| Sharp Paynes

What I Want to Preach

To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; – Eph 3:8-9 NKJV

To me, Paul says. Grace was given to me. Grace that led to prison, to isolation, to a life of hardships and rejection from his own. Paul considers it a gift of grace to be chosen for this dirty work, this preaching of an open invitation to the ‘least of the least’.

And he considers himself less than the least? The pharisee of pharisees. He puts himself lower than those who remained, by law, in the outer courts, the court of the Gentiles. A servant always lowers himself. But to call it a grace, a gift?

I was given grace, too. Do I risk anything to share the unsearchable riches of Christ, to make all see the Fellowship of the Mystery? Do I consider it a gift of grace to do the hard things day in and day out – bringing a sacrifice of praise through all the mundane and extraordinary and beautiful messes of each day?

What do my children know of this mystery? Because the riches are unsearchable, does that mean we are without searching? Without wonder? When everything is explained, mystery becomes just science, just facts, just ho-hum-everyday-life.

There should be awe in everyday.

“Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,” ~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning

We visit the science museum on a Thursday, surprised to see what we didn’t really expect. Bodies. Human bodies. Is there awe in that? Oh boy. Amazing handiwork. Created, every part of it, for a purpose. And while it is a little overwhelming, and can-we-just-rush-through-mom?, and we turn a little red a few times, the place was crammed with heaven. Can you view all that and really believe in coincidence, or accident?

We could walk away disgusted or disturbed. Or we can take off our shoes and explore the holy ground, explore the wonder and mystery. God is amazing. Did you see it? Did you see how He made everything fit so perfectly?

Life can be mundane. I can go days, weeks, without seeing wonder or being amazed. Feeling unimportant, unnoticed, unnecessary. My days can be:

drag out of bed
read Bible
make meals
clean-up meals
repeat

Somewhere in between, I throw in a load of laundry and force some school along. Check. When is bedtime, so we can start all over tomorrow?

Round and round life goes, and if I don’t deliberately choose to see, I just trample over holy ground. I trample over holy people.

This is what I’m thinking about when the dentist asks me, “So what do you do for a living?”. This is generally that question that causes me to fumble over my tongue. What do I do?

What do I do? For a ‘living’, I die daily. I would like to respond that way – like for it to be true.

“I teach my four children at home,” I say.

Wow. No fumbling this time. No apologies, no feeling-less-than-important. People are always amazed (or concerned)… but this time, so am I.

To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among my children the unsearchable riches of Christ,

Everyday. Searching for the treasures, looking for the pearls hidden in the Word and in His world. Hidden in the hearts of others. Praying big prayers in front of and with my children, because a big God can answer and we can be amazed.

From Leigh Bortins, Echo in Celebration, pg. 3 ~

I feel compelled to “ride horses up the White House stairs” as Teddy Roosevelt did with his children, and I want to share with them the deep sorrow rather than the self-righteousness that comes from the ugliness of sin. I want them to work so hard and to have fun so physical that they can’t wait to climb into bed. I want them to know that everyone they encounter can be their teacher and that they are to inspire each person they meet to draw a little closer to our Father in heaven. Life is but a vapor, but it’s also a divine journey - a journey that can result in unspeakable joy and heart-satisfying peace that passes all understanding.

I love that quote, and I want to live like that. I want my words to be less lecture, more wonder. Less why-did-you-do-that, and more did-you-see-that?

: Treasure Seekers

If I only speak a hundred words to my children today, Lord, let them be all grace, all wonder, all magnifying the riches of Christ and buckle-your-seat-belt adventure.

Finding Out

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Re-posting for the first time today, so we can focus on packing and cleaning and… trying to stay focused.

Tending Sheep

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“When God speaks, many of us are like people in a fog, and we give no answer. Moses’ reply to God revealed that he knew where he was and that he was ready. Readiness means having a right relationship to God and having the knowledge of where we are. We are so busy telling God where we would like to go. Yet the man or woman who is ready for God and His work is the one who receives the prize when the summons comes. We wait with the idea that some great opportunity or something sensational will be coming our way, and when it does come we are quick to cry out, “Here I am.” Whenever we sense that Jesus Christ is rising up to take authority over some great task, we are there, but we are not ready for some obscure duty.” ~ Oswald Chambers

I get lost in the fog of small, obscure tasks.

Today I want to do them for His glory, with the awareness that He is in every detail. To do them without the anxious longing for the next thing, the big thing, the thing that surely pleases God more than this menial task.

I have laundry, meals, packing, and more packing to tackle today. This threatens to fog me, but not if I do it with ears open.

Moses was just tending sheep in the desert and I don’t think it gets much more mundane than that.

So if he can hear over the bleating of sheep and mind-numbing solitude, surely I can hear over the hum of the washer and the sound of Babe the pig entertaining my ‘helpers’.

Are you doing the obscure and the mundane today? Watch for the burning bush.

Not too Comfortable

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The text came in the evening, telling us that our brothers and sisters were running. On the other side of the world, they serve Christ among the hostile and unreached and among mobs that form in the thousands. Mobs that use violence to make their point.

We stopped as a family to pray, our hearts heavy for the little boys they would have to whisk away, the newly acquired home they would have to leave, the disciples hurting and confused.

It bothers me that today I have to make a decision about carpet.

Today it’s unlikely that anyone will get hostile over my faith. I probably won’t be forced to grab my kids up and run from an angry mob.

I will probably just sit in my comfortable home and pray.

There is hope that persecution will grow the church, but would I ever tell them I prayed with thanksgiving for their persecution? That I sat with my morning cup of coffee in my cozy and unthreatened home and thanked God for the scattering?

I remember this:

And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us – Act 17:26-27 NKJV

I am here and they are there, and we all have to seek, to grope and find Him.

So as I record our family’s thanks for the week, I add this – thankfulness that the God Who sees it all and listens close, He knows every need in every place. Mine and theirs, ours.

We are half a world apart but God came down to unite us all, and if nothing else, I can pray.

And I can use this space to ask you to pray, also. Pray for your brothers and sisters, for these precious people pouring their lives out across the globe.

And pray, too, for the ones in comfortable homes.

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So we don’t stop giving thanks for small things while we pray for big things.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. – {Jam 1:17 NKJV}

233. good dreams

234. God’s word (this one written in a child’s hand, and this mama treasuring it in her heart!)

235. Ethan – I am thankful that the Roberts’ bought our house

236. Quiet mornings

237. friends that really want to help

238. a wife that is funny and smart and…

239. mercy and grace

240. foggy morning walks with everyone

241. violin

242. mommy’s doodles : )