Copy Cat!

“THIS AND THAT, COPY CAT

WHATEVER I DO YOU DO IT TO

IT’S A LITTLE GAME WHERE WE DO THE SAME…

OK – HERE WE GO!”

Did you ever play “Copy-Cat” ?  I did – a lot!  I am the oldest of 4 children and my father was a traveling salesman. We went on road trips often and there was no TV, no DVD player, no cell phone, no hand-held electronic ANYTHING in the car.( I am that old!) We played games.  “I Spy” for miles, “Copy Cat” until our Mama begged us for the “Quiet Game”.

When I sing the “Copy Cat” song at a Miss PattyCake concert (lyrics above), I always to make reference to the verse that is its origin:

Ephesians 5:1, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;”

‘Imitator’ is a big word for a little person, and often the best way to explain a verb, a “doing” word, is to show them. “Here – imitate this… do what I do…be a copy-cat” ! Jesus did this all the time! He told stories, he used illustrations, and maybe, with the children, he played gamesJ  I like to think He did.  So – let’s play a game! You (children) copy me, I will copy Jesus, then we will both WALK IN LOVE, which is the very next verse:

Eph. 5:2, “Walk in love, just as Christ loved YOU, and gave Himself up for you, an offering and sacrifice to God…”

Don’t we love our children? Wouldn’t we give ourselves for them? OF COURSE WE WOULD.  And that is how God feels about us!  I like these verses better from the Message translation:

“Watch what God does, then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents.  Mostly what God does is LOVE YOU.  Keep company with Him and learn a life of love.  Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant! He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us.  LOVE LIKE THAT!”

See?  It’s all about “Copy-Cat”. How do we copy God? We look at the life of Jesus!  He said, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” (John 14:7) READ what Jesus did – mostly He loved people. He went about doing good, helping others.  I like to look at the word “therefore” to find what it is “there for”.  It usually refers to whatever came right before it.  Eph 4:32 comes before the “therefore” of 5:1 , so what does it say?

“Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, jut as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”

Let’s copy THAT! If we, as parents, will ask the Father to create this lifestyle of love, kindness, forgiveness in US – then our children will SEE it, and naturally copy us as we instruct them. And together, we will COPY JESUS!

I realize – in the “hullabaloo” of life with babies, toddler, preschoolers, all this is easier said than done! In you going, you doing, diapers and bottles, sippy cups and spills, messy play area, crayons, goldfish, endless laundry and dishes, take a moment – breathe – look up and THANK GOD for all of it and REMEMBER THIS:

“It is GOD who works in us both to WILL and to DO His good pleasure.” Phil 2:13

THAT, my friend, is the key – that takes the pressure off us to “DO” it ourselves – to get it all RIGHT! This is God’s work IN us and THROUGH us. Can we love our children well?  HE can love them well THROUGH USJ Can we always be kind?  Can we always forgive?  God, the Holy Spirit is alive in us, and, as we give Him permission, He lives that beautiful LOVE LIFE through us and it spills onto our little ones.   COPY THAT!

(“COPY-CAT” song can be found on the CD, “Colors, Numbers, ABCs” and also on the DVD, “Sing-A-Long Fun Pack”, and “Preschool Fun Songs” Go to the STORE at www.misspattycake.com)

What Does God Want for Christmas?

Hi Friends!!

I'm excited to share this wonderful story about what God wants for Christmas!  Are you ready to join me?  Just press play below, and join Miss PattyCake as we open presents together to try and figure out What God Wants For Christmas!  And parents/grandparents (adults), there is a short video for you at the bottom of this blog as well!

Enjoy!!!

                                         
                   

Miss PattyCake Decorates her Christmas Tree!!!

It's Christmas time!!!  What a wonderful time of year where we get to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ!  Enjoy this fun video as Miss PattyCake decorates her Christmas Tree and shares how the tree and different decorations can remind us of Jesus Christ!

                           

Flying- God is BIG!

