Lilacs, mayapples, and apple blossoms, oh, my! All the world is green again - so many different shades of green. The air is moist and alive again. Birdsong and sweet scents waft on the breezes. This is the best time of the year.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Around my place
Lilacs, mayapples, and apple blossoms, oh, my! All the world is green again - so many different shades of green. The air is moist and alive again. Birdsong and sweet scents waft on the breezes. This is the best time of the year.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
better than roses
At church we were given roses on Mother's Day. It's a really nice tradition. I love that they value the work that mothers do. Most of the world does not really validate moms in their work. Maybe that's because most of the world is too busy... being moms?
Being a mom is invisible work. It is hard, rich work, and there is nothing else that can possibly give the satisfaction, nor the exhaustion and feeling of not being important.
Noone sees it. Noone seems to acknowledge it.
It can be hard, when you are exhausted (and the mothers of small children are exhausted), when noone gives you much positive feedback, to feel like you are making a difference in the world.
We have to - we have no other choice but to - go back to the reality of God's own word and good common sense to realize that without moms, the world would cease to be. We are doing God's work alongside Him. How awesome is that?! Our families depend on us for their very survival when they are small, before they grow into the skills they need to ensure their own survival.
(The skills we teach them.)
We love and nurture them in our hearts and in our arms, only to discover that they way we nurture our children defines how they relate to the rest of the world for the rest of their lives.
The way we care for our children affects their lives, and through that, the lives of the people they touch for years... our influence lasts long after we are gone.
It is no small truth that the hand that rocks the cradle really does rule the world. As moms, we rule!
But a huge part of our task is humility, being willing to set the needs of others before our own when needed. Not mothering for our own satisfaction, but out of love - unconditional love - for the children God has put in our arms.
I felt a little silly carrying around a rose yesterday. It was a nice thought. But the faces of the people I love the most are the best gift ever. When they smile, when they grow up into awesome people - people who love God above all else - people I love having as friends, that is the greatest joy ever!
Prov. 31 says, "they will rise up and call her blessed". It is a long term prospect, this rising up business. It takes years. But if we are faithful in the long haul - not perfect, not getting it all right, but over all faithful, trying to honor Him in our lives - then there will come a day when those little cherub cheeked babies rise up into big people, and they bring you stuff way better than roses. They shine.
Noone sees it. Noone seems to acknowledge it.
It can be hard, when you are exhausted (and the mothers of small children are exhausted), when noone gives you much positive feedback, to feel like you are making a difference in the world.
We have to - we have no other choice but to - go back to the reality of God's own word and good common sense to realize that without moms, the world would cease to be. We are doing God's work alongside Him. How awesome is that?! Our families depend on us for their very survival when they are small, before they grow into the skills they need to ensure their own survival.
(The skills we teach them.)
We love and nurture them in our hearts and in our arms, only to discover that they way we nurture our children defines how they relate to the rest of the world for the rest of their lives.
The way we care for our children affects their lives, and through that, the lives of the people they touch for years... our influence lasts long after we are gone.
It is no small truth that the hand that rocks the cradle really does rule the world. As moms, we rule!
But a huge part of our task is humility, being willing to set the needs of others before our own when needed. Not mothering for our own satisfaction, but out of love - unconditional love - for the children God has put in our arms.
I felt a little silly carrying around a rose yesterday. It was a nice thought. But the faces of the people I love the most are the best gift ever. When they smile, when they grow up into awesome people - people who love God above all else - people I love having as friends, that is the greatest joy ever!
Prov. 31 says, "they will rise up and call her blessed". It is a long term prospect, this rising up business. It takes years. But if we are faithful in the long haul - not perfect, not getting it all right, but over all faithful, trying to honor Him in our lives - then there will come a day when those little cherub cheeked babies rise up into big people, and they bring you stuff way better than roses. They shine.
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