One of my most remembered time management lessons came from my 7th grade homeroom teacher, Mr. Mariani.
He always told us that if we waste our 10-minute homeroom period, twice a day, we were wasting 20 minutes a day—time that could be spent on homework or studying. By the end of the school week, we would waste one hour and 40 minutes. I don’t remember exactly, but I imagine he calculated it out further—he was also my math teacher for two years.
Now, I’m pretty sure I didn’t view talking with my friends for 10 minutes as a waste of time, but somehow, the lesson stayed with me all these years.
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This Summer, my 12 year old daughter reminded me of a promise I made to her when she was 10 years old.
“In the Summer before I go to 7th grade, you said I could wear makeup.”
How could she forget? I had the same rule with her older sister.
Oh be still my heart. My youngest daughter, who already seems so mature for her age, was about to embark on a new adventure.
As a mom of daughters, it is important that I teach them what God says about beauty. I tell them that true beauty comes from within and that this is the only beauty that truly matters to God.
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Tiny sock covered feet shuffle across the carpet towards my room. I hear the shh-shh-shh-shuffle getting closer. It stops a few feet from me. I look up to sleepy eyes and tornado hair. She waits. “Good morning bitty girl!” I muster all the excitement in me. Her eyes brighten, her eyebrows raise, and her mouth tips upward as she takes a flying leap towards my legs with arms outstretched. I cover her head with kisses and bend down to sprinkle some love on her cheeks and forehead, as well.
Every morning is the same. My little girl drags into my room and waits to be acknowledged.
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Ever felt a bit invisible? Ever wondered if anyone ever notices all you do?
It is so hard to not crave recognition for all the hard work we do day in and day out. It is especially hard to feel unnoticed in our efforts to serve the Lord by serving and loving people.
When I have had an especially hard day sometimes all I desire is for someone to pat me on the back and say, “Good job. I saw you. I noticed your sacrifices, your serving, your biting your tongue when you wanted to lash out at that person who wronged you… Good job not complaining when you had to do that one thing you despised doing yet again… I saw you.”
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Our son and grandson visited for a few days last month. We were thrilled to see the progress our little miracle man is making, and marveled at how God has taken a 1 lb. 9 oz. preemie and grown him into a four year old mischief maker. GLORY!
One of our favorite things from the visit was learning what JJ calls his daddy. He has names for all of the special people in his life. Momma, Nana, Granddaddy, Gram, and Rev, but when it comes to his daddy . . . he simply calls him, “mine.”
Mine!
There is nothing more precious or personal than being called “mine.”
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“Lord, you know this has been a long season of waiting. It’s hard to look ahead, not knowing what is on the horizon for us. Where are we going to live? What job(s) would you have us do? It’s been such a long season of not knowing how/when our needs will be met.”
We’ve been living in limbo for many months as we await God’s direction on new ministry opportunities/jobs, a new home, and possibly new schools, new friends, new church family, new…everything!
I continued to pray that God would provide in a tangible way as I drove home. I noticed the boys’ VBS CD in the player in the car.
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I opened Roy Lessin’s book Today is Your Best Day the other morning and these words jumped out at me:
Today is your best day because you can grow a little more in your faith, a little more in your maturity, and a little more in your intimacy with Jesus.
Hmm. A little more. Reading that reminded me how often I want more from myself when it comes to my faith and maturity: more wisdom, more discipline, more knowledge, more belief, more patience… I could go on and on. I tend to expect a lot from myself and sometimes I get caught in the lie that God looks for perfection.
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This summer, I have two healthy cherry tomato plants growing in my garden, despite the fact that I didn’t plant them and I’ve done nothing to make them grow.
Long after they started to grow, my daughter heard me talking about these plants, and she innocently said, “I planted them.”
What?
With a shrug, she said, “I planted two tomatoes last year.”
Apparently, not knowing if they would grow, she took two tomatoes from last year’s plant and buried them. Not seeds, but whole tomatoes.
I thought the extreme temps and very little rain would be the end of them, but my husband started watering them and they continued to grow.
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