After watching a pair of ferns build a nest for days, a strong wind knocked it down. Seeing their little home in shambles made me feel sad that my last child was leaving home.
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Parenting can feel like being stuck in a swamp with no way out but to keep slogging. And no wonder it's tough to raise tiny humans – we struggle to be mature and do the right things ourselves.
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No matter how productive and hard-working I think I am, sloth is a concern in this modern era of entertainment and comforts available on demand. Why does time matter so much?
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It’s no wonder God compares people to sheep so often in the Bible. We share many common traits. One of them is that we are built for community.
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It is hard to part with physical objects that carry emotional content. Many items I have chosen to hang onto feel like threads connecting me to seasons and people I don't want to release.
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The distraction provided by fiction may temporarily obscure the darkness, but it doesn't drive out darkness. Make-believe stories can transport, but they can't transform.
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When you see adoption or foster stories in movies, the parents seem to have it all together and know just the right things to say. That wasn’t me. But, after a disastrous trip to Disney with our daughter-to-be, I was somehow hopeful.
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I did things in 2020 I never thought I would do. It was a weird year by any standard. As the year ended, I wondered if anything was gained or worth salvaging.
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I had blind faith in a pack of sled dogs in the sub-arctic until the lights went out. Then, my faith disappeared like the misty air coming out of my lungs, because I didn’t know or trust the animals to lead me home.
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While dog-sledding in northern Sweden once, my light went out, leaving my son and me in total darkness. It would have been comforting to have known that, even when I didn’t know what to do or where I was going, they knew.
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In 2004, a merino sheep was discovered in New Zealand, hiding in a cave, covered with 60 pounds of wool! In Shrek’s story, I see myself: hiding in the cave of my mind, hoarding worries and problems.
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Recently, my family and I hiked a beautiful but rugged trail in the Virginia mountains with a rewarding view at the end. Suddenly, the peace was broken by a primal scream, which apparently came from me.
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Watching my sweet child’s frustration rise over missing socks that October school morning, I experienced an epiphany that changed my view of tedious tasks forever: clean socks have power.
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Although we don't always have control over whether parents (birth or adoptive) are part of our lives or whether we have siblings, a spouse, or children, we can control whether we have and grow friendships.
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One night after I brought my first baby home from the hospital, my husband returned from work to find me crying on the bed in the dark. I was holding the baby, who was also wailing, and I was in near-total shutdown mode. I had tried everything in the books to soothe him, but nothing worked. I felt like giving up.
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Keeping our emotions in check, responding in godly ways, and not being overly swayed by the acted-out feelings of others is critical to a life of peace. But it’s easier said than done.
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Like a car that won’t go another mile without gas, I sometimes tend to get out and push the car instead of filling up during difficult seasons in life. This practice doesn’t get me very far.
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Although it was easy for me to show parental love to my kids when they were infants and toddlers through constant care, frequent cuddling, and sweet words, demonstrating my love as they grew was sometimes more of a challenge. Check out THIS RESOURCE for a printable graphic of these ideas!
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God tells us to “rejoice always, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16). But in the early days of the pandemic, I wondered how to rejoice while the whole world was mourning.
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