March 16th, Proverbs Chapter 16

Well, we are already half way there!  I am getting wiser by the day!  Chapter 16!

I am so enjoying spending daily time in the Word.  Why is this something I have to cram into my daily schedule.  I should be craving it.  On Thursday I am going to be a guest writer at the Canadian Authors who are Christian blog.  It is going to give practical advice about making time.  I will make sure I post a link so you can read it.

In today’s chapter I found so many verses that stood out to me.  So I am just going to tell you the verse and then a few (hopefully) short thoughts on them.

V.9 “We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.”

Amen for that, my steps usually get me into trouble or go in the wrong direction.

V.24 “Kind words are like honey--sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.”

Something you may not know about me: I grew up on a bee farm, yup, an apiary.  I would put the whole bee suit on and go out and check the hives.  I could talk for an hour about how wonderfully created the bee is from the Queen, to the worker to the drone.  Growing up on a bee farm also means lots of honey!  Instead of sugar on your cereal, we had honey.  Honey on and in everything.  Of course it was 100% natural honey not like what you buy in the stores.  Honey is sweet and good for you.  Just like kind words.  Ephesians 4:29 says, “Don't use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.”

V.31 “Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained by living a godly life.”

I thought my gray hair was from my children!  With all the gray that I am getting I guess I must be on the right track! J

March 15th, Proverbs Chapter 15

I am so excited that the A Woman Inspired Online Conference started today!  I just love it!  I think my family does too, because I spend a lot more time in the kitchen so that I can listen to the speakers and I end up baking and making special dinners.  I am looking forward to tomorrows conference here are the sessions:

• Worship and Encouragement- Deidra Hughes
• Heaping on Coals: Practical Steps to Exercising Biblical Forgiveness- Lisa McKay
• Looking for Peace in All the Wrong Places: discerning the peace-stealers of our daily life- Kathy Butryn
• When Church Hurts- Angela Parsley

Tickets are still available at: http://www.awomaninspiredconference.org/register/  Hope to see you online tomorrow.  I have also made many new twitter friends—it just makes it so much fun!

Now for Chapter 15:

V.2 “The wise person makes learning a joy; fools spout only foolishness.”

Did you have a teacher growing up that made learning a joy?  I remember a couple of teachers throughout the years that made learning fun; they just had an excitement about their subject and it made it a lot more fun to learn.  The excitement was contagious. 

At the school my daughters attend the Grade One teacher’s name is Mrs. Hug.  What a great name.  Grade One is a foundational year and Mrs. Hug makes it a joy to go to school and to learn how to read.  She even gets the parents involved; I know I am drawn in to help out her class.  I don’t think I would be as involved at the school if it wasn’t for her.  Once a week I go and read with the Grade One students and then I move into my other daughters class and help with various duties there.  It helps that I was once a Educational Associate with the school division but it is great to be involved and get to know the students and hopefully other parents will feel comfortable volunteering there as well.  I figure, the more help I can give the teacher, the more the teacher will have to give to the students.

I desire learning to be a joy for my daughters, that they are excited about learning and experiencing new things.  A family that we are friends with are now in Bolivia (this is their blog); I have to admit that I am very jealous.  They are there teaching different life skills- the husband is a computer genius and the wife owns a spa here so she is teaching a variety of skills and their three children are having a life changing experience.

I believe that it was a very wise idea to commit to having this experience as a family.  What a way to learn and experience things out of their comfort zone.  Their children are going to come back wiser and more attuned to life then most children their age.  Their children are still young- I am probably wrong but I am guessing that they are 4,6 & 10.  What an experience for them!  Did I tell you yet how jealous I am?

As always I also I have analyze it from my perspective as well.  Do I make learning a joy to those I come into contact with.  I love to teach, but do I make learning a joy?  Maybe I will have to ask my Sunday School that question next week.  But the verse says with wisdom you can make learning a joy.  I am thankful for this 31 Day Challenge, because it can only help me become the teacher that I want to be.  I want to help people get excited to hold and open their Bibles to see what they are going to learn with each chapter that is read.  May I gain more and more wisdom from studying the Proverbs!

March 14th, Proverbs Chapter 14

I am not sure if I have mentioned in my blog about my Sunday School class.  I am teaching the Grade 7-12 the youth version of “Experiencing God” by Dr. Henry Blackaby.  Wow, do I love it!  I love the study and I love teaching.  I have learned something really important about myself over the past few months-- that just because I am a published author does not mean that I have to be a travelling speaker.  Travelling around and speaking does not work with my family at all.  By teaching Sunday School I have learned that I love to teach, that I am made to teach, not be a speaker.  They are two very different things.  I am not a go in and pump up the crowd type of person.  I am a challenging, use your brain kind of teacher.  I am so glad that I have figured this out.  Not sure how this all ties into Chapter 14, but I just wanted to share that with you.

