Living Out Parables

This morning my children are over a friend's house while my daughter babysits the younger ones and my son "hangs out" with the older sons. (They are NOT being "babysat," thank-you-very-much!) They got up extra early to get some school done, and have some to finish in a bit when they get home, but I've had a rare "Monday morning break" to run to the grocery store and get some work done around the house.

While I was working in the kitchen, I decided to catch up on listening to some of my podcasts that I've missed in the last week or so, and I happened upon Nancy Leigh DeMoss's Feb. 22 "Revive our Hearts" broadcast. She has been going verse-by-verse through Proverbs 31 in a series called "The Counter-Cultural Woman" and it is just blessing my socks off! I just wanted to share this with you, as we work in our kitchens and read each other's menu plans, beginning our week of seemingly "mundane tasks.":

"As we look at these verses and continue through this passage, I want you to see that in everyday, practical ways, the excellent wife-the virtuous wife, the excellent mother-is giving her family a picture of Christ and of spiritual realities. You say, "Food preparation is showing my family something about Christ and about spiritual realities?" You bet it is.

"You're living out parables. You're demonstrating parables of spiritual life to your children as you work with your hands, as you serve in your home. When you prepare food for your family, you're demonstrating to them that God is a faithful provider. When you're being quality conscious in the things that you purchase, you're showing your children the excellence of the character of God."

"When you're being orderly, when you get your home put back together after it pulled apart . . . Now, I'm not talking about fanatical. I'm just talking about learning to have a place for things and things getting put back in their place. As you are orderly, you are teaching your children that God is a God of order."

"When you clean things up in your home, when you keep a clean home, you're showing your children the importance of purity, holiness of heart, of being clean and washed before God.
When you're disciplined in your life and habits and schedule and the time you get up and the time you go to bed according to the way that God has directed your family, when you're disciplined, you're teaching your children that the Christian life requires discipline. You are teaching them that you can't just stay in bed and become spiritual. It requires effort and cooperation with God's Spirit to develop godly habits, patterns, and sanctification in our lives.
When you reach out your hands—as we'll see that this virtuous woman does—to the poor and the needy and you're ministering to the needs of others, you're showing your children the heart of God for those who are poor and needy and oppressed."

"Get a vision for your work in your home. Remember as you're cleaning-as you're ironing, as you're sewing, as you're picking up, as you're painting, as you're beautifying your home, as you're doing things to make your home attractive, remember that you're painting a picture for your children-a picture of God. You're demonstrating to your children in ways that penetrate deep into their hearts, the heart of God, the ways of God, and you're increasing the likelihood that your children will grow up to love that God and to want to be like Him."

Isn't this a wonderful reminder? Hearing this today has blown a fresh spring-like breeze into my otherwise "mundane Monday." To read the entire transcript, or read/listen to some of the others in the series, you can go here.

Let's keep living out those parables!