Hebrews - Stones and Hearts - Part 1

"Though some of them were but weak, yet others of them had gained more strength; and they must be provided for suitably. And, as those who are grown Christians must be willing to hear the plainest truths preached for the sake of the weak, so the weak must be willing to hear the more difficult and mysterious truths preached for the sake of those who are strong." -CBS Commentary

When someone asks you how the people of the old testament could be saved what would your answer be? 

for me I would have said, by faith, OR by following the law. 
I guess it never occured to me that the law was NEVER intended to save.
That is what studying Hebrews has made clear to me. I sort of knew it in the back of my mind but it never made a strong impression on me until studying the work of Christ and the emphasis on the inadequacy of the law.  
the law was:
- a way to obtain God's favor
- served as a vehicle to turn an undisciplined company of slaves into a strong nation
- a "type" of the work of Christ to come (an old testament "type" is a physical manifestation of a   truth or principle)

It says in James 2, that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called a friend of God.

It has only been and ever will be FAITH that saves. 
and true faith is manifest in obedience.
I'm pretty sure we get to that later in Hebrews but we have only studied through chapter 10.

 The Law and the Gospel are the two main revelations of how to be in relationship with God and they are not meant to be easily understood. Let's remind ourselves of that when we get overwhelmed in the details of bible study or when we get bored of the big picture sermons.These topics are HUGE! The first (the law) was imperfect and replaced by the perfect (Christ's  sacrifice and new covenant). Its amazing to me that even the old testament Isrealites knew, through the prophets, that God preferred an obedient spirit to sacrifice. The new testament Jewish believers understood this too. In studying the law and the supremacy of Christ we are immersed at once into both the simplest and most difficult teachings of our faith.  It's just another reminder to always go into your study/church service with the humbleness to be awed, and teachable. 

Forgiveness

Forgiving has been the theme of March in children's church. The children's memory verse is Colossians 3:13 "Forgive the things you are holding against one another. Forgive, just as the Lord forgave you." , and the motto is "when we don't forgive, we miss out". I didn't realize what an excellent parenting strategy this would be. The first graders and I were tossing a balloon from person to person with each repeating one word of the motto at a time until we all shouted, "we miss out!" together. I have been able to use this multiple times in the last two weeks. For example, yesterday Trinity was sitting by me reading to me and I misunderstood something she said and made a joke at her expense. She jumped up all mad, shouting that she would never sit by me again, (yeah right) but I was able to get her to stop and listen before she left the room. I apologized for the misunderstanding and unkind words and asked her to come back. She came back to the couch but started reading to herself. I said "don't you want to read out loud to me?", (which she loves) to which she replied, "I'm not reading out loud to you ever again". (words like EVER, NEVER, and ALWAYS are her favorite exaggerations) "Trinity," I said, "when you don't forgive, you miss out". She sat there for a minute and then began reading aloud again. Any strategy that makes a person take responsibility for their actions is a winner and opening their eyes at a young age to the effects of unforgiveness is huge. I have also used it once or twice in the context of a time out. Blake was not able to join in on an activity for a few minutes because he had an unforgiving attitude toward his sister. This upset him but the simplicity of telling him "when we don't forgive. . ." and him finishing "we miss out", cannot be denied. You might give it a try.

Room Swap

AS you all know I have been planning a room swap for some time now. Trinity is hitting double digits this summer and having her own bedroom seemed appropriate. This Friday we had some extra down time and so I began the process. It was a pretty smooth process over the weekend to get her twin set up in her own room and the crib set up in the boys' room. I finished an ikea expedit for storage in their room as well. I forgot to take before photos, whoops, but I have some middle of the tornado shots and then an almost finished product for Trin's room. Things still needed to do:
repaint/modpodge/make Trin's old dresser AWESOME
repaint her bookshelf
hang her art
put up two shelves
put up her lighting fixture (can't wait to see that)
buy and assemble or buy and make AWESOME hand me down desk
buy dresser on the cheap for boys/make AWESOME
find and hang art (I would like to print photos Isaac took on my iphone, right? cool, right?)
finish storage solutions for both rooms (some random toys still need homes)

and things that might be harder than furniture still to do:
-get trin to stop crying long enough to try her room out overnight (she is currently on the bottom bunk,  complaining about the hard mattress - princess much?)
-get Isaac to stop screaming and playing approx. 1 hour after bedtime so he doesn't keep siblings up (people  I refuse to stop his napping to accomplish this so a miracle must therefore occur, or benadryl? just sayin. . .)
-move Isaac to bottom bunk when Trin accepts her big girl bed

I will say however that moving everything around has convinced me that Isaac is indeed no longer a baby and it *might be time soon to potty train him. *might. *maybe *can't it happen spontaneously?

the boys room with trins stuff on the way out, the bookshelf got moved to the opposite wall. it's a glossy red but I wouldn't take the protective gray tape off until I was sure it was where I wanted it

 moved everything out of isaac's baby changing table/dresser and put into blake's closet but now realizing a dresser makes more sense so I can utilize the closet space for toy bins

 Trinity's closet will still hold a few household goods, board games, etc. plus the tub of baby blankets, *sniff

 just some chalk doodling on a nice afternoon. It's always soooo good to get outside in the Seattle area!!

