funny words

Jeff, almost 2, will answer "oh, yeah!". It's funny. Might be prefaced by his saying "where's Pooh??" (his favorite Pooh bear which he sleeps with). Then when directed to where it is, if you say "do you see it?" he might say, "oh, yeah!"

If he wants food, he might go in the kitchen and say, "I would like.... mini-bites!" (chocolate mini bites shredded wheat). Or "how 'bout... goldfish!" (I must say "how about..." a lot.) A "wipe" is a "woop". Sometimes "Pooh" is "Pee-oo".

His current refrain is, "WOOK, Mommy!" (or Daddy or whoever happens to be around.) "Wook! Wook" - as in, "look, look!" as he does something he wants you to look at.

Sometimes he's saying good-bye to someone (like his Daddy who is working in the office), and he says, "Bye! I'll wave!" and then leaves the room. (We like to wave to Daddy from the front door when he leaves the house to go somewhere.)

"Hold me" comes out as "Hed you! Hed you!" - unless I ask him what the right way to say it is, upon which he says "hold me please!".

Another funny phrase is "doesn't do!"... e.g. if I say "do you need to go potty more?" he might say "doesn't do!"

the good things are to come

Reading Mark 11 this morning. Here is Jesus, King and Lord of all. Coming into Jerusalem - on a donkey?? Possessing all authority, cleaning the temple of commerce. Yet He always is willing to not be recognized as Lord; to accept a lowly place, to be unknown, to be misunderstood - and takes it all humbly. Content to be in His Father's hand, wherever He has put Him. Content and willing to be "servant of all" (Mark 10:44-45).

Maybe when you know with a settled conviction that -
- this is not home, but I am only a servant here on a mission where I was sent
- my good things are not here, but to come after death
- my honor is not from here, but bestowed by my Father after I die

perhaps that makes you willing to be ridiculed, unnoticed, misunderstood, mistreated, deprived of rightful honor or possessions. Because you know this is not "it" for me. This is a temporary condition, my life here. I'm not here to be liked by anyone - I'm here to serve Jesus in whatever way He wants, wherever He wants me to be. He will give the honor and the possessions and everything else I didn't get here - when I get Home.

So rather than a "I deserve my good things" American mentality - O may God give me a "I am content to be an unpraised servant like Jesus" mentality. The good things are yet to come!

verses from Joel

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
and he relents over disaster.
Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
and leave a blessing behind him...?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I will restore to you the years
that the swarming locust has eaten,
the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,
my great army, which I sent among you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For the day of the Lord is near
in the valley of decision.
The sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
The Lord roars from Zion,
and utters his voice from Jerusalem,
and the heavens and the earth quake.
But the Lord is a refuge to his people,
a stronghold to the people of Israel.

(Joel 2:12-14, 25; 3:14-16)

Jeff

I was picking out Jeff's clothes today, and he saw them in the drawer, and pointing to something said "pink. pink." (He doesn't have anything pink in there.) I said something about it not being pink, so he said "yellow. yellow." (He didn't have yellow there either.) Then I pulled out a shirt and held it next to him to measure and see if it fit, and he said "too big." I said it wasn't too big, so he said "too tight" (which it wasn't either). Obviously he knows what a group of terminology refers to, though he doesn't have the specifics down.

peace

O LORD, you are my God;
I will exalt you; I will praise your name,
for you have done wonderful things,
plans formed of old, faithful and sure.

Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for him;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
Trust in the LORD forever,
for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.

O LORD, you will ordain peace for us,
for you have indeed done for us all our works.

(Is.25:1,9; 26:3-4,12)