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Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Ellis – Lions, Sheep and Goats

Ellis is four. He has a stuffed Simba (from Lion King) on his bed. He sleeps in the top bunk of a grey house-shaped bed. He has a window to look out and everything! Each night, when I went in last week, to tuck him in, I’d make up some wild story about how Simba had disobeyed; he had gone too close to the edge of a cliff or he had jumped on a barge in the river. He disobeyed through the week in a plethora of ways. Each  night, Samba would get a sound spanking and he’d have to sit in the corner and face the wall until Ellis woke up in the morning. Each night, Ellis would ask, in all seeming sincerity, “Why?…Why does he always disobey?” Then we’d have a little talk about the folly of disobedience and Ellis would affirm his own resolve to not disobey.

On the last night I was there, He began to talk about the sheep and the goats during our little Simba-time, in the vein of Matthew 25. He said “Samba is really just one of the goats.”

I said, “Well, YOU are one of the sheep, though. You are an obey-er. You always do what Mama and Dada say! I know you will never be a goat.”

Ellis said, “Well sometimes I cross over into the goats.”

I responded “Well, I don’t think so. You are always trying to obey. I watch you do that every day. You especially want to obey God.”

He persisted. “But sometimes I am a goat. Like tonight, I was supposed to be getting in my bed and I went back in there.”

He was right. He did venture back down the hall…to ask for one final drink, or for something he forgot to show me or for permission to have Papa come read a book or something. He had gotten into trouble and maybe his mama had seen one little glimpse of a billygoat horn growing out of those curls.

We talked a while more and I assured Ellis that I know he will always make the choice to be a sheep and we will all be in heaven together.

Just an fyi for all of us who have been sheep for a lot of years now: There’s no accidental “crossing-over” from sheep status to being a goat. If you are a sheep, you cannot accidentally join the goat-herd. It takes much more than a conscientious slip-up to join the goats. If you are walking in the light, as Christ is in the light, the blood of Jesus keeps you clean and in the right flock (1 John 1:7).

Further, there are no half-sheep-half goats. You are not an in-between spiritual species. If you are not a full-fledged sheep, you are on the left-hand—a goat. He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left (Matthew 25:33).

I just want to be a sheep.

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Themed Travel this Week

As you’re reading, I’ll be wheels up for Wisconsin, with a couple of cohorts for a ladies day in Spencer. I’m excited because it’s been a while since someone requested the topic of  “Home” or any of those lessons about the importance of keeping the home and shining His reflected light from our homes (although every spiritual topic is related to this foundational aspect of our Christian lives). . I’ll be talking this weekend about hospitality, organization, motherhood and evangelism. All of these are topics I can get pretty “worked-up” about, because all are fundamental commands for Christian women and all have such obvious eternal ramifications.  Did you know that the New Testament prescribes a place of priority for God’s women and that place is home? SO excited to get to talk about this from the Word!

It will be a themed trip because I’m also planning to take Colleyanna to Pepin, Wisconsin, to see one of the “Little House on the Prairie” Museums, on the day prior to the ladies event. (It’s her very first time to fly! She is hoping for a window seat.)  I think this particular museum is a tribute to “The Little House in the Big Woods”. We are reading these books together and we have progressed now to “Farmer Boy.”  We are learning a lot  together. (Yesterday was a comparison of the economic disparity between childhood in New York (Almanzo) in the 1800’s and growing up all over the sparsely populated plains and prairies (Laura and Mary) in the same era.)

Coincidentally, I discovered that the annual “celebration” of Laura Ingall’s Wilder is happening in Pepin on the Friday we will be there, so we will get to watch the home-making skills of the late 1800’s come alive in various recreations on that day. We recently spoke in Branson, Missouri and went through the museum and homes in Mansfield that commemorate the author, herself. God is so  good to be in the tiny things and seemingly co-ordinate our “book-learning”   with  travels on so many adventures. I’ve been watching this providence for three generations of learning now and it astounds me.

It will also be (right on theme)  Mother’s Day while we are in Wisconsin. We’re planning to  celebrate a week late because we all want to be together. In keeping with the travel theme, Colleyanna is finishing up a hand-sewn gift project for her mom. We have ripped out a few seams that went crooked or that tucked an extra layer under the foot (and I also think a treadle sewing machine sews faster than Colleyanna does on this Bernina). “Whatsoever you sew, you shall also rip!”  But this little gift is going to be finished before we leave on this trip! (Don’t tell her mama!) Colleyanna is way excited about this.

Also right on theme, are the demands in this house today. 100 percent of next year’s Digging Deep got to the designer yesterday!  When that happens, I feel like I’ve torn a ribbon at the finish of a long marathon, lots while lots of other things have been blown by and left in the dust (literally.)  I’m not sure about the quality of the study. I had no second eyes, this time, to peruse the contents.  But I am sure about the quality of its primary reference work! I hope you’re planning to join us next September. I cannot wait!

 

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley Dig-a-Bit Podcast

Crossing the Culture 1 Peter 3 (ConvoM08E04)

Dig-A-Bit is a weekly mini Bible study with Cindy Colley. It supplements the Digging Deep Bible study for women. In this episode, Cindy discusses culture.

For more information about the Digging Deep Bible Study for Women, visit TheColleyHouse.org.

SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:

    • 1 Peter 3

LINKS:

RESOURCES:

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley Dig-a-Bit Podcast

Salome’s Place of Honor (ConvoM08E03)

Dig-A-Bit is a weekly mini Bible study with Cindy Colley. It supplements the Digging Deep Bible study for women. In this episode, Cindy discusses Salome’s place of honor.

For more information about the Digging Deep Bible Study for Women, visit TheColleyHouse.org.

SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:

    • Matthew 20, Mark 10

LINKS:

RESOURCES:

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley Dig-a-Bit Podcast

On The Porch (ConvoM08E02)

Dig-A-Bit is a weekly mini Bible study with Cindy Colley. It supplements the Digging Deep Bible study for women. In this episode, Cindy discusses the porch.

For more information about the Digging Deep Bible Study for Women, visit TheColleyHouse.org.

SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:

    • Mark 10
    • Acts 3-5

LINKS:

RESOURCES:

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley Dig-a-Bit Podcast

John 7 and Luke 10 Priorities (ConvoM08E01)

Dig-A-Bit is a weekly mini Bible study with Cindy Colley. It supplements the Digging Deep Bible study for women. In this episode, Cindy discusses priorities in John 7 and Luke 10.

For more information about the Digging Deep Bible Study for Women, visit TheColleyHouse.org.

SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:

    • John 7, Luke 10

LINKS:

RESOURCES: