Sometimes two words can carry an encyclopedia of meaning between two people. Between the Hero Hubs and I, the words “Greek Fisherman” are a phrase that speaks volumes.

There’s a tale you may have heard, of an old Greek fisherman who lives in a little house near the sea. He wakes up early every morning, fishes for a few hours, brings home his catch and sells it at the market, has lunch and enjoys an afternoon siesta with his family, eats dinner and plays with his children and goes to bed beside his wife every night. The next day, the routine starts over again.

One day an American businessman visits his village, tastes his fish and is immediately inspired with a business plan for the Greek fisherman. “This fish is amazing!” he says. “You know what you need to do? You need to buy more boats, and hire some help. Then you can catch more fish, and sell more fish!”

“And then what?” asks the Greek fisherman.

“And then you can use that money to buy bigger boats until you have a fleet of boats fishing for you!”

“And then what?” asks the Greek fisherman.

“And then you can use that money to retire early!” 

“And then what?” asks the Greek fisherman.

“And then you can do whatever you like! Get up early in the morning, go fish for a few hours, come home and have lunch and siesta with your family, eat dinner and play with your children and go to bed with your wife.”

Doesn’t make much sense, does it?

What is all this putting a knife to your throat talk about? 

Well, there will always be people who have more than we do. Those folks with those clothes and those cars and those vacations and all. the. things.

And it will be hard for us not to want those things. And not to try to do what it takes so that we can also be like those people. And have all those things, too.

But this is the admonition: don’t be deceived into thinking that once you have all the things, life will be good. That’s a rough path with a dead end. Don’t work too hard trying to get rich. Show that you’ve got enough wisdom not to fall for that!

What’s the answer, then? What do we do instead?

Greek Fisherman, friends! Greek Fisherman.

If we’re not happy with what we have now, we probably won’t be happen, even when we have more. Because someone else will always have more. When will enough be enough?

Instead, like the Greek Fisherman, we can learn to be content. Give thanks for what we have. Instead of chasing riches we can learn to recognize and enjoy the riches we already have.

There is so much wisdom in trying to carefully make choices that will serve you and those you love well now, rather than working excessively in hopes of an early retirement or some other dream-come-true later on. 

Slow down enough to live this day and enjoy it. 

What will you do with the 86,400 seconds you have today? Are you living with what’s most important to you at the forefront? 

Let go of the American dream, if it’s stopping you from enjoying the Greek fish that are already on your table.

You know what I need someone to tell me on pretty much a daily basis? 

I suppose a lot of things. Like thanks for breakfast, and thanks for lunch and thanks for dinner, Mom.

But also? I’ve been participating in a writer’s Mastermind group this year, and we were encouraged to choose a “mantra” for ourselves. 

Mine might sound familiar if you’ve been reading words around here for a while: 

Stay in Your Lane. Swim Your Own Race. 

And on these days where it feels like the world has gone plum mad?  

I just need someone to tell me those words, again, once more, please. Until I listen.

This week I wonder if you’re facing some of the same struggles.

Because your neighbor is _________ and you are not.

Or because you are _________ and your neighbor is not. 

Maybe it’s a back to work decision. Maybe it’s a back-to-school decision. 

Maybe it’s a social distancing question or a political question or a parenting question.  

Being a human and living in community seems like an invitation to begin to look in one direction, and then another, and to start comparing before you’ve even gotten out of bed.

A few years ago, faithfulness was a word I focused on for a year. And these important whispers began to take root in my soul:

• Your faithfulness and my faithfulness are going to look different. But that does not mean we are not both being faithful.
• A life lived faithfully will perhaps never look the same twice.
• Faithfulness and perfection are not the same thing. Definitely let that sink in.

Like the proverb highlighted above says, God is willing to instruct you, yes, even you, on what faithfulness looks like.  

Make space for some quiet so that He can instruct you on how you can be faithful in this season. 

Your vote, your school choices, your answer to social distancing questions – maybe they will look different from someone else’s. Remember those words in Romans 14:4? To their own master, servants stand or fall. 

Before you let comparison steal your joy, or judgement sour your heart, maybe let these words sink in for you, too, this week:

Stay in your lane. Swim Your Own Race. 

