The child clings, arms wrapped like ivy around my own. It's time to put him down for sleep, but his whimpers say otherwise. We've been apart all day, and he is clear that he needs more–the smell, the feel, the nearness of mommy. "Don't let me be separated from you yet, Mommy," his actions say. 

  This child slept through the night at six weeks. Another child is walking already. One can read at a third grade level in kindergarten. That one is a child model. This one is a model child. Oh, the comparisons, both positive and negative, of my child against other children. Sometimes they are my comparisons; sometimes someone else’s. 

Well, it took me a few weeks, but "love is patient" really got into my life and changed me. So, I moved on to "love is kind" (1 Cor 13: 4). Now, if you are sleep deprived from not only your own jet lag, but that of an infant, then said infant gets over jet lag, but still likes to get up once or twice a night to nurse, and your husband seems rested, and you just moved in with your parents from having your own place, and you don’t know how you’ll find jobs or insurance or functioning vehicles, can love be kind?

  Memorize Scripture? Oh yeah. I’m great at that. I’ve memorized tons. And forgotten just as much. You too? Well, I recently heard a talk about memorizing Scripture and it actually really helped me. Here was the key: “Take your life to the Scripture and the Scripture to your life.” Let me explain.

Guilt. The “Motherhood Guilt” creeps in from Day One; well, actually, from before that.  The experts start talking (i.e. we start reading), and we realize how, even as the baby is in the womb, we are doing it all wrong. The guilt keeps growing as the little one comes into this world, and we start to make those seemingly all important decisions: Faber, Sears, Whisperer, or Happiest on the Block? The voices of friends, neighbors, mommas, and even strangers flood us with instruction. Who do we listen to? And, why is our own voice and, more importantly, God’s voice the last ones we consider? I'm tired of it. (Well, let's…

People have asked me how many kids we’re going to have. (We’re about to have our first right now.) I’ve told them I guess more than one. Then, I mention that I’d like to look into adoption at some point as well. People have mixed opinions on this, but I’ve heard more than once, “I don’t know how you could love an adopted kid as much as one you’ve given birth to.” Really? Let me tell you how:

Before the movie begins, we see the words “Silence is golden.” Ironic since we are about to enter into something loud, entertaining, and not at all silent—a distraction. We live to make sure there is anything but silence in our lives, yet silence is considered to be one of the great spiritual disciplines (as well as one of the greatly avoided ones).

It’s been a year since we moved to Taiwan, and I feel that we are settling in well to our church. However, it took us over half the year to decide on that church, and I know others that are still not really decided. I don’t think it’s a rare thing anymore to spend a lot of time “church shopping.” Why is that?

But suppose this son has a son who sees all the sins his father commits, and though he sees them, he does not do such things. Ez 18:14 High power churchdom. A fall into disgrace. A family split apart. Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker once had an empire in the Christian world that included churches, a television network, and a theme park. Then, it all came apart at the seams as one man’s sins were brought to light. I hadn’t thought much about all of this in years. I remember a bit about the great awe of the Bakker family. I remember a little about the scandals and fall. For…

Make a list of all your accomplishments. Go ahead. List out all the things you’re proud of. Nothing to be ashamed of in being proud of the things you worked hard for, or glad of the things that have been blessings in your life. Do you have that list?