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Why Should Our Children Obey?

We are deep in the trenches, training many young children to obey us and to obey the Lord. It takes a lot of time and effort, and I often find myself resorting to the same rebukes out of laziness and exhaustion. I get tired of saying the same things, and they grow weary of hearing me.

As I was thinking through the many ways God motivates us to obedience, I was struck by how often my admonishment to the children is something like “because God said so.” Maybe not in those exact words, but that’s the general thought.

I won’t say we haven’t taught them other reasons for obedience, but it’s definitely my default answer as to why they should obey. It’s fast, easy, and doesn’t require me to think very hard or know scripture very well. For me, it’s almost always sinful laziness. I don’t want to take the time to give them the gospel—to use the opportunity to teach them about their sin, the punishment they deserve, and the Savior that took it in their place— when that is what they need most.

Children must absolutely understand God’s authority and know that his word alone is enough reason to obey, but just as I am encouraged to pursue the Lord more wholeheartedly and joyfully when I understand the why, they will also be encouraged to obedience when given more specific reasons.

I do not want to raise pharisaical children that obey outwardly, but whose hearts are dead. They need a more complete picture of God—his love and his justice, his mercy and his judgment, his sovereignty and his grace.

Yes, God is the boss. I want my children to get that. But I don’t want them to become discouraged or bogged down thinking that God cares more about the rules than their hearts. I don’t want them to follow rules because I demand it. I want them to fight their sin with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. I want them to know and understand the character of God—his heart for them—so that they obey with pure motivations.

God encourages us to obey for our good (Deu.t 12:28), so that we can be assured of our salvation (2 Pet. 1:10), to show our love for God (1 John 4:11), because God created us for good works (Eph. 2:10), because sin is foolish (Matt 7:26-27), for the good of others (Matt. 5:13), and hundreds of other reasons he provides in scripture to stir up our hearts to fight sin.

We need to learn and know these things in order to encourage and motivate our children to do good. I’m talking to myself here…I need to know these things. We can change their behavior, but we can’t change their hearts—only the word of God can change hearts. But we do have the responsibility to encourage and equip or children to fight sin, by giving them a sound understanding of God’s word and his character.

“God can stir you up to love and good deeds with warnings and promises, with love and fear, with positive and negative examples. He can remind you of who you are, who you were, and who you are becoming. God can appeal to your good, the good of others, or his own glory….the sooner we explore and apply those reasons, the more equipped we’ll be to fight sin, the more eager to make every effort to be more Christlike, and the more ready to say with the apostle John, ‘his commandments are not burdensome’. (John 5:3)”

Let’s teach our children to be eager to fight sin, by reminding them of some of the stirring reasons God gives us for obedience.

For a longer list of reasons I pray will excite your heart to obedience you can listen to this sermon, or read chapter 4 of “A Hole in Our Holiness.”

by Sara Posted on May 22, 2013

Posted in Discipling, Radiant Living | Tagged bible, children, discipleship, glory of God, gratefulness, motivation, obedience, parenting, pursuit of holiness, radiant living, worship | Leave a comment

Why Should We Obey?

Why should we obey? And why does it matter?

I know I’m not the only one. One of the children asks, “Why?” And I answer with the dreaded “Because I’m the mom and I said so.”

Sometimes I fall into the trap of believing that God expects me to obey him this way—because he’s God and he said so. Though he would certainly be justified in demanding obedience on his authority alone…he doesn’t. Duty is one motivation God uses to spur us on to obedience, but it’s not the only one.

I’ve been reading A Hole in Our Holiness (Kevin DeYoung). He says,”One of the main reasons Christians get tired of hearing about the law is because they never hear why they should obey the law. The imperatives hit us like a ton of study Bibles because we aren’t given any motivation for obedience.”

The next four pages go on to list dozens of reasons that should motivate our hearts to obedience. The list alone is worth the price of the book.

