Sang on the days when I felt too weary to take another step, clean up another mess, change another diaper.
It’s what I sing when the enemy attacks with lies, when I feel alone and scared, when I fear the future and whispers in the shadows.
It’s what my mother-in-law, a Dutch farmer’s wife and mother of nine, godly and with these big calloused work hands, said to do.
What she told me once hunched over this row of peas we were picking out in a June twilight:
“It’s what my mother said too, Ann: When it is hardest — that is when you sing the loudest.The devil flees at a hymn.”
At the last, when the cancer wound tighter, folks would ask how she was — and my father-in-law would say, “Good! She’s singing all the time.”
And we knew how hard it was — and how good she knew He is.
She sang this and it’s what we sang to her at the last, all around the bed with hymn books open, and it is what I keep singing:
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Abandon the worries… and Abide in the Word.
Abandon the fears… and Abide in the Father.
Abandon the hurts… and Abide in His heart.
Abandon the cares… because Christ will never abandon you.
It’s what I self-preach again and again to the fearful sinner who is me: Abandon and Abide.
I run water for the next stack of dishes.
Take off my ring and watch, leave them there on the counter.
And immerse hands in water, the tap still running.
Dear Son — who is called to climb a thousand walls,
You have to know how your unfolding from me was a miracle.
That’s the miraculous thing about miracles – they really do happen.
How is it in this crazy, holy world does a girl-woman bear a boy-child?
How does she raise a squalling boy-child into a man? I’ve never been one of those.
And this the thing: there’s only so much time to go from point A to point B.
How did I waste so many days? How do I make you know everything you need to know before you go?
How to love a woman and when to say yes and when to wear black socks instead of white and when to ask for directions and when to say no.
That you’ll be radical about grace and relentless about truth and resolute about holiness and vows and the real hills worth dying on.
That you know how to make a bed and how to make a child laugh and how to write a letter home.
Did you know, right when they laid you wrinkled in my arms, you had this curl of hair, this swirl of hair on your forehead?
You got it from me. That turning, swirling cowlick that I got from my Dad. Who got it from his mother.
This is how these things go, this turning around and passing torches on.
I turn around — and you’re 16.
And you’re leaving for a jet plane at 3:30 am.
When the first time you ever get on a plane, you fly for the jungles of Indonesia, the farthest away from us on this spinning blue marble, your father says this farm won’t be big enough to keep you anymore.
When he says it, he says it a bit like something hurts inside.
He’s made his life about showing you what real leadership is: not climbing higher towards power and status, but bending down in prayer and service.He’s been dead to all ladders and that’s what made him so alive — reaching down, to the lonely, the lost, and the least.
I roll all your shirts and stack them, one upon the other, like all the years, and know that this is just the beginning of the leavings. I bite my lip hard and try to be brave, like the day you were born.
How could my mothering take so many u-turns and still get here so fast?
I remember when you were small enough to hold in my arms, warm against me, this sun bathed stone, us engraved into rock here. I hadn’t known how fast the wings would come and that you would fly into the dark, into the sun, and so soon.
That when you became a man, I’d feel so empty – and so very fulfilled. I wish we had read even more books.
And I had said yes to every game of Scrabble.
The Bible’s true, son. Every infallible, sword-sharp, breathing word of it. Don’t let anyone ever rationalize one beautiful iota of it away. Love it because it’s your Life.
And the only life living is the scandalous one: scandalous love, offensive mercy, foolish faith. Kiss babies. Always have one friend that feels on the fringe, that you have to pray to love, that makes the neighbors scratch their heads.
Stubbornly pray for your enemies till you see enemies are illusions and everyone is a friend and somehow grace. Believe in every woman’s God-sized dreams. And rub her feet at the end of the day.
Be the kind of person who apologizes first because that’s the only way happiness can last.
And never forget that happiness is when His Word and your walk are in harmony. Never stop keeping company with Christ– and all the sinners, tax-collectors and cast-offs.
Be an evangelist and use your words with your hands because your part of a Body and never stop loving God with all your heart, mind and soul, and loving others as yourself. Make that your creed.
It’s true, son: Be different and know everything you do matters. It’s what the Christ followers know: One man with God can change a culture. God didn’t put people in your path mostly for your convenience; He put you there for theirs. Loving the poor will make you rich, I promise.
And no matter how loud and crazy and broken the world is, child? Let joy live loud in your soul.
And believe that you are His beloved – it’s only when you trust He loves you that you really begin to live. Really, count a thousand blessings more, never stop. Why wouldn’t you want joy? Sing to no one and everyone on the front porch in the rain and laugh so much they question your sanity. Pet the dog long.
