My following devotion was the December 31st reading in The Secret Place devozine winter 2013-2014 issue. The Right Answer Society seems to script certain questions for each new life phase. We ask high school seniors about their college plans. We ask newlyweds when they plan to start a family. We ask stay-at-home moms what they are going to do to fill their time once their youngest children start school. I have fielded all of those questions; most recently the last one. Each time someone asks, “What are you going to do now that your baby is in school?” I feel…
Ephesians 5:8-9 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Author and speaker Luci Swindoll writes ” Note (Ephesians 5:8) doesn’t say we are like light, it says we are light. Just as the flashlight draws power from its batteries, we draw power from the son of God. As light, we dissipate fear, bring relief and lift spirits. We don’t have to be big to be effective. We just have to…
It was right there on my dry erase calendar in green marker and I missed it. Lewis – Reading Under the Stars I know I looked at the calendar during breakfast. I know I saw the words. And somehow I still missed it. So I sent my sweet little six-year-old to school without his pillow…without his book…and without the coolest and most important part of the equation…his flashlight. What did I feel like when I noticed my oversight shortly before it was time to go pick him up from school? Worst mom ever. That’s what. Uggghhh! I am a planner….
“Why can’t you see what I can see!?!” There are days I’d like to try to knock some vision into my children. I’ve paid attention over the years. I think I have a pretty good sense of their giftedness and their capabilities. And I usually believe I know the best way for them to reach their potential. But here’s the deal. Though they share some of my DNA and character traits, they are not me. I can’t make them see anything they don’t want to see. I can’t force them to change their perspective. And on top of that, sometimes…
Sometimes my kids say things on the fly that resonate with me for a long time afterwards. This following little Lewis phrase is one of those statements. Letting go is hard. In this case it was literal, but in parenting it seems I am always figuratively letting go of something I want to hold on to. “Mom, let go.” Those three words hit me like a punch to the gut. Hot tears fogged up my sunglasses. It was just the mastery of a 2-wheel bike, but it wasn’t. It was more. My six-year-old’s words echoed in my head as…