Interactive Storytime Workshop Handout

I thought I would provide my readers with a copy of the handout that is part of the Interactive Storytime workshops I give in the Pacific Northwest. The contents change slightly depending on the needs of each specific conference, but the gist is the same.

This is a summarization of several blog entries…please forgive the repetition.

Benefits of Interactive Story Time

• Supports the Development of:
  • Language and Vocabulary
  • Creativity and Imagination
  • General Cognition (thinking skills)
  • Socio-Emotional Fitness
  • Basic Book Knowledge (how books work)
  • Higher Order Thinking
  • Predictive Strategies
  • Physical abilities in eye tracking and eye-hand coordination
  • Book-Love!
• Increases
  • Attention Span
  • Awareness of the Outside World, Cross-Cultural with positive examples of diversity
  • Academic Success with a solid foundation for literacy and “book sense”
  • The Child’s Confidence in Choices and Interests (My questions are important. The books I love and my interests are valued.)
  • The FUN of reading: storytime is eagerly anticipated with excitement…it can be as much or even MORE FUN than the TV or computer games!!!

Features of Interactive Story Time

1. Reading with Expression of Vocal Gymnastics
   • Pause
   • Pace (fast or slow)
   • Pitch (high or low)
   • Volume (loud or soft)
2. Interaction WITH the Story
   • Noticing and pointing out elements of the pictures
   • Counting, naming, looking for common elements (seek & find)
   • ASK
     1. At any age:
        1. “What do you see?”
        2. “Can you find…?”
     2. As developmentally appropriate:
        1. “Noticing” questions and as developmentally appropriate, waiting for answers
        2. “What do you think?” or “What do you think about…?”
        3. “Predicting” questions: i.e. “What do you think will happen next?” “Were do you think we will go next?”
        4. “Feeling” questions:  i.e. “How do you think she feels right now?” “How would you feel?”
     3. LISTEN
     4. FUN!!!

Grin, giggle, laugh and roll on the floor fun with the words, the pictures and the child listening!

Get in touch with your inner child…plan to laugh and enjoy your time together!

Interactive Storytime is ALWAYS FUN and (shhhh…) secretly educational

Interactive Storytime Specifics

1. General Characteristics
   1. A Minimum of Three Books a Day (30-minutes a day). Whenever possible, allow the child to choose:
      1. One New (lots of library books)
      2. One Familiar (lots of library books)
      3. One Favorite (ideally from the child’s personal library…you will read it MANY times)
   2. Repetition  –  Reading the books the child loves many times (see above)
      1. Increases familiarity, supports memorization, leading to motivation to figure out text and independent reading.
      2. Supports development of predictive strategies, critical to the development of excellent passage reading skills.
      3. Increases enjoyment of listening and interacting with favored texts, supporting child’s interests.
   3. Alphabet books support the development of phonemic awareness and the alphabetic principle.
   4. Books with Rhyme and Rhythm support language development and are interesting to all ages.
   5. Books with excellent art that draws the child into the story and supports interaction with the story.

2.      Age Specific Characteristics of Interactive Storytime

1. Birth to around age 3-months

   1. Anything will do…even the Wall Street Journal! At this point, the infant is attracted to your voice and physical contact…but baby IS LISTENING and learning!)
   2. Point out colorful elements of the picture book to support the development of visual acuity.
   3. Ask questions…baby is learning voice patterns. You are pouring the foundation for literacy.
2. 3-months to toddler (around 12-18 months)
   1. It’s time to move to board books. Babies as young as 3-months with storytime experience know how books work and will start reaching out to turn pages.
   2. Let baby choose the “favorite” story so baby begins to “control” storytime. Believe it or not, infants as young as 6-months are capable of communicating which book they want to play with. (remember…they are not just listening…they are INTERACTING with the books they love)
   3. Identify objects, colors, letters, and practice counting.
   4. Ask the baby to point to elements on the page. Start by modeling pointing out objects as you name them until baby catches on as does it for you.
3. Toddler to Pre-School (12-18 months to around 36-42 months)…notice that the ages are getting squishy here. Children develop at different rates. Interactive Storytime depends on paying attention to the child’s “zone of proximal development” and keeping it fun for the child. Don’t push or fret if your toddler wants to stick with simple nursery rhymes or isn’t interested in counting. Read what interests your child…he will move on to more complex books when he is ready.
   1.  Increase focus on actions (point, clap, bounce, stamp, turn…) during storytime.
   2. Include books with lots of repeating text.
   3. Read and sing “Sing-With-Me” books…this aids memorization.
   4. As the child’s interests and attention span increase, add books with increasingly complex “plot” and stories that include life little lessons. Use the morals of the story to talk about choices, actions, consequences, etc. as developmental appropriate, supporting language development.
4. Pre-School to K-1
   1. Invite the child to “read” repeating text with you.
   2. Encourage the child to point out the repeating text before reading it.
   3. Encourage the child to “read” favorite books to you…don’t worry about whether it is “word perfect” as this is “proto-reading.”
   4. Provide lots of developmentally appropriate books that the child can read independently.

