Just like we need the right tool for the job, we absolutely need to wear the right clothing for each situation… can you imagine going swimming in a prom gown?  And how about going on the job as a contractor in stockings and high heels?

Some things just don’t work. There is a time for every season on earth, and there is a particular way to dress for every occasion.

The clothing you wear kind of prepares you for the occasion–a party dress makes you feel like a princess ready to have fun, a suit makes you sober and serious, workout clothes prepare your mind for what is to come.

Yet we don’t wear the right clothing just because that is the practical thing to do. Sometimes, you just have to wear the right outfit because it’s the right thing to do. We all understand the idea of “dress code”: we wear “nicer” clothing for celebrations like weddings and graduations, and we choose to not wear  offensive  clothing to church. It’s just honorable, sensitive, proper. It’s just the right thing to do.

This dress code, it is a skill that is taught in the home, passed on from generation to generation. My mom taught me to sit up straight, and look at people’s eyes, and wear a suit when you go to an interview, and she taught my brother to take your hat off in church. And now, these ways of behaving are ingrained in us, whether we like it or not.

It’s just the right thing to do.

So for us, blood-bought believers, children of the King of Glory, it is right and fitting to wear the clothing of a saint. Because that’s who we are. And when we wear the right stuff, it prepares us for acting as such.

Clothe yourselves in righteousness today, you people of God! Because righteous is what you are. And clothe yourselves in joy, because joyful is what He made you. And clothe yourselves in love, because love is what He poured into you.

It’s just the life-thing to do.

Cultivating Thankfulness with Ann

#637 Taking a lovely walk this afternoon

#638 The smell of barbecue in the neighborhood 

639 The courage to do what is right 

Sometimes, I link up with any or all of these wonderful writers: Hearts 4 Home, SDG,  Hearts Reflected, WLW, EOA, Things I can’t say, Growing Home, Play Dates with God, Monday Musings, Hear it on Sunday, Inspire Me Monday, Tell me a Story, The Better Mom, a Mama’s Story, Into the Word, In and Around Mondays,OYHT, Gratituesday, Titus2Tuesdays, Extraordinay, Lessons from Ivy, Denise in Bloom, Sweet Blessings, Faith Filled Friday, Finding Joy, WholeHearted Home, Mom’s the Word,

To my husband’s great horror, I have grabbed any heavy object to pound a nail into the wall when I can’t find a hammer, partly because I am impatient, and partly because I just thought it would work. Until I messed up and the nail went in crooked. And besides, the nail was too weak to support that massive picture frame that I simply couldn’t wait to hang. But that’s another story.

No, that is the story.

Because the crooked nail damaged the plaster, and the picture frame came tumbling down and broke, and I cut my foot and it got nasty… I really should have drilled a hole and placed a plastic screw-holder-anchor-thingy in there, and then screwed in a screw that would have supported the weight of that frame. Nails and a heavy object are the wrong tools for hanging anything that has some weight to it.

Specific tools exist for specific jobs. No kidding. I better start yielding to wisdom.

Cultivating Thankfulness with Ann

#627 Discovering a new wine

#628 His Word in my heart

#629 Making Gumbo for my daughter

#630 Getting a stain out of my favorite Tshirt

Sometimes, I link up with any or all of these wonderful writers: Hearts 4 Home, SDG,  Hearts Reflected, WLW, EOA, Things I can’t say, Growing Home, Play Dates with God, Monday Musings, Hear it on Sunday, Inspire Me Monday, Tell me a Story, The Better Mom, a Mama’s Story, Into the Word, In and Around Mondays,OYHT, Gratituesday, Titus2Tuesdays, Extraordinay, Lessons from Ivy, Denise in Bloom, Sweet Blessings, Faith Filled Friday, Finding Joy, WholeHearted Home, Mom’s the Word,

He was found on a Tuesday in a post office, so they named him, “found on Tuesday.” He looks to be about a year old, but they are saying he is more like two–just malnourished, that’s all.

He plays with mud and sticks and broken stoneware on the dirt courtyard of the orphanage.  He is a curious child–but very, very  quiet. Come to think of it, I have never heard him speak yet.

He looks up and stares at me. His intense brown eyes dig right into my heart. What are you thinking, little one?

And in a little town of Illinois. a family pours over his picture.

“I like how he looks,” Maria says.

“I can’t wait to teach him how to play soccer,” Jonathan says.

