Grateful 47/365

Grateful for smart looking roosters, even if they're not mine.

I told my man that someday when we move I hope it can be to a place where we can have a nice family dog and about a dozen chickens.

Grateful 46/365

Grateful for footwear? He's not. No matter how much I adore adorable infant footwear, I can't seem to convince him to keep wear it.

Grateful 45/365

Grateful that Spring is trying to Spring anyway.

I submitted a photo to the IHeartFaces weekly contest. This week it's pets, and you can go to my photo blog for the photo of my parent's cat Teddy. It was a completely random shot; I was taking photos of my super cute baby playing at Gramma and Grampa's when Teddy showed up with all his cattish airs about him. He looked down his nose at me with disdain for my foolish camera. He acts like the world revolves around him.

Grateful 44/365

Grateful for my music man.

...And grateful I caught the moment he first discovered how to make noise come out of the piano.

Grateful 43/365

Grateful for sweet deals on adorable footwear.

Now if only Spring would come back...!

The Boy Can Scoot!

... and other random things because they're cute little details and I don't want to forget them ...

The little Jimmy boy has had all the movements down, and was strong enough to get from A to B aboard his chubby little tummy, but the coordination just wasn't working yet. Until the other night. He worked hard, and he figured the scoot thing out. It's slow, but he's got it down. Watch out world.

He loves mirrors.

He has a favorite big boy food now. Popcorn. It made him figure out how to work his tongue so he can swallow it. So far that's the only solid food he's interested in.

He expresses himself by adamantly kicking and punching all four limbs. Happy, sad, angry, excited, scared, silly, eager, tired, awake... he has this massive workout session when he wants to communicate. So cute.

Last night he was crabby, so I was holding him while visiting with a friend in my kitchen. Suddenly I felt a peculiarly warm sensation. I looked. And there was poop. Everywhere! It seeped through his diaper, his shirt, my shirt... and then some. Poop ga-LORE. I started running water in the kitchen sink for a bath, peeled his poopy clothes off of him and removed his diaper. I stood his naked little self up, trying to wipe off the excess poop so it could be more of a warm water bath and less of a poop bath, when he cheerfully made the situation more fun and peed all over the kitchen rug.

Yay.

Motherhood rocks. Where else can you find such an unpredictable job that's so disgustingly cute?

Grateful 43/365

Grateful? Ah yes, grateful for snuggly blankets to hide in. It's nearing the end of April, and I'm grateful for warm, snuggly blankets. Absurd? Absolutely. Why? Because there's an estimated amount of up to 6 inches of snow coming. And for THAT, I hate to say, I am NOT grateful. 

Me to Hubby: "Can we move???"

Wind

A windy day by the pond
i <3 faces

What is Godliness?

The word godliness has been running and running through my mind, challenging me to that question, What is godliness?

I’m not meaning a Webster’s Dictionary or Strong’s Concordance definition. I’m not looking for where the word originated and what meaning does it have today. I don’t want to sit and analyze it. I don’t care if it’s a noun, or a verb, or an adjective, or a what-have-you. I’m not after a theological seminary type answer.

What I want to know is what is godliness.

I used to think I knew. Perfection and godliness were two exact things to me. I used to believe that godliness was something you did. Something that you strove for. Something you attained through work. Something you could see. It was a form, something that you put on. Godliness was an appearance.

It was also something that you were enslaved to. Something that no matter how hard you tried you still would never totally and completely attain, though that was still your goal. It was something that God harshly demanded. Something that made every day an uphill struggle to reach. Something that made you a failure if you did not succeed in it. I became so consumed by my godliness that there was room for nothing else in my heart.

I have found that there are many how-to articles and messages related to this subject. I used to soak them up like a sponge. I was on a quest for godliness, and I thought I knew what godliness was.

But now I’m not so sure.

I found I could sure look godly. It’s easy to wear a godly mask.

Yet I realized that’s exactly what the Pharisees did… They looked, sounded, and acted so godly. But they didn’t have room in their hearts for Jesus Christ.

I began to question my meaning of godliness.

And God answered my question.

God said my righteousness was filthiness in His sight.

God said He did not come to call people like me who were so righteous.

God said my good works were nothing.

God said I was nothing.

Nothing echoed in the deep empty premises of my heart.

Nothing!

I was stripped and naked in shame before a holy God. My godliness lay in ashes at my feet. My mask had melted in obliteration and I was nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

And then I saw the Cross. I saw all my godliness, all my works, all my filthy righteousness, all my hypocrisy, all my shame, all my guilt, all my sin, all my hopelessness, all my cursed existence, all my nothingness, all of it on that cross in the form of the Son of God. My whole shattered being was up there. His blood dripped down, staining the ground in crimson.

And I realized I was horribly nothing.

And God said I was nothing.

But now that I was nothing there was a Savior. A Savior who loved me so much He took upon Himself my utter worthlessness that I may become the child of God.

His Blood cleansed me and washed away all my filthy godliness, works, righteousness, hypocrisy, shame, guilt, sin, hopelessness, and my cursed existence.

He removed the curse in my life. My mask was gone, and I didn’t miss it. My heart was free. My guilt was no longer existent. My soul had hope.

I was now nothing… But God was something.

But what about my godliness? Isn’t that something I must strive after yet? Perfection? Righteousness? Isn’t that all a part of Christianity?

Jesus Christ is my righteousness. His glorious salvation has given me freedom. He’s my Savior. He fills me with Himself, with His Spirit. And that is where true godliness lies.

My hope is sure, my faith is strong, my eternity is secured.

I am nothing. Absolutely nothing.

But God is something. 


[Originally written in December 2005, I thought it appropriate as we celebrate Palm Sunday and look forward to re-living the death and resurrection of our Savior.]

Grateful 42/365

Grateful for grass! [she says, reverting to a photo from last week when Spring took a little week-long vacation in these parts.]

Grateful 41/365

Grateful for Mobile Uploads even if the quality is poor.