Our kids ran in as they normally do, cheering and excited. It was our then 3-year-old who stopped dead in the silence. “Where are Poppy and Nanny?!” she cried, suddenly quiet, wide-eyed.
The space of a house. The set up. Arrangement. Lighting. Items. They matter in making a space feel like a home. They do matter. Yet it is the spiritual and emotional presence in that space that make it home. When coming home to my parent’s house, they greet us with excitement, welcome, love, orderliness, things have been prepared and thought about on our behalf. The spiritual and emotional presence they provide speak volumes of words unuttered…
4 Comments
“The purpose of places like Starbucks is for people...to make six decisions, just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall…light, dark...caf, decaf...low-fat, nonfat...
So people...get not just a cup of coffee...but an absolutely defining sense of self. Tall! Decaf! Cappuccino!” As the BK jingle goes, “have it your way.” When an intentional Christian woman, then, is approached with the concept of self-care, in a culture that is ‘all-about-me’, she can run up against a lie that halts her in her place. The lie: it is sinful and selfish to take time for myself.
I had already said yes to these things, so when an offer of something else came in, there wasn’t room.
No. Author and businessman, Harvey Mackay, has said, "One of the greatest truths in life is that "no" is a complete sentence." I’ve also heard that ‘No’ is simply the opposite of ‘Yes’. No is the word that will protect your self-care.
What does varnish do?
It adds a protective, glossy coating. It makes an item shine. What makes you shine? When your inner world is restored, what adds that protective, glossy coating for you? These are the practical outer things that restore you. Perhaps you can glean from my story…
Yet there was huge value in enjoying Dear Zoo with each child.
Repairing it meant that it could continue to serve our family and bring us joy. This week we return to the three steps of restoring a masterpiece. We’re on step two: Repair It – Repair rips in the canvas, and fix cracked and peeling paint. If you’ve been around Sanctuary of Home long, then you know that we’re not going to look at issues that need surface repairs, like mending children’s books. Looking deeper, Momma, what needs repairs in your life? What is cracked and peeling?
I know that they would have loved to have me play too. Yet I didn’t ask.
Instead I did what I usually do: I cleaned up. The next day we were ready for a snack. The plan was that I would make it, and then we’d eat while playing a game of Uno together. I asked the children to help with the clean up while I made the food. They did, and finished before I did. What followed was some sort of a wrestling/tackle/get the ball game on the living room floor. Again, I found myself in the kitchen, getting things ready, not a part of the play.
How does that sound to you?
“Give your mind a vacation. No self-help or homeschool material. Bring light-hearted reading.”
Then she listed suggestions for such reading.* “Whatever gives you life and encourages you.” “Make this a quarterly event if possible, but at least two times per year,“ she concluded. My journey of self-care in motherhood has been a slow one, continually building on itself.
We hold our collective breath. Watching what appears to be one foolish decision after another, we silently root for him, desiring (for ourselves) that this tense scene come to completion. And then, he climbs over the top. He has reached the summit! He looks, breathes, takes in the beauty, the wonder… Until a helicopter appears and shoots a capsule into the rock next to him. “Your mission, if you choose to accept it…this message will self-destruct in 5 seconds.” You may not be Ethan Hunt in Mission Impossible 2. Yet choosing to accept your mission can feel like hanging on a precipice, tense, unsure how to get to the summit.
Yet the Lord makes it clear: “There is no one righteous, not even one…..There is no one who does good, not even one…..For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:10, 12b, 23)
Then I encountered the Living Jesus. Now my picture has changed. |
Archives
March 2025
Categories
All
|