General Comments

Rejoice if you are reading the same book two, three, four, five, ten, twenty times a day…you are raising a reader.

Keep reading real and fun! Remember to use your eyes as you read…as the traditional proverb states: “The eyes are the window to the soul.”

HAVE FUN!  If you approach reading as a chore that you must do, your child will never develop that all important BOOKLOVE that leads to excellent passage reading and literacy. For busy moms and dad, think of storytime as a quick 15-minute break from your daily chores. Tose of us in the working world look foward to our coffee breaks…storytime is your child’s equivalent. Enjoy it with her!

The above has been compiled from a multitude of books and articles. Those that have shaped my thinking the most are the following:

REFERENCES

Fox, M. (2001). Reading Magic. Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever. Harcourt, Inc., New York: NY.

Hunt, G. (2002). Honey for a Child’s Heart, Fourth Edition. Zondervan, Grand Rapids: MI.

Tadlock, D. & Stone, R. (2005). Read Right! Coaching Your Child to Excellence in Reading. McGraw Hill, New York: NY.

Wells, G. (2009). Meaning Makers. Learning to Talk and Talking to Learn. Multilingual Matters, Buffalo: NY.

When Should I Start Reading With My Child?

It is NEVER too early to start reading with your child. I started reading with our children the day we came home from the hospital. With a book in hand, baby settled comfortably in the crook of my arm, I would read whatever struck my fancy. Others read to their babies before birth…the point is: the time to start is NOW!

During the early days, your baby won’t care what your are reading. What your baby craves is the sound of your voice, the look in your eyes, the feeling of comfort and safety of your touch. New research indicates that infants are not the blank slates (tabla rasa) originally thought. They come fully equipped to explore and start learning about this strange new world immediately. The ultimate scientist, the infant is constantly forming hypotheses, testing, observing outcomes, revising and re-testing; they abandon behaviors that do not work, and repeat behaviors that get them what they desire.

Are you a brand new dad? What better way to connect with your new baby than to read today’s sports scores or merger reports…son or daughter, it doesn’t matter…they will love hearing the sound of your voice. Mom, go ahead and read the instructions for constructing that new cassarole, or the latest in feathers in accessories, ask your baby the questions that pop into you head. While you won’t get an answer, your baby is observing the rise and fall of your voice and the more your baby hears you, the more your baby will begin to imitate what she hears or sees.

Random Thoughts on My Responsibilities

Today I will post my first entry to ReadingWithNANA.wordpress.com. Check out recent posts here.

Reflections on the past few days include my distress at my choosing UNfaithfulness. My spirits have been very low, finding my distractedly wandering from one place to place, task to task, able to attend only when I am madly maneuvering the mouse over Solitaire. I can’t even seem to stay on task with Scrabble. My beloved has sacrificed his comfort to finish up the pond refurbishing while I flit from one thing to the next.

After recording what I believe may be a fleece to better understand God’s will in our thoughts of taking the entire family to Nicaragua for our grand-daughter’s tenth summer, I suspect that the word my Beloved has received is VERY, VERY appropriate. Wait is not a symptom of analysis-to-paralysis, but a challenge to me to move forward and actively pick up the challenge of marketing Barefoot Books and holiday book fairs to corporate sites in the region. Moving 5,000 books over the holiday season calculates to approximately one book per 500 people in the area….something that should be doable IF I choose to be faithful.

