Praying her little heart out

Fleshly comforts are much more attractive, aren’t they? I have to catch myself not falling into that trap, and daily die to self. One of my weaknesses are sitcoms. If it is my time to spend with the Lord, and a good sitcom is on, I have to really argue with myself to switch that TV off.

Last night I fully understood why Jesus wants us to have faith like children (Matt 18:3), as my toddler seems to grasp the importance of dying to self a lot quicker than me.
She loves the “Our Father” and during her bedtime prayer she asked, “Mommy, what’s the one with the bread and the devil?” 😀 When I reminded her without trying to laugh, she proceeded to say the prayer, little hands together, eyes tightly closed and ended with,

“For  dying is the kingdom…”

The part of the Bible that always makes me laugh

I absolutely loved the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It had me in stitches because everything portrayed in the movie was so accurate! I’m not Greek, I’m Portuguese – but all the principles are the same. My grandmother lives in Portugal and when we go there to visit I get offered food close to midnight every night! Then when I politely declined, she glances at my father in shock and asks him in Portuguese why on earth I won’t eat and if I’m sick. Never mind that I ate three full meals during the day! “You sick, my darrrling?” is the question I get handed to me all the time. Ah bless her.

The interaction between Jesus and His mom at the Cana wedding to me seems no different! I see a sweetness between Jesus and Mary take place here. The scene always makes me giggle. I see a certain side of Jesus and a side of Mary as a typical Jewish mom and how their relationship was just like any mother-son relationship, albeit it was a relationship with the King of the world.

“On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there” John 2:1. The story opens up with making note Mary was there.

“Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”
Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” John 2:2-5

What? Mary ignores Him? Jesus tells her that it was not His time to perform miracles yet. So was she completely rejecting that claim and being nonchalant about God’s plans for His Son’s ministry? Never. Mary birthed the Saviour of the world, she knew very well the importance of her Son’s purpose and plan.

This always led me to wonder why she blatantly ignored what He just told her. Is it possible, just possible, that Jesus was teasing her a little? Did He say that to her with a little twinkle or flutter in His eye? A smirk on His face? “But, Ma…”
Could this be why she so easily turned and said to the servants “Just do what He tells you!” I can almost see her wave her hand in dismissal as she did this. Like a Jewish mom would roll her eyes, pat her son on the shoulder and wave her hand saying “Oh, just ignore Him, He’s kidding around. Again. Just go ahead.”

Jesus, who hates religion and stiff-necked rules did not dispute this. Instead, He honoured His mom by turning water into wine even to the brim! And not box wine, the very best quality. In this way, He honoured the groom as well.

Isn’t it great, that the King of Heaven and all He is, still listened to His mom? What a lovely picture painted here of fulfilling the law of honouring your parents! And the Son of the Most High has a sense of humour? “WHAT! How dare you say such a thing!” says the Pharisaic spirit. I love to laugh, and knowing that my God who created me with a sense of humour has one too is warmth to the soul.

I could be wrong, I have tried looking, but it appears to me that these are the last recorded words of Mary in Scripture “Whatever He says, do it!” A gentle warning to us too. Do whatever Jesus tells you and it will all work out perfectly. As Jesus does whatever His Father told Him to (John 5:19), we need to do all He has told us to do. THAT is when we live in abundance!

THAT oil??

I have a bottle of oil I keep in my handbag and one in my bedroom cupboard for anointing purposes. I have on one time, though, grabbed car oil out of desperation! It is only a symbol after all.
However, I’m sure this remains quite a mystery to small kiddies.
My daughter was having a much-loved sleepover ritual at granny and grandpa one weekend when she fell quite sick with a fever.

My mom grabbed some olive oil in her kitchen to anoint her and pray over her. 
When she walked into the bedroom where Jordan lay, Jordan exclaimed with a shocked look, “Nana! is THAT the oil you cook with??”

Christianese! It’s how we roll!

I really enjoyed the video posted by Vine of Life today on Christianese

I was just having a good laugh on the weekend about how Christians have their own language, and I’m sure most of the time unsaved people have no idea what we are talking about!
Just as I was walking from the parking lot into church on Sunday, one of the church members drove past me and missed hitting me by an inch! Not quite sure what he was doing but I think he realised his mistake because he still looked out his window and gave me a big smile.
My mom commented “My goodness!” While another member of the congregation joked and said, “He needs prayer!” Chuckles all round. While I exclaimed, “Yeah, I don’t want to die now – I’m waiting for the rapture!” More laughs!

Not only do we share a great King, but a ‘secret’ language as well, hehe
Do you have any humorous experiences with ‘Christianese’, Reader?