Sacred Mundane: The Blog

I was cooking dinner when the texts came through in short desperate spurts. Panic. Help me?? I asked some questions. Are you willing to…. Waited for a response. Finally:

Yes.

I stood at the stove, praying that this newfound willingness would remain, that the desperation to do whatever it takes would last longer than a virus-scare.

The next morning I re-read Luke 15 and saw something new. You probably know how this goes…

“Give me my inheritance now. I’m sick of living under your thumb. Give me what’s mine and I’ll be on my way.”

The younger son essentially spits in the face of his father, telling him he doesn’t want his presence, doesn’t want his relationship, he just wants his money.

I want resources, not relationship. I want access, not accountability.

And so he goes, this Prodigal Son, and squanders it all with “reckless living.” Later we learn this isn’t just an innocent shopping spree–he fritters his fortune away on prostitutes and self-destructive behaviors.

A parents’ worst nightmare.

But what happens next is interesting, and you may think I’m overstepping my Bible-bounds, but the thread through the Scriptures is unmistakable:

God sends a famine to bring a lost son home.

In the midst of the Prodigal’s wild life, while he’s still in the height of his self-destructive stupidity, “a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need.”

He began to be in need.

Turning point. We often think the turning point is when the prodigal son begins the walk home and the father runs to meet him. But this is the beginning. He’s not coming home yet, but he’s left the prostitutes in favor of working on a farm.

I’d say that’s a great step. He’s humbled. He’s sobered up. He’s desperate. He’s willing to feed pigs. His entitlement is gone.

That’s when he “came to himself.” He remembers the grace and kindness of his father. And he’s willing to return, as a servant, because, he says, “I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”

Our culture would be so quick to interject here, “Oh lost boy, don’t talk like that! You ARE worthy! You ARE enough!”

But you know what? The Prodigal son was spot on. All his self-righteousness is gone: He sees himself for what he truly is. Unworthy.

And into his vast cavern of unworthiness the Good, Good Father pours out His steadfast, relentless grace, and matchless kindness. The older son, who’s still stuck in self-righteousness, is outraged. Hasn’t the father seen the scorecard? Clearly the little brother is a zero.

But the Father isn’t keeping score, he’s giving love. It’s a beautiful story.

But it’s interesting that a country-wide famine is what brought the lost boy to the end of himself. It wasn’t until he began to be in need that things turned around.

A few weekends ago some friends and I looked at the lives of Bible characters and saw the lengths that God goes to in order to get people’s attention.

I don’t pretend to know all that God is doing during our worldwide pandemic, but I have been floored by how many stories there are of God’s individual, personal plans being carried out in people’s lives through the details of this difficult time. Would God send a famine to bring home a lost boy? Would God allow a pandemic to bring us back home to Him? To lead us away from self-destructive patterns and habits and reset our gaze on all that really matters?

Praying constantly for eyes to see what God is doing behind the scenes, and that the need I feel would ever turn me from self-destruction and put me on the path back home to Him. Thanks for reading.

There is a kind of overwhelm that is very real to me and it has nothing to do with trying to have a Pinterest-worthy home or a beach-worthy body. I don’t get overwhelmed comparing my life with others who seem awesome. That isn’t the social-media trigger for me.

But I often feel overwhelmed by ALL THE GOOD CAUSES. Am I alone in this? Anybody else?

Just recently, I could feel that growing sense of overwhelm. The stats presented to me were overwhelming. The urgency was real. I couldn’t — didn’t want to — ignore the very real need presented, but I inwardly wrestled with the same angst I often feel in these situations:

How do I support/champion/care/give/help ALL these amazing causes?

The next morning I sat quietly with God and told Him how I felt. Often when I’m overwhelmed it helps me to write out lists of “all the things” so it loses its vague gloom-cloud feeling and becomes concrete. In my journal I began writing each thing, not just that I know about, but that have been presented to me as a worthy cause, in our world and in my life. I started far out and worked inward. It included:

World:

• Unreached people groups — gospel! 10/40 window
• Relief and development for poor in 3rd world countries: Specifically Next Generation Ministries, Child Sponsorship through World Vision, and Water projects through World Vision (6K for water)
• Homeless/poverty/drug abuse/mental illness here (Mary)
• Abortion (millions of lives) each year
• Racial reconciliation/ immigration/Refugee care (philoxenia) in USA
• Persecuted church worldwide–Voice of the Martyrs
• US and local political involvement (various critical issues)
• Human Trafficking
• Foster care & adoption (CASA)
• Young Lives ministry to single moms

At home:

• Home-educating our big kids, teaching them to love and obey God!
• Training Justice! Constant work & intentionality.
• Cooking (!), cleaning, home management–including the impact of food purchasing decisions on developing nations (fair trade), environmental impact, and HEALTH! Consider all!
• Serving and loving my parents

Local church:

• Shepherding, caring, discipleship
• Addressing marriage crises, addiction within church
• Friendships! Doing life together
• Preaching and healing like Jesus did!

