Bienvenidos: Comfort and Joy

When explaining to my non-Spanish speaking children that  'bien' means 'well' or 'good' and that 'venidos' is a form of the verb 'venir' or 'to come,' I told them that 'Bienvenidos' is a way to say to those who come through our front door, 'We wish you well as you're coming into our home.'

Later I began to think about this learning curve we're in as a family:  committing to a whole new level of hospitality that includes being a safe haven for each other, allowing each other to be powerful and free (no control, bc that's not how God loves us AT ALL-- He's ALL ABOUT free will), keeping our love ON/managing our behavior in such a way that we self govern/adjust our choices to where we extend care, compassion, and grace towards the weaknesses we're discovering (in ourselves AND in others).   

I was tempted to turn my love off today when I was feeling overwhelmed with fear and pain.  I asked Papa how to be 'Bienvenidos' about the people and circumstances that were scaring/hurting me, and Holy Spirit began singing a Christmas carol over me.  He's so freaking FUN to reveal the bottom line of true hospitality in this festive, creative way: 

REST 

Take a load off, Graham Cooke says.

The classic holiday lyrics actually say 'GOD REST YOU,' which is a totally different concept.

MERRY GENTLEMEN 

1.  The gentle, humble, joyful heart of Jesus resides in me, and 

2.  Therefore, bc He imputes to me Christ's righteousness, I AM CAPABLE OF BEING MATURE enough to return to joy from every negative, fear based emotion;  I'm also led by His Spirit to exactly which resources He's provided in every situation, to assist me in my commitment to de-funk. 

LET NOTHING YOU DISMAY

To be trustworthy as one who's hospitable (in ways that aren't just about beautiful decor and matching dishes) it's critical to be an encourager and not a naysayer or a downer, I've had to learn the hard way...  to hold each other's hands up, bc doing life is full of deplenishing experiences, and we need the 'one anothers' to get the joy centers of our brains firing again, so we can see clearly the destiny we're called to get back on the rails of. 

I heard Him singing about saving us all from Satan's power when we have gone astray... Wow. That's what being a safe person looks like.

At the end, I heard the Lord singing over and over the true heart of 'Bienvenidos':

OH TIDINGS OF COMFORT AND JOY 

COMFORT AND JOY

OH TIDINGS OF COMFORT AND JOY

Jesus, teach me to be more than Martha Stewart-esque in my understanding of how to make YOU famous for being THIS kind of spiritually and emotionally nourishing hospitality through us.  We want the culture we're building in this home to be a little more about warmth and refuge each day, and a little less about people joining forces with the enemy against each other. 

Holy Spirit, you are bienvenidos here, come flood this place and fill the atmosphere.  Your glory, God, is what our hearts long for, to be overcome by Your presence, Lord.

Meditate on These Things

Summer jammies mean my legs and my 9 mo. old baby's are bare when we get to snuggle nurse in bed on rainy mornings.

Priceless:

1. The soles of his warm feet- relaxed and outta fuel from lots of crawling and pulling up practice, 

and 

2. His scratchy, sleepy sweet, baby manly voice 

Even though I have sticky notes in my mind of the myriad of this life enterprise's very real, legitimate problems (that desperately need time-sensitive solutions), today I choose to slow down just enough to meditate on whatsoever things are pure, lovely, and of good report.  

This professional journey I've been on, since 2 pink lines miraculously appeared on a pregnancy test 2 decades ago (and I began slowly ditching the feminism that culture had indoctrinated/tempted me to be about) has been adventurous, to say the least, but God's best, beyond a shadow of a doubt.  The life Holy Spirit compelled me to embrace instead- a Titus 2:3-5 lifestyle- became a mandate for me.   The right kind of peace didn't exist outside of giving the best of my energy/creativity to anything but this 'greenhouse for young plants' I manage, while orchestrating the way the many moving parts of this home/entrepeneurial education model connect. Ultimately, I wouldn't have this privilege without my wise husband, who  works courageously for all of us to have the freedom to spend our time learning, building, and incrementally being released into our destinies, 

Mandate defined: an authoritative command or instruction: a commission/authorization to administer a territory (in my case: HOME as the central focus of my ministry, as manager of my husband's estate).  So I became the CEO of nurturing, nest building, and equipping our children to launch and manifest the beauty of God, for the purpose of Kingdom expansion. 

