Here is a question I am pondering on this Resurrection Sunday...if you believe that "good" people go to heaven, what was the purpose of Jesus coming to earth as a baby, living a sinless life, dying on the cross for your sins and mine and then rising from the dead, (which is why we celebrate Easter)?
And a follow up question to that would be how would you even know if you were "good" enough?
Food for thought...or maybe for reflection and revelation.
Learning to enjoy Truth, Beauty and Goodness Together
Showing posts with label faith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faith. Show all posts
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Woo Hoo!
My family in heaven just by grew two people!! My parents came to trust the Lord Jesus as their Saviour this past Sunday! I am so excited to get to go to MS for their baptism in a week or so.
As I told my mom...you never know when you are gonna go so you better know where you are gonna go when you go.
You can know for sure that you will go to heaven if you acknowledge that you are a sinner and believe that God sent Jesus Christ to take the punishment for your sin and accept the free gift of salvation in Jesus that He offers you.
I recently heard a neat analogy of Jesus as our Judge and our Saviour...imagine you are a convicted prisoner, sent to stand before the judge. The judge stands up and walks down from his stand to take your place and you are free to go.
If you died tonight where would you go???
As I told my mom...you never know when you are gonna go so you better know where you are gonna go when you go.
You can know for sure that you will go to heaven if you acknowledge that you are a sinner and believe that God sent Jesus Christ to take the punishment for your sin and accept the free gift of salvation in Jesus that He offers you.
I recently heard a neat analogy of Jesus as our Judge and our Saviour...imagine you are a convicted prisoner, sent to stand before the judge. The judge stands up and walks down from his stand to take your place and you are free to go.
If you died tonight where would you go???
Sunday, June 8, 2014
A Rocking Chair
An example of how God meets our needs, even when they may seem small....
B#11 is a terrible sleeper, always has been. I rely hugely on my rocking chair in his room, sometimes I even sleep there. It is pretty much the only way I can get him to sleep in the evening and back to sleep when he wakes up many times during the night.
We are going on a trip to see B#1 and his newly pregnant wife and the thought of not having a rocking chair to use for B#11 was a huge issue to me. I woke up one morning after very little sleep and told DH that I couldn't possibly go with them because I would have no rocking chair, weeping as I said it.
I don't think I mentioned that part to my daughter-in-law but we did joke a bit about tying my rocking chair on to the top of our huge red van. Well, today after church she texted me and told me that her church was letting her borrow a rocking chair from them for me to use while I am there. I don't think she quite realized how emphatic I was when I replied "Praise the Lord" or just how huge this was to me. But God knew how huge it was to me, even though it may have seemed small to everyone else.
We are going on a trip to see B#1 and his newly pregnant wife and the thought of not having a rocking chair to use for B#11 was a huge issue to me. I woke up one morning after very little sleep and told DH that I couldn't possibly go with them because I would have no rocking chair, weeping as I said it.
I don't think I mentioned that part to my daughter-in-law but we did joke a bit about tying my rocking chair on to the top of our huge red van. Well, today after church she texted me and told me that her church was letting her borrow a rocking chair from them for me to use while I am there. I don't think she quite realized how emphatic I was when I replied "Praise the Lord" or just how huge this was to me. But God knew how huge it was to me, even though it may have seemed small to everyone else.
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Sunday
B#11 and I stayed home from church today with B#5 who seems to be having some sort of allergic reaction to something. I wanted to share a couple of things that spoke to me today.
Hope you all have a wonderful Lord's Day today!
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Happy Resurrection Day!
I pray that you all had a good Easter day or as we call it Resurrection Day. We had a good one. The weather was great and we had friends over to feast with us. Without wanting to write a sermon here, I wanted to share a couple of verses that stood out to me from our sermon.
John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life."
But let's not forget John 3:17 which says " For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."