King Solomon writes a lot about “fools” in this Chapter and how we are to avoid them.  You would think that would be common sense.  But why is it so often we are drawn to them?  That the way that they are living actually looks inviting sometimes.  I read through this chapter a couple of times and so much of it just seems like common sense; it makes me wonder why God felt this needed to be included.

But I guess we all need a reminder every now and then.  If we make active choices about where we go and who we are letting influence our lives then it will make our life’s path a lot more enjoyable.

March 13th, Proverbs Chapter 13

I am loving the discipline this is giving me to actually write in my blog everyday!

On to Chapter 13!

V. 24 “If you refuse to discipline your children, it proves you don't love them; if you love your children, you will be prompt to discipline them.”

I love this verse because it gives me the right to beat my children!  HA HA HA, just kidding!

It does not give me the right to beat my children but it does give me instruction to give consequences for their actions.  Children need to learn the difference between right and wrong.  The home is the best place to learn that.  Too often as parents we want to protect them and guide them through life and then they move out to go to university and they discover a cruel world that they can no longer be protected from.  Home is a safe place to learn how to fail and make poor choices. 

I worked as an Educational Associate at a school for a couple of years and it was a learning experience to see the behaviour of some parents.  One day after school the phone rang in the Resource Room.  I answer the phone to hear an irate parent telling me that their child came home from school today and lied to them and they wanted to know what I was going to do about it.  I am not a person who often find themselves speechless but this was one of those rare moments.  I thought they were joking, but they seriously wanted to know what the school was going to do about this situation.

I believe I told them that it was their job as a parent and that we would help the student academically but this issue was theirs to deal with at home.

I have been involved in the school system and as a Pastors wife and I often wonder why so many parents feel like everyone else should be teaching their children morals and values.  As a parent, I take that responsibility very seriously, I want my children to learn from me and I hope that the outside influences (school and church) are reiterating the same things that I am teaching them.

I believe that my children know that when we discipline them it is because we love them.  Funny thing is, today we had to discipline our oldest and she is subject to consequences for her actions.  We have certain family rules and she broke one;  therefore she has consequences.  She is not in favour of the consequences, but we as parents are hoping that she will learn this lesson and we will not have to go through this again.  Tomorrow is the day of  the consequence, I am praying for strength so that I can hold her to the consequence that we have chosen.  Which as parents can be difficult but a lesson needs to be learned.  I would rather her learn that lesson now in the safety of a loving home, then in a unfair world that may hand out an even greater consequence.

Parenting in tough.  This afternoon we were discussing licenses with our children.  How you need a license to drive a car, and another to ride a motorcycle and another to drive a boat.  Even though I am old enough to drive all three I can only legally drive a car.  The reason you need a license for each one is because they are all different and you need to prove that you are capable and responsible to drive each one.  Then I turned to my husband and said, “What if we needed a license to have children?”  He turned to me and said, “Neither of us would have passed.”  Honestly, how many of us would, it is trial by error and a lot of prayer that we are able to parent.

“Discipline doesn't break a child's spirit half as often as the lack of it breaks a parent's heart”

March 12th, Proverbs Chapter 12

I am going to have a few tricky days ahead of me.  My girls are off school until Wednesday and they have been requesting a lot of me today.  Hopefully I can keep up with my blog each day.

Chapter 12 starts off with a bang, I love it!!!  V.1 “To learn, you must love discipline; it is stupid to hate correction.”

I heard in one of the Proverbs podcasts about how leaders are self-educators.  Leaders love to learn, they are constantly reading, going to conferences and listening to all kinds of teaching to be continuously learning.  I love to do all those things so I guess I can place myself in the category of leader. 

Currently, I am addicted to podcasts and Blog Talk Radio.  A friend of mine also likes podcasts and I love it when she shares her finds with me.  Saskatoon is an hour and a half drive from our home; I like it when I have to do the drive by myself because then I am all by myself and my thoughts and I get to listen to podcasts and see what I can learn during the drive to and from. 

Sometimes I get a challenging talk to listen to and then I have to pause it just to digest a bit before I can start it again.  I do that with the Rob Bell podcast; I honestly don’t think I could attend his church because I wouldn’t be able to hit the pause button to digest his teaching, I just couldn’t take that much information in an hour.  But I have to admit that Mars Hill Bible Church is one of my favourite podcasts to listen to.

Anyway, back to Proverbs Chapter 12 verse 1.  I love to learn- to take in information.  But there are other ways to learn as well.  Life gives us a lot of “learning” as well.  Sometimes we get it wrong, and that is okay because that is how you get to right.  I can’t rely on reading and podcasts to learn what I need to live my life as an example of Jesus Christ.  I have to learn through the daily events that happen in my life.  I can’t love one way of learning and hate another, it all works together in order for me to be the woman of God that I am created to be.

V.24 “Work hard and become a leader; be lazy and become a slave.”