{Sanctify Them} The Church

Hello all! Please forgive me, I don't have a lot of time... but I do have a little and I have a section of scripture that struck me today. Here's what I was reading... it's a chapter and a half of Haggai...

The Command to Rebuild the Temple​
In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest: “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors.”  
The People Obey the Lord
Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord. Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord's message, “I am with you, declares the Lord.” And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.
The Coming Glory of the Temple​
In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, “Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of Hosts
Hag 1:1 - 2:9

Here I see a progression that can easily be translated into our current day...

"The Command to Rebuild the Temple"
How can we continue to feather our own nests and grow our collections of 'stuff' while the agape love of God is largely missing from our congregations? Ok, that's not fair... most congregations might have agape for those in their congregation. And to a large part, church organizations also have a fair amount of built in love for all of it's members. But the AGAPE of GOD is sorely missing once the artificial walls of an organization are in place. And here we are, attempting to make our lives easier and better and neglecting the modern day literal temple of God.
"The People Obey the Lord"
"I am with you!" God renews His faith in us, and let's us know. Once we take the step of faith to rebuild those relationships that have been severed by pride and human brokenness, God works in amazing ways. Truly amazing ways.
"The Coming Glory of the Temple"
Only a month and a half from beginning to build, God comes back with more words of encouragement. If we try to bridge the gaps and rebuild His modern temple, it will still be in shambles. The glory of hundreds of thousands of people being of one accord isn't going to happen, even if all those in the splits did hold hands and sing "Kumbaya". BUT, the time is coming when the glory of this Church WILL outshine any glory that has come before. In His Kingdom. At His return. We will shine like Him and with Him as members truly of one accord... and the part that makes me tear up... "And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of Hosts."

Now that some time has settled the dust of the most recent split in my organization, we have found that any genuine reach of agape love to people who we deeply loved before has been met with a mutual desire to  share God's fruits and love, at least while we're in the same room. And let me tell you, it might not be the former glory of all being together every week... it might not even be calling or e-mailing or anything outside of the times we make the effort to go visit... but it's something. And those good and right and peaceful feelings of hugs and renewed speaking terms are worth more than I can say.

A peaceful day to all as we attempt the monumental task of rebuilding. Together.

"Oh the things we say..." - May 2014

DC: J is growing up so fast. He's even learning how to pronunciate things correctly.
AC: Yeah, and he's even learning how to pronounce things too.

AC: No, J, no more nuffins! (his word for "muffin")

*while my 1 year old was nursing and holding his sippy of water at the same time, he started wildly signing for water as he was drinking milk. He kept getting more and more upset as he continued to cuddle his sippy and sign for water while nursing on me and only getting milk.*
AC: E, only one thing comes out of what you're holding on to, and it ain't water. You're going to have to let go of this if you want that, you know what I'm sayin'?

Beautiful Spontaneity

Some of my most beautiful choices have been headlong leaps into the unknown.

Perhaps you haven't noticed before, but I tend to live by the seat of my pants. Yes, I am a planner. Yes, I love lists. Yes, I can organize and carry out fairly big projects. But I also work best under pressure. And when you don't have anyone giving you pressure anymore, you sort of have to make it yourself. And when you make it yourself, once in a while you realize just how impulsive you really are.

Looking back I can see some major times in my life when my impulsivity changed my very life course.

- When I chose to relocate permanently to Cincinnati barely days after returning home from school
- When I accepted my husbands proposal of marriage a mere 5 months after meeting him
- When he talked me into going to college to get my bachelors degree, and finished in 3 years
- When we decided to start having kids and I said I was all in! Let's stack 'em deep and sell 'em cheap.
- When I started this blog!

The consequences of the kid example are the most beautiful, funny, difficult, endearing, frustrating, lovable blessings in my life. And I'm only one shy of my goal of 4. Yet, now that I'm the mother of a blossoming 5 year old, a sensitive but hilarious 3 year old, and the most demanding, laid back paradox-of-a-1-year-old I've ever met, I've stepped back a little from my headlong ways to breath a bit. Or at least I thought I had.

You see, little 1 year old has shown signs of having food allergies for a while now. And so, after talking about it for a few weeks, I decided (pretty much overnight) to do it. Yep. I'm doing it. I'm all psyched up for it, the energy is there... let's make it happen.

I'm on day three of being a family free of the 8 big allergens - dairy, eggs, wheat, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish and shellfish. And I thought, why not! In for an ounce, in for a pound (that's what I always say!). Let's throw in gluten! So here we are, learning as we go. Stumbling through our diets and feeling hungry as I figure out what portions are appropriate when there's not a thick piece of bread or big bowl of pasta to go with our meals.

Oh homemade mac and cheese... how I could eat an enormous bowl of you right now. Preferably with a big slab of homemade garlic bread, a tall glass of milk, and a big portion of ice cream to top it off. :)

Here's to hoping this latest case of jumping off my own manmade cliff turns into yet another amazing, life-changing event that brings me more joy and energy to make other life-changing cliff jumps possible.