Heart Reflections Live

Let's go on a journey together...Back through time, to a little country town...Look!There is the Library, the Town Hall, the village school, and the Church in the middle... The centre of all that happens there-the joys of New Life, love and marriage, the goodbyes as our loved ones go on to glory & the many Lord's Days, as families fellowship together, worship Jesus Christ & rest from the week's toil and labour. Sundays were quiet days, restful days- none of the shops were open...

Keep imagining with me...Let's walk home with an imaginary family-Mum & Dad, 3 little girls & a baby boy... Home is an easy stroll with baby in the pram... It's wonderful living so close to Church & CHALLENGING too...Living in such close proximity to everyone in town, requires everyone to keep short accounts with God & Man. Many learn the wisdom of not taking offence in the first place.

The family arrives home, relaxing on the front porch, while Mum sets the table & finishes preparing Sunday lunch. The front porch is a wonderful, cool place to relax. The family waves at their neighbours as they pass by. The children refrain from quarrelling- after all they have been taught the Fear of the Lord, & who wants to be seen quarrelling on the front porch anyway...

Mum calls us in for Sunday lunch... We give thanks to the Lord for His gracious provision, enjoy the meal & each other...Then Dad gets out the family Bible ( the one they received on their Wedding Day), reads the Word, & leads family devotions...

My reason for visiting times past, is to illustrate that in olden times, the centre of town was the Church, & the centre of the home was the Word of God & family life.

Modern techno living has succeeded in many cases, to sweep this away. The centre of many communities is now the shopping mall- with its call to "Buy Now- Pay Later!"- materialism & hedonism. They are even open Sundays now, tempting people even more away from going to church.

In many homes now, individualism reigns. Children have access to their own TVs, DVDs, computers & techno-games. They don't even have to share anymore. Having all these gadgets at their fingertips, means they can indulge their flesh ant time they like; setting the scene for lack of self-control in adolescence & adulthood.

People may be spending more money on their homes, but spending less time there together, relating as a family...

Here is the challenge I want to present: Technology can be both a blessing & a curse. Time is short. Eternity is long. If these things in our modern world, are separating us as families, or not growing us Spiritually, we need to consider pulling the plug!Sometimes they may be beneficial, sometimes not...

Read Deut 6:6-7 "And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, & shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down & when thou risest up."

If both parents are working full-time, how can this happen? If everyone's wrapped up in their own piece of technology, how can this happen? If the family is constantly going in different directions, how can this happen?

My plea is to learn from our forebears... Jer. 6:16 "Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, & see, & ask for the old paths, where is the good way, & walk therein, & ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein."

Find ways to spend time together... Establish the Family Meal Table... Spend time in the Word of God TOGETHER... We may need to sacrifice some material enjoyments to do this, but then sometimes less can be more...Strong families build strong churches & strong communities.

What's central to YOUR life? I pray you'll find it's the Word of God, your family, & the fellowship of your local church.

Labels: Church History, community, family, times past, Word of God

I've been pondering on this a lot lately, since my last post. Coming from a local pioneering family, I've often read about (I love History!) how communities were established, often with the Church first, & then how everyone worked together to build schools, hospitals & Halls etc.

Although more people were church-goers in those days, I think it's a fallacy to believe that communities were "More Christian back then." There has always been that rougher edge of society, even in the good old days. What I believe is missing as a whole these days, is Christian involvement & influence in the civic arena.

A lot of townsfolk, here at least, don't seem to hear a lot of churches "doing anything" in the community. Of course, there's the Salvation Army, the Soup Kitchen, & one of the bigger local churches made news the last couple of years for doing a makeover on a rather run-down State school in the area. I thought this last one was great, as it showed Christians donating time, money & talent to bless the local community. And it was noticed! Many government funded institutions are crying out for money & resources here in Australia, maybe there's a real idea here to lift the public profile of the Church, beyond a "Bless Me Club", which sadly is how many unbelievers see us.

One idea I've been thinking of lately, is concerning hospitals... As the wife of a man , who has a rare heart condition (see my Valentine's post for details), I've spent many a time waiting
around hospitals with young children, during some very anxious times & while experience has taught me to be prepared, I can tell you there is a severe lack of children's reading material in decent condition in all hospital waiting areas. Maybe the churches could combine for a new hospital book & toy drive- or state school library book drive- we could even use the opportunity to choose some good Christian material to bless the community with.

Maybe too, it's time we Christians rethought about joining some community based fundraising organizations, providing their agenda doesn't go against our beliefs, of course. This would create more opportunities for friendship evangelism, as well as giving back to our communities.

I often feel ashamed when I think that many of our forebears had 6 or more children, went faithfully to Church, fundraised with home-cooking for that plus a few other community ventures- is our society becoming more Me-Centred or what!

These are just some of the things I've been reflecting on lately. Of course none of these things are a substitute for preaching the pure gospel of Christ, living in the light & loving our neighbour-just a few more thoughts on old-fashioned living...

Labels: Church History, communities, fund-raising

I'd been thinking for some time about using some of the special Christian days on the calender as an opportunity to have a fun learning time with the children & to help them have an appreciation for Church History & to learn of those who've gone before us in the faith.

So the morning of St Patrick's Day found me ironing green outfits for all the family.This was fun for us adults too, as my hubby has Irish blood in his family. I only have one Irish Colleen in my family tree I'm aware of- but it's better than nothing!-I'm mainly from English & German stock).

I started by explaining to the girls that St Patrick was the man who brought Christianity to Ireland & they watched the Veggetales flannelgraph animation of the story. We then sat down with a Church history book with illustrations from which I read the brief story of St Patrick & also of St Columba-the Irishman God sent to bring Christianity to Scotland.We studied a map of the British Isles finding where they came from & went to. We then relaxed and listened to some Irish/Celtic style praise & worship music, followed by some Celtic guitar.

That was just about the extent of it for this year. We stayed home not really being into the green beer bit & all that goes with it. One year it might be nice to take the children to see some Irish folk dancing.

Do any other Mums out there have any ideas to share from what they do with their children to celebrate some of the other Christian holidays on the calender, or St Patricks Day? I'd love to hear your ideas.

I also found out recently that Oct 31 is Reformation Day- the anniversary of when Martin Luther nailed his complaints against Roman Catholicism to the church door. This could be a fun learning day with German food & finding out more about Martin Luther at their age level-any ideas?

Labels: Church History, St Patrick's Day, Teaching children