Maturing in the Lord

Following last Sunday's sermon on keeping covenants, God's reminding me of little promises I've made to Him and others that I've forgotten! God is good. He puts His Spirit of truth in us to help us obey Him.

Just wanna share this thought on maturity and maturing in the Lord:
"The marks of maturity? Self-sustaining in spiritual devotions. Wise in human relationships. Humble and serving. Comfortable and functional in the everyday world where people of faith can be in short supply. Substantial in conversation; prudent in acquisition; respectful in conflict; faithful in commitments."

These marks of maturity are so lacking in me at times. I yearn to see spiritual fruit. Yet I'm reminded in John 15 that it's back to the basics, to the Cross.

"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." John 15:5

It's horrible to be hated without reason. My pride and self-righteousness probably justifies the anger within me. But Christ suffered the same, and He pleaded they be forgiven 'cos they do not know what they are doing. I would've turned my face away from opposition, let alone hatred. The grace of the Lord is amazing. And He's extended it to me that I may extend it to others.

Finally!

Zach's finally learnt to hold up his bottle of milk!
This's one of the fews things we're working at together now.

Soccer Time!

Time with Mum

The joy of spending time with Mum doing simple things - have breakfast at the coffeeshop, shopping at the wet market, afternoons at my place. These are the things I miss doing with her. Now there's one left that we haven't done. Baking! So little time to spend with her nowadays...work, our own family, housework, etc...but must make it a point. Esp when she's in Singapore. I'd wanted to go back to work yesterday (though MC covers till today) but K's urged me not to, and I'm thankful for listening.

We bought a Citronella plant yesterday. Quite thrilled to find it in the market. Promptly bought it and it's now seated by the kitchen window to keep the mosquitoes at bay! Apparently, it's scent has got that effect. The mosquito patches we bought for Zachary has exactly the same scent!

Random Thought (#8) - Marriage and Weddings

Mum and Dad celebrated their wedding anniversary yesterday.
Years down, I wanna be like them. Serving the Lord and active. Loving and committed to each other. They're not perfect - they still have tiffs, idiosyncracies that sometimes drive each other up the wall - but they remain committed and faithful to each other.

They have no idea how important it is to me (and for the world) to see them this way.
Faithfulness is not a hallmark of marriages nowadays.

"To have and to hold...till death parts us"
...means choosing to remain faithful in the most difficult of times
...means choosing to love even when I don't feel like it
...means choosing to hope in God together

Submission

Attended weddings over three consecutive weekends. Oh how I love weddings! The atmosphere, the excitement, the joy, the gown...aaahh *dewy-eyed*...all's sweet till....the vows :-)
There will be giggles and darting of eyes when the bride says, "...to submit to you and honour you...."

And these are the very two areas that I'm being further refined. Too many occasions to recount one-by-one but something happened at the wedding we attended last Saturday that (in retrospect) was a simple lesson on submission for me.

Emcee: And now we'll invite...Michelle to do the interpretation for the message...
Me: Me? (stares blank-face at K who is struggling with Z) but I wasn't informed...
K: If that's the case, then don't go up. Z needs you too.
Me: But I'm able to do this, why don't I just step up to this since they've planned for this. They may really want this done; I shouldn't spoil their plans, right?
Minutes of debate later
K (impatient): Will you please sit down? Why do you insist on doing it?
Me, seated and now struggling with Z - obviously unhappy and tells K he's being selfish

At photo-taking session with bride and groom
Bride: Hey Michelle, since when were you doing interpretation for us? We didn't know that...?
Me: Oh really, that's strange. I thought you guys had forgotten to inform me
Bride: Nope, we were just as surprised!
Me, very thankful I didn't 'step up to it'.

The Fulfilled Family

We'll have topical study sessions after service two Sundays from now. We'll use this book by John F MacArthur. I'm glad we're starting this study as I hope it'll give room for deeper discussion and sharing of thoughts on SAHMs and roles in the family. Topics we'll cover in the coming weeks:

• Divine Pattern for Marriage - The Necessary Foundation
• The role of the wife/husband and her/his priorities
• Divine Pattern for the Family - Understanding the Issues
• The role of the child/parents

Will share more as we go along....

Memories from Melbourne

Honeymoon in Melbourne (May 2005)

Been attending too many weddings so decided to dig out my honeymoon pics for reminiscence

Pearls of Wisdom

Had my wisdom pearlies removed today. I'll spare you the details but suffice to say it took 1'1/4 hrs of drilling. A week's rest (read: I finally have time to unpack more stuff!)

It also means I have more time with Zachary which I dearly miss. We will wake up in each other's smiling faces (well, it's usually mine, his is more a scowl cos he's first instinct is to look for mummy!), have breakfast together and have play time! I look forward to this sooo much!