This year, in conjunction with our women’s ministry’s activities, Priceless will begin a series of blogs under the theme of “Making it Home.” We’ll have to see exactly which direction the Lord takes us. The articles will be focused on the home, our roles as nurturers in our households, and how to make our houses into homes, whether physically, spiritually, emotionally, or even as arms that reach out to our neighbors, friends, and family members. I hope you’ll follow along with these articles and that they will bless you and give you ideas and inspiration in many areas of your life.

Old fashioned “homemaking” has become obsolete. Have you noticed? We love to have beautifully decorated homes, but we often see ourselves more as interior decorators and hostesses rather than the homemakers our grandmothers were. Between jobs, school, church, ballgames, music and dance lessons, leisure activities and such our houses have become simply stop-overs where we change clothes and sleep. (I almost added “eat” in there, but in reality we have lunch dates and dinner with friends, or we eat out while shopping or grab fast food on the way to The Next Thing, so even meals aren’t nearly the focus of the home they were when we were all younger.

We all long for home. When we are away we want to be home for the safety, security, or rest. We long for the security and rich relationships the word “home” suggests, yet we congregate as a family in an angry, chaotic atmosphere or in a building that seems full of loss, regret, and depression. Maybe even within the walls of our houses we long for “home” because the place we dwell does not satisfy our hearts the way our grandmama’s little frame house did. We want to be able to abide in a place where we are known, loved just as we are, cherished, and desired. Yet feelings of anxiousness and distance often characterize our life at home. If we feel this way, how much more must our children?

To have an abode full of joy, care, peace, and nurturing, we must learn to abide. Full joy and love and meaning in living can be found only through abiding in Jesus Christ, having an intimate relationship with Him. All the decorating and entertaining and money spent will not yield joy, contentment, and a happy home. The first home we must build is our spiritual home, that home in our heart for Christ to dwell in, otherwise we are an empty shell like an old warehouse or a burned out building. Scripture relates Jesus’ words to us about abiding, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:9-11 ESV) Full joy comes through abiding in Him.

As we traverse this year of articles, we hope your heart will grow into a home where Christ abides, and your physical home will grow into that place of joy, contentment, beauty, and deep healthy relationships. We hope this series will help you turn your heart toward home.

Steve and Annie Chapman – “Turn Your Heart Toward Home”

It’s no secret that the Martin mailbox can be as erratic as the Alabama weather. We go days and never get the first parcel. It frustrates me when the box is empty. Then the drought ends and our mailbox will be crammed full. It is ironic and almost comical because I love mail. I love junk mail. It’s true, one of the quirky things about me. The junk mail is a little bit like a gleam of sunshine in my day. When I’m expecting a letter, I’ve been known to put something to mail in the mailbox, raise the flag, and watch for it to be lowered just so I know when the outgoing is exchanged for  the incoming. It is an oddity I know, just one of those weird things about myself I’ve learned to embrace rather than change, fight, or feel defeated over.

So the afternoon I opened the mailbox and found a letter addressed to me, I smiled.

I surveyed the envelope. I knew the handwriting, another oddity, I connect people with their penmanship. It’s weird. Years of paper charting and public education aided in honing this craft. Before I’d surveyed the return address I knew the Sender.

The Sender had scratched through and scribbled my address a time or two, clear evidence of the gypsy life Scott Martin and I have lived the last several years. I opened the unexpected card to find a glitter embellished scene of a table. The sort of random card one might find at a DollaStore. I opened to read an assortment of life events and details. The Sender was catching me up as it’d been a while since we had seen each other, an invitation to get together, a recent doctor visit yielding a tragic and debilitating diagnosis.

I reread the words, I paused, standing at the end of my driveway, my heart ached, sentence fragments filled my head. Too young. Why? Help must help. No. Too sad. Tragic. Words filled my brain, silence filled my mouth. Nothingness gave way to a gasp and I continued to read on.

The Sender had asked me to pray. She knows I will, that I do. I continued reading and at the end of it The Sender expressed love and gratitude and a familiar signature followed by

“It is well with My Soul.”

Stunned. I stood there, tears filled my eyes and the fragments hung over me like poorly placed photo booth props.

“Well?”

“How?”

“Sad.”

“Me?”

“Pray?”

As I tucked the card back into its envelope, I was careful not to divulge what I had just read. I thought about the writer of that song, one I’ve known since childhood and how he penned those words after tragic and seemingly senseless loss. I imagined him standing atop an Atlantic crossing ocean liner and how the very waves of sorrow rolled like the waves below. “It is well with my soul.” I’ve pondered on that many times in recent history. When trouble and tragedy seem to be around every corner. The loss of a loved one, A wayward child. Job troubles, financial distress, uncertainty about the future, fear and anxieties abound. That morning, as my heart is heavy, my words inadequate. I knew this, the prayers are many for the broken-hearted, and my words are few. This I know for certain, I can trust that King is near, and in Him alone it is well and Hope abounds.

