Learning about Life, Learning about Him, Teaching about Life, Teaching about Him
Yes, I do dumb things. Now “dumb” is not a word I let me kids use, just because it’s not the kindest of words. Yet, in reference to myself, I think it’s appropriate. As a kid, I had a friend who said, “Julie, for someone so smart, you can really be dumb sometimes.” Not the kindest of sentiments to be sure, but it definitely has some truth to it. I can be pretty goofy in my actions. Over the years, I’ve gotten some understanding as to why God lets me do dumb things.
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That means that we believe that God is in control of all things and does all things for our good and His glory. This doesn’t make us super spiritual or holier than thou. It mostly makes us people who like simple explanations for hard questions. Let me give you some examples.
Kid: “Why is Daniel taller than you but you’re older?”
Parent: “Because that’s the way God determined for it to be.”
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I once read an article in which the writer was describing his mother. He commented that she never raised her voice at her kids. I instantly thought, “Wow, I’m not that mom.” I used to be a preschool teacher and then an elementary school teacher. I have a loud voice and its decibel level is tied to the number of bad decisions my kids make each day, or each hour. I have a boat load of kids. You get the picture.
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24)
The park is a great place to observe human behavior. Since I have a lot of humans, I do a lot of observing. As I watched my kids play at the park one day, I noticed that a little boy had fallen in with my pack and was running around with one of my then three-year-olds. As they ran past me, I heard the boy call back to my son, “Follow me!” My son replied with a very enthusiastic “Okay!” and dutifully followed the other boy’s lead. He didn’t know the other child, but it didn’t matter. He trusted that wherever his new friend went would lead to something good.
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As an avid baker, I believe that just about every baked good tastes better with chocolate. I hold fast to the conviction that the reason that a cookie exists is to hold chocolate. Why you would put dead fruit in an oatmeal cookie is beyond me. Sugar cookies are just incomplete, poor things.
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It’s a common occurrence that when people find out I have 8 kids, one of their first comments is, “You must have a lot of patience.” That’s funny. I try to tell them it’s not true, but they don’t believe me.
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