And 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, " For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
These verses should cause us all to have the joy of the Lord. If you know the Lord as your personal savior this world is not you home. You are a stranger passing through. Your home is in heaven where God will wipe away every tear. This world with its cares and concerns will pass away. Praise the Lord for His mercies! Praise the Lord that His mercies are new every day!
I also wanted to share with you a couple of pictures that B#6 took of our "Easter" surprises.
Our Good Friday tradition is to make Resurrection Rolls with crescent rolls and marshmallows dipped in butter and cinnamon sugar. The marshmallow melts inside the crescent roll and makes an empty tomb, like the empty tomb of Jesus on Resurrection Day. These are yummy to eat too. Hey, why bother to make something if it isn't yummy to eat, right?
Hope you had a good day and that as the new week starts you will think about what Jesus did for you when He died on the cross. Without Jesus there is no true meaning in life....He is the giver of life.
John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life."
But let's not forget John 3:17 which says " For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."
And 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, " For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
These verses should cause us all to have the joy of the Lord. If you know the Lord as your personal savior this world is not you home. You are a stranger passing through. Your home is in heaven where God will wipe away every tear. This world with its cares and concerns will pass away. Praise the Lord for His mercies! Praise the Lord that His mercies are new every day!
I also wanted to share with you a couple of pictures that B#6 took of our "Easter" surprises.
Meet Marshmallow and Leo. They will be our fuzzy lawnmowers. Leo is still being bottle fed so B#6 is loving getting to feed him twice a day.
We made these yummy pretzel crosses this week. One of my favorite things is chocolate covered pretzels so I really enjoyed eating these.
Our Good Friday tradition is to make Resurrection Rolls with crescent rolls and marshmallows dipped in butter and cinnamon sugar. The marshmallow melts inside the crescent roll and makes an empty tomb, like the empty tomb of Jesus on Resurrection Day. These are yummy to eat too. Hey, why bother to make something if it isn't yummy to eat, right?
Yesterday we frosted some cross shaped sugar cookies.
Hope you had a good day and that as the new week starts you will think about what Jesus did for you when He died on the cross. Without Jesus there is no true meaning in life....He is the giver of life.
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Monday, June 25, 2012
Hold On to Your Crown
In my daily devotional today the title was "Hold on to Your Crown". The author is continuing to encourage us as mothers to stay the course. Society as a whole oozes with attitude that what moms do is not valuable, that someone else out there with a degree in children can do a much better job than we can, that we need to find our value in some sort of career outside the home or we are wasting our talents. I pray, as the author does, that we would stay the course of motherhood. That we would use the many gifts and abilities that the Lord has blessed us with in the God-given job of mothering our children. Staying home with our children, teaching them, discipling them is a huge responsibility that we should not take lightly, nor should we turn it over to someone else lightly. My girls all have some idea of what they would like to do when they "grow up" and I think that it is fine to use the gifts and abilities that God has given them in finding ways to serve others even for pay but my prayer for them is that when and if the Lord blesses them with children that they will not give up the blessing of raising them and staying home with them. I believe that there is nothing materially that we can give our children that could ever take the place of raising them and being there for them. They grow us so fast. So as for me...I am going to Hold on to my crown, my crown of motherhood. And I am purposing to delight in it and not let society steal my joy.Here is the prayer for the day from the devotional:
"Lord, I thank you that you have given me the crown of mothering. Help me to remember each day that it is a crown of which I can be proud. When I wear this crown I am walking in Your perfect will. Amen."
And a poem:
What is in Thine Hand?
What is that, oh Christian Mother
God hath 'trusted to thy care?
In thine hand to love and nurture,
Sweetly innocent and fair!
What a high and noble priviledge!
Bring them up to know God's Word;
They in turn will call thee blessed
When they've learned to trust the Lord!
Mary A. Haydon
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
When We Walk with the Lord
That is the title to one of my favorite hymns.
When we walk with the Lord,
In the light of His Word
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will
He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus, But to trust and obey.
I was singing that to baby tonight and then I got to thinking...in the Old Testament(which is where I am plugging away with my" Read the Bible in 90 days", very behind) about how the Lord gave the Isrealites different jobs. The Levites were given the job of all the work in the Tabernacle and there were different artists who were given the job of making all of the articles in the Tabernacle. That made me think of how we each are called to different things. What our family feels the Lord calling us to do may not be what He is calling you to do. Now I am not talking about Salvation here, Salvation is only through accepting Jesus Christ as your Saviour and making Him Lord of your life. What I am talking about is the different areas of our life where we may have different standards, where we feel strongly that the Lord would have us to do things that may be different from others. But if we trust and obey then we will be happy.
When we walk with the Lord,
In the light of His Word
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will
He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus, But to trust and obey.
I was singing that to baby tonight and then I got to thinking...in the Old Testament(which is where I am plugging away with my" Read the Bible in 90 days", very behind) about how the Lord gave the Isrealites different jobs. The Levites were given the job of all the work in the Tabernacle and there were different artists who were given the job of making all of the articles in the Tabernacle. That made me think of how we each are called to different things. What our family feels the Lord calling us to do may not be what He is calling you to do. Now I am not talking about Salvation here, Salvation is only through accepting Jesus Christ as your Saviour and making Him Lord of your life. What I am talking about is the different areas of our life where we may have different standards, where we feel strongly that the Lord would have us to do things that may be different from others. But if we trust and obey then we will be happy.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas from our family to yours. We pray that if you do not know Jesus as your Saviour that this Christmas season you will see Him working in your life and desire to know Him better.
I mentioned in a previous post about Advent and some of the things we do during Advent. We have been reading from the Old Testament each evening after dinner about the prophecies concerning Christ's coming. Well last night I decided to take a little side trip from that to read some Scriptures about some issues we are having in our family. You see, we have developed a bad habit of allowing unloving words and attitudes between us all so I thought I would just pick some Scriptures to read to the children to see what the Bible has to say to us about this but you know what....even in reading these verses to the children they related to Christmas and the reason we even celebrate this season.
We read in Leviticus that we are to love our neighbor(siblings) as ourself. Then in 1 John 4: 7-11 we read "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
The Bible is always relevant. Praise the Lord for that. Merry CHRISTmas!!!
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Little Dresses for Africa
The girls and I went to a sew-in at our church. It was a day to get together and sew dresses for little girls in an orphanage in africa. We also worked on shorts for the boys and skirts for the women. I believe the ministry is called Show Mercy. Our church's goal is, I think, 110 of each item. You can visit their blog at www.littledressesforafrica.org.blog. I haven't visited the site yet.
Here is an example of one of the dresses. This dress is actually made from a pillowcase but we have been using fabric and bias tape. They seem to be the simplest thing to make. I brought the instructions home to make some for B#6 for summer dresses with a t-shirt underneath.
Here is B#4 working on one of the dresses she made.
We started hanging the finished dresses in ziplock bags on the bulletin board in church. It will be exciting to watch it fill up as we continue to make more.
Here is a friend's daughter doing some of the cutting. My contribution consisted of ironing as that was about all my tired, postpartum brain could handle for the day. B#2 stayed home with the little boys to help dad while I took the rest of the girls with me. B#6 made some beaded bracelets and necklaces for the girls in the orphanage while the sewing was going on.
Here is an example of one of the dresses. This dress is actually made from a pillowcase but we have been using fabric and bias tape. They seem to be the simplest thing to make. I brought the instructions home to make some for B#6 for summer dresses with a t-shirt underneath.
Here is B#4 working on one of the dresses she made.
We started hanging the finished dresses in ziplock bags on the bulletin board in church. It will be exciting to watch it fill up as we continue to make more.