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.” Isaiah 43:1-2

Do you have a servant’s heart?

Confession. My family and I are total goofballs. We act the silliest and find humor in the most unusual things. Like, having British accent days or taking on a character role for the day, pranking each other, or making word plays until its ridiculous (think “Facing the Giants” and the whole Hindenburg sketch of misusing words and playing with them). We are so much into silliness that we occasionally make each other annoyed if one is in the mood to play and another is not. I say all that to set up my “Cabana Boy” story. Hopefully your will enjoy a bit of our weirdness and maybe even identify with it.

As I sat on the back deck writing that cloudy Monday morning, I was deep in thought researching an upcoming lesson. Time moved on without my notice, and I was oblivious to the fact that the sun had come out and I was squinting and shielding my computer screen from the glare. Until my goofy husband, in his best Cabana Boy imitation popped outside to my rescue. He came bearing the umbrella, but of course he had to add a dramatic flair.

With a giant smile and the gracious motions of a prime example of Cabana Boy from the best resort you’ve ever been to, he launched into his spiel. “Your Cabana Boy at your service, Ma’am. Which way would you like the umbrella tilted? Is that better, does it cut the glare on your screen? Would you care for a beverage or fruit? No? Then please know that I am at your service today whatever need you may have. We aim to make sure you have a pleasant stay.”

My heart was light as my Cabana Boy retreated back inside to his Covid-office at the kitchen table. How pleasant and joyful he was. What a servant attitude. My mind began to wander. It turned to spiritual things as I pondered this man that so exasperates me some days, but was so joyful today. We are so far from perfect. My husband likes to say we are two warped boards that God has strapped together through marriage to help straighten up the warps. But today, he operated with a servant’s heart of love and it got me to thinking…

How am I as a servant of the Most High? Am I a joyful, kindhearted servant ready to go the extra mile as the Father presents opportunities? Am I looking for ways to serve Him? Ways to serve others and make another’s life a little easier? Do I serve with a great attitude, or grudgingly and dutifully? Do I reflect love and kindness to others as I serve? Am I the five star Cabana Boy who makes life pleasant for those around me? Are you?

In our fleshly nature, we humans are selfish creatures. We do things out of obligation or what’s-in-it-for-me. If we do it because we feel we must, we often reflect that through a bad attitude as we serve. We serve as the Cabana Boy who is just in it for the paycheck, and not as the one who serves from the heart because “It’s my pleasure.”

Spiritual growth is about becoming more than it is about knowing. We sometimes reverse that thought and think the more we know about God and scripture the more mature we are spiritually. But today let’s focus on becoming. Becoming that joyful servant of God. Take a moment today to ask God to make you into His humble, joyful servant.

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Father God, Change me. Make me a joyful servant. Create in my a servant’s heart and a steadfast spirit willing and ready to serve You and those around me as a service to You. Reshape my motives. Remake my heart of stone into a heart of flesh that serves with love and joy and kindness, reflecting You in all I do. Amen.

ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE WEARY MAMA

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 3:12-14 ESV

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I have a favorite fork.

My favored fork randomly appeared in our cutlery drawer some years ago.

I really have no idea from whence it came but it’s particularly spindly handle fits my unusually spindly fingers quite well and as most know my arms are spindly too. They do not match my not-at-all spindly trunk shaped trunk.

The Martin 3 know my affinity for the favored fork and will often lay it at my place when setting the table for dinner.

At last check my dirty fork went into the sink basin, that was some four days ago when my work stretch began. As far as I knew that fork lay dormant and dirtied in the sink.

Recently on a post work day evening, I happened to open the cutlery drawer, and there lying on its side was my favorite fork. Pristine and put away, waiting and ready for my spindly digits to wrap around it.

The middle Martin Male is the dishwasher in our house and most days he gets it quite right. Tonight as I pulled my fork out of the drawer, an unexpected surprise with which to eat my salad, I thought about life gone by. There was a time when that same boy could not speak, when his only means of communication was to scream, and I mourned the thought of his growing up because I was certain his quality of life would be subpar. There was time when he couldn’t use a fork much less wash one and put it away. I secretly prayed and petitioned and begged, and I was weary and as exhausted as a mama can be. That was then and this is now. And much has happened since then.

Presently he can wash and put away dishes and he does so daily. Despite the weighty, weary, worried person I was I pressed on, and I want to encourage the weary mama having to wash her shower curtain because it has been substituted as bathroom tissue, or the worn out preteen mama on her way home to talk with a ball of hormones and attitude, the mama who thinks she just can’t do it all another day, I challenge you to press on.

Stay strong.

Your day is coming and these challenging children will be alright just keep on keeping on! Press into The King and trust in His hands, you too will one day  have moments of unexpected dividends, pay off on those early days of investments in the form of finding favored forks.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9 NIV

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

In this race of life, what are you – a sprinter or a marathoner?