I love flying.  And, I always choose a window seat. It amazes me to see the earth from above...cars, houses, churches, schools, roads,rivers, lakes, then higher and things become smaller still and hills morph into mountains often dropping straight into a plain. Lush green becomes brown, then grey rock, climbing into white with snow. There may be  no sign of any type of building for miles....then a cluster. A town! Or, a city... a river snaking along, dumping into a lake. Just now, I am over desert and only see one road...but in the distance I see water, and near that are large squares of farmland.  Oh, and I didn’t mention the clouds. How can water float??

These sights bring all sorts of thoughts, stories, word pictures, song lyrics, even Bible verses to mind. I have wondered what other psalms David, and the other writers might have written had they ever flown, looked through a telescope, or SCUBA dived!   I think Psalm 8 would be even bigger and bolder in speaking of the majesty of the creation! I think there would psalms about clouds, and stars, and tropical fish! Or maybe God just saved all that for US to write new songs.:)

Today on my flight, I am thinking of the BIGNESS of God as I see the earth pass below.  It occurs to me how my problems, struggles, challenges can feel enormous and overwhelming, BUT, from this altitude, I am lifted to another vantage point... I can see a BIGGER PICTURE.  I ask myself, do I really think - believe - the BIG GOD made all this?? Does He truly keep this earth spinning on its axis? Is my life in His hands?  Under His care?  Is it true that “underneath are the everlasting arms” ?    My answer is “YES”.  But I am so very much like Jesus’ disciples who said, “Lord, we believe, but help our unbelief.”  

So today, in view of the BIGNESS of God, I remind myself how small my issues really are in light of His majestic greatness. That does not make them disappear! NO, it just calls me to let Him be the “lifter of my head”.  Raising my eyes above the situation to see how He is working for my good and for His glory, believing...trusting HIm with the issues ‘on the ground’.  2 Cor 4:17 “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”

And the BIGNESS of God is what I love to share with children. It is the great ADVENTURE in life to see our Father God everywhere! Look around you today with your little one. Romans 1:20 tells us “God’s eternal power and diving nature have been clearly seen in all that has been made,”  I know you will find, “everywhere you look you see, in colors, numbers, ABCs, that God loves you and God loves me.”

Here are lyrics to a new song I hope to record soon for you and your children:

God’s love is BIG , it’s really BIG

It’s great great big big love

It’s not small, not small at all

It’s big big big big big big big big LOVE

God’s love is strong, God’s love is warm

It’s always close to you

It never never goes away

No matter what you do or say....

It’s BIG AS A MOUNTAIN

STRONG AS A LION

WARM AS A SUMMER DAY

WIDE AS THE OCEAN

SWEET LIKE HONEY

GOD’S BIG LOVE WILL ALWAYS STAY!

 

Everyday is a PattyCake Praise day!

“THIS IS THE DAY THE LORD HAS MADE, I WILL REJOICE AND BE GLAD IN IT”.  

Psalm 118:24   

a paraphrase..... “Every day is a PattyCake praise day”

There - that is a verse I have known as long as I can remember (thanks mom)... I quote it , I sing it, I use it to correct my children, I speak it over negative or frustrating circumstances, and it is the quintessential MISS PATTYCAKE verse. And, when I say it,  I mean it...most of the time.  Amazing how I can forget the POWER of that verse - especially those 2 words, “I WILL”.  I WILL - meaning, I choose, i DO..it’s a verb; something we DO.  And that, for me, is the beginning of understanding PRAISE TO GOD....which leads us into WORSHIP.

My life changed when I was in college and was impressed by the Word of God.  ‘Impressed’ is a good word.. ‘pressed in’, like a cutter into dough. The verse the Holy Spirit impressed was this, 

“He has put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God...” Ps 40:3

Well I was singing all kinds of songs as a voice major, and when I pondered what a “song of praise” might be, I was stumped.  At that time the only “praise” song I knew was the Doxology I had sung every Sunday of my life. By the way, it is a good praise song, 

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow

Praise Him all creatures here below

Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

So I began a journey, all those years ago, into what God says is PRAISE. Today, we hear the words “praise” and “worship” lumped together all the time - but biblically, they are different.  The essential difference is this:

Praise is something we DO... a verb we WILL ourselves to do.

