Teach us to number our days

I'm continuing to read A Place of Quiet Rest in the morning as I have time. I really liked the part I read today, especially after the day we had yesterday. Today her (Nancy Leigh DeMoss) focus was on restoration of our souls (Psalm 23). Just thinking about that is refreshing to me. Probably because I've felt that weariness of soul many times before, and know what renewal comes with the restoration. It's not just resting, but resting in Him. In all of us there is a deep spiritual hunger and we need spiritual food to fill it. Time in prayer, study, worship, quiet reflection. That's where I find it. It's a good reminder to slow down even if the pace around us is hectic, to make the time to allow Him to refresh and restore us. (I have to take my own advice!)

We had the radio on this morning and Julian came up to me pulling my hand. I wasn't sure what he was doing until he said "dance, mommy". He wanted me to get up and dance with him! How adorable.

It's hard to believe I'm coming to the end of the story of David. Today in 1Kings 1 David is very old and frail. His son Adonijah is appointing himself king without David's knowledge. Those close to him (the prophet Nathan, Bathsheba) warn him so he swears on oath to Bathsheba with others listening that their son Solomon shall be king. David even in his old age made all the plans and preparations. Solomon was anointed as king and he took his seat upon the royal throne. As I was reflecting on what today's word was teaching me, I was thinking about David's old age and how fleeting our lives really are. Many times I hear to live each day to the fullest (Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12.) How many of us really do that? I'll be first to admit I get comfortable in the day to day routines of life and often don't think about it. It was good to stop and reflect on that.

It was so beautiful today, we had to spend some time outside. I put together some food and Julian and I had a little picnic in the back yard. After lunch, we headed to McKee Farms which is a 60 acre park 10 minutes from our house. Julian is finally big enough to go on the kids play structure and he enjoyed it a lot. When we were leaving he got to see a couple fire trucks racing down the street, he was excited about that.

Tonight our small group got together to help some families in the area with groceries. We met at the food pantry and worked together to pick out the groceries and get them ready. Julian got to join us and most of the time he had fun just watching everyone. Our friend played hide and seek and chase with him and he just loved it. He'd squeal with laughter every time she popped out and surprised him.

Spending time outdoors

Julian was very clingy and whiny this morning. While I was trying to eat breakfast he kept asking to be up and when I said no he started crying. Then my computer was having problems and I was trying to figure out why and he wanted to be on my lap. When I didn't pick him up it set off another torrent of crying so daddy picked him up and let him look at a photo album of himself. He really enjoyed that and was laughing at some of the photos. He started up again after looking at the album so I gave him his nuk. Then when he calmed down I was able to get on the phone so I could get the computer fixed. He was whining and pulling at my leg so I put in the Elmo ABC video so he could practice his ABC's. After I was done we went outside for a bit and got some fresh air. It was so nice out and is supposed to get up to 60 today.

Today's reading was one of my favorites; Psalm 51. It starts out mentioning two of God's greatest attributes, unfailing love and great compassion. Within this psalm you can see the process of confession and restoration of intimacy with God. From the God of love and compassion, David was pleading for mercy. He asks to be cleansed (of his sin). It takes courage to bring our sin before God and humility for the desire to turn away from it. He says "cleanse me with hyssop" and hyssop in the old testament is connected to cleansing from sin. In verse 10, he says "create in me a pure heart, O God". Beth Moore shares that only God can do this, purify us. David was humbled, cleansed, renewed and restored. A good verse to refer to is Psalm 103:10. He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.

In my other study, Women of the Bible, we are reading Hannah this week. Hannah was unable to conceive. She was deeply troubled over this, bitter and full of sorrow. She turned to the Lord; wept, prayed and made a vow that if the Lord brought her a son she would give him to God for all his days. When she left the place of worship, she was uplifted. This was just from being with the Lord and pouring her heart out to him. She was uplifted without knowing how her prayer would be answered.

After lunch, Julian was really excited about going outside. We ended up being outside for close to two hours. It was so nice out. I brought out his "popcorn" push toy and his golf club and he played with both. He really liked it when I hit the golf ball and he'd go run and get the ball. After playing a while we went for a walk in his car. We were getting near the park and I wanted to surprise him. I asked him if he wanted to go to the park and he got really excited lifting his hands in the air saying "park" and of course definitely wanted to go. We went on the swing but he wanted to get off right away when he saw the jungle gym. We climbed around on the jungle gym and I got some good pictures. He went down the slide with me a few times and then he met a couple girls that looked around 8 years old. One of them really took a liking to him. She played some patty cake and then gave him some high-fives. She wanted to take him down the slide and that was okay. As usual, he wasn't happy when it came time to leave but it was getting close to nap time so off we went.

Julian continues to be such a good sleeper, it is such a blessing. After his nap, we read some books and then I got dinner ready. During dinner he was practicing his ABC's again. Something like ABCD---H---LMNP--QRS--WXY-now I know, now I know. It is so cute I'll have to get a video of it. He wanted to go outside again and play but I told him we were going to the YMCA and he'd have some fun playing there. When we were leaving, I picked him up from the nursery and there was an Indian man picking up his son. His son is often there at the same time as Julian. The dad told me that he was in the room today and saw Julian. He said Julian does so well in the nursery. I told him how we've been going for over a year now so he is really familiar with everything. Then he said Julian kept bringing him toys and he was having him put Little People in a bus. I think he has a new friend, as Julian was following around the little boy and offering him crackers. He even tried to put one in the boy's mouth! He's not shy. Later at home he didn't fuss and was really good about picking out a book and going upstairs to get ready for bed. We ended up reading a couple books, his dad read one and then I read one. Today went so fast, it's nice to finally be winding down.

