Listen and Be nice.

Listen and be nice. Sounds simple, right? When creating boundaries, the child must understand what is expected of them, and there must be consistent consequences for when they do not demonstrate what is expected.  Noah is 20 months old. It's hard to discern if he has the capacity to fully understand some of the expectations I want him to achieve. My daily plea is for guidance from the Lord to know how to create firm but loving boundaries for Noah. I know that my failures will probably have an impact on his behavior, so I need lots of help.
I have learned throughout my education that it is best to create the most simple set of rules, so it doesn't become daunting for the child.  I began to think of what our rules could be, and so clearly the Holy Spirit says, "Obey and Love."  Wow, the same thing that God expects from me! 
"And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 
 I should not ask anything different from Noah. If we love God, we will love others. If we love God we will want to obey Him. To put these in a way a 20 month old could understand, I decided that Listen (obey) and Be nice (love) is the best fit.  No matter what the situation listen and be nice always fit. Even though this seems like the simplest of rules, it applies to me. Am I listening to the Lord? Am I obeying Him? Am I being nice? Am I loving my "neighbor" as I love myself?
What I love most about what God expects from us, is that its not about a list of Cans and Can't. It truly is to simply LOVE... If we love God we will want to obey Him. But I can't simply decide to love God more. I have tried... I have said, "God help me to love you more". God has shown me that in order to love Him more, I have to give him my heart more. I have to surrender my thoughts, my desires, and my inner most parts.  I love the song 'Empty Me' by Jeremy Camp,  "My desire of anything that is not of you and is of me I want more of you and less of me". David wrote Psalm 139 and said, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." 
Speaking of searching me and knowing my heart... We joined Liberty Baptist Church yesterday.  We have known since September that this is where God wants us. I have missed Immanuel, our church in Hattiesburg, so much I think that it has taken us this long to finally be willing to move our membership.  I still miss my dear friends at Immanuel, but I have begun to develop some new ones at Liberty.  I'm very excited to see what God has in store for us there. He has called me to minister to other mothers and to our own generation.  "I've a feeling we're not Kansas anymore" gains a whole new meaning for me. I have only been a christian since March 6, 2007, but in those 5 years I have mainly worked with children. I love children and I have a heart for teaching children, and its comfortable for me there. I was involved with GA's , 5th and 6th grade sunday school teacher, and a leader, then director for Sparks.  I was able to help little ones hide God's word in their hearts, and present the gospel every sunday. It was amazing to see God change so many young hearts, and teaching them truths so that they will not be "tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting" (Eph 4:14). 
 I have always had such a passion for teaching children, but God has placed a burden on my heart to reach out to my own generation.  There are so many young people who do not have a church family.  I have been asking God to help me relate to their feelings so that I could minister to them. Why do they not want to commit to meeting together with the body of Christ? (Heb 10:25) Is it because someone has hurt them? Is it because we are hypocrites? Is it because they are tired of the "church" faces? Is it because preferences and tastes cloud their ability to worship in spirit and truth? It is because some churches put tradition before bible truths? God only knows...  Maybe my generation wants to come to a church with real people, not "churchy" people.  I believe I should be putting my "best" face forward, but I think that my generation is looking to meet the real me, with my real problems.  Maybe they are tired of the cliche things, and simply want to develop relationships with people who are going through the same things they are. God is still working with me on these things, I am left with more questions than answers. In this process, I am trying to empathize with my generation, and hear why they no longer want to go to church... So far, the command I am receiving is to create relationships first. Because it's one thing to tell someone, "God is good, do you want to come to church with me?.." and another to develop a relationship with someone so they will see there is something different in me.  But how does this carry over into building up the body of Christ for my generation?? This has to be put into action at church too. When I'm there I need to minister to those around me and invest in relationships. Then, my generation will be impacted by the love of Christ. I know I will fail at this, but may the Lord give me strength to love my neighbor as myself! Thank the Lord that even though I fail, it doesn't change the unchangeable truths of God's word. 

Lord,    I love you. Thank you for loving me first. Thank you looking into my heart and changing it. Thank you for your Son. Thank you that I am forgiven and counted righteous even though the very best thing I have to offer you is still counted as dirty rags compared to you and your greatness. Thank you that you have blessed me with a wonderful husband who loves you, and two beautiful children.  Help me to use these blessings to honor you and bring glory to your name. Thank you for sending me to Liberty and allowing me to become part of their family. Help me to know the plans you have for me. Give me your eyes so that I can see the needs of others and not be so consumed with the craziness of motherhood. Give me discernment concerning ministry, help to me to know where you are working, and how I should move accordingly. Oh Lord, training my children and teaching discipline is one of the hardest things I have ever done, and it's only the beginning. Teach me to love and obey so that I can teach Noah and Anna how to love and obey. Thank you for the gift of Jesus, it is in His name that I pray. Amen.