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The Secret Art of BusinessThe Importance of Inner and Outer StrengthKate McKay is President and CEO of Kate McKay, LLC, Siena Strategy Partners, and Executive Producer and Host of The McKay Effect. She is a dynamic international keynote speaker, and bestselling author who empowers clients and audiences to unlock their full potential and live lives of impact.
https://kate-mckay.com/
https://kate-mckay.com/book/
2025-03-0327 min
Light DutiesYou're Invited! A monthly study groupGod built certain responsibilities into the parent/child relationship. If you are looking to grow in understanding and doing that role, then you might appreciate the monthly Charlotte Mason study group I host. This episode explains what that is all about. You can join the group via Patreon ($5 AUD per month). A reading schedule is available on the Light Duties website. Join anytime, no prior knowledge required! 2024-11-2222 min
Light DutiesThe Bible's Costly Assumptions About FamiliesFirst published August 2024 on the Australian Presbyterian website. For the full text, see the AP site or the Light Duties website. This article explores the disparity between the sentiments of the 2024-25 Women's Budget Statement and the Bible's vision of how children are raised. Instead of focusing on women's rights, I suggest we refocus by considering how our children are going with the biblical imperative that they obey their parents. Is it possible that the expectation that children can learn to obey has disappeared along with the means by which the Bible assumes it is learned?2024-09-2917 min
Light DutiesThink-Aloud Chat: Children's BooksFollowing the How to Fill the Time episode, I've received questions about what kinds of children's books to read. Here is a response, to help you filter out many of the options and point you to some good springs. I mentioned: Biblioguides Vigen Guroian, "Tending the Heart of Virtue" (No affiliate link; I used the website that had the cheapest prices as of the date the episode was released). Hans Christian Anderson translated by Erik Haugaard. Five in a Row Sabbath Mood Homeschool Charlotte Mason S...2024-04-2338 min
Light Duties"Bringing Forth Life" Book ReviewJodie McIver is the Christian friend every expectant mum needs, especially in Australia. She understands the Bible, she understands midwifery and she understands the great variety of experiences faced by women who are becoming mothers. This is a review of her book, "Bringing Forth Life: God's Purposes in Pregnancy and Birth". 2024-04-0111 min
Light DutiesThe Necessary Desperation {bonus}When we’ve been invested in giving good and restraining harm for our kids, the situations that bring them low can be bitter to us. But we and our children need these pains, lest we miss the best of comfort, especially as they become independent.2024-04-0117 min
Open Your Eyes with McKay ChristensenS3E39 - The Power of One MoreMcKay welcomes everyone to join him on the podcast this week as he explores the inspiring journeys of individuals who've harnessed the incredible power of “one more". Through the stories of John Grisham, Jim Morris, Catherine Stockett, and Peter the Apostle, McKay delves deeply into the realms of personal growth and empowerment, shedding light on the profound theme of resilience and unwavering determination.As you will hear, the stories shared in this episode serve as a beacon of hope and motivation, inspiring us all to integrate the principle of just “one more" into our daily lives, seize oppor...2024-01-1530 min
Light DutiesGod Will Not Do What We Imagine {bonus}Our work in mothering is not going to achieve all that we imagine. Why bother when we don't know which way the ball will bounce? This episode is about the comfort we can count on.2024-01-0614 minOpen Your Eyes with McKay ChristensenStand in HonorIn today’s heartfelt episode, McKay explores the profound theme of courage and sacrifice for one’s country, highlighting the importance of honoring individuals who have dedicated their lives to upholding freedom. Through captivating stories, our host underscores the significance of taking a stand for one's beliefs and actively contributing to the well-being of others. McKay delves into two deeply moving narratives - the extraordinary influence of the Quilts of Valor Foundation, and the incredible heroism witnessed during D-Day at Point Duoc. He illuminates the remarkable work of the Quilts of Valor Foundation, born from Catherine Roberts' power...2023-11-2029 min
Light Duties#54. Stretched, Strained, SustainedHow can these maternal duties be called "light" when they are so weighty in importance and difficulty? 2023-09-2909 min
