Phone calls, flowers and ropes on Mother’s Day

2 Replies

Happy Mother’s Day to all of our wonderful mothers! If your mother is not living, may you be blessed with wonderful memories of her today. If you have not been able to be a mother, may God surround you with His love and comfort and may you be able to trust Him that He is sovereign and faithful. If your mother wasn’t what you considered ideal and you don’t see reason to honor her today, if Mother’s Day is just plain difficult for you, I pray you may be able to be thankful that your Mother chose life and that you now have a chance to make a difference in the life of another. Blessings to you all on this wonderful day. You can read some of my other more humorous Mother’s Day posts here, here and here!

Phone calls, flowers and ropes on Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day has always been a favorite here in the United States. They say over 122 million will take the time to call their mother today. I will wait for you if you haven’t called your mother yet. Go ahead, it will make her day!

The average spent on Mom today is $168. That seemed extremely high to me and very extravagant for a holiday that was meant to just say, “Thank you.”

Yesterday, I received the most wonderful gift I may have ever gotten for Mother’s Day. Letters from My Three Sons, my sweet DIL, Rachel, and The Sweetheart. Post dated to open one a month for an entire year. Tears!! I will open thefamily first one today. Genius. Thank you to the best kids on the planet!

Around the world, Mother’s Day is celebrated much the same way we do here in the States; flowers, candy, a day off from chores, maybe dinner in a restaurant.

In Ethiopia, Mother’s Day is celebrated for three days! The three-day feast, Antrosht, is celebrated by making hash. The girls bring spices, vegetables, cheese and butter and the boys bring a lamb or a bull. The mother then serves the hash and a celebration takes place afterward where the mothers and daughters anoint themselves using butter on their faces and chests. The men sing songs to honor the family. Hmmm…

Men in Australia typically wear a chrysanthemum in their lapels to honor their mothers. This flower is chosen because it ends in “mum” which is their chosen name for the one who brought them into the world!

If you think your Mother’s Day is dull, you could celebrate as they do supposedly, in Serbia. They also need three days to honor their mother in the month of December. They celebrate Children’s Day and Father’s Day all back to back on consecutive Sundays. But here is where it truly differs from other celebrations! On Children’s Day, the children are tied up with rope and have to say they will behave before they can be untied!

Then on Mother’s Day, it is the mother’s turn to be wound around and around with the rope and she must stay all tied up until she gives treats and gifts to the children. How she is supposed to do this while tied up is a mystery to me but hey, she is a mom! Finally, on Father’s Day, you guessed it, Dad gets to take a turn. He must stay bound with the ropes until he gives the family their Christmas gifts and then everyone can celebrate.

As a daughter I have seen 50+ Mother’s Days come and go. As a Mother, this is my 35th year of celebrating. As a grandmother, it is my very first. My son and DIL experienced infertility for over ten years before we received this little miracle, who is just five weeks old, Norah Jayne. You can read their story here.

While it has taken a few years for me to join the grandparents club, trust me, I feel as if I belong here. Watching Norah at times is like going back 25+ years and watching my own all over again. It seems as if I can see each one of My Three Sons in her tiny face. And yet, she is her own little person, she will have her own ideas, her own desires and her own dreams. This isn’t the same world that her daddy grew up in and it will take a love for God and a relationship with Him to weather the storms that life will send her way.

If I could tell Norah one thing it would be to always honor your parents. They will make mistakes but will forever want what is best for you and strive to make sure you are loved, safe and cared for.

Today, if your mother is living, you are blessed to still have her and be able to let her know you appreciate her. To my own mother, Sandy, I thank you for everything you have done for me and my family over the years. We could count on you then and we can count on you now. Thank you for being a great mother.

To my daughter-in-law, Rachel, on her first Mother’s Day, a day that has typically been so difficult is now wonderfully anticipated. It’s taken a long time to get here but God’s timing is always perfect. May you enjoy every moment and give thanks to the One who has blessed us all with such a miracle.

12512762_10209186844057872_3744480787241706322_n

Did I mention the country of India? Most of the citizens of this country aren’t really aware of a formal Mother’s Day for one interesting reason: They strongly feel that ONE DAY isn’t sufficient to celebrate the love of a mother.

I would agree.

Happy Mother’s Day!

nana

Don’t miss a thing

3 Replies

It’s #FiveMinuteFriday and the word prompt is miss. You can read other takes on this word in which we are to write for five minutes with little editing, just for the love of writing. Be blessed!

This weekend, I am away on another Revival By Design trip for a seminar somewhere in the great state of Tennessee. A reprieve from endless hotels, we are blessed to be with friends and staying with their friends. Confused much? The point isn’t the WHO but the HOW. This hostess with the mostest doesn’t miss a thing.

This home truly looks like something from Southern Living magazine, with a touch of a coastal theme. Gorgeous is the word for the entire property. You will just have to envision it; I didn’t ask permission to share!

