A Prayer for Father's Day

     

"Dear God, You have given to me my wife, children, home, and property. I receive these as your desire and will care for them for Your sake. Therefore, I will do as much as possible that all may go well.  If my plans do not all succeed, I will learn to be patient and let what cannot be changed take its course.  If I do well I give God the glory, I will say: O Lord, it is not my work or effort but Your gift and providence.  Take my place and be head of the family. I will yield humbly and be obedient to You."
                                                                                                              Luther's Prayers

Good Friday to You

Sam wanted to teach Molly about Good Friday

He Who Believes, Has

"He who believes, has"


.........But even as the forgiveness of sins takes away the glory which rested on these especially pious deeds, it opens our eyes, on the other hand, to the light which now falls so much more brilliantly on the everyday doings of our calling which had previously been despised and had sunk to the level of mere drudgery...............When the forgiveness of sins has again given him peace in his calling, it is not because he has let practical wisdom and common sense trim off his idealism, but because he has learned to depend entirely on the grace of God.  The ideal rather has grown, and now sees that of himself he will never be able to span the distance between it and reality.  But as he goes quietly about the duties of his calling, he does so in no spirit of resignation from every attempt to attain the ideal, but in faith that for the grace of God, which is new every morning, nothing is impossible...........
                                                                                                       
                                                       Our Calling, by Einar Billing

Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God ................ Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

                                2 Corinthians 9:10-11 & 15

While Entering Church

O my God, I am a sinner, and yet I am not a sinner.  Alone and apart from Christ, I am a sinner.  But in my Lord Jesus Christ and with Him, I am no sinner.  I firmly believe that He has destroyed all my sins with His precious blood.  The sign of this is that I am baptized, cleansed by God's word, and declared absolved and freed from all my sins.  In the sacrament of the true body and blood of my Lord Jesus Christ I have received as a sure sign of grace the forgiveness of sins.  This He has won and accomplished for me by the shedding of His blood.  For this I thank him in eternity.  Amen

                                                                                                      Luther's Prayers

To be a Mother.............

I know this is kind of long reading, but it is good reading!

"To be a Mother is to be the sacrament--the effective symbol--of place.  Mothers do not make homes, they are our home; in the simple sense that we begin our days by a long sojourn within the body of a woman; in the extended sense that she remains our center of gravity through the years.  She is the very diagram of belonging, the where in whose vicinity we are fed and watered, and have our wounds bound up and our noses wiped.  She is geography incarnate, with her breasts and her womb, her relative immobility, and her hands reaching up to us the fruitfulness of the earth......................" 

"..........You are not only a link with something.  You are the thing itself; and you are the sacrament, the instrument, by which we learn to love the things that are.  Your body is the first object any child of a man ever wanted.  Therefore dispose yourself to be loved, to be wanted, to be available.  Be there for them with a vengeance.  Be a gracious, bending woman.  Incline you ear, your heart, your hands to them.  Be found warm and comfortable, and disposed to affection.  Be ready to be done by and to welcome their casual effusions with something better than preoccupation and indifference.  It isn't a matter of how much time; only how much intensity....................."

R.F.Capon

Bed and Board

Psalm 34

 I will extol the LORD at all times;
   his praise will always be on my lips.
 I will glory in the LORD;
   let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
 Glorify the LORD with me;
   let us exalt his name together.
  I sought the LORD, and he answered me;
   he delivered me from all my fears.
 Those who look to him are radiant;
   their faces are never covered with shame.
 This poor man called, and the LORD heard him;
   he saved him out of all his troubles.
 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him,
   and he delivers them.
  Taste and see that the LORD is good;
   blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

21 years......................

Yesterday marked our 21st wedding anniversary. Each anniversary is a complete miracle and a gift from God.   We went out to eat at our favorite restaurant and then went to a movie of all things. I can honestly say we enjoy eachother now more than ever. 

"We have seen how the forgiveness of sins and that alone can make the old new, in the innermost center- forgiveness of sins is the new birth-but it is no less on the periphery.  The dust gathers so quickly on these daily recurring duties that they can be saved from withering only if they can be cleansed each morning in the dew of  forgiveness."

 Thanks be to God, the forgiveness of sins, and a few good friends.

Acceptance of Blessings

O merciful God, what a kind and gracious Father You are, to deal so sincerely and paternally with us poor and judged sinners.  You did release Your most precious possession, Your Son, Jesus Christ, into the jaws of death and the devil.

 You did require that He should descend into the deep and again ascend on high and conquer the captivity which has held us all in slavery.  Through this we are Your dear children, His brothers and sisters, and inheritors of all His eternal, heavenly blessings.  Give us your Holy Spirit so that He may preserve us to the end in faith.

Grant your grace that youth and those unborn, the weak in faith and those not properly instructed, may get and keep a right understanding in the doctrine of becoming fellow citizens with the angels.  So highly privileged are we who believe in Christ.  Amen

Five Dollar Fine

This has always been one of my favorite signs. I finally bought one to put up in our home especially because we have been known to give fines for whining around here. What I didn't know was how much fun it would bring. When someone is tempted to whine we point to the sign (which hangs in our livingroom) and the start of a whine ends in a grin. Some of us have even been known to sing a song to go along with it - maybe you know the one :)


Martin Luther says:

"To be satisfied with what we have at present is positively a gift of the Holy Spirit." "Nothing is better than to walk in the Word and the work of God and so  to fashion one's heart that it is quiet and satisfied with the present state of affairs. . . . The true despisers of the world are the people who accept what God gives them, and gladly do without them if God takes them away."

