Finding Joy Through a Child's Eyes

Margaret’s First Advent

We are entering the season of Advent. Sunday, December 1st is the first day of Advent. But our culture would have us believe it’s the season of more of everything from Santa Clause to presents. I got a magazine the other day from an *online store* full of children’s toys and stickers so that my child could mark her favorite toys. Sprinkled throughout the magazine are words about joy and celebration. 

Fortunately, at this stage in her life, my daughter is very excited by things that are not actually toys. She enjoys pulling my hair, sticking things in her mouth, music, and staring at the fan. She is at that delightful stage where she sticks everything in her mouth. And if I gave her the magazine from this *online store* I would receive a ripped and slobbery magazine in return with no greater clue to her happiness. 

From a young age I have been highly influenced by our consumerist culture, I wanted to be special and different. I wanted what I wanted and I wanted it now. And the rise of a certain *online store* where I can order anything with a couple of clicks, and it will be at my doorstep the next day has only made it worse. I also blame Instagram for showing me all the fun and lovely things. It seems like I don’t even realize how much I want new things all the time. And so in the midst of this daily affront of things that I need, enter the pre- Christmas season where there is also expectation. My other great struggle is wanting people to love me so I want to exceed everyone’s expectations and everyone to think I am amazing. The Christmas season can seem like the worst mix for a person like me who struggles with both the desire to have more and the desire to please more. 

But when we look at The WORD I see a totally different perspective. The first Christmas involved one gift and not everyone was pleased by his presence. 

“And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord!” Luke 2:10

The first Christmas, was full of joy and that one gift was Jesus. 

It’s so easy for me to get distracted by my to do list, my gift list, and my delicious recipes to try this Christmas list. I sometimes forget that joy can be in the simplest things. Joy is often found in less. Which is why I have a big lesson to learn from my daughter this year. She doesn’t need more stuff, she is content with whatever I put in front of her (until nap time!). I want to be more like Mary the Mother of God who says, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit ReJOIces with God my Savior” Luke 1:46-47. I want to continue to foster this simply joy in my daughter and live into being joyful in all circumstances. 

May the God who is able to do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine bless your family this advent with the simple joys faith, hope and love. 

Rachel Schwandt attends St. Timothy’s Anglican church with her husband Fr. Michael and her daughter, Margaret. Rachel serves on both the women’s ministry team for her church and for the Diocese. Weekdays find her at Texas Children’s where she works as a nurse.

How Do I Find Joy?

How do you find joy?  What a loaded question!  What is joy anyway?? I think joy is the lasting pleasure of God. One of His characteristics that we get to partake in. It’s 1/3 of the Kingdom life experience, which is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Want to know where I find my joy?
I find joy in the late-to-rise Saturday mornings, where my kids join us in our bed for morning snuggles with breakfast tacos and coffee/apple juice to follow. Or a day with nothing to do and a totally clean house. 

Here’s my reality.

I work two jobs, go to school full-time, and am a wife and mother. During the week, it’s difficult to enjoy the things I mentioned above, because, well, life.  Unfortunately, I can’t wake up late every day to a totally clean house with nothing to do.  Well, I can’t wake up late every day. Period….  Bummer.

So, how do I find joy in things other than our weekend lifestyle?  I take time for myself.  I give myself space away from my family to just be alone with my thoughts and Jesus.  How do I do this? Funny story. Early in the morning, before my house is awake and people are moving, I turn on a hot shower and play worship music with the lights off.  There is seriously something to be said about having some me time.  I went almost two years without allowing myself any time to be alone with my thoughts because it absolutely terrified me of what was going on between my ears, but one morning, I woke up before my husband and kids, and showered in the dark with worship music on.

SPOILER ALERT: pretty sure God woke me up so that I could begin to deal with myself and THANK GOD He did. It has been life changing.  I get the opportunity to start my day off by:

1. Taking a shower without any interruption (hello, all of you other momma’s out there, I see you!)

2. Spend some quality time praying and focusing on what God’s doing in me

3. Simply worship.

This is 100% my absolute favorite part of my day because it gets my day started the right way.  I have a great attitude going into my busy schedule and I feel more prepared to handle things with more grace, patience and joy (shocker!) than I do on mornings I’m rushed to get my kids and myself out the door. Plus, it reminds me to enjoy things in the mundane. 

