ellie ready for her ballet portrait yesterday

emma enjoying her birthday treats

HOW MY DAUGHTER BECAME A PRINCESS

Almost everything Ellie opened for Christmas this year had something to do with princesses. A princess suitcase with travel pillow and blanket, princess big girl pants, princess slippers, princess tea set, princess camera, a cd with princess songs on it, two princess dresses, and a princess castle.

My girl Ellie loves princesses so much that I and everyone else in my family want to give her absolutely everything we could that had princesses on them. I love seeing her so delighted and happy.

I was not always so excited about princess stuff, though. In fact, I’m pretty surprised at myself as a mom, and so are a lot of my friends and family who knew me before I became a mommy to girls.

You see, back in my grad school days when I was writing papers about feminist literature and the like, I swore that if I ever had a little girl she would never ever have princess stuff. I didn’t want her to be spoiled and overly-focused on her appearance and material things–which is something I associated with the whole princess thing.

But then Ellie was born. For her first birthday, we went to Texas to celebrate with my family, and I decided to do the easy thing and buy some birthday plates and cups and stuff. But the only thing I could find was princess-themed.

No. NO. I refused it. I kept looking.

Finally it was the day of the party, and I still couldn’t find anything for a little girl that was appropriate for the 1st birthday and not princess-themed. I called my mom and complained. I cried and told her how much I didn’t want Ellie to have the princess stuff because I didn’t want her to end up spoiled some day and thinking she was a princess.

And then, from the other end of the line, my mom, as she so gently and wonderfully does, brought the hammer:

“Well,” she said, “you don’t want her to think she’s not a princess, do you?”

At that moment my mom in her wisdom saved me and Ellie from something equally as harmful for Ellie’s heart as being spoiled: believing that she’s not a princess, not worthy of crowns and princes and beautiful dresses. I knew in my heart she was right, and I took the plunge.

Now, almost 2 years later, I see Ellie’s heart come alive when she dons a princess dress. She dances around the house, banging on drums, and singing into her microphone. But you know what? You would be hard-pressed to see her doing that without one of her princess dresses on.

I want her to know how beautiful she is. I want her to feel alive in her feminine heart. I believe it taps into something so deeply rooted in her. . .a princess heart that responds to the call of a heavenly king. Maybe for Emma it will be a different thing that reaches that spot. But I know what it is for Ellie, and if that can happen in her 2-year-old heart through dancing around the house with her dad while wearing a princess dress, then it is a delight to me to see it.

For her, there’s no vanity in it at all. Instead there’s a connection to something deep in her heart that has to do with her daughterhood, her heavenly king, her loveliness, and her inheritance in the kingdom of God.

–february 2010

This morning I want to celebrate the Holy Spirit. I love the Holy Spirit. I love how he talks to me. I love how he helps me see others according to the spirit and not the flesh. I love how he gives me tools to love others with. I love how he gives me good eyes to see the eternal with. Without him I would be blind. I want him around me all the time, so that’s why the song today is Spirit of Heaven.

Spirit of Heaven

Come now, fill this place
Cover me with your grace
Spirit of God, Spirit of Heaven

You release me
You redeem me
You restore my soul
You have bought me
You have brought me into you

By Timothy Floyd Thornton and Laura Elizabeth Thornton
CCLI song #5316557
Bricklayer Music Publishing(ASCAP)/Music Guru Publishing(ASCAP)
© Bricklayer Music Publishing 2006. All rights reserved.

Why I Love to Repent

Repent

It’s one of my new favorite words. It used to be one of those words that made me uneasy and uncomfortable, mostly because I didn’t know what it meant. Kind of like this next one:

Confess

Also a used-to-be-uncomfortable word. I’d hear it or read it in the Bible every once in a while, and I’d start to squirm a little bit. I think it made me feel uncomfortable because I didn’t want to let anyone–even God–in on the fact that I wasn’t perfect or that the plants in the garden of my soul needed any tending.

So I’d stick with the easy confessions. I’d stick with things like not helping the old lady across the street or taking a harsh tone with a friend.

But a little while ago, I read this verse:

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.  Acts 3:19

I hadn’t ever felt refreshed and rested in the depths of my spirit after confessing something to someone or to God. What was I not getting about confession and repentance that it didn’t seem to work for me?

As I spent some time talking this through with trusted friends and with the Father, I realized that I was thinking of confession and repentance all wrong.

