Feb 27, 2018 | Bible, Christianity, Discipleship, Discipline, Faith, God, Grace, Prayer, Tips
(or lost or frazzled or disorganized or distracted or overwhelmed..basically, if you’re a modern-day woman)
I get it!
I am fairly confident that if you are reading this, you have a strong cerebral conviction that you MUST pray. Prayer is good. But sometimes you find yourself in a season where your prayers are trite, one-way conversations that sound allot like shopping lists and allot the same and that happen in the car or in the few minutes before you go to sleep. Or you find yourself disillusioned by a season of pleading desperation that didn’t actually “work”, and didn’t make you feel any more connected to God. Can I get a witness? I know what it’s like to suffer from distraction, frustration, lack of urgency, discipline and motivation in my prayer life. I have had to claw my way back into better habits and rhythms only to fall back into losing prayer in the blur of countless stressful days strung together. So here are some tips, from one struggling, distracted woman to another:
Determine your why: We have a ping pong table at home. It’s become a great opportunity for quality time between my husband and our boys. But my husband, God bless him, once made the fatal error of offering one of our boys a reward if he beat his dad at a heated game of ping pong. This, sadly, set a precedent whereby our son would only play when there was going to be a reward at the end. What my good husband was after, was quality time with his son. What my son was after, was a reward. It came to a point when I had to ask him a tough question: “do you spend time with Dad because of who he is to you or because of what he can give to you?”
Sometimes this is what our relationship with God is like. And this can be most evident in our prayer life.
There is no point in my starting off by saying “You must pray” if you’ve lost your “reason why”. And if you have lost your reason why, ultimately all I can tell you, is that our prayer life (or lack thereof) will reflect what we truly believe about God (eish, I know, truth bomb right!), whether we seek Him out because we have realised that in Him we live and breathe and have our being (Acts 17 v 28). Or whether we only hang out with Him if we can get something/ need something out of it. So first start off not by asking yourself, why don’t I pray, but asking yourself, what do I believe about who God really is?
Direct your thoughts and words: I have confessed before that my brain is always going in a thousand directions at once. I am like a laptop with too many tabs open. That is why “getting in the zone” to pray is hard for me. I also sometimes battle with praising and even thanksgiving beyond the tired, thoughtless phrases that I’ve so overused, and I’ve battled to find the words to pray for the people I love in a more directed, focused way.
In here I write down scriptures, promises to pray for them, affirmations and praises to help me fix my mind on God.
So go on honey, head out to Typo, I am giving you permission to indulge your stationery fetish. Call it an investment in your prayer life. Buy something that can lie open in your hand (that is why I use ring-bound notebooks), that you can easily and quickly add to. I have found that without a firm foundation in scripture, my prayers are just like shopping lists. On the other hand, God’s Word is like a prayer vocabulary and when we use it to shape our prayer language (so to speak), prayer becomes a deep, rich, two-way experience, instead of a one-way list of requests. And having something written down to pray through, for me, is a concrete move against my own internal noise which I battle to quiet down.
One of the purposes of prayer is that it aligns us with God’s thoughts and desires, and when we pray scripture we have the opportunity to internalize His very character and for our daily life to be framed by it.
Actually writing down your prayers is also a way of staying focused during your prayer times. Even if you just have 5 minutes, use them to journal your prayers, giving substance and depth to even the shortest bite of time you are spending with God and inviting Him into your world.
“Don’t just read the Bible. Start circling the promises. Don’t just make a wish. Write down a list of God-Glorifying life goals. Don’t just pray. Keep a prayer journal. Define your dream. Claim your promise. Spell your miracle.” Mark Batterson – The circle maker.