My two-cents: Start your day with just you and Jesus and see how natural it becomes to find joy in the little things cause in the end, that lasting pleasure can only come when you face your reality head-on.

Lauren Beadle

Lauren attends HopePointe Anglican Church, where she coordinates Children’s Ministry and spends her time chasing her two children and enjoys mysteries. She also has her own blog!

Navigating Joy

How do you find joy? In my case, I put on my shoes, slide in my earbuds, and start walking.

Some days this means getting up really early. I’ve headed out as early as 5 am to avoid the Texas heat. Notice I did not say summer because that would indicate that there was a seasonal weather expectation. The area of the country I live in just remains warm most of the year and becomes almost unbearable for a good long spell between April and October. However, I refuse to succumb to that and walking just before dawn has some unbelievable bonuses. Have you ever watched a sunrise from before the sun even began to rise? The sky is inky black and then slowly the orange reds seep in low down in the sky. Then incrementally but so surely the yellow light trickles in until it is like water dripping, flowing and then flooding in to the scene and filling it completely with fresh light. The world is a dewy fresh glittering landscape.  Morning has indeed broken.

The other vital part of my walk in the morning is listening the “Daily Audio Bible” (DAB). This podcast features someone reading an Old Testament reading, a New Testament reading, a Psalm and a verse or two from the book of Proverbs. The reader, an Anglican priest then gives a 3-4 minute devotional based on the reading. If you listen every day, you will read through the whole Bible in one year. The entire podcast runs for about 30 to 40 minutes. After the devotional, the priest prays for all of us to take God’s word into us and allow it to transform us. After that people from the DAB community share prayer requests and some of them pray. Sometimes I listen to that section and sometimes I don’t.

For me movement out in nature and listening to God’s word before my day really takes me out into the world has been transformational. Sometimes I find myself thinking about some of the passages of scripture I have heard all the rest of my day. Other times I am genuinely surprised to hear certain passages. This is not my first time to read through the Bible in an orderly way, but there are still parts that surprise me. God uses His word to convict me in so many unexpected ways. Then there are those days when God has all ready made a particular point two other times recently through a Bible study, a sermon, and now here we go again. The same topic, verse, point or Holy Spirit conviction bubbles up and I almost gasp.

Recently during an international trip, I was able to trot down a path on the Isle of Mull in Scotland as I listened to my daily portion of scripture. I was thousands of miles from home, but still walking and listening to the word. This daily discipline has truly given me so much joy. Ask the Lord to direct your path to a joyful practice. He’s such a good and generous Father who longs to give his beloved daughters all that they need. Joy is an essential companion for each of us on this journey.

Check out: www.player.dailyaudiobible.com or search for in your podcast app on your phone.

Anthea Kotlan

Anthea attends St. Timothy’s Anglican church where she coordinates women’s ministry and spends her free time enjoying both her grandchild and her grand dog.

Tensional Joy

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Psalm 19:1

The heavens declare the glory of God,

and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Day to day pours out speech,

and night to night reveals knowledge.

There is no speech, nor are there words,

whose voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out through all the earth,

and their words to the end of the world.

In them he has set a tent for the sun,

which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,

and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.

Psalm 19:1-5

I never thought I would be at a playground at 6:30 in the morning after my cross country years. A morning person, I have never been.  But, there was a little girl, my middle child, who had been crying out for quality time all week. As a five-year old, her requests for quality time don’t express themselves in the most obvious ways. We had experienced a week of yelling, tears, and lashing out, and honestly, she was the last person with whom I wanted to spend some intentional time.

Fortunately, there was a wisdom greater than mine whispering to me that Lydia needed to be pulled in closer, not kept at a distance. So, in the ninth month of my forth pregnancy, I dragged myself out of bed to hustle her out of the house for a picnic breakfast in the park behind her school. I didn’t know what to expect, but the further we drove away from the house, the more she opened up to me about all the things on her heart. When we arrived at the playground, she chose to sit close to me with her donut and listen to Morning Prayer while the sun rose over the rooftops. And then, she requested to sing hymns while I pushed her on the swings (her favorite right now is I Sing a Song of the Saints of God. To end our time together, she asked if we could hold hands and walk to school instead of going through the carline, which is not easy with a backpack clad, skipping little girl and an off-kilter mommy.

