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On the Kitchen Board
By Kendra | August 17, 2009
The board in our kitchen sports a new message every few weeks or so. Sometimes it’s a verse we’re working on, sometimes it’s a reminder to be kind, other times it’s a thought we wish to permeate our lives.
This summer we’ve been camped on one main motto:
We’re here to please, live, breathe, and give glory to One. If what we are choosing to do doesn’t glorify God, love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, strength, and love our neighbor as ourselves, then it ought not be done. Beyond that, however, is freedom.
Freedom from the lists of man. Freedom from someone else’s idea of what a sanctified life looks like. Freedom from trying to please an audience bigger than One.
Recently in our Sunday School time at church (which includes all ages all at once), we were discussing idol worship, and suggestions were given as to what modern day idols might be. “Money!”, someone volunteered. “Sports!”, yelled another. As I sat at the back table with my little ones and a box of crayons I couldn’t help thinking, “Those are the easy ones.” Who among us in a church of passionate believers really places those things above God?
The idols in our lives tend to creep in under the auspices of godliness: Homeschooling. Family integrated worship. Modesty.
Ouch. Did I hurt you? I didn’t mean to. It’s just that the longer I walk this path of home education, the more I see people dropping off the cliff of self-righteousness and formulaic spirituality. Formulas do not save. Ideologies don’t either.
Take your children to the cross. While there, lay down all of those things that stand in the way of Christ’s redemptive work in their lives. Get yourself out of His way. There is only One who saves, and it is for Him we live and breathe.
Topics: Educating at Home, Musings and Miscellany, Uncategorized | 24 Comments »
August 17th, 2009 at 8:57 am
Ditto!
August 17th, 2009 at 9:04 am
Link to my husband’s post on the same topic:
http://www.themangotimes.com/2009/08/17/an-audience-of-one/
August 17th, 2009 at 9:30 am
Great Post! I have been in this very place recently. Self evaluation of what I am placing in the place only Christ should occupy!
August 17th, 2009 at 11:40 am
Amen! Thanks for the clear, bold message.
August 17th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Kendra,
I too agree. Haven’t begun homeschooling, since my children are still little, but my husband and I plan to. It is so often tempting to be disappointed or frustrated with people who don’t share our same convictions, but it is always important to remember that the Holy Spirit is the one who convicts hearts. Thank you for stating it soo well.
August 17th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Great post!!! May I just say that I have bought all of your resources and you have become one of my FAVORITE people!!!! You are so cheerful and positive! IRON SHARPENS IRON!!!!!
August 17th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Thank you, Tara!
August 17th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
Thanks, Kendra. As always, your wisdom hits the nail on the head. (Evidence of God’s grace in your life!) It is so easy to fall into idolatry without realizing it. This is an area of struggle for me, always wanting to please people. That’s not who we are to please. And apart from Christ’s righteousness, I couldn’t even please the Lord for a second. By His grace, I’m so thankful He can enable us, as we abide in Him, to live for that priceless, precious Audience of One! My HE ALONE receive all glory, honor and praise from our lives.
I am grateful for you, dear sister in Christ!
August 17th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
This is GREAT! Well said. Thanks for sharing.
August 17th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Reminds me of an Aesop’s Fable I share in a post last year. I shared it when speaking to homeschool moms…it is not about doing what others are expecting of us, but seeking God and obeying His direction for not only ourselves, families and children, but our homeschooling…
http://outofdeepwaters.blogspot.com/2008/05/powerful-aesops-fable.html
Your post also reminds me of a Lincoln Brewster song:
Let the Praises Ring
(some of the lyrics)
In You I live and move and breathe
Let everything I say and do
Be founded by my faith in You
I lift up holy hands and sing
Let the praises ring!
August 17th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
VERY well said! Love the motto (will be using that one, if you don’t mind) and the first and last paragraphs especially. I’m reading “The Pursuit of God” by Tozer right now and especially loved Chapter 2 on the renunciation of all things…. ties in well with your post.
So appreciate all you do Kendra.
August 17th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Thank you so much for keeping a good balance. I always enjoy reading your blog and am so thankful that you are willing to share.
Thank you for not being afraid to share that very important subject. Which I believe attest to your audience of One!
August 17th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
“Do not be afraid of any man, for judgment belongs to God.” Deuteronomy 1:17b
August 18th, 2009 at 8:40 am
So…I feel lame asking a non-spiritual question, but I’m not out to impress your other commentators anyway as I’m living for an audience of one, right?!
The photo — is that at your house? I like the idea of an empty frame being used as a white board. Is it written on with dry erase markers? It’s super cute and I’d love to copy the idea!!
August 18th, 2009 at 9:13 am
Yes, it’s usually in our kitchen but I couldn’t get a good picture of it so I propped it against an outside wall. I found that board at Wal Mart!
August 18th, 2009 at 9:22 am
Thanks for the message. I am a mother of 2, a 13 month old and a just turned 3 year old. I am just starting this homeschool journey and am loving your blog. Thanks for your insight and wisdom that is helping me as well as other new to school moms! Way to keep it real!
August 18th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Loooooved it!!!
August 18th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Thanks, Kendra! What a great statement to remember when life’s circumstances get in the way! I think I need to get a white board for my kitchen — I know that I constantly need to be pointed back to Him!
August 18th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
I’ve been living there this summer too! Love to read here! You’re a huge blessing to me – thanks!
August 18th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
So true!
August 19th, 2009 at 7:20 am
Thank you for your boldness. As one who has been wounded in the endless & futile pursuit of jumping through all the “really godly homeschooling family” hoops (formulas), I realize that in the end it was all an attempt to feel secure in my own righteousness–to earn, in a sense, God’s blessing of a godly family. How little I understood of God’s grace.
God works from the inside out not the outside in. Yes, I am still conservative, but I’m done with the hoops. Why do we as Christians build obstacles and add on to the simple 10 commandments rather than rest in Christ’s righteousness and walk by faith? I feel like I am only now beginning to learn to walk by faith and understand Christ’s grace. Keep talking about it Kendra. We need it.
August 20th, 2009 at 11:41 am
I appreciate what Betty said. Thanks, Kendra for posting grace and truth.
August 23rd, 2009 at 5:37 pm
Thanks so much for r reminding us of what is important!!!!!!!:)
September 1st, 2009 at 7:01 pm
“Formulas do not save. Ideologies don’t either.
Take your children to the cross.” Wow. Powerful and so true. I guess it is our insecurities that lead us into needing to prove ourselves by measures other than Christ.