Day 132: Self-Control

Daily Sheet: Day 132: Self-Control

Family Book: “Separate Is Never Equal”

61+DUdFaUSL._SX408_BO1,204,203,200_

Travel: Kiribati; Nauru; Tuvalu

Song: “Kingdom Comes” – Sara Groves

Day 104: Optimism

Daily Sheet: Day 104: Optimism

Family Book: “Four Feet, Two Sandals”

Travel: Afghanistan

Video: Sara Groves introduces “Floodplain” and talks about the role of positive thinking in our lives

Song: “Floodplain” – Sara Groves

Some hearts are built on a floodplain, keeping one eye on the sky for rain. You work for the ground that gets washed away when you live closer…

Closer to the life and the ebb and flow, closer to the edge of I don’t know, closer to that’s the way it goes… Some hearts are built on a floodplain.

And it’s easy to sigh on a high bluff, look down and ask when you’ve had enough. Will you have the sense to come on up or will you stay closer?

Closer to the danger and the rolling deep, closer to the run and the losing streak and what brings us to our knees… Some hearts live here.

Oh the river it rushes to madness and the water it spreads like sadness and there’s no high ground. Closer to the danger and the rolling deep, closer to the run and the losing streak and what brings us to our knees…

Closer to the life and the ebb and flow, closer to the edge of I don’t know, closer to Lord please send a boat… Some hearts are built here.

Video: “Brighter Day” – Gungor (drum cover)

Love came down and hope was found; Now we’re waking up to a brighter day.

Questions:

Do you like today’s story? Does it make sense to you? Why or why not?
Explain Ecclesiastes 11:4.
What is a floodplain? What does Sara Groves mean when she says “some hearts live there”? Do you think that means these people are optimistic or pessimistic?

Day 102: Benevolence

Daily Sheet: Day 102: Benevolence

Family Book: “If the World Were a Village”

Travel: Gabon

Map: Mary Kingsley’s Travels

Video: “Open My Hands” – Sara Groves (talking about her inspiration behind writing this song)

In Psalm 84:11 we read, “No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” Sir Richard Baker comments, “But how is this true, when God so oftentimes withholds riches and honor and health of body from men, though they walk ever so uprightly? We may therefore know that honors and riches and bodily strength are none of God’s good things, and the good things of God are chiefly peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Spirit, fruition of God’s presence, and a vision of His face in the next. These good things God never withholds from the Godly.”

Video: “Open My Hands” – Sara Groves (live acoustic performance)

I believe in a blessing I don’t understand. I’ve seen rain fall on wicked and the just. Rain is no measure of his faithfulness; He withholds no good thing from us.

I believe in a peace that flows deeper than pain, that broken find healing in love.
Pain is no measure of his faithfulness; He withholds no good thing from us.

I believe in a fountain that will never dry, though I’ve thirsted and didn’t have enough. Thirst is no measure of his faithfulness; He withholds no good thing from us.

I will open my hands, will open my heart.

I am nodding my head, an emphatic “Yes!” to all that You have for me.

Questions:

Do you think Sir Richard Baker is right?
Why does Sara Groves say, “I believe in a blessing I don’t understand”?
Why, if God is faithful, do people experience drought, pain, and thirst?
What is our role in all this?

Day 89: Empathy

Daily Sheet: Day 89: Empathy

Family Book: “The Long March: The Chocktaw’s Gift to Irish Famine Relief”

Travel: Oklahoma; Texas

Song: “Why It Matters” – Sara Groves (with lyrics)

Sit with me and tell me once again of the story that’s been told us, of the power that will hold us, of the beauty, of the beauty, Why it matters.

Speak to me until I understand why our thinking and creating, why our efforts of narrating about the beauty, of the beauty, And why it matters.

Like the statue in the park of this war torn town, and its protest of the darkness and the chaos all around, with its beauty, how it matters, How it matters.

Show me the love that never fails, the compassion and attention midst confusion and dissension, like small ramparts for the soul, How it matters.

Like a single cup of water, How it matters.

Questions:

Compare “empathy” to “sympathy.” Which is more meaningful? Why?
Why do you think the story of Jesus raising the widow’s son was chosen for “Empathy” rather than for “Compassion?”
Think about the story of “The Long March” while you re-read the bolded lines at the end of Sara Groves’ song, “Why It Matters.” How do you think the Chocktaw’s act of kindness, inspired by empathy, might have built “small ramparts for the soul”? And what is the “single cup of water” reference?