Light DutiesQ&A: How to Fill the Time?A listener has asked, "What good things can I fill my time and the kids' time with before starting formal schooling?". This response was recorded while I was out and about (so it sounds a bit raw). It's a start in thinking about why we have trouble filling time with very young children (I propose that it is an oddity of our economic/social/historical context). I meander through some of the key elements to making time at home with preschoolers nourishing for them and you. Plenty more can be said, but one needs to stop recording somewhere! 2023-07-0745 min
Light Duties#53. Ruined, Recycled, RestoredPerhaps we find motherhood difficult because we haven’t given much thought to building a house? The thing is, we're all building from ruins, salvaging and restoring what we can. We have ideals, but none of us are working with ideal materials. Our splintered posts have meaning.2023-06-1212 min
Light DutiesAffection Follows AttentionIn this think-aloud chat, we consider how our most basic form of treasure is our attention. And where our treasure is, there our heart will follow. Some thoughts on how we might come to love things we really don't like doing.2023-03-1816 minLight DutiesAbundance and Loss in MotherhoodSometimes God's generosity exhausts us. When the good gifts generate more work, we often treat them like a curse. This episode is about recognising the abundance we've had put in our hands so we can get busy doing something with it. It's about how to do a faithful job of handling the abundance (the abundance we often complain about). It's also about what pleases the Lord in those times when all the abundance has gone. At the end of this think-aloud chat are some thought for how churches might open up some options for the mothers who are on...2023-02-2636 minLight DutiesEvangelism Think-Aloud ChatPerhaps telling people about Jesus while we're caring for our children isn't as complicated as we make it? Some reflections from a couple of decades (while I clean and repair books).2023-01-2529 minLight Duties#52. Two Ways to Ruin MotherhoodThe great terror of motherhood is that we’d ruin it. This dread causes some mothers to do less: the less we do, the less we can fail. The same dread causes others to grip tighter and work harder: the harder we try the more sure the outcome will be. The painful truth is that both—minimal doing and overdoing—are ruinous to the thing we are trying to preserve.2023-01-1212 minLight DutiesChristmas Greetings UncutI could NOT let Christmas come without saying something. But such is the sweltering pace of things around here that I am talking on the run, complete with the creaking of doors, thrum of traffic and stretching of sticky tape. Minus editing and intro and outro. It's a worked example of giving what you've got even though it's far less than your ideal. That's the kind of chat this is. May you and your kids and everyone within orbit of you better know the comforts of King Jesus. https://mycanonplus.com/tabs/discover/video-series/11672022-12-2324 minLight Duties#51. Obedience is More FunWe don't have to trick kids into obedience. And we mustn't neglect climbing trees. A life of obedience isn’t a legalistic life. Obedience training is not a constant drill of facts and instruction. It isn’t micromanagement, explicitly teaching every virtue and moral lesson by rote. It’s not that we make obedience fun, like a cheap gimmick to bribe our children into doing what they ought. Obedience is not a bitter pill crushed in a spoonful of honey, or a zucchini blended into a chocolate cake. When we’re pursuing obedience on God’s terms, things are...2022-11-1412 minLight DutiesWhat if it Doesn't Work Out Well?What if our children grow up to squander the good gifts we have tried to give them? If it doesn’t end up achieving all we hope for, would faithful Christian motherhood be a waste of time? This is a think-aloud delve into how to stay motivated for a fraught work. I pray it is a comfort, and fortifying.2022-11-0428 minLight DutiesQ&A1This is the first episode answering a few questions lately received. Ranging from preparing for the teen years; parenting books I wish I had read at the start of my time as a mum; suggestions for Bible study guides to support Christ centred mothering. Along with some comments about Christian cancel culture. 2022-10-1336 minLight Duties#50. Unrestrained Cute BlasphemyIf there was a way to sober me up in the euphoria of anticipating new motherhood, this verse was it. A hint that there was a weighty trust and great danger. I wasn’t merely welcoming a baby, but a person who would grow into an adult who would either fear the Lord or despise him. "his sons blasphemed God, and he failed to restrain them.” (1 Samuel 3:13). 