A Gift To Return

It's a busy week. I don't have time to post or write at all. But as I serve at Fine Arts Day Camp all week long at my church, I am reminding myself of the same message I am telling to the kids. Our gifts must not be buried. Our talents must be used. But all for His glory. All for His name. All for His purposes. It's so easy to get wrapped up in the show and the production, that we can lose our focus. I almost lost mine today. Then I was reminded of a poem I wrote almost exactly one year ago...for the same camp. I am praying this poem He wrote on my heart for me, for the other leaders, directors and teachers, and especially for the kids of Bent Tree Bible Fellowship's Fine Arts Day Camp 2008:

A Gift To Return
By LauraLee Shaw

Your life is precious to our Lord,
“It is very good,” He exclaimed.
Your talent is a gift from Him,
So use it as one unashamed!

Whatever you do with your talent~
Don’t compare, looking around,
or
You’ll find yourself on sinking ground.

Because the Fact is:

Your talent is needed in this world.
It can make a difference, you know,
For when you use it with His strength,
HE is the star of the show.

Whenever you shine with your talent~
It’s by the power of the Spirit,
and
He is the One who is able to steer it.

Because the Truth is:

“…you have received a gift in order to serve others. You should use it faithfully. Then in all things God will be praised through Jesus Christ.
Give Him the glory and the power
for ever and ever. Amen.”
1 Peter 4:9b,11b

Father God, I give You this new day of using my time, my talents and my spiritual gifts for Your glory. May I be small in my own eyes, and show You off HUGE in the eyes of others. I give You all the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

At the Well Monday/Raising Godly Boys--Yikes!

Lori at I'll Take it Lord, all You Have to Give is the hostess of "At the Well" this week.



I have to tell you, the topic of raising Godly boys has thrown me a bit of a loop. Lori threw out some INcredUlous questions on the subject, however, which are the following:

1.What advice would I give to women to raise Godly boys?

2.If you are raising boys, what areas concern you most?

3.If you don't have or haven't raised boys, what is your concern for boys in today's culture?

Okay, so nobody gets to bow out of this one...she's covered all the bases. So go on over to her place and sign the Mr. Linky, then give us your thoughts on the subject. Doesn't have to be anything fancy, but you know, we're all in this together, and our answers to the questions just might help each other out a bit. If you don't have time to blog about it, just leave your thoughts right here...NEED to hear from you on this one.

So back to why this has thrown me for a loop. A loop-d-loop actually. My firstborn--my baby boy--my Little Sweetness (my name for him in the womb)--is now a thirteen-year-old giant. I'm not kidding you, I was JUST holding him, reading the I'll Love You Forever book to him while rocking back and forth, back and forth, back and forth...NOW I've fallen off my rocker because he came up behind it and pushed me out of it by force of his pinky.

I've been through so much with him the last year...learned a lot...been humbled quite a bit (both of us). And he would be completely humiliated if I publicized to the whole world why and how and what. So I won't. All I can say is that I pray a TON. More than I ever have before. The struggles that a teenage boy has to go through majorly blows me away. Their thought life is so complicated, so foreign to me.

My opinions shared today are those based on being the mom of a new teenager. The way you parent your toddler will be different from the way you raise your son who is growing up in his pre-teen to teenage years. If you're not there yet, hold on to your hat, because fast forward is already in motion.

After praying about this post, the best advice I can give you at my stage of parenting is to pray. Pray that he owns his faith--not you. Pray that when you turn your head, he knows where to turn when temptation strikes. Pray that you will have wisdom to know what freedoms to give and not to give. Pray that you will know how far to let him go before you become Mama Buttinsky. Pray that HE will have wisdom in situations where Mama Buttinsky is not around. Pray, pray pray. And when things seem okay, like he is Godly and rooted and "better behaved" than other boys his age, pray some more. Maybe even more at that moment.

Communicate. Don't ridicule. Don't exasperate. Don't humiliate. Communicate. What are his likes? His dislikes? What in the world does he think about this and that and the other? Be amazed and thrilled at the differences in reasoning and logic, listening more than lecturing.

Learn. Learn from what you learn from your communication with him. Learn from others who have gone before you. Learn from God's Word. Learn from good books. Never stop learning. Learning as you listen.

Stop saying "never." The stuff you said you would "never let your son do." Don't be afraid to pray about that, reevaluate that and be open before God about what is best for the way your son is wired. Make sure you have consulted the One who knows your baby boy better than you do. Be open-minded as you pray, communicate, listen and learn.

Let the ponytail down every now and then. Remember, our boys get to a point where they want adventure, they want action...they want to be busy all the time. Keep reminding them that it's good to be still, and it's great to chillax, but don't forget to be a little crazy with them sometimes too. This is my achilles heel in parenting. I would rather teach him how to behave and journal and pray (which are essentials) than to let him teach me how to have an adventure and do something out of my comfort zone. But nothing brings us closer than when I do some stuff his way every now and then. That leads me back to more prayer...and listening and learning...