Because really, none of us knows how long we have. Remember that a pail with a pinhole loses as much as the pail pushed right over. A whole life can be lost in minutes wasted… in the small moments missed. None of this is forever grace. That’s why it’s amazing grace.
Do it often: grab a lifeline by stepping offline. You’ll see your true self when you look for your reflection in the eyes of souls not the glare of screens.
This is what you always need to know: You have nothing to prove to anyone – if you’re in Him, you are already approved.
Be okay with not being liked: life’s about altars not applause.
For a week, longer, I wake with these fears choking hard.
Fears pushing me into the pit.
And it comes while I struggle to get out of bed, comes early as the light pries back the dark, words we’ve been committing to heart — and I murmur them, hold onto them like a lifeline tossed:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the… ”
And I smooth out the bedsheets and everything calms, His Word stilling my storm…
That is what we are: Blessed. Blessed. Blessed.
I’m learning by heart the heart of God and this is what calms my heart. I run my hand down the coverlet and there are no wrinkles left.
The old Beatitudes print that I found at the back of a thrift store, it hangs on the wall in the hall. The frame’s all chipped, but the glass reflects all this light.
I’ve been writing the Sermon on the Mount verses on the chalkboard by the farmtable. The whole tribe says it together loud and messy before we leave the table and after we stack the pile of licked clean plates.
We make Memorize the Mount booklets — Matthew 5-6 & 7 — only 2-3 verses a week, — 2 0r 3 truth kernels at a time – and we carry them around in our pockets.
Because the thing is: Will I meditate on His Word or my worries?
Memorize the Mount — this is what pulls out of the pit.
Memorize the Mount — and memorize the way up, the way higher up and deeper into Christ.
Memorize the Mount and mount up on wings.
On the front porch by the swing, the juncos eat corn kernels, 2 or 3 at a time and then fly.
As I cut out the Mount verses to make up our memorization booklets… I read the dates when we will memorize these 2 verses, those three.
On Week 10: March 5th – that’s the week of Dad’s birthday and the snow might be melting and we’ll be memorizing, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven…”
And Week 37: Sep 10th — that will be the kid’s first full week back to school, this is will be what’s up on the chalkboard to memorize: “Therefore do not be anxious…”
And when the leaves are falling off the trees in late October, and we’ll be thinking of thanksgiving, I realize we’ll be memorizing: “…how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him.”
And that whole intimidating year that came knocking on January 1st full of expectations and I had no idea how to rise to it? That I’ve been scared to answer? That whole year looks different when I see it through the assurance of His Word. I can only keep pace with it all when I keep company with Christ – day in and day out.
This is how you make the calendar for the year — you set Christ at the center.
You mark time by every word that proceeds from His mouth.
This is the resolution the new year needs — a revolution. A turning every day to Christ.
When I wash that stack of dishes, I say it quietly, turning the plate slowly in hand, a prayer… “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
Time memorizing Scriptures is perhaps more important than quiet time — because when we fill our hearts with His Word, we can fill all of our hours with His Word — and “quiet time” can then become all of our time.
The wind from the north, it settles down quiet as the sun rises.
After breakfast, we say it again in unison: “Blessed are… blessed are… blessed are…“
What the heart knows by heart is what the heart knows … and the beat of those “blesseds,” it like a heart beat of its own —
Steady and calm and strong.
“This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night,
so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it;
for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.” ~Joshua 1:8, NASB
2. Print and either have comb bound (cards are formatted to give space for comb binding), for ease of flipping cards, propping at the sink, etc.
3. Alternatively, cut and paste into a booklet like a pocket Moleskine
4. Tick off little square boxes for each day of memory heart commitment
5. Find a partner to recite to — have them sign each week on the allotted line
(only *two to three short * verses a week – the verses are in the ESV version & take a bit to load. Thank you for grace!)
{You can join us in community on facebook for encouragement — and I’ll be posting audio updates and encouragements throughout the year on the Facebook page and here on the blog with link-ups so you can share your own memorization– consider joining us?}
In making to-do lists to run our lives, why not make time to let God’s Word revolutionize our lives? Because making time to memorize His Word is putting the first things first.
If we fail to keep His Word in mind, we may simply fail. In the age of Google, who still memorizes God? Are we losing a way of life… and losing our way?
“What a heart knows by heart is what a heart really knows,” urges Dennis Lennon. And what the heart knows by heart is all that can calm the heart. Direct the heart. Strengthen the heart. What do our hearts really know? Will we who claim to be believers of the Word commit to shaping our lives with His Letters?
Committing the Holy to heart is the way we commune with the Holy Himself.
Scripture repetition is the way we daily revive our faith, the slow pumping of the Word of Life into the lungs with the breath of His Words.
