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August 9, 2012 by Karin Leave a Comment

Wake Up

I just woke up.

It actually happened a few weeks ago… maybe months.  But, not long ago.

There is a period of time when a mother is pregnant, having a baby, recovering from having a baby, recovering from lack of sleep from having a baby (I’m not so sure we ever recover from that)… there is a period of time, when mama is sleep-walking.

I’ve done this sleep-walking routine six times.  Back to back.  So, I’ve been pretty much asleep with my eyes open for eleven years.

I just woke up.

I woke up thankful.  I am thankful beyond mere words for my six gifts.

I woke up searching.  Where is the path I am to follow?  Motherhood is clearly the paved road before me… I suppose the question is, how do I walk this road… and walk it well?

I woke up on fire.  (No, not literally, my kids are really sweethearts ~ most of the time)

I woke up burning with a desire to do something.  I woke up to a world in desperate need, children in desperate need, lost souls in desperate need… of a savior.  I opened my eyes and saw the need to throw my heart into the mess, my words onto the paper (screen), my voice into the noise… to share what I know to be the truth ~ the Savior has already been here.  He is still here.  He’s not leaving without us… if we let Him.

Waking up to breakfast and coffee, after a solid ten-hour slumber (now, I’m dreaming), would have been easier… but, I woke up to His prompting.  Easy really is not easy.  It is empty… when it comes to the soul.  Perseverance is the road to be travelled.  Hope is the fuel.  Love is the engine.  The Kingdom is the purpose.  It is the “why” for all of this.

I woke up to Twitter and Facebook and Pinterest and the list goes on…  Some catching up for the woman who, as a kid, learned how to use an Apple computer in the classroom… once a week… and it required ridiculous amounts of letters and codes and lines of jumble… just to spell… “dog.”  I have some catching up to do, with my eyes wide open… for His purposes.

I woke up loving the adventure even more… learning to trust Him… even more.

Good morning…

Romans 13:11

And do this, understanding the present time.  The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.

Filed Under: Compassion, Hope, Love, Perseverance Tagged With: compassion, hope, love

July 26, 2012 by Karin 2 Comments

How to clean the mess…

I have been frozen.  Stuck.  Searching.

Looking for the perfect words.  The perfect time.  The perfect idea.

There it is.  There is no perfect time.  Rather, every time is the perfect time.  The perfect time to act… to act love.  The perfect time to show love.  Show love ~ love in action.

When your day is a mess, your life seems a mess, your heart… a mess… do you find that you clean your house?  I do.  When I can’t seem to control all the stuff, all the mess around me… I clean my house.

there, that’s better

Nope.  Just a clean house.  The rest… it’s still pretty messy.

sigh

This the perfect time.  The perfect time to get my hands messy.  Turn my introspective eye… out.  Turn my eyes outward, to all the mess out there.  This is the perfect time to get into the mess and help clean up His house.  It’s all in His control.  That is not my job.  My job is to get my hands into the mess and help with the mess out there.  Of course, it begins at home.  I begin with my own little ones.  Love them, teach them… show them how to love, show them patience, kindness, mercy (easier said than done… practice, practice).  Show them how to get their hands messy, too.  The messy business of love.

My military husband, walks through the door… into the arms of squealing joy… 12 squeezing arms.  I smile to myself…

Two more…

His eyes wide.

What?

The thrill of jumping into the mess.  The thrill of a heart breaking for His own… of a heart breaking to open for more of His own.  Compassion for His own.  The eyes turn outward… the uncertain hands open to the mess out there.  A hopeful offering to be hands for Him.  We will touch 2 more.  Prayer and an offering from one soul to another.

When things are a mess… I clean my house.

Things, they are a mess…

People, places, they are broken…

Peer through the fence… open eyes, open hands.  We can help clean His.  One step at a time.  He will point the way.

 

James 4:17

Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.

Filed Under: Compassion

June 18, 2012 by Karin Leave a Comment

What’s in it for me?

What’s in in for me?

I can not believe my ears.  My child actually says the words we adults cover, disguise, veil with statements that rationalize.

A Father’s Day for my husband ~ a working Father’s Day.  A day that God uses to make him earn it… and mom, too.

The selfishness rears it’s ugly head… after church (of all times).  The human plans we make dashed and altered by the One who knows just when we need… what we need.

ALL the other kids have one!

It’s just so hard… I want…

I want, I want, I want… 

I clench my fists, close my eyes… remember the words

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger (Proverbs 15:1)

I glance at my husband.  I see the harsh words boiling behind the angry eyes.  We give them so much!  It’s never enough!  I see him and I know the same line is gripping him… attempting to extinguish the fiery tongue.  This line freshly given to us just an hour before.  So quickly we are expected to put it into practice.  Isn’t the practice for parents ongoing?  Exhausting?  The work on our children is more of a work in us.  This lesson for us as much as for our son.

It would be beautiful to say that no harsh words are spoken… His words taken to heart and put into practice… lesson learned… end of story.  Not so much.  Harsh words are spoken, anger stirs. Parent anger, child anger.  Tears flow.  Hearts hurt.  Spirits wounded.

This time… this one has to be different.  We have to listen.  We want to hear the words of our son.  We want to obey the words of our Father.  This is the best way to teach him, teach him by example.  Deep sigh.  The conversation lasts hours.  The memories of being a child flood back.  Empathy, memories of the emotions, listening ears… these are the things that halt the lash of the tongue.  It is certainly a lesson learned with effort.  We do our share of speaking, knowing that our son is the canvas waiting to be painted.  God’s work of art waiting for the touch of his earthly parents.  We carefully wield the brush.  The paint splatters turn to more refined strokes of the brush.  The softening of the heart doesn’t happen right away.

