Building a Home Full of Grace

As I looked through my bookshelf recently, I came across Building a Home Full of Grace by John and Susan Yates and family. I remember when I first read this book several years ago, I was so struck by the real-life, practical wisdom the Yates family offered in this joint publication. John and Susan along with their five grown children produced the book, in which they describe through personal experience how to build a home characterized by grace. Theirs is a home in which grace is freely given to those within it, and that same grace overflows into the lives of others. Because of their gracious lives, family friend, John Stott, encouraged the Yateses to pen this book. It's definitely a good read.

Grace is certainly a virtue my husband and I hope to cultivate in our home and lives. There's still much progress to be made, but I feel we're moving in the right direction.

The scripture passage below (in The Message paraphrase) makes me think of grace-filled lives.

You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand -- shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:14-16

Dunk-O-Rama

My in-laws have a vacation home in Duck, NC, and whenever we are down there with my husband's entire family, the men of the group spend hours designing and executing plays around the basketball hoop in the pool. Here's a video with just a sampling of what this looks like.

Just in case you're wondering... my husband is the guy who actually puts the ball in the hoop each time. He's a 36 year old with the athleticism of an 18 year old! The little boy in the background jumping in the pool is my son, as he tries to get in on the fun. Oh, yeah, and in the second half of the video, that's me sitting in the lounge chair looking on unenthusiastically.

Oh, How the Years Go By

Oh, how the years go by.
Oh, how the love brings tears to my eyes...

Those are a few lines from an old song by Amy Grant. I've been thinking about them today because my baby boy turned six years old today. I know it sounds so cliche, but it really does seem like yesterday that he was born. I can still recall so vividly the moment of his birth when I first saw his adorable doll-baby face, and my husband said, "I think he might be a looker!" I think there's something unique about the birth of your firstborn - that special moment when you're instantly transformed into a parent, with your heart suddenly living outside your body. You know right then that your priorities and desires will never be the same.

Well, I'm feeling all sentimental today because, for the first time, my baby boy is closer to his 10th birthday than he is to his infancy. It's a solemn reminder that time with my children is short and so precious. I don't want to look back with regret, feeling that I spent too much time on the mundane tasks of life and missed the special moments that make our lives memorable. I don't want to look back and feel that I spoke too harshly, hugged too infrequently, and said "no" too often when I really could have (and should have) said "yes".

Starlight

This afternoon I was fiddling with a new star-shaped Christmas tree topper, and I couldn't get it to stand up right on the top stem of our artificial tree. The wiry limb was just too flimsy to hold the weight of the new ornament, and in my frustration I said to my son, "I don't know. I think we'll just have to put a bow on top of the tree." He immediately responded incredulously, "But, Mama, bows don't have anything to do with Christmas!"

How cool is that? He was thinking about the Star of Bethlehem and not packages and bows. Even though he's got a Christmas list a mile long, when it came to the significance of our tree topper, he was focused on the true meaning of Christmas and really wanted a star to shine on top.

Of course, upon hearing such wisdom come from the mouth of my own offspring, I committed myself to finding a way to make the star stand up tall on top of our tree. Where there's a will there's a way, and I did indeed find a way. A couple of small wooden craft sticks and a few forest green pipe cleaners (to match the tree, of course) formed a supporting brace for the deficient limb, which now is festively adorned with a shiny, gold star.

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him."

Matthew 2: 1-2