“I am excited,” Heather says.

And Laura, the baby, she points and smiles.

And I can’t help but think of the Scripture that says,”(…) things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Cor. 2:9)

Every way they know how, the little family is preparing for this little boy to come home to them. They pray for him, make room for him in their hearts and home, sacrifice for the expenses related to his coming home, talk about him, reorganize their lives in view of him.  They love him.

They chose him.

And he wakes up every morning in his orphanage, unaware of any of this. He doesn’t even know that there is a family in another country that has chosen him. Is silently planning for him. He has no idea that they have invested their hearts and lives into him. He wakes up, eats his meager breakfast and goes out to play with sticks and mud and broken stoneware. He probably only thinks of right now, and whether his tummy is full or not.

Things that this little boy has never seen nor heard, things that have not even entered his heart, they are preparing for him.

They chose him.

And in a few weeks, they are going to go to the other side of the world to claim him. And God quietly reminds me that He went to the end of His life to claim me.

He chose me.

Cultivating Thankfulness with Ann Voskamp

# 518 Adoption

# 519 My friends in Illinois

# 520 Hearts that care

#521 Toast with almond butter

Sometimes, I link up with any or all of these wonderful writers: Hearts 4 Home, SDG,  Hearts Reflected, WLW, EOA, Things I can’t say, Growing Home, Play Dates with God, Monday Musings, Hear it on Sunday, Inspire Me Monday, Tell me a Story, The Better Mom, a Mama’s Story, Into the Word, In and Around Mondays,OYHT, Gratituesday, Titus2Tuesdays, Extraordinay, Lessons from Ivy, Denise in Bloom, Sweet Blessings, Faith Filled Friday, Finding Joy, WholeHearted Home, Mom’s the Word

Last Summer, my friend Rebekah wrote a really cool facebook post entitled: “what we did this summer and why my house is a mess.” I loved it so much that I wrote a blog post of my own about my summer.  

Well, she did it again and it made me want to do it again as well. So here we go.

This summer, I went to NYC for the first time, saw the Statue of Liberty, ordered in French at a French Restaurant, made friends with a Bulldog called Newman, went to see the Stay Human Band at Joe’s Pub, counted stars while in the hot tub, petted a goat named Lilly, went to a winery, saw my youngest son’s new home, went to a Peach festival with my daughter, froze herbs, grew tomatoes and butternut squash, worked out in the woods, worked out in the heat, worked out in my bra, made dinner for friends, ate sushi for the first time, loved much, wrote a lot, read a lot, prayed a lot, walked miles and miles and miles while listening to my ipod, had long conversations with my husband, got soaked at a baseball game, smiled to a stranger, went to a picnic, stayed in a Bed and Breakfast, watched birds at the bird feeder, bought a custom-made table, met my oldest son’s girlfriend, fell in love with my oldest son’s girlfriend, made ice cream, wrote out two condolence cards, cleaned the car out, moved furniture, went to Virginia, listened to two books on CD, weeded, made up new recipes, went to a pesto party, went to a clam bake, went to Church potlucks, talked on the phone, laughed on the phone, prayed on the phone, cried on the phone, had wine with friends, listened to children giggle, giggled with children, bought new sheets, figured out what’s important in life (for now at least), had two surprise visits from my kids, one for Mother’s Day and one for my birthday, got revelation from God concerning the body of Christ, washed windows, planned a retirement trip, fell in love with life, fell in love with Jesus all over again, went on the Gateway Clipper in Pittsburgh, received twelve gifts to open on my birth-day each month of the coming year,  gave a lecture on food not being the enemy, ate a Japanese Fondue, saw Wicked, Memphis and Sister Act on Broadway, worshiped God, read the Hunger Games, grew black-eyed Susans, got a new website, burned candles, bought candles, blew candles, made messes, cleaned up messes, sat around a fire ring, got my first iphone, learned to listen better, joked around with my workout buddies, saw a really big storm, started to memorize Scriptures, breathed a lot, slept a lot, laughed a lot.

Cultivating Thankfulness with Ann Voskamp

#288 clean water to drink whenever

#287 my new computer

#286 the little girls in my Power Girls Classes

#285 this summer

Linking up with Tell me a Story, Just Write, WIP, Denise in Bloom, Pour Your Heart Out, Thankful Thursday, God Bumps, Week end Whatever,