Reflections of the Heart

Children want to spend time with you!  They flourish when they receive quality time from the loved ones in their little lives.  Everyone is allotted the same number of hours and days in each week, month and year.  I believe we need to be intentional to schedule activities for our children that include quality time spent with the adults that influence their lives.  Ideas that will help you incorporate quality time with your children in your daily routine: 1.  Give them a task to do when you are working in the kitchen.  If you are cooking, have them help by handing you the items you need.  Children love to do the  mixing and stiring. Small children can help by allowing them to give you pre-measured ingredients to add to the mixing bowl. They can also be "in charge" of holding the mixing spoons and handing the proper spoons, utensils or ingrediants to you.  Hint: Make sure you have a sturdy step stool...

While trying to get my five year old to express how she was feeling about a separation in her life, she proceeded to cover her ears while saying "Bla, bla, bla, bla."  I lost all eye contact with her and thought "Where did this come from?" "When did she learn to block out what she was not comfortable thinking and talking about?"  Really, she is five - not fifteen! The Lord has created mankind with all types of emotions both positive and negative.  Our emotions alert us that something uncomfortable is about to happen.  Anxiety!  Although we all experience the feeling of anxiety to some degree, we do not all manage it the same way.  Many times children's anxiety will be expressed in inappropriate behavior.  Yelling, stomping feet, throwing tantrums, hitting, hair pulling, etc. are all signs of anxiety in children because they do not know how to deal with their overwhelming feelings of frustration. Adults must learn to manage their anxiety i...

Self-respect lets you own up to your mistakes without feeling shattered by them. Self-respect lets you notice the harm of the hurt you have caused so you can do something about it. ~ Stephanie Dowrick Making amends is about trying to repair or compensate for something you did wrong that harmed another person in some way, causing them to feel insulted, or to suffer a loss, injury, or some sort of damage. When you are in the wrong, clinging to misguided notions of a need to "preserve your reputation" at all costs, or simply being stubborn, are poor options when a relationship is at stake and the ball rests in your court to do something about it. While it is never pleasant to feel ashamed about your own poor behavior, shame does have a place in life if it makes you acknowledge your wrongdoing and seek to make amends for it. And if you're in the situation of needing to make amends, there's no place like getting started.

Isaiah 55:8 (NIV) declares: " For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD".  Have you ever sat and wondered about your life?  What if I had finished college?  What if I had waited and had my children later in life?  Where would I be if I had accepted that other job offer?  On and on we go.  At some point, we must stop wondering about the what if's of our past and begin trusting Jesus to shape our future. For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV).  The Word is full of promises from our Lord.  Proverbs 3:4-6 (KJV)  "So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man. 5Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." So, the next time you find yourself cryi...

Healthy hearts require a daily regimen of diet and exercise.  Likewise to keep your spiritual heart healthy you must have a daily portion of the Bread of Life, God's Word.  Exercising spiritually is the fulfillment of the Word that you ingest daily.  Daily consumption of junk food will lessen the effects of the healthy food you consume.  Likewise, a diet of unhealthy living will decrease the effect that the daily reading of the Word brings to your life. Chapter 6 of the book of John declares that Jesus is the bread of life.  Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6:36.  I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." John 6:51.  Unfortunately, we live in a fast paced world and rely heavily on foods that can be prepared in a ...