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You may be a parent when your toddler is screaming that she won’t take a nap, while you yourself would love one.

You may be a parent when your fifth grader is threatening to leave home if you make her do any more writing homework, while you yourself would love to have time to write.

You may be a parent when you would love to have someone make you a healthy dinner from scratch, but you only have time to make one dinner and do not feel like listening to your children complain yet again tonight, so you are eating a plate of gross hot dogs and cheap mac ‘n cheese because your children don’t even like good hot dogs or homemade macaroni and cheese…

Being a parent is definitely not on anyone’s list of easy things to do. Raising children to adulthood and, (let’s be honest) beyond, is an uphill battle most of the time. Sure there are rewards such as baby snuggles, cute smiles with a first missing tooth, a scribbled card for your birthday and I am told–eventually grandkids! However, trying to just raise kids one day at a time is a challenge.

I have been reading recently about Moses trying to lead the Israelites through the desert. It seriously sounds like trying to take my children somewhere! They had the same complaints I hear: I’m starving, I’m thirsty, I’m tired, I want to go home, (back to Egypt.) God gave Moses a big job and he approached it with a lot of humility, self-sacrifice and a huge dependence on God.

It was encouraging to read because these are the same qualities I need in order to guide my children through childhood into adulthood. It is comforting to know that I can ask God to help me any time I need it and that He is always with me on this journey. Also like Moses, I need to remember that first and foremost my children belong to God and He loves them even more than I do. He knows the plans He has for them and He already knows each of their stories.

So while parenting will probably never make the top ten easiest occupations list, it is certainly on my list of the most rewarding. Not only do I get to raise some pretty great kids, but I have the opportunity to be refined by God in the process. Even if I have to force my child to go take a bath when I myself would love one!

“Whoever fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for their children it will be a refuge.” Proverbs 14:26

It is that time of year again. My little mischief makers try to catch other little mischief makers! Once again my children are determined that their traps will be successful. This will finally be the year that they capture a leprechaun and force him to reveal his hidden gold.

I have been very busy and didn’t get around to decorating for St. Patrick’s Day. My younger children asked if they could take care of it and without thinking too much I said yes. Before long, my house was covered in shamrocks and little drawings of leprechauns! I have seriously found them everywhere.

The funny thing is, my number 7 son, the one with red hair who looks just like his intended victims, also seems to be everywhere all at once. He will be in bothering his sisters, while seemingly driving his brothers crazy at the same time. Whenever I try to have a conversation with anyone in the family, there he is. Just like his counterparts, he is a lovable, energetic, mischievous little guy.

As much as my leprechaun drives me crazy sometimes, I know he is growing up way too quickly and I will miss his hi-jinks some day. My prayer for him is that he will always search for the treasures of God with as much passion as he pursues the leprechauns’ gold. I know that God has a special plan for his life, just like He has for my other children and for each of us as well.

I pray that my son will hide the truths of God deep in his heart. However, unlike the stingy leprechauns, I pray that the love of God will overflow out of him to everyone around. I trust that as he grows in his relationship with Jesus, that he will have a powerful testimony to share with others that will in turn cause them to seek God’s treasure of salvation!

“My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Colossians 2:2-3

I am just now entering the parenting stage of letting go. My older sons are more independent and I have a third learning to drive. It has been exciting, nerve wracking and pride inducing all at once as I watch them make their way in the world outside our home.

The farther I journey as a parent, the more I appreciate God as my Father. I think of all of the times that I have gone my own way and the fits I have thrown when things didn’t go my way. I think of the times when I have hurt His Father heart. There are poor choices I have made, just like my own children have, that I wish that I hadn’t. God in a sense, through giving us freewill, has always chosen to be in the letting go stage. The awesome thing is that He is also always in the welcoming-back stage.

That is the other thing I am learning about parenting. Even when my children stretch their wings and fly, they still need to come back every now and then to a safe place to talk about their adventures. I try in the same way, to stay in communication with my Heavenly Father about my adventures. I love the picture God gives in the Bible of us finding shelter under his wings. We do not need to fight our battles alone out in the cold, unprotected world. We have an available, comforting Father with us at all times.

I am not always able to be as available to my older children as God is to us, of course, and that is okay. It is my goal that they will always turn to their Heavenly Father first, before turning to their (let’s be honest, flawed) earthly parents!