So, today, the first day of September, I choose to commit to the following:

• Pray unceasingly for our son, his wife, their two boys and my mother as they adapt to life in Nicaragua
• Pray for my beloved, as he walks out in faith toward a deeper relationship with our Lord
• Call 20 places each week day, marketing Storytime with Nana and soliciting locations for bookfairs
• Post a minimum of two blog entries in StorytimeWithNANA, with one entry dedicated to a book review with sample interactive questions that involve the child and one entry dedicated to explaining the differences or the importance of interactive story time compared to a generic storytime
• Contact my thesis advisor for an appointment

I think that should be sufficient for the short week of September 3-6.

Thoughs on Humility and Respect

Matthew 8:2-13

2 And as Jesus was going along, a leper approached Him and knelt down before Him.

Leper: Lord, if You wish to, please heal me and make me clean!

Jesus (stretching out His hand): 3 Of course I wish to. Be clean.

Immediately the man was healed.

Jesus: 4 Don’t tell anyone what just happened. Rather, go to the priest, show yourself to him, and give a wave offering as Moses commanded. Your actions will tell the story of what happened here today.

5 Eventually Jesus came to the little town of Capernaum. In Capernaum a military officer came to Him and asked Him for help.

Officer: 6 Lord, I have a servant who is lying at home in agony, paralyzed.

Jesus: 7 I will come to your house, and I will heal him.

Officer: 8 Lord, I don’t deserve to have You in my house. And, in truth, I know You don’t need to be with my servant to heal him. Just say the word, and he will be healed. 9 That, after all, is how authority works. My troops obey me whether I am next to them or not—similarly, this sickness that is plaguing my servant will obey You, whether You heal him from his bedside or from across an ocean.

10 Jesus was stunned by the depth of the officer’s faith.

Jesus (to His followers): This is the plain truth: I have not met a single person in Israel with as much faith as this officer. 11 It will not be just the children of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob who celebrate at their heavenly banquet at the end of time. No, people will come from the East and the West—and those who recognize Me, regardless of their lineage, will sit with Me at that feast. 12 But those who have feigned their faith will be cast out into outer darkness where people weep and gnash their teeth. 13 Then Jesus turned to the Centurion.

Jesus: You may go home, and when you get home, you will see that your servant is just fine. For it is as you say it is; it is as you believe.

And the officer’s servant was healed, right then.

Nelson, Thomas (2008-10-28). The Voice: New Testament (with book and chapter navigation) (Kindle Locations 1152-1175). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

In truth, this passage should be separated into two because the recounting of the leper address humility and the exchange between the Roman officer and Jesus address respect, faith, and the working of authority. I am keeping them because my focus is on prayer, faithfulness, and the consequences of will. I do see the two as tightly connected.

First, the leper…his words tell the entire story, “Lord, if You wish to, please heal me and make me clean!”  If you wish…is this how I pray when I am asking for something? When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, that is exactly what he was telling them to do, “Your will be done on earth just as it is in heaven.”How often do we pray “give me, let this, do that, heal her” rather than preface it with “if You wish, please…” The leper did not demand. He asked and I would suggest that he willingly risked the alternative answer of “NO” if that had been Jesus desire.

Like the leper, the Roman Centurion, a leader of 100 men, was willing to risk rejection. According to this account, he simply told Jesus the situation “I have a servant….” and left it to Jesus to decide what needed to be done. I can imagine the various looks of shock, surprise and concern racing across the faces of Jesus’ disciples when Jesus said he would be right over. A righteous Jew did NOT enter the house of pagan! It was bad enough that Jesus went into the homes of unrighteous Jews (tax-collectors and prostitutes no less), but a Roman soldier??? And Jesus shocks them even further, He praises the Centurion as a man of righteousness and faith, a man worthy to be called one of God’s own and he takes it a step further and warns of the consequences of faking righteousness.

In both instances, the focus is on the evidence of actions. The leper was told to go and show himself to the priests, that his “actions will tell the story of what happened here today.” After speaking with him, the Centurion left Jesus side, went home and found his servant healed just as Jesus had said. It seems to me that Jesus focus was always on the fruits. The consequences of a humble heart, the reaction of faith when the storms of this world hit, the prayers of a righteous man, the actions of belief…these all lead to a humility before God and man and respect for authority.

When I pray, God is calling me to simply tell Him what is on my heart, just as I would tell my daddy if he were still beside me. It’s OK to let God know what I am hoping, as long as my heart condition is open to God’s solution.

