Tuesday, March 08, 2011

March 2011: Gracious Living


I love when you read something and it just calls out, "this is for you!!!".  Amidst all of the craziness over here, I have really been trying harder to take some time to be immersed in some good reading, for a few minutes at least.  I have been rereading part of a book that I just loved cover to cover entitled "Justified by Faith" by Stephen D. Nadauld.  It explores in depth such grandiose principles from Romans 5:1-2, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:  By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God".

I decided to reread the chapter called, "Amazing Grace".  This morning I read the following paragraph and it sang to my soul a most pleasing and peaceful melody.

"[G]racious living" means living in acknowledgment of the grace of God.  It means living without fear of justice or being anxious over uncertainty and therefore living unhurried, untrammeled, and unafraid.  It promotes an attitude of love and forgiveness because we are loved and can be forgiven.  It is living as a conduit, with the grace of God flowing in to us from heaven and out from us to our fellow man.   Graciousness is an attitude toward others stemming from our recognition that, having received grace form the Savior, we should extend it to others.  One who is gracious is kind, forgiving, and makes others feel at ease."

This is how I want to live my life.  I want to live my life as an affirmation that I receive this grace, this enabling power of Christ's Atonement every single day.  I don't want to be anxious, fearful, or hurried which feelings seem to cause such chain reactions that I often come to regret by the end of the day.  When I live a gracious life I feel Christ's strength and power as I display uncharacteristic patience, humor, and love to life's daily inconveniences and struggles.  How I desire to be a conduit of his divine love, especially to my children.  This is how I want to live my life.

Saturday, March 05, 2011

March 2011: Our New Family Photos



We are so happy to have new family photos including little Miss Felicity.  We had a fun time taking these, despite the kids running and climbing in every which direction.  This location was a little boy's heaven.  I vowed not to stress out and to just go with the flow.  I think I did a pretty good job!  As I am sure it is with most husbands, family photos are not Mike's favorite thing to do...but he knows how much it means to me, so he goes along with it.  Cheerfully and with humor, I might add.

Mike's stipulation this year was that we had to stay close by, so I did some investigative work on a dirt road behind our neighborhood and found this gorgeous little spot.  {I didn't mention to Mike prior to the shoot that we'd be taking our all-terrain van off roading a smidge- he's very cautious with the van, even more so than I.}  I just loved the green and the rocks and trees and moss!!  I knew this was the spot.  Mike showed some of our photos to some of his employees at work.  One of them said, "Where do you guys live...Narnia?"  Owen liked that.

So here they are, just a few of our Narnia Family Photos.   Love them!!!



















Well once again Cheryl has done it.  You can contact her through her website here at Cheryl's Classic Photos.  Thank you so much for your patience Cheryl.  And to Mom's extra pair of hands and great attention-grabber voice for Felicity!

Please take my little poll at the top of the right hand column to help me decide on which of our family photos I should enlarge as the dominant one on my mantel!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...