Some just have a knack for hosting…they are born that way. They know how to serve and make everything just right for the guest. The coffee bar is set up for you to use when YOU get up and want coffee. Some in our party, like me, need/want coffee before 6:00 a.m. Others in our party chose to have breakfast at 10:30. That’s brunch, people!

But this doesn’t frustrate a true hostess or servant. They can accommodate everyone because they live to please and want each guest in their home to feel at home. From the carefully placed guest towels with all the extras in case you have forgotten something, to the carafe of filtered water and matching glasses, not Styrofoam (which I am perfectly fine with!), and the list goes on, a perfect hostess makes her guest comfortable and wanting nothing.

“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” Philippians 2:6-8 NIV

The scripture says Jesus made Himself nothing by taking on the very nature of a servant. His greatest service was our salvation! He gave of Himself, completely, so that we would have eternal life, conquering death, hell and the grave.

But the verse right before this is what I don’t want us to miss:

“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus…”

Don't miss a thing

What was that mindset? He made Himself nothing and became a servant to those around Him.

In our everyday relationships, we can afford no less! We cannot become caught up in office gossip, assembly line slice and dice or any other kind of ridicule where we tear down those we were called to serve. Just as my hostess didn’t miss anything in the details of our stay, the food, the supplies, the amenities, she also didn’t miss true hospitality. Her southern smile would warm any weary heart. When you walked into her home you wanted to stay, you wanted to leave your worries and cares outside the door and REST.

This is also our Savior. He offers US rest from the world, forgives us and then fills us with His spirit so we are like Him. Then it is our duty as servants to go out into the world, our everyday world, and BE like Him. If we spend time with Him then He begins to “rub off on us” and we do reflect His personality. We become as servants; touching, blessing, lifting burdens from the shoulders of others, offering to pray, actually praying and anything else we can do to let them know that Jesus came to save.

My sweet hostess didn’t miss a thing this weekend; she planned everything around her guests. Jesus has done the same for us, He wants to give us all we need for a victorious life here but intended for us to share this Truth and realize it isn’t all about us but it is all about those who do not know Him.

Let’s make sure they don’t miss a thing!

For the kingdom

We live, we move, we exist

2 Replies

Excited to have my son, Kris, join us today. This was written for his church newsletter and I thought it was worth sharing. You can read a previous post of his about his grandmother here! Be blessed as we realize why we live, move and exist.

“In Him we live, we move, we exist.” Acts 17:28

Paul is speaking here to the Athenians in front of the altar to the Unknown God. He recognized that the Athenians were extremely religious individuals but they lacked the proper understanding in regard to the One they worshiped. As a result, Paul begins to explain that the same God who created the universe is the same God who was crucified on the cross and now that very same God lives in us.

Fundamentally, we are designed to live in Christ, move in Christ, and purely exist in Christ. Christ is who we are. Because of this, every action and every reaction should be grounded in our identity in Him. How we deal with chaos, life struggles, and frustrations should be interwoven in the Spirit. This is why we, as Christians, should be spending time in daily prayer. Without the Spirit living and breathing in our spiritual bodies, we will be unable to appropriately respond to life’s challenges.

we live we move we exist

Alternatively, our interactions with one another should also exist in Christ. A few weeks ago, our Life Group talked about how the entire law is fulfilled in the simple command of “loving your neighbor as yourself” (Galatians 5:14). Six of the Ten Commandments deal with interpersonal relationships, which would never be broken if we truly loved one another. Allowing someone to cut in front of you on a busy highway, paying for a stranger’s cup of coffee, or asking someone for permission to pray with them are all examples of how we can truly operate within Christ and share the love that He has shown to us.

The original Greek for the phrase “we exist” actually translates to “we are”. This is much more appropriate and impactful: Christ is who we are at the very core of our being. As a result, everything we do, think and say should reflect this fact. Our passions, talents, hobbies should be founded in our love for the Creator; serving as an opportunity to worship Him for the blessings that He has given us.

In Him we live, we move, we exist.

Click To Tweet

Over the past few weeks this simple sentence has challenged me in my own walk with Christ. I would challenge you to do the same, allow this concept to change your mindset and begin focusing more on love and sharing the gospel of Christ.

Kris Elkins is a 29 year-old Christ follower. Ever attempting to make headlines, he is constantly looking for ways to bring laughter into lives, as well as those “hand to face” moments, in which the audience sits stunned in disbelief. He is an RN and a Senior Clinical Applications Analyst at Eskenazi Hospital, Indianapolis. When he is not studying for his Masters degree, he can be found running, cycling, or chasing his adorable English Bulldog, Eisley. He states that he can’t take all of the credit for being absolutely awesome, crediting his parents and brothers for some of these amazing qualities. He blogs at mereKristianity…when he feels like it.

 

Sharing with Testimony Tuesday, Messy Marriage, Wholehearted Wednesday