Monday, March 31, 2014

Slow: Exodus 3-12 Part One


Well, it was unintentionally quiet here on my blog last week ~ so this week will be time to share some of what I was writing and processing during that time. I've jumped into studying slow in the Bible and I am loving it!

Feel free to grab your Bible and read along!

Here is where I started: Exodus 4:10, "I am slow of speech and tongue."

I knew it was Moses speaking and I knew it was God asking him to go and help deliver the Israelites from Egypt. But I wanted to dig deeper and explore the context and what I could glean from the big picture.

Come along with me as I explore this passage for slow.

Exodus 3:1-4
Moses is curious about the burning bush and goes to check it out while hearing a call ~ his response, "Here I am" is a surrender to be available. And, his surrender continues gradually throughout the passage. Actually, it seems that Moses goes in and out of being willing to surrender.

Exodus 3:4-6
"take off your sandals for the place you are is holy..."
Here we see Moses adopting a reverent posture before God; less of himself, more of God. We see less and worship.

Exodus 3:7-22
There is a job to be done and it sounds overwhelming to Moses based on his response in verse 11, it is like when we are overwhelmed and we wonder how we will get everything done. Look at God's response in verse 12, "I will be with you..."

He reassures, equips and enables us to do His will.

Moses questions again and again and God assures again and again.

God gave Moses specific steps to follow and an orderly plan.   

Exodus 4:1-17
Look at the back and forth of the surrender/control. Moses is obviously struggling with this calling. One thing slow is to me is a heart at peace and I can't be at peace when wrestling like this.

Exodus 4:18-23
Moses is not slow to obey - this is the time for action: when we have a mission from God. We should not delay to obey.

Exodus 4:24-26
Moses had been slow to obey in circumcising his son. And we see the consequences hovering of slow obedience.


Exodus 4:27-31
There is beauty in this picture of Moses sharing with Aaron. And then both together sharing with the people of Israel. Moses and Aaron were surrendered to God, they were living "less" of themselves and their own agenda, they were carrying out God's orders and now they will worship God. Worship in and of itself is a surrender. These few verses show the slow bookends surrender and worship.

A thought emerges here:
What if the "o" is best for obey?

Surrender
Less
Obey
Worship

More coming tomorrow!

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Slow Day




















Monday, March 24, 2014

When Slow Chooses You



Some days you choose slow and some days it chooses you. When you have a runny nosed little guy who loves to snuggle and breathes in your face and you wake up with a sore throat and fever, slow chooses you.

When you are behind from aforementioned ickiness and need rest - slow chooses you. Both kinds of slow are good.

Makes me think of snow days and how I used to think of them as forced vacation from God :)

Not really related, but do you eat ice cream slow? I do! We go out for ice cream once a year on free pj night, I think my children think the ice cream is always free since that is the only time we go to this particular spot!

How will you let slow choose you today?

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Where is God in Slow?


When I choose a word for the year, I will frequently scour Amazon for titles of books I can put on hold at the library that might be a good fit with my word to learn more and dig deeper. Doing this with slow has been somewhat disappointing.

It is not that there are no books on slowing - though they are not as plentiful as many other topics. So far, I've checked two out and so far I've been disappointed twice. The titles won't even make it into my books I've read for the year list because I did not finish them.

The authors are definitely interested in slowing, but I've been so disappointed by the lack of God's presence in these books. It was just very obvious in both instances that God was not part of their life. I may have even snapped one book shut when they quoted a song prayer we've sung for years and had changed a very important word: from God to Earth.

There was potential in both books to be great and there were probably very good things within, I guess I am just looking for slowing in a way that relates my walk with God to my life on Earth. This will continue to be what I am searching for - finding God in the slowing of life. I am eager to dig into His Word and see what I can learn!

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Slow Day














Monday, March 17, 2014

God's Design Studio: Group Baby Shower


Our community of CC mamas has been blessed in that EIGHT of them are either expecting a baby or just recently had a baby! My friend and I were trying to brainstorm a way to have a big group baby shower without overwhelming everyone with a big expense for gifts.

We tossed around bringing super small gifts, drawing names and such but she finally suggested freezer food - awesome idea! So, we asked all the expecting moms to bring a cooler or thermal bag and others of us brought freezer food and divided it up among them. We were able to send each family home with 2-3 dinner, cookie dough and muffins or scones!

As I was thinking to a theme for our shower, it was tricky because not everyone knows the gender yet and we already have two baby girls and several expected little boys. The first idea I started out with is that I really wanted to make those tissue paper poufs out of some vintage thrifted patterns. So, just a couple of nights before, I pulled those patterns out and started making those and the idea was sort of born to just pull out creative and art supplies to decorate.

And, my theme became God's Design Studio. All kinds of thoughts of His Creativity, Design, Scripture verses and lovely thoughts just poured out into this. I spent a total of $4 for the roses and shopped my house for the rest.

Lesson learned: food was kept super simple and we did not plan the morning - it was completely free of expectations once everyone arrived. It was just glorious to have easy lovely food to set out and then enjoy the laughter and chatter that carried us through the next three hours!

Pictures were taken at different stages of preparing on two different days, enjoy!