To You, Mama

So, my year of "Confessions of a First Time Mom" was pretty fun. I enjoyed documenting all the blunders & oopsies that occurred in my son's first year. I was completely in survival mode. Keep the child alive. You have succeeded. Now, things are changing. It's still important to keep the child alive. But, he is starting to talk, and express emotions, and have temper tantrums, and walk into the street (true story), and understand the world around him. My parenting world is changing. It's no longer just figuring how to get Isaac to sleep longer at night (although, we are still working strongly on that). It's becoming about teaching and disciplining and shepherding and correcting. I thought I didn't know what I was doing in the first year of Isaac's life. Oh, just wait. This is gonna be a whole new ballgame.

I am a Christian. A believer in Jesus. Therefore, I hope my God shapes how I parent. And because I truly have no idea what I'm doing (you haven't caught on to that yet?!), I have purchased a variety of devotional books looking for some help. Some wisdom on what the Scriptures say about mothering. What I've found has been somewhat disappointing. One author is talking about how she's struggling with her toddler throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of a diaper change and she says something like, "And in the midst of this diaper change, I stopped to think, this is how God must see us."  And I'm like, "What?!? No you didn't! Nobody thinks about that while they're wiping a screaming baby's poopy butt!!" I just... couldn't relate. Or I read something like this: "My perpetual Presence with you can be a continual source of Joy, springing up and flowing out in streams of abundant Life. Let your mind reverberate with the meanings of My Names." And my half conscious mind is like... wha?! So, after a few tries, I just haven't been able to find something that's practical and Biblical and helps apply Scripture to my life.

So, in September of last year I started reading the Bible and asking God to show me what it was saying about motherhood. At first I thought I wasn't going to get much, because there's really not a lot in Scripture directly speaking on motherhood. But, wow, how I have been surprised. God has made verses and words and stories stick out to me that I never would have expected. I started keeping track of these readings and now want to blog about them. For moms, for parents, for anyone who wants to read it, really. I do not claim to be a theological expert, or even very knowledgeable about the Scripture's meaning. I just pray, read, and write what I think God shows me. Nothing fancy. I am truly not an incredibly smart person. I get confused by the writings of C.S. Lewis. It took me 7 years to read through the Bible for the first time. I forgot the verse I "memorized" last week. I have learned a lot from my time with children's ministry. You should not feel like you can't do this for yourself. Because if I can, you can too!

I try to be very conscious to take the Scriptures for what it says, not what I would like it to say. I think when we take single verses and try to manipulate them to fit our need for specific answers, we are not really growing in our faith. My plea to you is to explore the Scriptures for yourself, and not just believe whatever someone else says.

I chase a one year old all day. I change diapers. I make dinner (most of the time). I do laundry. I pay bills, and run errands, and bake cookies, and go to the park, and stand in line at the post office. And I love Jesus. I think He has shown me some wonderful things about motherhood from His Word. I'd like you to see that Scripture is relevant to your life now. I won't fake it to be like the Manicured Mother on the cover of that one book I threw away, or to make things sound flowery and religious. I'm all about honesty and real life. I hope you'll join me on my next great adventure. This is for you, Mama.