As I walked back to our van in silence after dropping her off, I reflected on all of the blessings of that morning. Most significantly, I was surprised by how a small act of obedience resulted in the joy of reconnection and reconciliation between my daughter and I. The tension of the past week melted away as the rising sun illuminated her curls while she skipped to the swing set. My heart ached at the pleasure of hearing her sweet voice lift up praises to God and ask if she too, could be counted as one of God’s saints.Sometimes, joy is expected, like the joy that comes from watching the groom see his bride for the first time on his wedding day.  Other times, joy comes as the result of obedience and perseverance. Living life with others, even with our loved ones, is not easy, but Paul tells us in Galatians 6:9 “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” On that day, I was allowed an early harvest of joy, the abundance of which is still feeding my soul. 

Joy to you! Mikah Alge

Mikah Alge attends Grace Anglican in Katy with her husband and four children. She writes about family ministry on The Anglican Home.

Messy Hospitality and You Can Too

Last week, I came clean about my issues with perfectionism. This morning I come to you in my bumpy, messy bun ready to talk about a gift that self imposed high standards almost robbed me of: Hospitality.

I did not come by perfectionism in hospitality honestly. My Mom and Dad always did a fantastic job of gathering all of us to pitch in to make our home reasonably clean before company came over, and yes—that did mean sometimes shoving things in closets. (Sorry, Mom, that secret’s out.) Somewhere along the way of growing up, I lost sight of the joy of pizza roll filled post-football game movie nights, dorm room Cuban food, and cat hair covered community group. In order for a dinner party, I needed the perfect menu, perfect table setting, dusted and mopped home—and quite frankly, this was often near impossible. So, hospitality flew out the door along with my ability to connect with people unless we were somewhere else.

Which was a bummer, because, as introverted as I am…I love people.

I wish I could remember where along the way this happened, but I am so thankful to have come across a blog post of one such a Hostess. She said she missed out on so much because her house was messy, her kids were loud and her family was very busy. She began hosting a weekly dinner where anyone and everyone was invited, old friends, new neighbors, their old friends—and the menu was always the same: Spaghetti. Guests could bring something if they wanted to, but the only expectation was to connect with each other and enjoy good old meatballs and noodles. Were the kids gonna cry in the corner sometimes? Probably. Would the dog bark loud each time someone came in? You bet. However weekly spaghetti dinner would come, crumpled clean laundry on the couch and all. The author said it changed her life.

The Traveling Table

Andi Garbarino

There is part of me that read that a few years back and cried. I knew that I wanted to let go of my tight grip on control and just enjoy myself with people that I love.

Not long after, my husband and I moved from our tiny apartment into what soon became a messy house. Though we didn’t have any screaming babies, there was plenty of art supplies, laundry and dog hair to discourage any sort of dining room gathering. However, I remembered the aforementioned hostess’ plight and was completely inspired. It was time for my adventure into messy hospitality.

We would call it family dinner night, and though there would be no spaghetti, everyone was invited, and everyone in attendance became family. We’d pick a theme and tell everyone what the main dish would be. Sometimes, it was pizza, other times also pizza, and my most favorite family dinner dish was make your own grilled cheese.

Not Pictured: harmonica playing toddlers, crazy nicknames that didn’t stick and messy kitchen counters.

But, the beauty of family dinner wasn’t in the cuisine, it was in the people. These nights were beautiful gatherings of our folk, and their folk. New neighbors or co- workers’ kids who were in town for the summer. That friend we’d run into at the supermarket who we hadn’t seen in years. There was magic that happened at family dinner—the kind of magic that I believe will be found in heaven. All the people from all of our circles gathered into one. Conversations of love, encouragement, reminiscence, dreams of the future, guitar singing and side room huddled prayer all came to be the expectation of family dinner. These nights we were all in this thing of life together.

And that is something that no amount of dust bunnies or dirty dishes could ever steal away.

So call it spaghetti night, or family dinner, or just dinner, but shove all your mess in a closet (or don’t) and see what a weekly gathering in your home will do to change your life. Then tell me all about it, because we all need a reminder of what’s really important from time to time.

Andi Garbarino Fry

Andi is a talented creative who recently moved with her brilliant husband to Massachusetts. Check out her blog to learn more about Andi’s creative pursuits.

This post first appeared on Andi’s own blog.

Fasting as a Spiritual Discipline

And there was a prophetess, Anna…She did not depart from the temple, worshipping with fasting, and prayer night and day.

