Wednesday’s Jewels

                                                                    

      I love it when I stumble upon words that quietly take up residence in my soul: a quote worth sharing, a question worth asking, a prayer worth repeating. I love it when another truth seeker’s reverent musings lift my thoughts above dirty diapers, dirty dishes and dirty laundry. I feel grateful when another seeker’s words chase me shamelessly to the Living Word. As the wise writer of Proverbs declares, “The right word at the right time is like a custom-made piece of jewelry…” (Proverbs 34:11).

     I’m digging in somebody else’s jewelry box (or diaper pail) today.
 I think you’ll enjoy the poignant pearls of truth that accessorize this post. If you’ve found the “right word at the right time” this week, feel free to open up your box of jewels and share it here. I’d love to pick it up, polish it off and enjoy its beauty, too!
    
     I have to admit, I’m a sucker for a new “parenting devotional.”  I love a well-written pick-me-up designed with my real life in mind, a challenging thought for the day that can be read behind the bathroom door before any of my five children come looking for me! Usually, I read my latest devotion book and then pass it on to other moms who, like me, are semi-addicted to inspirational musings.  But over the years, a few titles have acquired “keeper” status. They sit quietly on my bookshelves and beckon me to read them again and again.  Gary Thomas’s Devotions for Sacred Parenting is one of those books. Thomas doesn’t wrap the gift of parenthood in quiet pastels or gloss over the gritty truth with sugary euphemisms. He presents parenthood as a tool in God’s hand to make us more holy, and he never once suggests that the process of sanctification is an easy one. However, Thomsas’s  interpretation of God’s Word and his reverence for God’s timeless heart for families makes me want to experience more and more of Emmanuel- God with us. And less and less of myself!
                       Here’s the “jewel” that has challenged me lately: