Baby Shower Devotional

We’ve received a lot of traction on our original post with our Baby Shower Devotional. We decided to repost it again here but without the fluff.

My inspiration for the baby shower devotion?... The Bible.  I wanted to look right into the bible when doing a little devotion bc who better to look to than our ultimate Abba Father. And a passage God reminded me of was Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Backstory:   A group of people, the Israelites,  were slaves for the last 400 years and experienced their exodus from slavery and have been wandering in the desert for over 40 years with Moses.  Moses has lead these common slaves in every way.  The book of Deuteronomy is a great father Moses under the ultimate father God who gives a series of sermons to his people before he goes to be with the Lord and they take the promise land. It's his farewell, let me inspire you to live in his word and remind you of his commands and promises address.

And chapter 6:4-8 speaks to parenting.

 "Listen, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone.  And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.  And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today.  Repeat them again and again to your children.  Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.  Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders.  Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

My pastor shared this saying with us and it changed my parenting outlook.   Love God most so you can love your children more.  Moses shows us that here in verse 5 you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.  Later Paul adds in Romans... All your mind.  So in essence, love him with all that you are, your heart and soul, love him in your strength, by serving others. Love him with your mind, by constantly growing deeper in your faith in knowledge.  Let your child, children see this. Teach your child and be his or hers example in loving, serving and devotion. As you'll soon learn, they learn most by your example and do what you do and become mini-mes.

Then just a few months ago, our Pastor again enlighten us with but said more eloquently. God doesn't call us to launch our children to a successful career, or to a good school, or to be successful at life. He wants us to launch our children into eternity.  That's all God cares about. Are you developing and teaching your children all there is to know and love about God.

Let's re-read verses 7-9.

 "Repeat them again and again to your children.  Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.  Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders.  Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

The key to teaching our children to love God is stated quite simply. If we want them to follow God, we must make God an integral part of our everyday experience. Not just Sunday's, not just mealtimes. Every day all day.  These verses state to tell them at home, on the road, upon waking, going to sleep. Let them see it in your home, on the door and on your gates. Let them hear it constantly, let them see it in you.

So if you can remember two things as you take on parenting remember this. Love God most, so you can love this child more. And look beyond our secular world and launch this child into a life that truly matters. A life of hope and peace.  A life of Eternity. 

Faithful Onesie here

(side note: we just went over this passage in church yesterday. How ironic! The Israelites physically put out visual reminders. They put actual signs on the doors and gates of their homes to remind them as they left the house to live for the Lord. Or when they return home to be the Godly father, husband. They put signs on their hands to remind them to serve for the Lord or to act as a check, would God like what I'm doing with my hands right now.  How fascinating, right?)

One - Unity Tee Now Available.

Our Give Back Campaign ends this Thursday, March 12th. We thought it would be fun to release one of our new tees early to be a part of this campaign.  When in the planning process for this tee, there was a ton of positive feedback and people were excited about the possible new release.  So we have HIGH hopes that this tee will offer us a chance to Give Back even more to the Children's HopeChest.  

When designing our next men's tee, we were nudged with this verse. 

“There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.” - Ephesians 4:4-6

And when you think of it, God has a sense of humor or, as always, he plans it all out perfectly.  Okay... it's both.  But what a great verse for this time of year!  We are about to embark on the next presidential campaign.  And while it is exciting for America, it can also be a time of great separation.  Red vs blue.  So while this verse definitely talks to the church, it can also be used to unite the country as a whole.  And let's be real... our country desperately needs this message.  Whether it's on political views, socioeconomics, race, culture... there is no better time to wear a tee that supports uniting as one human race.  That's why we decided on just a bold, ONE.  And does this design not make you glance a little longer and make you think?!  Just like I said,  God's perfect plan and humor.

Your ONE tee here.

But here is the real message behind the verse.

In this passage in Ephesians, Paul is calling us to unity in the body of Christ.  Unity in the church. Ephesians 4:3 states to be united in the Spirit binding ourselves together in peace.

The body of Christ is made up of many individuals, all different and unique. Different cultures, life styles, and even values, and while we may not agree on every issue within the church, that is okay!  We are to just keep the unity of the Spirit. We can disagree on things like the rapture or whether Jesus was born in a cave or a barn.  But Paul states there are a few non-negotiables to unite on and those are what are truly essential to the faith and our salvation.

There is only one body or one church.  While we may separate ourselves and call our church Evangelical, Lutheran, Reformed etc, there is but one church.  Jesus’ church.  And the beautiful thing is, you can’t join it but you can be born into it.

There is also one Spirit. And while that Spirit may move differently within the individuals of the body, it is the same.  The same Spirit that works within each and every one of us; moving, interceding and guiding our lives.  This same Spirit is the one that gives us a peace that surpasses all understanding and reassures but also gives us great power. For this Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is the one that lives in us. 

We also have one hope. And that hope is heaven with our one Lord and we are saved by one faith.  And that faith is welcomed in by one baptism as we are made new in our one true God. The one God who is over all, in all and living through all.

Be reminded to live as one.  Don’t let the little differences break the beautiful unity we have in Jesus.  For all these that we are one in are all greater than any potential difference.  

This ONE tee and all tees when purchased before Thursday, March 12th will get  FREE SHIPPING and donate 35% of your purchase back to Children's HopeChest for the Give Back Campaign

Use code: MakeADifference  

We pick up from the printers this week, so please note the photo above my vary slightly.  Items will ship out Tuesday, March 17th

A HUGE Give Back Campaign Starts NOW

Our Give Back campaign starts NOW!

When we started Six Notes a large part of each launch was focused around giving back. We chose a specific organization to support and would use it as a platform to encourage giving back. But as we had more children and life got a little more crazy, we went away from this. We continued with our servants hearts though and continued to give to organizations; it just wasn’t a part of each new product launch. In fact, last year we gave as much as we made! Actually our donations were greater than our profits.

Amen.

Starting today, we want to invite you all back into our mission to give back. So we partnered with another amazing local company with this same servants heart, Create Hope Cuffs. Together we are launching our Give Back Campaign. With each purchase from either of our companies, we will give back 35% (which is a lot for small companies like ourselves) And we are so excited about this. That means if you buy $100 worth of merchandise, we will donate $35!

We are giving back to Children’s HopeChest which is an organization transforming the lives of impoverished and vulnerable children. All you have to do is:

• shop with both us and Create Hope Cuffs.

• Use the code: MakeADifference to join in the mission of giving back the 35% and

• as a thank you this code will give you FREE SHIPPING!

• ends Thursday, March 12th

Easy as pie.

BUT here is the deal. We need your help. We are just two small companies praying we can make a difference. So here is what you can do.

• share our posts on both instagram and facebook

• like our posts

• comment on our posts

• basically interact and share in any way possible.

Thank you for helping us Give Back to those who need His love.

President's Day Devotion - How to live as Christians under Govt authority

My morning time was in 1 Peter 2:13-17.  A very timely passage if you ask me for Presidents’ Day.  Peter is writing this section for the Gentile Christians who are under the Roman government.  It’s teaching them to show proper submission to the government while living for Jesus.  Back in Peter’s time there were zealous Jews who would not recognize a king and wouldn’t pay taxes.  Peter is saying, no, let’s live this way.  

Here is the passage:

“Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.”

1 Peter 2:13-17 NIV

There are a couple of things I really enjoyed from this.

1.     When it talks in verse 14, “who are sent by him...”. This him is God.  Our leaders are sent by God and if they are sent by God they are sent for a reason because He has a reason for all things in His plan.  Here it states that Governments are sent by God for punishment of evildoers and for the recognition of those who do good. (BLB).   We see this over and over again in the Old Testament. 

2.    Doing good should silence.  In verse 15 Peter talks about God’s will for our lives and that is to do good.  Why?  Because doing good silences the ignorant talk.  Or in other words, our conduct is a way to defend the Gospel.  Peter knew that those who never read the Bible will read our lives. (BLB)

3.    Lastly, our freedom in Jesus is not an excuse for sin.  Verse 16 states this simple fact.  We are to live as free people because that is exactly what we are.  We are free in Christ.  BUT we do not use this freedom to cover up our evil, or to cover up our sin.  In fact we live our lives as slaves to our Heavenly Father.  It seems odd to talk about freedom and slavery as being the same.  But we are all slaves to something.  Whether our jobs, our desires or ourselves.  Jesus gives us true freedom from the bondage of sin and self.  So we live completely for him.  

To finish this out in verse 17 it says to honor the emperor.  So to make it applicable for us, we honor the president and past presidents.  And to do so, take these simple things as we live in this world, under the Govt authority, but for our Lord.   

Happy Presidents’ Day.  

Thank you for your service to this great country.

*BLB - Blue Letter Bible. An app I use often for studying.

Fixed On Jesus - Hebrews 12

I’m reading It’s Not Suppose To Be This Way from Lysa Terkeurst. She quotes Hebrews 12:1-3 in the Message translation and gives us her thoughts. Her inspiration. And if you know her story, she’s had quite the hard couple of years. I love her encouragement here especially since I’ve always loved this passage. I hope you find it as inspiring as I did. Keep those eyes fixed on Jesus.

Eugene Peterson paraphrased Hebrews 12:1-3

Do you see what this means - all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d be better get on with it. Strip down, start running - and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed - that exhilarating finish in and with God - he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into you souls. (The Message)

I love that Eugene gives us the secret of being a person who keeps going. Let’s call it the secret of being steadfast. Jesus lived it so we could know it. Let’s look again at one specific part of the passage: “Because (Jesus) never lost sight of where he was headed… he could put up with anything along the way.” That’s why we must keep our eyes on Him and go over His story - the Bible - again and again.

This is how we get through this life between two gardens. This is how we make sense of things that don’t make sense. This is how we can believe God is good when life isn’t good. This is how we can face hurt upon hurt, disappointment upon disappointment, longsuffering upon longsuffering, and still run our race with oxygen filling our lungs, peace filling our minds, and joy filling our hearts.

This is how we can accept reality but live reassured. This is how we wrestle well between our faith and our feelings.

Don’t lose sight of where we are headed. Let’s keep our eyes of Jesus, who will show us how to put up with anything along the way.