Julian gets his groove on

We remembered daylight saving's time and I slept in a bit since Julian was sleeping too. Daddy was off to work this morning to do some overtime so Julian and I were on our own. He was really whiny like he didn't get enough sleep and was wanting to be picked up and held a lot. He did OK with a breakfast of pancakes and strawberries. He wanted to color from his Thomas activity book but then wanted the magazine I was looking at so I let him flip through the pages. Then the cutest part of the morning, Julian was dancing to music on his nursery rhyme toy. He'd go over and press the button for the music. Then he'd dance in the middle of the room waving his arms up and down and dance around in a circle. When the song ended he'd say "yea" and go back and press the button for another song to start dancing to. I got a little of it on video. I danced with him for a bit and then he changed gears wanting to sit in his chair. He ended up falling over (onto carpet) and crying but then started saying "painting?" and so I took him downstairs to paint. We ended up playing with Playdoh making "pancakes" again and play cooking and eating them. This kept us busy for a while. Later, after he went down for his nap, I gave Rio her IV. That still sounds goofy to me and I'm wrestling with whether it's just time to put her down. It's not easy for me to think of ending her little life. She is breathing better today so I'm glad she's not struggling for air. Yesterday afternoon she actually came upstairs and hung out which she hasn't done in days.

Today I finished the second half of 2Samuel 12. One thing Beth points out is the impact of David's fall into sin. Not only did it effect those right around him, but it affected the neighboring nations. These nations had their eyes on him and had gained respect for him and for his God watching the course of his life and kingship. After this, the nations lost respect for both David and God so the effect was far-reaching. Yet through David's failures, God is teaching the very essence of salvation; he will forgive the sinner yet judge the sin. As Nathan predicted, David's son fell ill. David was brought to a crucial place of depending on God as he fell to the ground and fasted and prayed. Even though the answer was no, David put himself at God's mercy. One of the most painful experiences would have been David turning to worship God after his son died. He could pour out his heart while at the same time acknowledge God's goodness. In this process, his relationship with God was restored. In reflection, I see that even though David fell, his intimacy with the Lord was restored very quickly. And I believe so it is with us. That as soon as we come to him, he is right there meeting us. James 4:8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. God responded by then blessing he and Bathsheba with another son, Solomon.

We visited Grampa again today at the hospital. It's turning out to be a beautiful day. The sun is shining bright and it's above 50 degrees. The wind is a bit cold though. As we were walking down the hall to the room he starts saying "Mickey Mouse?" remembering the balloon he saw yesterday in Grampa's room. My husband's sister and two boys were also visiting so they got to see Julian too. He was a little bit shy at first and wasn't talking much. He kept saying a word that sounded like crackers but I knew it wasn't crackers, then I figured it out. Sometimes it's like learning a foreign language keeping track of words Julian learns. This word was actually "checkers". He kept asking for checkers because we sat in the lobby yesterday and introduced him to checkers there. He also kept pointing to and asking for the markers the nurse had up on the dry erase board except he called them crayons. He was getting a little insistent so instead I brought out his coloring book and a crayon and then he got really focused on coloring.

At church we continue to study the book of Luke and Jesus redefining the status quo. Jesus goes to the house of a prominent Pharisee where he is being constantly watched. He talks about the Sabbath and asks them a couple questions but they have nothing to say. He ends up healing a man which he knows is controversial since it is the Sabbath. He later shares a parable about whether whether to take the place of honor at a friend's table or taking the lower place and ends with a promise, Luke 14:11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. John Rosensteel (our preacher today) used a visual to describe what this is like, he brought a ladder. He reminded us how in life as we move up the "rungs of the ladder" we get a distorted view of people and situations. It didn't take me long, but on our way home I caught myself doing this saying something negative about someone driving. It's too easy to look down and be critical or judgmental of others and John encouraged us to take the place of Jesus who humbled himself. One of the scriptures he referred to was Phillipians 2:4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

We had dinner again with our friends from our small group, the ones whose daughters really like Julian. He wanted to go in the play area and started crawling in the tubes. I was a little nervous for him to go in there alone and my friend must have sensed that since she sent her kids in to join Julian. He went down the slide with their son and had this huge grin on his face. Later when he was halfway up the stairs to the tube slide something must have spooked him and he started calling for me but then it turned to crying so I scooted up the slide just to find they had gone down the other way. Finally Julian and I met up and he calmed down. After a few minutes he was right back at it and wanted to go in again but they had shut it down for cleaning. He went over to visit a couple of the girls from the play area but got a little too close to one girl. I think he liked the Dora picture on her shirt but he started almost pawing at it so I had to go get him. Later, he visited their little boy in his car seat and was really good about being careful. I never know what he's going to do when he goes up to people so I stay close.

It's the close of another day and getting too close to tomorrow already so I'll sign off for now.