intercession

Intercession - prayer on behalf of another. It naturally arises from the instinct of the human heart—not merely prompted by affection and interest, but recognizing that God’s relation to man is not merely individual, but social. (blueletterbible.org)

(Praying Hands)


Anything we do on behalf of another, motivated by purely unselfish means, connects us to the heart of God. He designed us for a life on earth that is not merely individual in purpose, but social as well. Our ability to see others, love them, and act with kindness towards them, must be forefront in His design for us. After all, the greatest command is to "Love the Lord your God... and to Love your neighbor as yourself." (Matt 22:36-39)

Intercession is a word I only understand in the core of my being. Putting words to something grasped at the spirit level is a challenge. But the act of true intercession for another puts us at the closest to God's own heart for people as we will ever be. It is the act of praying on behalf of another whole-heartedly in the interests of God Himself, not merely prompted by our own selfish interests. When we are moved by the Spirit of God to intercede we are in our humblest, most unselfish, state. We are relying solely on the mercy of God for another human being. Crying out to Him as if we cared as much about this other person as we do about ourselves. We are in touch with God's heart, and we are powerful in prayer.

Being moved for a loved one who is broken to the point of despair, I find myself on my knees on the behalf of someone else. Crying out, as if it were my own heart that was broken because this person has no strength left to cry out. Perhaps this is one more way that God takes care of His broken children - by giving others strength for them. How comforting to know that God may one day take care of me in this way. That God has taken care of me like this in the past. Out of a power not my own, I am given God's heart, the clarity to ask for Majesty, Justice, Truth, and HOPE.

To pray for another with God's own heart is to glimpse a picture of God's initial intentions for us so long ago when He created the world in perfection. A glimpse of what our world will be like one day.


We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. Romans 8:26

meet the bockers

Meet the feathery additions to the farm: the "Bock-Bocks" (as Annike calls them.)


Their names are still being decided. For now, we will call them Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. We are open to suggestions, however. Our vegetarian friends need to know we only intend to eat their eggs.


It is hard to know who is more excited: Christian, or Annike? Chickens are all either one of them wants to talk about for the moment. I say, as long as someone else takes care of them, I will be excited too!

Glee, when you are chasing a chicken, looks like this:

sunshine

This morning the sun was streaming into my bedroom window for the first time in months! We have had one of the foggiest, coldest summers in decades, and the appearance of sunshine did more than wake me up from a night of sleep - my attitude needed a wake up call too.

Lately I have struggled with a feeling of resentment for my season in life - bitterness that creeps up and clouds my ability to see. This past week, I wrestled with my role as a stay-at-home mom. I saw a two-year-old anchor attached to my ankle, instead of my littlest best friend. I am teary even typing that out. How do we allow our mind to stray so far from the truth?

I am sorry to say that I don't always recognize the good things in my life. A friend mentioned that she saw pictures of a trip we took to the lake where we waterskiied, slept under the stars, dined in good company, and sipped wine at sunset on the dock. She was excited for me, and her enthusiasm was a jolting reminder of reasons to enjoy my life. (Thank you, my friend!) My mind plays tricks on me, telling me about a lack of adventure, independence, and thrill. There is some sort of misconception that says adventures are out there waiting for me in a life that I will never have, a career path I will never go down, or a country I will never visit. The truth? Excitement in my day is here for the creating. Ambition is not wasted on a stay-at-home mom. Adventure lies within reach of our doorstep, providing I can don the right attitude.

Annike has a favorite song from the classic kid's album "Bullfrogs and Butterflies" (an album which comes highly recommended by me!) It shocks me to hear her, a child who does not speak in full sentences yet, singing:

Sunshine, sunshine, I've got a different kind of Sonshine
Sunshine, sunshine, I've got a different kind of Sun!

Verse:
It's been a beautiful day
Blessed rain of God has fallen
Happy go lucky and come what may
Cause I've got a different kind of Sun.

Something about that song speaks loudly to my pouty heart, saying that we choose to seize the day. Despite the rain, or the fog that lasted all summer long, I have Sonshine in my life.







He is like a well-watered plant in the sunshine, spreading its shoots over the garden; Job 8:16

tu-tu much??

Daily, this is the outfit of choice. Is there such a thing as too much tu-tu? too much pink? or too many accessories? That would be like saying there is such a thing as too much girliness, and we all know that is not true!




Limitations are not something we understand well at the age of "almost two". Come to think of it, we don't understand them all that well at the age of "adult". Moving through the day with my daughter, I am reminded that she is incapable of comprehending the reasons behind most of the restrictions I put upon her. How do you explain that it is just too cold to wear a bathing suit to the grocery store? Or that it will make her sick to eat too many jelly beans on an empty stomach? Or that her favorite pink cowboy boots are too dirty to wear in the house? At some point, I realize it is not my job to explain it to her, but instead to make good choices for her, trusting that one future day, possibly years from now, she will understand and be thankful.

