Lori's Blog

Have you ever felt like having a pity party. Boy howdy, this week I sure do. After Kevin left for New Mexico Monday, (for the whole week), I promptly woke up at 4:00 a.m. Tuesday with a killer sore throat. Of course, as a mom I have to do my regular schedule no matter what.

So I went through Tuesday, just waiting to go to bed that night and praying the sore throat was a cold. However, by this morning, I knew it wasn't and went to the doctor. Sure enough, my long time nemesis, strep throat, was back. Kevin sure misses all the fun.

So now I can't do all the things I was going to do this week while he was gone. You know all those odd jobs around the house that don't get done when the spouse is around as a distraction? Well a good distraction. And nobody is here to help with the kids or take care of me. :( Now I have to be still and rest!

Be still. You know, our pastor talked about this a couple months back. There are a lot of good things that can happen when you are still. One is the extra time spent with the Lord. I guess while I rest (when I'm not running back and forth to the school and helping with homework) I will take advantage of being still. Now, without guilt, I can read scripture, write in my journal, pray and soak in the Lord for large swaths of my time.

I guess I don't need a pity party. Instead I can have a prayer party! :) Those odd jobs will still be there, and I'll have to make the extra effort despite the distraction, to get them done next week. But for now I will enjoy being still.

If you would like to hear more about the wonderful aspects of "Being Still" check out our church's website, click on "Listen Online", scroll to the bottom of the page and click on "View archive.." and look for the October 22, 2006 message under the Warning series. www.solomonsporchcommunity.com

Have a wonderful week!

I hate exercise. So many people make a resolution each year to exercise. NOT ME! When I was younger I played softball, soccer, basketball and cross country. I love the sports and organized activities. But even when my coaches had "conditioning", I hated it. Now, as a mother of six, I don't have time to go to the gym, so I have to work out by DVD in my home. It can be so boring sometimes.

Now I know all the benefits of exercise and that as I get older it becomes even more important. And yet I happily enjoy when my day gets so filled with unexpected events that I just can't work exercise into it. How true it is that we also treat spending time with God the same way.

I grew up at a time when there was a big push for the "daily devotion" time with God. It was so pushed that it became a "have to" rather than a "want to". In fact, if you didn't spend five minutes a day with God then something was wrong with you - just like working out. I finally realized one day that reading Scripture and communicating with God is something I want to do because I love Him. I love Him and I want to know more about Him. When I worked through that and shed the Christian guilt of the "daily devotion", I made a turning point in the way I spend that time.

Are you praying and reading the Bible everyday? When you do, do you do it out of guilt and because you have been told of all it's benefits, or because you want to know the Wonderful Maker? Please do not feel like I'm adding to the guilt. Just know that my heart is for you to experience God in a new way.

So spend time with Him - when you are awake (for me that's at night) and read your favorite passages, or start a book of the Bible you have never read. You can also listen on your iPod or in the car to the Bible. But don't do it because someone in your life tells you that you HAVE to do it. Enjoy!

I hope the beginning of 2007 has been wonderful for you and your family.

Lori