#34 Drink More Water {52 bites}
I’m. So. Thirsty.
That was all I could think about yesterday morning at 4:30am as I sat, huddled up in a quilt, having my quiet time.
This is never going to work; it’s not even 5am and I feel like I’m dying of thirst! I felt frustrated, couldn’t focus. Why did I decide to do this? I’m sure it was mostly mental–I wasn’t dying of dehydration–but without a big drink of water and my morning cup of tea, I couldn’t keep my mind on task.
Exactly the lesson I needed to learn.
My journal read: 4:30am. SO thirsty. Just want water. Can’t flush toilet. Can’t brush teeth. Can’t wash dishes. Oatmeal? Dishwasher didn’t run last night 🙁 … all silverware dirty. Hmm….
Then, God in his mercy, gave my creative husband a great idea. At 5:30am as he was heading off to work, he took a large stock-pot outside and filled it with snow.
Snow! We had snow!
Of course I knew we had snow and had already grumbled about it plenty in my heart. March 22nd and we woke up to 5 inches of snow. What?! But then Jeff set the stockpot on top of the woodstove …
and it melted.
Journal: 6am, Melting snow. Grateful. Tea made with snow-water. Grateful. Oatmeal for kids made with snow-water. Grateful.
We had oatmeal with melted snow. We washed our hands with melted snow. I even brewed tea with melted snow. I gathered up enough into a large pot that by the time the snow was gone mid-day, we had enough melted snow to cook a pot of rice to serve with chicken for dinner.
Thank you, Lord, for provision.
Sure, there were plenty of inconveniences. The bathroom was pretty rank by the end of the day, and the dishes never did seem clean, even though I drizzled snow-water over them and got them mostly clean. But truth be told, our day without water didn’t require any suffering. It was strange, gathering snow into pots melting it down for our meals, but other than my early-morning thirst I never was parched.
But it certainly made me appreciate water.
Here’s what struck me: I actually had plenty of water to drink from the few pots of snow-water gathered in one morning. The kids didn’t go thirsty. I probably used a gallon in that one day.
But the average American family uses 400 gallons a day.
At the same time, studies show that about 75% of Americans don’t drink enough water.
Does this strike anyone?
Isn’t it ironic that while people are dying of thirst we use 400 gallons of drinking water a day and yet drink less than half a gallon? Let’s say it’s a family of four, we’re using 398 gallons of drinking water on things other than drinking.
Now I really don’t mean this to be a water tirade. I live in Oregon, on a well, have an abundance of clean water, and have no problem with sprinklers. Us conserving water doesn’t give anyone in Africa clean water.
BUT, here are three suggestions for how our choices can improve our health and the health of those in developing nations.
1. Drink more tap water.
We flush our toilets with drinking water. We water our lawns with drinking water. And yet, last year Americans spent 15 BILLION dollars on bottled water.
Want to hear something crazy? The UN estimates that the additional cost of “providing safe drinking water and sanitation to those lacking them requires massive investment—estimated at $14-30 billion.”
The amount we spend on bottled water, in a country which already has safe drinking water, could theoretically provide safe drinking water to every person on the planet.
I know it’s not that simple, but … it is actually pretty simple.
Don’t buy bottled water + send extra money to drill wells = clean water
2. Drink less other stuff
Another easy way to build health and send wealth overseas is by skipping the soda, juice, coffee. I know I’m stepping on toes here, including my own. I love me my hot cup of tea. Just an idea …
3. Use less, drink more
If you do pay to use city water, reducing your usage can free up funds to help others. I was actually amazed at how I could get through the day on 1 gallon of water. I couldn’t do it everyday, but certainly we could cut our usage in half. The result? A lawn that dies and children who live.
{Thanks for considering these fun ways to build health and bless others. Today’s 52-bites was supposed to be “Start a Garden” but with 5 inches of snow it didn’t seem right! Have a wonderful weekend, and drink some water!}
*Want a way to help today? We’ve raised $675 so far toward a Jesus Well. Would you consider helping us reach our goal of $1000 to drill a well? Thanks so much! Click here to contribute $25 and let us know!
