All Glory

 

 

Today was a near perfect day. The kind of day you leave behind and think, wow - that really just couldn't have gone any better. The kind of day you hold up as a benchmark and measure other days against. The kind of day that you blog about, or share perfect pictures of on facebook, giddy with the perfection of it all.

It was a golden day where home life felt peaceful, homeschool felt feasible, happiness attainable. My list was completed and I even added a few fun things just because. I delighted in my children, something that truthfully doesn't happen every day. One of those days. The kind that crop up every once in a while just when you think you're losing your touch to remind you of why you do what you do.

A day where contentment was easy and gratitude effortless.  A day where happiness was as plentiful as sunshine and everything felt right. A pretty rare sort of day for me, to be completely honest.

I was thinking about contentment while prepping dinner and watching my kids (and a few spares) run around outside. I've always thought contentment is something I have down. Material "stuff" isn't a big draw for me. I'm drawn to little happinesses like baking in the fall and rocking babies to sleep. Being content with fewer and smaller things isn't a struggle, and so I can think that being satisfied is not a battle I'm fighting. I may think that, but I'd be wrong.

Contentment isn't just being happy with what you are given.  Contentment is trusting that, even if you don't understand why everything is falling apart, that what God is doing in your life is for His glory. It doesn't always feel nice, or easy. Sometimes it's dark and wretched and hard. Sometimes you wonder if you'll give right out, broken in two, irreparable. That's where the trust comes in.

This is where contentment draws a hard line for me to cross. Not by living life small and simple, but living life trusting. Trusting that what He has for me today is where I'm meant to be. Not just on the golden happy days, but on the bleak ones, too. The days where the very thing required of me is the very last thing I'd prefer to be doing.

Contentment is the daily exercise of accepting the work He has for you today, no matter what it is. Satisfied in living by trust, offering up everything. The tough, the bleak, the broken and the beautiful. Living each day knowing He can use it all for His glory and our good.

I can content my heart with that.


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Finding the Y in J.O.Y. {Mindful Mothering Mondays}

The alarm wakes me on Sunday morning and I don't get to it before a little voice in the next room calls my name.  Together we head downstairs and greet the dawn.  He swings chubby legs from his seat on the counter while I start up the coffee and pull out my favorite cookbook.  "What do you think?  Should we have pancakes today?"  He smiles up and me and I take it as a yes.

Throughout my day of relative rest, I think about it - that acronym for Joy that so many families I know hold up as an example for life to their children:  J.O.Y.  Jesus first, Others second, Yourself, last.  I've always liked it.  Since childhood, this concept of the world not revolving around me has been something that, oddly, comforted me.  Knowing that, as big as this moment feels, it's not the end, or even the beginning, of the world.  A life of serving others and pouring out love is a life well lived.  This is what I was taught, and this is what I believe.

Yet something nags at me as I go about my day, cleaning up sticky syrup puddles after the older kids have left for Sunday school with Grandpa, his Honda leaving fresh tire tracks in the snow outside.  I start a pot of chili for dinner before showering myself and getting ready for church.  I think on how those first two can be combined for us Mamas, how serving our families in our vocation does serve God.  Two for the price of one!  Jesus first, Others second, Yourself...

Well, there it is then.  It's the source of that nagging question at the back of my mind.  That "yourself last" part.  I see it in burnt out Mamas all over.  In Mamas who get the first two things right, yes, but leave off that last part.  Mamas who put Jesus first, others second, and then have nothing left for themselves.  Mamas who are running on empty day after day after day.  I know that struggle.

Going through life on empty can have hazardous consequences.  We wouldn't want a surgeon to operate on our loved ones who hasn't slept in days, or expect a policeman to be able to do his job to the best of his ability if he hasn't had a break in a week.  As Mothers, we need to take our job just as seriously - and realize that, in taking care of ourselves, we are enabling ourselves to be our very best.

Even as I write these words, it sits wrong - because I've heard it before and have felt the crush of guilt when I haven't been able to make that space for myself.  Surely there is a way that we can prioritize ourselves without adding to the guilt of not being enough...but how?

I've never been one who goes out to lunch with friends, or indulges in shopping, pedicures, weekends away with my husband.  The years pass and babies come and getting a babysitter just to go to an OB appointment is difficult enough - time away for anything less than an emergency slides right off my priority list.  If I am to find a place for myself in all of this, it needs to be right where I am.  It needs to be inexpensive or even free.  And it needs to be something that I can seize with regularity, a gulp of fresh air daily, if at all possible.

The secret, I realize, lies just here - right where I am.  Right where you are, too.  As you go about your day, serving God and family, can you think of just one way you can serve - yourself?  I remember when I made a DIY Mother's Day.  What if every day was Mother's Day...what if I made it that way?  What if I came up with things or ways I'd be blessed by others...and blessed myself that way?