Dedicate time: I know that many of you are in a life stage where even a simple quiet time is a challenge, much less dedicated time to pray (
are you a young mom? Check this out) I am not saying there is anything wrong with praying in the car, or praying when you make the beds – we are supposed to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thes 5 v 16)! But when I am talking to my husband while driving to an event we might be
talking, but we are not necessarily
connecting, right? It wouldn’t be considered “
building intimacy”, right? To build connection you need to be fully
present. To build intimacy you need to take
time – ask any husband who has tried to rush it an failed! And so in my marriage, I may not be able to dedicate time and resources to a full-on date night, but we can sit down and have a cup of coffee, be present for and with one another and listen/ talk for as long as a cup of coffee takes. And if you are in a busy and distracting season and it’s all you have, believe me, that is all it takes: 15 minutes in which connection is rekindled, in which time is given to sharing and listening, and we find ourselves walking away anchored in, steadied, heard, connected. So set it out in your mind for your coffee break at work, or the quick lunch you grab before fetching the kids. Put your phone away as you sip that coffee, and instead of being filled with the highlight real of someone else’s fake life (yes, I know you’re are scrolling Facebook when you’re waiting for the kettle to boil!) , open up your prayer book or journal if you have one, and allow yourself a few moments to be present with God and to be filled with the real sustenance of the gift of rest.
Dump Perfect: in fact, apply this across the board to every area of your life! We often approach the disciplines of our spiritual life (devotions, prayer, fasting etc) the same way we approach diets, fatalistically. We go at full tilt, knuckling down for a time, until we fall off the wagon (thanks Cinnabon!) and then, instead of saying, “aww man, I shouldn’t have eaten that whole thing, but ok, I am picking up where I left off”, we say;”Aww man, this day (weekend/ week) is a write-off, I am giving in and I will start again on Monday!” In our spiritual life, we have this set idea that our interactions with God should look a certain way, take a certain shape and amount of time, make us feel x,y or z, and if we can’t have/ do that, we might as well not even attempt anything. And in that we lose our unction, we lose sight of the importance of the spiritual realm and its impact and then we wonder why we feel like our prayers hit the ceiling. I love the saying: “perfect is the enemy of done”. Because surely a simple, sincere prayer uttered in a moment of awe, understanding, desperation, is better than a perfectly crafted doxology left unspoken?
“If in prayer I come before a throne of grace, the faults of my prayer will be overlooked.” Charles Spurgeon
Dare to be honest: I hope you also have a group of friends in your life where you know you can be your authentic, uncensored self. Friends who love you in such a way that they don’t make you feel like your too much, or not enough, for whom you don’t need to dumb down or dress up any part of yourself in order to feel at home. I am blessed to have a few like that. And if I compare how I feel when I am around them with how I feel when I am around people in front of whom I can’t be myself, I know who I would rather hang out with, and I appreciate the authenticity of those relationships all the more. It’s no different with God. We are bound to seek Him out all the more if we experience the truth about His loving character and nature to us if we enter in with a conviction of His grace. We are bound to avoid Him if we have allowed the burden of sin and shame to pile up like dirty dishes in our soul, bound to skirt formally around Him if our picture of Him has become affected by half-truths and earthly wisdom and religiosity.
You have permission to be unhappy before God, desperate, ungrateful even, superficially joyful, just plain you.
Just take a stab at praying through the Psalms if you don’t believe me.
In Genesis Hagar refers to God as El Roi, as she experiences God as One who truly sees her in a world where she feels utterly unseen. You are seen darling, and loved, chosen, sought out not just despite of who you are, but because of it. That is the God we draw near to when we draw near in prayer.
Can I encourage you in whatever season you find yourself, to make small shifts in your schedule and perspective to have your daily life transformed by prayer?
“To pray is to change. All who have walked with God have viewed prayer as the main business of their lives. For those explorers in the frontiers of faith, prayer was no little habit tacked onto the periphery of their lives, it was their life. It was the most serious work of their most productive years. Nothing draws us closer to the heart of God. “ Richard Foster
Feb 18, 2018 | Children, Christianity, Faith, Family, Parenting, Win
Most of the time I am winging it as a mom. Most of the time I am inept to deal with the next challenge or hard conversation, unclear on the way forward with a particular child or a particular life stage, and very often drawing a blank when my kids look to me for answers. That’s common for me. But when my son recently came stone last in a race that was important to him, I felt a surge of relief. Not because he lost (obvs). But because I knew lots about losing. I have vast experience. Finally, an #Igotthis moment! Those are about as rare as date nights and my husband noticing my eyeshadow!
