Humor

Don’t Be Ashamed That You Hate To Pray

/ Lori Lawe / 2 Comments

We all RUSH to the prayer meeting, right? We all LOVE to pray, right?

Now, I know- I hear groans of guilt emanating from your gut. I know, I know. We SHOULD pray more, but we don’t.

And maybe by opening up the problem layer by layer, we can discover the root of the issue.

Exposure is the place of healing.

Please – let’s remove the guilt or shame and look at the true longings of our hearts dispassionately.

The How To Be A Good Christian handbook, which is several hundred pages long that every Christian receives on the first day they get saved, says on Page 1, “A good Christian person reads their bible every day.”

Great advice, right?

The only problem is that there is no record of Jesus doing that every day.

And yes, yes, let’s set aside the fact the Gutenberg printing press hadn’t been invented yet in Jesus’ time, and all that.

What we do know is that Jesus PRAYED.

A LOT. He valued prayer more than sleep.

Let’s start there.

[Jesus] dismissed the people. With the crowd dispersed, he climbed the mountain so he could be by himself and pray. He stayed there alone, late into the night. The Message

Our How To Be A Good Christian handbook SHOULD instead say on Page 1 that every Christian should PRAY.

But that is too hard, so we cross out PRAY and substitute READ THE BIBLE.

We don’t like prayer.

Ah! I said it out loud

(It’s OK. God already knows)

YOU DON’T LIKE TO PRAY!!

And look, God didn’t run from you offended, but He drew nearer, offering you His hand. He knows that we don’t initially love to pray. Us trying to hide the fact with spiritual embarrassment only keeps Him at bay.

He is the God of truth and He promises that the truth will set us free. Yes, even about this.

He will draw near to us, put His arm around us, and tell us to rest, in His arms, as small children do. We can stop trying to build a mansion when we are 2 years old, or similarly, to try to wear the armor of a prayer warrior that is too big for us, yet.

We will only frustrate ourselves. Thankfully, the expectations the 2-year-old has for himself are not the expectations the parents have for their child. It’s the same with God.

He just expects us to sit, to be still with Him, and to receive nourishment from Him, as a baby receives milk from her mother. What word of scripture nourishes you, this day?

Can we simply sit, with that scripture passage, and rest in His arms, meditating on His word, on His spiritual milk?

God, I’m not trying to rule the roost,
I don’t want to be king of the mountain.
I haven’t meddled where I have no business
or fantasized grandiose plans.

I’ve kept my feet on the ground,
I’ve cultivated a quiet heart.
Like a baby content in its mother’s arms,
my soul is a baby content.

Wait, Israel, for God. Wait with hope.
Hope now; hope always! The Message

This resting in the arms of our loving Father is true prayer.

Are you ready to be comforted?

Five steps to help us learn to truly love to pray will be discussed in the next post.

(After the Easter Bunny visits us, that is).

Let’s Not Hide From God’s Fatherly Correction – Find Joy Instead

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

Who among us can survive this firestorm? The Message

God loves to surprise us.

He will not be molded into our own image.

The wise men, who brought their gifts to baby Jesus, expected a ruling King. Everyone did. But Jesus did not live up to expectations.

Instead of assuming His rightful role as king, Jesus befriended outcasts and then died so we would have a ticket to his Kingdom.

He will not be who we expect.

Christian culture, at times, loves to accentuate certain parts of the message and neglect other parts of the message.

Our modern sermons are full of speech about the love of God.

And so it should be.

If humans could grasp even a drop in the waterfall of God‘s love for us, and pour out this love from our overflow, we would enjoy more cultural heaven on earth.

But God is often fuller and greater than a culture chooses to see. In the same way, there is an analogy of blind men who describe an elephant. One describes the ear, one describes the leg, one the tail, etc. No one person can grasp the fullness of the elephant in this metaphor.

The ear of the elephant, or for example, the consequences dished out by God our Father, has been preached frequently in former epochs. The sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God preached by Jonathan Edwards, in 1741 feels like a different religion from the sermons that we listen to.

But this sermon was a catalyst for a global spiritual awakening.

Perhaps the sermon was a piece in the puzzle that helped that generation understand more about who the true God is?

Our culture doesn’t want to talk about God judging us. It doesn’t easily fit into our modern worldview.

God is the Father of love.

Because He is the Father of love, He is also the Father of consequences.

It’s the child he loves that God corrects; a father’s delight is behind all this. The Message

And if we are, potentially, living in a season of consequences for our actions being played out within our culture, then how do we live in joy before a holy God?