World Water Day {Will you dig a well with us today?}
It is appropriate that today, March 22nd, is both World Water Day and my brother’s birthday. My brother, who has been one of the most influential people in my life, a true catalyst for change, an example of generosity, who has helped me see God’s heart for the poor, orphan, widow, enslaved, marginalized. So grateful to God for him. Happy 35th birthday, Kris!
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Now, imagine waking up this morning without water. None. No water from the taps. None in the toilet. None in the shower. None in the washing machine or dishwasher. None in the sink. None in the fridge. No ice in the freezer. No water.
What would I drink? How would I wash dishes, clothes, myself? How would I brush my teeth, flush the toilet, get clean? How would I cook? You’d quickly begin to panic, yes? Even writing that paragraph made me feel thirsty. You’d quickly become consumed with finding water. Your thoughts would be filled, and you’d immediately rearrange your entire day around the sole purpose of finding water.
But what if you had no car? And no store in which to buy water? For me, that would mean walking three miles down to the Willamette River. Most people I know won’t even swim in the Willamette much less drink its water–it’s filthy. But supposing I did successfully get myself down to the river, carrying just five measly gallons of water back home the three miles straight up Hidden Springs hill would be virtually impossible. Just 5 gallons of water weighs almost 42 lbs. Now, that 5 gallons is the average usage for Africans each day. ( The average American family of four uses 400 gallons of drinking water a day.) That little trip right there that I just described would take all day, leave me exhausted, and would need to happen every single day. Not to mention my children. There’s no way they could hike those 6 miles. I’d have to leave them at home without supervision, every single day.
That’s all just for 5 gallons of virtually undrinkable water.
My point? We wouldn’t survive without clean water.
This is the reality for 1.2 billion people in our world today. As many as 5 million people die every year of water-related illnesses. A child dies every fifteen seconds of a waterborne disease. It’s a no-win situation. Children either die for lack of water or die because the water they have isn’t clean. The problem feeds every other problem. Women and children cannot work because they have to spend all day fetching water. In developing countries women and children invest two hundred million hours a day to fetching water. That’s equal to a full-time workforce of twenty-five million people fetching water eight hours a day, seven days a week. Children can’t go to school. Without water humans cannot work, cannot learn, cannot function. Without water we can’t even think.
And yet it’s one of the easiest ways we can help.
Will you join me?
1. Try going without water today.
Now, I say try because I will bet it’s virtually impossible for most of us. With two small children in the house I couldn’t walk the 6 miles down and up Hidden Springs hill, and I can’t leave them home alone. So, I’m going to try going without water though, and just journal through the dilemmas and lessons learned. Perhaps you might try this today too?’ The goal isn’t to “make it” through the day, the goal is simply to identify–in a teensy, tiny way–with the 1.2 billion people who live this way each day.
*Note: At 5:23am I’m already amazed at how hard this is! I woke up SO thirsty, couldn’t drink. Couldn’t flush the toilet. Discovered I’d forgotten to run the dishwasher last night so no clean dishes. Can’t make oatmeal without water. Argh! I’m going to use one small pitcher of water for our daily needs and go from there. This is eye-opening!
*Also, even though it’s now later in the day, don’t worry about the going without water but please do #2 and contribute to the well and let us know! It’s not too late to join up!
2. Donate $25 toward a Jesus Well.
Here’s where it gets fun. For just $1,000 we could dig a Jesus well to bless those without clean water. Here’s how:
Jeff and I will start the well with $125. Then, for my brother’s 35th birthday I’d love for 35 of YOU precious readers to simply donate $25 toward a Jesus well. If just 35 of you would contribute we could dig a Jesus well. I can’t imagine a better gift for my brother’s birthday and for some precious people in need of water today. (Click here to donate and enter amount on the right-hand side)
Will you consider? (Watch video here on Jesus wells for more information)
3. Comment/Share
Finally, if you do contribute, please comment and let me know. At the end of the day I’ll randomly choose one commenter to receive a free copy of Half The Sky. Also, please share this with others so they can participate as well? Thank you!
{Thanks for reading, giving, praying. And happy 35th birthday, Kris!}
The Long Sacred Hill {And He who carried me}
{I’m so thrilled to have Caila back with us today. So many of you were blessed by her last post. Enjoy more of her story today …}
Hello again to all of you lovely Sacred Mundane readers! Thank you, Kari, for having me back here again.