My husband is competitive, and my eldest certainly has that same nature, so we have had many talks about winning, sport and competition at our house. I am not at all competitive, so half the time, especially as a mom of boys, I’m just trying to work out what motivates them. The other half of the time I am trying to work out where the bad smells are coming from! Usually, the second question is easy to answer. The first question is much harder. So being somewhat of an expert at “not winning” for once put me on a sure footing as a mom. Losing has a sting, but it’s part of life and therefore something my son(s) will have to deal with, not burry or forget or power through.
In a facebook post and pop culture world phrases like “It’s not whether you win or loose but how you play the game” or “The difference in winning and losing is most often not quitting” are bandied around like truth. But because I’m not actually sure if any of them are true and whether they stand up as actual parenting wisdom, I decided to repeat to him what I had repeated to myself numerous times before.
Be careful of shame: As we got in the car after the “defeat”, the brave mask that he held up in front of his classmates slipped away and there was one word written all over his body language. Shame. Hard to talk about. Clear to see. Vital to address to break its power.
Just like in winning (when we should be on our guard for pride), in losing, we are to be on our guard for shame, that subjective, private feeling that maybe deep down something is wrong with us. But there is no shame in giving your all, leaving it all on the field (or in the pool as was the case here) and then still not getting the result you want. That is only shameful if your only measure of value is winning. And if you have a competitive child, it is very easy for that God-given attribute, set in place for His Glory, to become a warped yet defining driver that will put your child on a constant seesaw of pride and shame. Losing can only make you feel unworthy if winning is the only thing that makes you feel worthy and that is often the case when someone has a competitive nature. So first up, help your child do a motive check. Shame at losing is a subjective societal message (one that we as parents often reinforce) that directly correlates a persons’ value with what they can achieve.
But God, thanks be to Him, doesn’t determine our value based on what we can achieve, but instead, predetermined us valueable enough to die for while we were yet sinners, with not one single redeeming quality aside from that which He placed in us by making us image bearers.
Because it’s “just a race”: And no, I don’t say this to make “small” something that my 11-year-old experiences as almost all-consumingly big! As parents, by the way we respond to things, we are showing our children what is truly valuable. When they break the coffee table and we break down, we are saying”things are more valuable than people”. When we spend money to impress instead of spending money to make a difference, we are saying ”
what others think is truly valuable”. But when I say “It’s just a race/match/ game, in response to winning OR losing, what I am saying is: There is a bigger race, a bigger story, that we are all being written into, grafted into, anchored into as we are more and more made into the image of God through both the good and bad things we experience. There are always eternal things at play, souls, relationships, and among these things events for our enjoyment or edification must find their proper place. Putting the loss or win (and all manner of other things) in the perspective of eternity is our calling as parents.
If we spend more time talking to them about how they perform in the different spheres of life then about the Creator of Life, that is a clear message of value that should arrest our hearts as Christian parents.
And because what God honors is not what the world honors: As believers, we often dress up striving to achieve in “do as though for the Lord” garb. But what God loves is discipline more than achievement, as we see contrasted in the lives of Saul and that of David. Achievement is big and flashy, but discipline is small, consistent, hard. Super unglamorous, but precious to God. And as my kids train or study, subject themselves to authority, hard habits, choosing to be shaped over being entertained, they are honoring what God has put inside them and where He has placed them, and that is what He notices above all. It’s easy for my son to think that him losing means all the hours of training was for nothing. But it wasn’t, because it’s not the big thing we do one time that shapes us, but the consistent habits and behaviors of every day. What the world sees (and looks for) may be the medal at the end, but what God sees (and looks for) is a heart surrendered to do the hard, holy things for His glory, not our own. That is why you have to..