The way forward, the way of joy in the presence of a holy God, is to seek spiritual thirst, honesty, and surrender. These three attributes will be discussed in the next post (maybe not the VERY next post because we need a funny post soon. All of this end-of-the-world natter would get me down if I actually re-read what I wrote . . .

Are you allowed to joke when you’re talking about the end of the world? Maybe I should edit these posts? . . . Nah too much work. . . )

Ahem . . . back to a serious topic . . .

Lord help us be aware of the times that we live in. Help us to long for your rebuke as a wise child seeks correction from a loving father, we pray. After a moment of stillness, consider asking God how he may be calling you to awaken our culture, both outside of and within the church.

Take a lesson from the fig tree. From the moment you notice its buds form, the merest hint of green, you know summer’s just around the corner. So it is with you: When you see all these things, you’ll know [the Son of Man is] . . . at the door. The Message

Merry Christmas Everyone!

/ Lori Lawe / 4 Comments

Or maybe that’s “Merry Christmas One” – if there is only one of you who reads this…???

Whatever.

In my Lawe Christmas Letter post from a couple of weeks ago, I lamented that we didn’t have an eloquent picture of our family.

Well, here it that photo, taken today!

In hindsight, there may be at least one person still in PJs in both blog post photos, but let’s not expect perfection!

May God hold those of you who are hurting in His hand, today. May all of us comfort others with the comfort that we have received tomorrow.

All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. The Message

Let’s pause and practice listening today, to that still small voice of Holy Spirit. Jesus, I give you this pain today. Could you give me Your comfort?

Lawe Christmas Letter 2022

/ Lori Lawe / 11 Comments

So, I posted the Lawe Christmas letter here to benefit my readers. Wait – I only have one reader, I think, in addition to my oldest daughter, but … details! …details! We can become overburdened these days with details!

Now, most homeschooling moms are looking forward to sitting on the couch with some vodka by December. No, don’t get me wrong! I MEANT a tiny splash of rum in our Christmas eggnog! I am always misunderstood!

Anyway, it would have been preferable to have one of those lovely family Christmas photos – you know where everyone is wearing those matching red hats, but who has time to book a photographer, coordinate crazy schedules, etc.?

This photo will have to do. We took it tonight impromptu. Sure, some of us MAY be in costume attire but this is what we look like. From left: Esther, Kyah, me, Andy. Come to think of it, elf suits may have been a slight improvement.

In past years, we included memorable quotes from various family members in our Christmas letters. Enjoy!

Quotes about Me

Me: “Where do you want to be in five years?” Andy: “Where you are…!!!” (Oh!!) Kyah: “And I can help you up the stairs” Will we functionally be 100-year-olds in a mere 5 years, I wondered?

Andy: “I like it when you talk” Me: “What??”…(!!!) Andy: “Well, most of the time.”

Quotes about Andy

Andy: “Next June, I will be 50. We should have a massive party.” Andy remembered that we had a big 1990s party for him when he turned 30. Andy, continued, “We can have another 1990s party! We can wear . . . jeans and . . . all the clothes I wear now…” … “and we can listen to … all the music I still listen to now”

Andy: In the shower, calling out, “Hey! Where’s my soap??!!” Me: Calling back, “Oh sorry! Kyah carved it into a turtle and entered it in the fall fair yesterday!”

Quotes about Esther

Esther:” I feel so much older now that I am seventeen. It’s a big difference from being sixteen or fifteen or fourteen. I don’t know why. Do you think it’s because seventeen has an extra syllable?”

Esther to me: “Whenever I make my hair look like yours, I get compliments. Whenever I wear your clothes, I get compliments.” Me thinking: I’m not completely out of date yet!!!

Quotes About Kyah

Kyah: “I’ve had a pretty good day so far.” Time: 7:13am

Lunch was mentioned. Kyah: “Mmm…lunch!” What she was doing – eating breakfast!

Kyah was having an in-depth zoom discussion with budding philosophers about Easter. Suddenly a shrill 10-year-old voice from Pennsylvania emanated from the computer, “Well, I think the Easter bunny should go to hell because . . .” An impassioned speech followed. Lots of great learning and critical thinking in progress. May need a bit more work on theology!

Kyah: “You are the best Mom.” Me: “Well thank you, Kyah, but I don’t think that’s true.” Kyah: “No one is perfect but you are the best Mom for me.”

And so we may not be perfect, but we are the best people that God put in our lives for each other. I know that’s true with your family and friends, too!

Merry Christmas!

The Lawes

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What are your family’s favorite quotes from 2022? Please share funny or deep thoughts below. We are drinking our eggnog and waiting for you!