Let’s aim for faithful together this week.

P.S. In case you have a few extra minutes and want a little more encouragement about faithfulness today, I’d love to remind you to Let Jesus Tell You Who You Are Before the World Does

Honest confession. Blame the internet. Blame the scattered brain of a mother of four. Blame space aliens.

I STRUGGLE to pay attention when my kids pray. 

We all pile onto one of their beds every evening at bedtime and take turns in a circle, youngest to oldest. Of course when they’re really little and they first start praying, I linger on every word because it’s adorable. Or, when they’ve just come back from a 48-day hospital stay — yeah, I’ll pay attention then, too. 

After a while? I get used to their words and hearing the same basic things and I get busy thinking about whether the laundry got moved to the dryer — and did I turn it on? Or do I have anything else to do before I can relax this evening or…  

You get the idea. 

Lately I’ve been making better efforts at clocking in — not even thinking about what I might pray after they finish, but just really listening and hearing what they’re saying. 

A few basic things have come to the surface that are so breathtakingly beautiful, and beautifully simple, I want to share them with you.

My kids are very repetitive … and God is okay with that.

Every morning, the sun comes up, and every evening it goes down. Spring makes way for summer, which saunters toward fall, which drifts into winter, and then the cycle begins again. God has chosen rhythms and repetition for so many aspects of His creation.

There is peace and there is beauty in repetition.

In the same way, we perhaps think we need to come up with new ways of saying things — or new ways of praying things — but we forget the beauty of repetition. When we repeat things enough, we memorize them and they are “hidden in our hearts” as one Psalmist put it. We might not remember learning the Lord’s prayer, but repetition is the reason we know it.

It’s a beautiful thing to go to the Lord with the same requests again and again. He is a loving Father and wants to hear from us. Even when it’s not apparent that our prayers are changing our circumstances, we can be confident they’re changing our hearts.

My kids pray with boldness… and God isn’t scared.

I’ve repeatedly heard my children ask God to “wipe the coronavirus off the face of the Earth.” Even the four-year-old makes this request! My kids always swing for the fence.

I believe that nothing is impossible for God, but I find myself crafting my prayers carefully, and trying to have “realistic expectations” and add I qualifiers like “If it’s Your will.” I think sometimes I think about whether or not He’s going to do it before I pray.

But my children ask big. And when it hasn’t happened yet… they don’t seem phased or discouraged. They just bow their heads the next night and ask again.

My kids pray about what they care about… and God loves it.

I have one kid who prays, almost every night, that we’ll have fun the next day. Fun. He loves fun. So he asks for fun.

Why not?

Why not show up with our whole hearts and lay everything on the table? Why do we pray with a pokerface? Or only say the things we think we’re supposed to say?

If we’re feeling distant from God, maybe it’s because we’re only bringing a part of ourselves to the table… the part we think He wants to see.

What if we showed up fully ourselves — because He already knows all our business anyway?

I could say, “Lord, I’m super jealous that that girl got that promotion I really wanted.” And maybe He’d whisper to my heart with that still small voice. “I know that was hard for you — but I have great plans for you, little one. They’re good and they’re for your good. I hope you can trust me.”

Or I could say, “Lord, I’m really mad that you let that bad thing happen to me. Where were you? Why didn’t you stop it?” And maybe that precious whisper would say, “Little one, I was with you through it, right there, as you lay on the floor and cried. I know it’s hard to believe, but I have every intention of working this together for your good. It might be a long time before you can see it. I hope you’ll hold onto me anyway.”

I hope you’ll consider these thoughts an invitation to examine your approach to prayer. Are we swinging for the fence or asking for crumbs from the table?

Are we afraid of being completely honest with God? Do we believe He is big enough to handle anything we bring to Him?

Let’s give this one idea a shot this week: start smiling, and then begin praying, trying to keep that smile on your face. Show up like a child who believes God is the biggest thing there is.

He already knows all of it friends, the good the bad and the ugly… and He loves us anyway.

P.S. How to Crush it as a Newbie Homeschooler is still open for enrollment! The first 25 students who use the code “CHRISTMAS” will get 15% off the course! Click here to find out more.

