Update

For those of you who don’t know, I am in the process of writing a book with the same title and topic of this blog.  In fact, the blog came about because of the book.  I was able to get away to a writing retreat this week at The Convent.  It has been such a great week!  I got 21 pages done which covers roughly the first four chapters.  I realize those are some short chapters but it was good just to get that bare bones down on paper, now I get to start fleshing it out.  Because I am so excited it is hard not to start posting excerpts from what I have to the blog.  But I have been reading all over the place that this is not a smart thing to do, so I’ll have to stick to bribing friends to read it over for me. J

I’ve been learning a lot about platforms, blogging, and publishing lately.  If you are a writer mom like me, here are some of my favorite agent/writer blogs:

Rachel Gardner: http://www.rachellegardner.com/

Radical Womanhood: http://solofemininity.blogs.com/

Witty Words: http://christimcguire.wordpress.com/

If you are interested in social media and all the various uses and/or programs, even if you aren’t a writer, you will probably like these blogs.

Michael Hyatt: http://michaelhyatt.com/

La Vie en Prose: http://merbarnes.blogspot.com/

I am heading home today so this post is short.  I do want to make a shameless plea for you to become either a follower in the column on the right à or to sign up for email alerts when I post something new ß over here on the left.  I really appreciate you taking the time to read here and to comment.  Thank you!

I had to post this. It is so funny and so true. I love it when someone can convict me and make me laugh at the same time.

How big is your but?

Sophia Wisdom

God the Father, Jesus the Bridegroom, and Holy Spirit the… role model for mothers? 

The Holy Spirit is described in the Bible as an Advocate, comforter in suffering, encourager, witness, teacher, and God’s gift to believers.  The Holy Spirit is closely associated with words, both written and spoken.  The Holy Spirit is among us and in us.  We are a temple filled with the Holy Spirit if we obey God.  You can speak against many things, but it is not forgiven if you speak against the Holy Spirit (Luke 12:10, Matt. 12:32, Mark 3:29, Acts 5:3).  Though the Holy Spirit is often used when talking about baptism, it would seem that it is also present when people hear the gospel and believe (Acts 10:44, 11:15) or when men of faith pray over believers (Acts 8: 15-17, 8:19, 19:6). 

How does any of that equate to being a role model for moms?  Sure we could go the way of the High School English paper and say something poetic about birth and water being feminine attributes.  I would like to shy away from that though because as cool as that might sound it really doesn’t help us in our daily struggle to parent. 

God has the sometimes annoying habit of being perfect.  He doesn’t say anything He doesn’t mean and He doesn’t mince words.  God gives us a clear picture of Himself as triune.  He is the Father and the bridge-groom, that much is not really up for debate.  But what to do with the Holy Spirit?  The Holy Spirit has several very feminine qualities.  “She” likes to: talk, listen, comfort, fill us with love, and bring hope.  The Holy Spirit is a nurturer who excels in interpreting the prayers we can only groan b/c we can’t find the words ourselves.  Every time the Bible says the Spirit testifies I have this image of a strong southern woman belting out, “Preach it honey, cause you know I saw it,” with her hand raised up in the air. 

There are a number of lessons we can learn from this Advocate.  I want to look at one of those today.  The Holy Spirit comes as a gift from God.  Those who are “filled with the spirit” are directly plugged in (as much as a human can be) to the Truth and Love of God.  Those are some mighty big shoes to fill.  As mothers we are the nurturers; relationships are important to us.  Connections matter and we cultivate them.  We want our daughters to get along with their siblings, their father, and especially with us.  We also need to nurture our daughters’ relationships with God, her Father in Heaven, and Jesus, her future groom.  Do we fill our daughters with a sense of dread in their obligations to religious rules and doctrine?  Or do we help “the God of hope fill [our daughters] with all joy and peace as [they] trust in him, so that [they] may overflow with hope by the power of the [our example and teaching].”

At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.      Luke 10:21

And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.      Romans 5:5