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I am often asked a very simple question, for which I don’t have much of an answer. It always comes at the point in the conversation when my conversant realizes that I am a stay at home mom whose husband just finished two years of full-time nursing school. There is usually a pause where I can see her (whoever she is) putting two and two together: the cost of living, cost of food, days allotted to my husband for work (only two per week). Eventually the question comes out, cautiously, as if she doesn’t want to offend:
“How on earth were you able to stay home through all of that?”
There’s usually a beat and then I smile. Say, “Honestly I don’t really know.”
But that’s a lie, because I do.
When I agreed to nursing school, I was a young, enthusiastic wife. I have always been the girl who sees the glass as half, nay, all the way full. Nursing school was a challenge that we, along with our small son, Hudson, could easily conquer. God was on our side, wasn’t He? So without fear I stepped into the unknown.
Years passed, nursing school started and my husbands school/work weeks stretched into 60, sometimes 80 hours away from home. I bore two more children which increased our family to five. I don’t know when it happened, but at some point on that long road I realized I was climbing a hill that was far to steep for us to scale on our own. My positive attitude fell to ashes at my feet. It turned out the hard road was actually… hard.
By far the biggest challenge we faced was financial. Diapers don’t just grow on trees. And since we were committed to keeping me home with the kids, we turned our faces up and prayed. Prayed really hard.
The first of our prayers was, Lord, give us work. Each time we prayed, God brought something along. My husband was able to pick up hours over holidays and summer. I landed a freelance writing contract one year, and another was able to supplement our income by selling fabric online.
Our second prayer was, Lord, make us frugal. I reduced our food budget to $300 a month by meal planning and making almost everything from scratch, we cut out all extras such as cable television, gym memberships, eating out, my iPhone. You name a non-necessity and we cut it. (Except for Netflix. Full disclosure.) I’m still growing in this area, but I have learned that God blesses our efforts in stewarding his resources well.
The rest of our prayers usually fell under the category of, Lord, we need a miracle. I’m sure many of you have been in that place before. You’ve worked hard, scrimped and saved and still, it’s not enough. This is where we learned that God rewards those who make His priorities their priority. I can’t deny that we owe a lot of our success to our parents and those who love us. In addition, sometimes God just dropped good gifts in our lap. Like when our neighbors started leaving gallons of milk on our doorstep. It just happened to be when we were low on the food budget. A small thing, but it spoke volumes to me who prayed over every penny.
During those years I had a thousand opportunities to give up hope. I could have fallen in a heap, thrown my hands in the air, shouted at myself for being so naive to tackle such a challenge. But I had a steady man to hold my hand, and I cannot deny there was One who carried me up the long, sacred hill.
Every day, every choice was a step. God doesn’t always lead us in big, radical ways through big, radical things. Sometimes he just leads us through the quiet commitment to serve our families and hold onto hope.
So, the truth is, I do know how I made it through those years. Someone was carrying me, and he can carry you, too.
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Is there a burden too heavy for you today? I encourage you to lay it at Jesus’ feet and turn your eyes to Him. He can carry you up that long, sacred hill. Blessings, dear sister, and thanks so much for reading!
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Caila Murphy is a mother to three, married to the love of her life, who loves to sew and write. She blends these two passions together at Caila-Made, where she shares tutorials and chronicles the ins and outs of this beautiful, crazy life.
Week's end with thanks
- These daffodils still tall and bright.
- Clean.
- Tossing.
- Sorting.
- Kids dressed up: knights, princesses, cowboys.
- Building a makeshift LEGO Sandcrawler and Millennium Falcon with Dutch. Love how far his imagination can stretch!
- Gathered around the World Vision Gift Catalog with kids, shopping. So fun!
- Putting one foot in front of the other.
- Feeling tired, feeble, trusting Him.
- Leaning, depending, resting.
- That second wind.
- Knowing it’s just a few more steps to the top of that hill.
- 6-mile runs! Excited for Shawna’s 10K next weekend.
- Dutch & Heidi excited for the little 1K fun-run for kids. Their first race!
- Dutch’s long legs, like a little baby deer.