Here is a friend's daughter doing some of the cutting. My contribution consisted of ironing as that was about all my tired, postpartum brain could handle for the day. B#2 stayed home with the little boys to help dad while I took the rest of the girls with me. B#6 made some beaded bracelets and necklaces for the girls in the orphanage while the sewing was going on.Some of my favorite websites
I decided today that I wanted to do a post on some of my favorite websites/blogs. Now my family might be disappointed not to see any updated photos of beautiful B#9 or read some more personal things but not knowing who my other readers are and wanting to share some things that interest me, I thought this might be a good post to do.
www.raisingolives.com is a new blog that I have found, written by a mother of 9 also. There are so many good things on this blog from saving money, homeschooling, parenting(great posts here), pregnancy etc.
www.raisinggodlytomatoes.com is a website that is written by a mom of 10 with some wonderful advice on raising godly children in an ungodly world. I purchased her book but you can also read it through her articles on the website.
www.raisinghomemakers.com is a blog written by many different authors. Some are written by moms about raising our daughters to be godly young women who desire to do the Lord's will in their lives, even if it goes against what society thinks they should do and other posts are written by young ladies themselves as they go through this time in their lives.
www.yoursacredcalling.com is a blog by another mom of many, Staci McDonald, who co-wrote the book "Passionate Housewives Desperate for God" and "Raising Maidens of Virtue", which I am hoping to read through with my girls or at least have them read if time with a newborn and two rambunctious toddlers won't allow me to read with them.
www.ladyofvirtue.blogspot.com is a blog written by a mom of 12, I think. Her posts have all different ranges, from homeschooling to politics. I really enjoy her perspective on things.
I know there are others that I read on a very regular basis but these were the ones that came to my mind for now. Even if you don't homeschool or even have children, you might find something of interest for you at one of these. Maybe even just to help you understand our families convictions better.
Hope you all are having a blessed night.
www.raisingolives.com is a new blog that I have found, written by a mother of 9 also. There are so many good things on this blog from saving money, homeschooling, parenting(great posts here), pregnancy etc.
www.raisinggodlytomatoes.com is a website that is written by a mom of 10 with some wonderful advice on raising godly children in an ungodly world. I purchased her book but you can also read it through her articles on the website.
www.raisinghomemakers.com is a blog written by many different authors. Some are written by moms about raising our daughters to be godly young women who desire to do the Lord's will in their lives, even if it goes against what society thinks they should do and other posts are written by young ladies themselves as they go through this time in their lives.
www.yoursacredcalling.com is a blog by another mom of many, Staci McDonald, who co-wrote the book "Passionate Housewives Desperate for God" and "Raising Maidens of Virtue", which I am hoping to read through with my girls or at least have them read if time with a newborn and two rambunctious toddlers won't allow me to read with them.
www.ladyofvirtue.blogspot.com is a blog written by a mom of 12, I think. Her posts have all different ranges, from homeschooling to politics. I really enjoy her perspective on things.
I know there are others that I read on a very regular basis but these were the ones that came to my mind for now. Even if you don't homeschool or even have children, you might find something of interest for you at one of these. Maybe even just to help you understand our families convictions better.
Hope you all are having a blessed night.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Don't you know what causes that?
Being parents of 8, going on 9 children, we get alot of unasked for comments. Recently I was in the grocery store with just B#8 when someone whom we have known for years commented on my pregnant state by asking me....Haven't you figured out what causes that? My answer to him was " Yes, the Lord". I guess I kind of expect those comments from strangers but coming from someone that we used to go to church with kind of threw me. So I thought I would do a post on why we do what we do...
First and foremost, we are followers of Jesus Christ and we believe that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God and is still relevant for believers today. Having said that let me share with you some scriptures that sum up what we believe about children....
Behold, children are a gift of the Lord;
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one's youth.
How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;
They shall not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate.