So if this is also the parenting stage you are in right now, please find comfort that God understands the push and pull of letting go and receiving back. He knows the heartache of good bye and the wonderful joy of reunion. He knows the delicacy of not pushing any of us past our freewill–while keeping His arms open wide.

“Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; He is my God, and I trust Him. For He will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. He will cover you with His feathers. He will shelter you with His wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.” Psalm 91:1-4

Do you have any oozer bubble-dumpers at your house?  They are small and cute.  The indigenous ones stay around for eighteen years or so.  Sometimes your grown children may drop a few off with you.  As cute as they are, these little beings cause quite the havoc.  They ooze toys all over your house.  They may even ooze crumbs and trash.  They also have a rule that whenever they are handed a container of bubbles they absolutely must dump it.  (I would love to know the statistics on bubbles blown versus bubble solution dumped!)

Their main defense mechanism is their extreme cuteness, however as they grow taller most of them find that they do need to begin complying with at least some of the rules about neatness in their host home.  The tricky part about oozer bubble-dumpers is just when you think you might have them trained to be neat and productive, they leave!

I am so glad that God strengthens us parents to love these little things despite all their mess-making.  In just the same way, He loves us despite all our messes.  I don’t know about you, but even though I am grown I still have the ability to make a mess in my life every now and then!

Like I mentioned though, once they leave, they do have a tendency to bring their own little bubble-dumpers back for the occasional visit.  Which is great, because as infuriating as these little things are sometimes, we love them with all our hearts.

 

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”  Proverbs 22:6

 

 

Last summer my three youngest children decided to grow a garden. They were inspired by receiving seed packets with their lunch from our local school. They went out and enthusiastically cleared out the garden bed, with some help from an older sibling. Into the ground went the seeds.

Then I found some potatoes had begun to sprout in the pantry. The children asked if I could cut them up so they could plant those too. Then our neighbor gave them some extra vegetable starts she had. Now they had quite a full garden!

Every day they would go out and water their plants. To my surprise, quite a few of the seeds actually grew. Some of the starts did quite well too. The problem came with the potatoes.

None of us knew what potato plants actually looked like. The children kept dutifully watering the “potatoes.” When they finally looked a little wilted, they set out, shovel in hand, to gather in their harvest. Unfortunately, no potatoes. It turned out that they had been watering weeds. Luckily some of their other crops did quite well, so their gardening spirits were not dampened, but it did get me to thinking.

Where in my life am I “watering weeds?” Is it in my thoughts? Maybe a tiny seed of a negative thought gets planted in my mind and before I know it, I have watered it with worry until it is a big old nasty weed.

I could be watering the weed of a bad habit. I know it’s bad for me. I know I should stop. I know that God gives me the strength to overcome, but I just choose to keep on going, allowing my life to be choked by an entangling weed of a habit.

There are so many things that could constitute “weeds” in our lives: bad relationships; being in the wrong job; even laziness about things we know aren’t right. When I grow a physical garden, weeding is my least favorite task. However, I know if I want my plants to survive and thrive, it has to be done. It is much the same with all of these other things.

If we want to be free to live happy, productive lives, it is imperative that we ask God for help and allow Him to weed out the negatives in our lives. I absolutely love the verse that says we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. That is such great news. God can literally help me weed out the negative, unproductive thoughts and beautiful thoughts and actions can result. In fact, in the Bible these things are literally called fruit, and I’ll take fruit over weeds any day!

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22 & 23

Do you remember those little comic strips? My Mom loved them. In fact, she kept a little notebook of clippings she gathered from the newspaper each day. The thing that is so significant about these single, “Love Is” sayings, is their simplicity. Each comic is a picture of just one small aspect of love.

I think a lot of time, in our over-Hollywood-saturated culture, we come to think of love as the grand gestures, the larger than life, just in the nick of time, romantic stories. Hollywood and Hallmark promise the happy ever-afters, but roll the credits before they have to figure out how to sustain it. And this brings us back to the little things.

Love is won or lost over a thousand little things. In the 60 plus years that these comic strips have been written, the artists have literally found thousands of things that love is. I think the trick to it all is being able to see what love is.

Being able to appreciate the people who love you is not as easy as it would seem, it actually takes quite a bit of work. Being able to say thank you is another step. And then there is the part where we need to be actively loving others! Again, all those little things add up. If you are like me, and need some help to understand all of this, God gives us some great information about how to love and what love is, in the Bible.

In the book of First Corinthians chapter 13, Paul gives us a very clear picture of love:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres…

…Love never fails.

Happy Valentine’s Day!