This year, my word is margin.   I am a scamperer, you know, often running from one thing to the next;  hyper and distracted.  It is an often mined failure that affects my most prized relationships.  This year, I intend to leave room for playing, with pant legs rolled up, in the sand.

I will leave margin for myself to take care of that which God has given me.  Making space for long runs and spinach salads and observing changes in my skin and painting my toenails and breathing in and breathing out and God’s Spirit to move as He wills.

I will leave margin for family.  For laughing and upside down nights and pick up basketball games and long chapter books and dates.  For swimming with my girl and tossing a touchdown pass to my boy.  For time spent together and love letters written.  For not being in a rush. 

And I will leave margin for my Jesus, the only restorer of my broken soul.  Who walks with me in beauty.  Who speaks in my silence.  Who shows me what true riches is. 

Blessed are the single-hearted, for they shall enjoy much peace.
If you refuse to be hurried and pressed, if you stay your soul on God,
nothing can keep you from that clearness of spirit which is life and peace.
In that stillness you will know what His will is.
Amy Carmichael

(Praying and hoping and leaving margin towards this very end.) 

Much Love,
Kristin

PS  Do you have a word for this year? 

There has been a lot of buzz about this children’s Bible.  And it is all credible. 

We love this telling of the story of God!  Selah cannot get enough of this Bible, which is awesome.  We will read multiple chapters at a time and she will beg to read more. 

Tonight the Storybook Bible won out over Barbie Mermaid Adventure – now that is saying something!  It makes me smile:)  The kids have both asked so many questions.  This book has prompted them. 

It is age-appropriate and beautifully narrated.  Every chapter points to our need for a Redeemer.  It explains tough concepts and allows children to think.  I would highly recommend this Bible for family devotions, for Christian school teachers or Sunday School teachers, for grandparents, etc. 

As a mom, I couldn’t love it more!

They are gifts given somewhere around the world, on behalf of the other. 

The hurt is there.  The hunger is there.  The injustice is there. 

But greater is He in us than he who is in the world.

The opportunity is 0urs.  To heal, to feed, to love in His name.  Because He first loved us. 

Maybe the person receiving the envelope is an educator.  Give books on their behalf.  If a pastor, give a Bible.  If a counselor, give aftercare counseling.  If a cook, give food.  Extend their heart and passion around the world. 

So here are some ideas, ya’ll.  Give and love much. 

Gifts of Freedom:  IJM Holiday Gift Catalog

Equip Churches to Seek Justice $25
Urgent Aftercare Package for a Trafficking Survivor  $40
Legal Representation $65 
Bicycle for a Former Slave $72
Transform a Life with a Scholarship $330

Gifts of Compassion:  Compassion International Gift Catalog

Soccer Ball for $13
Art Supplies for $20
Clean Water $25
5 Ducks for $30
Dental Care $38

These two organizations are just ones we have worked with in the past.  I love them and wholeheartedly believe in their work.  But there are countless like them.  If you know of other worthy organizations, I would love to hear of them here.  Thanks!

Blessed are the single-hearted, for they shall enjoy much peace.

If you refuse to be hurried and pressed,
if you stay your soul on God,
nothing can keep you from that clearness of spirit which is life and peace.
In that stillness you will know what His will is.

Amy Carmichael

Perfect peace have they that love Your law and nothing can make them stumble.
Psalm 119:165

May peace be yours today, as you stay your soul on God.
Because of Jesus,

Kristin

We started this tradition 4 years ago now.  The little pieces of paper tossed in a bucket.  Giving thanks.  Making the thanks a habit.  Each day inching towards Thanksgiving. 

And then we keep the pieces in the bucket till the next year.

4 years ago, Adden was thankful for milk, sleep, orajel, singing, pacifiers, and cuddling.  (He would have been almost 6 months- awww!!!!!)  And clearly he was so verbal back then!  Today he was thankful for baseball diamonds, his puppy (stuffed, that is), and his family. 

