Not Death to Die
Tim Challies pointed me to a number of worthwhile links this morning.
The first one is hard to watch, but so worth it—especially if you are suffering or know someone who is suffering. There are two video clips from a pastor and his wife whose fourteen year-old daughter was murdered. It is neither trite nor man-centered. It is real and raw—and it meaningfully points to Christ. The parents also share profoundly about forgiveness. I highly recommend that you take the time to watch:
The second was quite convicting re: my own spiritual disciplines. Oh! How I can picture myself spending hours and hours reading the Bible and journaling, praying, and worshiping. Before I had young children. Now? I’m simply not that consistent, even though I know I could be doing much better if I just applied myself. Anyway … this article was helpful and not condemning (hooray!):
Mom’s Bible Reading: Do What You Can
Tim didn’t actually link to this, but he did link to the blog and that’s how I found it:
It Takes Patience to Build a Business
A great reminder from Spurgeon:
A great title for a post on a topic I’ve been thinking about a lot lately (especially as I prepped for my keynote last week in Atlanta):
And I’ll close this list o’ links with one to a book that I’m planning to take off the shelf and re-read (again):
Uprooting Anger by Robert D. Jones
I’m planning to re-read it today because last night, Sophia engaged in a series of entertaining (and even pleasant) delays getting ready for bed—making Ella laugh hysterically, doing a great dance, pretending to be a character from a book—and after warning her and warning her (which I don’t usually do), I got angry.
Did her disobedience cause my anger? Oh, no. Even my six year-old mini-theologian could tell you that.
Her disobedience simply brought out the anger that was already in my heart.
But even as I snapped at her with a rude tone of voice, I was convicted. I knew my heart was the problem. I knew I was called to repent.
Thankfully, my daughter is very forgiving and we were sweetly reconciled (again) even after our little pattern (again) of her disobeying and me raising my voice (again). Still … I think it’s time to do a little root-digging when it comes to the weed of anger that is living in my heart.
So, off into my day I go. Hope your Friday is a blessed one!
Yours,
Tara B.
PS
Sorry for the unwieldy nature of this post. My clunky blog software made adding links next to impossible. ‘Tis a miracle I’m not having to repent of anger RIGHT NOW.