So basically all of these things are swirling around in my heart and mind and every time I hear someone champion one of these things it feels like I need to be all about that things. Not only that, but it feels like there are TRENDS! So it seems like for 6-months or so everyone is all about one thing, and then six months later it feels like we’re all about something else. That’s a terrible overstatement, but at least on social media it can sure feel like that. And with all of my heart, I want to be ALL ABOUT what God is all about! I don’t want to waste my life. But quite frankly, I cannot be ALL ABOUT every single one of these things. Especially not all at once. So, pray tell, how on earth do I navigate it all?

I asked God that. Like, out loud. And I sat and waited, in silence, for Him to answer. I’m not saying this is “thus sayeth the Lord” but so clearly in my heart, I heard,

Fight sin in any form you encounter it.

Ah. I could feel my whole being settle into peace. Yes. Of course. In every single one of these endeavors, the undercurrent is fighting SIN. It is fighting some consequence of the fall. Whether I am fighting my own sin, or working on behalf of someone else who is a victim of sin, if I am actively fighting sin in any form I encounter it, I’m in step with the kingdom of God.

The next step for me was simple–which of these causes has God clearly allowed me to encounter. That is, which causes as God undeniably plopped in front of me in such a way that I know He has called me to this thing.

I made another list. This one was only 6 items long.

Ah. Yes. That is a list I can handle. That is a list of priorities I can very much get behind and actually DO something about. I CAN pray regularly over six things. I CAN give generously to six things. I CAN care, research, and give mental energy to six things.

Does it mean I don’t care about those other things? Certainly not. It means that I recognize one simple thing: I’m not God.

God is the only one with the capacity to KNOW, CARE, and be deeply invested in EVERY CAUSE. In fact, He is the only One with the emotional and mental stores to even HANDLE the truth about all the world’s woes. I honestly think part of our mental health problem is that we have OVER-KNOWN. We have taken on more than we can mentally handle, forgetting that we play a role of obedience to God but we don’t need to have a hot-take on every single headline in our feed.

I’m not talking about burying our heads in the sand, I’m talking about not sticking our nose in business that belongs only to God.

So I share my simple process, just in case anyone else out there feels this same tension. I don’t pretend to have it all figured out. Perhaps our six things will change as seasons change (likely), but for today, I will devote myself to the few things God has called me to. And trust Him to be God and mobilize others for the causes outside my reach.

{Thanks for reading.}

Today is a rare occasion: It’s been a mostly Plan A day (which is why I’m curled up under a blanket with time to write this post!).

Our days rarely go exactly as planned, right? We know this.  Perhaps the most crucial character trait for any homeschooling parent is the ability to adjust, reconfigure, and creatively course-correct again and again and again (and again!). 

I’ll just tell you straight up–tossing a toddler into the mix of our life has thrown me for a major loop.

The baby-stage was mostly a breeze, but since we dropped the morning nap and he transitioned from snuggly baby to busy-never-sitting-still-crawling-onto-the-counter-emptying-every-cupboard-playing-in-the-toilet-every-time-I-turn-around-needing-constant-training-toddler I have had a hard time figuring out how to order our day effectively. (Advice welcomed!)

So, since “Plan A” days became so rare, I went ahead and posted “Plan B” in our house, just so we all knew what to do.

So far that’s the one thing that’s working well. My children are very kind and they’re alive. Yes! 

But even though “Plan A” doesn’t happen exactly, for me it’s still immensely helpful to have a rough outline of where we’re going each day.

It isn’t about following it exactly, but it does give us a guide. 

Honestly, I still feel pretty scattered.

Juggling a teen and a tween and a toddler along and my writing and speaking commitments, with what feels like loads of food prep (we love healthy food), and wanting to love and serve my husband and my parents and the precious people around me in our various spheres, I feel like I’m rarely giving anyone the attention they deserve.

But. God is so gracious, He gives us new mercies each morning, and I wouldn’t trade the details of my life for anything in the world. They go something like this… {Read the rest over at Simple Homeschool! Thanks!}

“….let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance…”

Heb. 12:1

I read the text over and over that week, considering the familiar passage and asking God again and again for insight–What are my weights?