Worship is the “whole of life” given to God. 

 The word “worship” comes from an Anglo-Saxon word, “worthship” and actually means “to come near to kiss”. While “praise’ is an offering (Heb 13:15), “worship” can be an attitude, a place.  Praise is an action and/or posture which leads us into “worship”. When I made the observation of these differences, it helped my understanding of what pleases the Father, and how that can change our very lives!  

God gives us a “diet” of praise, that is, he gives us a choice, and these are a few of the specific types of actions we can do that please the Lord, and when we do these, WE reap benefits! I like to start with my favorite word, HALLELUJAH.  Now, if you have lived a few years in the Christian community, or just in the South, you know we throw this word around casually.  But God gave this word as a command... an imperative!  When you read your Bible and it says, “Praise the Lord!”, that is “HALLAL”  in Hebrew. It is a command, something we are to obey. And it is a holy privilege!  Here is the meaning:

HALLAL = boast, rave, laud, celebrate, leap, dance, twirl, to be full of joy, clamorously foolish, with reckless abandon!  

Well - THAT should shake up the “frozen chosen” :) Apparently God loves our celebration of HIM! YAY!  AND, that is not all..... He also encourages lifting hands, throwing out the arms in surrender, kneeling, bowing, shouting, playing stringed instruments, drums and cymbals, and (best of all i think) SINGING!  So, God tells us what He likes, and we then WILL ourselves to DO the action.

Here is the best definition I know of Biblical PRAISE from Bruce Leafblad:

“Praise is celebrative worship in which believers magnify and exalt the Lord, through expressive acts; enthusiastically proclaiming the unrivaled excellence of His name, His actions, and His character, in a spirit of UNINHIBITED REJOICING!”  

So, we know WHAT it is, now we decide to DO IT.   I love that King David talked to himself ... he said, “Bless the Lord, o my soul, and all that is in me, bless His holy name.” (Ps 103:1)  And, “I WILL bless the Lord at all times, His praise WILL continually be in my mouth, my soul WILL make its boast in the Lord....”  (Ps 34:1)  David is willing himself to give praise to God.  Further, the Psalmist says this, “O THAT MEN WOULD PRAISE THE LORD”  He knew the privilege, pleasure and power of praise.  (ahhh alliteration)

Ps 100:4 tells us to “Enter His gates with Thanksgiving, and into His courts with PRAISE”.  If you know anything about the construction of the temple, you will understand the “geography” of  walking into the outer courts where the sacrifice and washing took place... THANKING GOD for the blood of Jesus washing and atoning for our sins. But, don’t stop there! Keep “walking” - into His courts! With PRAISE. THE VERY PRESENCE OF GOD is in the courts - PRAISE HIM.. smell the incense, eat the ‘bread of life’, be filled with His light.  AND BE USHERED INTO THE HOLY PLACE - the veil is torn for us - come in to worship. Come near to ‘kiss’. 

And THEN we begin to have intimacy... “knowing” HIM by being with HIM, in His presence.... and THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING. 

I pray you will seek to KNOW the Lord, through Praise and Worship... and then “impress this on your children,”  and have a PATTYCAKE PRAISE DAY!

Joyfully,

Miss PattyCake

EASTER!!

“1-2-3-4-5-6-7

Jesus made a way to heaven!”

I think that about sums it up.  

Sometimes the simplest answer ....works!  The gospel is simple. Jesus did for us what we could not, cannot , do for ourselves.  No one ever could. No amount of trying, working, trying harder, sacrificing, slaving, giving, being good, or any other form of effort, is enough.  It’s like my friend, AMAZING GRACE, says,

“God wants each one of us to be His very own child.  But,because of our sin... you know,  all the wrong things we think and do,  we could never be good enough.  So God  made a way! He sent Jesus! His one and only son, to die on the cross for our sin. When we believe in HIM we can have life everlasting!  You see, nobody loves you like God, and THAT’S THE TRUTH!”

