To be able to look someone in the eye, hold someone’s hand, touch someone’s arm, enfold someone in a hug – and speak words of love and truth, encouragement and affirmation, comfort and beauty, strength and honor into their lives is a gift like no other.
In this crazy world in which we live and raise our families, there is an over-abundance of expectations, deadlines, aspirations, pursuits and a considerable list of sought-after achievements. We moms (as well as the rest of the population) expend a substantial amount of thought, time, money, energy, hopes and dreams seeking to simply “measure-up.” And the result? We are often frustrated, weary, disappointed and usually a bit poorer.
I woke up early this Monday morning. I woke up so early the brilliantly full “super moon” was still hanging over our neighbor’s rooftop. This “super moon” is apparently also known as the “beaver moon” because it occurs during the time beavers are actively preparing for winter. I didn’t rise early because I had some prestigious, high-paying job to get to. In fact, neither did I get up early to go to any place of employment. I didn’t even get up early to get my kids off to school. I got up early because I had things, like the beaver, to accomplish around my home.
As I was thinking about and writing my post from last week: “Am I a Life-Giver or a Life-Drainer?” (If you haven’t had a chance to read it, I encourage you to take a few minutes to do so before you continue reading this; just scroll down), I sadly kept thinking, “but I really do have those moments when I feel like I pull the plug and begin draining the very joy or hope or enthusiasm out of those around me!” I then asked myself, “So, how can I prepare for and combat the unpleasant dreadfulness of the inevitable results?”