My prayer requests for today:

• For the life of a kitten or two, to the delight of my grandson who turns six today and his three-year-old brother; and that those kittens will grow up to be fantastic ratters!
• For the continued development of faithfulness in my life…may it be a lifelong journey of growth and productivity
• For our children, that they would seek first to do God’s will and choosing the narrow gate, will bless nations
• For my beloved, as we embark together on our journey to meld our individual blue and pink perspectives to view the world together through royal purple that we may be a blessing to each other and those whose lives we touch. 
• For my mother, who in the evening of her life is investing it in children who need to be loved and accepted and nurtured to a life that serves Jesus with humility, respect, and service.
• For all the children of the world who are not yet infected with book-love. If you wish, Father, let me be an inoculating agent carrying a message that inspires the adults in the lives of those children, to read, read, read books that the children love, in a way that is delightful, fun, and compelling. Let education be fun, hilarious, outrageous and above all, meaningful.

 

Thoughs on Humility and Respect

Matthew 8:2-13

2 And as Jesus was going along, a leper approached Him and knelt down before Him.

Leper: Lord, if You wish to, please heal me and make me clean!

Jesus (stretching out His hand): 3 Of course I wish to. Be clean.

Immediately the man was healed.

Jesus: 4 Don’t tell anyone what just happened. Rather, go to the priest, show yourself to him, and give a wave offering as Moses commanded. Your actions will tell the story of what happened here today.

5 Eventually Jesus came to the little town of Capernaum. In Capernaum a military officer came to Him and asked Him for help.

Officer: 6 Lord, I have a servant who is lying at home in agony, paralyzed.

Jesus: 7 I will come to your house, and I will heal him.

Officer: 8 Lord, I don’t deserve to have You in my house. And, in truth, I know You don’t need to be with my servant to heal him. Just say the word, and he will be healed. 9 That, after all, is how authority works. My troops obey me whether I am next to them or not—similarly, this sickness that is plaguing my servant will obey You, whether You heal him from his bedside or from across an ocean.

10 Jesus was stunned by the depth of the officer’s faith.

Jesus (to His followers): This is the plain truth: I have not met a single person in Israel with as much faith as this officer. 11 It will not be just the children of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob who celebrate at their heavenly banquet at the end of time. No, people will come from the East and the West—and those who recognize Me, regardless of their lineage, will sit with Me at that feast. 12 But those who have feigned their faith will be cast out into outer darkness where people weep and gnash their teeth. 13 Then Jesus turned to the Centurion.

Jesus: You may go home, and when you get home, you will see that your servant is just fine. For it is as you say it is; it is as you believe.

And the officer’s servant was healed, right then.

Nelson, Thomas (2008-10-28). The Voice: New Testament (with book and chapter navigation) (Kindle Locations 1152-1175). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

In truth, this passage should be separated into two because the recounting of the leper address humility and the exchange between the Roman officer and Jesus address respect, faith, and the working of authority. I am keeping them because my focus is on prayer, faithfulness, and the consequences of will. I do see the two as tightly connected.

First, the leper…his words tell the entire story, “Lord, if You wish to, please heal me and make me clean!”  If you wish…is this how I pray when I am asking for something? When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, that is exactly what he was telling them to do, “Your will be done on earth just as it is in heaven.”How often do we pray “give me, let this, do that, heal her” rather than preface it with “if You wish, please…” The leper did not demand. He asked and I would suggest that he willingly risked the alternative answer of “NO” if that had been Jesus desire.

Like the leper, the Roman Centurion, a leader of 100 men, was willing to risk rejection. According to this account, he simply told Jesus the situation “I have a servant….” and left it to Jesus to decide what needed to be done. I can imagine the various looks of shock, surprise and concern racing across the faces of Jesus’ disciples when Jesus said he would be right over. A righteous Jew did NOT enter the house of pagan! It was bad enough that Jesus went into the homes of unrighteous Jews (tax-collectors and prostitutes no less), but a Roman soldier??? And Jesus shocks them even further, He praises the Centurion as a man of righteousness and faith, a man worthy to be called one of God’s own and he takes it a step further and warns of the consequences of faking righteousness.

In both instances, the focus is on the evidence of actions. The leper was told to go and show himself to the priests, that his “actions will tell the story of what happened here today.” After speaking with him, the Centurion left Jesus side, went home and found his servant healed just as Jesus had said. It seems to me that Jesus focus was always on the fruits. The consequences of a humble heart, the reaction of faith when the storms of this world hit, the prayers of a righteous man, the actions of belief…these all lead to a humility before God and man and respect for authority.

