a list of things
A few things that are shaping my thinking and encouraging me/provoking me to good works this week:
this article: Parents, Require Obedience of Your Children - so grateful for the friend who shared it a week or so ago - it has been continuously echoing in my head!
also this article (lengthy but very insightful and thought-provoking): Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid
Little Pilgrim's Big Journey which is excellent and going into Easter baskets for my kids
also this book: M is for Mama
and also this book that Livia just got as a late birthday present and I'm so thankful there are publishers like Lamplighter... The True Princess
all of the artwork and everything in the shop of Fancy That Design House
I had a conversation with a friend on Sunday who encouraged me in parenting in a number of ways. A few of my takeaways from the conversation were to slow down, to make home a secure and predictable environment that they can successfully find identity in and operate out of, to choose words and tones carefully in my instructions and suggestions to my children, and to be very very available whenever they are in front me (not distracted by technology, especially). It is sometimes hard for me to slow down and focus very intentionally on parenting, when it seems life would be so much more efficient if I could be doing parenting along with something else. Up until this spring, I have been accustomed to a pretty break-neck pace of life, and that pace works well with my personality. But a number of things have cropped up lately in my children's lives that suggest more intentional parenting is in order, and I have to view this as an opportunity to rest from other things and focus on them... and to be grateful that God has carved out space in my life for this additional attention they need. This morning's entry from Streams in the Desert spoke to this:
"And the hand of the Lord was there upon me; and he said unto me, Arise, go forth unto the plain, and I will there talk with thee" (Ezek. 3:22).
Did you ever hear of any one being much used for Christ who did not have some special waiting time, some complete upset of all his or her plans first; from St. Paul's being sent off into the desert of Arabia for three years, when he must have been boiling over with the glad tidings, down to the present day?
You were looking forward to telling about trusting Jesus in Syria; now He says, "I want you to show what it is to trust Me, without waiting for Syria."
My own case is far less severe, but the same in principle, that when I thought the door was flung open for me to go with a bound into literary work, it is opposed, and doctor steps in and says, simply, "Never! She must choose between writing and living; she can't do both."
That was in 1860. Then I came out of the shell with "Ministry of Song" in 1869, and saw the evident wisdom of being kept waiting nine years in the shade. God's love being unchangeable, He is just as loving when we do not see or feet His love. Also His love and His sovereignty are co-equal and universal; so He withholds the enjoyment and conscious progress because He knows best what will really ripen and further His work in us.
--Memorials of Frances Ridley Havergal
I laid it down in silence,
This work of mine,
And took what had been sent me--
A resting time.
The Master's voice had called me
To rest apart;
"Apart with Jesus only,"
Echoed my heart.
I took the rest and stillness
From His own Hand,
And felt this present illness
Was what He planned.
How often we choose labor,
When He says "Rest"--
Our ways are blind and crooked;
His way is best.
The work Himself has given,
He will complete.
There may be other errands
For tired feet;
There may be other duties
For tired hands,
The present, is obedience
To His commands.
There is a blessed resting
In lying still,
In letting His hand mould us,
Just as He will.
His work must be completed.
His lesson set;
He is the higher Workman:
Do not forget!
It is not only "working."
We must be trained;
And Jesus "learnt" obedience,
Through suffering gained.
For us, His yoke is easy,
His burden light.
His discipline most needful,
And all is right.
We are but under-workmen;
They never choose
If this tool or if that one
Their hands shall use.
In working or in waiting
May we fulfill
Not ours at all, but only
The Master's will!
--Selected
God provides resting places as well as working places. Rest, then, and be thankful when He brings you, wearied to a wayside well.
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