Confession and Nest-Building

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:16

I have not often linked to other sites or blogs (well, the flurry of kid-and-friend happenings has changed that a bit of late), in an effort to keep things simple and streamlined here, but...

Have you ever been over to A Holy Experience? The author, Ann Voskamp, loves Jesus. She sees and records life as poetry, as beautiful prose. More importantly, when I read her posts, I'm treated to a heart-glimpse of a sister believer who is much further along in her vulnerability-ability than I am. Her words are seasoned with grace, yet there will always be a loving admonition along the way as you read from day to day...always pointing to Him, to His Word...

I've linked to a recent post of hers in which she was very open about her own failings. Later, as I pondered her candidness, I thought of it as confession. How often do we, do I, confess our sins to each other? I run from being wrong just like Adam and Eve did in the garden. That is Satan's trick, his deception: run and hide from your Maker! Hide yourself, hide your sin! But, we are commanded to do the opposite, of course, and confess our sins to our good, forgiving Savior, and to those whom we've sinned against.

Practically and emotionally speaking, confessing our sins to one another also goes so very far in helping us as Christians keep it real. What a relief to know that the struggle against sin is not unique to me...it is fight of every one of us who has ever been born and then Born Again.
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It is quieter than usual in my home this week. My two biggest girls are with their Gramma back east for the week. This was a very last minute plan hatched by my eldest the day before our family was to head back here to Texas. It was agreed upon by a very loving and adventurous grandmother.

So, the two younger girls and I are having some special times this week! But we will be very glad to get our EG and MK back.

LC has an endearing tendency to disappear quietly, with some really creative or kind idea in her head. I'll go to find her and usually be pleased (or amused) by what I find her doing. The other day, on the last day of school, I found her in the back yard, building a nest.

We have a nature box that I keep on top of the refrigerator. It holds shells, snakeskins, egg shells, feathers, rocks, and a nest or two we've saved. She came to me, asking if I'd get down the box and let her have one of the nests for a while. In her usual way, she did not explain her intentions with it, nor did I ask...

When I did go looking for LC, I found her in the back yard with the following: the little nest on the ground beside her, a roll of tape, some small sticks, and a few leaves she'd pulled from the pear trees behind our fence. You can see the nest she was trying to copy in the top of the first photo.

It did something wonderful for this mama's heart to see the way her mind works, that she'd dream big like that, disappear, and try to make it happen, so quietly...oh, these girls, they are a blessing...

Nest building is really hard work, so I zipped inside and came out with a surprise for her: the rare treat of a cool capri-sun style drink.

Oh, and I heard her telling her Gramma about all this on the phone today: "I didn't know how [to build one], 'cause they take stuff from people's yawds and stuff...." She did not feel her efforts were a success...but what a delightful attempt!

Mercies, too many to count...but I'll try, and Father, give me eyes to see them, coming from Your Hand:

184 fuschia smoothie mustaches on my two little girls this morning at breakfast...they thought it was hilarious...liquified berries all over their mouths and faces

185 that CA is into wearing a little gold bracelet (costume jewelry of course) that she was given at Christmas by her great grandmother...slept in it last night

186 as I said goodbye to MK on Sunday, I told her she could call me anytime. I loved that she said, "Can you get Gramma to put your number on a piece of paper?" (so she would have it on the ready - of my girls, she's the one who's most comforted by a quick phone call to the ones she misses...)

187 that BB whistles while he works...what's most precious: I very often notice him whistling through a task that he's doing for me, and many times it's a task I do not love and surely wouldn't whistle through

188 LC also whistles. She doesn't realize she's doing it. I love it.