Taking It Up a Notch

"From the Archives" will be tomorrow instead of today. God birthed a different post for Tuesday, and "just in case" someone else out there needs to hear it, here it is--and I hope it makes sense. :)

A sobering thought just struck me: We don't just live our lives "with" our children and grandchildren; we live them "before" them.

With every response we teach them more powerfully than words ever could, how to be, and what is important.

Is what I want to teach them being adequately represented by my words and actions? Not really.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I think that much good is lived out before them, but there is something I need to be better at, and that is demonstrating how much I love them by the time and focused attention I give them, individually and as a group.

I have, in my busyness, fallen into the trap of "being with" them often, cooking wonderfully hospitable meals and creating a place of welcome, but not so often "doing with."

I think that is the longing of every child's heart of the adults in their lives.

I want to do better at this. I want to teach them by my attention and time (while they still want it!) that they are precious and important.

I want to know them more intimately and share the adventure of life with them more fully, while I can.

There will be times when I am just exhausted; I am not just a grandmother, after all. But that role can be taken up a notch and I want to do better at it.

For all the children in our lives, who need to be loved with all of our hearts and energy, I pray that God will teach us how to love well.

Comments

Marilyn said…
I'm glad you were moved to write this.
"Dazzle them less, connect with them more."
That is what sticks, I think.
That is how people feel esteemed.
6:50 AM
Julie said…
We were blessed to have my husbands mother living right next door to us when the boys were little. She knew how to spend time with them. If they went over she would stop whatever she was doing and do something with them. Many a dinners were later than planned as she could be found playing with them outside in their tree fort even in her seventies. What a legacy she gave our sons as a Godly woman and grandmother.
7:39 AM
Belinda said…
Wow, what inspiration for me. Thank you ladies. :) I want to be in a tree fort in my seventies, but mind you, my grandchildren will be in their late teens and 20's by then, so maybe I'd better start now. :)I love that the dinner was late for that reason! :)
8:19 AM
Ann Voskamp @Holy Experience said…
You bless this mother's heart... encourage me to love more, better, deeply....

Thank you, friend...

All's grace,
Ann
9:27 PM
Belinda said…
Dear Ann,
I see the photos of your weekend rambles in the woods, and know that you have it right!

Love to you.
10:06 PM
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