The Parent Trap

My mom gave me a book to read last night with the instruction that it was one I absolutely had to get through if Paul and I ever planned to be parents. First, can I tell you how shocked I was that my mom was recommending a book to me?! I who have recommended countless books to her who never read one of them??
The audacity of that woman!

But I digress...

During my ritual cup of steaming hot tea this morning, I cracked that book open and delved into the life of Beth Moore via her book Feathers from My Nest. Now, I'm only two chapters in, mind you, but my view on motherhood is already changed.

I had, and still have, the best mother in the world for me. She loved and prayed me through some pretty awful years. She literally sang the night-time little girl fears out of me. She spent hours in my room at night right before bedtime just listening to what my little mind had to say. She nurtured my passionate view on life and she gave me a twin sized mattress/platform to give my very first editorials on life. She listened to my 2 year old rendition of Kokomo by the Beach Boys and she thought I was the most talented little 3rd grader in the talent show (even though later perusal of that particular video proved otherwise). She found the fine line between crushing my spirit and discipline. She encouraged my individuality and when she knew I was headed in the wrong direction, she loved me all the more and hit her knees and begged for God to change me. And boy did He hear her. I think there's nothing more powerful than a mother's prayers. I'm proof after all.

Recently I've wondered to myself how the heck I'll ever live up to my mom's legacy? My kids are probably going to have NeeMaw on speed dial.

But Beth Moore has already taught me an important lesson about motherhood. One I should've learned from my mother, but somehow missed. God is going to give me children that are the best children for me. As long as I keep the One who so tenderly stitches together a mother's heart at the center of my life, my kids will think the same way about me as I do about my mom. And that right there will be the biggest accomplishment of my life.

From Feathers from My Nest:

-"Remember, God's peace is like a river, not a pond. In other words, a sense of health and well-being, both of which are expressions of the Hebrew shalom, can permeate our homes even when we're in white-water rapids."

-"Engage in their lives, in their interests. Talk to them. And listen. Oh, what they teach us - not only about life in general but often about life at their particular address."

-"Carpool is best driven with two hands on the wheel, a heart full of love, a soul full of joy, and a head full of discernment."

-"To us, making it means that we each cast our votes in favor of family...even when we vote for different things in life. We love and confess our love to one another daily. We don't just let love and mutual concern develop naturally. I've learned that the things that develop naturally are usually things of the human nature, not the Holy Spirit's."