I’ve been struggling to pursue God with my whole heart, in the manner I know God has called me to. I have a tendency toward complacency during pregnancy and it always takes some fresh motivation to push me back in pursuit of the Lord again. Sure, I can manage to avoid blatant sin for a while, but living in holiness is so much more than just avoiding the glaring sin. God wants my whole heart and my best effort, even when I am tired.

God has called believers to be separate—different, in a way that brings glory to him—from the rest of the world. Sometimes (probably most of the time, if we’re honest) we need encouragement and motivation to press on when we are satisfied with “good enough” or we feel like it’s not worth the extra effort to obey the Lord in all things. DeYoung’s list did that for me this week.

Here are just a few of the reasons he gives for obedience; different motivations for different circumstances:

God knows all and sees all. “For God will bring everything into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.” (Eccles. 12:13)

Christ’s example. “And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Eph. 5:2)

Our own assurance. “Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.” (2 Pet. 1:10)

Jesus’ return. “What sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming day of God.” (2 Pet. 3:11-12)

To win over our neighbors. “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so they when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” (1 Pet. 2:12)

To lift up a nation. “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” (Prov. 14:34)

The folly of sin. “And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (Matt 7:26-27)

Created for good works. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Eph 2:10)

Love for Christ. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)

Fullness of joy. “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:10-11)

Union with Christ. “For if we have been united with him in a death like this, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like this. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” (Rom. 6:5-6)

I want to make this list into a banner and hang it on my wall. I need to read it every day. My kids need to read this every day. We all need encouragement to obey, not just because God said so, but because God knows all and sees all, to follow Christ’s example, to hasten the return of Jesus, to avoid foolish sin, to lift up our nation and win over our neighbors, to experience fullness of joy and have union with Christ…

Praying that my obedience is motivated by truth and my resolution to obey wholeheartedly comes not from my own strength, but from the power of God working in me.

For an expanded list, you can listen to Kevin DeYoung’s sermon. The 2nd half of the sermon covers a large portion of his list from the book.

by Sara Posted on May 17, 2013

Posted in Radiant Living | Tagged bible, glory of God, gratefulness, motivation, obedience, pursuit of holiness, radiant living, worship | Leave a comment

Farm Tours and Garden Update

A couple of weeks ago, our local farms joined together in providing tours of their properties and products. I believe there were about 40 farms, but with only 2 days to visit them we only managed to see 5.

We have CSA meat and veggie shares with one local farm, so we made that our first stop. They had one day old baby pigs (11 of them!), and another pig that was laboring. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen pigs that were quite this big! This picture doesn’t give a good perspective, but these girls must have been 300-400 lbs!

They had a couple of large greenhouses covering the winter crops, more pigs, several sheep, dozens of chickens, and some large fields of greens and root crops. In addition to the CSA and farmers markets, they also provide food for an upscale restaurant that they own in the city.

The 2nd farm we visited that day had large fields of produce and sold their products at local farmers markets. I think I missed taking pictures there.

The next day we stopped at the only vineyard on the tour—the only one in the state, in fact. Grapes aren’t in season yet so there wasn’t much growing, but we did get a nice hayride around the property, admired their beautiful landscaping, and visited their goats. We also took a quick peek in their processing area and shop.

Then it started raining.

We made one quick stop where the children were able to pet some goats. A couple of them were sure they wanted to touch the goats, until they got too close. I think 3 of the children ended up running out the gate…thanks to our overly aggressive rooster who made them all frightened of farm animals.

The rain kept us from getting out of the van at the last stop, but we were curious about their food truck so we explored their farm from the van. While the food sounded great, it wasn’t very kid-friendly (even for kids who eat salad and lentils by choice). So we headed home for dinner.

We are hoping to continue visiting more of the local farms this summer in order to learn as much as we can about sustainable living. Strawberry picking is next on the list!!

Meanwhile, God is teaching us patience while we wait for our own garden to start producing something edible.