What’s in it for me?

A homework assignment given.

One kind deed for one person for 7 days.

You can expect nothing in return.

My child, wide-eyed, groans.

Nothing?

My eyes smile in his direction, knowing the reward will be greater than anything I could give him.

Nothing.

We are tired – the three of us.  The meeting of hearts, the draining of energy… strangely fills us.  We are filled with a closeness we can’t put into words.

The assignment taken to heart, my son comes to me,

I’ve thought of my first thing, mama

He shares his selfless offering… the recipients are his sisters.  Mom smiles.

It feels good, doesn’t it?

He grins.

I kind of wish I could get something for it.

I get it.  We want something in return.  It is a difficult practice… this selflessness.  I admit I have not mastered that one.

You will be given more in return than I could ever offer you.

You will be given a heart gift you can’t put into words.

Trustingly, he smiles, shrugs.

By the evening, he has thought of gifts for the next day… then two.

Maybe I’ll do two tomorrow.

My heart bursts.  The lesson begins to take hold.  Maybe I’ll do two tomorrow, too.

 

Philippians 2:3

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

 

 

Filed Under: Compassion, Faith, Motherhood

May 16, 2012 by Karin Leave a Comment

Lucky

You are so lucky!  I hear my kids exclaim during a heated game of (fill in the blank).  You are so lucky… I am so lucky… oh, what luck.

how did I get so lucky?

I always believed in luck.  The luck of the draw, the lucky break, the lucky girl…

and, then, sometimes… not so lucky.  The times that things didn’t quite work out, the outcome was not exactly what I had hoped, the luck had run out.

A gathering of friends… mothers… contemplating this…

does everything happen for a reason?

Is it luck, good fortune, misfortune… perhaps just a misstep… just a blink in the vast plan?  What is the purpose in these, seemingly, insignificant moments?  Do they add up to a greater plan… pieces of an intricate mosaic?  The puzzle of life and the 20,333 pieces that complete it…

it isn’t luck at all…

It has a different name.  A name I had heard for years… but had not not been aware of.  In all my years of marveling at the luck that swirled around… I hadn’t seen it clearly… as it’s true name… blessing.

The blessings of life… a husband, children, love, health, home…

Then, those moments, that make you wonder why you are so unlucky… where is the blessing in these moments?

I see it… the blessing is in the rebirth.  The shedding of skin, to reveal raw faith in need of refining… a character in need of growing.  A mother in need of believing… believing that all the moments are purposed for the great plan… for the molding of these jars of clay.

I look at the small, green plant ~ a representation of so many things to so many people ~ the three petals… I see the three – the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit… this symbol of “luck” ~ a reminder of the blessings in all things… I didn’t get so lucky…

I was blessed

James 1:2-4

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Filed Under: Compassion, Faith, Motherhood

May 2, 2012 by Karin Leave a Comment

move

So, what do you do?

That’s the question we all get.  That’s the question we all ask.  We meet someone new…

what do you do?

Many years ago, I replied to that question… I’m a speech pathologist.
After our first child, I replied… I’m a speech pathologist… but, I stay home with my son.
After our second little one, my answer… I’m a speech pathologist… but, I haven’t worked for a while. (What a joke! Actually, I had never worked this hard before.)
After our third, well… I may have mentioned that I was a speech pathologist, but usually I didn’t get the question anymore.  After all, my kids were right there with me (evidence of what I do).
Then, four, five, and sweet six…

what don’t you do?

The question changed… so, what does your husband do?  (Pretty funny.  I actually ask the same question.  I know what the mommy does.)

Here is what stumps me.  What stumps so many of us.

what do you want to do?

Of course, the first items on my “want list” are mom and wife.  I am grateful beyond words for those blessings.  Now, beyond that.  I really had not thought much beyond that… yet, I had felt a nagging. A nagging that there is more.  Raising and taking care of a family is plenty ~ my cup does runneth over.  However, I am referring to the desire deep down inside to create.

We are given so many gifts.  I wonder if we don’t even skim the surface of some of our gifts.  We feel as though we should be grateful for what we have… and not ask for more.  Maybe it’s not asking for more.  Maybe the prodding voice is trying to move us forward… maybe He is asking us to do more.
Our Creator… well, He creates.  He has created us to create.  When we create ~ we grow.
He wants us to grow.

The question… the question is actually this…

what does He want you to do?

The answer doesn’t always come clearly.  The waiting is difficult.  The waiting involves movement!
Moving toward Him, moving in service for Him, moving out of the comfort zone, moving…

and being still… all at the same time.


Not so simple.  Moving into new areas, unknown areas… waiting for Him to do His work.
All this while… He’s been waiting for me to move.
He will mark the path.

Matthew 17:20-21

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.  Nothing will be impossible for you.”

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Meet Karin

Hi! My name is Karin Madden. Writer. Warrior wife. Mom of six pack. Homeschooler. German-blooded southerner. Welcome to the place where I explore what it means to grow stronger - spirit, soul, and body. I write to inspire and encourage - to remind you we are not alone. By being bold with grace and speaking truth in love, we can become who we are meant to be. I'm glad you are here.

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