Anyway, rambling. Quite honestly, I have never had to exercise more faith than I have to at this stage in my son's life. I know more is to come, but right now, I'm consumed with what I have in front of me: and that is a very very tall, fuzzy-upper lipped, deep-voiced (with a touch of croak), testosterone-filled boy. One who loves Jesus, who wants to live for God, who sets an example for other boys...but is struggling with what it means to do all of the above with genuine faith--not the kind his parents pressure him into, but the kind he desires passionately with his whole heart, soul, mind and strength.

Which leads me back to prayer...

I love Kristen's new Sunday button!!!

And it's free, which is even better! Thank you, Kristen, (from A Heart Stirred Designs) for this beautiful graphic to help me express my love for SONday!

Streams of Sweat

***Posted for Patty Wysong's Fiction Fridays meme. For more great fiction or to post your own fiction piece, click here:



Streams of sweet sweat were pouring down Richard’s forehead. He held that last note so long, I thought I was going to need oxygen myself. It had been a long while since I had seen the congregation so engaged in worship.

“That was some amazing musicianship,” a groomed thirty-something guy announced as he approached Richard and me.

“Thank you,” Richard answered, “And what’s your name?”

“Luke Jones.” He reached out to shake Richard’s hand, and then turned to shake mine. “Insightful message, Pastor.”

What charisma.

“I appreciate that, Luke. Wait, you’re the new executive pastor over at Grace Covenant.”

Richard interrupted anxiously, “Oh, wow, I just purchased your church’s choir CD. That was phenomenal.”

He beamed. “Thanks, that project has been quite successful, which has been both good and bad.”

“Oh, how’s that?” I asked.

“Good--because it’s brought in over $5,000 for missions. And bad-- because our worship pastor decided that it was time to pursue his dream of becoming a recording artist after an agent heard the CD and offered him the moon.”

Richard remarked, “Well, I guess you can’t blame him for that. There aren’t too many of us that would turn down that kind of opportunity. I wouldn’t.”

Now I was the one sweating.

Pastor Luke went on to tell of the great achievements the new artist had accomplished so far. Richard was completely enthralled. The hair on the back of my neck was screaming, so I walked away before my lips had the chance to follow.

Maybe I shouldn’t have. Richard came into my office the following week with wet beads of nervousness on his brow. I guess I was expecting him.

“I’m not sure how this happened,” Richard began to spill out. “One moment I’m talkin’ to Pastor Luke about their sound system, the next we’re discussing a job opening.” He wiped his face with his handkerchief. “I would be directing a choir with four hundred people in it, Jim. They televise in ten states. It’s like my life-long dream has just fallen into my lap. I never meant for this to happen, but now it’s right in front of me. I’m so sorry.”

My heart was torn in two. “Richard,” I uttered, “I would never try to keep you from something that you feel like the Lord is leading you to do. Just know that you will be missed terribly. There’ll be an awfully big hole.”



I did not hear from Richard for over seven months but was thrilled to receive an email from him one day. The chatter in ministry circles was that he was thriving over at Grace, so I couldn’t wait to hear the personal side of things. As I read his message, I pictured him sitting at the keyboard with perspiration gleaming from his hairless head as he typed.

Hi Jim,

I’m sorry I’ve haven’t been in touch, but it’s been a whirlwind. I can’t remember the last time I had some down time. I am meeting’d out, and sometimes I feel like we’re more of a business than a ministry. Don’t get me wrong, these people love the Lord, but it’s just different. Like, they choose my wardrobe for church services. I can’t even dress myself now? And the kids hate their youth groups. We can’t get Jason to go anymore. Susan’s not happy either. I feel like a failure. Please pray for us.
I hope your new worship guy is doing well and that he realizes how good he has it. How is everyone? Is the staff playing the fantasy basketball tournament this year?

Love, Richard

My eyes began to sting, and my stomach hurt for him. A few moments later, Jeremy, our new worship pastor popped his head in my office. “Everything ok?”

“Yes, it’ll be fine, I’m sure,” I tried to convince myself. “Just concerned about an old friend. You okay?”

Jeremy was chompin’ at the bit to share some interesting news with me. “You’ll never guess who just called me.”

“Who?”

“It was Steven Miller, you remember the guy that left Grace Covenant to go start the big music career?”

I squirmed. “Yeeeeeah?”

“Well, apparently, he’s looking for a job, and he didn’t know that you had filled Richard’s spot since he left. He’s desperate for some, quote ‘actual income,’ end of quote. He said that the solo career thing had led to a bunch of dead ends. Sad, huh?”

The hot water began to pour from my pores. “You don’t know the half of it.”

Ecclesiastes 3:22 (New Living Translation)

So I saw that there is nothing better for people than to be happy in their work. That is why we are here! No one will bring us back from death to enjoy life after we die.