Half-chewed Toast and a Call to Unity.

     Between dodging pieces of half-chewed toast spewed in my direction via. a certain 1 year old and in turn spooning globs of strawberry yogurt into said toddler's mouth, I managed to read at least one page this morning in the Expositors Bible Commentary (Ephesians~Philipians) written by Tremper Longman III & David E. Garland. I am reading the section on Ephesians 4:1-7 to gather information for my impending exposition on Friday. Once again, I assumed this book would be boring and I wasn't disappointed. Like many commentaries it seems to drag on and on, detailing the link of the current phrase to some overlooked word in the previous chapter. Mud. Thick, cold mud to my tired brain.
     But once again, I have been surprised at how certain parts just jump out at me, grab onto my heart and won't let me forget.  Please bear with me as I share.

    "Unity has a spiritual basis, but it has visible results. Perhaps its attainment in history has been so difficult because Christians have not sought spiritual unity. They have pursued their own (often conflicting) agendas---which they have called "unity." To strive for the unity the Spirit produces, requires that one incontestably pursue God's agenda."
                              
    "This is the theological reality --- the indicative: Christ achieved peace via. His death. Now follows the imperative: Christians must implement unity by sparing no efforts to live in peace. In effect, "Become what you are."  Quarreling, fractures, and hostilities --- either on the level of the church universal or within each local church --- destroy the unity of the Spirit."

     Growing up in many different churches I got to witness firsthand the destruction that a church full of people with own "agendas" for unity can cause. Families are hurt, children are confused and wonder why they can't go play with their friends anymore, and the Great Commission given by Jesus to all believers is forgotten and trampled underfoot by everyone's differences.
     Something very interesting I have come across on the internet is this article about the Lutheren church asking forgiveness from the Anabaptist church. Click here -> Lutherens seek forgiveness.
     The Lutheren church very strongly opposed the Anabaptists when they first originated. Even going so far as to slaughter thousands of them in cold blood. I love that they have finally decided to make ammends even though it is hundreds of years later. There are individual churches I know of that would probably never think of doing this because they are still living for their own agendas. Sad, and quite disgusting if you ask me.

"The church is the beachhead for a peace that is to extend to the cosmos." - Yoder Neufeld

I Finally Get It.

     I used to be very judgmental towards frumpy looking mothers with messy houses. *gasp* I know, I just typed that. Here's some more *gasp* material for you; I used to think that moms with messy houses were lazy! (Don't even try to act like you don't know what I'm talking about, you childless neat-freaks out there...) Well, now I know. I finally get it. What do I "get?" Here's my list:

• I get why the house never seems to be clean. I could seriously clean all day and the house would probably be right back to the point where I began in a matter of minutes. Toddlers like to make stuff dirty. They are like little "un-vaccummers" that whirl around the house spewing out messes on a whim. Usually following me as I am cleaning.
• I get why some kids never have a clean face. Cleaning my kid's face off sounds like a man passing a kidney stone. People out of sight but within hearing distance probably think I'm torturing my little munchkin as I gently wipe nasty crusties off her face. And it doesn't matter how often I wipe her off, it's dirty again in minutes. I have no idea how or why either, it's like her face is a magnet for dirt!
• I get why the favorite outfit for moms is jeans, a t-shirt, and running shoes. Seriously, forget the heels when you have to run after a little hurricane. You'll break something! And t-shirts usually can't be pulled down far enough to expose things that shouldn't be exposed.
• I get why moms have a permanent "ouch" look on their faces. Besides the birth, motherhood is really painful! Just today my sweet little one lost her temper while I was trying to organize the pantry and she THREW a can of food at my foot! Then there's the biting, the hair-pulling, the pinching, the screaming, the intentional scratching with fingernails that are always too long.

     I could fill a book with this stuff but I think I have made a good case for the point of this post. The point is, I no longer have judgmental thoughts towards mothers anymore. I feel empathy for them when they have a frumpy look and a messy house going on. I wonder what is wrong with moms that always have a spotless house and wonder if their kids get any attention! (Minus those of you who are blessed with cleaning staff.) I understand my mom and wonder how she ever survived all 5 of us messy kids. And I  am starting to wonder if I'm out of my mind for wanting my lil' tot to have siblings.

A Lightbulb in the Middle of a Muddy Read.

 This semester I've been taking a Christian Faith class at 8:00am. It has been tough to keep myself focused on the stuff being taught because of the early "ish" hour and the subject being covered. Our class textbook, "Systematic Theology" by Wayne Grudem, has been another struggle as it weighs a good 5 Lbs (More like 3 but it's really heavy and huge!) and takes a lot of concentration to be able to extract anything memorable from it's pages.
  I was reading a chapter yesterday morning on the "Sufficiency of Scripture." I was trying not to skim or be absentminded about what I was reading because it really was pretty boring. Until something caught my eye... "In other cases, continued or even increasing disobedience to these new "sins" will result, together with a false sense of guilt and a resulting alienation from God."
  "Huh? What new sins..." I mumbled to myself as I slowly came out of my half-asleep trance. I knew this guy was full of it. But after backtracking and paying attention to what I was reading I kinda had a light bulb moment! Here's the snippets, minus all the "futhermores and therefores," that jumped out at me.

   "With regard to the Christian life, the sufficiency of Scripture reminds us that nothing is sin that is not forbidden by Scripture either explicitly or by implication...we are not to add prohibitions to those already stated in Scripture...This is an important principle because there is always the tendency among believers to begin to neglect the regular daily searching of Scripture for guidance and to begin to live by a set of written or unwritten rules (or denominational traditions) concerning what one does or does not do...we add to the list of sins that are prohibited by Scripture itself..."

   "The Holy Spirit will not empower obedience to rules that do not have God's approval from Scripture, nor will believers generally find delight in obedience to commands that do not accord with the laws of God written on their hearts. In some cases, Christians may repeatedly and earnestly and plead with God for "victory" over supposed sins that are in fact no sins at all, yet no "victory" will be given, for the attitude or action in question is in fact not a sin and is not displeasing to God. Great discouragement in prayer and frustration in the Christian life generally may be the outcome. "

  So what about you, do you often add a list of your own "prohibitions" and beat yourself up for not being able to overcome them? I know I do, then I think I'm not good enough for God and feel immensely guilty and like I can't ever be one of those good Christians.  I think we women have a harder time with this then men because we are soooooo critical of ourselves!

I have returned to the world of blogging.

    I am sick of not being able to write what I really want to in the short snippets that Facebook allows, I miss anonymity, I miss not knowing when a long-lost friend took a shower, and I miss seeing proper grammar being used and words being spelled correctly.

    What will I write about? I'm sure my topics will center around my life as a student mom, my hobbies, (mostly sewing, painting, and cooking. Yes, I'm so domesticated. Ha!) and ponderings of the world around me. Besides wanting to write thoroughly on topics that are important to me, I need to be able to write freely again. Returning to school has shown me that I have lost the ability to think in paraghraphs. My train of thought has been reduced to short snippets and I have had to delete smiley faces from papers. There was a time in my life when a friend of mine had to teach me what : plus ) meant via email. So maybe there is even a little bit of nostalgia included. Whatever the case, I hope I can bring about some good in these thoughts and free myself from the sense of fake living that is wrapped up in a simple status.