Category Archives: Multitudes on Mondays

Kingdom Perspective

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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Today I am honored to honor the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a prophetic voice for the masses, not just black folk but all folk who seek and need to seek human justice for all. Rev. King sought it and fought for it by giving his all, giving his life. I praise God for his selflessness, not cutting corners just so he could say he tried and then seek what was most comfortable for him. When situations get tough, giving up or half doing a job can be tempting. This is the case sometimes with us hard working mamas. I challenge you to read my latest column in EEW Magazine written to help mamas prone to cutting corners to the possible detriment of their children learn to fight for the next generation always with that generation in mind, much like Rev. King did. I salute this great American hero for embodying the Spirit of Christ and fighting to make life better for us all.

My One Thousand Gifts List

#401-410
Little girls with braided, beaded hair enjoying the sounds of it
Being at an Ebenezer AME church basketball game with Joshua supporting by brother as the coach
Seeing the school-aged cheerleaders and having nostalgic moments about my own cheering day
A mom kissing her son (about 12 years old) and his not being embarrassed to kiss her too
My children liking to be around me, even invading my space
Polishing my fingernails
Getting to church on time
Being able to remain in the sanctuary
Having no qualms about saying no when two people tried to recruit me for ministry I know I wasn’t suited for
Pulling together lunch for the family and enough for unexpected guests

Go In

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My kitchen mostly has been my bane. I cook there. I clean there. I stress there. I don’t want to be there, but feeding three growing boys keeps me there indefinitely. I want a trap door, to go through the floor, to disappear to a quiet world of no cooking and rest in God’s blessed presence. But breakfast and snack and lunch and snack and snack and dinner and snack tie me there. Of the many rooms in my home, the kitchen has become my castle and it’s from here that I rule. Sandwiches, ladles and soup make for lousy scepters yet the children rush in with their demands. And I command and cook, cuddle and coddle, encourage and flourish for my family in the kitchen, but in the kitchen I had been missing what I desired most: to bring unadulterated worship into this space, to shed the labor and lavish my Savior with love. How can you go into the Savior’s presence when in your presence is a pile of dishes, a dirty floor and demands for more? How can you transform the routine into a greater thing?

After nine years of pleading and pressing through
After stumbling from false prayer starts to settle fussy babies then trying to make it through
After murmuring and complaining that I can’t make it through
After wanting to give up, sometimes giving up, prayer and knowing without it I couldn’t make it through

After crying and crying out and snottin’ and shouting out I made it through with the “afters” in my rearview, my daily list of gratitude driving them far from me. So in the kitchen on an early morning after quieting the 2 year old back to sleep and making lunches for the day I began to praise: the gift of running water to rinse the knife makes me utter praise; the gift of three types of sandwich spreads has me in praise; the gift of wheat bread AND spelt bread has me singing praise; the gift of feeding my kids has me roaring in praise; the gift of a loving husband who wants to make his lunch has me in praise; and the gift of unadulterated worship comes and I am overcome and want to fall to my knees but hesitate, not wanting to drop to an unclean floor. But the One I adore was born on a dirty floor, hay maybe, among smelly barn animals and surely noises coming from more than His mother. The manger, the only place available for His birth, became the praise room for the magi, the mother and the earthly father to worship the miracle. God, the Great I AM, came in flesh, born among animal flesh and probably mess, to fulfill prophecy, His pre-creation destiny to rescue us from self. So I drop myself to my dirty floor and I worship my Savior even more, knowing that He sacrificed, coming in contact with dirty floors, soiled hearts, and unrepentant souls, ministered to know-it-alls and received anyone who called on His name. The manger door was open. When the door is open sometimes you just have to go in. I went into His presence, became reborn in His presence and came out an anyplace worshipper that only Jesus could make me be.

My One Thousand Gifts List

#391-400
Listening to the Thursday Night Bible Study CD in its entirety early this morning
Nate waking up early so I was able to put him down for a nap when Simone, Tabitha, Alexis, Tanena and Josiah came over to watch a poetry DVD
The comedic styling of Nathaniel
Nathaniel and his self-satisfied looks
Hosting Simone, Tabitha, Alexis, Tanena and Josiah at my home and the sweet fellowship we enjoyed
Reading Motherhood for an uninterrupted period
Waking up about 10 minutes before Justus did and was able to release, turn on the stove to be cleaned and peel an orange before he awoke
Curt calling just to check in and telling me he was thinking about taking me to the Esperanza Spaulding concert
Being able to read in bed in the quiet of morning

Show Love

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Happy New Year! I hope you resolve to show more love this year.
Christmas was electrifying. The sparkling lights, the glistening snow (in most cases) and the holiday cheer that buzzes always has me in a glow. I love that time of the year when people seem friendlier, smile brighter, and folks are lending helping hands. I don’t know about you, but when December 26 hit, all that seemed to change. The buzz was silent. The sparkles fizzled. There was no Christmas music playing, no gracious sayings and fewer smiles. It was like someone had turned off the Christmas cheer switch and everyone had gone back to their self-focused lives. Well, for 2012 I declare that not so. I declare that we have Christmas cheer throughout the year. Let this be the beginning of a lifetime of years where throughout the year we graciously give of our time, talent and treasure to others, particularly those outside of the Christian faith. This is our mandate, always has been our mandate, but we seem to fall in line with the world’s way of helping someone only during the holidays. Let us teach our children to give charity, or love, throughout the year, right along with our regular routines. Read more at EEW Magazine.

My One Thousand Gifts List

#381-390
Getting a shower early
Cooking dinner before picking up Joshua
Getting a good progress report from Joshua’s teacher and hearing her say how his extracurricular exposure helps him with class discussions and his writings
Being able to sit here uninterrupted to write eight gifts
My husband telling me to take some alone time away from the house Saturday afternoon because I’ve been a great support to him in ministry the past two weeks
Listening to Ashmont Hill on TBN and being impressed to get their CD as a birthday gift for a friend
Getting a full night’s sleep
Feeling energized to start the day
Beginning the day with quiet time with the Lord
Preparing Joshua’s breakfast and his and Flynn’s lunch without feeling stressed

Traditions Aside

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Some of us didn’t go to church yesterday. It was Christmas and service interfered with our tradition of getting up early and allowing the children to open and play with their gifts to their hearts content. We didn’t want to mess with tradition, the one we’ve held for years. I understand tradition. Years ago I bought a book full of ideas for making family memories. This has always been my desire. I want my sons to have etched in their minds that the Smiths did this on that holiday, went there those summers, made that for the birthdays and did this just because. I haven’t read the book, only glanced through it and haven’t tried any of its suggestions, but I have worked to create on my own memories throughout the year with visits to the park and libraries, baking a treat at least every couple of months and me chasing the boys around the house about once a week.

And, of course, we have our Christmas traditions: making cookies, opening up stocking stuffer gifts and watching Christmas DVDs on Christmas Eve, and having Christmas Eve brunch with my mom, siblings and their families. We managed to keep up some of the traditions this year though they looked a little different with my mom being in the hospital, today marking six weeks her being there.

Instead of leisurely, we hurriedly made cookies during commercials of one Christmas movie we found on TV, tiredly opened up our stocking gifts, and had a rushed brunch after church at my brother’s so we could all go to spend some time with my mom in her hospital room. The weeks since prior to Thanksgiving have been full of care and concern for my mom, has had me pulling double household duties and has left my whole family with little time and energy to do what we normally do. I have been laser focused on honoring my mother while still caring for my children and loving my husband. If I weren’t in strong black woman recovery I would need to be in somebody’s recovery program because the stress of my life would have me stressed out. But I welcomed unsettled movie watching, quick cookie making, blurry-eyed gift exchanging, and brief brunching knowing that my change in traditions would be for my mom’s betterment. And to see her eyes brighten and cry upon seeing all her grandkids sealed my feelings all the more. God’s leading must lead our traditions out of our way.

