Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

Archives for June 2012

Learning from a long-ago shepherd: Review of A Heart Like His by Beth Moore

I don’t know what it is about Beth Moore, but her biblical insight is mind-blowing. The first book I ever read by her was Breaking Free, and it changed my life. Years later, I participated in video Bible study sessions of her lessons. Again, life-changing.

When offered the opportunity to review her book A Heart Like His: Intimate Reflections on the Life of David, I couldn’t say “no.”

I’ve been reading a chapter a day as I spend time with God, and though it seems like it has taken me a long time to get through this book, I appreciate the pace Moore sets. In studying David’s life, we’re not just hitting the highlights (Goliath) and lowlights (Bathsheba) but the in-between and even the back story with King Saul. The book is a detailed study of 1 and 2 Samuel, books we may not immediately turn to when looking for encouragement or principles for life but ones that are rich for the reading.

Moore makes an ancient shepherd’s life and struggles applicable to the modern follower of Christ.

Most of all, she makes the Bible exciting. Its stories are exciting, no matter what; sometimes it just takes a good teacher to unlock the treasure for you.

The book includes an excerpt of her Bible study series David: Seeking a Heart Like His. That will be on my list for sure.

FAVORITES: A Scripture reading is included at the beginning of each chapter and while Moore doesn’t hit everything in all the verses, reading those portions of Scripture brings depth to the teaching. I appreciate being able to focus in on a book or two of Scripture and study it in-depth. That sort of thing can be intimidating but Moore makes it manageable.

FAULTS: Not a one. She doesn’t let David off the hook for his sin, nor does she sugarcoat the consequences — for him or us — for doing something God doesn’t want us to do. I love that Moore tells it like it is. The Bible includes scenes that aren’t pretty and may not make sense on first reading, but a study of the culture and setting brings those scenes into context. Moore doesn’t avoid those topics. She faces them head on.

IN A WORD: Relevant. The Bible is often criticized for being irrelevant to modern life. Quite the opposite. Even if we don’t have to physically slay giants or run for our lives or hide in caves, we can glean principles for living from God’s Word. And that’s what A Heart Like His offers.

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In exchange for this review, I received a free copy of A Heart Like His.

Becoming the neighborhood mom

It happened like this, and if my supersensitive mom-hearing (you know, one of those superpowers they give you before you leave the hospital with your baby) hadn’t kicked in, I never would have heard it:

Isabelle, who is 4, was playing with a neighbor girl, who is 6. They were whispering about something when I heard these words: “Don’t tell your mom because she’ll tell my mom and I don’t want my mom to know.”

Well, this mama immediately went on high alert, and I not-so-secretly turned my attention to their conversation in the yard next door. My thoughts went something like this:

1. Hmmm, what exactly does our neighbor not want her mom to know?

2. Wait, isn’t this what teenagers do?

3. I’m SO not ready to deal with teenage issues!

After a moment of panic, I looked for an opportunity to get Isabelle alone so I could pry. (Because that’s what  moms do, right?) Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait long and Isabelle came inside to use the bathroom. Also fortunately, she can’t keep a secret to save her life.

“(Neighbor girl) doesn’t want me to tell you something.”

“Oh, and what doesn’t she want you to tell me.”

“I can’t tell you.”

Thus began a circle argument about some secrets being okay to tell. I promised we’d talk about it later. Again, fortunately, I didn’t have to wait for later. Isabelle ran outside and rejoined her friend, confessing to her, “My mom wants me to tell her what you told me.” To which the neighbor girl began to panic, raising her voice and saying, “Why does she want to know that I have a boyfriend?”

A boyfriend? She’s in kindergarten. Whew. I breathed a sigh of relief that, for the moment, I really didn’t have to tell her mom what was going on. So-called boyfriend appeared on the scene later, and as far as I can tell, their relationship consists mostly of the girl chasing the boy.

Isabelle and I did have the chance to talk about good secrets and bad secrets and how she needs to trust her parents to know the difference and whether we really do need to share the information with another parent or not.

Is my memory so bad that I don’t remember things being like this when I was younger? Or is the world so much worse a place that I automatically assume the worst when secrets are involved?

Lately, I’ve started to become the neighborhood mom. I’m generally outside, reading a book on the porch, when the kids are playing, so if other kids come by to play, I end up being the “babysitter.” I’m kind of okay with this because I want to know what my kids are doing and I want our house to be the place where kids hang out and find love and acceptance and ice cream bars or popsicles on a hot summer’s day.

But I want to know where the line is. When do my rules for my kids apply to other people’s kids? And when am I overstepping my bounds to step in to a gap left by another parent? I’m not generally in the business of telling other people how to raise their kids because I’m still figuring out how to raise mine day by day, and I’m tellin’ ya, there are NO easy answers for this. But I’m not the sort of person who can keep her nose out of other people’s business, especially if that “business” (in this case, kids) is hanging around my yard and playing with my kids.

So, what’s your experience? I know there may not be right or wrong answers but I’m curious how other parents have handled (and are handling) these types of issues.

I know this really is kindergarten stuff when it comes to parenting, and the teenage issues are yet to come. I just want to start preparing myself now and make decisions now, before it’s too late, that will help when the secrets are more serious.

Thoughts?