The pain in my neck provided the perfect illustration. Earlier that week we had wanted to head outside on a beautiful sunny day. Justice is nearly 30 lbs so he’s a beast to carry around, but we have a hefty backpack carrier that Jeff uses. I had never used it before, but figured I could handle it for a short hike. How heavy could it be? I slid it out of the closet, hefted Justice over the top and down into the harness, buckled him in, then squatted down and eased the straps over my shoulders, then stood up.

Good grief he’s heavy, I thought. I pulled the waist straps tighter, shifted to try to adjust the weight down instead of pulling painfully on my neck. It’ll be fine.

We hiked, up and down hills and the whole time I’m just thinking, Good grief this kid weighs a ton! We kept it short because I couldn’t endure much longer. By the end my neck burned, my head ached, and I was just relieved to be done. That night I told Jeff about our little excursion and told him how much I admired that he could handle carrying that heavyweight around all the time!

The next morning Jeff made a humorous discovery: He’d accidentally left his huge study Bible in the front compartment of the backpack carrier. After church he’d tucked it in there just to travel home, then forgotten it was there.

I rubbed my sore neck and shook my head–a little extra weight is no joke! It seems so little–just a book. A little extra here and there. But over the long haul of a hike it takes serious toll on your ability to endure! The truth is, I could have hiked a lot longer without that extra weight. And I’m sure there are lots of things that “weights” might be for us, but one I know for sure for me:

My preferences.

My preferences are weights, friends. All the things that I have to have, the things that I like to be just so. The demands, comforts, requirements that must be fulfilled in order to be happy.

Every time I add a “must have” item to my life, I add a weight.

I think of this anytime I’ve searched for a vacation house on VRBO or AirBnB. As you know, the more boxes you check as requirements, the narrower your options get.

I.e. the more preferences you have, the fewer options you have.

Every box I check drastically reduces my options. It actually limits me.

My preferences limit my freedom.

Now please hear me, I’m not saying checking boxes is evil. Just adding a baby to our mix has limited our options because there are occupancy limits, that’s certainly not a bad thing! Indeed there are options that aren’t good for us. We’re wise to opt out of those things. But when there are so many things that I have to have just so, and you know what?

They drastically reduce my options.

Sure, we who have the privilege of wealth (which we all do) can afford to make a lot of those preferences a reality, but the principle is still the same. Everything I have to have in order to be satisfied comes back to bite me because it limits my freedom. It goes back to the Wide Joy thing…Every requirement I place on life closes that gap a notch more, narrowing the slice of life where I’m actually content.

It’s such a strange thing–our freedom can enslave us. Because we can become so accustomed to things being just so that we aren’t free to run with endurance. Our carry-on bag is too big!

Please hear me too, this isn’t just pointing fingers at people with money. I know wealthy people who purposefully live well below their means, on purpose. They haven’t kept checking additional boxes with every new raise. I admire them so much.

And of course it’s not only about money. But I can’t help but think of that haunting eye of the needle. Right? Jesus pulls no punches when he’s talking to the rich young ruler and that ruler didn’t have the freedom to follow Jesus because he had too many boxes checked. Too many preferences. He had to have his stuff. This and that thing were too near and dear to him. When he figured in all the amenities he had to have, there were no eternal options left for him. And that’s when Jesus speaks those haunting words,

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.

Matt 19:24, Mark 10:25, Luke 18:25

The disciples were “exceedingly astonished” at this, of course. They cried out the same thing I’d cry out, “Then who on earth can possibly be saved??” They clearly recognize how dire the situation is. And Jesus assures them that with God all things are possible.

And of course this isn’t a command for all people, that’s not the point. The point IS, if Jesus asks me to leave everything behind to follow Him, would I? And how do I know that unless I’m willing today to lay down my preferences? I’m fooling myself if I cling to my “have to have” list but still somehow think that I’d respond differently than that dear young ruler who walked away sad.

Right after he walked away the disciples point out that they have left everything. And Jesus assures them that nothing is lost. Everything they’ve left behind. All the boxes that they’ve UNCHECKED in order to follow Jesus, all those things will be added back to them.

We’re not given details, but Jesus is saying,

“Don’t worry. All that stuff you ‘lost’? It’ll be worth it.”

I’ll tell you straight up–that eye of the needle thing haunts me. Camels are big. Needle-eyes are small. Lord, please do the miraculous work of helping us first-world folks to love you more than anything. Please save us from the fate of the rich young ruler. Please help us lay aside weights so we can finish well. With man this is impossible but with You all things are possible.

Thanks for reading.