Luke 2: 36-38 ESV: And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. And there was a prophetess, Anna. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband for seven years from when she was a virgin, and then she was a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshipping with fasting, and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

Spiritual disciplines, in and of themselves, are good. These practices, or habits, many of which we see throughout Scripture and commanded by God, are intended to help form and shape us into the image of Christ, giving glory to our Father who is in heaven. When the center and focus of our disciplines is God and His glory, “it is right, and a good and joyful thing.”

But they can have a dark side.

Our flesh desires control. We want what we want. And we will use any means to get whatever that is. When our own desires become the center of our fasting, we are seeking to control God by doing certain things, expecting Him to do certain things in return.

Anna shows us what fasting can and should look like, not used as a means to her own end, but as a means of worship.   Her heart is turned toward God; her desire is to bless Him. This life of worship is what saves her from loving the blessing more than the Blesser. And yet she receives her heart’s desire, the greatest blessing-seeing the Messiah, the one for whom she has waited all her life.

Father God, teach me how to fast in ways that are pleasing to You. May my fasting turn my heart more toward You, seeking Your glory above all else. Thank you for Your abundant grace, as You teach me. And thank you for the blessing of fasting and the ways You use it to grow me more and more into the likeness of Your dear Son. In His precious Name, Jesus, AMEN.

Deacon Lisa Schwandt

HopePointe Anglican

The Woodlands, Texas

Photo by Naama y.m. from FreeImages

Submission as a Spiritual Discipline

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. Proverbs 3:5-8

Who’s in charge? 

Before walking with the Lord, we were on the rebellious road of self-will and bowed to our own ways, thoughts, and desires. Though new creations in Christ now, we still often find ourselves grasping tightly to the idol of self.  I can testify that stubborn self-will and navel-gazing can still be a problematic past-time. It boils down to forgetting who we belong to, who we serve, who sits on the throne. We are not our own but belong to our Lord and King (1 Peter 2:9-10; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20;Isaiah 64:8). The discipline of submission calls us to release our grip on the idol of self and grasp on to our identity in Christ, surrendering to His authority. The intentional daily disciplines of remembering our baptism, acknowledging that Christ is our King, submitting also to one another, and trusting that our loving Father’s will is always for our good, guard us against straying back to self-will. In baptism, our old nature was put to death, buried and we were raised to new life in Christ (Romans 6:3-4). Jesus sits securely on His throne, and we as Kingdom citizens submit to his authority for the purpose of glorifying Him (1 Peter 2:9-10; 1 Peter 4:11). Our focus is upward to Christ our King and outward toward one another (Philippians 2:1-8; Ephesians 5:15-21; ).  We trust and have assurance that surrendering our will to His brings us freedom, healing, and refreshment (Proverbs 3:8). “Heavenly Father, help us lean not on our own understanding but humbly submit to your authority.  May we look to Christ’s ultimate example of humility and self-sacrifice on the cross. By the power of your Holy Spirit help us daily take up our crosses and follow you, dying to self and living in you to your glory. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

Jeanette Kash

HopePointe Anglican Church

The Woodlands, TX

Sleep Surrender

He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. Psalm 121:3-4

Are you living beyond your means spiritually? Spending more than you have in the bank, as it were?

In his book “The Good and Beautiful God,” James Bryan Smith suggests that many of us are living beyond our design as we refuse to spend adequate time sleeping. We are actually created to sleep for one third of our lives. Our sleep deficit, something many people struggle with, affects our health, memory, productivity, and even our ability to pray. A lack of sleeps impedes our own spiritual growth because as Smith points out, “we can not neglect the body in pursuit of spiritual growth.” Our bodies desperately need a hard reset during every 24-hour cycle.

Reframing Sleep

Smith says, “Sleep is the perfect example of the combination of discipline and grace.” Since you can’t actually make yourself go to sleep, it is something that we must surrender to.

He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

Psalm 121:3-4 tells us that God does not slumber nor sleep. He is forever watchful and vigilant. However, we are not called to that level of monitoring. Going to sleep is like confessing that we are not God, and acknowledging that He will accomplish His will without our sleep deprived efforts.

