Fix it, Mommy!

By: Lianne Robinson @ Socks are Not the Enemy!

To say that my sweet, precious Anna Beth is a difficult child is quite the understatement.  It's kind of like saying that water is wet.  She is headstrong, stubborn as a herd of mules, and won't do anything unless she thinks that she thought of it first.  That said, she has a loving heart and a giving spirit that I wouldn't trade for 10 obedient, reasonable, submissive toddlers.

Last week she came running up to me with a sad look on her face.  "Fix it, Mommy!"  "Fix what?" I questioned.  "I bwoked it.  Fix it, Mommy!"  I looked in her tiny hand.  In it, she cradled a broken blue jumbo crayon.

My initial reaction:  "I'm sorry, sweetie, Mommy can't..."  I trailed off as she looked me squarely in the eyes. "Fix it, Mommy," she said with just as much passion and total belief as she had the first two times.  It hit me then.  This was one of those moments where I could justify that innocent, trusting faith that she had in me, or I could say no and disappoint her.  I have no illusions of being a SuperMom, but this was one of those times where I knew that not trying would be more damaging than trying and maybe failing.

With a grin, I said, "Okay, baby.  Let's get some tape and fix it."  We dug out some Scotch tape and wound and wound and wound it around the crayon until it (sort of) stayed together.  Anna Beth gleefully shouted, "Yaaaaaaaay!  You did it!  You fixed it, Mommy!"

As she ran off to play, I thought about how she won't always think that Mommy can fix anything.  My older two are well in that stage.  They know to ask for help when they need it, but they know that Mom can't do everything.  Thankfully, they know that God is capable of doing everything.  I am blessed that they know how imperfect I am and how perfectly perfect that God loves me (and them) in spite of our flaws.

While I can't do everything, I can do something.  I can teach my kids about how our sin has broken us.  It has reduced us to useless garbage that no man with any amount of tape can fix.  God knew in His wisdom that we could be fixed.  We can be bound back together with the healing blood of Jesus Christ.  It heals our brokenness, it washes away our sin, and it restores our lives.  All God asks in return is total belief...the innocent, trusting faith of a child to believe that He is who He says He is and can do what He says He can do.  I am grateful to be His child.

Stitch in Time

By: Cassia Glass - Houston, Tx

Ever have a moment when you are awed by the bigness of God? Perhaps when you are singing, “Holy, Holy, Holy,” and it’s as though all the saints and angels across all time have joined together before the Lamb? I live for those moments and the sudden perspective shift that happens. During one such worship time, I began to think about history, about God’s story for humanity, past, present and future. I saw in my mind’s eye a massive tapestry unfurling before me, complex, multi-hued, a work of art. It was too huge for my eye to take in. As I looked at the tapestry, I began to focus, as through a magnifying glass, on the tiniest details until I could see the individual stitches. Each stitch was the heartbeat of one person, each person a part of the body of Christ, woven together across time. No stitch in itself seemed important, and perhaps no one would notice if a stitch were the wrong color or missing all together. But what if two stitches were missing. Or three. Or three hundred? 

Moms, whether you realize it every day or not, your very existence, your being here in this life, in your house, at your kitchen table with the family God created is purposeful. Your stitch in His tapestry is vital. Your tiny burst of color, your life, is not without meaning because it is part of His Masterpiece. You and I may be but tiny stitches in time, but we are part of history. And not just the march of human events. Because we are in Christ, we are woven into His massive, glorious plan of reconciling all things back to God through Himself. If we let this truth penetrate our hearts, could it change our perspective on some things? Perhaps.

I recently shared an old adage with some other moms: “We are Human Beings not Human Doings.” We were talking about how to have quiet time with God when nothing in our houses is quiet. We talked about the guilt we sometimes carry because we can’t even make it out of our beds in time to have a picture-perfect moment with the Lord.  But sometimes our lives are in the trenches with small ones who need us desperately. We need to know that our God is caring for us and sometimes downright CARRYING us as we gasp for breath and grasp for Him. We need to know that we are not just marking time on the sideline while everyone else is experiencing “real life.” We are the vehicles through which God redeems His earth…sometimes one little runny nose at a time.  This Mother’s Day, take a moment to breathe, to worship, to thank the Lord for your life and the lives of these other small stitches in time. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Eph 2:10

Happy Mother’s Day from Encouraging Mothers!