30 Days of Proverbs: November 7th

November 7th, 2017
Proverbs 7: Beware The World's Seductions 

"My son, keep my words,
And treasure my commandments within you.
Keep my commandments and live,
And my teaching as the apple of your eye."
Proverbs 7:1-2

Have you ever gotten an stuck eyelash in your eye? 

Mercy sakes alive- Worst.feeling.ever. 

I use a liquid eye makeup remover on the one or two days (bless it) a week I wear make up, and it seems like every time I swipe that wet cotton ball across my eyelids about 17 eyelashes jump ship and attempt to stab me in my cornea. 

When you've got something in your eye, LITERALLY NOTHING ELSE MATTERS UNTIL YOU GET IT OUT. The kids could come in and ask me to dye the dog purple and I would agree. The sink could be running over to create our own personal Niagra Falls and I wouldn't care. Is the shower curtain on fire? Good- maybe the smoke'll cause my eyes to water enough to finally get this chunk of barbed wire out of my vision maker.

And that's what these verses are referring to when they talk about keeping His commandments as "the apple (pupil) of of your eye". Our eyes are probably the most sensitive part of our body. They can sense the smallest dirt and irritants. My eyes even water when I open the hot oven door for goodness sakes! 

And that's how we should be with sin. If we're praying and studying and reading His word daily- our hearts will become sensitive to the world's pollutants. We'll be able to recognize ideas and doctrine and behaviors and attitudes that don't align with His teachings. We won't walk around with grit and grime irritating our souls because we'll be recognizing them, targeting them and eliminating them. Remember the relief you feel when you finally do get that offending eyelash out?? IMAGINE YOUR HEART FEELING THAT WAY, TOO. 

It rocks. 

How can we train our hearts? Simple. 

The biggest challenge will be to do what verse 1 instructs us to do: to treasure His commandments. By treasuring them- we're reading our Bibles DAILY. We're spending time praying DAILY. We're using our time to build up our walks and strengthen our souls to follow Him. And the stronger we become through our DAILY (Bless it. Am I over emphasizing the importance of daily prayer and Bible study? I hope not- BECAUSE IT IS SUPER IMPORTANT.) communion, the better we'll be at keeping His teachings protected like "the apple of your eye". 

Have a Christ-filled day, y'all! And thanks for stopping by~ Katie. 

30 Days of Proverbs: November 6th

November 6, 2017
Proverbs 6: Life Counsel 

"If you have been snared with the words of your mouth,
Have been caught with the words of your mouth,
Do this then, my son, and deliver yourself;
Since you have come into the hand of your neighbor,
Go, humble yourself, and importune your neighbor. 
Do not give sleep to your eyes,
Nor slumber to your eyelids;
Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hunter's hand,
And like a bird from the hand of the fowler."
Proverbs 6:2-5

 Caught saying things you shouldn't? 

DO WHAT THESE VERSES SAY. 

Eating crow is THE WORST. Humble pie goes down like 14 stale saltines without water. 

ASK ME HOW I KNOW. 

I have hurt so many people with my tongue. Some have been hurt unintentionally, but if I'm being totally transparent- most have been 100% my fault. When I'm feeling weak or insecure or bloated from too many chicken wings, it's easy for me to make myself feel better by dissecting others. The damage that can be done by three minutes of an unguarded tongue can last a lifetime. 

When I'm snide and sarcastic (Bless their hearts...) and salty (Am I too old to use hip lingo??) not only am I hurting the person I'm talking about, I'm damaging my relationship with the person I'm talking TO. Think about it: If you're looking to establish a solid, long lasting relationship with a friend, do you really want to establish that by critiquing others? A foundation like that is fragile AT BEST. Connect with someone and find Your Person by building up others together and in turn, your relationship with each other will be rock solid. AND WE WONDER WHY IT IS SO HARD TO FIND GOOD GIRLFRIENDS. 

Mercy sakes alive. 

I love the reminder we read at the end of verse three to go and humble yourself when you've sinned and said things you shouldn't. Solomon doesn't tell us to get defensive or to justify our words with back story or to drag other people that may have been in the conversation down with us- HE TELLS US TO SWALLOW OUR PRIDE AND BEG FOR FORGIVENESS. 

It's suuuuper easy for me to jump to the defensive when I've been caught in sinful conversations. I want to cajole my way out of it with ill-timed jokes and deflecting comments. I'll dance around the issue like a ballerina whose shoes are on fire but sucking it up, admitting I was wrong and asking for forgiveness is the hardest thing of all the things. But do you want to know what the pay off is?? GUILT FREE SLEEP. I might have to battle stress sweating and conflict nausea for the 10 minutes while I own up to my mistake, but afterwards I get to go home AND NOT EVER OVER ANALYZE IT EVER, EVER AGAIN.

And you can't put a price on that.

