Gateways to Joy

What plans do you have for yourself? Goals? Has God placed a longing ... a desire in your heart?  For many of us mothers, God has given us plenty of desires, goals and dreams. Desires goals and dreams that we, for now must put on hold. I remember my Pastor telling the story many times of his stay-at-home mother.  She was a mother to eight children, they were poor, yet her   desire was to travel the world. Her longing was finally fulfilled years later in her eighties.   Her daughter married a man,  Anthony Evans, who would go on to have a very successful ministry.  But not only would his ministry flourish.  Because of he and his wife's commitment to raising Godly children.  Their children would grow up to be a success in their own right, needing to travel. Guess who traveled with them?  Mother-in-law and grandma. In her eighties, Mother Cannings was reaping the benefits from her years of sacrificial service to her family. ...

I have come to believe that  true mystics of the quotidian  {the ordinary or common place}  are not  those who contemplate holiness in isolation,  reaching godlike illumination in serene silence,  but those who manage  to find God  in a life filled with noise ,  the demands of other people  and relentless daily duties  that can consume self.   If they are wise  they treasure   the rare moments of solitude and silence  that come their way,  and use them  not to escape ,  not to distract   themselves with television and the like.  Instead they listen  for a sign of God’s presence. ~ Kathleen Norris,  “The Quotidian Mysteries, Laundry, Liturgy, and Women’s Work” There are a few things that I ask of the Lord daily, one being that I will serve Him and show Him how much I love and care for Him by the way I serve my family.   My service to my family  day in and day out is n...

Today was a good and Godly day for me.  Nothing special happened, yet a lot of special things happened.  Special in that I had the most wonderful time cooking and washing dishes by candlelight while I listened to music and watched my little children play quietly in the fall leaves scattered in the backyard. While staring out my kitchen window, feeling the gentle breeze flowing in I thought ...  ~ I'm blessed. ~ I'm thankful for the calling of: wife.  Motherhood.  Servant. A daunting job, no doubt.  Sometimes it's a "thankless" work, but it's my work.  The work that the Almighty, I AM has given me. This day I am thankful for family and servant hood .