- Mt. Tabor Park, pushing squealing, giggling kids on swings.
- Racing through the park, up hills, down paths.
- Snack-picnic in the car.
- Plans messed up, learning to be flexible.
- Goldfish crackers.
- Dentists.
- My two baby kitties piled on my lap meowing and snuggling in my arms.
- Both of them wrapped in a quilt.
- For all their squirreliness, that they love to be together.
- Training, training, training.
- So tired of training. Train some more.
- Grace Moments.
- Encouraged to pray more.
- Dutch’s beaming smile when he first responded, “pardon me?” instead of “what?” So cute.
- Our housemates!
- Sweet sound of children scampering up and down the stairs.
- Hannah coloring and delivering pictures for Dutch & Heidi.
- Group of gals all up at 4am praying. So cool!!
- Bending the knee.
- Bowing the will.
- Listening.
- Knowing glory doesn’t come from people.
- Jesus’ words.
- God’s power.
- Knowing He’s the same, yesterday, today, tomorrow.
- Sweet “two cents” from a dear reader-friend who inspires me often.
- Connecting with you.
- (in)RL coming April 28th … excited. Consider joining us?
- Sharing frugal-living resources at a resource Fair for teen moms. Such wonderful connections, so thankful!!
- Candi.
- Cleaning out the cabin.
- Tossing stuff!
- Debra’s grace and humble heart.
- Living step by step.
- My husband’s love.
- Warmth.
- Candles.
- Quilt.
- Sunshine just long enough for a run.
- That Spring will come.
- That God is faithful.
May you be blessed this weekend with His grace, love, power, strength, peace. Thanks for reading…
#50 Evaluate your home {52 bites}
I’ve been spring cleaning my home all week, going through room-by-room and cleaning, evaluating, de-cluttering. I’m also writing Chapter 6 of Sacred Mundane which is about our homes. Tonight we’re having dinner with some friends who just sold their home. They’ll be moving into a Grandmother’s home until they find their next space. This morning some dear friends move in (temporarily) to our daylight basement downstairs. They are living part-time at a parent’s home and part-time in our home.
Homes are on my mind.
Jeff and I have lived in 13 homes since getting married almost nine years ago. A 2,000 square-foot-home a friend let us rent for $600, our first townhome, a windowless fire-hazard cave in San Jose, the creepy Acropolis Apartments with Aaron & Candi, another townhome in McMinnville, a bigger home in McMinnville, my parents’ home, my brother’s home, the Dombrow’s home, a West Linn apartment, our “dream home”, and now our beloved rental, affectionately called The-mobilehome-on-stilts.
Though I still care about “home,” it’s a bit of a four-letter-word for me. You see, I think the notion of “home” became an idol for me. Ever since I can remember I dreamed of homes, drew drawings of homes, looked at pictures homes, equated that “perfect” home with that “perfect” life. A cotton-candy dream, to be sure.
Now, I’m a recovering home-a-holic.
God extracted my idol like a bloody tooth from a jaw. Many of you followed our downsizing adventure of selling our dream home and moving into our precious 70s rental. It truly was one the best decisions we’ve ever made, and every time I drive by our old house I thank God we’re free from that mortgage. But this past week, I’ll confess, I caught a case of the Rental Blues. House prices are so low, and interest rates are so low, and if we snagged a Foreclosure-Fixer we could pay it off in no-time. So earlier this week I peeked, and quickly developed a crush on a foreclosure nearby. That night I asked God if He’d make it clear whether I was supposed to continue my crush. The next day it sold. We’re staying put.
And happily staying put, I might add. The friends who are surrounding me today remind me that home is wherever you hang your hat, where you laugh with friends, where you can just be, even if you don’t know how long you’ll be there at all.
The essence of this step, then, is to objectively evaluate your current home and determine if you can make it work or if you need to find a new spot.
Here are some questions Tsh suggests:
1. Is the central living area of our home usable for our
family?
2. Does the kitchen function effectively as a place to cook?
3. Are we able to sit down together as a family for meals?
4. Is everyone in the family able to pursue their interests
because of our home?
5. Does the layout of our home provide us the right balance
of togetherness and alone time?