 (You can ask me because I'm basically the Queen of replaying awkward conversations in my mind at 2:17am. I still think about the time I made a Freudian slip to two boys that were a year ahead of me in the high school cafeteria lunch line and I STILL GET THE NERVOUS SWEATS WHEN I REMEMBER IT. I'll never be able to look at square pizza slices without shuddering. Horrifying.) 

Read these verses a few times today and remember to love each other and build people up, no matter how badly you might feel about your hair at the moment. 

Have a Christ-filled day! And thanks for stopping by~ Katie. 

30 Days of Proverbs: November 5th

November 5, 2017

Proverbs 5: Pitfalls of Immorality

"Drink water from your own cistern,

And fresh water from your own well.

Should your springs be dispersed abroad,

Streams of water in the streets?

Let them be yours alone,

And not for strangers with you. 

Let your fountain be blessed, 

And rejoice in the wife of your youth."

Proverbs 5: 15-18

I've had these verses underlined with little hearts around the verse numbers for years. BECAUSE MARRIAGE, y'all. 

My husband and I have only been married for 12 years so there's a big part of me that feels inadequate to prattle on with my take on marriage so just give me some grace and bear with me, m'kay??

Matt is my best friend. 

I'm not saying that because he's my husband and I have to- I REALLY MEAN IT. Over the dozen years we've been married we've gotten to know more about each other than I ever thought possible. He knows how I feel about roller coasters and pumping gas and running late and Mexican food and gardening and coffee and office supplies and lamps and lemons and homeschooling. We've got inside jokes about silhouettes and Larry Bird and ceramic mugs and crazy quotes we say to each other. "You do not knoooow what I have been through..."  

His work is really hectic sometimes (lots of times) so there are days when we communicate primarily through random GIFs. It's hysterical. We've developed Kid Code Words and were once able to hide an entire family vacation from them because of our amazing teamwork skills because we're Team McReynolds FOR LIFE. (I feel like we need t-shirts or something.) 

But here's the deal- I think we've been able to cultivate this type of Best Friendly Marriage with one another because we're drinking from one another's wells. When I've had a looooong day with the hoodlums, I mean- kids, HE is the one I talk to first. If I'm stressing about any of the 7,931 things I like to chronically over analyze- HE is the first person to hear all my necessary/unnecessary back story about it. Do my pants not fit? Did I have an insane stress dream about being covered in ants? Is the shoe molding under the kitchen sink loose? Did someone accidentally head butt a Barbie house? Is there a personal situation I'm trying to process? Am I rethinking our Spelling curriculum? Did one of our kids just ask me where babies come from? HE GETS TO KNOW ALL THE THINGS. 

There are weeks when he's busy, INSANELY BUSY with work. He's away from the house for long hours and has to spend nights out of town. And it's hard. And I'm not a super huge fan of putting the kids to bed by myself- but it's not because I feel like he's slacking on his Dad Duties- it's because WE ARE BETTER TOGETHER. When he's gone it's like I'm walking with a limp or I'm drinking decaf coffee. IT JUST AIN'T RIGHT. 

These verses remind me to focus my efforts on my marriage first and everything else after. To spend my time drinking from our well before I go anywhere else to be refreshed. My prayer is that by continuing to build our marriage up this way, our fountain will be blessed and we'll create dozens more inside jokes with one another over the next 50 years or so. 

Have a Christ-filled day, y'all. And thanks for stopping by~ Katie. 

30 Days of Proverbs: November 4th

November 4, 2017

Proverbs 4: Wisdom Will Protect You

"Watch over your heart with all diligence,

For from it flow the springs of life." 

Proverbs 4:23

2017 has found me turning myself into a Grandmaw. Basically. 

At the beginning of the year, I set out to more closely examine the areas of my life I use to entertain myself. I figured I'd cull a couple shows from my Netflix line up and that would be about it. 

I WAS SO WRONG. 

Bless my heart. 

I did start there, and was pleasantly surprised to notice that after I'd desensitized my ears to profanity that now, IT HURTS MY HEART TO HEAR IT. But I was surprised when I put down a book my librarian recommended about 13 pages in because I could tell the characters were headed for some pre-marital "fellowshipping" and suddenly I realized that type of story line put a bad taste in my mouth. But that wasn't the hugest surprise. Not by a long shot. 

I DEACTIVATED MY INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT.

 I eliminated social media/time wasters from my immediate, easy access. 

WHAT ON EARTH WAS HAPPENING TO MY LIFE??

I noticed myself becoming increasingly unhappy with myself after watching friends and acquaintances and fancy, beautiful people online. They were doing yoga and running 5ks and renovating houses and buying farms with beautiful lakes and rolling hills while I was sitting here with 4 days of dry shampoo in my hair, hopelessly unable to touch my toes or run down my driveway without getting a stitch in my side and corralling tumble weeds of pet hair from under my couch every afternoon for funsies.  