2022-09-2914 minLight DutiesHow do Kids Become Independent?In this think-aloud chat, Cathy talks aloud through a few things she's noted watching kids grow from complete dependence to almost the opposite (in a shockingly short space of time). A few things she's learning to focus on with the escalating pressure to fast track our kids into independence. It starts with trying to figure out what independence is. Note the audio was recorded while Cathy was building and cleaning book shelves. The audio reflects the real-time multitasking situation. If you want to know what the library project is, you'll find it at https://www.livingbookhouse.com/2022-09-1232 minLight DutiesMaternal Mood StrategiesIn this think aloud chat, I continue thinking through my experience of handling motherhood and unwieldy moods. This is about some practical considerations that have helped. And books. See website for links.2022-08-3037 minLight DutiesMaternal Mood and Mental HealthIn this think-aloud-chat, Cathy talks through some of her experience of learning to cope. This is a look at one mum's experience over a long time, and the things that made a difference when dealing with long term depression and anxiety. 2022-08-1639 minLight DutiesDigital Kids Think Aloud ChatMy experience as a mum started before it was normal to have a smart device on hand constantly, but I soon had to come to terms with the opportunities and follies of screens. These are some thoughts (complete with the soundtrack of my domestic life) about some principles that have come to shape what happens between kids and screens in our family. Note also https://www.motherbiblelife.com/articles/whymotherhoodisboring a rather connected episode https://www.motherbiblelife.com/articles/boredom-think-aloud-chat To view my conference workshop about Boredom, see https://youtu.be/q3pP874Y...2022-08-0538 minLight Duties#49. Belong and ObeyObedience doesn’t bring about belonging, the belonging comes first. When we belong, we express our connectedness through obedience. Obedience isn’t about keeping ten thousand rules. In our own obedience as mums, and in helping our children learn to obey, rules cover only a fraction of the surface area. Rules aren’t the entirety of obedience, they only define the edges. Rules are fences and gates; obedience is the space between. Good rules protect and direct and give definition to obedience, but they are signposts, not the substance. Rules are a step in describing the features of godl...2022-07-3014 minLight DutiesTo the Young Women, Thinking AheadThis is a think-aloud chat especially for my unexpected audience: the women who are still young enough to be dependent on parents; the women who are looking at a future full of unknowns--the not-yet-mums, the younger women who still have many choices waiting to be made. When we find ourselves married and with children, we realise we're riding on the back of choices we made ten, 15 or 20 years earlier--long before we were thinking about what's involved in being married and raising kids. This think-aloud chat is about some of the things worth having in mind as you...2022-07-1434 minLight Duties#48. The Perils of Teaching ObedienceOnce we’re persuaded that it is good for us to train our children in obedience, a new set of potholes form in the road, some deeper than others. There are many ways we get things wrong. Our sin mangles and makes further obedience more complicated. But the complications don’t nullify the command. The exceptions don’t change what God has made plain for all of us. The fact that there are potholes don’t mean we should give up on the road. It just means being alert, swerving, repairing, and occasionally dealing with the erosion that is...2022-07-0418 minLight Duties#47. Taught to Obey, By Whom?Teaching children to obey is a delicate, yet robust work. No relationship other than parent to child is designed to bear the weight of it. The trained childcare worker, the babysitter, the neighbour, the aunt, the uncle, the grandparent, the friends, the Sunday School teacher, the pastor, the school are not authorised by God to discipline and instruct children into mature godliness. Biblically, no one else is commissioned for this role. Even though other people are involved in the lives of our children, it is—by far—the parents’ responsibility to teach their children to obey Jesus. Other...2022-06-2112 minLight Duties#46. Some Basic Features of Teaching ObedienceSo, how do we actually teach children to obey? Here's a bullet point list to start with.2022-06-0715 