Less is much more.

Whenever I visit the homes of my grandchildren, I encourage each mom to line up projects for when my extra pair of hands might help facilitate. Last week while I was in Florida, Linnea was ready with her list. As she worked her way through it, I got to play with my grands.

Autumn with toysOne job that’s impossible to do with children around is to organize their toys, which means tossing out broken ones and those with missing parts. Since new toys come in with each birthday and Christmas, Linnea also looks forward to gathering bunches of still-nice toys for Good Will.

As she was getting ready to tackle the project this time, we reached under each bed, behind closet doors, and in every dark corner where we found stray cars, plastic princesses, and building blocks. When she finally went to work, the living room floor was piled high with colorful playthings, along with a variety of plastic bins with lids.

By the end of the day, the toy stash had been forced into submission and most of it put away for only occasional use. And the children would never miss all that had been removed.

MicahEvery so often it’s a good idea to do the same thing with our spiritual lives. Taking inventory of where we stand with the Lord motivates us to trim away anything that gets between us and him. We can also rearrange our priorities so the main thing becomes the main thing again.

Once in a while we have to look in those hidden places of our thinking for the clutter we’ve allowed to accumulate there, just as we had to hunt in all the hidden places for toys. Without making a close inspection now and then, our lives can become disheveled.

But we often shy away from this introspective process because it can be painful. Just like children resist parting with broken toys, we have trouble letting go of certain things too, like bad habits we’ve become comfortable with. Rather than route them out, it’s easier to make excuses for them much like children try to justify keeping bits and pieces of incomplete toys.

But once we’ve done the hard work of taking stock and putting our internal houses back in order, gains will always outweigh losses. That’s because the process has made room for the Lord to give us “new” and “better.”

In orderAs for my grandchildren, playing with a manageable amount of toys (all of which work right and are complete) makes play time less frustrating and lots more fun.

Less turns out to be much, much more.

“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (Colossians 3:2)

When We’re Ready

Every young child loves to “help” his or her mommy. That may be because God placed a drive within them to mimic, or simply because what adults do seems fascinating from the outside looking in. (Think blue Windex spray bottles, shiny sharp knives, and the buttons on the wash machine.)

“Me do it!” or “By my own self!” are often early sentences, and children think of themselves as every adult’s equal.

Spray bottleThe other day, two-year-old Emerald borrowed the spray water bottle from her bathtub toys and went-to-town washing windows. The only trouble was that the window she chose was Birgitta’s flat screen TV, which now is no more.

Adults know the truth about being given responsibility before capability. So they try to walk that fine line between letting children assist and giving them free rein. Take vacuuming, for example.

Isaac assistingMy grandson Isaac, 13 months, loves the family vacuum. With 4 youngsters ages 6 and under in the house, this attractive tool makes an appearance daily, and Isaac longs to be in charge of it.

Of particular interest is the warm vent-air that blows out the side, and Linnea patiently lets him “help” as she makes her way around a room. But turning it over to him would be ridiculous. The tidying-up would remain undone, and dust and crumbs wouldn’t be the only things going inside the vacuum.

We can draw a spiritual parallel when it comes to our relationship with God. Often we think we’re capable of spiritual accomplishments he hasn’t yet trained us to do. Just as children watch their mommy and figure they can do what she does, we look at others doing “great things for the Lord” and wish we could do the same.

It’s honorable to want to accomplish for God. We love him dearly, and in trying to please him, can set our sights on tasks beyond our readiness. Along with that, we can be off in categorizing certain jobs as loftier than others.

His list of what’s important and what isn’t probably doesn’t match ours, and a job we consider to be low-level might be his highest calling for our here-and-now. For example, there’s not a much lowlier task than changing poopy diapers, but doing it faithfully is to participate in the high calling of motherhood.

Isaac moving in to take chargeAnd so, we should patiently pursue whatever God places in front of us with the tools he’s trained us to use. And if we get ahead of him, we can think of little Isaac’s relationship with the vacuum and know that the better plan is to wait till God says we’re ready.

“Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won’t be ashamed of…” (2 Timothy 2:15)

Praising and Praying with Mary

  1. Last year on St. Patrick’s Day I underwent the Whipple surgery to remove a tumor from my pancreas. I never thought I’d see another St. Patrick’s Day, but here we are, thanking the Lord for this gift.
  2. As our entire family (25 of us) vacation together in Florida, please pray that my bad sinus infection will soon clear so I can participate without passing it along to anyone else. Thanks!

Creative Genius

My grandson Micah recently turned 5, and like all 5-year-olds he’s a creative genius. For instance, last week as his daddy worked hard pressure-washing the driveway and house, Micah watched carefully. Within minutes of Adam rounding the corner toward the back yard, Micah was playing on the clean driveway, admiring its fresh, bright-white appearance.

Maybe it was the rejuvenated contrast of concrete and joints, but Micah quickly came up with a new idea. After running to a neighboring empty lot and uprooting a fistful of weeds, he planted them (dirt, roots, and all) in the driveway cracks. Though he’d never done that before, pressure-washing day seemed the perfect time to smear dirt into the clean concrete.

His wise father saw this but didn’t chide his son. Surely, though, he was disappointed. Couldn’t it have stayed clean for even an hour?

I asked Micah, “So, what’s that you’re doing there?”

“I’m planting a garden, and I’m going to jump over it.”

MicahWhen he was finished, he brought a big red bouncy ball from the garage and proceeded to jump high enough to clear the foot-tall plants. Back and forth he jumped, till he was flushed with the effort. We cheered him on, snapped photos, and praised his high energy.

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Occasionally the parenting years include work that must be re-done and messes that are completely unnecessary. Actually, not just occasionally. Often.

Raising kids is a ton of work and isn’t for the faint of heart. But the interesting thing is that when we feel “stretched to the breaking point,” we usually don’t break. Instead we discover there’s always a bit more stretch left.

Where does it come from? No doubt from God. More than likely it’s him showing up in response to our prayerful calls for help.

When God gives us a big assignment (such as raising children), he doesn’t do it without offering the tools to do it well. As young parents parent, he is parenting them. And no loving parent would ask his children to do something he knows they can’t do.

It’s also true that God-as-Parent wants to be in on every “stretchy” parenting project. He offers to give moms and dads “more stretch” whenever they need it and then hopes they’ll take advantage of his offer. When they ask, he delivers.

Micah NathanAs for Micah’s driveway garden, after he’d moved on to another project, Grandma Midgee plucked up his weeds, brushed away the dirt, and found that the bright-white driveway was none the worse for wear.

“The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. For he knows how weak we are.” (Psalm 103:13-14)