 Isaac's room with trin's stuffies her bed against the wall and the low lying expedit that used to be in his room our and moved downstairs where it holds all my movies and music binders. LOVE. Also allowed me to trash the last college piece of furniture Jeremy had that I had been using to store those things. Yippee!

 Crib is out and where you saw the red bookshelf. Bed is up!

 So Jeremy lived in his grandparent's basement for two years when he was in community college. Grandma and Grandpa had this entire wicker set of furniture in the room that he used, including our little friend here. When Grandma passed away and his mom asked if there was anything he wanted he jokingly said he thought the giraffe should be his because it shared his room for two years. Guess what was on our doorstep a few days later? Thanks Grandma!

 the bed may not stay on this wall, we will see. I am hoping by flipping it 90 degrees to the right and putting the head again the same wall Blake is on the other side of she might somehow feel more comfortable and start sleeping there? Child psychologist anyone?

Pussy willows because they remind me of spring and my mother. 

Guardrails

At church we have been discussing Guardrails for our lives. Guardrails are hard boundaries that we set up in order to live healthy, wise, and righteous lives. Some of the topics included boundaries with unhealthy people in your life, or what happens if you ARE the unhealthy person; but today's focus was the gift of SEX (yeah I wrote it) and the spiritual connection it creates that must be protected at all costs. Within marriage or not, young or old, the power of sex is evident and must be treated as the spiritual reality that it is, ordained by God for the lasting spiritual and physical union of two people who become one. The awareness of our sexual nature is being pushed on children of younger and younger ages through all forms of media. Sometimes I am tempted to get rid of all of it but since realistically that will not be happening soon I have to start setting some boundaries. Especially for my nine year old daughter. Too young? I think not. Have some of you noticed the second skin "leggings" so popular on the young girls? Perhaps you even have girls who wear them. I'm not judging, heaven knows that they are an accepted form of clothing these days and common all over the area but lets be honest. Me, a married, 32 year old woman can sometimes not take my eyes off these girls' rear ends. If I can't stop looking you'd better believe that the men can't. I dread the day Trinity tries to bring some home. I just CAN'T.  In our house yoga pants with looser rears and flared bottoms are allowed solo with a t-shirt. Legging must have a skirt over them. Trinity does not always respond well to this rule. I've had to deal with sass but thank heavens she gives in and wears the skirts. In fact today she came down with one without my even mentioning it. BTW there are ADORABLE skirts out there that are very practical for playground play. Trust me. The purpose of this is to begin to help Trinity realize that at some point, boys are going to notice her body and (still being honest) she is going to want to flaunt it. Not much feels as good as walking out the door feeling like you look particularly hot. I don't think that's just a girl thing either. I remember well my sixteen year old self in a certain black velvet pair of overalls (totally dating myself. ..) that I felt ALL the boys liked and so. . . I wore them to death. Also a particular turtleneck paired with tight fighting black bib skipants that I was pretty sure turned me into dark haired Aspen barbie. Oh the tricks a confident young mind can play! I was actually barely five feet and had that trait most peculiar to hobbits of thick patches of  dark hair on my toes. Yes people, I shave my toes along with my legs. . .you don't? What is the point of these embarrassing glances back? I was aware of how I looked and I used it. How do I guide Trinity to a level of modesty that might safeguard her from the pitfalls of youthful games of attraction? Is taht even possible? You got me but you better believe I'm going to try. Our pastor spoke of beginning the conversation at a young age not so much about the dangers or details of sexual involvement but the components of a healthy relationship, particularly if you have it; your marriage. The other day I had finished a workout and was feeling the endorphins. I decided to put on snug, COMFY, leggings and a sweathshirt that did NOT cover my tushy PRECISELY because I knew Jeremy would like it. When Trin noticed it she said that I wasn't allowed to wear them without covering my tush. I explained to her that I was not planning to leave the house. In this house even mommy does't leave it without her tush covered if she has leggings on, folks. She seemed to think that different strokes for different folks was not good enough and that she shouldn't have to abide by rules that I didn't. That's when I got honest with her. I told her that I put the pants on SPECIFICALLY to entice her daddy because one: we are within the bonds (boundaries) of marriage and two: we like to please each other in that way (not sexual details people, just the laws of attraction) Obviously, neither of these categories apply to her and therefore, the skirt must be worn. Now I am not trying to make Trinity a prude but rather to plant that seed of modesty that might one day bloom into a young girl secure in her self-confidence without the desire to put too much out there too soon. In any way, shape, or legging. I felt it a victory to have a conversation that discussed some of the pleasures of sexuality while still impressing on her the need for appropriate boundaries for certain ages groups. Leggings may not be your hot button but if you are the parents of little ones I encourage you to start thinking NOW about the things you see in the current youth culture that don't line up with the boundaries you would like set for your child's physical, emotional, and SPIRITUAL well-being in the teen years and beyond. Start working on them now and setting those boundaries because you had better believe if you just drop them from out of nowhere your kid will rebel but if they are born out of a loving and invested relationship, they stand a chance of holding.