I’ve been hesitant to go out there since the boys found a small snake living in the cold frame last week. No more flip-flops in the garden for me—rubber boots only—even if its 90 degrees!

Most of the seeds we planted and put in the cold frame sprouted and grew well. Now that they have been transplanted into the soil, the growth seems to have slowed down. We planted some potatoes in the empty cold frame setup, and I started some more seeds in pots on the deck this week, and I can already see that some of them are sprouting. It’s all just one big experiment. And we have some large containers where I planted some of the extra starts. We have some rainbow chard, kale, and collards. The children helped me plant some sunflower seeds last week and we are beginning to see some of their leaves as well.Finally, these are our tomato starts and the trellis we ended up building. It has four fence stakes with three rows of wire running horizontally, and nylon string woven up and down through the wire.
And a little spider living in the garden.

by Sara Posted on May 9, 2013

Posted in Gardening, Uncategorized | Tagged garden, home, photos | Leave a comment

Ten Years

10 years.

We’ve lived in 6 homes and moved 4 times. I’ve been pregnant for nearly 5 years and we’ve had 6 beautiful children. Our love for one another has grown in ways we never expected and God has stretched our faith, carried us through trials, and provided abundant grace along the way. Our 10 years have been full, happy, and sometimes very hard. Many of the days have been long and hard, and yet it all seems to have gone by so quickly!

We talked to each other about exchanging anniversary gifts, but clothes or books or jewelry seemed so…not enough. Ten years is worth celebrating, but what can possibly express 10 years worth of love and life shared? The traditional 10 year anniversary gift is tin…really?

“Hey babe…it’s been an amazing 10 years! Here’s a tin of your favorite tea.” (Not that I wouldn’t enjoy tea…)

I’m not very sentimental and often don’t even remember things like Valentine’s day. Gifts are not my love language. But tin?

“Honey, words can’t express how I feel about being married to you for the last 10 years…but this tin sure says it all!”

It really wouldn’t matter if it were gold instead of tin…gifts are just not enough.

I think the best gifts are the intangible ones — a best friend that is always ready to talk (except sometimes at night because he got up for work at 4am) and who cares whether lawn or voile is a better fabric for a blouse I’m sewing (even though he probably doesn’t know the difference), the memories of time spent together over more than half of our lives (like when he threw my shoe out the second floor window of their house when we were 12), six little kids that challenge us to trust the Lord more everyday (usually because they are running around imitating our sin!)…

The wisdom of the world told us we were throwing away our lives—wasting our potential—by getting married at 19. We heard numerous warnings that our love would not last through military life, that we were too young. My professors expressed disappointment at my choice of marriage over grad school. And without the Lord in our lives, they would have been right.

But one Christian couple, remembering their own young marriage, advised us to go ahead. They told us how being married young allowed them to “grow up” together. Because they were committed to follow Jesus and his plan for marriage, they grew together rather than apart. When their marriage should have failed, it became stronger. They were confident that God would do the same for our relationship if we stayed committed to him.

We are so thankful for their counsel, and the support of our parents at the time. They knew and trusted that God ordains marriage and holds it together. Bonhoeffer says it well:

“God makes your marriage indissoluble, and protects it from every danger that may threaten it from within and without; he will be the guarantor of its indissolubility. It is a blessed thing to know that no power on earth, no temptation, no human frailty, can dissolve what God holds together; indeed, anyone who knows that may say confidently: What God has joined together, can no man put asunder. Free from all the anxiety that is always a characteristic of love, you can now say to each other with complete and confident assurance: We can never lose each other now; by the will of God we belong to each other till death.”