One day some Pharisees and teachers of religious law arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus.
They noticed that some of his disciples failed to follow the Jewish ritual of hand washing before eating. (The Jews, especially the Pharisees, do not eat until they have poured water over their cupped hands, as required by their ancient traditions. Similarly, they don’t eat anything from the market until they immerse their hands in water. This is but one of many traditions they have clung to–such as their ceremonial washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles. ) So the Pharisees and teachers of religious law asked him, “Why don’t your disciples follow our age-old tradition? They eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony.” Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’ For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.” Then he said, “You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition.—Mark 7:1-9 (NLT)

When we decide to focus on what we have always done we miss what God is doing now. When we focus on our tradition, we miss what God is teaching. When we honor ourselves, we dishonor God and sometimes this dishonor comes when we decide to stay home from church to have our Christmas, effectively taking Christ, the object of Christmas and the one who commanded us to gather together, out of the holiday. We decided that we would follow our tradition and forget God’s tradition of assembling with the saints to worship Him together (Hebrews 10:25). And this following ourselves and not God concerns me. God has our best intentions in mind, but when we follow our ways and not His, surely we will not receive the best for ourselves. So I wonder, what type of heartbreak are we setting ourselves up for when we focus on man’s tradition above God’s tradition? What happens when the tradition breaks beyond our control? When a loved one dies, when we get sick and don’t have the strength that we usually do? What happens when our esteemed traditions change or don’t happen at all?

Traditions will change because people and circumstances do. The only way we can prepare for the change and not fall and STAY apart is when we do our part and follow God’s traditions. I am so grateful for God’s plans, those that inherently unreliable man can never change.

My One Thousand Gifts List

#371-380
Justus gurgling
Joshua telling me I’m the best mama in the “entire United States”
Cancelling lunch with a friend without being overwhelmed because I couldn’t go
For children who have the ability to cry, fuss, holler and complain
Parkman Branch library
A blog message
A reimbursement check from my insurance company
Extra monthly income
God sustaining me through a long day
God inhabiting my praises when I REALLY needed Him to today

Kindness: The Key to Unity

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My 9 year old has expressed a real yearning for hearing from God. Still young in his faith (he accepted Jesus at 5), I told him that it takes time to discern the voice of God. “But how do you know when you hear him and it’s not just you talking to yourself?” “What a good question,” I said and told him that many adults ask that question and I’m glad that he is searching now so he won’t be on a lifetime journey. I gave him some typical ways to become sensitive to God’s voice, including becoming familiar with who God is by studying the Bible, recognizing that God uses people to give you a message, and understanding that God repeats messages when He wants you to pay attention to something. The repeated message way of hearing God’s voice happened Sunday morning when my pastor talked about the unity that is necessary in the Body of Christ to draw the world to Christ. This is the crux of my latest post in EEW Magazine.

I believe God is speaking in this hour that Christians need to pay attention to His command to be united. This is the way we win souls. United with God the Father, this is the way Christ won souls (John 10:24-30). Check out the post that begins below to see how you can foster brotherly kindness in your family to effect change in the Body of Christ and in the world:



We have heard these, maybe even said them ourselves, when our children don’t get along and are at each others’ throat: “These kids just can’t get along;” “It’s just sibling rivalry.” Maybe their behavior is sibling rivalry, but are we resigned that they won’t get along because they just can’t or do we just wait it out, expecting the conflict to go as the children grow? Parenting expert Abbey Waterman, a mother of eight and home educator for more than 20 years, says parents have to foster brotherly kindness in their children and not just expect it to happen.

“I didn’t let my children ‘have friends’ outside of the family until they could get along with each other,” said Waterman, whose children range in age from 23 to 6. “We would go to church and I would have them head straight to the car after service. They didn’t get the privilege of socializing with their friends at church.” She once made a bickering son and daughter share a room, forcing them to deal with each other and work out their issues. Today, the children are close.

Waterman’s tactics may seem extreme, but God expects us to go through radical means to get radical results. Read the rest here.

My One Thousand Gifts List

#361-370
Not having to cook dinner
My author copies of Daily Guideposts: Your First Year of Motherhood arriving in the mail
Strength to cook dinner after a long day
Keeping me safe without access to a phone
Getting my blog posted before going to get Joshua from school and after a morning at Dan’s funeral
My family enjoying my fried chicken
My family rejoicing over the devotional book arriving
Taking a nap
Flynn cleaning the kitchen and allowing me to take a nap
Good “cornbread” made with non-corn meal and spelt flour