I am a doer. I can fill every minute of the day with some chore or task that I deem important and leave no time for just good ole fun. Can you relate?
When our schedule are full of practices, pool fun, trips, and having friends over, I am commanding them to get shoes on and GET IN THE CAR FOR GOODNESS SAKES.
You know what I am talking about. We have all been there! After about a hundred reminders, we get in the car and try to redeem and remember that this was supposed to bring us joy and fun.
I want to make this summer count in their remembrance of their “days of summer” and at the same time lead them right up to Jesus and watch Him reveal Himself to them in a personal way.
Will our children see that you can enjoy Jesus and if they only see me working and exhausted? Will I ever be able to show and teach them the enjoyment of Christ?
A season of rest can let our children embrace and enjoy their childhood without the burden of a full schedule and a anxious momma.
I have had summers packed with events and the make every minute count kind-a-days. But let me let you in on a little secret … it’s in the still, unplanned, quiet moments that you get to see your boys’ hearts.
If you want to make the most out of their childhood, empty your schedule and let them sleep in and when they wake just go with the flow. Leave large slots of time free to embrace making a mess or a fort in the dining room. Listen to them and listen to their conversations with each other. Treasure this all in your heart with joy.
When you have every minute of their lives scheduled you are making them into what you want them to be and maybe it is time to leave time to hear their hearts. Maybe it is time to give a quietness that allows the Lord to speak to them and reveal His plans for them to them. Those days may be the very best days they remember the with fondness. Because if left to boys you never know what adventures you may find yourself in the midst of.
It may be you do not go to the pool every chance you get, instead you sit on the porch and read. Let them figure it out by allowing the time and space to find what they might want to do.
This may mean that us mommas need to focus on just finding rest in our own homes in such a way that our children are free to be children. They may surprise you and pick up their Bibles to read as they see you reading on the front porch swing, or they may just enjoy the mud provided by the rain as you read.
This concept always surprises me. Anytime I embrace the securities and rest our home has to offer I find my boys using their minds to build something or doing something for one another.
The reward of a home where rest is found and empty schedules are embraced is a childhood without burdens of being somewhere always and contentment in what the Lord has provided without any frills, frills that steal the spotlight off of the One who provided our most precious gifts~ our families.
May our children delight in one another and embrace stillness sometimes that very stillness restores our souls for His name sake.
May we not thrive to always entertain our children with trips, pool visits and friends, but embrace what we already have in each other.
May we have open spaces to snuggle on the couch a little longer. May we have the time to let them fix dinner.
May we not place in our children anxiety, that comes from the struggle to get it all together to get somewhere. But enjoy where we are always.
For one day they will have schedules they have to keep and may they remember a childhood that was enjoyed by days at home with their momma and daddy.
May you find a good balance to scheduled activities that build discipline and a time of rest that restores.
Provide the time that your boys can find restoration for their souls also. It brings delight to all.
Jessi Strother is a momma to three adventurous boys, which only deepens her sense of adventure. She loves to embrace each season as her favorite, embracing the difficult and joyous times of each. She longs to reveal Jesus to her boys and watch their eyes and hearts see Him for themselves. You can follow her seasons and her heart at jessistrother.com.
