Notes from this week's podcast: Jo & Sydney: The Roots & Routines of Family Discipleship

Jo: The demands of family life are constant. 

The Word is not getting through. It's there, but it's not getting through. And, we wonder: How in the world do we cultivate a deep spiritual life, when we can barely find five minutes. 

Notice what the tree does. The fruit is visible. The branches they reach outward. The roots that feed every single leaf, they are completely unseen, buried deep underneath the surface of the soil. 

Spiritual depth in the Christian home does not come from the grand, theatrical gestures. ... It's built on the hidden, quiet, faithful everyday moments.

What life practically looks like when we remain in Christ -- How do you keep your family rooted in truth? How do you ensure that the seed of the Word is not choked out by the cares and circumstances of life? How do you embrace the high calling of motherhood, grandmotherhood? Even in the small things to be faithful one step at a time

Sydney: What does it look like to stay abiding in the everyday, with the messes all around?

 How do we live beyond what we see on the surface? It's growing those roots that are unseen. 

Are we allowing God to squeeze us and be used by Him, especially in the people closest to us our family, our circle? 

Jo: We need to welcome the squeezing. There are times that God's going to squeeze us, get more out of us, and take us places that are going to grow us. And we need to welcome those. 

Sydney: It's not always easy. We can be planted on what's true and stay standing through whatever circumstance comes our way. 

Jo: Run to God and ask: what's in this for me -- how am I going to grow from this? How are my roots going to go deeper in my relationship with You?

Sydney: Both Psalm 1 and Jeremiah talk about the water.  

Are we drinking >> What are we filling ourselves with? When you're "bumped" or "squeezed" what spills out of you? 

We can also learn from our anger and frustration. There is grace for that too. 

Jo: God is perfecting all of us. 

Sydney: Not to neglect the small: How am I abiding in the everyday small, unseen moments? 

Charles Spurgeon: The way to do a great deal is to keep on doing a little. The way to do nothing at all is continually resolving that you'll do everything. 

What if we took one task at a time, one interaction at a time, one conversation slowly and steadily with God's help? Those are the moments we grow our roots. 

Jo: Enjoy the moment of what is in front of you. See what is in front of you and be there, and be in the moment. 

Sydney: Car rides, dinner time ...

As you're drinking from the Living Water, I hope it comes out of us. 

Jo: If you're memorizing and saying the Word, it's not going to return void. Speak it out. It doesn't matter how you're feeling. That Word is circulating in the atmosphere over your home, you and your children as you're going out the door. 

Sydney: Family discipleship is just repeated obedience in the same direction over a long period of time. 

Use reminders like turning on a specific street to pray. Use the word that the Holy Spirit speaks to you.

Keep doing whatever little task, conversation, interaction, just one little step at a time -- the prayers, the Scripture, that apology, the time you remind your child of God's goodness, all of these -- the simple day to day moments -- the meal around the table, the car ride conversations, the prayer in the car, the bed time routines.

God sees them and these are the roots that we're growing.

Don't lose heart. Don't despise the small things.

Jo: The fruit is coming forth.

And don't get bored with it. It's a trick of the enemy. These are the main things. These are the things that matter now and they're going to matter down the road.

Sydney: What can choke this? Choke the Word out of our lives and not produce this fruit that we're aiming for

Jo: Stop and think: Where am I focused? What is this all about? Where you're focused, that's where you go. Think one thing at a time. 

Sydney: (The parable of the sower) Thorns that crowd out the Word; The worries of life, the lure of wealth, and the desire of other things choke the Word, making it unfruitful.

Jo: "What are you looking at, Jo? Where is your focus? What are your eyes perched on? Are you looking at the world, looking at someone else's life? Have you been in the Word of God?" The Holy Spirit takes me there almost every time. Stop and see where you're looking. 

Sydney: What could be "choking" for your life? 

Jo: In the moment of the day, what would be your advice? Overwhelming? Bored?

Sydney: ... "How can I stay connected to You, Jesus, right here and now?" 

• Prayer
• Recall Scripture
• Have some things memorized, hidden in your heart
• Asking for patience, relying fully on Him
• Turn a conversation toward the Lord
• Pause and respond from You 

 Jo: In every situation, reach out there and draw Christ into the matter, bring Him in and make sure He's in the midst of the growing. 

What really determines the outcome is how we respond to what is happening. 

Sydney: We don't want children who never struggle or a mother who never gets frustrated, but a family that's developing roots, roots that have grown quietly over the years, that reach down into God's Word, that trust Him, that know His covenant love, that return to Him again and again and again so when the heat comes we won't wither and we won't fall when the storms come because our hope is in Christ. And we can have His life flow through us. 

Scripture for further study: John 15:5, Psalm 1:1-3, Jeremiah 17:5-8, John 7:38, Colossians 3:3

Referenced books: My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers; Habits of the Household: Practicing the Story of God in Everyday Family Rhythms by Justin Whitmel Earley