6. Do we like the amount of light in our home?
7. How do the colors in our home make us feel?
8. Is our home in a location that works for our family?
9. Does our home fit our budget? (Dave Ramsey and
others recommend your rent or mortgage not be
more than one quarter of your take-home pay.)
10. Are we at peace in our home?
Our current home satisfies all these requirements. Of course I would still love to own a home outright someday and be free to give and travel more, but this is our home for now and The Nester offers some great words on embracing the home you have now:
My next house is going to be beautiful. It might not be bigger but, my next house is the one I’ll really make into a home. This house we are in now is just a holding room for us until we get to our next house. It’s ok that it doesn’t represent our family. I’m renting, it’s a waste to make it pretty right now. I don’t know how long we’ll be here. I long to have a much loved haven for my family but, I don’t have the funds and those pictures in the magazines assure me that it’s impossible to even attempt to make a change where I am. Yeah, I’m gonna love my next house. You’ll see.
How many of those lines have you repeated to yourself? I’ve said them all. And then I finally realized that there might not be a next house.
Love where you are. Beautify where you are. Your next house will be great too but, wherever you are right now, today, has enormous potential.
Compared to your last house, this IS your next house.
Another great way to start fresh without starting over comes from this post on Resetting a room through a fresh pair of eyes. Love this idea; I’m going to do it!
Consider evaluating your home this weekend and determining if you need to make it work or find a new spot. Here are some great links to more thoughts as well:
- When your house-attitude needs a paint job
- Cool of house-fever with a long-term financial plan
- Confessions of a Reluctant Renter
{May you be blessed this weekend as you evaluate and enjoy the home you have now… thanks for reading.}
Bending my will in order to bless …
*Last summer, when in London, we had the joy of meeting a Sacred Mundane blog-reader, Brie. She and her fiance Jamie gave us a fabulous tour around the River Thames and a delightful evening of fun and fellowship. Jamie and Brie are now married, and I’m delighted to share a few of her thoughts with you. Enjoy!
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We did this crazy thing last year – we got married.
Two completely imperfect people tying themselves together, to the perfect God and saying, if you’ll let us, we’ll bring glory to your name, let our story speak only of You. And it is a completely crazy thing, when you think about it. I’m difficult and stubborn and selfish, I desperately want my own way, I am a perfectionist; and my husband, he has to be just as flawed, because he’s only human. And these two sinners are going to try to build a life, and this is going to bring God glory? How’s that? How can that be possible?
I should probably mention here that God’s never-failing sense of humor has appeared in our marriage, He took two of the most independent people ever – we both moved to a new continent in our twenties, and we live in one of the most independent, hard, economically-driven cities in the world – and gave us to each other. But do you know what else he gave us? Jesus. Thanks be to God!
And so this marriage, it would be completely crazy, if it were only the two of us – we’d probably disagree constantly, and keep long accounts, and struggle to get our own way every time, and expect too much, and love too little.
But it’s not a marriage of two. It’s a marriage of three. Our wedding verse was from Ecclesiastes – ‘two is better than one…but a three stranded cord is not easily broken.’ (Ecc 4:9-11) Marriage is about the two of us, about the two of us putting Jesus in the center of it all. When we were dating we’d pray for each other in the morning via text message. We still do. My husband works long hours and often leaves the house before I am awake, and so often my morning starts with a text he’s sent while on his commute, praying for something he knows I’m facing that day, the knowledge that he takes me to the feet of the Most High God humbles me.
I thought marriage was about a clean house and nutritious meals, and in some respects it is, but only because it’s about bending my will to serve my husband; and ultimately to serve Christ. The laundry? And the bills? And the shopping? They are the mundane things that our days are built on. But as Kari says so frequently, they are sacred. Sacred because that specific task has been ordained for this moment; and sacred because God has gifted me with this blessing of a man and asked me to love him, to serve him and in so doing, to glorify the name of Jesus. And how do I love and serve my husband? By doing the laundry and cooking a meal and knowing that he loves fresh sheets on the bed and he thinks it’s a treat to have orange juice in the fridge.
When considering that our marriage is to reflect the love Christ has for the church to the world, suddenly my small, sometimes seemingly mundane marriage, feels weighty. And I wonder, do we? Do we love each other sacrificially, unconditionally, and completely? Probably not. But today, with God’s help, we will.
