Vulnerable

Vulnerability: the capability of being wounded or hurt.

Many of us would not want to be called vulnerable.  That would be an insult to our pride!  We want to be strong and capable and protected from harm from either physical or emotional assault.  Why would anyone want to be vulnerable?  Who wants to be harmed?  We must allow ourselves to become vulnerable sometimes to let people get close to us.  There are no true connections if we are prideful.  We must trust that they will not hurt us!  That is not always the case and thus the saying, "You only hurt the ones you love."

Jesus knew from the get-go that He had to make Himself vulnerable.  Is there any other creature out there who is more vulnerable than a baby?  No!  A baby cannot feed itself or change its own diaper.  It cannot walk or talk.  Vulnerable!  Yet, Jesus humbled Himself to take off His crown and come as a baby.  Vulnerable!  How could He have protected Himself from His enemies?  He had to be protected!  God used Joseph to protect Him by telling him to take Mary and the baby to Egypt.  Mary protected Him as only a mother can.

When Jesus came to his final days, He made Himself vulnerable!  He allowed Himself to be beaten to within an inch of His life.  He allowed Himself to be mocked and scorned!  He allowed Himself to be stretched out and nailed to a cross.  Why?  So, that we could come close to Him!  Our sin separated us from God and Heaven.  We could not make ourselves vulnerable enough to be deemed worthy of Heaven or a relationship with God.  He had to make that way!  He had to allow His Son to become vulnerable so that we could draw close to Him despite our pride.

There are some who are still prideful and feel that they don't need saved.  There is nothing wrong with them.  They don't sin!  They are basically good people who try to do good to humanity.  How do you know that you have done enough or been good enough?  Is there some cosmic ticker that keeps track, adding and subtracting according to your deeds?  Why would it matter?  If there is no Heaven or Hell, why, then, would we be good?  We could just do whatever we want and treat each other like dirt and steal, lie, murder etc!  Sure, we might go to jail but in the long run?  There is just a hole in the ground where we reside until we return to dust.  Where is the hope in that?  How depressing to live that way!

We all feel the longing to be accepted, to be loved, to feel needed, to feel wanted!  That may be, to some people, simply the human condition.  But, I think that those longings are the deeply ingrained desires to have God in our lives.  In Christian speak, we have a God shaped hole that can never be filled, no matter how many ways we try.  We don't feel loved?  Then, we look for love in other humans.  We always end up heart broken!  We don't feel needed?  We fill up our schedule until we collapse from exhaustion!  We don't feel wanted?  We may turn to drugs, alcohol or other things to mask that pain!

This Christmas season, will you make yourself vulnerable?  Would allow Jesus to fill that hole that is in your heart?  Isaiah made it known that:
⁴ Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.

If you have already allowed Him into your life, are you too busy?  Are you flitting to this party and that?  Are you trying to find that perfect gift?  Give the gift of yourself to your family and give the gift of rest to yourself!  Allow the Holy Spirit to renew you and make the Christmas season that best that you have ever experienced!

Making Mom's Life a Little Easier

Lionel Richie sang a song called "Easy Like Sunday Morning".  Ole Lionel must never have had to feed and get 4 children ready for church and then get them to the van and to church on time.  Sunday morning is never easy.  Being a mom, in general, is not easy.  When the children are small, they require diaper changes, feedings, naps, cleaning, and cuddle time(required by moms).  As they get older, they switch out diaper changes for school and naps for ball or music practice or dance.  Sure, they can do more for themselves but they now require a taxi service and a personal shopper/stylist.  They still need food and bathing but not as much cuddle time anymore.  I have 4 kids that range from 5-10, 2 girls, 2 boys.  All 4 play baseball or softball.  They are schooled at home.  We attend church several times during the week and do various field trips, play dates, and other extra curricular activities.  Time can get away from us.  I thought I would share how I get it all done.  I know you are on the edge of your seats so, hang on......

1. I don't get it all done.  At any time, my house will be in various states of disarray.  I do rely on my children to do things around the house.  They can dust, Swiffer the floors, load and unload the dishwasher, clean the bathrooms, wash, dry, and fold the laundry and put it away.  Let them help.  As they get older, you will be thankful and so will their spouses.

2. Reorganize the drawers in your home.    This little step will make putting away laundry so much easier.  Instead of stacking, put the clothes in rows.

   You can fit twice as much in there and the clothes are easily seen.  The kids can pick out their clothes with minimal amounts of fuss.  Notice this has sweaters in it.

3. Come up with easy to fix suppers.  We have had ball this spring Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri nights and Sat mornings.  We can either eat out every day or I can fix the kids something home made without breaking the bank.  Grilled cheeses wrapped in parchment paper and home made potato chips in paper bags make a great to go supper.  But these sandwiches are amazing.

Ingredients:
Bread, tomato sauce(garlic salt mixed in), provolone cheese, pepperoni, butter

Spread sauce lightly on bread and line pepperonis on it and then cheese.  Put the sandwich together and using the butter, grill them like you do grilled cheeses.  Amazing!  Hard to go back to the regular way!

4. Do small amounts of laundry.  Do at least 1 load per day.  That is so much easier than waiting until you have 6 loads.  Keep is simple. 

5. Pick 1 big project per 2 days(or week, if life is busier than usual).  Work on it in small spurts until it is done.  Like cleaning out cabinets or cleaning windows or Swiffering the walls.  My pantry needs done.  I will be doing that next week!

These are just ways that I am able to do all that I do.  I work 3-4 nights per week and volunteer and home school and exercise 6 days.  You can do it!