Over the past several years, I have been able to love and listen to women and children who have been through most horrific abuses at the hands of others.  I believe that I have been given this intimate privilege because I too have known physical violence, abuse, and deep emotional hurt. 

But I have also been an offender, or a better word for that would be 'a defender'.  My son Carson, with his big, beautiful sweet eyes turned to me will often say, "Mom, I can't believe you were ever a bad guy."  Friends, it has been a long road letting Jesus deal with my dealing with what I've done out of fear.  "Laura the Defender' did some pretty horrible things.   I see these "defenders" everyday.  Often they are my friends.  Sometimes "they" are me when I am not careful.  It is very easy to let our interactions with others in this world let our 'smart cautions' and 'wise cynicism'  lead to fear, prejudice and avoidance. If you are not careful to balance this with something better, you can quickly become perfectly jaded. 

But I'm happy to say that I'm more often accused of being a bit of a Pollyanna- the almost ridiculously optimistic girl that can't seem to see reality.  I'm cool with that.  It's not that I am turning a blind eye to all of the fear inducing circucumstances it is just that I have my eye on all of the love producing possibilities that abound... and He has a name.

One of my favorite verses is 1 John 4:18.  This is most likely because I lived under the  bondage of fear for so much of my life.  Meeting the person who is PERFECT LOVE... well, that is amazing, amazing grace.
The verse says this,

I wrote here about how fear got a hold on me even as a young child.  Life experiences began to layer themselves as did the fears.  By the age of 30, I lived under a perfect stronghold of fear.  The second part of that verse is so true.  Fear is punishment for everyone- the fearful person and everyone that person connects. It is the perfect snowball of destruction until something stops the negative momentum.  When PERFECT LOVE came to stop my roll down fear's mountain to hell and isolation, He told me His name. His voice is beautiful. There is power in that name- power that silences the demons of the past, the hurts of the present and the fear of the future.

Oswald Chamber's teaching from My Utmost For His Highest for today was on this topic of loving imperfect people and how not to become jaded.   I hope it blesses and encourages you as much as it did me today.  All my love from the farm.  ~L

LINK utmost.org
The Teaching of Disillusionment
07 30 2013
Jesus did not commit Himself to them . . . , for He knew what was in man --John 2:24-25

Disillusionment means having no more misconceptions, false impressions, and false judgments in life; it means being free from these deceptions. However, though no longer deceived, our experience of disillusionment may actually leave us cynical and overly critical in our judgment of others. But the disillusionment that comes from God brings us to the point where we see people as they really are, yet without any cynicism or any stinging and bitter criticism. Many of the things in life that inflict the greatest injury, grief, or pain, stem from the fact that we suffer from illusions. We are not true to one another as facts, seeing each other as we really are; we are only true to our misconceived ideas of one another. According to our thinking, everything is either delightful and good, or it is evil, malicious, and cowardly.

Refusing to be disillusioned is the cause of much of the suffering of human life. And this is how that suffering happens— if we love someone, but do not love God, we demand total perfection and righteousness from that person, and when we do not get it we become cruel and vindictive; yet we are demanding of a human being something which he or she cannot possibly give. There is only one Being who can completely satisfy to the absolute depth of the hurting human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord is so obviously uncompromising with regard to every human relationship because He knows that every relationship that is not based on faithfulness to Himself will end in disaster. Our Lord trusted no one, and never placed His faith in people, yet He was never suspicious or bitter. Our Lord’s confidence in God, and in what God’s grace could do for anyone, was so perfect that He never despaired, never giving up hope for any person. If our trust is placed in human beings, we will end up despairing of everyone.

I've been thinking a good bit over the past weekend about being a leader. More specifically, I've been pondering leading children- children who teach us so much about what is truly important in life. I'll spare you all my many bunny trails on this topic (for now) and just share this thought provoking story written by Elizabeth Silance Ballard in 1976 for Home Life Magazine.
Peace & love from the farm today! ~L

Teddy Stoddard
There is a story many years ago of an elementary teacher. Her name was Mrs. Thompson. And as she stood in front of her 5th grade class on her very first day of school, she told the children a lie. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same. But that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.
Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he didn't play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. And Teddy could be unpleasant. It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X's and then putting a big "F" at the top of his papers.

