Sometimes I’m tempted to think my life is less because we have less. I have to remind myself to remember all we’ve gained in the process. Living with less has afforded us more than money can buy. And should we ever be granted abundance, I pray I never come to the point of forgetting what’s truly important.
Photo Credit: Free photo Nature Winter Bird Wildlife Frost Cardinal Snow – Max Pixel
Before we gear up for another trip to the shopping mall, let’s take the time to stop. Breathe. Put those lists down. And consider. What is it our kids truly need?
Photo Credit: Candles, Travel, Vacation – Free images on Pixabay
If stacking up gifts under the tree means racking up credit card debt that will consign us to overtime labor in the coming year, it’s not worth it. Deep down, our kids don’t want to be home alone with things while we slave away at the office just to pay it all off.
Photo Credit: File:The Shops at Georgetown Park.jpg – Wikimedia Commons
Lord, help me to value time with my children. Sometimes I focus so much on how things are supposed to be that I forget the purpose behind it all. Remind me how few in number these days will be. Soon enough my children will be grown. Let me enjoy these fleeting yet precious moments while I can.
Source: I Finally Get the Concept
Photo Credit: Free stock photo of sunset, people, girl www.pexels.com
The little things I do for others are more permanent than my written words will ever be. Action by action, day by day I’m investing in the lives of those I love and enabling them to one day be all they were created to be.
Source: Didn’t I Just Do the Dishes?
Photo Credit: Locked Hearts Free Stock Photo – Public Domain Pictures
There’s something inside me that longs for permanence in what I do. I want the things I invest my time and resources in to last—and not just for a day or two, or even a year. I want them to last beyond me.
Source: Didn’t I Just Do the Dishes?
Photo Credit: File:Jacobikerk Utrecht Clockwork 1.jpg – Wikimedia Commons
Oh, the look on my son’s face when I told him he couldn’t stick his head in the toilet. And when I thwarted his attempt to dive face-first into the empty bathtub. Or that time he figured out how to remove the protective shields from the electric sockets and I had to snatch his hand from certain danger. Those huge brown eyes, that look of shock. “Really, Mommy? Tell ME ‘no’? But I thought you LOVED me.”
That look of surprise typically melts into that smile he knows I can’t resist. He squints his eyes as if to say, “How can you tell this FACE ‘no’?” And he knows just how hard it is. When I steel my resolve against his charming tactics, that smile fades into the most pathetic, heart-rending pout. And when that doesn’t work…the WAIL that says, “If you loved me, you’d let me do whatever I want”.
Of course, big, compassionate sister comes to the rescue with that look. “How could you tell my impossibly cute baby brother ‘NO’?” And as they both stare me down with those eyes I have to explain I was saving him from drowning, cracking his skull, getting electrocuted, or whatever other potential disaster I just helped to evade. I may have even been saving his LIFE. No matter how I explain, they just don’t understand.
I’ve never liked being misunderstood. Especially when I’m saying or doing something because I love someone. The prevailing mindset is if we love someone, we watch them do whatever makes them happy even if we know it’s gonna hurt them. If it makes them happy to walk down the middle of a busy street and step in front of a semi, hey—just let them. If I say there’s a sidewalk to keep them safe from traffic, I’m considered narrow-minded and unloving. Just let me do what I want. The semi’s coming at me full-speed, but don’t intervene. It wouldn’t be loving.
If I love my kids, I’m most certainly going to intervene if something could hurt them (or if they’re about to hurt somebody else). In truth, it would be neglectful not to intervene. It’s the same in any relationship. If I see a friend or loved one nearing the edge of a deadly cliff, the loving thing is to say—and do, something…even if it’s misunderstood.
True love cares more about others’ well being above it’s own. It means being willing to step out of our comfort zones and even risk our reputation, if that’s what it takes to help someone. As for me, I sometimes have to be dubbed “the mean mommy” for a few hours because I cared enough to keep my kid from taste-testing the cat litter. Keeping the ones I love safe (and healthy!) is worth it. Even when I’m misunderstood.
Source: But I Thought You LOVED Me
This Life & Beyond 
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