Be sure to do what’s up to you: All that is up to us is to steward the gift, whatever that might be. If God makes you swim well/ write well/ build well/ teach well/ make money well, give that talent the presence, priority, and patience it deserves so it can bare fruit that reflects good stewardship in your life.That is the only part that is up to us and frankly the only part we control…
Because He ultimately decides: Yes, we tend to have this idea that competition is this noble process where passions, persistence, and perseverance ultimately crowns a victor. And sometimes that is true. But sometimes it isn’t.
My husband tells a story of a classmate who was somewhat of a child prodigy both in primary school and high school, in the sport of cricket, supreme among pursuits for South Africans! At the high school, they both attended in the Eastern Cape, most of the batting records were previously held by Darryl Cullinan, but this kid broke all of them. He was that good. Thing was, this kid happened to be in the same province and of the same age group as the now legendary Mark Boucher. So what he had was an exceptional talent and passionate participation, but what was out of his hands was the timing that meant his cricketing achievements would forever be veiled in obscurity while that of Mark Boucher would go on to become the stuff of legends. We simply don’t get to decide everything, even when it comes to winning and losing and a “fair” return on our efforts.
The LORD Almighty has sworn, “Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will happen. Isaiah 14 v 24.
All the days of our lives are written in His book (Ps 139 v 16) and the extent to which we live surrendered to that greater truth, the more freedom we will have to say, I do my best, but the end result always belongs to God. And that way so does the glory.
Jan 25, 2018 | Christianity, Church, Discipleship, Faith, God, Uncategorized
Does this ever happen to you? You sit down for your quiet time (yes, you’ve managed to hit the snooze button only once, got up before everyone else, you have your crispy new journal and your gel pens, and a warm cuppa – so you basically just hit a perfect mommy trifecta) and your mind does one of 2 things:
It either goes blank. Completely blank. Like the look your 9 year old give you when you ask him why he can’t just remember to put the toilet seat up.
OR
Your mind goes in 50 different directions at once. Now, I am an expert juggler. For example, I am constantly juggling my out of control love for my children with how much they sometimes annoy me (oh please, I know I’m not the only mom who thinks that but never says it!). But juggling 20 thoughts at once does not a productive quiet time make. And if I just sit down and close my eyes and start “trying” to “focus”, my thoughts just run amuck. No matter how hard I try, I am making a grocery list, a to do list, a list of deadlines or dinner dates or a don’t forget list from the minute I sit down.
The other challenge is that in our content driven, content crazy, content overload world, it’s not only hard to switch off to the many distractions but it’s also hard to actually select and stay on a focussed path of spiritual progress. The constant beeping of your phone and the million options of blogs, books, bible-studies, devotions, podcasts can leave you overwhelmed and spiritually rudderless.
Sometimes the fact is that we are so overwhelmed by content and choice, that our quiet time struggle has more to do with a lack of focus than a lack of time.
I have struggled with all of the above as a confessed information junky with a minuscule attention span, and so I wanted to share with you today the super simple structure I stick to to stay focussed during those precious meeting times with God.
Find the right spot: build an altar, the place where you praise, worship, remember, give thanks, receive. Clear a space for your body and your mind. I know you are always last on the list Mom, but be unapologestic about this!
Get in the zone: I light a scented candle, take 5 deep breaths while pressing hard on my fingertips or squeezing a stress ball (don’t judge ok this works for me), and then start off with a prayer of adoration. I often find that my spirit is sluggish to start with, regardless of the time of day that I meet with God, so I write out scriptures and psalms of adoration in a prayer book to lead me into God’s presence and centre me in His will. I have it ready as I sit down to start and I read those prayers, out loud if I can.
Adoration reminds my soul who I am about to sit down with and breathes expectation into my spirit.
