no matter where i have lived, most friday mornings have found me sitting around my kitchen table with a friend or two and all of us sharing our hearts while the caffeine quickens sleepy minds and little ones play in the background.
this morning is no exception...and happily, you are invited to come and sit for a bit as well.
for less than a year, i lived next door to one of the sweetest women i have the privilege to know and call friend. and while she moved to the completely opposite end of her country and i moved to the other of mine, our respective blogs keep us connected.
if you would like to shift positions a little, you can find me over at marissa's place writing about loss and change and helping little ones wade through those big emotions that threaten to overwhelm. (and where i actually prove i can type with capital letters...)
and here, you can spend some time with marissa as she shares her heart and thoughts on the importance of carving out moments and finding some quiet in the day - and enjoy a bit of her beautiful photography as well.
here, in this little corner opened up, it feels a bit more like home.
I
pause, pen hovering over paper while a jazz tune mixes through the quiet
bistro. As my pen begins to glide across the paper, it is to share this time
with you—this glimpse in my week when I savour a time where my role as mama
steps back just a bit.
I have learned that in my
desire to intentionally and whole-heartedly mother my daughters, one of the
ways that I serve them well is by stepping away to give space and thought to
that which is separate yet such a part of being a mother.
As a mama, it is easy to
get caught up in the noise and minor details of what young children need. It’s
good to be present and constantly guiding, especially in those first years, but
it is also draining. It’s easy to lose sight of who I am. I am mama and a wife,
yes, but I am first a woman of God
and called to follow Him. Within that
comes my role as wife and mama. In finding the matching pair of socks, changing
one more diaper, and kissing another scrape/bump, I tend to reverse the order and
place my identity in being a mama before being a follower. In doing so, I place things on my shoulders that don’t
belong there. I find myself losing my spark and the grace that I desire to
model for my girls.
And so I began to
intentionally carve out times of quiet within these day shared with my little
ones. Taking a time of intentional quiet looks different for everyone and also
varies with life stages. My daughters are young, one still being an often-nursing
babe, and so my times away are brief. Whether it is an hour or two a the local
bistro to enjoy a hot tea and to write, fifteen minutes to walk the freshly
snowy woods on a quiet early morning with my camera, a twenty minute prayer
bath with Epsom salts and lavender, or an undisturbed time of reading, I am
taking time to refresh and refocus. Without fail, these times recharge me for
the things to which I am presently called. I had always believed that a life of
devotion needed to be kicked off by rising in the wee hours to read the Bible
and to pray (along with other things). I still believe this to be a good start
to the day but, with small children still waking me at all hours of the night, I
succumb to sleep. I need to be realistic about my life right now and to work
within it.
Whether my time is spent
with pen flowing, camera clicking, reading just a few lines, or prayers being
breathed through the lavender scented air, these times are essential to
offering my best to my children, my husband, myself, & to Him.
As wife to Dan and mama to my three
beautiful daughters, I spend most of my time learning to live well in the day
to day. I write about things such as daily life, natural living, books, food
and art (especially with young children) over at Confessions of a Young Mama. In my spare
moments, I add handmade goodness to my little shop Chickadee Swing