RSS

Tag Archives: Temple

No more Naps!! Well, unless I want a Hot Tub….

woman sleeping An innocent little nap and poof! I’m a builder. Yes, it may sound like I was dreaming and although I have been reading about Solomon building the temple… I wasn’t dreaming……..

Several weekends ago, I took a little afternoon nap. While napping my husband thought that it would be a bit funny to snap a photo of his lovely wife sleeping her little heart out while he was also being overly productive and digging holes in our back yard. Now, we had not discussed digging holes in the yard so when he came in with the news of his hard work while I was snoozing, I found it quite amusing…. killing time digging holes when he could have been relaxing. It was during my laughing that he pulled out the enemy… the sleeping beauty photo (that’s me)… I began to listen to what he had to say at that point. Well, he thought I was listening but I was really trying to concoct a plan to get his phone away from him and delete the photo… During this time I thought I heard him say, “Blah, blah, blah, sleeping, blah, blah, blah, digging holes, blah, blah, blah, 4×4’s, blah, blah, blah, patio, blah, blah, blah, pergola.” I smiled, nodded in agreement and went to look at the holes in our yard. There they were… four two-foot deep holes at the edge of each corner of our patio. For years we have tried to cover our patio area with some sort of shade canopy but our backyard happens to be in a wind tunnel and after the first big storm of the season hits, the canopy flies away or at least bends to unrecognizable shapes. Apparently, what I agreed to while drifting in and out of photo deleting plans, was helping him build a pergola over our patio. I might as well have agreed to helping build the temple in Bible because I had to clue what he was talking about. I finally had to go look up the word pergola because I was getting the whole pergola/gondola thing way mixed up and couldn’t figure out how four posts would mean anything for a gondola other than a docking spot and then I couldn’t figure out how an Italian boat would add value to our home… or even shade.

Anyway, after hoping the idea would go away and trying to find a better way than building it ourselves… I gave up and gave in to what will now be always known as the “Pergola Project”. We borrowed a truck, bought the lumber, printed out free plans and went to work. Neither one of us knowing what we were doing began to measure, cut and level…. We were clueless except for the fact that we had faith in my husband’s pergola dream and the free online plans. As we were in the process of building, our neighbors, one by one, began gathering around. Now, we have Great (that is with a capital G) neighbors and didn’t mind their advice nor their company. No problem at all. The problem came to be when we found out something that created in us a whole new feeling of insecurity. Our neighbor had family visiting…. and it wasn’t just any family visiting…. it happened to be the brother-in-law… the brother-in-law who is a builder….not just any builder…. but a builder of really, really nice homes…. We had to up our standards right then and there. We couldn’t have him look out the door and laugh at the bumbling amateurs across the yard…. but, it was hopeless. We were bumbling amateurs and though we were following a plan we were also making it up as we went along. I’m thinking he was well entertained….

Well, with a few setbacks of rain and the end of daylight, the weekend project that we estimated taking about three weeks, actually only took one weekend. Who knew that we could do it? Well, I’m not going to give myself a pat on the back until a good windstorm goes through… if it stays grounded in cement then we can consider it a job well done.

So, I am vowing that naps, at least when my husband is home, are off limits. No more naps… not so much because I could have stopped the Pergola project but because I don’t want another photo taken of me while I sleep… by the way, the sleeping beauty photo is in deletion heaven and I am now looking up more building projects. I think I want a hot tub….. hmmm, maybe I should take a nap and see if my husband will level out the backyard so we can get started….

2 Chronicles 3

Solomon Builds the Temple

¹ Then Solomon began to build the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David. It was on the threshing floor of Araunah ^[j] the Jebusite, the place provided by David. ² He began building on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.

Andy Griffithson is on!

25 Mar

It is so great when kids say or do something that you don’t want to forget. Our kids have loaded us up with andygriffith-cast plenty..here are a few:

“Andy Griffithson is on!”
“Mom, do I know Jack Squat?”
“Can I watch MacGyvie?”
“Grandpa, if you’d eat more carrots then you wouldn’t need a flashlight.”-exasperated while searching with her grandfather for a flashlight

And that is just the start… there’s more…..

“Ummm, It’s not my day”- referring to assigned chores
“Would you tell her to…. (the list is too long)”
“But she gets to.”
“But you get to”
“I don’t have anything to wear”

and even more…..

“Mom, would you pray with me?”
“We forgot to pray.”
“I did that! I prayed for her to happen!” – referring to the birth of her baby sister
“If Jesus is God and God created the world then how were Mary and Joseph around when Jesus was born? Where did they come from?”- 5 year-old’s question
“I want to help people”
“Mom, can we pay for a stranger’s dinner? I feel like God wants us to do something nice for someone.”
“I think I want to be a youth pastor”

And then there have been things that others have said about our girls that help us see that they are growing into beautiful and gracious young ladies…..

I think most every parent has those moments that they don’t want to forget..(just ask a scrapbooker or a journaler).. Those good moments are what we can hold onto to get us through those rough moments…

And thinking that, for me, just makes the whole story of Christ and his life growing up that much more relevant because Jesus’ mother, Mary, had those moments to hold onto too….

The Bible says (in my own paraphrase) that Mary listened to the words of praise spoken about her baby, thought about them, held them close and then treasured them. Later when we read about him being a preteen, we see his parents doing what I believe is a tad bit of discipline ( I do believe he was perfect but I also believe he was a child and still needed parental guidance)…Mary and Joseph can’t find Jesus… they search for three days only to find him teaching adults… The Bible says they were astonished but it also says they didn’t understand fully…. jesus-at-the-temple-by-brian-jekel

The astonishment of what others think about your child, the marveling at the thoughts of the greatness of your child, the treasured moments that you want to hold onto… that just makes Jesus’ family seem like your average family… Jesus’ family could have lived right down the street with their very average but loving family life…

Mary seems to have paid close attention to the words of others and to her son’s actions and from it was able to treasure these things about her son…. and then hold on to them when he had to save the world… and not stand in his way…

Whether you are a parent, a grandparent, an aunt, a sister, a brother or even none of these… It pays to listen to what God’s people say, to look with depth into a situation and hold on to those when God is ready to do a great work in ourselves or the ones we love… it gives us the insight to set aside our desires and we can trust to let God do his thing….

By the way, “Andy Griffithson is on!”

Luke 2

¹⁶So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

²⁷Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, ²⁸Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
²⁹“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you now dismiss^[a] your servant in peace.
³⁰For my eyes have seen your salvation,
³¹which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
³²a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.” ³³The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him.

⁴¹Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. ⁴²When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. ⁴³After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. ⁴⁴Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. ⁴⁵When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. ⁴⁶After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

⁴⁹“Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” ⁵⁰But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

⁵¹Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. ⁵²And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

The Prodygal Life

Tag Archives: Temple