The fall season here is gorgeous. This time of year always makes me think about how in scripture it says, 'Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!' (2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV).
Every spring the leaves bud on the trees, everything is new! Then summer is gorgeous & lavishly green. Fall comes around and the leaves turn amazing brilliant colors displaying His beauty in nature. Sadly, the leaves fall & the trees are bare. Winter is cold & desolate. But yet again, every spring He makes all things new!!
That is the road I travel everyday to my house. I was stopped in my tracks today at the gorgeousness.
This year I am ON IT.
Obnoxious baking.
But to me it isn't about this 'stuff'. It's about making memories & instilling tradition in my children. I have such wonderful memories of my childhood doing these types of things.
The season of having babies and sleepless nights is really hard.
Foggy thoughts surround all of my memories after each of my children were born.
This season is full of life changing and soul defining moments. Becoming a parent (for me) was a process that I had to gradually accept. I remember thinking when my first born was 6months old 'am I just going to sit in the floor and play with my kids the rest of my life?'
Naive.
Young.
SELFISH.
If only it were that simple & easy.
Having babies made me grow up. I became an adult because I had to put on my big girl britches & get out of bed every morning...because someone NEEDS me.
They need a momma who gets up (not always cheerful) and tends to their needs because they matter.
Putting my aches, exhaustion, laziness, MY wants aside & doing what The Lord has called me to do.
And dang it, I don't like to rise early & I want to take naps too!!! (Insert a fabulous Kdog that has taken more than his fair share of middle of the night children shenanigans). I am mildly evil at 3am. Honest. My children tend to call for their Daddy in the night. Truth.
Thinking of the infant season NOW, I realize it's quite easier on some level than a new season we are approaching...
"Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth. "(Deuteronomy 11:18-21 NIV)
Don't you put it past me to tape a relevant bible verse on my forehead so every time they look at me they are reminded to stop being turds. Seriously.
It goes along with my 'if you don't clean your crack or scrub your pits I'll scrub them for you, even if you're 12' philosophy.
They have all been warned.
I dread the stinky tween phase.
Seriously, I never dreamed I would be this passionate about how we raise our children. I've always loved The Lord & knew I wanted our children to know Him & have a relationship with God.
But over the last 8 years, as I've become an 'adult' there have been so many spiritual moments that have changed my life.
I'm excited to share how I've gotten to where I am spiritually. Life's lessons are only useful if you learn and grow from them. Happy or sad.
There are plenty of crappy things that have gone on in my life. But I made a permanent decision to choose joy.
I'm just as cranky & mouthy as the rest of you. But I am joyful in my soul & only through Him did I find peace.
Being obedient & faithful to raising children who don't just love The Lord but who want to further His kingdom is DIFFERENT.
And no matter what season of life I am in I know one thing that never fails, never gives up or runs dry...
His love remains the same.
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