For one single day of high school, I was absolutely certain I was the coolest kid in school.

It was my freshman year, and the night before my big brother had picked me up to take me to a Hootie and the Blowfish concert.

I was wearing my brand new Hootie t-shirt to school — an earthy pale green and three sizes too big because it was what was left at the Hootie swag shop after the concert.

I knew the words to every song before that night, but afterwards, the music was forever etched in my memory as special and precious. Love is so often spelled Time.

Among the hits that topped the charts that year and made the concert line-up, one’s lyrics have echoed in my mind in the (ahem, many) years since. They’re from the song very aptly named, Time.

Time, why you punish me?

Like a wave bashing into the shore

You wash away my dreams.

Time, why you walk away?

Like a friend with somewhere to go

You left me crying

Can you teach me about tommorrow

And all the pain and sorrow

Running free?

Cause tomorrow’s just another day

And I don’t believe in time

The song carries on to say:

Time, you left me standing there

Like a tree growing all alone

The wind just stripped me bare, stripped me bare

Time, the past has come and gone

The future’s far away

Now only lasts for one second, one second  

If you take a walk through Proverbs 20, you’ll discover the theme of time woven through several verses. A tiny tick-tick-tick as a backdrop to the meaning.

If you don’t plow at the right time, you won’t have anything to harvest at harvest time. (v. 4) 

The thoughts in a man’s heart are deep waters — but they can be drawn out, so to speak, with time. (v. 5)

An inheritance claimed too soon will not be blessed at the end. (v. 21) and The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splendor of the old. (v. 29)

So I’m processing time this week — the time I’ve been given, how I’ve used it, how I’ve failed to use it wisely. 

People love to say “time is money” — but I know which one I can get more of. 

So there are just two simple thoughts I want to give you to ponder this week, regarding time:

1. You can trust God with the days of your life. 
   If looking back on past mistakes is hard, if you feel like that tree Hootie described, standing bare, give those mistakes to God. He truly can redeem time. He can make our mistakes glorious by turning them into something beautiful. Trust Him with your regrets, just like you trust Him with your hopes and prayers.
2. While You Number Those Days, Give Careful Thought to How You Use Them 
   Think about five years from now, think about ten. What do you want to be true? Our thoughts might plan our way, but God can order our steps. Ask for help to make today’s decisions, with the awareness that they can have such a beautiful impact on your tomorrow.

The t-shirt is long gone, the ticket stub forgotten. But the memory of my big brother taking that time: why does it remain so many years later?

Loving people in meaningful ways — our family, our neighbors, even strangers in our community — this is the most powerful way to open up our wallet-full of months and years, pull out the currency of hours and minutes, and spend it most wisely.

Here’s to loving people well with our time this week, friends. Hootie said it well: Now only lasts for one second, one second.

P.S. How to Crush it as a Newbie Homeschooler is open for enrollment again. For a limited time the code “CHRISTMAS” will get you 15% off the course! Click here to find out more.

(And I totally correct my kids when they say “shut up.”)

Maybe you’ve joined me on the 2020 wave of online workouts? 

The hubs and I have used different apps to work out from home for several years now.  

My sister is currently offering online workouts on a fantastic membership site if you want to check it out! She likes to say “Good things come to those who sweat.” 

The tough thing about working out is… it’s hard. I usually don’t want to do it. 

I don’t want to get out of bed, spread out a mat, do planks and push-ups and burpees and bear crawls.  

And sometimes this gal with an interesting foreign accent (not my sister) has us doing these crazy hard things. And she’s doing them at the same time.

She jumps like twice as high as me. 

And makes it all look effortless. 

And she’s not even breathing hard. 

We’re in some awkward reverse plank or other and I’m sweating and fighting to stay afloat, and I think she’s going to bust out a Julie Andrews song or something. 

She reminds me to breathe and I want to tell her to shut up. 

(Again — not my sister!)

This week Proverbs 19 reminded me about the fear of the Lord. “Fear of the Lord leads to life, bringing security and protection from harm,” verse 23 says.

On the surface you might think — isn’t it odd that we should be scared of God?

But I think this verse is saying the exact opposite thing. 

