Day Eleven - Now available for a limited time.

It has been a lovely weekend (I got an extra day, due to a snow storm which dumped around six inches of snow onto the ground yesterday). Just lovely. We had a hike with our nature club, KIVA - http://www.kidsadventuring.org/) and a father/daughter tea party on Sunday. I had a chance to teach children's worship at our church and got to watch 11 children watch the snowfall through the windows of the classroom (priceless!!!). We enjoyed our annual bonfire with the neighborhood, roasting marshmallows and hot dogs until nearly eleven o'clock. My sweet wife even sat up with me until very late watching the DVD version of "Brother Moon, Sister Sun" which I had borrowed from the library and was due back today. Oh, wow! A blog unto itself, that one!

The kiddos were so tired that they actually slept in, allowing me to catch up on some sleep. And then, after the kids stared at the winter wonderland for several minutes through our windows, they were right back out in it. We built a fire, made snow forts, had a tremendous battle and the boys attempted several runs on their snowboards.

After playing together for hours, I considered coming inside to clean up a bit, wash some dishes and stick wet clothes in the dryer. On my way in the door, I saw our nine-year-old son sitting in the middle of the snowboard path, visibly upset. When I asked him what was wrong, he told me how sad he was that the snow was going to be melting soon - it was around 50 degrees today around lunchtime. He was upset because the snow would soon be gone and so would the snowboarding, and there was nothing he could do to keep it there any longer.

So, with my piles of laundry and dishes waiting, I decided that the chores could wait a little longer, it was time for me to be a father. I strapped my legs into a snowboard and drifted as slowly as I could for a few feet. When the board started going faster, I panicked, dropped to the side and landed with a crunching sound right on my tail bone. I hit so hard that I clonked my teeth together. After laughing and wincing on the ground, I got back up and tried it again.

It would make a much better blog if I were to write that all of the practice helped me to handle the board a little better, but it would simply be untrue. I fell throughout the day and never seemed to get the hang of snowboarding. But for my son's sake, I just kept trying and trying to laugh every time I hit the ground!

Later in the day, I was chatting with a family friend, whom I respect very much, and she said something that really struck me. She said she was thinking the same thing. Let them play and then she could get some work done herself. But she realized that where she was likely to have another time with her children, this particular snow was not going to be around tomorrow. (Most of it melted about 4 PM today.) She reminded me of the importance of showing that it is ok for the world to stop for one day. The chores can wait. We have such a small window of time where we have our children as children. If we want them to grow up remembering their childhood and want to have a delightful memory of this time, then we have to provide them with opportunities to be wowed!

I thought about this a lot this afternoon, in between snowball battles. Will my children remember our time together with me thinking chores were more important than them? I certainly hope not. Whereas, we can't keep putting off these important duties, what I do know is that I need to make certain to sometimes say no to the things that eat up my time and say yes more often to my children. When it comes to my children I should never make them feel that they are second fiddle to the items on my daily checklist.

As I sit here, sore shoulders, aching back and all, I am remembering that our children learn much about their relationship with God from their relationship with us, their parents.

The bible story of Mary anointing Jesus' feet with oil has always left me pondering. I would also question the use of the expensive oil and have often wondered why Jesus responded the way that he did. He is honored by Mary's gift, washing his feet/head with any extremely expensive oil instead of selling the oil to give to the poor. Jesus reminds his followers that he will not always be with him in this physical form. Perhaps it is a reminder to us so that we will see there are times we need to honor God first. To give him the best of our time, not just what is left over at the end of the day. Before anything else.

"Seek first the Kingdom of God." I mentioned last week that we would be heading into discussion of Richard Foster's book Celebration of Discipline. His chapter on the discipline of simplicity points out emphatically that we must first follow Jesus' command to "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things shall be yours as well." (Matthew 6:33)

Link of the day...
Interfaith Hospitality Network (Roanoke Valley) - http://www.rvihn.com/
a place to help those in need

Quote of the day...
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. ~Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

Bible verse of the day...
Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.
“Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me."
John 12:1-7