Eliminate (mental and physical) noise: My phone used to be the first thing I reached for when I woke up in the morning. Before sitting down to read my bible I would already know how many emails I had to respond to later that day. Not good for focus or motivation. I found that keeping it off until after my quiet time helps me to bring my thoughts in line with the priorities of God’s Kingdom, instead of the priorities of my own. I also have one of those handy little mini note paper stacks. The moment a thought/ to do/ person that I have to call’s name pops into my head I quickly write it down and set it aside so it doesn’t completely derail me.
Have a plan: If you are into devotionals, have that at the ready. If you’ve started off the year with different areas of your faith that you want to study and grow in (think grace, forgiveness, faith, contentment), take out your concordance as a starting point. Maybe you’ve chosen a book of the bible to do. That’s what I prefer. But the best thing is to know what works for you but whatever you do, make sure that God’s word is at the centre of it. Go for quality and not quantity.
Set yourself up to crave the word. Whatever you are reading during your personal devotions must be taking you deeper into being able to hear God’s voice in His word for yourself.
Have a back up plan: because: life. And because: snoozebutton. If I oversleep or had very little sleep the previous night, if I’m feeling particularly mentally overwhelmed or even if I know I only have 20 minutes instead of the hour and twenty I was hoping to spend, I reach for a Psalm. Every year, I pick 2 Psalms as my “go to Psalms”for that year. Yes, only 2. Some days truth be told a couple of bites of a Psalm is all I can handle. There! That’s my real sometimes Mommas! And I am ok with that. And you know what, I think God is too. Having a plan AND a back up plan means I never sit down and hit a blank during my quiet times.
Make it plain: As in, make your plan something you can see. This is probably the thing that has helped me stay on track the most. Think of it as the agenda for the meeting you are about to have with God. I use one of those weekly planner pads with the tear off sheets so I can update it when I need to (subscribe to the blog this week to recieve a handy personal devotional schedule printable for your desk!)). This goes onto a whiteboard in front of me. On here I record what I am focussing on or reading at the moment, as well as who I am praying for each day.
Mondays I pray for my husband and sons and our housekeeper
Tuesdays the people I mentor/ disciple and my close friends and their families
Wednesday is my extended family
Thursday I have the privelage to pray for family and friends who don’t yet walk with Jesus. I also pray for all the missionaries I know on Thursdays
Fridays are for my kids’ school, my church and my country. On Fridays I pray longer, hiehie!
Saturdays are for my personal prayers, plans and goals, my writing and work.
Having this list up means that when I have promised to pray about someone or something, I can easily add it to the right place on the list. I can stay on track during my prayer time as I know every day of the week who I am praying for and it helps me pray with purpose. I also record here what I’m reading, what my memory verse is that week (which I also put on Q cards and stick all over the house) and I also keep a “spill over” list if I already know what devotional or word study or book of the bible I want to do when I am done with the current one.
Record and engage: Maybe you journal. Maybe you don’t. But when I study the bible, I make notes. It helps with focus because it’s an activity that I am physically engaged in, as in I am not just sitting there, I am doing something. And in the front of my journal are the 4 things I look for each time I sit down to read the Bible, and this is what I write down. This is something my mom taught me to do when I was still very young. So, I look for
- Confirmations, commands, corrections and/ or promises from God
- Keywords (you know, those ones that just “jump out”
- Who is God (what elements of His character are evident in this scripture, what can I praise Him for?)
- Who am I (what does this passage highlight about me, things I must repent of or see about myself?)
This is also a handy rubric that our church distributes to assist people during their queit times (
get the explanation here). Whatever “method” you choose, make sure it engages you mentally, spiritually and physically and helps you to develop a pattern of discipline during this precious time of devotion. As I engage with the content, I pray, I confess, I plead, and what I studied then forms the jump off point for a time of prayer, confession and supplication.
If the God of the universe tells you something, you should write it down – Henry Blackaby
Go forth and share: Telling someone what you have gained from your time with God is a great way of internalising that knowledge. What do you talk about with your girlfriends Momma? With my closest buddies we can go from talking about the latest and best liquid blusher (my latest obsession!) to what God is speaking to us about right now in the space of a 10 minute conversation. I pray that you are as immensely privelaged as I am to have such an inner circle of women!