When we are fully convinced of God’s love for us (Henri Nouwen so elegantly explained that we are His Beloved) we start to believe that His will and His ways are always, hands-down the best possible option.

So we fear stepping outside of His will because we believe that being the all-knowing God who is wise beyond compare, if we choose to follow His lead, we can trust Him to work things together for our good.

Will our lives be daisies and sunshine ad infinitem? No. We will experience hard times and hard places. But we will experience them trusting He is with us in those valleys, and He is the God who will see us through.

What an eye-brow crunching thought this was for me this week: that so many people go their own ways, make their own choices, take no heed to the wisdom of God for their lives, and then are so angry at Him when things begin to unravel.

God invites us to revere Him, and stand in awe of His complete other-ness. His greatness. All those incredible things He explained to Job that made Job reply, “I am unworthy! I put my hand to my mouth! How can I reply to You?”  

Sometimes God invites us to do hard things. It’s tough, the paths He calls us to are often not the easiest.

But He sees the whole picture. He leads us to the paths that truly do bring life and security and protection from harm. 

Good things come to those who sweat, yes, it’s true.

And? Good things come to those willing to take the hard road, the narrow path, the way that is an invitation from Jesus.

P.S. How to Crush it as a Newbie Homeschooler started last week and we are having fun! If you missed the chance to sign up but you’re interested in hearing when it opens again, pop your details into this form right here!!

You know what I want to give you today, friend? 

A wonderfully good gift. 

The world is a very daunting place to be right now. There are struggles we need to lean into. Reasons for us to pause and search our own souls, ask hard questions and think about our choices. 

This isn’t navel-gazing. This is part of the work of becoming a better human being.

But there’s something else I think we need, too. 

We need to take some deep breaths. 

We need to ponder that beautiful saying, “This too shall pass.”

And? We need to laugh. 

The Hubs and I recently started watching The Chosen. If you’ve haven’t heard about it, it’s a fantastic TV series about the life of Jesus. What’s also remarkable is that it’s a crowdfunded project, which means folks like you and me are donating to make it possible. {I’ve included links below if you want to know more!}

My favorite thing so far is how likable, approachable, genuine, light and funny the portrayal of Jesus is. We know Jesus taught on some pretty serious subjects. We know he delivered sermons from mountaintops. 

But if Jesus loved the children — and the children loved Jesus — I imagine He also had this whimsy about him. I imagine He was the kind of guy who made you just feel a little bit more at ease being around Him.

Like C.S. Lewis described Aslan, Jesus isn’t safe, or tame — but He is good.

A few years ago (inspired by my sister) we started collecting some of the funny things our kids have said into a little spiral notebook, to remember and go back to them later on.

A cheerful heart is good medicine, right?

My soul purpose in sending you this email today is to give you the gift of a smile — hopefully even a laugh. 

Below I’m listing a few of these funny moments we’ve collected. I hope you’ll take a breath, take a break, read on, and remember just how good a cheerful heart can be for you.

Ready?

Once we asked the kids what they were thankful for, and one piped up, “I’m thankful for my underpants.”

Mark told Arabella she was getting bigger, and she joyfully replied, “Yes! My head is getting bigger! I can feel the food in my head right now!”

(Around age 5) Blake dressed himself to go outside and said, “I’m like a kid. But I’m a little baby monkey, but I can transform into… THE HULK!!!” 

Blake also once told us he felt like something was blocking his little intestament.

Arabella commented, “I like it when I’m asleep, and that’s my favorite part of sleeping.”

An airplane flew loudly overhead and Arabella exclaimed, “The sky is grumbling! It’s hungry!!!!” 

Asher and I discussed the fact that one out of three Europeans were killed during the plague. He commented, “Gosh, there weren’t many Europeans back then.” 

I told Arabella that Dada was working and not going to be home for breakfast. With eyes as big as saucers she gasped a big breath and replied, “Oh no! Who will make your coffee?!?” 

One morning at breakfast, Blake announced, “Mama, I smelled Asher’s armpits last night and they smelled like beans.” 

