With Love

If I sing but don't have love
I waste my breath with every song
I bring an empty voice, a hollow noise
If I speak with a silver tongue
Convince a crowd but don't have love
I leave a bitter taste with every word I say

credit to:  for King and Country

The words hit me like a brick wall.  They're just the attitude adjustment I need today.

They take me back to my bible quizzing days.  We spent a whole year studying 1&2 Corinthians.  I knew the answers, but I didn't truly understand the impact of the words.

If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have
love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

1 Corinthians 13:1

No matter what I do, if I do it without love, it's worthless. 

If I sing without love, it's just hollow noise.  I sing the songs because I know the words and remember the tunes.  Do I sing with love or do I waste my breath?

If I do my housekeeping without love, I leave a bitter taste.  I get angry because no one is helping me, or because no one says "Thank you".  I'm bitter because I go to work, then expect to keep house like I've been home all day.

If I write without love, am I just a clanging cymbal?  Just another repetitive homemaking blog?

Look at our menu for this week.  Clang.  

This is how I clean.  Clang. Clang.

Try this new recipe.  Clang.

This is our daily routine.  Clang. Clang.

It's so easy to let passion turn into mundane.  The fire fades and I keep pushing.  My excitement turns to routine.  My mind wanders and I'm on auto-pilot.  I start to settle for "good enough" instead of my best.  The work starts to look like a burden.

The radio announcer said today, "Love should never be a burden."  Think about that.  It's true.  If you love something, how could you ever see it as a burden?

But, isn't the converse true?  If we see something as a burden, we're not doing it with love.

How can we be the loving people God has called us to be, when we're whining and complaining about these "burdens"?

So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love
Let my love look like You and what You're made of
How You lived, how You died
Love is sacrifice
So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love

credit to:  for King and Country 

Proverbs 31: Week 4

First, I want to say that I am learning so much through this study!  This week, I was reminded of a very important lesson:  We need to listen if we want to hear God.


The Proverbs 31 woman gets up and out of bed before the rest of her family.  Why?  Because she needs to prepare for the day before the craziness begins.  The first part of being prepared is focusing ourselves back on God.

When I started this study, I assumed that I didn't need to do my short morning devotionals anymore.  But, I didn't do this study early in the morning, either.  This study isn't as easy effortless.  It involves looking up scripture (not already printed in the margins), writing out answers (where did I put that pen?), praying (something I didn't do as often with the other devotional)... it is just more effort!  More often than not, I would do this study in the afternoon, after most of my day was already over.  Hey, at least it was getting done!

When I realized I had drifted away from my morning quiet time, I prayed for discipline to get up early and do this study in the morning, "like I'm supposed to".  I had just bought Beautiful on God's Eyes by Elizabeth George to compliment this study so now I had the perfect plan.  Bad idea.  I'm a bit of a perfectionist.  I'm not a detailed-neat-freak-perfectionist... it's worse than that.  If something can't be done right, or "perfectly", I will put it off until it "can be done right" and it doesn't get done.  It took one day after my "new plan" for me to completely stop working through this study.

Thankfully, I have been doing the study with my mom.  My accountability to her pushed me to catch back up.  I haven't caught up in the new book I got, but that's okay.  I don't roll out of bed and do this study every day, but that's okay.  I do recognize that I need to start my day off on the right foot, with the right focus.  If the craziness of the day has already begun, I read something quick and easy.  If I'm up before the sun, I take some quiet time to dive deeper into the Word.

I am going to be more intentional this week by focusing on God in the morning, before my day starts.

One thing I can do before I get out of bed every morning is pray.  I took the challenge from Sheila Wray Gregiore to pray for my husband every day.  Since I've been remembering to love him with his love language (words of affirmation), I chose the challenge to pray for him more often.

Thanks for reading! Leave a comment, make my day!!

Proverbs 31: Week 4

First, I want to say that I am learning so much through this study!  This week, I was reminded of a very important lesson:  We need to listen if we want to hear God.


The Proverbs 31 woman gets up and out of bed before the rest of her family.  Why?  Because she needs to prepare for the day before the craziness begins.  The first part of being prepared is focusing ourselves back on God.

When I started this study, I assumed that I didn't need to do my short morning devotionals anymore.  But, I didn't do this study early in the morning, either.  This study isn't as easy effortless.  It involves looking up scripture (not already printed in the margins), writing out answers (where did I put that pen?), praying (something I didn't do as often with the other devotional)... it is just more effort!  More often than not, I would do this study in the afternoon, after most of my day was already over.  Hey, at least it was getting done!

When I realized I had drifted away from my morning quiet time, I prayed for discipline to get up early and do this study in the morning, "like I'm supposed to".  I had just bought Beautiful on God's Eyes by Elizabeth George to compliment this study so now I had the perfect plan.  Bad idea.  I'm a bit of a perfectionist.  I'm not a detailed-neat-freak-perfectionist... it's worse than that.  If something can't be done right, or "perfectly", I will put it off until it "can be done right" and it doesn't get done.  It took one day after my "new plan" for me to completely stop working through this study.

Thankfully, I have been doing the study with my mom.  My accountability to her pushed me to catch back up.  I haven't caught up in the new book I got, but that's okay.  I don't roll out of bed and do this study every day, but that's okay.  I do recognize that I need to start my day off on the right foot, with the right focus.  If the craziness of the day has already begun, I read something quick and easy.  If I'm up before the sun, I take some quiet time to dive deeper into the Word.

I am going to be more intentional this week by focusing on God in the morning, before my day starts.

One thing I can do before I get out of bed every morning is pray.  I took the challenge from Sheila Wray Gregiore to pray for my husband every day.  Since I've been remembering to love him with his love language (words of affirmation), I chose the challenge to pray for him more often.

Proverbs 31 Study: Week 3

The most important lesson I learned this week is to bring my husband good not harm, all the days of my life.  In such a simple verse, Proverbs 31:12 says so many things!

How do we bring good to our husbands?  We can cook him good (and healthy!) meals.  We can compliment him (remember my plan to intentionally compliment my husband).  We can ask him what he needs and help him, eagerly. 

The challenge this week was to approach household tasks with an eager attitude.  Being 38 weeks pregnant and in full-fledged nesting mode, this challenge was easy for me!  I spent the week tidying the house and getting ready for the baby.  I cooked dinner most nights because I had a chance to rest during the day.  It is so much easier to serve my family with an eager attitude when I have a chance to recharge (instead of working all day and working all night).

Serving grudgingly does not bring good to your household -- it brings harm.  A bad attitude is a poison that will infect the rest of your family.  This challenge would have been really tough if I had still been working.  It's far too easy for me to adopt that negative-nancy, woe-is-me, martyr attitude when I've been at work all day and come home to work some more.  But, God called us to bring our husbands good all the days of our lives, even the days we're working late and tired and pregnant.

Something that helps keep my attitude in check is Colossians 3:23 (NLT), "Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than people."  By serving eagerly, we're showing God's love to our family, setting a good example, and bringing them good.

To be more intentional this week I am going to prepare and serve dinner at least twice at the dining room table, where we can spend quality time as a family.










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