Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Some of my favorite songs...

I found this cool website that allows you to pick your own music and create your own playlist for your own webpage! Some of my favorite songs by Christopher Cross are already playing on the playlist at the bottom of my page. I also added another old favorite song..."The Year of the Cat", by Al Stewart. Enjoy!!

Friday, February 09, 2007

Reflections


I thought I would write a simple blog entry about something that I keep getting reminded of a lot lately. Scott & I have been having some recent behavioral struggles with Sierra, our oldest daughter. She has always been a strong-willed child and tends to resist authority in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. She is the type who has to always push the envelope when it comes to being obedient. For the first time, Sierra came home from school the other day with a note written from her teacher explaining that she had to change her behavior card that day twice for two separate reasons. Now, on occasion Sierra may have to change her behavior card once during the day and I usually don't question her too much about it. I may just ask what happened and I trust that she is telling me the truth. What concerned me about this note from her teacher is that she mentioned that Sierra at one point during the day had wanted to play on the classroom computer and her teacher had instructed her to wait until after the class had finished a writing lesson she was going to teach. Apparently, a few moments later, when the teacher had turned around, Sierra had taken it upon herself to go and play on the computer, even though her teacher had specifically told her not to until after their writing lesson. Scott and I have certainly had our incidents with Sierra at home where she has gone around us and disobeyed our authority over various things. But, I am a little concerned that she would deliberately defy her teacher while in school, especially so blatantly.

It made me think about that nature inside all of us that often times we try to "tame". Speaking for myself, I know that I sometimes fight my own will in my mind over things I want to say or do, but can't because it's not the appropriate thing to do, or it's not what Christ would do, etc. Dealing with Sierra's constant challenges in the behavior department constantly has me looking back at myself in an effort to try and understand what makes her "tick" and why she does some of the things she does? I am often re-examining myself and some of the things I have discovered over recent years about my own personality. Take for instance, Sierra's bedroom and overall tendency to have messy surroundings. She is highly intelligent, but one thing we have always struggled with her about is the state of her bedroom. I know it is not uncommon for children to have cluttered rooms. But, Sierra always seems to have dresser drawers pulled out and papers and scattered everywhere (she is an artist who is always drawing and doodling), toys all over the place, etc. It reminds me of myself and how unorganized my own bedroom tends to be. I have ALWAYS struggled with this. I have certain things in my life which I am very disorganized about. I once told my mom as a teenager that the state of my room was a direct reflection of what was going on in my mind. If that is true, then I must have a very cluttered and chaotic mind. Could Sierra also have this, as well?

It also makes me think of how the Bible refers to us as being made in God's image. Trying to understand Sierra's personality traits, tendencies, and flaws makes me take a long, hard second look at myself. If I am God's child and am made in His image, then surely Sierra is my child and was made "in my image", figuratively speaking. There's nothing like being a parent to make you see yourself as if looking into a mirror. Reflections...it can sometimes be a scary thing. With all the recent situations involving Sierra's defiant attitude at times, it makes me wonder if I, too, am more resistant to God's authority in my own life in various ways than I originally thought? It seems that even though I like to think I have given my life over to Christ, I still must constantly squash that "flesh" side of myself which always tries to lead me away from God and His will for me. I must always be vigilent and be sure that I am taking every thought captive. Continually submitting to God's authority and fighting the "flesh" in every area of my life can be exhausting! Won't it be nice when one day we won't have to struggle so hard to keep our minds and wills in line with God's?