Babies, Brownies and Blessings

In our kitchen hangs a chalkboard. We put it up with the intent of writing daily or weekly Scripture verses on it so the kids could get familiar with the Word of God, or to write down the house rules...whichever is needed the most at the time! ;) As I was erasing the chalkboard today I noticed something: The words didn't completely erase. The color had wiped off but the words were still noticeable in the right light. The Scripture I had erased were the following verses: Everyone will have to give account of the day of judgement for every careless and unkind word they have spoken. For by your words you will be found innocent and by your words you will be found guilty. Matt. 12:36-37 For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. Matt. 12:34b   The irony of the shadow of those words wasn't lost on me and it felt like God was showing me the impact of the words we speak. Once a word leaves our mouths, we can't ta...

Admittedly, I avoid hard plenty in my life. From spending more time in the drive-thru to avoid taking 3 wild ones in for a bagel, to skipping elective school or sporting activities, there are things in life that just "aren't worth it". But raising kids requires me to reframe the idea of "too hard" and remember that I'm growing young adults who will eventually be part of the work force and God-willing, parents themselves! So at times it's important to see the good in the hard and push into those growth opportunities. I can think of many times in the last 15-20 years that myself or my husband have felt like it's not worth the hard. Sometimes we were right, and sometimes the hard found us anyway. The reward at the end of a hard experience is unlike those that are achieved with ease. The sweat of your brow really does reinforce the value of an experience and turns that hard-earned lesson into wisdom. From marriage to parenting, difficulty has...