minLight DutiesBible Reading Challenge {Think Aloud Chat}This chat is about what has been helpful in different stages of my mothering years, as far as personal Bible reading goes. Resources I mention in the chat can be found on the webpage. https://biblereading.christkirk.com/women/#2022-05-2725 minLight Duties#45c. Ideas That Hinder Obedience: The Threat to GraceLike me, were you ever the person at school who hated every subject you weren’t intuitively good at? The need to save face meant avoiding the areas where one’s incompetence could be exposed. Which meant it took me decades to realise there is more to enjoying something than being the best at it. It’s possible to learn to do new things. There’s much pleasure, when we’re willing to be seen for the duffers we are, while we fumble around learning something new. It’s natural to dislike the word ‘obedience’, after all, none of us are v...2022-05-2612 minLight DutiesBoredom {Think Aloud Chat}A casual chat about both maternal boredom and bored kids. Is boredom really good for us? I used to think so. It's taken 17 years of being a mum to think otherwise. And, what can we do about it? https://www.motherbiblelife.com/articles/whymotherhoodisboring2022-05-1742 minLight Duties#45b. Ideas That Hinder Obedience: Belief Before BehaviourBringing about belief in Jesus is God’s, hidden, sovereign work. On the other hand, tending to behaviour (which can either help or hinder belief) is definitely on the rather visible parental job description. God starts and finishes the work of saving people, but he uses all manner of means in the middle. Christian parents are not meant to wait on belief before we get busy teaching our children to obey Jesus.2022-05-0812 minLight Duties#45a. Ideas That Hinder Obedience: Total DepravityShould we expect children will learn to obey when we know they have a sinful nature? Is it even possible this side of Genesis 3? The fallen, sinful nature does not completely erase the divine likeness every human being bears. If our thinking about total depravity has us conclude that no child can ever learn to obey at all, that they are beyond instruction and correction, that their lack of obedience is inevitably permanent, that they are unrestrainable, then we’ve not understood enough of the doctrine... What if kids learning to obey parents is a gi...2022-04-2711 minLight Duties#44. If Your Theology Stops Obedience...When it comes to fulfilling the great commission in our families (to teach our children to obey Jesus), sometimes our Christian conundrums paralyse us: Should we expect children will learn to obey when we know they have a sinful nature? Is it even possible this side of Genesis 3? Should we expect obedience (and give consequences for disobedience) when the Bible tells us that “no one is righteous, not even one”? Will teaching obedience to Jesus leave kids thinking they merit God’s favour by their own goodness? Will training our children to obe...2022-04-1908 minLight DutiesTeaching Kids to Obey Jesus {Think Aloud Chat}This is another audio-only free think about some aspects of teaching kids obedience, shared casually over my kitchen sink. These think-aloud chats are a bit of a birds-eye view from 17 years of parenting six kids (ie. lots of years not being able to ignore the realities of obedience!). You can find the long train of thought (mostly in article form, all available in audio) at Light Duties.2022-04-0726 minLight DutiesChristian Music for Kids {Think Aloud Chat}This is another audio-only stream of consciousness. Cathy talks through some reflections on the changing relationships she's had with music for kids across her 17 years of mothering. Real-time, real sound (complete with the soothing sounds of dishwater). An exercise in trying to think behind the artifacts of Christian resources.2022-04-0227 minLight Duties#43. Why We Don't Teach Kids to Obey JesusWhen I was younger, “obedience” was merely uncool. In the 90’s and 00’s, we didn’t use the word because it was daggy, uptight and prudish. Obedience meant deprivation and legalism, the arbitrary spoiling of fun. Thoroughly unappealing. Now, it is counted among the evils of this world. In this episode, we consider a range of reasons why we don't teach our children to obey Jesus, from fear of stifling them to just not knowing how to go about it.2022-03-2514 minLight Duties#42. The Mission of Motherhood: Teach Them to Obey JesusJesus tells us to teach obedience to those for whom we have some sort of discipleship responsibility. The most profoundly connected disciples Christian parents have are their own children. We are obliged to teach our kids to obey Jesus. Every moment and task