I haven’t been online as much as usual this week, but I have a short list of good reads discovered.
Count It All Joy: How to Grow and Mature in Trials. “I have a confession to make: Sometimes I revert to thinking like I’m in a fairytale. This one meets that one, and they live happily ever after. This happens and that happens and . . . they live happily ever after.”
Let’s Stop the Kid Jokes, HT to Challies. “While joking about kids may seem inconsequential in the moment, this sort of talk points to a larger cultural trend toward devaluing children by depicting them as burdensome and annoying. As Christians, we need to pause and reflect on how we speak about our children. Do our comments about parenting and our children’s struggles reflect Christ’s heart or the hot takes of our culture?”
The Measure of a Mom: How Women Combat Comparison. “Even in the local church, conflict flares unseen in the minds of mothers who allow their choices to become their identity. And with so many choices available, there are infinite ways for us to be divided.”
I Don’t Want to Be Taught! “While the rest of us are trying to white-knuckle a disciplined outward appearance, my youngest daughter’s disdain for being taught was in full display. It caused me to consider the state of my own heart, how often I might resent being shown my lack of wisdom and knowledge in matters more weighty than chess. Despite following Christ for most of my life, I find I am often still trying to go it alone, trying to prove I know the rules (or can make my own) and can safely play by them.”
How I Read Ten Books at Once. My own routine has some similarities, except I’m in five to seven books at any given time. I shared some of that several years ago in Finding Time to Read.
You Can’t Afford to Sit Out the 2024 Election. “There is no perfect party or candidate. But some support policies that do a better job of honoring biblical values. I pray for protection for those who do.” I don’t say much about politics here, but I believe we need to be good stewards of this right we’ve been given to have a voice in our elected officials.
Unbelief puts our circumstances between us and God,
but faith puts God between us and our circumstances.
—F. B. Meyer
Stray Thoughts 
I’ve bookmarked several of these to read later. The one that stands out to me though is the article about how we joke about our children. I remember I was an older mom with my youngest son and sometimes I’d say something jokingly to him that he took much differently than I intended. That certainly caught my attention and I’d apologize and try to explain what I meant. This also brings to mind some stand up comedians (and Christian ones at that) that make fun of their wives or husbands for the sake of comedy. Their spouses, I’m sure know they are joking but still. . . . .
I agree, humor is a great gift, but it can go too far sometimes.
Wow, Barbara -10 books at a time. Even 5 – 7 books at a time! I can focus on one, and if it doesn’t captivate me after 50 pages, I’m done. There’s no rhyme or reason to my next selection – could be fiction or memoir or counseling related or homekeeping related.
I do reach for a number of volumes in my devotional time, but primarily keep it to God’s Word with a hefty concordance.
Paul David Tripp’s New Morning Mercies is a wonderful late late night send off to bed.
Some of the different volumes are read in different places. And they are usually on different subjects or from different eras. I couldn’t read more than one book at a time on the same subject without getting them confused.
wise words by Mr. Meyer!