parenting

Tomorrow I am speaking to a group of young moms.  The leadership has asked me to speak about "parenting right where you are".  goodness.  Half the time I want to freeze time so that these moments never end....and the other half of the time I am just yearning for whatever day is coming that allows for more rest and less intense parenting.  What could I possibly have to share with these women that is something they don't already know?  What could the Lord be wanting to share with them through my voice?  These are the questions rolling around inside of me tonight.

Yesterday, parenting "right where you are" looked like this.  I intended to light the fire place and doze on the couch under a blanket on a Sunday afternoon, and then do some paperwork for my job, and then feast on a grilled burger and beans for dinner.  I brought something to Claire's room and she was standing in the middle of her disastrous bedroom, looking bewildered.  Mom, she said, I hate all this stuff in here.  There is so much stuff that I don't use and I just want it gone but I don't know where to start.  So we started.  For  hours and hours and hours we sorted through boxes and bins and bags and found the corners of her room and swept them clean.  Dad hauled a chair down to her room from the family room so there could be somewhere to sit other than her bed.....and when we had finished, there was a huge bag of donations and an even bigger bag of garbage.  She couldn't tackle this task alone.  It was too overwhelming.  She needed her mama's help.....and I got to parent her right where she was, in her teenager bedroom on a Sunday afternoon.  Not necessarily a day of rest, but a good parenting moment nonetheless.

Often, being a tuned-in, present parent means forgoing the cleaning and giving up the hope of a neater room.....but not always.