in our children’s young lives is given by Jesus to be used for training them into obedience to Him. Whole body, whole heart, whole soul, whole mind, whole strength obedience. The sort of obedience which grows alongside of, comes from—and feeds—love for Jesus. Our job is to remind our children, in a way...2022-03-2110 minLight DutiesBible Reading in Our Family {Think Aloud Chat}This isn't the usual audio version of an article, but a bonus "thinking aloud" session, going back through our family history of reading the Bible together, over the past 17 years. It might illustrate many of the ideas I write about at Light Duties. Mostly, I hope it fortifies you! articles referred to: https://www.motherbiblelife.com/articles/mothers-abiding https://www.motherbiblelife.com/articles/feeding-on-bible-when-the-meals-are-interrupted https://www.motherbiblelife.com/articles/nokidschurch https://www.motherbiblelife.com/articles/is-worship-the-right-word https://www.motherbiblelife.com/articles/constantembodiedworship2022-03-1036 minLight Duties#41. Wrong Ideas About Mission Stifle MotherhoodHere are some problematic assumptions about the Great Commission which end up stifling motherhood (and stifling the mission too): Wrong Idea 1: We’re all meant to be constantly expanding our range of relationships to tell the gospel to new people. Wrong Idea 2: Our children don’t qualify as people to be discipled. Wrong Idea 3: The Great Commission is only about evangelism. Wrong Idea 4: Mission to our children is done the same way as mission to our unbelieving neighbour. Since Jesus is our Head and Lord of everything, since he has ap...2022-03-0409 minLight Duties#40. "Go" is Not the Only Verb in the Great CommissionAre home duties a rival to the Great Commission? Will building an overflowing home waste resources that could otherwise be spent telling the world about Jesus? This is the question that troubled me most as I fumbled around in the early years of motherhood. The word that evangelical Christians often focus on is “go”. It’s hard to know what to do with that when so much of raising children is not going. This focus on taking the gospel to new people in new places pickles many of us in guilt, because the time of small children is not full o...2022-02-2509 minLight DutiesLosing Our Maternal Bristles {bonus}The golden law of our time is that whatever a woman is doing, she is Always Only Ever choosing the very best thing. Her holiness is indisputable. Her instincts are infallible. According to a poster on a wall near you, Women are Perfect. The trouble is, when we are struggling to know how to deal with a persistently contrary child, or we don’t know how to fill the hours with a toddler, or we are enslaved to our own volatile temper, we know the truth. We are not Always Only Ever choosing the very best thing. No wonder we wa...2022-02-1510 minLight Duties#39. Overflowing HomeHome is meant to be the central place from which we worship and train up worshipers. It is naturally the locus of our maternal responsibilities. It won’t be the only place where responsibility and influence happens, but it is the basic place. We can’t leap over it. This is a bland thought if we’ve not known what it’s like to be in a home full of vitality; if we’re still trying to grow out of our boredom. To say that home is where we are primarily responsible and most influential can be insulting, or at least b...2022-02-0811 minLight Duties#38. Constant Embodied WorshipIt’s not unusual to divide life into sacred and secular, bits God cares about and the bits he doesn’t. Because gathered worship and the Bible and prayer and evangelism matter enormously, we think that everything else doesn’t matter at all. But that is an unbiblical view, and a rather disheartening one. Most of our time as mums is given over to things which we would still do even if we weren’t Christian. When we think that God doesn’t care about the common activities we do, we’re behaving as if someone else created ordinary human life i...2022-02-0208 minLight Duties#37. Why Motherhood is BoringWe live in a time where home is seen as either a day spa you retreat to, or the site of heavy-duty, mind-numbing labour we’re desperate to escape. For the mothers of young children, we long for the former but live with the latter. Both ways of thinking about home are pretty boring and neither help us mature in worship while we raise worshipers. Let’s talk about boredom, because it is surprisingly connected with worship.2022-01-2109 min
Light Duties#36. The Less Than Ideal ChurchWhat do we do if we're tying to help our children grow into worship, but our church situation isn't ideal? Well, none are ideal. This episode is about what you can do.2022-01-1211 min