My all time favorite: We were talking about communion and asked the kids what Jesus did before He broke the bread. {Ya know, we’re talking about giving thanks.} Blake piped up, incredulously excited: 

Oh!!! I know! Jesus forgot to wash His hands! 

I hope you’re smiling today, friend. Maybe even laughing. We are living in trying times, but we have hope as an anchor for our souls, and His Name is Jesus. A cheerful heart is good medicine.  

Look for reasons to smile and laugh today and know — the Creator of the Universe is still on the throne. He is neither tired nor weary. He is not worried or afraid. And friend? He loves you. 

{You can click here if you’d like to see The Chosen app on your phone! Or Click here if you’re on a computer.} 

P.S. It’s finally ready to launch!!!! My online course “How to Crush it as a Newbie Homeschooler” is open for enrollment! If you’re considering homeschooling this fall, I believe this crash course is worth the tiny price, and worth your time! 

Finish what you’ve started.

Sounds like solid advice, right? 

But what if sometimes… it isn’t?

Now once upon a time, I was working on a PhD in Scotland. I took a six month sabbatical to welcome our first born, but when it was time to start back, it somehow just didn’t feel like it was time to start back.

I prayed and thought and prayed. And I felt it was time to set the PhD down. It was hard — but still, it seemed there was a whisper to my soul: This is the way. Walk ye in it.

A month later, my primary supervisor passed away unexpectedly. No one else in the Divinity School was a good fit to oversee my thesis. 

I deeply grieved the loss of such an amazing woman, but was grateful the decision was made before she was gone — so that I felt confident the decision was right.

When it comes to learning a new skill, starting a new thing, or braving a new venture, I often want to tell my kids to finish what they start. But sometimes it takes wisdom to know what projects were an opportunity to learn something in the process, and which are the things that need to be seen through to completion.

Give a moment to these words from Matthew Henry’s Commentary on Proverbs 16:3.

“The only way to have our thoughts established is to commit our works to the Lord. […] all our outward concerns must be committed to the providence of God, and to the sovereign, wise, and gracious disposal of that providence. Roll thy works upon the Lord (so the word is); roll the burden of thy care from thyself upon God. Lay the matter before him by prayer. Make known thy works unto the Lord […], not only the works of thy hand, but the workings of thy heart; and then leave it with him, by faith and dependence upon him, submission and resignation to him. The will of the Lord be done. We may then be easy when we resolve that whatever pleases God shall please us.”

Do you love that word choice as much as I do? We can roll the burdens onto Jesus.

This is where it all gets established — when we roll our works and roll the burdens we care about onto God. When we set our hearts and minds to do the thing we believe we are meant to do, and we give it our all, to the glory of God, because we’ve been instructed that whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, we do it fully for His glory.

So we do those things we believe we are supposed to do, but if it goes well, or if it goes poorly — that matters so much less than just having followed the Lord’s leading.

Isn’t it interesting that our thoughts will be established? Whatever happens with the efforts that we make, God will establish the way we rightly understand it.

So I attempt to do a PhD, following His leading into it, and then I perceive the time to finish has come to an end before I expected it, and I follow His leading out of it — but wasn’t this all the Lord?

Without the scholarship, I would not have stayed in Scotland. Without staying in Scotland I would not have married Mr. Collie. 

Continuing the PhD, we would not have spent those two God-ordained years of ministry in South Africa. God closed those doors just as clearly as He had opened them, and it was all in His timing, so clearly… We returned to the US and I had eighteen months before my Dad passed away, which I so often give thanks for.

We did what we felt led to do, even when it didn’t make sense. Even when turning down a full scholarship seemed nuts. Even when two years were all the time we had in South Africa, though we were hoping four.

We committed our works to the Lord by doing what we believed He was leading us to do. He established the way we thought about all these things in hindsight, and we have such a sense of peace that we were walking according to His leading. 

So is it time to quit… or is it time to stay the course and finish what you’ve started? 

We can roll this burden onto Jesus. Commit your next step to Him. And then the step after that. Don’t get overwhelmed by the big picture. Instead, look for the next right thing and do that.

Maybe it is time to quit. Maybe it’s time to press on and press in. The wisdom you find in committing your ways to the Lord is where you’ll discern the difference.