It’s Friday… The Story Behind the Song

by Andrea Noles

It all started three years ago on a normal Friday. We quietly snuck in Weston’s room, turned on his lamp, and Daniel brilliantly coined the “It’s Friday” song. Right there, on the spot, no practice, no planning, just in-the-moment fun!

He quietly sang…

“It’s Friday, It’s Friday!
Thank the good Lord
we made it through another week
cause It’s Friday!”

Weston rolled over, smiled at our silly attempt to wake him up, and popped out of bed.

I wish there was more to it really.
Or maybe I don’t.
Maybe the simple act of playing a song for a child was enough.
Maybe God knew how much this creative act would grow and decided to keep its beginnings humble.

Maybe this little story is a lot like The Parable of the Mustard Seed.
Because a simple story has the power to change the course of someone’s day, a week, or a lifetime.

30 And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? 31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” Mark 4:30-32

Nearly every Friday that followed, the song continued.
We added lyrics, sometimes silly, sometimes serious.
But we just kept doing it.

We never knew our commitment to creating and cultivating a song was for anyone else.
But God did.
Because God loves FAMILY.
And FAMILY was HIS idea from the beginning.
God knows what “good” looks like.
He calls it out and makes “good” grow.
Just like He did in the beginning.

In the beginning God made the light and the dry land, and the waters, and the seeds, and the trees, the living creatures, the beasts of the earth, and the livestock, and every creeping thing that creeps.

He called them all good!

He made a garden and gardener.
But something suddenly wasn’t good.
“Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
Genesis 2:18

Family.

God knew this world needed us.
He needed family to multiply and make more beautiful people.
He needed seed scatterers.
He needed musicians.
He needed ALL of us to tell His story.

So here we are, on the other side of Genesis.
Creating together.
Working together.
Remembering the good things and making the good things grow.

 We are Telling the World, “It’s Friday,” but what we really mean is…

“We are tired and weak and we need a break.”
“We need time together to grow and laugh and love.”
“WE NEED REST.”

Fridays are for family.
They mean take-out-meals and food trucks.
Neighborhood parties and watching movies.
They mean late night stories and downloading new songs on Itunes!

Whatever Fridays mean to you, just keep celebrating the simple.
Maybe a small seed you’ve planted will grow into something bigger than you could ever imagine.

Remember the good and the good will grow.

If this story is new for you, check in with us every Friday on our Facebook page, Create in Us Collective, for a happy little tune from our house to yours.

-Andrea

What Bible Study Looks Like for a Tired Momma (Or Anyone Else Overwhelmed Right Now By Life)

By Jennifer Smith

I have dropped all the balls. In a former life I was an amazing juggler. I could juggle kids and marriage and career and art studio and church and bible study. It wasn’t without effort and I was exhausted, but I did it and I did it well.

I was very impressed with myself.

And then came Baby Three.

He is VERY cute. But he is very tough. He is one of those You-cannot-ever-put-me-down babies. He must be continuously held or he will erupt into screams. We regularly attend to dinner or laundry or clean up duty to the sweet sounds of Baby James crying screaming in the background.

I juggled the balls well before, but now they are all over the floor. And I find them in random places. Like under the couch. And in the refrigerator. I think I saw the dog chewing on one just the other day.

I once read about a woman who read Anna Karenina while breastfeeding late at night.

I am not this woman.

I bottle feed Baby 3 while watching Hart of Dixie reruns on my phone.

Needless to say the part of myself devoted to Bible study and to time with Jesus is nowhere to be found. I am not far from my Savior, but I am definitely far from quality time spent in His word.

I know I am not alone. One of my sweet co-workers who also has a new baby approached me a few weeks ago and asked me about my time in the Word. Where did I find time? What did that look like?

I learned a long time ago, transparency is the only way to truly learn from and lean on each other.

So I looked at her...and laughed. And then I shot an arrow-prayer up to heaven for Jesus to help us.

After I laughed the words came out confused and jumbled, but they came out:

“Wasn’t there a widow who gave her last bit of oil or pennies or doves? She gave the very last bit of what she had and Jesus said it was precious to Him.”

My brain that used to be so quick and is now a muddled mess was trying to recall this from Mark 12:

41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.
43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

Jesus taught me and my sweet friend in that moment: Give me what you have, little momma. I know you’re tired. I see you in the night during the feedings. I see you during the days calming the tantrums, checking the homework, sorting the laundry.

I see you in your sheer exhaustion.

I know you don’t have much to give me. But what you do give me is sweet and is worth much.

Please don’t falter and tell yourself: if I can’t come to God today with a full hour of study time and with my study bible and my devotional and my commentary, well, I might as well not come.

Nope, come anyway. Bring your two copper coins. Whatever they may look like: a prayer and praise song in the car, a quick devotion on your phone before you hop out of bed, a prayer in the shower.

Give Him what you’ve got. He does not turn your offering away because it’s not big enough. In fact, the smallness of it is where He finds it precious.

This time of motherhood is flat out exhausting. Please don’t misunderstand: I know the days are long, but the years are short. I honor this time in my life, but it does not take away the sun up til sundown race. Sisters, just as we know to treasure these years we’ve been given, conversely, we should not feel guilt about the tiredness that comes from them. We get to treasure! We get to be tired! We get to do both things!

Momma, it is okay. Jesus ain’t mad at you. He loves you and wants to hold your hand and help you mother your children. And even more so, He wants to take care of you, too. Truly, we find care in His Word:

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope, says Psalm 130:5.