I was thinking of confession and repentance as a burden, something that would show I wasn’t the awesome Christian I tried so hard to make myself into. But that’s thinking like a slave, not like a daughter. That’s thinking like someone who has something to prove, instead of like someone who is at rest in Christ.

It dawned on me that confession and repentance are much more fun than I initially thought they were; they are a gift of the Father that brings me closer to the fullness of who I am in Christ. These two words speak to the working out of my salvation that gets me living into the abundant life that Jesus promised.

So now I’m much more interested in confessing the big stuff. I catch myself telling the Lord: Bring it on. Bring on the roots of things. The vows and agreements I’ve made in my life that work against me and against others. The judgments I’ve made against myself, God, and others. The unforgiveness that may be lurking in my heart.

Make no mistake, he does bring it on. And sometimes I feel like that poor tree in Christmas Vacation that Clark Griswold and family had to pull up by the roots and strap to the roof of their station wagon. Totally exposed.

But then I confess. I repent. I stop the reaping of that thing in my life. And then, because it’s all in the light now, the miracle happens. Those roots get chopped up and thrown in the chipper, and my spirit feels lighter, and, you guessed it, so refreshed and full of life.

So now repentance and confession are two of my favorite things to do–because when I confess and repent, I get freer and freer to be the woman God created me to be in Christ. My relationships are stronger. I am way more fun to be around. I can hear the Lord clearer. Everything is better.

You can add this song to your permanent music collection here: music.theblackthornproject.com

Whisper Your Love
When I’m small
When I’m helpless
When I’m scared to leave the place where I hide
When my head is loud
but full of nothing
Oh how I need the sound of your voice

Every time I cry
help me remember

Your love is so great you lift up my heavy heart
You break off the ropes that burn my skin
Your love is so great you set me in open fields
You whisper your love, you whisper your love

When I’m small
When I’m helpless
When I’ve believed all the lies I’ve been told
When I’m tangled up in lesser loves
Oh how I need the strength of your touch

Every time I cry
help me remember

by Laurie and Tim Thornton–Contact us for licensing, CCLI info, and more specific chords.

This one is me (Laurie) and our great friend Amanda Steed, who some of you might have met at Worship@8500 this year. Our husbands are out on the river with fly rods and their man spirits, and we are sitting at the kitchen table enjoying the morning. The song that the morning called for? Nothing Can Stop You, off of Enter the Worship Circle: Fourth Circle, written by our beautiful friends Karla Adolphe and Ben Pasley.

Nothing Can Stop You (Psalm 45)

Great are you Lord
I do not have words to explain
All you have done for me
Generations have come
In their wisdom they call you their God
Your love has no limits at all
so now I sing

Lord, You are perfect
In all of Your ways
Your not easily angered
You make no mistakes
No, nothing can stop You
Nothing can stand in Your way

You hear my cry
You will catch every tear from my eyes
And you watch over my life
And you’re building a city
Not made with the power of men
I know that I’m safe and sound
now i sing

Lord, You are perfect
In all of Your ways
Your not easily angered
You make no mistakes
No, nothing can stop You
Nothing can stand in Your way

Lord, You are perfect
In all of Your ways
Your not easily angered
You make no mistakes
No, nothing can stop You
Nothing can stand in Your way

This song was written by Karla Adolphe and Ben Pasley. You should buy every ounce of music you can from Karla; she is one of the most gifted songwriters out there.

Anyway, here’s a new video for your viewing enjoyment. I’m off to record some lead vocals at Aaron’s house.

Making this video made me want to play this song more often. It’s an old one, but I love it. Enjoy!

Also, mark your calendars for Worship@8500, June 25-27, in Divide Colorado. Bring your instruments, your hacky-sacks, your tents and sleeping bags and join me (Laurie), Tim, Aaron, and many more of our Worship Circle friends for an entire weekend of worship jams, encouraging talks, and Colorado mountain hang time.

Don’t be bashful–tell us what you think. You can even share it on facebook and twitter if you want.

By the way, if you’re interested in lyrics, you can find them on peartreemommy.com –’member, this is part of Good Song Sunday.

Warning: This video was orginally made for peartreemommy.com, so I wasn’t afraid to show off my chaos a little bit more than I usually would. So…bear that in mind.

PS I post a video every Sunday on peartreemommy.com –it’s Good Song Sunday!