Psalm 127:3-5
How many of us would more than welcome gifts and blessings from the Lord if it came in the form of money? But we all know that money does not bring happiness. Many times we hear of people who won the lottery, that it ruined their life or their marriages. Yet the Lord, creator of us all, in whose image we are created, says that children are a gift, a reward! I expect that the Creator of the Universe knows much more than us which of the two(children or money) is truly a blessing and a reward. Now I am not saying that we believe that everyone must have as many children as we have. I am saying that for my husband and I, we have come to believe that we should welcome whatever number of blessings the Lord chooses to entrust us with. Do I have all the faith right this moment to be completely on board with it if the Lord give us 10 or even more??? No, I can't say that. I believe that He gives us the faith for each child as He brings them into our family. One of my favorite hymns is "Trust and Obey". It says...trust and obey, for there's no other way, to be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey.
So that is what we are doing. We are trusting God to provide for each little one He brings us and we obey what we feel the Scriptures are telling us.
I like what King David said in Psalm 37:25-26 : I have been young and now I am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Or his descendants begging bread. All day long he is gracious and lends; And his descendants are a blessing.
First and foremost, we are followers of Jesus Christ and we believe that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God and is still relevant for believers today. Having said that let me share with you some scriptures that sum up what we believe about children....
Behold, children are a gift of the Lord;
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one's youth.
How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;
They shall not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate.
Psalm 127:3-5
How many of us would more than welcome gifts and blessings from the Lord if it came in the form of money? But we all know that money does not bring happiness. Many times we hear of people who won the lottery, that it ruined their life or their marriages. Yet the Lord, creator of us all, in whose image we are created, says that children are a gift, a reward! I expect that the Creator of the Universe knows much more than us which of the two(children or money) is truly a blessing and a reward. Now I am not saying that we believe that everyone must have as many children as we have. I am saying that for my husband and I, we have come to believe that we should welcome whatever number of blessings the Lord chooses to entrust us with. Do I have all the faith right this moment to be completely on board with it if the Lord give us 10 or even more??? No, I can't say that. I believe that He gives us the faith for each child as He brings them into our family. One of my favorite hymns is "Trust and Obey". It says...trust and obey, for there's no other way, to be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey.
So that is what we are doing. We are trusting God to provide for each little one He brings us and we obey what we feel the Scriptures are telling us.
I like what King David said in Psalm 37:25-26 : I have been young and now I am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Or his descendants begging bread. All day long he is gracious and lends; And his descendants are a blessing.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Big Families...the new Green
I read this article on one of the blogs that I follow...written from a Catholic perspective, which we are not...but funny and interesting.
Got a big family? Then you already know that you’re crazy, a traitor to feminism, and a slave to the pope; you’re neglecting most of your kids and robbing the rest of their childhood; you’re a burden on the system in general, and you probably don’t own a television set.
But wait, there’s more! Don’t forget, you’re also destroying the earth.
Lately, it’s become fashionable for radical environmentalists to denounce large families as irresponsible, even selfish. Maybe you heard the remarks of the chairman of the U.K.’s Sustainable Development Commission, who said that, out of respect for the earth, couples should be legally limited to bearing two “replacement” children.
And yet, if we can get beyond the inflammatory rhetoric, do radical environmentalists have a point? Should we slow down a little? It almost seems like common sense, especially when you’re having one of those days when you do feel a little crowded by the swarms of ravening locusts — uh, I mean, treasured offspring who share your last name.
After all, aren’t Catholics supposed to be good stewards of the earth? Isn’t it true that we “lotsas” are using more than our share of natural resources, burning more than our share of carbon, and just plain taking up too much space?
Probably not. Moms of many already know that the work of caring for seven children is not the same as caring for one child times seven. In some ways, it’s easier. In the same way, many large families actually have a small-er carbon footprint than a typical family with one or two kids. A household of nine is not like a household of three times three. It just doesn’t work that way.
Moreover, when larger families do have an environmentally friendly profile, it often occurs naturally as a result of the family’s large size, not despite it. It’s not the num-bers that count; it’s the lifestyle.
HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES:
Cars Count
Let’s start with that enormous van we drive — could it be eco-friendly? Sure. It’s certainly not fuel efficient; it’s just that it’s usually parked in the driveway. With eight kids in tow, I leave the house as close to zero times as possible, bringing our weekly mileage to less than half the national average. My husband has a small, fuel-efficient car, which we use if only a few kids are on board.
And how often do we fly? Well, the stewardess is still in therapy from the last time our family boarded a plane together, about eight years ago.
Economy Size
How about electricity? Do nine people use more than three or four? Not necessarily. Six kids playing Dinosaur Wedding do it by the light of a single light bulb, just like one or two kids would. Two or three kids fit in a bathtub at a time. The oven stays on 350 degrees for 45 minutes, no matter how big the meatloaf.
Cozy Quarters
Most large families I know don’t live in energy-hogging gigantic mansions. They live in normal houses, they’re a little crowded, and they have lots of bunk beds. (They do, however, tend to go for big yards, lots of trees, and gardens. Natural wildlife preserves, you might say.)
Reduce and Re-use
Many large families also live with tight budgets. We happily trade a second income for another armful of babies. The quick and easy methods of saving the environment that make the news daily are hardly news to cash-strapped families: Turn down the heat, insulate, avoid anything disposable, buy in bulk, cook from scratch, breastfeed, don’t eat out, don’t waste this, don’t buy that. Turn out the light, close the door, unplug it, wash in cold water, make it do or do without. And if it does not get eaten for dinner, we serve it for lunch.
What a revelation! And so good for the earth.
Make Do
How about consumption of goods? I must admit that my family and many Catholic families I know are almost complete failures as consumers. Our house is mostly furnished, from the couch to the car to the pots and pans and coffee cups, with used goods. We are not, for the most part, consuming new pro-ducts, with all their attendant carbon costs in manufacture and transport. By taking in used things, we’re also preventing an entire houseful of stuff from clogging up the landfills.
Pass It On
Large families tend to buy used clothes, books, and toys, but we hang onto them, passing them down from child to child and even to family. The thermal onesie on my baby today? It started life keeping my nephew and niece warm, then went on to clothe every one of my eight kids so far.
Our family of 10 usually produces only three kitchen-sized bags of trash per week.
If you’re still feeling a little eco-guilt, go ahead and plug your own family’s stats into one of the many carbon calculators available online (try SafeClimate.net). You may be surprised at how “be fruitful and multiply” translates quite naturally into treading lightly on the earth.
According to the first three carbon calculators that Google turned up, my family of 10 consumes and emits less than the national average … the national average, that is, for a family of two. And we were just trying to get through the week.
What the Future Holds
This is all very well, some will say, as long as your many children all live with you in your shoe. You may be very thrifty today, but what about when they all grow up and move out? More people is more people, no matter how you slice it.
For this argument, I have two answers. First is that grown children of large families tend to be what you might call natural conservationists. Children who grow up one of many are likely to have learned that they’ll survive without buying stuff, that itokay to share, that material things come and go, and that, like it or not, we all depend on each other for survival.
So who will I be sending out into the world? A small crowd of perfect environmentalists.
Second, children of families that are open to life also know something much more important, something that rabidly utilitarian environmentalists still don’t seem to realize: A human soul is more than the sum of how many kilowatts he consumes.
Evangelize an Environmentalist
What can we say to people who do not realize that the human family is the very seat of love, and that procreation is the ultimate human imitation of the action of the Holy Trinity?
There is nothing you can say. Satisfy yourself that you’re not being wasteful, and then answer not the fool according to his folly. Love your children, and teach them to love each other; and if you and your brood feel like a sign of contradiction, then that’s a good sign.
The Catholic Church has been teaching this lifestyle for thousands of years. There is no contradiction between loving and caring for the earth and supplying it with inhabitants: We are commanded to do both.
