Sometimes it can be hard to slow down. To be still. To cherish the moments in front of us as the gifts that they are.
Take a minute and be encouraged by the moment I almost missed, moms.
And in your slowing down, I hope that you not only find quiet joy in your journey as a mom, I pray you hear God’s voice like never before…
Genny Heikka – On The Moment I Almost Missed from Genny Heikka on Vimeo.
“Be still and know that I am God.” -Psalm 46:10
Hugs to you!
Genny
Last week, when my kids were still in school, I took my car to the dealership to get it serviced. When I went into the waiting room, I found a table to sit at and got my laptop out. I clicked to connect to the wireless network and smiled at the thought of an uninterrupted hour of getting things done online.
But then an error popped up on my screen, saying I needed a password to log in. I tried clicking on the network again. It still didn’t work.
I got up and went to the front desk and asked if there was a password I should use.
Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body. -Proverbs 16:24
Genny Heikka – On Reaching Out and How One Woman’s Comment Made a Difference from Genny Heikka on Vimeo.
GRACE IS…
the unexplainable hope
that washes away
the accusing whispers that dance in the darkness
and hide behind the mirror
and say, “You need to be thinner
and thinner
and thinner.”
Grace…
is the light that calls you
toward something so good that you’re scared to trust it.
You might even ignore it at first,
thinking it’s not for you.
Instead,
you try to get better
and fix things on your own.
You try to be strong.
Confident.
Perfect.
But hours of 3:00 a.m. sit-ups,
calorie counting,
dieting,
scrutinizing,
and hiding,
will make a person fall.
Yet Grace…
is the mighty hand that will catch you
and promise you
that you don’t have to be
perfect.
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13
We try to say prayers as a family every night.
Even as my kids have gotten older, it’s part of our bedtime routine and I love the time together—the craziness of the day settled, for the moment.
I love hearing the things Katie and Luke pray for and the way it gives me a glimpse of what’s on their minds.
One night, after the kids had gone to bed, Katie came back downstairs to get a glass of water. After she filled her glass, she walked over to me and gave me a hug.
I was walking into the locker room at the gym the other day when a woman passed me, smiled, and said out of the blue,
“You’re pretty.”
I did sort of a double take, thinking she was talking to someone behind me, but there was nobody there.
By the time I realized she was talking to me, she’d turned the corner and disappeared.
There I was, in all my post-workout glory–sweaty, messy pony tail,
very less than pretty–
and yet,
that’s exactly what she said I was.
Those words from a total stranger made me smile (especially because I felt so un-pretty at the moment she said them).
I love to clean things out — closets, cupboards, the pantry, you name it. I love the feeling that comes from getting rid of clutter. (Our local Salvation Army knows our name well; it seems like I’m cleaning out and scheduling them to do a pickup every couple of months!)
Cleaning out the old and making room for the new is like a breath of fresh air to me.
And I’ve learned over the years that’s how it is when we clean out the clutter in our hearts too. The hurt, disappointment, doubt, anger, resentment, regret, shame, or guilt that some of us hold onto can keep us from living the lives we were meant to live, yet sometimes we manage to cling to these feelings for years.
“You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” Psalm 56:8
I tiptoe into to my daughter’s room to check if she’s asleep. It’s been a busy week and she’s had a lot on her plate.
Quietly, I stand next to her bed and look at her–my little girl, asleep, her head resting sideways on her pillow.
My little girl who is not so little anymore.
Slowly, silently, I sit on the edge of her bed and look around her room—at the pictures of her friends on her dresser, at the plaque on her wall that says Chase Your Dreams, at the pile of books on her desk.