I’m grateful every day for going against the advice of the masses and deciding to “throw my life away.” And I’m grateful to the Lord for holding it all together.

by Sara Posted on May 2, 2013

Posted in Radiant Living | Tagged family, gratefulness, life, love | 2 Comments

Finally Sewing Again

Pregnancy left me with no energy to sew, but I’ve been catching up. A new pattern from Noodlehead and Rae’s Spring Top Sew-Along (and the fact that I have very few shirts for warm weather) motivated me to get sewing again. I’m inspired by their creativity and the creativity of their blog followers. Browsing through their Flickr groups leaves me with dozens of ideas and not enough time to try them all!

I’ve been branching out from the traditional craft store patterns, and wanted to share some of these great independent sewing pattern designers with you.

I have made about half a dozen baskets from Anna’s Divided Basket Pattern. It makes a very practical gift for the all the new babies (and their moms) at church. The pattern is easy to follow with full color, step-by-step photos and lots of fun options to personalize the basket.

Last year was the first time I joined in Rae’s Spring Top Sew-Along. I noticed that many of the entries were patterns from independent designers. I knew I wanted to try some of them, but pregnancy put my sewing on hold for a few months.

This year I made 4 tops that I added to the Flickr pool—3 from indie pattern designers. Rae chose several tops to feature in different blog posts and I was happy to discover that she featured 2 of my tops in her posts! I’m honored to be included when there are so many other gifted ladies sharing their projects.

I used the Hot Patterns “Peachy-Beachy Cover-up” pattern to make this jersey knit tunic. I usually use a serger on stretch knit fabric, but I found that this went together easily with just a twin needle stretch stitch and didn’t need the serger. I used to avoid sewing stretch knit fabrics, but a twin needle makes all the difference. I made this top by cutting out two 24 inch squares. I drew a neckline and measured the armholes by tracing another shirt. Then I added a folded rectangle band which I measured to fit around my hips. It was very simple went together in about an hour.

This was my first attempt at the Wiksten Tank. I measured myself between sizes and ended up choosing the bigger size. The shoulders were much too wide and the overall fit was too big. I took in every seam and added a tuck in the back neck to make it fit.
This is the 2nd Wiksten Tank in a size small. I also took out 2 inches in the back neck by angling the pattern piece off the fold at that point. I used a contrasting fabric for the neck and armhole facing and added a button placket for interest. I liked the first tank, but I really love this one. The fit is much better and the swiss dot fabric is lighter and more free flowing. The tank pattern is very versatile (with an option for a tunic length version too) and I will definitely be making more!

by Sara Posted on April 30, 2013

Posted in Creating | Tagged creativity, sewing | 2 Comments

Hot Air Balloon Art {Sewing and Analogous Colors}

We made hot air balloon banners! We think they make pretty garden flags or fun party decorations…

This hot air balloon art project provided lots of sewing practice and a chance to talk about analogous and complementary colors. My goal was to help the bigger kids become more independent with the sewing machine and to teach them how to choose colors and fabrics that look pleasing together.

First, we made this fabric color wheel with fabric scraps and talked about the color relationships.
The kids had lots of fun sorting through my scrap bins and finding rainbow colors to complete the wheel. I kept hearing things like: “I have this shirt!” “This is my doll dress!” “Look, this is in my blanket!” And after, the room looked like this…

We decided to make our hot air balloons in fabric with analogous colors. They each chose their fabrics and we cut strips and arranged them in order, like this. My children have grown up watching me sew and were excited to have a chance to try it themselves. They have had extensive lessons on safety around sewing equipment, which I highly recommend covering if you plan to let your children sew! The 8 and 6 year olds did most of their own sewing with help from me if they went off track. They also learned how to line up their fabric with right sides together, so that the front looked nice and neat.

My 4 year old sat on my lap while I sewed his. He now believes that he is the “fastest sewer ever” and “super fast.” I refused to let the big kids ruin his fun by telling him that I actually did all of the sewing.