Was it short-sighted when God the Father explained these things to Adam? Was it hyperbole when Christ asked, “What does it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, but suffer the loss of his own soul?”
‘A Great Big Yes’
Our beloved Benedict XVI recently said of big families:
“Their Yes to one another in the patience of the journey and in the strength of the sacrament with which Christ had bound them together, had become a great Yes to themselves, their children, to God the Creator and to the Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Thus, from the witness of these families a wave of joy reached us, not a superficial and scant gaiety that is all too soon dispelled, but a joy that developed also in suffering, a joy that reaches down to the depths and truly redeems man.”
Of course it’s Catholic to be an environmentalist. Of course it’s our job to care for the earth. But even more, it’s our job to remember, and to teach our children, that this world will not last, and to live accordingly.
“All flesh is as grass, and all its glory as the flower of grass; the grass withered, and the flower has fallen — but the word of the Lord endures forever” (Isaiah 40:6).
How will it endure, if there is no one to hear it? Let us answer the No of child-fearing radicals with a joyful and ancient Yes. The world needs big families.
Simcha Fisher enjoys the “green” life with her husband and eight children in New Hampshire.
Got a big family? Then you already know that you’re crazy, a traitor to feminism, and a slave to the pope; you’re neglecting most of your kids and robbing the rest of their childhood; you’re a burden on the system in general, and you probably don’t own a television set.
But wait, there’s more! Don’t forget, you’re also destroying the earth.
Lately, it’s become fashionable for radical environmentalists to denounce large families as irresponsible, even selfish. Maybe you heard the remarks of the chairman of the U.K.’s Sustainable Development Commission, who said that, out of respect for the earth, couples should be legally limited to bearing two “replacement” children.
And yet, if we can get beyond the inflammatory rhetoric, do radical environmentalists have a point? Should we slow down a little? It almost seems like common sense, especially when you’re having one of those days when you do feel a little crowded by the swarms of ravening locusts — uh, I mean, treasured offspring who share your last name.
After all, aren’t Catholics supposed to be good stewards of the earth? Isn’t it true that we “lotsas” are using more than our share of natural resources, burning more than our share of carbon, and just plain taking up too much space?
Probably not. Moms of many already know that the work of caring for seven children is not the same as caring for one child times seven. In some ways, it’s easier. In the same way, many large families actually have a small-er carbon footprint than a typical family with one or two kids. A household of nine is not like a household of three times three. It just doesn’t work that way.
Moreover, when larger families do have an environmentally friendly profile, it often occurs naturally as a result of the family’s large size, not despite it. It’s not the num-bers that count; it’s the lifestyle.
HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES:
Cars Count
Let’s start with that enormous van we drive — could it be eco-friendly? Sure. It’s certainly not fuel efficient; it’s just that it’s usually parked in the driveway. With eight kids in tow, I leave the house as close to zero times as possible, bringing our weekly mileage to less than half the national average. My husband has a small, fuel-efficient car, which we use if only a few kids are on board.
And how often do we fly? Well, the stewardess is still in therapy from the last time our family boarded a plane together, about eight years ago.
Economy Size
How about electricity? Do nine people use more than three or four? Not necessarily. Six kids playing Dinosaur Wedding do it by the light of a single light bulb, just like one or two kids would. Two or three kids fit in a bathtub at a time. The oven stays on 350 degrees for 45 minutes, no matter how big the meatloaf.
Cozy Quarters
Most large families I know don’t live in energy-hogging gigantic mansions. They live in normal houses, they’re a little crowded, and they have lots of bunk beds. (They do, however, tend to go for big yards, lots of trees, and gardens. Natural wildlife preserves, you might say.)