When I pray, God is calling me to simply tell Him what is on my heart, just as I would tell my daddy if he were still beside me. It’s OK to let God know what I am hoping, as long as my heart condition is open to God’s solution.

My prayer requests for today:

• For the life of a kitten or two, to the delight of my grandson who turns six today and his three-year-old brother; and that those kittens would grow to be fantastic ratters!
• For the continued development of faithfulness in my life…may it be a lifelong journey of growth and productivity
• For our children, that they would seek first to do God’s will and choosing the narrow gate, will bless nations
• For my beloved, as we embark together on our journey to meld our individual blue and pink perspectives to view the world together through royal purple that we may be a blessing to each other and those whose lives we touch. 
• For my mother, who in the evening of her life is investing it in children who need to be loved and accepted and nurtured to a life that serves Jesus with humility, respect, and service.
• For all the children of the world who are not yet infected with book-love. If you wish, Father, let me be an inoculating agent carrying a message that inspires the adults in the lives of those children, to read, read, read books that the children love, in a way that is delightful, fun, and compelling. Let education be fun, hilarious, outrageous and above all, meaningful.

 

Doing My Father’s Will

Continuing in Matthew 7, verses 21-29 the conclusion Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount with the editor’s commentary

“21 Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven. Simply calling Me “Lord” when you reach heaven will not be enough. Only those who do the will of My Father who is in heaven will join Me in heaven. 22 At the end of time, on the day of judgment— on that day, many will say to Me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name? Did we not drive demons out of the possessed in Your name? Did we not perform miracles in Your name?” 23 But I will say to them, “I never knew you. And now, you must get away from Me, you evildoers!” 24 Those people who are listening to Me, those people who hear what I say and live according to My teachings—you are like a wise man who built his house on a rock, on a firm foundation. 25 When storms hit, rain pounded down and waters rose, levies broke and winds beat all the walls of that house. But the house did not fall because it was built upon rock. 26 Those of you who are listening and do not hear, those who are listening and ignore My teachings, and those who take the wider, easier path, keeping company with false prophets: you are like a fool who builds a house on sand. 27 When a storm comes to his house, what will happen? The rain will fall, the waters will rise, the wind will blow, and his house will collapse with a great crash. Because it is built on nothing, on ephemera, on shifty, shifting sands. 28 With that Jesus finished His teaching, and the crowds were amazed by all He had said. 29 But Jesus taught in His own name, on His own authority, not like the scribes.”

Commentary: “In some ways, He had taught like the rabbis of old; in other ways, this teaching was new and different. For usually rabbis cited other rabbis, generations of rabbis before them. He honored the law, but He was clear and insistent—this is the way we must read the law now.”

Nelson, Thomas (2008-10-28). The Voice: New Testament (with book and chapter navigation) (Kindle Location 1134-1149). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

How do I know I am doing my Father’s will? How do I separate my desires, my expectations, my manipulations from the Holy Spirit’s still small voice that calls me to do that which God desires.

One answer to that question, I believe, lies in the previous passage from yesterday. The way to life is through the narrow gate, the path that is less easy. If I am doing my Father’s will, I can expect to struggle, to be inconvenienced, to be doing things that I don’t necessarily enjoy or want to be doing. There may be difficulties in doing my own will, questions like “How do I phrase that question so he answers the way I want him to answer?” or “What will it take to get her do this for me, I’m too (weak, ill, sad, incapable, busy) t be doing it myself?” but I suspect that the struggles will more about getting what I want and less about what God wants.

I am in a quandry right now, regarding God’s will. We have a long planned family reunion scheduled for the summer of 2013. Because of our youngest son’s military obligations he was not able to attend our first get-together, though his wife and son were there. The primary objective of the reunion is to create a lasting memory in the life of our ten-year old granddaughter, a time to bond with distant grandparents. Next year’s reunion can only include our youngest son if the entire family treks to Nicaragua where he and his family are free-lance missionaries. This represents a HUGE investment…money that my beloved and I do not have; however our God is a huge God and a God a miracles. It is possible, I believe it is especially possible if I thoughtfully and successfully market my children’s books to corporate sites in the form of holiday book fairs. Fifteen corporate bookfairs could put us over the top…so do I lay this down as a fleece? If I expend the effort to contact 30+ corporate sites, and book 15 bookfairs during the months of October, November and December, would that be the confirmation that we need that the mission trip is indeed God’s will and we should take the narrow and challenging path toward that objective?