It was filling my heart with poison. 

We bought our first iPad. It's a used one from a family member that we're using for school work and to watch YouTube videos of how canned pumpkin is made. I'd realized how much time I was slipping into (10 minutes here, 24 minutes there...) scrolling through Facebook or getting lost in Pinterest vortexes while the kids played. My heart was heavy over the neglect I was giving my family because I was distracted by the World Wide Web. So one morning this summer, I deleted IG, FB and Pinterest from my iPhone. I uploaded them to a folder on our new/used iPad, and that basically limits my time to access them to before the kids wake up and after they go to bed. I'll update things online sporadically some days, but since the iPad is usually plugged in on top of a bookcase, gone are the half hour vegging-on-the-couch sessions. 

AND I HAVE NEVER FELT BETTER. 

God opened my eyes to the ways I was filling my heart and I love the reminder these verses give me. When I'm not distracted by unnecessary things, my heart is happy, my parenting is more diligent and my self esteem stems from how closely I'm tethered to Him, not how Pinterestly perfect my life looks. 

I'm glad I'm learning, even if I'm a little late to the game, to diligently watch over my heart. 

Have a Christ-filled day, y'all. And thanks for stopping by~ Katie. 

30 Days Of Proverbs: November 3rd

November 3, 2017
Proverbs 3: Find Protection and Peace With Wisdom

"Do not withhold good from those whom it is due, 
When it is in your power to do it."
Proverbs 3:27

Ok, so I tell my kids "No" ALL THE TIME. 

Candy at 7:01am? NO. 

Scissors in bedrooms behind closed doors? NO. 

Using the water hose outside 20 minutes before we need to leave the house? NO. 

But there are some No's that aren't as black and white. I might say "No" to reading a book when I'm tired. I may say "No" to PlayDoh in the kitchen because I don't feel like sweeping up the mess afterwards. Don't even ask me to play Trouble because IT IS THE GAME THAT WILL NEVER END. Going to the park frequently gets pushed to the back burner because of the tumbleweeds of pet hair billowing across the living room because THE HOUSEWORK IS NEVER, EVER DONE. 

But these verses remind me that I should say "Yes" when I can. Is PlayDoh messy? Yup. But is it better than having the kids waste half an hour staring at Odd Squad? Absolutely. So today, I'll exhale more and work on gathering the patience and energy to say "Yes" when I can, even if it's not convenient. 

Have a Christ filled day, y'all. And thanks for stopping by~ Katie. 

30 Days of Proverbs: November 2nd

November 2, 2017
Proverbs Chapter 2: Wisdom Brings Security

"For the Lord gives wisdom,
from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
He is a shield to those who walk in intregrity, 
guarding the paths of justice,
and He preserves the way of His godly ones."
Proverbs 2: 6-8

Ok, so this one is a straight up GEM. 

Homeschooling/motherhood has left me empty and answerless more than any other season I've encountered in my life. I pray for discretion and guidance and strength and wisdom about 1,483 times a day because there are moments when I have about a 0.003% clue about what I'm doing.

 I've got a reluctant reader and I've tried EVERY SINGLE TRICK IN THE BOOK to encourage them during Phonics. Games and tough love and sight words and blends and flash cards have left us miserable and defeated. Tears, OH THE TEARS WE HAVE SHED. God has had to hold my hand because if not, I would have either burned my dining room down around us or shaved my own head in desperation. 

These verses remind me to continue to look to Him for help and strength and guidance AND SELF CONTROL. Because while we're light years ahead of where we were, I've still got about 16 years of Homeschooling waiting ahead for me. SWEET MERCIFUL HEAVENS. 

Have a Christ filled day, y'all. And thanks for stopping by~ Katie. 

30 Days of Proverbs: November 1st

One of my favorite Bible study habits is to wrap up my reading with reading the date's corresponding chapter in Proverbs. With today starting a new month, I thought I'd create a sort of online journal of my favorite verses and thoughts through each chapter. 

If you'd like to read along, I'd love to have you join the conversation! 

NOVEMBER 1, 2017

Proverbs Chapter 1- Wisdom's Call

"Turn to my reproof, 

Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; 

I will make my words known to you." 

Proverbs 1:23

I hate having my nose rubbed into my mistakes, WHICH ARE PLENTIFUL. I tend to immediately become defensive, combative, and offended when I recognize my character flaws or sinful behavior within myself or EVEN MORE SO when it's pointed out by someone else, bless their hearts. 

But this verse reminds me that good, Godly reproof refines me. His discipline makes me better. It helps me to track down, dig up and root out the parts of me that aren't reflecting Him. So today, I'll focus on listening to Him, humbling my heart to accept His direction and working to refine the habits I have that pull me away from Him. (I'm looking at YOU, Impatience and Perfectionism.) 

Have a Christ filled day, y'all. And thanks for stopping by~  Katie.