Maybe I'm the only one, but sometimes I need to remind myself to just breathe...
In these moments, it's not just air I'm reminding myself that I need, but perspective that only the Holy Spirit can bring...
I am someone who likes to start things. When I took a "strengths" test in college, one of my top strengths was Activator...someone who likes to turn thoughts into action. John is very patient in listening to my new ideas daily. I won't get into the details of all the different ideas floating around in my mind during this season, but there are a lot. And each one energizes me. I love dreaming of the possibilities that God may have for my family and I, and am thankful beyond words to know that His plans for us are anything but boring. He designed us...so instead of considering what I THINK I can accomplish or deciding how my own time should be spent...the Holy Spirit has been drawing me close, and whispering into my ear and my heart..."I've got it, trust me...I know you...I love them...and in me your life will be abundantly more purposeful than anything you can dream up on your own. Right now, just abide in me.
Abide in me. I love that. I'm no theologian, but to me, the word abide brings rest to my spirit. It reminds me that God not only wants me to know about Him...He wants me to crawl up in His lap and rest in the knowledge that He's got it all worked out. All He asks of me, is to trust Him with it all.
What does abiding in Him look like, right smack in the middle of the day in the life of a mom...
Putting my kids first and my house second...I hear it said often but being a perfectionist, I often times can't relate easily to the moms who talk of leaving the messy house to give their attention fully to their kids. I know it sounds terrible to say, but when the rubber meets the road, I like to play in a clean house. It's just how I'm wired. Today my goal, however, is to become one of those moms for the day, and see how it goes. I want to be more of a mom and less of a maid. I want to leave my "stuff management" at bay for a while to not just work "next to" my kids while they play, but spend quality moments with them. I want to look into those little eyes that God has given me to direct, and be reminded of the first time I saw them...the indescribable rush a mother feels holding her baby in her arms for the first time slowly seems to fade as pressure from the "real world" crowd in and the world's demands fight for your attention. I feel the Lord challenging me lately to trade the demands of the world for His joy in parenting my kids. It's such a beautiful calling we have as mothers, and the faster mine grow, the more I'm realizing that this really is a season. I won't have this time with them forever. Moment by moment, God is using me NOW to impact with life looks like for them LATER. That deserves all I have. It's time to start living like it.
If you are a mom, my prayer for US is that we align our priorities with HIS. The crazy thing about dishes, is that they keep getting dirty...it's a crazy game I play. I wash them...I feel better about myself and then they are dirty again one meal or snack time later and it's back to the washing to feel "successful" again...I pray that the JOY we gain from being with our kids....really BEING with them...will be worth the cost, whatever it may be that we have to give up in order to make these moments with your kids count in an eternal sort of way. Because they were given to us for such a time as this...but they'll never know it unless we tell them :) May they know they our ours and we are HIS by the way we live and ABIDE...in the little moments just as much as the big ones.
Abide in me. I love that. I'm no theologian, but to me, the word abide brings rest to my spirit. It reminds me that God not only wants me to know about Him...He wants me to crawl up in His lap and rest in the knowledge that He's got it all worked out. All He asks of me, is to trust Him with it all.
What does abiding in Him look like, right smack in the middle of the day in the life of a mom...
Putting my kids first and my house second...I hear it said often but being a perfectionist, I often times can't relate easily to the moms who talk of leaving the messy house to give their attention fully to their kids. I know it sounds terrible to say, but when the rubber meets the road, I like to play in a clean house. It's just how I'm wired. Today my goal, however, is to become one of those moms for the day, and see how it goes. I want to be more of a mom and less of a maid. I want to leave my "stuff management" at bay for a while to not just work "next to" my kids while they play, but spend quality moments with them. I want to look into those little eyes that God has given me to direct, and be reminded of the first time I saw them...the indescribable rush a mother feels holding her baby in her arms for the first time slowly seems to fade as pressure from the "real world" crowd in and the world's demands fight for your attention. I feel the Lord challenging me lately to trade the demands of the world for His joy in parenting my kids. It's such a beautiful calling we have as mothers, and the faster mine grow, the more I'm realizing that this really is a season. I won't have this time with them forever. Moment by moment, God is using me NOW to impact with life looks like for them LATER. That deserves all I have. It's time to start living like it.
If you are a mom, my prayer for US is that we align our priorities with HIS. The crazy thing about dishes, is that they keep getting dirty...it's a crazy game I play. I wash them...I feel better about myself and then they are dirty again one meal or snack time later and it's back to the washing to feel "successful" again...I pray that the JOY we gain from being with our kids....really BEING with them...will be worth the cost, whatever it may be that we have to give up in order to make these moments with your kids count in an eternal sort of way. Because they were given to us for such a time as this...but they'll never know it unless we tell them :) May they know they our ours and we are HIS by the way we live and ABIDE...in the little moments just as much as the big ones.
