The Courageous Ones

Practice Silence: Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.

“Since it is so likely that (children) will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker.”

                  
                                                               - CS Lewis

Courage requires risk. Courage requires vulnerability. Courage requires examples.

To watch others live courageously often gives us courage. This courage is based on great trust. This is not to be confused with fearlessness for often courage and fear go hand in hand. Yet for those that choose courage, their faith and trust trump fear.

Who are the courageous ones in your life? Those persons that live with great bravery, risk and vulnerability? How will you live courageously?

Practice Silence: Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day, Mommies!

May the love of God go deeper and deeper still today and every day!
 

XOXO,
Laura

Own Your Box

Practice Silence: Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.

"Own your box." A dear friend spoke these words to me in the midst of a class. I was talking about my fears, how I felt others were competing with me and rather than letting God's call lead, I was allowing fear and insecurity to lead. She was telling me to own my call, to fully live into it.

We all have calls from God. A call can be a role like mother, sister or wife. A call can be a career like teacher, attorney, EMT or housekeeper. A call can be a vocation of ministry in the church, volunteering in the community or serving internationally. Our calls vary and are given by God. We have the choice whether to let fear and insecurities lead them or faith and trust. If God has given them, he knows what he is doing and it is good.

Last weekend I repeated my friend's words as I stood before a large group of people to speak. I did just that and guess what? I was having a blast and honoring God. God had called me to speak a word to these people. Owning our call is not about self-confidence, but confidence in the One who gave the call.

What are your calls? Are you owning them? Are you enjoying them? How is God honored and glorified by living fully into your calls?

Practice Silence Again: Sit quietly for as long as is available to you.

When Fear Engulfs

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for as long as is available to you.**

    Our imaginations are amazing. How quickly our mind turns to fear is record-breaking. And then fear leads us. It leads us down unhealthy paths of destructive thinking, down the road of no returns and into pits of despair. Fear leads us chaos and hopelessness, then it makes a home there. We cannot imagine a way out and we desperately need one.
 
    We need light. We need light that is not from us but from another. We need truth, hope and light. God is with us, he sees us, will not abandon us and can overcome our greatest fears.

    We need friends to remind us that God's goodness is greater than our fears. When fear engulfs ask for light. Ask God, ask others. Allow light to pierce through the darkness and overwhelm the fear in your mind, heart and soul.

**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**

Merry Christmas!

    Merry Christmas, dear friends! God is with us! May hope, peace, joy and love be yours today and forever more!

    Grace and Peace,
   
     Laura

Christmas Presence

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**

    Our hearts are tender at Christmas-time. Some are grieving, some are overwhelmed with joy and many are a mixture of both. In reflecting on life and considering the lives of those I love, comes the reminder that we are broken, that we suffer, that we struggle and that we need someone with us.

    Emmanuel - God with us. There is such great comfort that comes with presence and this is the beauty of Christmas. We are not alone, have never been alone nor will we ever be alone.

    Emmanuel - the great beauty of Christmas that only grows deeper and richer within us as we sit and consider the great God of the universe coming to us, to be with us.

    Will you sit with him today?

**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**

Our Longing Hearts

**Please take one minute to sit, breathe deeply and seek quiet.**

“Come Thou long expected Jesus, born to set Thy people free. From our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in thee. Israel’s strength and consolation, hope of all the Earth Thou art. Dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart.” – Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

    Jesus is the joy of every longing heart. Our hearts long for freedom - freedom from fear, from sin, from struggling and from striving. Our hearts need rest and they find their rest in freedom that comes from Jesus. Whether we know it or not we all long for freedom and for those of us who know Jesus, he is our joy. Our longing hearts find their rest in Jesus. This leads us to gratefulness and praise.

    There is always another place we can find rest. There will always be opportunity for us to be released from fear and sin and find rest.

    May we continually find our rest and freedom in Jesus and may we experience the joy that it is to know him.