{Amen, Brie! Praying that same supernatural help for us all today as we imperfectly love with Christ’s perfect love. Thanks for reading.}
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Brie Doyle UK-based Canadian, recently married to a Kiwi, and seeking after God’s will for her life and marriage. She relishes coffee dates with Jesus, cooking (but not cleaning) and seeing God’s glorious creation through travelling. She writes at on a wing and prayer.
Week's end with thanks
- Hawaii.
- Home. No place like it.
- Coming home to discover a friend had cleaned my house, top to bottom. Ummm, hello! Nothing says love like that!
- Coming home to Candi’s hot chicken-pot-pie and apple crisp on the stove. Not sure which was better, a clean house or Candi’s cooking!
- Kids so great on the plane.
- Peanut butter sandwiches.
- Vacation with family a sheer delight.
- Cooking together.
- Fresh fish.
- Ice cream.
- Pounding waves.
- Sand, sand, more sand.
- Three days later, still washing sand out of Heidi’s hair.
- Hula pie.
- Coming home to beautiful sunny Oregon. Love love love this state!
- Daffodils in bloom!
- Green shoots stretching their necks tall all over my yard.
- Surprises all over this property — having never lived here in the Spring I had no idea!
- Dear Lacey generously coming over today to take pictures! So excited!
- Day filled with friends.
- Looking forward to baby Paskins!
- 6.2 mile run! Ready for Shawna’s 10k!
- Great, great news from friends.
- Warm welcomes.
- His voice.
- Elisa.
- Melody.
- Hosting an (in)RL event with Angela Davis from FrugalLivingNW! (Stay posted for more details; would love for you to join!)
- Our amazing Seifers.
- Dutch’s great experience at the dentist.
- Seeing such clear answers to prayer — thank you, Lord.
- Her bird-chirp voice.
- His powerful voice.
- Hearing your voices, some beautiful guest posts I’m so excited to share!
- Feeling so full.
- The gladness He gives …
Waking Up To A Sacred Life
{On an airplane today … Delighted to share this must-read treasure with you from my fellow writer-mommy and longtime friend, Caila.}
Thank you, Kari, for the chance to be here today! I’m so excited to “meet” all your lovely readers. 🙂
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It was April and I was three months pregnant, staring at a mountain of dishes. My three year old boy was playing in his room, my darling one year old girl at my feet. I think I was even looking out the window at a beautiful, sunny day. Nothing really to complain about. Nothing except the aching sense of despair I felt inside. Despair at the never-ending uselessness of it all.
Does that sound extreme? Am I shocking you with this?
I was a mother of two, then –now three– in love with my husband, in love with my children and outwardly happy. But first trimester hormones were ravaging my emotions and my husband’s second year in Nursing school was not helping things. You know how sometimes the most damaging hardships are the ones that drag on and on and on? Even though you know the end will come you just can’t see it. That was me, last April.
We are coming on a year since I stared at that sink of dirty dishes and said these very words in a silent prayer, “If this is my life for the next 18 years, I simply can’t stand it.”
There. The words were out. “I can’t stand it.”
The crisis of my life, spoken over lunch dishes and soapy water. If I love my children and my husband so much, why am I so miserable, Lord? I know I have NOTHING to complain about.Why do I feel so tired and useless?
The truth, although I was too tangled up at the time to see it, was that I had been believing a lie for a very long time. A subtle lie, an insistent lie. It was this:
My work has very little value. Most of it is boring, mundane. Nobody cares about what I do unless it’s not done.
Do you recognize it? Have you, perhaps, heard it before? Even believed it? If so, you aren’t alone.
It was this nagging sense of failure, uselessness, that put me in front of the dishes, crying out to God for help. I went back to the Bible again, and he began to answer. I prayed. I came back to Kari’s blog where there were words again of encouragement. “If anything matters, everything matters.” “The altar sanctifies the gift.” The sacred in the mundane.
It woke me up.
My mundane tasks can be sacred? Valuable? It can actually mean something to clean a toilet? Put the laundry away? These things can be more than tasks, more than another tick on the never-ending To Do list?