I pressed the seams for them, we traced a hot air ballon shape onto the fabric, and cut them out. This was the result of an afternoon of sewing. (Check out the gradient piecing on the brown one! He learned something and used it…)We finished the banners on a separate day. I used 12×18 pieces of canvas drop cloth for the banner backgrounds, which I prepped by hemming the edges and making a 1 in pocket (like in a curtain panel) at the top.

The older children sewed their hot air balloons to their banners by using a wide zig-zag stitch around the edge. We used old jean pockets for baskets. Here are the finished banners (in age order, starting with my example): Overall, this was very successful. Even the preschoolers understood the color concepts. The older children were able to practice sewing straight lines without worrying about seam allowances and perfect edges. I love how they all chose fabrics that really allow their personalities to shine through, and they are all very proud of their work!

by Sara Posted on April 22, 2013

Posted in Creating, Learning | Tagged art, children, creativity, learning, sewing | 1 Comment

He is Making All Things New

It’s spring! I went hunting around the yard this week for beautiful things to photograph and found quite a rainbow of colors and signs of new life.

God used all of the beauty springing up around the yard and a thought shared at Bible study last night to serve as a reminder of God’s transforming power.

“Behold, I (Jesus) am making all things new.” (Rev 21:5) Notice, he doesn’t say he made all things new. The making is still in process.

The beauty and new life in God’s creation serves to remind us that Jesus is continually making things new. The pattern of renewal and rebirth that is evident in creation should draw my attention to his continual renewal of my heart.

“Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” (2 Cor. 4:16)

blossoms and brick

I am called to “love the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength”(Mark 12:30)—but God is giving me strength.

I am called to be holy—but God is making me holy.

I feel the weight of my sin every day (including this moment-when I just snapped at the kids) but it is comforting to know that God is still doing a work in my heart. He is still transforming me into the likeness of his Son. He is still making me new. And he doesn’t give up.

Praising God for his continual renewal in nature… and in my heart.

by Sara Posted on April 11, 2013

Posted in Radiant Living | Tagged beauty, bible, glory of God, gratefulness, photos, radiant living, worship | Leave a comment

Hot Air Balloon Art {Drawing and Patterns}

Our second hot air balloon art project was for sketching practice and pattern design. When I was planning this, I drew my balloons free-hand, but I realized the smaller kids would be frustrated trying to draw balloons and not enjoy the design aspect of it. I made a printable template with dotted lines (which are hard to see in the small image) for hot air balloons that they can trace and then fill in with any designs they can dream up.

Free Printable Hot Air Balloon Template – {Click the image to print your own}

My goals for the project were to help them develop their drawing skills and to practice drawing patterns. They all had to work hard to trace the ballon shapes carefully and enjoyed making designs for them.

What I did not expect was that they would want to be so creative with their hot air balloon designs that they would abandon the pattern idea almost completely. Most of their designs do not incorporate any pattern at all, unless I suggested it.

Here is the example I made for them:And in age order, their designs:This one has themed rows – “things in the sky,” “wild animals,” and “patterns.”

How can I be upset that they didn’t make patterns when I get an “I love you” balloon?

This was a collaborative effort, because nine designs became too much for an energetic preschooler.

And for the younger ones, I made copies of my black and white hot air balloon designs for them to color.

I decided to color mine, and Lydia did as well. Though I didn’t end up doing any more teaching this time, coloring the designs would be an excellent opportunity to teach analogous and complementary colors for upper elementary students. Understanding and applying color theory can enhance the hot air balloon patterns and designs.

Overall, this was successful for drawing practice and creativity for the lower elementary level. I think the pattern design aspect would be better suited to older elementary or even middle school students. (Or adults for that matter, since I enjoyed making designs of my own.)

If you use the template, we’d love to see your designs!

by Sara Posted on April 10, 2013

Posted in Creating, Learning | Tagged art, children, creativity, learning | Leave a comment

Hot Air Balloon Art {Learning Gradient}

I used our first hot air balloon art project to teach the children about gradient or a graduated color wash, using water color paints for the background. We also practiced tracing, cutting, and gluing while making our pop-up hot air balloons.

