God Rules the Mundane

There was no way the crusted blueberry bits were going to come off this cup without some serious work on my part. I started talking to myself aloud. (Do you do this too?) "I don't have time for this," I mumbled. I gritted my teeth and set to scrubbing with vigor, and when my husband, Dave, passed by the kitchen I let out an exasperated sigh and exaggerated my scrubbing efforts. "Gee, I hope I can get this cup clean. You didn't rinse it out."

Dave apologized and said he had simply forgotten.

How rude, I thought. He knows how much work I do. The least he could have done was rinse out the cup. Rude . . . But really, I was the rude one, and I knew it. The Holy Spirit brought to mind the famous love passage in 1 Corinthians 13:

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. (1 Cor. 13:4-8)

The New International Version translates verse 8 as "love never fails."   Continue at Gloria Furman

Pointing Preschoolers to Jesus

A reader named Chasity wrote us an email and asked about pointing preschoolers to Jesus:

“I recently found your blog and have been greatly encouraged. I have a question regarding the mundane-ness of days at home. I have a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old, and when we have full days at home, we all seem to be bored and I seem to lack vision. What do you ‘do’ with your children during the days?

Sometimes I try to do little crafts or play games, but it seems there must be more to pointing my children to Christ. Would you mind sharing some ideas on how to fruitfully and purposefully fill the day?”

Those are fantastic questions, aren’t they?

I asked several moms to briefly answer Chasity’s questions so that I could post their replies here on Domestic Kingdom. As the replies are published (scattered over the next several weeks) then I’ll link them together at the bottom of each post in an index and tag them: “pointing preschoolers to Jesus.”

When the replies to Chasity’s questions started popping into my inbox I couldn’t help but smile at the similarity of the answers. The simplicity of the gospel of grace just lifts my heart!

I think these answers will make you smile, too. In the plurality of replies there were several important things that rose to the surface: Continue at Gloria Furman

See also: 10 Tips for Destroying Your Children’s Souls

The Pastor's Wife and Her Primary Ministry

Editors' Note: This is part three in a series on pastor's wives. Previously:

• The Pastor's Wife Is a Pastor's Wife
• The Pastor's Wife and Her First Love

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An article in our local newspaper announced an airline's new policy---"your fourth wife flies free"---in honor of a ruler who had just taken his fourth wife.

When my husband traveled to India for ministry he brought back an interesting anecdote. He said, "Every pastor I met introduced himself to me like this: 'My name is So-and-so; I have one wife and however-many kids.'" One of our church members from India explained that the rules of English grammar might be the reason the Indian pastors said that they have "one" wife instead of "a" wife.

Even so, in this area of the world, monogamous marriages are not assumed. I suppose it couldn't hurt for married pastors to affirm that they are married to only one wife!

Besides the "only one wife if you're married" clause, 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 list nearly 20 requirements for a potential under-shepherd of the Lord's sheep.

But where is the list of qualifications to be an elder's wife? Scripture-based ecclesiology offers no explicit job description for the office of pastor's wife, because there is no such office.

Empty Nesters to Nursing Moms

 

There is no office for the elder/pastor's wife, yet many wives feel pressure (or even a desire) to function as an honorary elder or unpaid staff member of the church. Direction in ministry for a pastor's wife can take on many forms, but one specific ministry ought to be valued over every other service opportunity she may be gifted to do or feel passionately about---that is, a wife's ministry to her husband and family.

To state it negatively, a pastor's wife's ministry to her husband and family should not be regarded as nominal and diminishing in comparison to other opportunities to serve in the church.  Continue at Gloria Furman

The Pastor's Wife Is a Pastor's Wife

"There you are," a woman whispered in my ear as she grabbed my elbow during a church gathering. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

I braced myself. You never know what a statement like that could mean---especially at a church gathering.

Did I leave my car running in the parking lot? Did one of my kids have an accident involving bodily fluids? Or horror of all horrors---is my husband's zipper down while he's preaching?

The woman led me from the back of the meeting room where I was standing into the lobby area.

Was there someone critically in need of prayer? Is there a baby being born in the lobby? Did someone leave a pumpkin latte out here with my name on it?

The woman urgently pointed to the ceiling. "Look! The air conditioning isn't cold enough. You have to fix it."

I breathed a sigh of relief and gave her a quick hug. "The air conditioner? I don't know how to fix the air conditioner. I barely know how to read a Celsius thermostat."

She thought about this for a second and chuckled. "But you are the pastor's wife."

My Biggest Fear as a Pastor's Wife  Continue at Gloria Furman

Mommy Needs a Recess

Mommy-y-y-y! Dad can't find his keys again and Judson is eating crayons and Norah didn't make it to the potty and I need help with my homework and someone rang the doorbell and now Dad really needs his keys and Mommy, why are you closing your eyes like that are you tired?

If this scenario sounds familiar, then this article is for you. Yes, you with the peanut butter handprints on your blouse and 14 sticky notes on your refrigerator.

I suspected that I could relate to you when I saw you drinking room temperature coffee leftover from yesterd--

Oh, hang on---I hear a baby waking up. . . . False alarm. Poor guy---he's teething. I started to tell you something. Hold on, it will come back . . . ah, yes!

Did you hear about The Gospel Coalition women's conference in Orlando this summer?

If you frequent the TGC site then you might have read about the conference. Perhaps you dismissed it as something you couldn't possibly attend because of your responsibilities at home.

Or maybe when you read about the conference the most pressing thing on your mind was multitasking your email and laundry at the end of a long day. I'm right there with you.  Continue at Gloria Furman