I love my children and I want to teach them, enjoy them, value them. I do not want to be discouraged by the hard work that comes along with caring for their little bodies and souls. I don’t want it to mean nothing. I want it all to mean something. Even the mundane–I want it to matter!
That was the truth. I wanted the mundane to matter! How much of life is playing out in the sandbox, or wiping a tear, compared with the daily tasks of living–cleaning bodies, clothing bodies, feeding bodies, washing up after bodies? If those things don’t matter, then so much of our time is wasted. But if those things do matter…just think of it! Teaching my children while doing the dishes, praying on bended knee while cleaning the toilet. Just enjoying each moment of life. What a miracle that would be!
So I tried it. I cooked, I cleaned, I Googled recipes, I read parenting books. I immersed myself in this life of motherhood. And this is what I’ve learned.
The value of your work is not found in what you earn. It’s in the very act of doing the work. And it seems to me that certain kinds of work are especially valuable when you are doing it, not for yourself, but for someone else.
I can’t tell you how much I’ve changed over the past year. Maybe it’s only on the inside; I couldn’t tell you if others see it on the outside. I know my family is happier. I am so honest-to-goodness content with my life I can’t believe I ever stared at those dishes and said, “I can’t stand it.”
Because I know each moment of these days is precious. I have only one life and 30 years of it are already gone and I will not allow any of it to be without value. My children, oh those beautiful, blue-eyed children, they are worth this. My husband, that good man, he is worth this.
And God, who values the motivation of my heart above the productivity of my hands, he is worth this as well.
Dear sisters, I hope you find value in the work you do today. Remember that even those dreams that seem wasted for Him are never really lost. He uses it all, each little piece.
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Caila Murphy is a mother to three, married to the love of her life, who loves to sew and write. She blends these two passions together at Caila-Made, where she shares tutorials and chronicles the ins and outs of this beautiful, crazy life.
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*Do you have a testimony of how God revealed the sacred in the midst of your mundane? Would you consider sharing it with us? Let me know here…
You and I, the blind and the blemished … perfected.
Leviticus really bothered me for the longest time. And it is a little disturbing to read through. Once you finally come up for air after drowning in the sea of bodily discharge and nakedness (Lev. 15), you surface only to find that God is talking about refusing to allow any blemished or blind or lame or hunchback or dwarf come near to offer the LORD’s sacrifice on the altar (21:16-23). In fact, it says
“No one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face or a limb too long, or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand…or an itching disease or scabs or crushed testicles…shall come near to offer the LORD’s food offerings” (19-21).
Come on, what’s the deal with this?
Every time I’d read through this I admit I struggle, “This is exactly why people get such a bad image of God through the OT. I mean, come on God, why’d You have to make yourself sound so mean? It’s not as if a hunchback is a bad person, why are you purposely excluding them from offering sacrifices, and did you have to mention testicles for crying out loud? And what’s wrong with someone having one long limb?? The atheists are going to love poking fun at this passage.” *Sigh* I didn’t get it.
And it still is a rough read. Again this morning I still struggle through it. There’s plenty in Leviticus to struggle through. But take heart.
We have to keep in mind that it wasn’t only these who were excluded from offering sacrifices, of course. The vast majority were excluded. Only the priests (those descendants of Levi) were allowed to even be in the priesthood, and then only those apparently without these unfortunate conditions were allowed to approach the altar to offer sacrifices. There were many other exclusions besides just these bothersome ones that I mentioned. So we have to understand that the norm was exclusion.
The norm in this culture, for the nation of Israel was one of exclusion. Most were excluded from ever being able to approach God’s altar.
In the Old Testament God is communicating His transcendence.
God’s transcendence means that He is altogether above and outside of this world. God is holy. That is the message of Leviticus. He is separate. He is far above. We would never understand the miraculous nature of God’s New Testament rescue mission unless we understand the immeasurable distance between God and man. We first had to understand how uncrossable was the chasm between us. How ill-equipped we were to ever approach God’s throne. God is holy and perfect (Lev. 20:7) and that is the foundation of the gospel.