This is God's role in our lives too, you know. He makes good choices for us. He sets up limitations to protect us. Rarely do we get a clear explanation from Him that we understand unquestionably. That is where the word trust comes in. At times my choices are limited to one of two ways: I can choose whether or not to trust Him. It is the same as when my daughter gets the choice to keep throwing that tantrum when I want to put a jacket on over her tu-tu, or move on with her life.

God loves us unconditionally, and though it sometimes seems that He is removing a "good thing" from my life, trusting Him always makes way for something better.

I do let Annike win some of the battles we have. She gets to exercise her independence in small ways, making her own choices, even if they are not good ones. I have discovered one advantage for myself over the battle of the tu-tu: there has been a lot less laundry to do this summer!

down south

I couldn't resist posting a few pictures of our weekend in Santa Barbara with Christian's parents.

Annike found a new best friend... and pillow.

"SB" is the dog's name, but Annike likes to call her "SBC". I think the alphabet has confused her.

We also met some dear friends on the beach, and Annike found a playmate that looks a little like her mirror image.

They aren't sisters, but future college roommates!! Hopefully they will be wearing more clothes by then.


Here I am with my college roommates, and lifelong friends. I hope that Annike will have lasting relationships one day, with women that will uplift her as these women have done in my life.

fruit

There is quite a bit of fruit in our orchard this summer. It seems that finally all of that hard work we have been doing over the past year is coming to fruition. I don't have to be the gardener in the family to recognize that fruit trees need care all year round in order to produce a good crop. We water, fertilize, prune, and mow that orchard, and then we wait, anxiously watching the green nubs on those trees turn colorful. Life is like that sometimes... you have to work a while before you see fruit.


One thing that strikes me about our orchard, is that to an untrained eye, all of the trees look remarkably similar for most of the year. It isn't until the fruit on each tree begins to appear that I can distinguish the trees. Did you know that all plants with a flower on them, also have a fruit?? We can't eat every type of fruit, but most plants produce something that is classified as such.


Our church is doing a series on the fruit of the Spirit this summer. I will admit that we have been gone quite a bit, missing most of the sermons. However, the things that Jesus says about fruit in the Bible have none-the-less been on my mind.


"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23


It seems that fruit is a metaphor for the way we represent Christ. Just as the fruit on a tree tells us what type of tree is growing in the orchard, the fruit in our lives tells others about who we are. What has struck me anew is that all people produce some type of fruit, but not all of that fruit is good. No matter how alternative we dress, or how allergic to stereotypes we are, we represent something in our lives.


What is it that I represent? (rhetorical question... no need to respond!)


"Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit." Matthew 12:33


What do we do with all of the fruit on our trees, or the fruit in our lives? Give it away, of course!! That's what fruit is for.

P.S. The pictures taken here are all from our property, and they are displayed in order of appearance throughout the season. Still to come: pears, nectarines, persimmons, and grapes!

bigger

Christian's cousins from Norway came to California for a visit. They spent some time on the beach, saw the sites, and doted on Annike.



Being from a small country means that they don't have the luxury of being as ethnocentric as we do when we are from the U.S. Even the 13-year-old speaks conversational English because, as they say, no one else is going to learn Norwegian. I always appreciate the chance to glimpse my own life through the eyes of another culture.

One of the observations made over the course of their visit stuck with me. It seemed to them that everything is bigger in America. Our cars are bigger (perhaps we have farther to go?), our portion-sizes at restaurants are bigger (they so courteously did not comment on the fact that this makes our people bigger too, but it is a well-known fact, so I will say it myself), our trees are bigger (we DID take them to see the redwoods), and even our squirrels are bigger (I can't quite figure this one out.) We camped in Yosemite, so of course our "tent" (R.V.) is bigger, our stores are bigger, our milk comes in bigger containers, and even our medium-sized drinks come large. I think you get the picture.


It got me thinking about the values we practice without recognizing. I would never tell someone I believe that bigger is better, yet, I subconsciously live that value. In my mind, it makes sense to me to buy the giant shampoo bottle at Target because I get the most shampoo for my money - but after a while I begin to need a bigger shower to hold that giant shampoo, and a bigger bathroom cabinet to house my collection of super-sized lotions and soaps, and a bigger house for that bigger bathroom. It all begins and ends somewhere.

At the root of this practice of big-ness, is the inability to distinguish the difference between "want" and "need". We sure throw the word "need" around lightly. We need coffee, our cars need to be washed, we need vacations from our vacations... but somehow it all turns into a habit of consumption at large, literally. I expect it will be an on-going life struggle for me. However, I need to welcome the chance to have my views of "normal" challenged.