At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child's past records and she put Teddy's off until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise. Teddy's first grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners... he is a joy to be around." His second grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle." His third grade teacher wrote, "His mother's death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best but his father doesn't show much interest and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren't taken." Teddy's fourth grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is withdrawn and doesn't show much interest in school. He doesn't have many friends and sometimes sleeps in class."

By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for Teddy's. His present which was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper that he got from a grocery bag. Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one quarter full of perfume. But she stifled the children's laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough to say, Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom used to." After the children left she cried for at least an hour.

On that very day, she quit teaching reading, and writing, and arithmetic. Instead, she began to teach children. Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one her "teacher's pets."

A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her that she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life. Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life. Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he'd stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honors. He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had in his whole life. Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor's degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer-the letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, M.D.

The story doesn't end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he'd met this girl and was going to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit in the place at the wedding that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom. Of course, Mrs. Thompson did. And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. And she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together. They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson's ear, "Thank you Mrs. Thompson for believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference." Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, "Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn't know how to teach until I met you."

UPDATE: go to www.myhouseathens.com for all the latest at CAUSE University

Hi Friends.  This post landed here instead of on the My House Athens site (where it belongs and will eventually migrate) because, as a friend recently pointed out,  I have permanent summeritis.  I have not been on the My House Athens site in a very (very) long time to do any updates but I am in the process of gearing up for the new school year (YaY!) and wanted to invited all of our school aged friends to check out Cause University this Fall. 

CU is for ALL school kids grades K-12 that have an interest in becoming social entrepreneurs.  What is a social entrepreneur? 
Social entrepreneur (noun) a person that pursues an innovative idea with the desire, hope and potential to solve a community problem.

Students enrolled in CU will take online classes that cover innovation for humanity, launching a business from concept to opening day, daily operations of retail store management, accounting with Moonjar, retail marketing, merchandising, SEO, blogging,  working with Weebly  (& other online web editors/photo editors/etc) and online marketing.  Course curriculum will include age appropriate downloads for each online class and accounting materials from Moonjar (Moonjar and Moonjar passbook).  Each student will be responsible for running our physical retail store, CAUSE Mission Crafts for the World, for a total of at least 6 hours during each 6 week session (ages 15 and under must be accompanied by an adult), each student must develop and market their own mission craft during each 6 week session (this can be done as a collaboration with other students or individually and can be marketed using all venues: the CAUSE retail store, website, and front lawn during football season ;).  CU students will have available to them a weekly study hall at the CU campus (1055 Prince Avenue, Athens) on Thursdays from 4-5:30pm to work on collaborations with other students, perform interviews with store vendors for blog stories, open office hours with CU professors or to be used as a time to work on other homework.  Enrollment & supply cost for each 6 week session: $60 payable to My House Athens, Inc.  Start Date:  September 16, 2013.  Email: laura@myhouseathens.com if you are interested in finding our more about CU.  Peace & Love!

I've found myself camping on this thought more times than I can count.  It is the title of a favorite poem of mine given to me by a high school friend.

Dad and Mom were with me at the veterinarian with my 18 year old, precious dog, Gypsy as she suffered from renal failure. Dad said "You can tell, Laura, Gypsy still wants to live. We all want to live and she will know and so will you when it is her time to die." I was glad to have another day with my sweet girl but I knew when she gave up and did not desire to live any longer. Her eyes were a window for both.