It could be an alarm on your watch, signaling a break in the afternoon.  Start the coffee, sit down with a book and do not allow yourself to be disturbed.  Or maybe in the evening, once littles are in bed - a bath and a glass of wine?  I knit while I homeschool kids, and that alone soothes my weary Mama soul.  I love waking up to a clean kitchen, and that is a gift I can give myself, every day.  Lately I've been making keeping my bedroom a quiet and clean place a priority.  That way, when I can steal away for a moment or two, just stepping through the threshold, out of the chaos and into my own space, I can find sanctuary.  Space to breathe.  To think.  To take a glass of water and a book, or just sit on the made bed and close my eyes for a moment.  A time to recharge those tired Mama batteries.  A time outside the ring, if just for a moment.

And you?  Do you forget the Y in joy like I do?

{It's Mindful Mothering Mondays, a day to take a deep breath and write out your mothering journey, whatever form it takes. A day to link up for encouragement from others who are in this same phase of life. A day of writing out the trials and triumphs and what you're learning right where you are, right now.

You might post recent struggles or thoughts. Maybe just a picture or a quote. Or maybe you'll just come here and read the links that others post. Whatever form your participation takes, this is a day for you.
We are all in this, together. Together, we can encourage and build one another up, be honest with our shortcomings and strengthened by community to keep fighting the good fight.

I chose Mondays because what Mama doesn't need a little encouragement on a Monday? As such, I'll have the link up ready to go on Sunday night for you to begin submitting your links.

I hope you'll meet with me each Monday! Here's what to do ~

Link up your post below. Remember to put the link to the exact post you want to link, and not just your blog url. Include in your post a link back here so others who want to join in can find us! And visit some other Mamas who have linked up.

Post the community graphic within your post, so people who are reading your Mindful Mothering post can come back here and find the rest of us!

Invite the writers of your favorite blogs to join in!

Share this meme with others on facebook and twitter. This community is for all moms, and the more that participate, the more we will be able to enjoy!!}

Grab the graphic here:

<center> <a href=”http://smalltownsimplicity.blogspot.com/“><img border=”0″ src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi33nGWFb2YqBvZ2ZS-TaTwYSjYhNzQ5TsyXZbHO49CfTNnySLTZOjvSMRm6W3UVvixj_M5Aw9t17wSLFFAts22_rNk_9q4xVEQQ2GUcjevwiaR2i0wM5QN4BbX-4mcMEgI7jlHcruJtv3E/s1600/MMgraphic.png"/></a></center> If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to future posts.  Thank you.

Whole Family Thanksgiving

“A life contemplating the blessings of Christ becomes a life acting the love of Christ.” 

― Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are

It was a day during Lent.  My little ones watched me take down the crayon box and select a sheet of paper.  "What is Mommy doing?  Mama, are you making a picture?"  They crowded around the table, Mommy taking the time to color something they just had to see.  After a few moments, I held it up - a single white sheet of paper,  simple words.

"It needs a flower, Mom."  Dinah urged, and I relented - flowers are a grace, so I drew one right alongside.   She was satisfied, despite my lack of artistic talent.

"What does it say?" Jonah wanted to know.  I taped it to the wall in the small space between two doorposts - the gateway between the kitchen and dining room.  They pressed close around me to see.

"Gratitude Wall.  In everything, give thanks."  Ben read aloud.  "What's a gratitude wall?"

"Here, I'll show you."  From the drawer in the kitchen, I took out a small stack of miniature post-its and a pencil.  I wrote on it "my sweet kids and husband. ~Lydia."  I pressed it onto the wall just below the sign and smoothed out the paper under my palm.

I've been writing down the blessings in a private journal for years.   Years of babies and birthdays and beauty all around.  Years of hard days and hot tears and crying out for direction.  And we go around the table most meals, each one contributing their blessing of the day.  But I wanted something more.  A visual reminder.  

Each child wrote down their blessings.  Some wanted to do more, but with a finite amount of post its and an infinite amount of blessings, I restricted them to one per day until I had a chance to buy more.  "Can we fill the whole wall up, Mom?"  Fiona asked excitedly.  They went off to play that day, brimming with happiness.

What happened next was more than I had banked on.

"Put a blessing on our gratitude wall!" they all shouted when my sisters stopped in for a visit.  Grandpa left one too, and Uncle Noah and Aunt Amanda.  The kids read each one.

I pass through that doorway a hundred times or more each and every day, and those little post its of gratitude are like flags of goodwill urging me on.   This life is pure gift, and even the hard things are holy.

I still need to go buy more post its.  But gratitude cannot be held back by lack of paper.  It's fast becoming a family trait around here, and I'm discovering that the more we count the gifts, the more we see them.  And the more we see His love all around, the more we can share.

How do you create an atmosphere of gratitude?  Hint: try the wall.  It's contagious!