I don’t know. What I do know is that one consistent theme in my life, my strongest desire, is to stand before the Heavenly Throne and see a look of recognition in the eyes of God, to see Him throw open his arms and cry “Welcome Home! I so glad you are here.” Nothing would break my heart more than to see a look of puzzlement on God’s face because He did not recognize me…because I had been so busy taking care of me here on this earth that I never really bothered about He wants for my life.

It has been a t…

It has been a tough twelve days with no quiet time, few TODO lists, too many days wasted with low spirits (think you Jane Austen…low spirits sounds better than mild depression), too many days spent sleeping in and nights avoiding bedtime, too many hours wasted on solitaire and Sudoku.

On a positive note, everything that was needed to be done was finished for the Keynote Speech for the Snohomish County Childcare Providers Cooperative Tour of Homes. I believe the speech went well, at least one participant appeared genuinely surprised that this was the first time I had delivered on the topic. Questions however were not many, I don’t know that the points I made on the benefits on Interactive Storytime were unique or surprising. I did receive some very valuable feedback on the order of the presentation and I will be moving the demonstration of generic story reading and interactive story reading to the front and then will provide a specific analysis of what was observed as the second piece before inviting the participants to practice the technique.

My beloved and I have  managed to get some positive work done on the backyard. We are discussing the possibility of focusing on the pond today and Tuesday with the hope re-lining it by the end of the week.

The scripture for today is from Matthew 7:13-14 that is think is very pertinent to the last twelve days:

“13 There are two paths before you; you may take only one path. One doorway is narrow. And one door is wide. Go through the narrow door. For the wide door leads to a wide path, and the wide path is broad; the wide, broad path is easy, and the wide, broad, easy path has many, many people on it; but the wide, broad, easy, crowded path leads to death. 14 Now then that narrow door leads to a narrow road that in turn leads to life. It is hard to find that road. Not many people manage it.”

Nelson, Thomas (2008-10-28). The Voice: New Testament (with book and chapter navigation) (Kindle Locations 1124-1127). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

Faithfulness is not a once and done characteristic. It is a character quality that I must choose daily to exemplify. The narrow door requires faithfulness, forethought and deliberate choice. Faithfulness is convenient…I suspect that it is inconvenient most of the time. I’ve been reflecting on the parable of the man who received the one talent the last few days. Like that man, I want to reflect responsiblility, I want to tell myself “Tomorrow, I’ll get it done tomorrow,” and still tomorrow skates just ahead of me, constantly out of reach, every time I seem to get my fingers on it, it skitters away, like a ballbearing on a slippery floor. I strongly suspect that the one talent man choose to live for tomorrow rather than accepting responsibility for what needed to be accomplished today.

God, help me be a faithful one-talent woman. Thank you that you do not give up, that you have sent your Holy Spirit to nag me when I need to be nagged. Today is my choice to accomplish or bury for tomorrow.

Lessons from a Neglected Garden

I’ve been chewing on this topic for as many days as I’ve been keeping this journal. One element of my journey toward faithfulness has been addressing our VERY overgrown back yard. The blackberry vines and weeds had taken over to the point that the dogs had very few places to “go” and because we weren’t picking up after the dogs, the place was literally a sewer of a jungle, or a jungle in a sewer…I’m not certain which is more accurate, but both paint very unpleasant pictures.

In choosing to faithfully spend an average of an hour EVERY DAY in the backyard, we now have a usable patio, a very open aspect (thought not complete) that includes a view of our back fence. My mind is beginning to imagine where plants and pots will go and I am getting eager to get the bold of landscaping cloth we lent our neighbor back so I can start sculpting areas that will include playground chips for walking and for enticing the puppies to use for easy cleanup.

My thoughts as I’ve been hacking down the blackberry and morning glory and not-so-evergreen clematis vines have been running to sin and how it take root in our lives when we fail to recognize and address it when the seed first germinates. Pulling out a tender young shoot is easy…very easy. Pulling out tender young shoots consistently and faithfully discourages their regrowth…the seeds that have been scattered eventually are exhausted and while constant vigilance is necessary because the wind and birds scatter seeds constantly, once the sin in the immediate vicinity is addressed, the volume is never as great.

