those few words say so much. They keep coming to my mind, put there, no doubt, by my Father. You see, I look around and I see messes - lots of messes. And what do I hear in my mind when I see the messes? You are a failure. This is failure. Yes, I know, it's a very narrow, earth-bound line of thinking.

Very quietly, that is what the Lord is showing me - that this thinking, this failure stuff, is not from Him, because here's the thing: the messes are inevitable. If I seek to find my peace in having a consistently orderly home, I will not only not have peace, I think I would go insane! He Himself is my peace.

And, He's having me take stock: are the Important things being handled? Am I feeding myself God's Word, am I talking with Him throughout the day? Am I training my children to know Him, love Him, seek Him? Has He not provided us with food and clothing and shelter? Yes.

Failure would be not pointing my children toward the Lord. It would be putting other things before Him, in terms of what consumes my thinking and my time. I surely do fail in the real sense, and there is grace. But these messes - they are not failure. They are life.

So, I will go forward in this day, thanking Him for all these things, for this season, for the new baby we all anticipate, for the privilege of knowing and serving the true God...

Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

*

Photos: a few doughnuts go far on a long homeschool day...Wednesdays are our toughest day of the week. Our Day Old Bread Store gives us a free 8 pack of tiny doughnuts every so often. Yesterday, they were just the thing to motivate quicker lunch-eating and produce some extra smiles in the middle of the day. The best part was turning my head and seeing CA's face covered in sugar-dust. She'd imitated the "doughnut eyes" the other girls were making. It was a good lunch. Oh, and the last picture - the kids see faces in everything...LC arranged her food so that it was a happy doughnut face.