Here is the example that I made:

First, I showed them a simple watercolor gradient I made as an example. It took less than a minute to make, but I wanted them to see the gradient without being thrown off by the pretty colors of the balloons. I asked them to make observations about the paper. The preschoolers said, “One side is light and the other is dark.” The older children observed that the color faded across the page. Then we learned the word “gradient”.

We talked about other things that have a gradient and looked at some examples online (just use Google image search or Pinterest with “gradient” or “ombré”). We found fall leaves and flowers, hair color, paint, cake layers, dyed fabric, and rock formations, to name a few.

My sample gradient was done with one color, but I advised them to add some purple on their darker side and some green on the lighter side for their landscape background. I was impressed than even my 4 year old understood the concept of fading from one color to another. His background might even look the most realistic.

For the pop-up hot air balloons, they traced and cut three matching shapes on a fold. They glued two of them back-to-back, and then I helped them straight stitch them together with the sewing machine. In hinds’ sight, they could have done the whole thing themselves with glue by sticking half of a ballon to one piece and the other half to the third piece (if that makes any sense). But I sew and stitching paper is a fun trick…so that’s what we did.

The cutting was more difficult than I expected, especially for my lefties (even with lefty scissors). Cutting curves is a skill they haven’t mastered, so I helped them clean up the edges so that they would line up when we glued them. The preschoolers chose all of their papers and I cut for them. With a group of little ones, pre-cutting the paper would be more efficient. They did all of their own gluing and placement. At the end we drew little baskets on the balloons to finish them.

Here’s their work in age order:

I think the art lesson was successful, because the first thing they said when daddy walked in the door was, “Hey Dad! We painted a gradient today!”

by Sara Posted on April 5, 2013

Posted in Creating, Learning | Tagged art, children, creativity, learning, life | 3 Comments

Queen Victoria, Hot Air Balloons, and Art Projects

I’m so thankful to have more energy to devote to school and art projects after a long, exhausting pregnancy. We are studying the mid- 1800′s using Tapestry of Grace Year 3, and are currently focused on Victorian England.

We are reading In the Days of Queen Victoria, by Eva March Tappan, aloud. It reads like a novel and with Queen Victoria’s apparent wit, there are many amusing passages recounting the conversations and correspondence throughout her life. It may be more interesting for me than the children, but they particularly enjoyed learning about the young Victoria’s education, coronation, and marriage. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert also had a large family—nine children—so we can relate to that as well. (The book is available free as a kindle book…)

The account of Queen Victoria’s 19th birthday celebration mentions a hot air ballon, which prompted a fun departure from our curriculum to study the hot air balloon craze of the 1800′s. I found several picture books from our library about hot air balloons and have even been able to include the preschoolers in our little unit study.

As part of our hot air ballon study, I have also planned several hot air balloon art projects using the ideas from the book illustrations, as well as some hot air balloon art project ideas I have saved on a Pinterest board. With so many beautiful colors and patterns that the inspiration is endless. We will be sewing strips of fabric together, learning about patterns, making collages, using a white crayon and watercolor resist technique, and learning about gradient—all with simple hot air ballon shapes and patterns.

We are looking forward to sharing them!

Here’s a short list of books that we were able to read:

Hot Air: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Hot-Air Balloon Ride – Marjorie Priceman

The First Air Voyage in the United States: The Story of Jean Pierre Blanchard - Alexandra Wallner

The Amazing Air Balloon – Jean Van Leeweun (best illustrations and facts for a picture book)

The Big Balloon Race – Eleanor Coerr (an early reader)

The Mystery of the Hot Air Balloon (Boxcar Children) – Gertrude Chandler Warner

Lincoln’s Flying Spies: Thaddeus Lowe and the Civil War Balloon Corps – Gail Jarrow (great reading for upper elementary boys!)

Art projects to follow soon…