Ignore sin and it takes root. Those roots grow deeper, the vine grows tall and strong and eventually flowers. The flowers create seeds that are scattered in the cycle of life and more vines grow and take root. The result is barren ground beneath the vines because the sunlight is captured before it reaches the soil. Nothing grows but the vine of sin that continues to spread and overtake the garden.

So why would we tolerate such a state? In our case, it was simple laziness and procrastination. Tomorrow was a good day to get out and take care of the mess. We were also intimidated by the enormity of the project. Because of the years of neglect, cleaning up the area would not be easy. It was much more than a one day job. Add to that the sweet rewards of the blackberry vines, the beauty of the Morning Glory blossoms, and the heady scent of the Evergreen Clematis, and you have an ready made portrait of the consequences of sin. Sin in our lives is rarely bitter, at least not at first. What is sweeter than having your own way; what is more heavenly than sitting down to a sweet dessert or a savory platter of a favorite meal?  Giving up “my time” to meet the needs of others is rarely easy, at least at first, especially when others are needy, demanding, and never satisfied. Sin is so subtle…so desirable…so natural; for those of us who follow Jesus, choose to do God’s will first in our lives, it is easy to be deceived into thinking that we’ve got it figured out and stop being diligent. But when we stop keeping watch, it is inevitable that a stray seed will blow in or plop down in some bird’s droppings and the cycle of sin begins again.

Peter understood that. In Mark 14, Jesus is preparing his disciples for his last day on this earth, for the final march to the cross. He is letting them know that he will be gone, but he will meet them again in Galilee, and he tells them that before the night watch is completed, all of them will have deserted him, taking off and running for their lives. It is here in Mark 14 that Peter swears he would never leave Jesus side and Jesus responds with the foreknowledge that he, Peter, will have denied Jesus three times between the first two crows of a rooster.

It is so hard to stay alert…to be constantly watchful. Perhaps it for this reason that we are encouraged to keep a journal, to start our day in prayer and reading the scripture, to plant those seeds of faithfulness and humility that will help us keep watch for those first weeds.

There are so many lessons to be learned from our neglected garden, but the sweet thing is that there are so many blessings just waiting for us if we will choose God’s ways. Because of the faithful watering of the baskets of flowers that were put up in May at the beginning of this journey, we are blessed almost daily with hummingbird sightings. I love hummingbirds…and finches and sparrows. They love the flowers and seeds that have been put out for them to enjoy. They love the water in the pond for bathing and sipping. And God loves me so much, He has directed these tiny creatures to our changing garden, for us to enjoy and bask in HIS LOVE.

Thoughts about Prayer

I’m moving out of Mark and over to Matthew for a few days, because Matthew recorded Jesus thoughts on prayer so eloquently. Recording Jesus’ words, Matthew uses the word PRAY or PRAYER about 36 times. It is in Matthew that the well-known “Lord’s Prayer” is recorded in Chapter 6. Jesus demonstrated this simple prayer as a capstone to his warning to avoid using prayers as tools to gain power or attention or status among peers.

From Matthew 6:

5 Likewise, when you pray, do not be as hypocrites who love to pray loudly at synagogue or on street corners—their concern is not meant to be heard by God (who can hear even the softest of whispers) but to be seen by men. Those people who sing their prayers with bravado and show, so that their neighbors might see them and be impressed with their piety—they have already earned their reward. 6 When you pray, go into a private room, close the door, and pray unseen to your Father who is unseen.Then your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not go on and on, excessively and strangely like the outsiders—they think their verbosity will let them be heard by their deities. 8 Do not be like them. Your prayers need not be labored or lengthy or grandiose—for your Father knows what you need before you ever ask Him.

Nelson, Thomas (2008-10-28). The Voice: New Testament (with book and chapter navigation) (Kindle Locations 1043-1049). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

I once read an article that broke the Lord’s Prayer down into sections:

• The naming of who God is (Our father in heaven,)
• Praise of God and his holiness (let your name remain holy.)
• Solicitation
  — for God’s will to be established (Bring about your kingdom. Manifest Your will here on earth, as it is manifested in heaven.)
  — for sufficient sustenance (food) that we may physically survive (Give us each day, that day’s bread, no more, no less.)
  — forgiveness of the debts we owe God…our sins of omission and commission (forgive us our debts as we forgive those who owe us something.)
  — protection from ourselves and our self-will and the powers of this earth (Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.)