Among the other old praises were good biopsy reports, clean water, good health, safety in traveling, jobs, Jesus, “Me the Bear”, and applesauce.

Today I am grateful.  Grateful for a bucket.  And for the years of praise treasured inside. 

That I may make the voice of thanksgiving heard and may tell of all Your wondrous works.   Psalm 26:7 
God is always, ever good. 

Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.

To grasp poverty of spirit.  To know true riches.  To be peacemakers.  To extend mercy.  To hunger and thirst for all that is right.  To mourn.  To live the teachings of Jesus in a world of pride and burdens and excess.  Such is deemed blessing. 

Yet I vacuum up opposing values so easily.  And who is standing at my waist and looking up to every move?  And if they need a model, shouldn’t the one standing above them be their best one?  And if they cannot find me making peace and holding out a hand of mercy and hungering for righteousness over bread; then how will they see and know and live? 

God, there is meekness to be unearthed today in me, for it is wrapped and protected in self-love.  Allow my defenses to fall to the ground.  Show me what it means to give up pretense.  May whispered criticisms come with looks of disdain.  And may I be okay with the value that You deem over the world.

It is good for me to remember that I have nothing to defend.  Nothing to pretend.  Nothing to boast of. That I am nothing without Christ.  And in Him I am everything.  In Him is my breath and life and meaning.  In Him is my purpose and rest and direction. 

Maybe I am wearied and burdened from holding on to so much that is not Christ.  For who stands with me but Him and asks that I learn to find rest.  Grasp it tethered to Him.  Him who is gentle and meek in heart.  Whose humility was lived on a cruel cross; a cross that (still) gives life to me. 

Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.
-Matthew 5:5

May God bless you with a restless discomfort about easy answers,
half-truths and superficial relationships,

so that you may seek truth boldly
and love deep within your heart. 

– a Franciscan blessing

wrestling with this today.  praying you will alongside me also.
much love,
kristin

One of my latest articles on the Ministry to Children site. 

If you serve in any capacity – in a school, at your church, in your own home cleaning up after dinner,on the mission field, at your public workplace, wherever.  Thank you for all that you do.  I pray this encourages you.

Much Love,
kristin

Her hands are worn and weathered with the soil. 

If you walk into the little white country church, she sits in the back pew, to the left; sometimes alone or with children; most often with her grandson.  I don’t know where he would be without her. 

One time I sat in her home with our baby, sunken deep into her living room couch.  I asked questions because I needed to learn.  About so many children and an only love buried and how they first made it work to get by.  She told me simple stories of love.  Loving with basketball games, loving with nachos and cheese, loving with pies. 

More recently and most ridiculous, is this story of butternut squash.  For two weeks, I scoured grocery stores for butternut squash, when there was none to be found.  But why would she know that.  Then out of nowhere, she has bags of squash so heavy that the bags are breaking.  She gives them to my in-laws who give them to me.  And I can’t keep from laughing at God’s goodness. 

When you plant seeds deep within the soil, you have no idea what will become of them.  You work hard with your hands and no one sees.  You don’t work for approval.  You have no idea what will become of these plants.   You cannot see the end from the beginning.  You work anyway.  You love anyway. 

Maybe extravagant love is just this.  It’s the ordinary kind, worn and weathered.  My Lord dried feet with a towel.  My Lord taught others using seeds and a lamp and salt.  My Lord told stories.  My Lord cried.  My Lord sat with children and ate bread with friends. 

Maybe it’s not that we love much, it’s that we love small.  Love in the ordinary.  Love in the nondescript.  And maybe then the Gardener will take what is meager and multiply it till bags are breaking.

For those whom we love and for recipients unknown. 

With Love (the small kind),
Kristin

 What I needed to hear this week.  (For our kids)

Sweetheart.  (I don’t know how to help you.)

Yum.  (Slow cooked butternut squash with apples.) 

My next DIY project  (I am my Beloved’s and He is mine.)

Chalk Talk (A great early childhood resource)

What favorite links have you found this week?