Light DutiesReclaiming Time Without UrgencyMuch of the trouble with motherhood comes down to time. Either we don’t have enough, we’re trying to live three lifetimes at once; or we are adrift… bored…with too many vacant hours. We struggle with proportion and order and finding the right substance to fill the void. Urgency undermines a lot of good. We feel a heavy pressure to solve immediate problems at the expense of slower, apparently postponable priorities. Like motherhood. Table of Contents here.2021-12-3004 min
Light DutiesNo Heavy Lifting {Christmas Bonus}Perhaps Christmas would be more enjoyable if we didn’t feel we had to do so much? What a relief when we pause to consider that the only duties God calls us to at Christmas are those which hold true all year round.2021-12-2205 min
Light Duties#35. How Kids Grow to be in ChurchA while ago, I mentioned the example of a church where it’s normal for the kids to be present in corporate worship. We were part of that church when our first baby arrived and I was terrified that my child would grow to be the exception. The process of how one could possibly get kids to sit in church was a mystery to me. This is what 16 years of having kids in church has taught us.2021-12-2115 min
Light Duties#34. Unseen WorshipOne reason we might keep children separate from what the adults do at church, is that we forget the grandeur of what’s going on. Most of what we see is pretty ordinary. The reality is actually far from boring. When we get a glimpse of the unseen, we're better positioned to help our children. 2021-12-1120 min
Light Duties#33. Is Worship the right Word for Sunday?I’m repenting of my neglect of the word, and with it the reality of, worship. Motherhood is ultimately about being a worshipper and raising worshippers, so it’s worth using the word, especially on Sunday, when we worship especially.2021-12-0312 min
Real Estate Professionals - Property Sales Tactics for RealtorsClear Communication Gets Sales with Catherine Steele055 Catherine Steele Clear Communication Gets Sales When we are speaking with our clients we need to be clear about the information that we are conveying so that they understand us. The better understanding we have with our clients the more easily they will trust us. We want our conversations to go smoothly without conflict. My guest Catherine Steel is an expert in coaching people to be the clearest speaker in the room. Catherine's Bio Catherine is an author, speaker, coach, and consultant, B.Ed., TESOL, helps clients speak English i...2021-11-2732 min
Light DutiesA Word Between ArticlesSome words on worship while you wait for the next articles to be released.2021-11-1906 min
Light Duties#32. Church Full of Kids, but No Kids' ChurchAs we consider how to help our children have a meaningful relationship with the local church, it's helpful to hear stories of places that have done it well. This episode is about a church that has had decades of serving children well, without a typical Sunday School. 2021-11-1207 min
Light Duties#31. When the Church Loves ChildrenPart of our role as Christian mums is to help our children into everyday love for Jesus’ people. It is much easier for our children to learn to love the church when the church loves them. When a church talks about, talks to, and treats children as a blessing, it isn’t such a stretch of the imagination to think that kids would learn to love it back. Our cultural baggage is against us in this. We often need the plain reminder to think highly of children. 2021-11-0510 min
Light Duties#30. Better than a PlaydateThe question of “how do we be a family in a local church?” is bigger than finding a church with a kids program. We’re to help our children learn to love all God’s people, not just their peers. Meaningful relationships in church—relationships where we’re obeying Jesus’ command to love one another—are different from a playdate. When we give time to someone who is not like ourselves, our children learn that Jesus’ command to “love one another” is more than just being nice to the people you would have played with anyway.2021-10-2813 min
Light Duties#29. Something for the KidsWhen a young family is looking for a new church, a typical requirement is that it has “something for the kids”. If they don’t see a children’s program advertised on the church’s website, they might not bother visiting at all. It’s easy to assume that a church with no kids program thinks church is only for adults, that children only become a person once they are grown. There can be very bad reasons for a church not to have a kids’ program. Just as some churches might reject children’s ministry for bad reasons, a kids...2021-10-2307 min