Sleep as a Spiritual Discipline

Try setting a goal to sleep longer.  Set a goal for a minimum of seven hours and even up to eight per night. Take time to create an atmosphere in your bedroom that facilitates quality sleep. Do you need the room to be darker? Do you need to adjust the thermostat for a cooler night? Can you set aside electronics and exposure to those little blue lights on electronic screens in the last few hours before you go to bed? Smith calls sleep the anti-discipline. However, it is worth the effort because sleep is entirely necessary and you always need it.   

Challenges

For me personally, sleep is quite challenging. I like millions of people have a sleep disorder that requires all kinds of accessories for me to go to sleep. I can remember as a younger person, pre-diagnosis of moderate sleep apnea, I bragged about my ability to sleep anywhere, anytime. Evidently being able to fall asleep within three minutes is not necessarily nearly as impressive as it might be a sign of severe exhaustion.

At the end of the chapter on sleep, Smith challenges his readers to try being much more intentional about sleep and then record your thoughts about the following question:

 “What, if anything, did you learn about God or yourself through this exercise?”

I learned that my perfectionism has caused me to become quite anxious about sleep. I worry about creating the perfect way to keep my airway open. I sometimes obsess over the reports my CPAP machine produces, and I feel like I am forever on a quest to get a “perfect night’s sleep.” I have allowed myself to make sleep into hard work and after several surgical procedures and more medications than I would care to count, it doesn’t always happen. However, even in that I can trust God. He is my provider. Every night I have an opportunity to surrender to the God of the universe, and I will choose to embrace that as my discipline.

How about you?

Anthea Kotlan

St. Timothy’s Anglican Church

Simplicity as a Spiritual Discipline

Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46

How are you called to practice simplicity?

Not so simple.  For years I have been both enticed and haunted by the directive to SIMPLIFY. Like most people I believed to simplify involved an action such as de-cluttering your home and schedule. I wrestled with it. After many failed attempts to simplify my life, I often cried out to God, “How do I simplify?” I would get glimpses of it. I wanted it so bad I could almost taste it, but I just could not apprehend it.

I could not figure it out because I was going about it all wrong. I was focused on simplify and not simplicity. Simplify is something we must do. On the other hand, simplicity, the Lord revealed is something we must be. The discipline of simplicity starts with the very basics of our faith. It is as fundamental as the Lord’s command in Psalm 46 to “Be still and know that I am God.”

Jesus says in John 4:34 “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work.” Food is nourishment. Nourishment provides one with what is necessary for growth, health and good condition. Doing the will of the Father feeds the soul. Jesus spent His incarnation fixed on this. He did not overthink details. He did not worry Himself with what others thought. He simply focused on the Father, sought Him, and did what He said. How simple is that?

The reality of simplicity is this: it is not something that you can just do. It is something you will become in time by practicing the other spiritual disciplines. When we spend time in solitude, prayer, fasting, meditation, study, submission and service, by His Spirit we will learn how to be still and let Him nourish us, so we may be able to discern His voice and do the work He has for each of us. Only then will we be able to achieve simplicity, which is to achieve our own spiritual purpose.

Study as a Spiritual Discipline

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. 2 Peter 3:18

When you hear the word “study” what do you think? “I have to study for a test,” is the first thing that pops into my head. Others will say “study” means to observe something, as in looking at an amoeba under a microscope, or to learn something new by reading a book or article.

No matter what type of study comes to mind, it is a deliberate action. We are studying on purpose. There is a difference though between just reading a book and studying: reading is broad, and study is deep. When we study we are focused, dedicated to finding out what we don’t know, and how we can apply it to our lives.

When I study the Bible and other scripture-based, topical books such as books on prayer, names of God, etc. I come away knowing more about how to live as a follower of Jesus. Through my study and understanding of His Word, I know God in a deeper, more personal way.

John Ortberg said, “Remember that the key to the Discipline of Study is not reading many books but experiencing what we do read.” Exploring the context and culture of the Bible, gives light to new understanding of the scriptures. The stories we all know are made richer by knowing what the various events meant to the participants.

When I read about when Jesus comes into Jerusalem on a donkey and the people covered the road with their cloaks, that seemed odd to me until I understood that putting cloaks down was a sign of submission. When I knew what that gesture meant I was able to understand better what the whole event was teaching us.

Dig deep and study the meaning of scripture so we can be transformed by knowing God and how he works in the lives of his people.

Linda Lundquist

Grace Anglican, Katy, Texas