I'm Thankful for Freedom

Each day until Thanksgiving, Everyday Truth is looking at a different reason to be thankful in a family devotional. Use these devotionals with your kids to help keep your family focused on giving thanks. If you missed the introductory post, check it out here for directions on creating a "Thanksgiving wall." When you're done with the devotional head on over to the Everyday Truth Facebook page and join in the discussion of why we're thankful for our freedom.

I bet you got up this morning, picked out your own clothes and had a choice of cereals for breakfast. You probably decided whether or not to wear a coat to school. You may have chosen what hairstyle you wanted today. When you got to school, you probably talked to some of the people you have chosen to be friends with. At lunch you probably chose whether to eat all or part of your lunch.

On your way to school, did anyone stop your car and tell you you couldn't go to school? When you got to school did anyone tell you who to talk to or what to say? Probably not.

You had choices this morning because we live in a free country. Many people in the world do not. In some countries only kids whose families have enough money are allowed to go to school. In some places, girls aren't allowed to go to school. In some countries, you don't have a choice about what you want to be when you grow up; you have to do what the government tells you to. And in some parts of the world, it's a crime to talk about God.

Many of us have never lived in a place where we don't have freedom. We take it for granted. And we shouldn't. Men and women throughout history have died protecting our right to be free. Those soldiers don't know most of the people they are protecting. They serve so we can live in freedom. John 15:13 says "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." Soldiers do that every day. They put their lives on the line in dangerous places so we can live in freedom.

Don't take your freedom for granted. Be thankful for it. Today is Veteran's Day. It's the day we honor the men and women who have served in the military. We take a moment to be grateful for the sacrifices they have made to keep our country free.

Take a minute today to seek out a veteran, someone who was once in the military. Tell them how thankful you are that they chose to protect our country. Make them a card or bake them some cookies.

Pray and thank God for the sacrifices others have made so you can live in a free country. Write on your Thanksgiving wall one thing that you are thankful you can do because you live in a place where freedom is a right.

Be grateful for freedom because it isn't free. It costs brave men and women their lives.

Don't Forget the Heroes

Our kids choose people to admire and emulate people all the time. My youngest's hero of the moment is Alex Ovechkin, a hockey player for the Washington Capitals. Like many other kids, my youngest sees Mr. Ovechkin's feats on the ice and elevates him to the status of role model.

In our society today, we look to athletes, politicians and celebrities to provide role models for our kids. While these people may have accomplished much in their careers, often their personal lives and attitudes aren't ones we would want our kids to emulate.

The word hero has lost its aura. We label acts on the sports field heroic. We talk about heroic efforts to finish a project at work. Yet, none of those things are truly heroism. Being a hero means making a choice that may cause personal harm to protect someone else.

The biggest hero of all was Jesus, who chose to give up his life so that we could have a relationship with God. Heroes are people who live out the words of John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."

As we focus on the events of 9/11 this week, it's easy to get caught up in the tragedy. Our kids need us to answer their questions to help them understand what happened. But they also need to know that lots of people on that day "laid down their lives" for people they knew and people they didn't know. These are the stories of heroism that day. Some of those people made it out. Some died. But every one of them made a conscious decision to put aside their own needs to see to the needs of others.

Tell your kids some of the stories of heroism on that day, so they can know that even in the midst of horrible events, people carry out the command in John 15:13.

• Tell your kids the stories of the 9/11 rescue workers. More than 400 public service personnel -- police and firefighters -- died that day. When everyone else was rushing out of those burning buildings, police and firefighters were rushing in. They saved countless lives that day, and many paid the ultimate sacrifice to do so.
• Talk about the heroism of Rick Rescorla. He was the head of security for Morgan Stanley, which has 3,700 employees in the World Trade Center. Every three months, he made the employees practice evacuating. When the first plane hit, he ignored the instructions to stay in the building. He evacuated the Morgan Stanley offices. All but three Morgan Stanley employees made it out. Rick and two of his security employees did not. When he was last seen, Rick Rescorla was still helping people get out of the building.
• Remember the amazing acts of heroism of the men and women on United Flight 93. After hearing from family members about what had happened to the other hijacked planes, the passengers of Flight 93 decided they would not let that happen with their plane. They attacked the hijackers in an attempt to regain control of their plane. The plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, killing all on board, but it never hit its intended target, which was thought to be the White House or the Capitol building.
• Tell your kids about the kindness of the people in Gander, Newfoundland. On Sept. 11, U.S. airspace was closed. International flights on their way in, were diverted to Canada. More than 6,000 people found themselves in tiny Gander, Newfoundland, a town of only 10,000. People opened their homes, cooked meals and shut down schools for shelters. Until U.S. airspace reopened several days later, the people of Gander put their lives on hold to take care of the displaced people from the planes. One of the passengers said, "For everyone else, 9/11 has a heavy connotation. But for me it was when I was reminded what humanity is." The people of Gander sacrificed their comfort to see to the comfort of others on that day.