Light DutiesChurches Need Revived Families {bonus}It turns out the Seventeenth Century Westminister divines weren't just writing to pastors and theologians. Right at the beginning of their documents, they address fathers and mothers. In the great crisis they were facing, they appealed to parents. Mums, if you ever think what you're doing doesn't matter much, these men thought differently. For references, see the article on the website. 2021-10-1414 min
Light Duties#28. Too Simple for ExpertsMost of us do not feel qualified to help our children come to know Jesus. We’re used to deferring to experts in other things, so we seek out the experts in this too. Sometimes we respect God’s word so much that we don’t want to mess it up. But we won’t protect the specialness of the gospel by staying silent until the kids are old enough to really appreciate it. In doing that, our silence would actually be teaching our kids that the gospel is not worth talking about. As G.K Chesterton famously wrote, “If a thing...2021-10-0815 min
Light Duties#27. Feeding on the Bible When the Meals are InterruptedFollowing on from last episode when we talked about how children are not a hindrance to abiding in Jesus, we consider how we can still feed on God's Word in the busy days of raising very young, very dependent children.2021-09-3016 min
Light Duties#26. Children a Hindrance to Abiding in Jesus?Our knee-high children are not a spiritual tripping hazard. Some thoughts on why we struggle, what might help and what doesn't.2021-09-2310 min
Light Duties#25. The Inconvenient, Inefficient, Indispensable ChurchBeing joined with Jesus is our foundational duty in Christian motherhood, but it isn't something we do alone. It just so happens that the nature of motherhood makes loving Jesus' people a very easy thing to drift from. 2021-09-1711 min
Light Duties#24. The Non-Negotiable, Essential Duty of MotherhoodWhat is the one thing which makes all the difference in raising kids for God?2021-09-1011 min
Light Duties#23. The Good Word Lights Up the Good We Are to GiveGod's Bible is the only way we can know and give the good we owe in motherhood. But it's more like a hike in a National Park than checking off a shopping list...2021-09-0510 min
Light DutiesUnseen Motherhood {bonus}Being seen doesn't make something more real or more important.2021-09-0207 min
Light Duties#22. Withhold Not GoodOur benchmark in motherhood is not just avoiding harm, but actively pursuing what is good.2021-08-2915 min
Light Duties#21. Choosing Timely MotherhoodWe are powerless over time, but Jesus has given us one small dominion: how we use it. The young years of mothering demand a lot of time and never have women had more choices for how to fill it.2021-08-2209 min
Light DutiesBecause I've Just Numbered 4040th birthday meditations on Psalm 90. The brutal crust peels back, giving consolation.2021-08-2010 min
Light DutiesPsalm 90 {bonus}With recent articles about the limitations and temporariness in view, Psalm 90 is a good place to linger.2021-08-1205 min
Light Duties#20. Mothering is Temporary, But Not DisposableThe fact that so much of mothering is a temporary work done with perishable materials often leads us to feel it is meaningless. This isn't helped by the language of Christian "priorities". 2021-08-0910 min
Light Duties#19. Your Limited Life is No AccidentLImitations make ideals seem further away. But Jesus is Lord of all and that means he is Lord of all the ins and outs of motherhood too.2021-08-0308 min
Light Duties#18. Good Motherhood is Limited and AfraidLimitations and fear take us low, and that is God's gift to us.2021-07-2908 min
Light Duties#17. How Dads and Mums Might (Accidentally) Reform ChurchesWhat might change if parents were taught how, and did, their God-given duty in the spiritual discipleship of their children?2021-07-2413 min
Light Duties#16. A Variety of DifficultiesWe've been considering how a lot of our trouble with motherhood comes from our ideas about marriage. This episode traces a few of the difficulties which happen.2021-07-1911 min
Light DutiesBiographical Interlude {bonus}A little of my own backstory.2021-07-1707 min
Light Duties#15. Hedging Our BetsProtecting our exit strategies changes how we do marriage and mothering.2021-07-1008 min
Light Duties#14. About FathersWhether they know it or not, fathers are responsible for raising their kids to know God. 2021-07-0608 min
Light Duties#13. More on Marriage--Motherhood as Helping"Jesus changes husbands into men who lead well and he changes wives into women who help divinely. Helping is not a role we’re rescued from, along with our sin. It’s a role we’re redeemed to mature into."2021-07-0311 min