Right now in our barn we have two chickens that I am nursing from separate unfortunate incidents. The first chicken, Garfield, is one of my favorite hens. I loved to watch this (formerly obese) hen waddle around the farm doing her chicken thing. I found her one afternoon huddled in a corner of our barn with two broken legs and most of her back feathers removed. Things did not look good for Garfield. But when Garfield looked back up at me with that 'I want to live' look, I tended the open wounds with 'Papa's spray' (a near magic solution made by my Dad's company that we use on all wounds as well other places where bad stuff festers) and made her a nice little hospital bed in a small cage where she would be safe. And then the kids and I asked Jesus to do what only He can do- heal Garfield's legs. Today, Garfield is 100% healed and lives in her little hospital room with 4 surrogate babies.

The other chicken is a very bizarre story indeed. I was in the barn about a month ago feeding the horses when I noticed a chicken walking towards me. She was shaking her head and walking all freaky, scary, zombie-apocalypse style. I then noticed that (I'll try not to be too graphic) her scalp had been detached and her brain was exposed. She had also suffered some loss of feathers on her back. The fact that she had survived that brutal of an attack was astonishing. At first I thought I should call Greg to come home to help this bird "out of its misery" as they say but I stopped short when I noticed the bird looking at me out of its one good eye. Lands above, this bird wanted to live! So, out came Papa's spray for the brain and back injuries and, because she has a twisted neck, I held her upside down over a waterer to make sure she would be able to drink without a syringe. And then I prayed, "OK, Lord, you give all things life and we thank you for it. Help us help each other to the best of our ability and we praise you that the rest is in your perfect hands. Please help this chicken." Today, she lives in a horse stall with one other chicken who is very kind to her. Her head and back injuries have healed and though her neck is still terribly twisted, she manages to eat and drink on her own (I still hold her over the waterer each day to insure that she stays hydrated and I hold fresh tomatoes for her... because she likes them ;).

We dont always have happy chicken stories. The last chicken that I found was in the best physical shape. He had lost a good number if feathers on his back but otherwise had no other injuries. When I found him, he was crouched down in the barn and the chickens were taking turns bullying him. He didn't even look at me when I went to pick him up. I got him in the "safe room" away from the others, dressed his back with Papa's spray, gave him food and water, put him on his fresh bed of hay and prayed, "Lord help this lil' rooster." But the next day, he was gone.

OK, so, why am I writing about our chickens like this? Because I think that the tenets of faith, hope, charity (love) in chicken tending are applicable to how we best walk out our lives with other people. The lives of hurting people are messy. You have to roll up your sleeves, expect to be on your knees a lot asking Jesus how to chart new territory, and be prepared to sacrifice your time, comfort and felt needs for a while. I have much faith that my God is a God of wonder, mercy, grace, love and miracles. I have great hope in the promises of Christ and I love to see that glimmer of "I want to live" in the eyes of His creation. I believe with all my heart it is our responsibility to love with a tangible, charitable, need meeting, belly filling, hug giving, bed making, wound tending, mess cleaning, hair brushing, house repairing, lawn mowing, go where He sends you, care for the least of these, the hurt, the lost, the broken even if it wrecks my plans kind of love. Let them see you give of yourself and the resources God has given freely and let them hear you plead for them at the feet of your Savior for those needs that your humanity stops you from meeting. Under a banner of grace and mercy, let's feed His sheep, even those sheep that have given up all hope. It is humbling to stop and look into the eyes of people- those who want to live and those who don't- and know that EVERY ONE OF US HAS BEEN CREATED WITH AN ETERNAL PURPOSE. Your faith, hope and love (charity) in this moment in time can make all the difference in someone's life.  Everyone could use a little 'life support' at times, yes?

Nothing has affected my everyday coming and going, might not have noticed otherwise interactions with what may seem in passing to be a mundane exchange between people than this C.S. Lewis' quote from The Weight of Glory:

When I was 15, I was able to participate in a dance tour in what was then the Soviet Union. I came home with an almost empty suitcase from that trip. Because I knew I was soon flying home to my Daddy's house, who had more than I needed, I was able to freely give everything I had to the people of the Soviet Union as I met them and they expressed their needs. What more do I have to give today as a grown woman who has since that trip met the risen Christ?

#EmptySuitcases
So much #soulwrestling

#lifechanginglove