tomorrow I turn 26. kind of a non-exciting number but none the less another year.
i've learned a lot this year. one i don't want to take back.
so here... my top 10 things i learned this year. that maybe i knew as head knowledge but came to life for me this year.
1. i don't need to be a 'hero' mom. {don't you worry, a post about this is coming soon. wink.} hero moms clean their house while their children sit silently coloring pictures of sweet little bunnies. their children don't know about television or movies because their mother would dare not put them in front of it. hero moms never yell or get frustrated, their hair is always perfectly in place... they are heroes because no one else can be as great as them. and the other day i realized that i don't want need to be one of them. I don't know a hero mom personally but i think there are hero moms "i think up" as i am trying to be one. {insert: self deprecating comment here. lol} does that even make sense? it's defeating to run after it {because its unattainable} and God doesn't ask it of it me so i'm dang done with going after being a hero mom. gosh, that's freedom if i ever saw it.
2. i am blessed, i need to live like it. i think for much of life i went wasn't self aware enough to notice that where i grew up and the family that i was blessed with are uncommon. in college this was made a bit more clear and the longer i live the more i recognize that my gratefulness meter needs to grow. This is as shallow as financial needs met to as rich as relationships. Grateful living for me includes communicating to people I love about not just what I want but how much I love them and going through life with them. Appreciating those you love on the good days and the bad... and moving forward together.
3. i love to laugh. whenever I am out and about... be it as mundane as errands with my kids or for a night out with my man & friends... i usually think about how much fun i had based on how much i laugh. it feels so good. i want more of this in 26. it's rejuvinating to my soul.
4. i love my church. i love that we are giving our life to a place that's not perfect but that's a God place. Where people are getting saved and where God's Word is proclaimed without apology. I love the people that go there and the support and love we find from there. I am grateful for the challenge i find in hearing God's Word and applying it to my life.
5. my husband is a keeper. i took a class for bible study this year and learned so much about being a godly wife. in two months we will be at five years and boy, we don't even know those two kids who got married because we are both so different and even more similar to one another {didn't know that was possible for opposites} in some ways. but, man God blessed me when he put me with Luke.
6. girl friends are treasures. there are just some things that your man would rather not talk to you about that you need a few girl friends to talk with. if you are without a clue phone please allow me to fill you in: waxing, no chip manicures, girl issues, romantic comedies, hgtv show ideas, pinterest, the list goes on.... Talk to your man about many other things but let me do you a favor and just recommend that you go to the girls for that. {just as a disclaimer, Luke has listened to me talk about those things and although he listens... let me just leave it at it's better to talk to a g/f about it}
7. hard conversations are necessary & beneficial. I have learned this many a times this year that if you avoid things, things get worse. if you say the hard thing at the appropriate time with truth and grace it goes a lot better. Satan wants us to be consumed by relational issues & it need not be that way. passivity in this context usually only makes the situation more difficult.
8. i love my kids. you say of course, you chose to be a stay at home mom {sahm}... yes, i did. but at 26 thats not really popular, sometimes it's lonely but the kisses, i love you's the precious birthday card my 3 year old made me, the tv show songs that i know about 'doc mcstuffins' that i wouldn't have otherwise.... or maybe not... they teach me, humble me, make me laugh, keep me busy, and exhaust me... all which i need as a sahm.
9. God's Word is living and active. in august i started reading through the Bible chronologically... so I am still in the old testament. I am dying to get to the new testament because that is when the Hope that comes through Jesus Christ alone comes. But just this week I was reading through Ezra and Esther and it pierces my heart almost everyday.
10. i am nowhere near perfect. my melancholy personality tries to get perfection out of me... whether it's a blog post, birthday party, outfit i'm picking out, or a lesson i'm filling out for bible study... i struggle to not get all of it perfect. However the older i get... i guess now 26 years full, the Lord has shown me again and again that he didn't make me perfect... only he is perfect. that's why i've got to trust in him. it's not in me. that's freeing.
and i could go on and on... but i'll stop here.
a three year old voice is asking me about what we are doing....
tata... have a blessed april 29th... oh & happy 1st anniversary will & kate.
much love,
yours truly... the birthday girl.
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