Light Duties#12. Responsibility: Men, Women and MarriageWhy are men and women given different instructions in passages like Titus 2? Let's think through the architecture which leads to the differences.2021-06-3010 min
Light Duties#11. It's Good to be Busy at HomeSince we're not disembodied beings, marriage and mothering don't happen in a vacuum. Perhaps the Apostle Paul's outdated instruction to be "busy at home" has more in mind than we suppose?2021-06-3012 min
Light Duties#10. Good Motherhood DefinedGood motherhood loves and pursues what God says is good, in the situation a mother and her children are in. It can happen even when situations are not good.2021-06-3007 min
Light Duties#9. Our Appetite for Happiness is Meant to be BigDesperation for happiness is driving most of what we do. And that's exactly as it should be.2021-06-2309 min
Light Duties#8. Mothers, We're Awkward About Goodness and That's Not GoodWhen we take Jesus' gospel seriously, we can end up talking as if goodness is a bad thing. This leads to a whole lot of weirdness in our mothering.2021-06-2110 min
Light Duties#7. God's Goodness Causes HappinessHappiness and goodness belong together because they both come from God. Pursuing goodness is a far happier situation than avoiding it. 2021-06-2107 min
Light DutiesWe Aren't Good Mums and we Don't Deserve to be Happy, but {bonus}Jesus brings us into the very goodness and happiness we don't deserve. This changes how we approach motherhood.2021-06-2006 min
Light Duties#6. Duty is Not the Enemy of HappinessHappiness sneaks up on us while we're getting on with what's good.2021-06-1809 min
Light DutiesBut What Can You Do?Jesus saves us out of parental passivity, into optimistic courage.2021-06-1407 min
Light Duties#5. You Are Inadequate, But That is Not AllSoothing our inadequacies the wrong way robs us of the very comfort we are trying to find. 2021-06-1309 min
Light DutiesInadequate Mothers {bonus}Inadequacy comes in a few shapes and we are complex packages of them. Steps to making sense of our limitations.2021-06-0911 min
Light Duties#4 God-Centred Duty, the Conduit of LoveHow duty is actually a way God distributes love to particular people through their particular relationships. The asymmetry of motherhood needs a source outside ourselves.2021-06-0209 min
Light DutiesGiving Children What They Want {bonus}Doing what is good for our kids is not the same as giving them what they want. 2021-05-2804 min
Light Duties#3 Duty Devouring MotherhoodLike all good things, used the wrong way, duty devours us. In this episode, we're recalibrating our ideas about duty.2021-05-2609 min
Light Duties#2 The Light and Duty in Light DutiesDefining our terms for Christian motherhood.2021-05-2307 min
Light DutiesBonus: Growing Our Own TeethNo one else can do our growing for us.2021-05-2104 min
Light Duties#1 Before We BeginA little of the back story behind the Light Duties project. This is the audio version of an article from the Light Duties site.2021-05-1906 minLight DutiesLight Duties: Motherhood From Jesus and For HimWelcome to the Light Duties podcast. This is where the audio version of the articles from the Light Duties website. It's a long thought on Christian motherhood, one article at a time.2021-05-1015 min
In CahootsCatherine Mckay: Episode 26: Season 3Join Lacey as she uncovers the treasures of the Living Book House with its curator, Catherine McKay. Cathy shared some of her experience with kids who are late readers, and why she’s needed to embrace structure in homeschooling. You’ll need to check the show notes for the fantastic book recommendations she makes as well.
Show Notes:
Lacey’s been binge watching The Crown and highly recommends it.
A Delectable Education is a Charlotte Mason podcast worth tuning into.
My Side of the Mountain
Navigating Early
Hatche...2020-05-1238 min
The Catherine Plano PodcastEpisode 105: Are you on a quest to gain success, love and happiness with Pip McKayCatherine is here today with Pip McKay. Pip McKay is a pioneer within the field of personal transformation, NLP and coaching. She is an award winning, Amazon Number 1 best-selling author for two books: The 8 Principles of Achievement Love and Happiness and 4 Tribes 1 Earth.
Pip is also a highly respected thought leader and invested over 20 years creating the entire field of Matrix Therapies® and Archetypal Coaching®.
Her proven techniques help you discover your Passion and Purpose, clear negative influences and fulfil your potential. Pip explains that a lot of people… live their life without Passion and Purp...2018-02-1300 min