Teaching Identity & Purpose from the Start

A new year just recently rolled in! And with it, new hope, new goals, fresh expectation. As the old year rolled out, I also let go of things I didn’t need. I let them roll right out like an ocean wave. One of the things 2021 was already teaching me was my need to release and let go of pressure.

My 5-year-old has been so intrigued with seeds! For the space of several months now every time he eats a fruit or anything with a seed, he meticulously sets aside some of those seeds to plant. We’ve had conversations about seeds…and more conversations about seeds! He knows he will get what he plants when it’s harvest time and that excites him. It’s a dynamic law of nature and science that can’t be reversed. And so, he plants away in all good faith that whatever he plants will grow!

Gah. It’s good. The end of the week is almost here and I’m tired. But it’s a good kind of tired. I’ve been challenging myself to ‘stay present’ more lately and while it definitely takes more emotional energy, it’s been so rich. It’s easy to stay glibly present in good moments, but the hard ones? Those are the ones I have tended to run from.

Kintsugi has always intrigued me. When a small dish from the treasury of my Grandma’s china that had been passed down to me broke the other week, I almost tossed it right into the trash can. But mid toss I stopped and said out loud, ‘No. Verna! She knows how to do kintsugi! I want to do that with this dish.’ At that point I immediately picked up the phone and put in my request for a little help and know-how for the project which turned into a fun morning and lunch together.

In the past, and sometimes still, I can find it difficult to slow down the intake and focus on being established instead of frantically going for more. I’m learning that it’s okay to give myself permission to listen to the same message or read the same chapter over and over again; to learn and re-learn a new habit; to move in peace and let the message or lesson sink deeply into my spirit.

I haven’t always done well with living in touch with the desires inside of me. I haven’t always seen or treated them as gifts. But God is teaching me the beauty of them. The more I learn to lean into and trust the Holy Spirit, the more He’s teaching me the joy and the graceful art of embracing those desires while simultaneously releasing them and going quietly on with what is ‘today’.

I used to think the only things of worth were the big things ‘out there.’ It was difficult, actually, almost impossible for me to find fulfillment and satisfaction in doing the everyday stuff. Now you moms out there realize that so much of mom life is made up of exactly this—normal everyday ordinary stuff. And when I became a mom at 34, I wasn’t prepared for all it would show me. It showed me I hated the normal hidden everyday stuff. It showed me I’d never learned to thrive well in the everyday gears that are so important in the foundation before going out in the bigger world for all the bigger things.

This morning was rushing fast by me again. Lately it’s felt like that’s the way my entire day goes. Rushing. Fast. Swirling me along with it. Baby, homeschool, laundry, meal planning and making, answering a gazillion questions, working a small side gig as time affords and all the while keeping the atmosphere open and pleasant between the small humans. My days go by SO FAST! This morning was no exception…

So, in the middle of the last scramble that can come in these last couple days before Christmas, don’t forget to go slow. Breathe in peace and follow the Prince of Peace. Exhale peace and walk in peace. Marinade in the love of heaven come to earth. Stay in it a little longer than normal. And then go give it away to your husband or wife, to your children, and to everyone else you meet. It’s why He came. He came to bring quality of connections; peace instead of performed perfection…