At this moment…
Turn our hearts toward our children and our children’s hearts toward us. - Malachi 4:6
When you act on love, you have legacies.
We headed out on spring break as a family a few months back. Typically, I bring a lot to read and “get done,” yet I sensed a solid nudge to bring only a pen and pad of paper for this trip.
This felt foreign to me, so the morning of our flight, I started adding more items to my backpack. As I did, I was stung with a “stop!” The inner jolt made me remove the additional items, and off we flew…
As I spent the early morning hours of our vacation days alone with my pen and paper (not “alone” reading, listening, scrolling, learning, and absorbing from others) yet alone time that allowed me to capture my insight, I was drawn to answer: At this moment in time, what is it that I most want? What makes this matter? What’s my part in making it real?
When I sincerely and thoroughly answered this string of questions.
At this point in my life, I want my family to experience my best. But, unfortunately, this hasn’t always been true in our past.
When I dug into “What makes this matter?” I was flooded with the image of unconditional love.
God’s stamp on this world is love, and I want to be His stamp, starting within my walls and my home team.
When the kids were little, part of our bedtime routine was reading the book titled God Gave Us You. We read it over and over and over again. As the words that line the pages of that book came back to me, I realized how those exact words matter as much now as they did when they were two and six.
With all the pressures and voices in their teenage lives, mine must be consistently present and active. So, when I think of being God’s stamp of love for Owen and Averee, here’s where God’s grace is equipping me:
Daily, our kids meet my inner strength and emotional stability, my boundaries, my firmness, and my choice to “yellow highlight” what makes them authentically unique. My conversations of correction are frosted with love and compassion. My willingness to live with a tight “God grip” brings forth discernment, wisdom, and a sense of serenity, which enables me to release control when necessary.
When I wondered, “What’s my part in making what matters most to me real?” I was moved to create a few minor twists in my morning routine.
I start each day visualizing how I’ll show up at home. Just as I plan out and visualize other aspects of each day, I now create intentions around my role as a mom and wife – deciding ahead of time who I want to be and how I want to show up for them. To consciously determine the love, structure, and flow that matters most for that day. I want to stop and “see” the people I get to do my everyday life with — together and individually. Always keeping my heart alive and active to the truth: “God Gave Me You” to love unconditionally!
Lord, please grant me the ability to love my children and husband unconditionally like you do. Help me demonstrate and model your love to them so they can understand and perceive. As they grow each day, may they become more confident in their knowledge of being loved and accepted by you. May their understanding of your love enable them to be a vessel through which it flows to others.
Before we close, it’s time to shift these questions to you: What do you most want now? What makes this matter? What’s your part in making it real? Let yourself sit alone - with only a pen and pad of paper. When you do, you’ll be amazed at what’s inside you that’s ready to be released!
“Life from the center is a life of peace and power.” – Thomas Kelly
Photo by Averee Kreutzfeldt at Bar 33 Ranch, Blaisdell, North Dakota