**Please take as much time as is possible to sit and reflect.**

Vision Changes Everything

**Please take one minute to sit, breathe deeply and seek quiet.**
 

“For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2b

    Vision changes everything. Vision makes you do things you never thought you could. Having a picture of what is to come changes how you live presently. The author of Hebrews says that Jesus endured the cross and scorned its shame because of the joy set before him. Jesus had a vision and this vision helped him to see farther. For Jesus, this joy was reconciled relationship with us, with mankind. The joy that was worth the cross was us.

    This is what joy does – it sees farther. Joy sees what is to come. 

     Can you imagine having a vision of great joy? Whatever that vision is, we often do not know what sacrifices it will take. We have the example of Jesus, the One who is to come who continued to see the vision that was greater than the sacrifice. He saw the vision of joy of reconciled relationship with man, and the amazing aftereffects of that (they are infinite!).  Joy sees beyond our present circumstances. Joy has vision and it sees farther.

**Please take as much time as is possible to sit and reflect.**

The Oxymoron of Joy

**Please take one minute to sit, breathe deeply and seek quiet.**

    Sometimes life seems anything but joyful. It is difficult to find joy in the midst of loss, pain and anxiety. It is difficult to find joy in the midst of hardship and heartache because these things in and of themselves do not contain joy. They contain confusion, chaos and suffering. Joy is very difficult to find because it is not there. But Jesus is. Jesus is with us in the confusion, the chaos, the suffering.

    Joy may be difficult to find but Jesus is there. Jesus is our joy and he is with us. He is with us in the suffering, in the loss, in the “I can’t breathe because this is so painful” moments. There can be joy because we have Jesus. He is the only reason that there can be joy in the midst of evil, pain and suffering.

    We live life as an oxymoron of joy and pain, Jesus and suffering. He lived life as an oxymoron and we rest in the tension because we know the joy that is relationship with Jesus.

**Please take as much time as is possible to sit and reflect.**

 

The Depth of Peace

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading..**

    Peace runs deep. It is overwhelmingly loving, caring, all-consuming. True peace touches us in places we never thought it could or thought we ever needed.

    Peace is that which does not make sense, that cannot be conjured or created. Peace is truly supernatural because it rises above and beyond all circumstances. Peace is a matter of the heart and it is a gift offered to us through Jesus.

    This gift, this great peace, let it overwhelm you today.

**Sit quietly again in silence for as long as is available to you.**

  

Peace and Presence

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**

    Peace comes with presence. It comes when you sit with the creator of the universe, when you share all that is on your heart, mind and soul. Peace comes with being in the presence of Jesus.

    Amidst all our questions, anxieties, hopes and dreams, Jesus calls us to be with him. He calls us to share those with him ... all of them.

    He does not fear what we have to say nor does he shame us for being honest. Rather we draw nearer still to him as we share, as we sit, as we receive from him. His peace comes through love, through silence, even through conviction and discipline.

    Will you spend time in his presence today?

**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**

Come and Rest

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**

    Jesus calls us to call and rest. In this discipline to stop and rest we find peace. As we cease from activity, productivity and constant body, mind and heart movement, peace comes in and we rest even deeply.
    Will you stop for a bit today? Will you rest and receive peace?

**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**

Hoping with Others

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**

“Hope is a strong and confident trust, given by the Holy Spirit and nurtured in life experience, that God, who has promised good to us and all creation, makes good on his promises through Jesus’ coming and coming again.” - Leighton Ford

  We need God to give us hope. We need others to hold onto hope for us. To hope is not a solo effort, we need others and others need us.

  Often we cannot hope for ourselves. We see no way out and cannot see much light in the darkness. We are barely holding on by a thread and so a friend offers their hand, they offer to hold onto the light, the hope that they can see brightly.

  When we cannot see others can see that God will make good on his promises. No one can know when he will but we live with the vision that he will ultimately when he comes again.

  Are you struggling to hold onto hope? Who can hold onto hope for you?
  Or maybe someone around you needs you to hold onto hope for them. Hold on for them.

 

**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**

 

We Hope ...

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**

    We begin the Advent season with Hope. We hope because we need it. We hope because sometimes that is all we can do. We can hope because our hope is based on a person, on Jesus, the one who's coming we prepare for.