Time in the Bible and prayer matter; let’s not neglect it. The small moments we give it are not wasted or shamed. They are treasured by our Good and Kind Jesus. The Jesus who understands the poverty of your time and stamina and sleep. The Jesus who understands motherhood better than you or I ever will.

Turn to Him and give Him what you can. Just as our precious Jesus did not turn away those two copper coins, He will not turn away your tired and weary few moments with Him.

Little Momma, your babies love you. But don’t forget, Jesus loves you more.

So let’s give him what we’ve got, even if it’s all we have left. It will be the best two copper coins you ever spent.

Love, Not Law

Twice in one day I heard the word 'litigious.' Who hears this word even once in their day, let alone twice? And, for the sake of transparency - I mean, let's be real here. The first time I heard the word was in an episode of Friends where Rachel declares she is "not litigious" to a possible employer. And the second was on Top 40 radio with a DJ describing a woman who had engaged in some sort of nonsense and was about to sue someone. So, in short, do not be mistaken. I was not reading the Wall Street Journal, watching the news on PBS, or engaging in any high minded media. Nope, just Friends and trashy radio.

Where were we? Oh, yes. Litigious. Am I litigious? Are you litigious? Who knows? I have no idea what this word even means. But I am a curious cat, so I had to look it up.

Ahem. Litigious. "Excessively ready to go to law."

In my physical life I am not litigious. I've never sued anyone. Never had anyone arrested. In fact, several years ago Dusty and I were rear ended on I-95 on our way to Orlando. It was a barely there bump, so we told those who'd hit us not to worry about it. Some may consider this naive, but I tell this story to prove the point - I am not litigious.

But am I spiritually litigious?

Galatians 3:3 says this: "Are you that stupid? Did you begin in a spiritual way only to end up doing things in a human way (the Law)?"

In this text Paul is speaking to the church at Galatia. Jews during this time followed the Law, the commandments given to Moses in Exodus. These are not just the ten we memorized in Sunday School as children. The Law held over 600 rules ranging from those we've memorized to foods you were allowed to eat to property management to relationships. Jews worked very hard to obtain righteousness in the sight of God by following these rules to the letter.

But Jesus came and spoke freedom:

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart 

and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 

This is the first and greatest commandment. 

And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.' 

All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:37-40

(emphasis mine)

Dear one, Jesus says love is enough. If we love Him with everything we have and love each other in the same way everything in the Law will fall into place. There is no need to complete a checklist of good deeds to win our salvation. Jesus came and through His love and our love for Him all the Law is covered.

Paul says "we are no longer under the supervision of law" or a bajillion rules. Just two rules now: Love God. Love people. 

But what about those Ten Commandments? I'm supposed to follow those, right? 

If you love God and love people you will. 

Let's test this theory.

No other Gods before Him - Love God.

No idols - Love God.

No misusing His Name - Love God.

Remember the Sabbath - Love God.

Honor your parents - Love people.

No murder - Love people.

No adultery - Love people.

No stealing - Love people.

No lying - Love people.

No jealousy - Love people.

Legalism is not for you, friend. You are a child of Love, not a child of law. 

I want to be like Rachel Green and declare "I am not litigious!" I want to be unshackled by lists of rules and claim only one: love. Just love.

All the Law is covered by Love.

Father, create in us a heart that loves You and loves Your people. Let our hearts rest in love, not law.

She Speaks

You know when you were a kid and went to church camp, had that emotional, mountain-top experience with the Lord, and returned home completely renewed, joyful, and ready to fully live for Jesus?

Well, the gals at Create in Us had this exact same experience this weekend. We were fortunate enough to attend the awesome speaking and writing conference produced by Lysa Terkeurst and Proverbs 31 Ministries.

We went to learn how to further our cause, get some training on speaking, tips on writing. We went to make contacts in the publishing world and speaker circuit. And yeah, we learned notebooks full of information. But really we were reminded of why we do ministry in the first place.

Jesus.

Do we remember He's the reason? In all of our book proposals, and fan-girling over Whitney Capps (I LOVE YOU, WHITNEY!), and dreams of quitting our day jobs to become full time ministry workers? Do we remember that He called us?

I will not claim that I discovered the following truth on my own, I learned it from the wise teaching of Lysa Terkeurst on the first morning of the event: Yes, Jesus called us to go into the world and share the gospel. He called us to preach His Name, declare His glories. To cast our demons, to heal the sick. To bring Life. But before any of that, ANY of it, He simply calls us to be with Him. Mark 3:14 says the first reason Jesus called the apostles was, "that they might be with Him."

Think about your calling. Your calling as wife, mother, office worker, church nursery volunteer. These callings are high and noble and oh so important. But your first and greatest calling is to simply be with Him.

So today, before you do the work God has called you to do, be with Jesus. Seek Him first. Come back to your first Love.

We at Create in Us were reminded in such a mighty way by Lysa's teaching that the only purpose of our ministry is our Creator.

We also received precious affirmations that our ministry is something special and unique. Over the next few months you'll see some new happenings here at Create in Us. We can't wait to share our upcoming projects with you. We are eager as always to see you in our studio classes and visit you at your churches. We'll also be seeing you in some new places as well. September will bring some exciting announcements.

We are so in love with what we do at Create in Us. This year has been fast and furious in the best ways and we are excited to push further into what God has for us. But no matter what that may look like we were reminded of our priority purpose: to seek our Creator first, to dwell with Him always. And only then, when we are filled to the brim with Jesus, will we be able to share the gospel in our unique way. We were created to create, friends, but even more than that we were created to be with Jesus.

Lord, may it be so.