Reduce and Re-use
Many large families also live with tight budgets. We happily trade a second income for another armful of babies. The quick and easy methods of saving the environment that make the news daily are hardly news to cash-strapped families: Turn down the heat, insulate, avoid anything disposable, buy in bulk, cook from scratch, breastfeed, don’t eat out, don’t waste this, don’t buy that. Turn out the light, close the door, unplug it, wash in cold water, make it do or do without. And if it does not get eaten for dinner, we serve it for lunch.
What a revelation! And so good for the earth.
Make Do
How about consumption of goods? I must admit that my family and many Catholic families I know are almost complete failures as consumers. Our house is mostly furnished, from the couch to the car to the pots and pans and coffee cups, with used goods. We are not, for the most part, consuming new pro-ducts, with all their attendant carbon costs in manufacture and transport. By taking in used things, we’re also preventing an entire houseful of stuff from clogging up the landfills.
Pass It On
Large families tend to buy used clothes, books, and toys, but we hang onto them, passing them down from child to child and even to family. The thermal onesie on my baby today? It started life keeping my nephew and niece warm, then went on to clothe every one of my eight kids so far.
Our family of 10 usually produces only three kitchen-sized bags of trash per week.
If you’re still feeling a little eco-guilt, go ahead and plug your own family’s stats into one of the many carbon calculators available online (try SafeClimate.net). You may be surprised at how “be fruitful and multiply” translates quite naturally into treading lightly on the earth.
According to the first three carbon calculators that Google turned up, my family of 10 consumes and emits less than the national average … the national average, that is, for a family of two. And we were just trying to get through the week.
What the Future Holds
This is all very well, some will say, as long as your many children all live with you in your shoe. You may be very thrifty today, but what about when they all grow up and move out? More people is more people, no matter how you slice it.
For this argument, I have two answers. First is that grown children of large families tend to be what you might call natural conservationists. Children who grow up one of many are likely to have learned that they’ll survive without buying stuff, that itokay to share, that material things come and go, and that, like it or not, we all depend on each other for survival.
So who will I be sending out into the world? A small crowd of perfect environmentalists.
Second, children of families that are open to life also know something much more important, something that rabidly utilitarian environmentalists still don’t seem to realize: A human soul is more than the sum of how many kilowatts he consumes.
Evangelize an Environmentalist
What can we say to people who do not realize that the human family is the very seat of love, and that procreation is the ultimate human imitation of the action of the Holy Trinity?
There is nothing you can say. Satisfy yourself that you’re not being wasteful, and then answer not the fool according to his folly. Love your children, and teach them to love each other; and if you and your brood feel like a sign of contradiction, then that’s a good sign.
The Catholic Church has been teaching this lifestyle for thousands of years. There is no contradiction between loving and caring for the earth and supplying it with inhabitants: We are commanded to do both.
Was it short-sighted when God the Father explained these things to Adam? Was it hyperbole when Christ asked, “What does it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, but suffer the loss of his own soul?”
‘A Great Big Yes’
Our beloved Benedict XVI recently said of big families:
“Their Yes to one another in the patience of the journey and in the strength of the sacrament with which Christ had bound them together, had become a great Yes to themselves, their children, to God the Creator and to the Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Thus, from the witness of these families a wave of joy reached us, not a superficial and scant gaiety that is all too soon dispelled, but a joy that developed also in suffering, a joy that reaches down to the depths and truly redeems man.”
Of course it’s Catholic to be an environmentalist. Of course it’s our job to care for the earth. But even more, it’s our job to remember, and to teach our children, that this world will not last, and to live accordingly.
“All flesh is as grass, and all its glory as the flower of grass; the grass withered, and the flower has fallen — but the word of the Lord endures forever” (Isaiah 40:6).
How will it endure, if there is no one to hear it? Let us answer the No of child-fearing radicals with a joyful and ancient Yes. The world needs big families.
Simcha Fisher enjoys the “green” life with her husband and eight children in New Hampshire.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Encouragement for our daily walk
What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and FAITH from which the obedience and the work flow.
Martin Luther
Martin Luther
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