May 8, 2011

• Mother’s Day

  

  This was the first Mother’s Day since we moved to Delaware that I have been able to go to church.  :)  Every other time, I have had a sick child and have stayed home.  It was especially nice to go this week.  Layla’s first church service.  She did very well.  

  My experience of mothering lately has been a bit colored by the post natal crankiness that I have experienced following each pregnancy.  I have caught myself being much more snappy than I would like and VERY short on patience. After praying for grace in regards to this issue the other day, I read this in Luke:

  An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest.  Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him.  Then he said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.  For whoever is least among you all is the greatest.”  (Luke 9:46-7)

  Verse 47 just popped off the page at me; it was a gentle reminder to me how God sees my children, and how I am to treasure them and treat them with the respect and love I would show Jesus himself.  

  I also read some helpful bits off of this site:  http://www.steadymom.com/2011/05/what-matters-most.html:

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  If I had my child to raise all over again,
  I’d build self-esteem first, and the house later.
  I’d finger-paint more, and point the finger less.
  I would do less correcting and more connecting.
  I’d take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.
  I’d take more hikes and fly more kites.
  I’d stop playing serious, and seriously play.
  I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars.
  I’d do more hugging and less tugging.

  ~Diane Loomans, from “If I Had My Child To Raise Over Again”

  Imagine your children are headed off to college and you’re looking back on these early years. What would you have done differently today, this month, this year?

  What would you do less and what would you do more?

  “Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.” – Goethe

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  I think I’m going to write that last quote on the mirror in our dining room to remind myself.  Such a good reminder to me that the urgent must not trump the important.  Because life with small children is filled with urgent tasks that must be completed all day long.  But the importance of treasuring the person inside the child and calling out the good in them, and training them with gentle firmness instead of the impatience that comes so quickly, and reading to them and taking time to listen in a way that communicates their value to me, and not seeing them as interruptions.  These probably all sound idealistic, but are still real goals I have for my parenting.  And some of them definitely take effort.   

  Anyways, after those verses and that blog, I felt my perspective readjust itself, and I’ve experienced the grace I prayed for, and have been able to enjoy my boys in a new way over the past few days.  A tank fill up.  Till the next time, when I’m back praying for more grace.  

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  Happy (belatedly, at this point) Mother’s Day to two women I love and respect very much – Mom and my mother-in-law, Carol.  You are both so special to Tim and I and the boys, and we love to have you around!!  Thanks so very much for going through the pain of labor and delivery 33 years ago and the dramas that come with raising children to adulthood.   We love you!!!

  • 7:47 pm
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