In the Cross of Christ I Glory

In the cross of Christ I glory,
there for all was grace made free.
None deserving, yet receiving,
life through death at Calvary.

In the cross of Christ I glory,
Not in power, wealth or fame.
In the cross sin's curse is broken,
for the sake of Jesus' name.

sunset picture taken by David in 2010

Kid Logic Friday - I Pad 2

Today's kid logic is not the usual.  Today's kid logic led John into talking me into going to the Apple Store at the MALL of all places, so he could purchase an I Pad.  Taking him to the store meant taking everybody; John, Peter, Ben, Amy, David, Sam, and Molly.  It's amazing how many interesting looks you get walking through the mall with so many children.  I love it!  I love it in the sense that I am not ashamed to bring so many children with me-I am so wealthy!  To me, my children are the goodness of the Lord in the flesh.

As far as the I Pad, Peter, Ben, and I pitched in on some of the cost.  We had ulterior motives for pitching in of course.  The boys are wanting to record music and I am hoping to learn how to take, edit, and post video footage.  Hopefully a few posts from now will show footage : )

We also Skyped Seth on the new addition.  That was a treat.

Putting First Things First

May the merciful God protect me against the Christian Church which contains nothing but pure saints.  I want to be and remain in the church and among the little flock in which there are timid, weak, and ailing people who recognize and feel their sin, plight, and misery, who sincerely sigh and cry to God without ceasing for comfort and help, and who believe in the forgiveness of sins and are persecuted for the sake of the Word, which they teach and confess in purity and without adulteration.

                                                                                 Martin Luther

Our Second Son

John @ 17 yrs.

 

It's so easy to post about the younger children with all of their funny sayings, personalities, and perspectives of life. I even have posts about the eldest, but not many about the children in between.  John has been on my mind lately - in a good way.  I was thinking how thankful I am to have him home.  Not home as in living in this house, but home as in his right mind, as in upholding the direction that his dad and other Godly men in the church give and in upholding God's Word; as in giving to his younger brothers and sisters by talking with them - not just at them.

John's Baptism 2006

    

     Anyone that knows John knows he is not necessarily a man of many words.  (Even when he was born I asked the doctor if he was o.k. because he didn't cry-he was very quiet!)  He still doesn't yak like some in our family, he gets to the point in what he wants to say. His middle name, Steven, is fitting because he looks the most like his dad out of all our children.  We call him the "mad scientist" on the piano.  He loves the

challenge of learning the most difficult piano pieces-the "busier" the better.  If he tries anything new, whether it's sports or a new instrument, he makes it look as if he's done it for years.



John playing his favorite instrument



      Most children love to be around John.  He seems to have a way of making the simplest things fun. For example:  Yesterday he came home from work and Molly was so excited to see him.  After saying their greetings John says,  "You want to watch me take my shoes off?!"  And Molly jumps up and down with excitement, "Yaaaaaah!!!!"  She thought this was the greatest event of the day!




John and Molly

   I'm thankful for Godly men and women who help us in the raising of our children and for God's Word which tells us what is normal for children, family, life, etc. 

John teaching a song

".....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."   Philipians 1:6

Easter Thoughts

Lord Jesus,

You are my righteousness,
I am your sin.

 You took on you what was mine;
yet set on me what was yours.

 You became what you were not,
that I might become what I was not.

- Martin Luther

It's Palm Sunday

From Martin Luther’s House Postil, from a sermon on John 12:12-19

“We should, therefore, mark all the difference between Christ’s kingdom and worldly powers, as he  himself clearly showed by his extraordinary entry into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey, without a saddle, the animal a borrowed one at that! He sat on it without pretense, just as he was, barefoot, without boots and spurs. From the human point of view the whole incident looked ridiculous, and yet this beggar-King, riding on a donkey, was Israel’s King, promised by God and foretold by the prophets. That was evident also from the way his followers greeted him, “Hosanna!” Blessings on this King and upon his new kingdom! “Blessed is he who cometh in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” All of which made it crystal clear that he was in no way like worldly rulers who have amassed a lot of treasure and property for the purpose of displaying worldly pomp and circumstance for their public appearances. Christ was no such earthly king; on the contrary, he is an eternal King, with an everlasting kingdom where one needs neither gold or silver, and yet will never suffer any want or need in all eternity."

He Taught Us To Pray

Our Father, who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy Name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power,

and the glory,

for ever and ever.

Amen.

Matthew 6:9-13

The Lord's Prayer has had me in amazement these days.  It is so complete!  Everything I need or want is included in this prayer. God cares for us so much that He gave us just the right words to say.  I also really enjoy reading Martin Luther's Large Catachism on the subject. 

"........God takes the initiative and puts into our mouths the very words we are to use. Thus we see how sincerely he is concerned over our needs, and we shall never doubt that our prayer pleases him and will assuredly be heard.  So this prayer is far superior to all others that we might ourselves devise.  For in the latter our conscience would always be in doubt, saying, "I have prayed, but who knows whether it pleased Him, or whether I have hit upon the right form and mode?"  Thus there is no nobler prayer to be found on earth, for it has the excellent testimony that God loves to hear it.  This we should not trade for all the riches in the world.

                        Dr. Martin Luther, The Large Catachism