Your intentional engagemet with God and His word will reap a harvest, not just for yourself but also for the people God has placed in your path.
February is looming and I am sure you , like me, had lots of ideas about staying on track spiritually this year. I hope that these inputs will help you, and please share in the comments other tips and tricks that you find valuable in keeping your focus during your time with God! If you are in that babies and toddlers lifestage and a set time of personal devotion seems about as out of reach for your as 12 hours of uninterupted sleep, I have hope and encouragement for you to,
read here! And remember:
God delights in you and is more interested in you showing up to spend time with Him than in what you accomplish in your quiet time. Eventhough in the world our measurement is achievement (think before and after photos, activity trackers, reading the bible in one year, and to do lists) what God honors and has always honoured is discipline. Your relationship with Jesus is the light that will shine out of your life, pointing others home, pointing you home.
The amount of time we spend with Jesus, meditating on His Word and His majesty, seeking His face, establishes our fruitfulness in the Kingdom – Charles Stanley
Jan 8, 2018 | Uncategorized
I come from a family of teachers. Being a mom of schoolgoing boys and being a daughter/ daughter in law/ granddaughter and sister of a teacher I would venture to say I have a good understanding of the frustrations on both sides of the isle (of the desks?) so to speak. Surprisingly, kids are not a teachers’ biggest frustration, parents are! Another challenge teachers face in a school year (you know, other than varicose veins, laryngitis, and burnout) is what to do with all the chocolate bars and “Greatest Teacher in the world” mugs that they receive as gifts.
So my sister told me about one of the best gifts she ever received as a teacher, from a parent at the beginning of the school year. It was a “Teacher’s Survival Kit.” It contained a variety of small and supremely practical gifts that not only made her feel understood and valued as a teacher, but that was also useful and usable. So because it’s a great exercise in showing the boys how we value people (and because it was easily disguise-able as a “fun holiday activity”. Oh, and because you can’t exactly send a bottle of wine to the school and just get it over with! Kidding!) we set about making these fun TEACHER’s SURVIVAL KITS:
You will need:
- A glass bottle or jar – it’s “green” AND pretty
- Blackboard sticker and ribbon
- Clever survival items, such as:
- Handcream (who doesn’t love a little pampering?)
- Throat lozenges (For the yelling. I am not judging)
- Pocket tissues (Best to prepare the teacher that they will catch a runny nose this year, gonna happen, it’s virtually guaranteed)
- Wipes (Sanitiser wipes…because kids can be gross)
- Chocolates (I know I don’t have to explain this one)
- Hand sanitizer (as above)
- Vitamins for immunity, energy, and calm (you can also just make this a bottle of Rescue Remedy, but I found these cute sachets at Checkers!)
If you already know the teacher whose class your child will be in you may even be able to personalise this list further – or get your kid to write the list of what they think might be special for the teacher. Think lip-balm, sunscreen if it’s the sports coach, a pedicure voucher, a mini fragrant candle, pretty gel pens or stickers…
Pop the items into the jar, personalise the sticker and ad your ribbon, and there you go!
Our kids gage what (and who) we value not just by what we say but also by what we do.
C.S Lewis said “The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles but to irrigate deserts”, and in SA I know this to be true. Teachers need all the encouragement and support they can get.
PS – Don’t you wish there was a Moms’ survival kit?
PPS – To bad a Mediterranean Cruise, some bubbly and 5 minutes alone don’t fit into a glass jar.
Dec 19, 2017 | Uncategorized |
This time of year we normally take our big holiday. It’s a time of big family gatherings, big meals, big shopping, tinsel, and flash. It’s also the time of year for reflecting on the year we just lived, and often it’s the big moments that stand out, the big highs and the big lows that get our attention, the big leaps forward, the big steps back. But this year I was challenged to take note of the small things. Since breaking my foot I have had a few health setbacks and suddenly small things, like being out of bed more than in bed, like getting along with one crutch instead of two, or being able to shower again, became huge celebration-worthy moments. It challenged me to look for God in places where I didn’t think He’d be. And isn’t that an exercise fitting for this season? Because isn’t that the Christmas story? Jesus being found in an unexpected place! Salvation presenting itself via unexpected means!