And for the disciples of Christ, this Scripture Memorization isn’t a a one-time hurtle — but a life-long habit. A way of living to live the Way of Christ.
“We want this to be a discipline we practice for the rest of our lives.Think marathon, not sprint.” writes Beth Moore. “Never — NOT ONCE — have I ever known anyone to get to the end of a Scripture memory commitment and say that it didn’t make any real difference. Not a single time.”
So this Commitment Booklet: committing our hearts to Him and His Words to heart.
Seven Ways of Highly Effective Bible Memorization*
1. Old before New
Always take the old paths. Begin each day by reviewing the memorized verses first before learning the next verse. The goal is retention not accumulation.
2. Rinse and Repeat
And again. The only way to retain learned verses is to review them again and again over an extended period of time. Everyday’s memorization rhythm: Rinse and repeat.
3. Location, Location, Location
Like the mantra in real estate is location, location, location, so it is for really remembering: memorize the location of each verse. Memorize each verse number and don’t skip it. This is paramount and makes it much easier to memorize long passages and not inadvertently skip verses when reciting whole chapters. Location!
4. Take a Mental Screen Shot
Use your mental point and shoot and take a brain “photograph” of the verse. Read each new verse several times, hiding one word at a time, burning each word into your mind like light onto film.
5. Preach it
To yourself. Speak your memory verses to yourself aloud. Preach it aloud to the soul that needs it the most — our own — and say each verse with emotion and feeling. Whispering it while driving, walking, working not only is an easy way of reviewing and memorizing, it’s fulfilling God’s call to meditate on His Word day and night. And saying each verse aloud is a way to work the words deep into our memory: His Words never return void.
6. Repeat it for 100
For 100 consecutive days repeat aloud your memory work — all the verses, or the chapter, or the whole book. This is painless and demands no extra time: do it first thing every morning while getting ready for the day — in the shower, getting dressed, making the bed etc. Repeat it for 100!
7. Sabbath Sanctuary to see the weeds
After your Repeat it for 100, take the last Sunday of every month and make a sabbath sanctuary to read through your memory work. This will help you to “see the weeds” — any mistakes that have crept into your recitation of longer projects/chapters/books. Soak in His Word on a Sabbath — pluck out some weeds. Commit your heart — and mind —- to Him again.
“I know of no other single practice in the Christian life more rewarding… than memorizing Scripture… No other single exercise pays greater spiritual dividends…” ~Charles Swindoll
Learning the ART of Memorizing
Attend
Attend to the verse. Do whatever it takes to attend to the verse and work those brain muscles. If you have to act it out, draw it up, write it down, or tape it everywhere. Make up actions and sign-language to correspond with the verse. Listen it a recording of the book of Colossians on CD/MP3. Listen in the car, while doing dishes, going for a walk. For children: Draw the verse in pictures. Fill in the blank. Write it down several times. Close your eyes and see the words.Do whatever it takes to Attend.
Review to Renew
Repeat. Recite. Recap. Reiterate. And then…. Recite to an accountability partner weekly. Each day, take just five minutes to review verses learned last week. Learning is important…but reviewing is paramount to retention. Repeating God’s Word renews.
Tie
Tie Daily Memorizing to Daily Duties. Tie reciting to routines: when you brush teeth, comb hair, make the bed, use the time to savor His Sweet Word. Tie memorizing to meal times. Bind Scripture learning to laundry, labor and living. Tying daily memorizing to daily duties is the living of Deuteronomy 6:7: “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” Tie His Word to your life. Tie.
So goes the ART of Memorizing. And our motivation to keep memorizing? “Guard my words as your most precious possession… ” Pr. 7:2 (LB) “Your promises to me are my hope. They give me strength in all my troubles; how they refresh and revive me!” (Ps. 119:49 LB)
Other memory projects online: Memorizing Philippians by Easter (we considered this *brilliant* offering, but thought for some in our faith family, memorizing this many verses a week might be a hard start? We thought we could do two verses a week with Colossians with a schedule that covers a whole year.)
For the Next 3 Weeks: The Practice of Love How do we love in difficult places? Our husbands? Our children? How do we live out the greatest of commandments? We look forward to your thoughts, stories, ideas….
Today, if you’d like to share with community The Practice of of Love … just quietly slip in the direct URL to your exact post….. If you join us, we humbly ask that you please help us find each other by sharing the community’s graphic within your post.
I watch the light in the trees, the way it falls across the walls.
Across the calendar and to-do lists and I try to remember to breathe.
John Calvin and I remember the year we were four.
The year I was four, my sister was crushed under the wheels of a truck in our driveway. That’s my first memory, the day Aimee was killed.
Fear’s have formed me.
