Confessions of a Peace Lover...
Ahhhh...once again our house is quiet and peaceful! But I've come to realize that I enjoy the peace and quiet even more after I've thoroughly enjoyed the hustle and bustle of having all the "chicks in the nest". I think I remember my favorite mother-in-law (yes, I know she's my only mother-in-law, but she's still my favorite! =) calling it a "happy quiet". There is a joy that comes only after the work, and the play, is finished.
It's a bit hard to believe that spring break has come and gone; that Easter 2009 is a memory; that this year is flying by so fast, but time truly does march on and oh, so quickly. Next month we will be celebrating our oldest child'’s graduation from college! And I can still remember what she wore on her first day of kindergarten...
Leah got the best, and worst, of our parenting. She got the best because we were young and had so much time and energy; she got the worst because we were young and so inexperienced! I've always asked God to fill in any ruts we've made with His mercy and grace. I still trust Him to do that. I'd like to say that by the time our fifth child came along we were oh so wise, and had learned from all of our mistakes. We may be wiser, but we still seem to make mistakes. So I continue to ask God to continue to fill in those ruts, it's a good thing His mercies are brand new everyday!
One of the things I've come to love about Leah, especially as she grows older, is her tenacity. (Webster calls it "persistence, stubbornness" and that's what we called it when she was young...now we see those tendencies maturing into what Webster also defines as "holding firmly" to the plan of action that is required to meet the goals she has set) Leah has always been one who will work hard to achieve her goals. When she was younger the goals were a bit more materialistic than they are today. (She got her first job at 15 because she wanted a cell phone and it wasn't part of our family budget at that time.)
I tell Leah that God gave her the "gift" of being in a big family. Her "piece of the pie" grew smaller with each sibling, and for Leah that became part of the process of growing her into an organized, detail-oriented, young woman. She looks at the future and then makes the list of what will need to be done to accomplish the goals she has set for herself.
I hope, trust, and pray, that she will be able to get a job in the field she will have her degree in (education) but even if she doesn't I don't worry about her future plans. She will do something, and God knows exactly what that something is. The thing I know, for sure, is that whatever it is she finds herself doing she will work hard at it.
In our twenty-three years of parenting I have learned one of the big mistakes that can be made is giving our kids everything we never had. In doing so, we rob them of the joy that comes from working hard to achieve their goals, and we set them up to think they "deserve" whatever it is they want. We want to make the path smooth for them - in doing that we deprive them of the satisfaction that comes from stopping to rest, looking back, and seeing how far they've come. The analogy of the butterfly having to work its way out of the cocoon in order to be able to fly is so true!
The challenge for me will be to allow ALL of our children the same "opportunities" that Leah had, even as their siblings move out and their "piece of the pie" grows larger! (I was the baby in a family of five, so I have some first hand knowledge of what can happen...)
Working hard to accomplish a simple task, or a life goal, may leave us feeling tired, but it also allows us to feel fulfilled. I wonder if that's why God's Word talks about our work so much. Work won't get us into Heaven, but it can help us to grow - physically, relationally, and spiritually - as we live out the lives God has set before us. There really is a joy that comes only after the work, and the play, is finished!
Until next time...
Beth
It's a bit hard to believe that spring break has come and gone; that Easter 2009 is a memory; that this year is flying by so fast, but time truly does march on and oh, so quickly. Next month we will be celebrating our oldest child'’s graduation from college! And I can still remember what she wore on her first day of kindergarten...
Leah got the best, and worst, of our parenting. She got the best because we were young and had so much time and energy; she got the worst because we were young and so inexperienced! I've always asked God to fill in any ruts we've made with His mercy and grace. I still trust Him to do that. I'd like to say that by the time our fifth child came along we were oh so wise, and had learned from all of our mistakes. We may be wiser, but we still seem to make mistakes. So I continue to ask God to continue to fill in those ruts, it's a good thing His mercies are brand new everyday!
One of the things I've come to love about Leah, especially as she grows older, is her tenacity. (Webster calls it "persistence, stubbornness" and that's what we called it when she was young...now we see those tendencies maturing into what Webster also defines as "holding firmly" to the plan of action that is required to meet the goals she has set) Leah has always been one who will work hard to achieve her goals. When she was younger the goals were a bit more materialistic than they are today. (She got her first job at 15 because she wanted a cell phone and it wasn't part of our family budget at that time.)
I tell Leah that God gave her the "gift" of being in a big family. Her "piece of the pie" grew smaller with each sibling, and for Leah that became part of the process of growing her into an organized, detail-oriented, young woman. She looks at the future and then makes the list of what will need to be done to accomplish the goals she has set for herself.
I hope, trust, and pray, that she will be able to get a job in the field she will have her degree in (education) but even if she doesn't I don't worry about her future plans. She will do something, and God knows exactly what that something is. The thing I know, for sure, is that whatever it is she finds herself doing she will work hard at it.
In our twenty-three years of parenting I have learned one of the big mistakes that can be made is giving our kids everything we never had. In doing so, we rob them of the joy that comes from working hard to achieve their goals, and we set them up to think they "deserve" whatever it is they want. We want to make the path smooth for them - in doing that we deprive them of the satisfaction that comes from stopping to rest, looking back, and seeing how far they've come. The analogy of the butterfly having to work its way out of the cocoon in order to be able to fly is so true!
The challenge for me will be to allow ALL of our children the same "opportunities" that Leah had, even as their siblings move out and their "piece of the pie" grows larger! (I was the baby in a family of five, so I have some first hand knowledge of what can happen...)
Working hard to accomplish a simple task, or a life goal, may leave us feeling tired, but it also allows us to feel fulfilled. I wonder if that's why God's Word talks about our work so much. Work won't get us into Heaven, but it can help us to grow - physically, relationally, and spiritually - as we live out the lives God has set before us. There really is a joy that comes only after the work, and the play, is finished!
Until next time...
Beth
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