This thought was triggered by something I was reading recently. I’d never really considered that the attitudes of the two were different. (I’m not a runner, could you have guessed that?) I started comparing and contrasting the two and how that applied to life. It’s interesting, If you google “sprinters habits” and marathoners habits” you get some thought provoking info.

A sprint is a short race you run at full speed. You go all out and give it everything you got. A marathon, on the other hand, being a footrace of over 26 miles, requires exceptional endurance rather than a short burst of speed. These two types of races require different training, different amounts of time, different settings, and a different mental focus.

According to speedendurance.com, the sprinter’s motto is “If you don’t have to run, walk. I you don’t have to walk, sit. If you don’t have to sit, then lie down.” This sounds like a good motto to me! But let’s examine how that works in life. It really sets up a life of doing only what you must do – the urgent. You may wake up, sprint to get ready for work, then get to the office and sit thinking “What’s next?” A sprinting-through-life mindset is full of stops and starts, short races to get one task at a time done throughout our day. Sprinting takes short bouts of focused attention. Sprinters may run many, many miles if you add up all their short races put together, but their races are round and round the track, and they end up at the same place at the end of the day.

Marathoners, by the nature of the race, have to be just the opposite of this. Their race takes endurance and perseverance. They also need periods of rest after a race allowing the body time to recover and repair, but theirs mindset is one of being in it for the long haul. They must exercise great mental self-control to keep their focus throughout the hours of a race. No stops and starts and resting every few minutes for them. When the going gets long, tough, and painful, marathoners must exercise not only their muscles, but their minds in order to power through to the end, which is miles away and takes them to whole new places.

So how does running races apply to the average person, to you and me? You’ve probably already picked up on some ideas you can apply to your life, but here are mine.

1. Goals and focus are important. Years ago a study by a major college found that students who wrote down their goals out-performed those who did not. Baseball legend, Yogi Berra, once said “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.” As we run this race of life that the apostle Paul talks about, are we running toward the right goal? A marathon runner can run his 26 miles in wrong directions and never finish his race. A sprinter can give it all he’s got and be the fastest one on the track but loose the race if He runs toward the wrong goal. So I ask you today, what goal are your eyes fixed upon? Is it getting that new house? Nothing wrong with a new house, but should that be the ultimate goal we are running toward in life? Is it beauty? Or wealth? Or physical health? Or friendships? Or jobs? All these things have a place in life if they do to capture our sole focus in this race.
2. Focus on the right things. So what are the right things to focus our attention on? We turn to God’s Word to find those things. Salvation. Faith. A relationship with the Father. Love of God and our fellow man. Family. The Body of Christ. Obedience to God’s commands. … And I’m sure the list is longer than I can develop here. Stay in God’s Word and seek the things He would have your life be focused upon. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33)
3. Exercise mental self-discipline. Often we are sidetracked in our life by faulty thinking. The arrows of the enemy shoot lies into our minds. Our prideful heart deceives us with good-sounding thoughts that when examined are contrary to what scripture teaches. Our own inner self-doubt makes us distracted and undermines our confidence in the Father that He will empower us to accomplish all He has called us to do. Let’s exercise self-control not only in body by in our mindset too. Let’s throw off the negative, untrue, prideful, doubting thinking that weighs us down so that we can really run this race. Hebrews 12:1-2 tells us “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
4. Pace yourself. Americans in general have a I-can-do-it-all attitude. Add one more thing to your already full plate? Sure! why not? One thing we need to learn is how to say “no.” We spend so much energy doing good things, that we have depleted energy for accomplishing the goal of our life. We must learn to pace ourselves – to weed out those good distractions and time-wasters in order to fulfill God’s purposes and calling on our lives. A marathoner doesn’t stop to eat lunch or text their boyfriend; they put distractions aside in order to finish the race even though it is long an arduous. Let’s “run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” (Hebrews 12:1)
5. Life is not a race to win or lose. You’ve probably heard the phrase, “The one who dies with the most toys, still dies.” But how often do we operate in life as if we have to have the most, go to the best vacations, achieve the highest goals, and be the best? We’re not on this earth to compete or to win, we are here to “glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” (The Shorter Catechism) THE highest goal we can ever achieve is to live our lives in a way that pleases God, whatever He calls us to do. In Galatians 2:2 Paul makes a comment that shows us even he evaluated his motives in this race of life. He said, “I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain.” Are you running your race in vain? Let’s get alone with God and do a little self-evaluation.
6. Be faithful – commit to your life race. In 2 Timothy 4:7-8 Paul presents the attitude we need to embrace to stay committed to the race and finish strong. He states that when he dies he wants to be able to say with confidence, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

A marathon is long and difficult and takes more than just physical strength. Let’s start living like marathon runners, running our lives for a single goal that takes all our time, energy, focus, and patience to achieve. While we may have short sprints within our marathon, let’s make sure our long-team purpose is to finish this race well and be able to echo Paul’s words – “I have finished the race – I have kept the faith.” Persevere ladies! And encourage others to do the same. Get your running shoes on, let’s run for the prize!