The Christmas story is a declaration that small things reveal a Big God and His great Love!
So how can we celebrate the small things in the silly season? Here’s my small things mantra, my miniature manifesto to the minutia that will simplify the silly season.
- I will change my perspective on the small: God’s gift to us is His presence. But this big deal was delivered in the smallest of packages. He became both small and weak, to be with us, not considering the “big” ness of godliness something to be grasped (Phill 2 v 6), but embracing the “small”ness of human nature to change our history. Emmanuel: God with us, peace with us, presence with us. Immanuel is a big deal experienced in a thousand small ways.
May the way I love and serve in the small things this season be a reflection of this big love. That is how we make much of Jesus in this season!
- I will expect less from myself. (Ok, I have had almost 3 months of practice at this, so I am kinda nailing it! If you’ve missed any of that you can find more Instagram. It’s hilarious!). But seriously, this can be a very stressful time of year, especially for moms, as every Pinterest worthy table setting is an indictment to our inability, our ordinary, our un-perfect. I will spend less time on Pinterest and more time learning how to be ok with the me of today. Because deep joy will not come from the perfect place setting, and is more likely to be found in the the deep gratitude you have over a meal to sit down to.
- I will shop less – in fact, I try to stay out of the shops altogether if possible. I will remember that Christ is not a commercial event, but a relational one. Why not bake or make or be the gift for someone? Buying is so overrated and it’s so stressful. Less stuff, more substance.
- I will click unsubscribe. Small action, big reward. Yes, both literally, but also emotionally. In my inbox, but also in my heart. This years’ hurts, the unrealistic expectations others place on me/ I place on myself, that old anger/ anxiety/ worry I carry around. That comparison, that judgment, that painful scarring memory. Unsubscribe! Forgive! Let it go! Move on!
- I will celebrate the small. Ok, so my pace and productivity was adversely affected in the last part of the year, but that doesn’t mean nothing was achieved. I will intentionally look back at the big lessons hidden in the small situations (like the generosity and small kind gestures of friends and family that had a huge impact), the small personal victories ( like being ok with letting others help me), the small emotional victories, small miracles that made up the journey that was 2017. If you look back at your year, try harder to notice the small triumphs instead of focussing on what you may consider as big(ger) let downs or failures. Ok so maybe you didn’t lose those pesky 4kgs you wanted to and maybe downloading (and paying for!) the BBG app was a waste, but your body withstood another year and you hopefully had a few more moments of self-acceptance. Maybe you didn’t learn to speak French but maybe you survived countless hours of homework with your kids without anyone being seriously harmed. Pick out some small victories to cheer(s) over!
- I will practice peace in small things. Because peace is a big thing that starts small. Because peace is the gift that everyone needs. Because Peace is a Person, a Presence that my circumstances can’t drown out.
I will practice peace by partaking in His presence, seeking out His presence, and praying for His presence in the tense family moments, the dirty dishes and the noise that this season will hold.
- I will slow down for small things: Because slowing down for small means slowing down to wonder. Because the small moments sometimes make the best memories. The wise men knew it and so did the shepherds. Don’t miss out on the wonder that slow paces and slow places represent. A slower pace means cups of tea truly savored and kids in your bed in the morning with nowhere to rush off to. For some of us slowing down is hard. But when we are slow we are present, and being truly present is a gift we give ourselves and others.
May you have both big and small to celebrate in this season Momma, chief in your heart being the truth that begs reflection this season, that Jesus became nothing so God could be everything to everyone (1 Cor 15). Thanks for journeying with me in 2017! I hope you will join me here again in 2018 (please subscribe, don’t unsubscribe – hiehie!). If what you found here helped you Momma, I hope you’ll tell your friends! Know that I pray for you and value you!