Therefore, this is what we must get: the book of Leviticus isn’t meant to be a little exclusive, it’s meant to be a LOT exclusive. The message? God priests and his sacrifices must be perfect. Chapter 22 verse21 says,
“And when anyone offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the herd or from the flock, to be accepted it must be perfect; there shall be no blemish in it.” (emphasis mine)
A sacrifice must be perfect. A peace offering must be perfect. There must be no blemish in priest or blemish in sacrifice.
That is the message of Leviticus and that sets the stage for the greatest news the world has ever known.
Christ is our perfect sacrifice, our pure and spotless lamb. And, Christ is our high priest, perfect and blameless. Christ is the ONLY sacrifice that was absolutely perfect and thus able to once and for all make peace between God and. The perfect sin offering, the perfect peace offering. And not only is He the perfect sacrifice, He is the perfect priest. The book of Hebrews sums it up like this:
“And every priest stands daily at [God’s] service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God…For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:11-14).
Not only is He the Perfect Sacrifice, He is also the Perfect Priest, and (here’s the really good news!!) “He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” (v.14).
That’s YOU! That’s ME! By the perfect sacrifice by the perfect priest all those who put their faith in Him are being made perfect! As we are sanctified here on this earth, Christ has alreadyperfected us for all time.
Even if one arm is longer than the other.
Even if we have a “defect”, even if we find ourselves on that list (I do!) full of blemishes and shortcomings and imperfections. Even if we know we would never have made it into the “in” crowd of the Old Testament. Even though our sin had separated us from God.
While still remaining a holy God, set apart, above, transcendent, the message of the New Testament is God’s immanence.
God came down. He came near. He is made His dwelling among us (John 1:14) and we have seen His glory, and “from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:16).
We have received grace upon grace.
See, friends–even Leviticus is part of the beautiful story of God. He is perfect. Above. Holy. We are hunchbacks–all of us! But He is the perfect priest, the perfect sacrifice, and has perfected us all because everything He touches He makes beautiful.
That is grace upon grace. That is the gospel.
~
{From the archives; I cannot revisit this glorious truth too many times.
Thank you for reading.}
Week's end with thanks
- Sun-kissed cheeks.
- Bare feet and sand between our toes.
- One whole glass wall that opens, accordion-style, onto the lanai. Just the sound of a waterfall and warm Hawaiian breeze through the palm trees.
- Wondering how amazing the Garden of Eden must have been.
- Thinking how God must have such blessing for us in eternity!
- Singing Phil Whickam’s “I see Your face in every sunrise, the colors of the morning are inside Your eyes…” while running along the Pacific watching sun rise over Maui mountains. You’re beautiful!
- Accompanied in my 4am wake-up time by little monkeys still adjusting to the time-change…
- Pineapple ’til my stomach ached.
- Eating our suitcase of food–beans, beans, and more beans.
- Mango salsa.
- Table strewn with Legos.
- Lazy afternoons with nothing to do.
- Crashing waves. Kids tossed, turned, a little scared then coming back for more.
- Aloha Mixed Plate.
- Aaron & Candi so generous. Starbucks for the road. Sandwiches, trail mix, kept us fueled for the journey.
- Kids so great on the plane!
- Early morning runs.
- Her little legs golden brown.
- Obeying.
- Last few days of Discerning the Voice of God, so grateful that even though the study’s over we still get to hear from Him!
- Receiving, learning, growing.
- Pulling a chair into the bathroom for early morning quiet time.
- Squinting at the pocket Bible, no matter how tiny His Words are still rich!
- Kids squealing in delight.
- Oatmeal each morning.
- Seeing beneath the surface.
- Snorkel gear.
- Your encouraging words.
- Getting to know a few of you more…
- Anticipating some fabulous guest posts!
- That you share your life with me…
- Heidi holding ten stickers, one on each finger, waving them in the air, grinning.
- Her little striped boy-short jammies: Sunshine girl.
- Asking God is perhaps He’d like us to plant a church here… (just kidding!)
- Birds chirping.
- Hundreds of tropical fish.
- Ocean cool and warm all at once.
- Thinking of how I love vacation but most of all I truly just love home.
- Two hungry children, right now, asking for snacks.
- Signing off now to unplug…
Thanks for reading, and for rejoicing with us in this sweet little getaway for our family. Bless your weekend!