3 noteworthy things I don't wanna forget from this past week, as an act of obedience to Philippians 4:8, when the hard parts of my life erratically feel impossible to conquer:

1. I forwarded this to our first child who's now fully flown from the nest, to encourage her with an 'atta girl'- an observation from a young pastor who saw noteworthy fruit in our beloved Emma: 

2.  A young manager of a retail store Abbie was in recently noticed a 'glow of Godliness' (his words) on her, as she enjoyed shopping with her 2 little sisters, and the cross ring on her finger clued him in a little as to why she stood out amongst the crowd.  

3.  While we have bodies in this household that are supported by medical 'crutches,' after cancer and other life threatening illnesses left us with permanent anatomical changes, none of us are facing death in the same way that the young people are in the new film 'The Fault in Our Stars.'  We all live with His borrowed breath, Voddie Baucham says, but this family is well oxygenated, and free from levels of physiological suffering at the levels that many around us are dealing with.

So this week/month is all about putting the debilitating parts of my world I can't seem to gain traction on, on a shelf - trusting Holy Spirit to resource us with all we need for life and godliness in His perfect ways and timing (maybe by expanding the margins of the hands we DO have on deck?  Or in the form of addt'l favor to get our heads above water a little less strenuously, in a provisional sense?  Or perhaps like the Duggars' 'angels' who come rhythmically to fill in the blanks?) .  

This season is one to instead see the best, beautiful, praiseworthy things in this good life we're livin', rather than to let anxiety rule and reign, by letting the magnitude of this organization He destined me to manage, overtake me.

So, this season's agenda is do-able, in Jesus' name, and I can also choose the James 1 'count it all joy' attitude Shane challenged us with, as we gathered to kick off the week together this afternoon, because of the strength. mind, and righteousness of Christ imputed to me at the cross:

teeth coming in for the youngest (and a tiny tummy to begin transitioning to solid foods) 

and teeth that represent potential nerve damage being extracted, for the oldest son and daughters,

teeth being orthodontically adjusted for 3, 

(+ pain, swelling, & drool for old and young alike),

teeth cleaned and xrayed for all,

and teeth being crowned for both parents 

(Dang, that's a lotta teeth), 

a toddler who needs a little extra TLC when she gets back from time away from home, so we could focus on Abbie's post-op healing for a bit (+ a summer ahead of easing out of diapers),

hair and eye appts for a bunch of us,

academic lessons to plan and oversee for both upper and lower school students, 

a baptism lake party to plan for Jo before her dear friend moves to TN,

band rehearsals for an upcoming wedding to plan and execute,

and flower girl regalia to obtain, 

while we prep and recover from our annual getaway to Uncle Scott's beach house,

studio time for Abbie's second EP and an EP release party to plan for Jackson's first EP 'These Are Just Words,'

seeking Papa God's guidance on 'putting feet to' improvements in our domestic/office systems and logistics/routines/calendars, so less stress and increased efficiency can abound, leaving room for us to grow and become more proficient experts at being the goodness and love of God in all our relationships,

learning and modeling grace, honor, reverence and support for the diligent man at the helm of our ship (as a Kingdom business builder still very much in startup), and counting it all joy/fun as best as we can, so he'll be less distracted and more encouraged by our roles in his life.

I choose to feel uber blessed for the privilege of being the 'conductor' of this orchestration of gifted people who live under our roof- people who genuinely love this Great King who gave His life away for us, lovers of Jesus who wanna represent Him more accurately each day.