Alina “loves” to swim. Today was the first day of public school for
our local district so we planned to go to the pool, knowing the kids would
practically have the pool to themselves.
In order for us to actually get out the door to go swimming there were several responsibilities that needed to be taken care of. As the kids were taking care of their responsibilities and I, mine… Alina was pulling together her swim gear and couldn’t find her swimsuit. After I gave her a few suggestions of where to look she came to me in tears.
Looking back over today’s event and processing it I thought about the fleshly tendencies that were developing in my sweet Alina before we began the journey of learning how to love with a Christ-like love through the Lifestyle of Learning™ ministry. Something particular I was beginning to see develop in her was an attitude of irritation in circumstances like this morning. Extreme irritation and anger when something was lost, was common among the older siblings and adults in my childhood, and I had also developed that fleshly unloving way of dealing with such circumstances, and was passing it on to my children. But, the Lord was good and led me to the Lifestyle of Learning™ ministry and gave me the gift of Barbie and Marilyn speaking straight into my life. Today, there was no irritation or anger in Alina’s response, she was just simply frustrated (stopped up) and in tears. I would like to clarify that I use to soft sell my sin - my anger, by saying I was just frustrated when I was truly irritated and angry which is unloving (sin is the self centered failure to love). I have since learned that we can be frustrated and still be loving, but when we move from frustration to irritation we are unloving (sin).
I hugged Alina and took her into my arms and I prayed. In my conversation with the Lord and with Alina we focused on how grateful we are that Alina did not go from frustration to anger. We thanked the Lord that He is concerned about what Alina is concerned about. In my past I would have thought the Lord wouldn’t be concerned about something as insignificant as a bathing suit or swimming, but I have been learning different and we thanked the Lord for His concerns for us and that He is concerned about the things we are concerned about. We asked Him for help in finding it, and thanked Him for loving Alina SO MUCH! I encouraged Alina to surrender her worries to the Lord and to trust that He will provide for her to go swimming.
Alina went to her room and lay down. She later told me that she knew if she kept looking in the state of mind she was in she would still feel stressed and she thought she needed to rest. As she did, Daniel entered the room (unsolicited) and began asking her questions, he was entering into her concerns with a heart to help her. He began to help her look, lifting up a bag and other things, helping her look around the room. Alina noticed the bag Daniel had lifted up and remembered she left her swimsuit in that exact bag last week when we went to the beach. Before I knew it, Alina peered around the corner and told me that she found her swimsuit and we were soon off to go swimming.
I was thinking about the events of this morning and how different it might have been if we had stayed on the road we were on before Lifestyle of Learning™ entered our life. I also thought about what a gift it was for Alina to experience God’s love for her in the small (insignificant) things in life, to experience the love that has been growing between her and her brother, and also for God’s love to still point to her need to continue to learn to put things away – something she is working on.
I talked with her after we got home from swimming about all of this. She said that she is so happy that our family has been learning to love and that she never wants to go back to the way it was. She often tells me she is so thankful we started Lifestyle of Learning™ because she enjoys school more now and because she is grateful that our family is learning how to love each other in a much deeper way. She told me how she now says things with a sweet spirit, she said sometimes she hears in her mind the same words with the unkind tone she use to use… she followed that up with telling me that it has become much easier to be loving to her siblings and that she never wants to go back to being unloving. We agreed that there is no better place to be than in the place of experiencing God’s amazing love in the very details of our life and that there is no going back.
In order for us to actually get out the door to go swimming there were several responsibilities that needed to be taken care of. As the kids were taking care of their responsibilities and I, mine… Alina was pulling together her swim gear and couldn’t find her swimsuit. After I gave her a few suggestions of where to look she came to me in tears.
Looking back over today’s event and processing it I thought about the fleshly tendencies that were developing in my sweet Alina before we began the journey of learning how to love with a Christ-like love through the Lifestyle of Learning™ ministry. Something particular I was beginning to see develop in her was an attitude of irritation in circumstances like this morning. Extreme irritation and anger when something was lost, was common among the older siblings and adults in my childhood, and I had also developed that fleshly unloving way of dealing with such circumstances, and was passing it on to my children. But, the Lord was good and led me to the Lifestyle of Learning™ ministry and gave me the gift of Barbie and Marilyn speaking straight into my life. Today, there was no irritation or anger in Alina’s response, she was just simply frustrated (stopped up) and in tears. I would like to clarify that I use to soft sell my sin - my anger, by saying I was just frustrated when I was truly irritated and angry which is unloving (sin is the self centered failure to love). I have since learned that we can be frustrated and still be loving, but when we move from frustration to irritation we are unloving (sin).
I hugged Alina and took her into my arms and I prayed. In my conversation with the Lord and with Alina we focused on how grateful we are that Alina did not go from frustration to anger. We thanked the Lord that He is concerned about what Alina is concerned about. In my past I would have thought the Lord wouldn’t be concerned about something as insignificant as a bathing suit or swimming, but I have been learning different and we thanked the Lord for His concerns for us and that He is concerned about the things we are concerned about. We asked Him for help in finding it, and thanked Him for loving Alina SO MUCH! I encouraged Alina to surrender her worries to the Lord and to trust that He will provide for her to go swimming.
Alina went to her room and lay down. She later told me that she knew if she kept looking in the state of mind she was in she would still feel stressed and she thought she needed to rest. As she did, Daniel entered the room (unsolicited) and began asking her questions, he was entering into her concerns with a heart to help her. He began to help her look, lifting up a bag and other things, helping her look around the room. Alina noticed the bag Daniel had lifted up and remembered she left her swimsuit in that exact bag last week when we went to the beach. Before I knew it, Alina peered around the corner and told me that she found her swimsuit and we were soon off to go swimming.
I was thinking about the events of this morning and how different it might have been if we had stayed on the road we were on before Lifestyle of Learning™ entered our life. I also thought about what a gift it was for Alina to experience God’s love for her in the small (insignificant) things in life, to experience the love that has been growing between her and her brother, and also for God’s love to still point to her need to continue to learn to put things away – something she is working on.
I talked with her after we got home from swimming about all of this. She said that she is so happy that our family has been learning to love and that she never wants to go back to the way it was. She often tells me she is so thankful we started Lifestyle of Learning™ because she enjoys school more now and because she is grateful that our family is learning how to love each other in a much deeper way. She told me how she now says things with a sweet spirit, she said sometimes she hears in her mind the same words with the unkind tone she use to use… she followed that up with telling me that it has become much easier to be loving to her siblings and that she never wants to go back to being unloving. We agreed that there is no better place to be than in the place of experiencing God’s amazing love in the very details of our life and that there is no going back.