John Calvin’s mother died the year he was four.
Scholar and historian, William J Bouwsma describes Calvin as, “a singularly anxious man.”
Calvin buried all three babies born to he and his wife.
He said he found in the Psalms, “all the griefs, sorrows, fears, doubts, hopes, cares, perplexities, in short all the distracting emotions with which the minds of men are wont to be agitated.” The man understood fear.
Clouds have skirted in heavy from the west. The walls in the kitchen have fallen grey and silent.
Joshua’s playing it quietly, up and down the piano this morning, the Music Box Dancer.
A friend laid out in great detail this weekend how the economy is about to implode. Chronic illness flares. Teenagers ask big questions. I keep smoothing out calendar pages, pushing things back. How do you remember how to dance?
What is the answer to anxiety? Joshua’s playing so sure, the house lilting, tilting with happiness.
That’s what Calvin wrote,
“The stability of the world depends on the rejoicing in God’s works…. If on earth, such praise of God does not come to pass… then the whole order of nature will be thrown into confusion…”
Our worlds reel unless we rejoice. A song of thanks steadies everything.
The answer to anxiety is the adoration of Christ.
My Bible lays open beside my gratitude journal.
There are piano lessons today and already a little brother’s in tears, word bruised by a big brother, and sisters are arguing loud over who’s turn it is to make the bed and I’ve snapped exasperated, ugly, at a whining middle kid who doesn’t want to stomp through snow and cold to get eggs from the hen house. Anxiety can wear anger’s mask. Fear of failing, of falling, of falling behind, it can make us fierce. Life can be messy before nine in the morning.
Joshua’s tripping on notes. The thermometer out on the tree, it’s mercury is sluggish and heavy. Hard frost lines windows. How to breathe and dance?
“We are cold when it comes to rejoicing in God!” wrote Calvin. “Hence, we need to exercise ourselves in it and employ all our senses in it – our feet, our hands, our arms and all the rest – that they all might serve in the worship of God and so magnify Him.”
When exasperation mounts, exercise our song, employ all our senses.
I use my hand, pick up the pen, employ the senses to the see and magnify God in that gratitude journal.
~ #3009 The spruce in wind. ~ # 3010 Comforting worn kids early. ~ #3011 Joshua playing the Music Box dancer. ~ # 3012 Ps 131 words: “Surely I have composed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child on his mother” ~ # 3013 Citrus scent of grapefruit on the breakfast table in January. ~ #3014 Chickadees fluffed in the wind.
I’m warmed. Joshua’s practicing the chorus. Exercise. Employ. Exalt.
The answer to anxiety is always to exalt Christ.
The chickadees scuttle at the feeder and fly, warmth on the wing. I watch from the window. A child presses into me and the window, and we have time. There is wonder. Everything absorbs into thanksgiving.
Calvin said that, “If we compare a hawk with the residue of the whole world, it is nothing.”
The chickadees, they are flying to the south.
And yet.
That’s what Calvin said,
“And yet if so small a portion of God’s work ought to ravish us and amaze us, what ought all his works do when we come to the full numbering of them?”
Did Calvin number too?Come to the full numbering, the 1000, the endless numbering of the infinite grace of God? My pen’s on the counter.
Joshua’s playing perfect joy now, the Music Box Dancer finding all the right notes, exercising exaltation.
And I don’t think anyone saw me in the kitchen.
How I spun around this morning, exercising “feet and hands and arms and all the rest”, smiling happiness anyways.
The point is? Just count any 3 gifts a day — to count 1000 gifts in a year. That’s all. Any way that works for you! Just count your blessings!
And yes — we’ll be updating the blog with more information about the draw for the Nikond90 camera for those who complete the dare and count 1000 gifts in 2012!Open our eyes, Lord, Open our eyes! The Whole Earth is fully of Your Glory! }
::
Free Printables : 3 Ways to Find Joy this week
1. A Year of Graces {A Free 12 Month Gratitude Calendar} Click to print here
2. Count all His Gifts Wherever You Are: {One Thousand Gifts Free App}:
Will you join us? And happily change everything by keeping your own crazy list of One Thousand Gifts?
Please, jump in, make your life about giving thanks to God! — Just add the direct URL to your specific 1000 gift list post… and if you join us, we humbly ask that you please help us find each other in our refrain of thanks by sharing the community’s graphic within your post.
Give thanks to the Lord! His Love Endures Forever!
One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are {Zondervan}
{New York Times Bestseller Award winner in: Christianity Today Books of the Year USAToday Bestseller}
"...[from] one of the most gifted writers I have ever read...a book that will challenge you and mess with you
in the most beautiful of ways..." Lysa Terkeurst, Proverbs 31 Ministries