Heroes are people, who like Jesus, give up the comfort and security of their own lives to see to the needs of someone else. The stories of heroism on 9/11 are countless. They are as much a part of the legacy of that day as the tragedy. And it's as important for our kids to know about the men and women who "laid down their lives" in so many ways as it is for them to know the facts about the events of the day.

Friday Introductions: Girlfriends in God

Girlfriends are the best. They laugh with you when you're happy. They share your sorrow when tears come. They pick up the slack when you simply can't do it all.

Girlfriends are there to watch your kids when you have to make an unexpected run to the emergency room. They are there to commiserate when your kids get sent home from school sick on the one day in six months that you have a date planned with your husband.

True girlfriends live out John 15:13 every day: "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."

While nothing can replace a real-life girlfriend, hanging out with some girlfriends in cyberspace is sweet fellowship as well.

Today, I want to introduce you to some of my favorite cyber girlfriends over at the Girlfriends in God website and Facebook page. Mary Southerland, Gwen Smith and Sharon Jaynes are the faces behing Girlfriends in God. I've never met Gwen outside the melodies of her music or Sharon outside the pages of her books, but I'm blessed to get to count Mary among my real-life girlfriends.

Each of these ladies has an amazing heart for reaching women with the message of God's love. Through their devotionals, music and books, they have consistently shared God's truth with women. Their first Girlfriends in God book is coming out before the end of the year, and I can't wait to own a copy.

Besides offering a daily devotional aimed at women, their Facebook page is a place of warm community with other godly women. If you're looking for some encouragement, be sure to like them on Facebook. Currently, they are trying to reach 100,000 friends, so check them out today. You'll find some new girlfriends you love to hang out with.

Sibling Love

Some days, I think my girls would rather eat nails than spend time with one another. Like any siblings, they argue over silly things, get jealous of each other and do what they can to annoy one another. But, other days, they love each other, stand up for each other and help each other. It's sometimes like living with Jekyll and Hyde.

Yesterday, my youngest came home with a paper that she had written at school. The question was "If you could spend the afternoon with any member of your extended family, who would it be?" This is what my youngest wrote:

I would spend the time with my sister because she loves me and without her I would be super bored.
She cheers me up when I am sad.
When I am hurt she gets my mom and she's always there for me.

When I read it, I had to smile. Despite the way my girls act sometimes, they really get it. They understand that their sister is going to be there for them. Both girls know that when the chips are down her sister will be standing there beside her.

I want my girls to be friends as well as sisters -- the kind of friends who will drop everything for the other one. John 15:13 says "Greater love has no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." That's the kind of friends I want my girls to be.

Siblings go through phases where they often seem not to like each other. But, if we foster an atmosphere of working together and always supporting each other in our families, our kids will get it.

• Make supporting each other a priority in your family. In our house, unless the weather is beyond miserable or the other child has her own event, we all go to every game or concert. We tell our girls that it's part of being a family. If we're at a game, the sibling not playing is expected to sit, watch and cheer while the game is going on -- no going off to play on the playground or run around with the other younger siblings. The reason we're all there is to support the child playing, and we expect the non-participating sibling to be supporting her sister as well.
• Foster cooperation. While the temptation is often to separate our kids when they're arguing, forcing them to work together to accomplish a task makes them work through their issues. If my girls are at each others' throats, I'll often give them a chore to complete together. Ecclesiastes 4:9 says "Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor." Usually by the time my girls are done with their chore, they've forgotten what they were arguing about in the first place.
• Don't tolerate words that tear each other down. When your kids start to say mean things to each other, send them outside to sit on the front step -- no matter the weather. Calmly explain that you don't allow that kind of talk in your house and send them out the door. Tell them they can come back in when they have tamed their tongues and apologized to each other.
• Don't compare. Each of your children is unique. They are not going to react the same way or accomplish the same things. No matter how great the temptation, avoid comparing your children. This sets up competition and resentment. There's enough natural competition between siblings. We, as parents, don't need to add to it.

I was reminded by my daughter's paper yesterday that my girls really do get it. They love each other and know the other one has their back. I let my older daughter read the paper. She didn't say much, but the smile on her face told me she felt special. Help your kids understand that family is about drawing close and circling the wagons when someone in the family is having a tough time.

Family should be an extension of God's love here on earth. The arms of your family members should be the tangible arms of God's love. Help your children be those arms to their siblings, so that atmosphere of love will last even when you're no longer around to encourage it.