Three simple elements, acknowledgement, praise and solicitation for “just enough” to get us through today. As Christians, we are taught this prayer (most of us are familiar with the King James Version…the version documented above is from “The Voice”) at our mothers’ knees and we often pray it without thinking about the message. I admit, this is something that has bothered me for many years…the thought that I could pray such a powerful prayer and have no idea what I am asking for.

Think about it: “Forgive us our debts as we forgive others” (KJV) Do I forgive my beloved so completely that I can face God with that prayer??? Have I forgiven my parents their mistakes so absolutely that I can face God with confidence when my sins against him are laid out?

What about the previous request: “Give us this day our daily bread,” (KJV) Am I content with just enough or do I push others aside in the scramble for more coins, more candy, bigger, faster, better, newer (fill in the blank). Do I make my beloved’s life miserable because I want to travel, to finish some project around the house, to have more cash in the bank account so why isn’t he working harder, longer, making more?

And it keeps getting tougher…Do I REALLY want God’s will in my life??? What if He wants me to give up eating savory, fatty foods? What if He wants me to exercise every day? What if He wants me to stand out on street corners (or conference halls) and preach the Good News to other women??? What if He wants me to be faithful and disciplined?

I confess, I have always and continue to struggle with understanding what Jesus meant when he closed the prayer with “Lead us not into temptation” even as I believe I’ve always gotten “but deliver us from evil” without question. I’m sure that there are lots of learned explanations of this particular phrasing, and I do believe that Jesus deliberately used the words he did to make a point. I’m just not there yet with what that point was…but I will keep working on it, reflecting on it, and asking God for clarity. In the mean time…I do choose to use this framework for my prayers.

As I was reading along in Matthew, I re-discovered the words the authorities choose to use to end the sixth chapter

33 Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then all these things will be given to you too. 34 So do not worry about tomorrow. Let tomorrow worry about itself. Living faithfully is a large enough task for today.

Nelson, Thomas (2008-10-28). The Voice: New Testament (with book and chapter navigation) (Kindle Locations 1098-1100). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

I think this is a fitting summary to the Lord’s Prayer…Desire God’s will above all else, be content with what you have today, and choose to live faithfully FOR God each day.

A future and a hope

Better late than never…this journal entry was started at 3:30 p.m. and not finished until 11:30 p.m. When I got started, I had already had breakfast, watered the plants (tomatoes are looking good…though still VERY green), helped my beloved haul off another load of clematis vines/leaves and blackberry vines, and swept the mess to tidy up the neighbor’s lawn, and done a bit of straightening in the Living Room. My beloved and I had a conversation after breakfast that was, in my opinion, productive though not comfortable. Change is a difficult thing to go through, especially if that change is positive and challenging to unproductive life choices. One of the devotional books that my beloved and I are going through (see the next post for the full list) recorded the following:

Fear imprisons, faith liberates; fear paralyzes, faith empowers; fear disheartens, faith encourages; fear sickens, faith heals; fear makes useless, faith makes serviceable.

Harry Emerson Fosdick

The book “Moving from Fear to Freedom” by Grace Fox, in which this quote opens the sixth chapter, goes on to consider the words of Henry Blackaby from his book “Experiencing God”

“Anytime God leads you to do something that has God-sized dimensions, you will face a crisis of belief. When you face a crisis of belief, what you do next reveals what you really believe about God.”

Grace Fox highlights a few more of Dr. Blackaby’s thoughts with the following:

“When you obey God, He will accomplish through you what He has purposed to do. When God does something through your life that only He can do, you will come to know Him more intimately. If you do not obey, you will miss out on some of the most exciting experiences of your life.” (Blackaby, H., 1990. Experiencing God. B&H Publishing Group, Nashville, TN).

As I have been reflecting on the past few weeks and specifically, on the letter that I wrote my mom 31 years ago, what strikes me is the fact that I have consistently wanted to speak at workshops and share what I know with others in public venues. So…with the help of my beloved, I am working on the keynote speech that I am scheduled to give in 15 days for the Snohomish Tour of Homes on August 25th and continue to prepare to present the same workshop at the Washington Library and Media Association (WLMA) in Yakima on October 12th and assuming that one or both of my workshop proposals are accepted, at the Washington Association for the Education of Young Children (WaEYC) the weekend of October 19-20.

If I choose to be faithful and persistent, and if it is indeed God’s will, the workshops will be properly prepared and my message of hope for a solid literacy foundation for all children using child-centered, consistent interactive story reading will be well received.