    Even as our hope is based on the love, life, death and resurrection of Christ we still sometimes struggle.

    Hope often wanes when we worry, when we look towards the future and see no way out, as we experience pain and loss. Hope wanes as we see and suffer injustices. Hope struggles as it seems there is more evil than good in the world.

    Hope requires waiting, it requires trust and it demands blindness. Hoping is not easy ... yet it is true.

    It is true because it is found in a person, it is found in Christ whose coming we celebrate and whose second coming provides us a vision of re-creation, all things made new, our hope being fulfilled.

    So I invite you to Hope. Hope in the one that can fulfill all our hopes and leads us to live lives of hope.

**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**

Losing Graciously

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**

    Losing, it is a reality in life. We will not win everything we pursue and learning to lose graciously is so valuable. It is not only learning to be a gracious loser for the sake of others and good sportsmanship but also to be gracious towards yourself.

    I often beat myself up deeply for losing. I could have done better, I wish I had different gifts, I want what I lost. I show unsportsmanlike conduct towards myself. I wouldn't treat others the way I just treated myself.

    How about you? What happens when you lose? How do you treat yourself? Do you offer yourself grace, recognize ways you can learn and grow? Do you meet with Jesus if their was any sin in you and allow Jesus to meet you and restore you?

    How can you lose more graciously ... towards yourself?

**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**

It's been quiet ...

    It's been quiet here at Two Minutes for Mommy. Trust me, I have been taking many minutes with God as I started a part time job in August and still have my full time mommy and family load. I love all that I get to do and yet there hasn't seemed enough for me to also give to Two Minutes for Mommy.

    I would love your prayers as I discern next steps for the blog. Thanks for your patience and kindness! Hope you are having your two minutes (and then some!).

Much love,
Laura

When Healing Hurts

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**

    Sometimes healing doesn't feel like healing. Sometimes it feels like things are getting worse.

    Sometimes God needs to go deeper and when He does it hurts.

    Sometimes He needs to make adjustments, set things straight and re-align. That is painful.

    Sometimes he makes us wait. There seems to be no progress in the waiting yet it is all part of healing.

    Is He healing something in you today that doesn't feel or look like healing? How can you trust His great love and sovereignty as He heals?

**Continue to sit in silence for as long as is available to you.**

The Rules Do Apply

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**

    As I watch people gain greater power and position I watch as they believe the rules do not apply to them. They begin to take advantage of their position, they treat others one way and will not be held to the same level of accountability they are asking of others.

    For some reason I often function as if the rules do not apply to me. I especially take advantage of my position of "Mom".

    Then my kids call me out. It is not pretty, it is humbling and it is needed.

    Will I continue to hear it? Will my heart be soft to hearing their correction and exhortation? I hope so because the rules do apply.

**Sit quietly again for as long as is available to you.**

Overflow

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for as long as is available to you.**

    A prayer for us today:

"May our service to God come out of an overflow of his love and grace towards me."

    Take time to sit in God's love and grace today.

**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**

Annie

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**

    Today is my little sister's birthday. She brings a sweetness to life and a reminder for the need of tenderness, compassion, patience and love. She brings the challenge of slowing down and thinking more of others than of myself.

    She also brings the challenges of sisterhood - stubbornness, each of us wanting to get our own way and me thinking she is far more spoiled than I am. I think this is just normal older sister/young sister stuff. :)

    It is difficult being around her sometimes because I am reminded of what I am not. I cannot put on a mask, I sin greatly and my actions do not match my words. She reminds me there is a lot of work that God has yet to do it me and sometimes I do not like to face that fact. I am far from perfect and I like thinking I am perfect.

    She challenges me to live like I say everyone else should. She challenges me to take my words to my hands and actually LIVE IT. She does all this without words. She does it all through being herself.

    She lives her life well, beautifully and also imperfectly and I am amazed at how God uses imperfection to move us towards Jesus, who is perfect.

    Today I am grateful for Annie, and I celebrate her life.

**Sit again in silence for as long as is possible.**