So - there it is - simple! The only thing  we must do is...BELIEVE.  Jesus said so.  I am not telling you it is EASY to believe... but it is simple. Jesus told the disciples that we should be like “little children” who believe and receive.  Recently I pondered that - receive like a child.  It occurs to me that children are helpless. They need us for everything. The receive all they need from a parent, or a teacher. They can’t eat, dress, clean themselves, find shelter, or stay safe without help.  Shouldn’t we see ourselves like that?  I need the Father for EVERYTHING.  Jesus said it well, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Apart from me, you can do....NOTHING”  (John 15:5)  THIS IS THE GOSPEL - the MESSAGE - the GOOD NEWS!  Jesus did everything needed for us to know Him, and live with Him forever.  WE ONLY HAVE TO BELIEVE.

Now - tell your children the good news! ! I’ll help make it easy:

1. Jesus was born - He came to earth on Christmas morn
2. He LOVES YOU. He lived a life so good and true
3. For you and me... He gave his life on Calvary
4. There is so much more!  3 days later He JUMPED from the grave, then He went to heaven! And now, He prays for you and me....EVERY DAY!
5. HE’S ALIVE - JESUS IS ALIVE!!

Those are actually lyrics from the song we call,”Give me 5, He’s alive”.  You can find it on the EGGSTRAVAGANZA dvd or on the CD called, “Colors, Numbers, ABCs”.  I pray you have an eggsrtaordinary resurrection celebration!  It is an eggcellent time to talk to your children about Jesus.  

“Let the Word of Christ - the MESSAGE- have the run of the house.  Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense.  And SING, SING YOUR HEARTS OUT TO GOD!”   Col 3:16 Message Bible 

SING, SING, SING!!

What happens in your mind when you hear these words:  “I am stuck on bandaids cause a bandaid’s stuck on me”.  How about this, “My bologna has a first name….” Or this, “Like a good neighbor, _________.” Did you finish that line? Did you sing them? OF COURSE YOU DID! And why?  Because it is MUSIC – and music lives in our brain in an INDELIBLE way. 

I, like most other children, learned this early.  Many of my earliest memories are musical – my mother tells stories of me at age 3 singing “Jesus Loves Me” at the top of my lungs to anyone who would listen, at the grocery store, at the gas station, out the window to passersby. I would lie in bed at night and recount the events of the day in a “song”. 

Later, as a mother of preschool children, I always looked for a way to make “the job a game.”  AND MY METHOD IS ALWAYS MUSIC! (Mary Poppins helped)

Probably, you know all this – so why am I reminding you? Because we, as parents, have a job – a responsibility:

TELL YOUR CHILDREN ABOUT THE LORD. (Deut 6:7)  

Using music is the fastest, and most permanent way to get information and God’s truth into the hearts and minds of little ones.  Find a melody – any tune – make it up or use one you know – and SING what you want to say – and then, THEY WILL LISTEN!  It does not have to rhyme – or be anything particularly lovely, just SING. 

With my own children, I always sang a direction: “time to take a bath now, a bath now, a bath now, and you will have some splash now and have big FUN”  (did you make up a melody to that?) I think this is what the Word of God means about a “new song”. Ps.33:3

“Sing to the Lord a new song….. “

Did you know: a 2year old can sing a melody! They may not be able to pronounce all the words of a song, but they can sing – they are BRILLIANT! 

Start early!  Find Bible verses that you think your little ones should know – and sing them.  Do you think they can understand?  Consider this:

“From infancy you have known the holy scriptures, which were able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus”  2Tim. 3:15

What a priviledge we have to sing to our children about the Lord – to teach them songs to sing about the Lord – and to teach them songs to sing TO the Lord.

“It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to SING praises to His name.” Ps 92:1

“O come let us SING for joy to the Lord, let us SHOUT JOYFULLY to the rock of our salvation.” Ps 95:1

“Shout joyfully to the Lord all the earth... Come to Him with joyful SINGING” Ps.100:1-2

“Sing songs from your heart to Jesus. Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ.”  Eph 5:19 (THE MESSAGE)

Start today!  SING YOUR WAY THROUGH YOUR DAY! I promise, you will see a difference in yourself, in your children, and in your home:)