(Meditations on today's Gospel. Typed with one hand, lamb in lap.) Do you love me? I say the same things all day long. Sit down. Use your fork. Don't hit each other. Say please. Chew with your mouth closed. Don't interrupt. Be kind. Say thank you. Hurry up. Take turns. Be gentle. Don't yell. Watch the baby. Help each other. Say I'm sorry. Let's clean up. I love you. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Feed my lambs. . . . Do you love me? I do the same things all day long. Feed the children. Wash the children. Make the meal. Clean the house. Comfort the children. Teach the children. Let the dog out. Let the dog in. Drive the car there. Drive the car here. Load the dishes. Unload the dishes. Wash the laundry. Fold the laundry. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Tend my sheep. . . . Do you love me? I think the same things all day long. I'm tired. I need caffeine. What time is it? We're late. I should do that. I should clean that. I don't know what to do. Help me. Deep … [Read more...] about feed, tend, repeat.
spirituality of parenting
like a mother and child
I was 12 years old and away at summer camp for the first time. She was the counselor assigned to my cabin. I remember her long dirty blond hair, wavy and wild. Her weathered hiking boots and the lilac shirt she tied around her waist each morning. Her birch-bark name tag read Marion, but we all chose French pseudonyms for our two-week cultural immersions. So I never knew her real name. She was blessedly kind, with that standard-issue camp-counselor caring heart. She let me sniffle into her shoulder one lonely night when I was feeling homesick. She probably did the same for every girl in our bunk, though we were all too cool to admit it in daylight. She didn't care when we giggled our way through quiet time. She ignored our whispering in English when we were supposed to be practicing French. She laughed when we gossiped about the boys in the bunk next door. And every night she sang to us. Like a ship on the harbor Like a mother and child Like a light in the darkness I'll hold you … [Read more...] about like a mother and child
9 weeks for 9 months: prayers for pregnancy (month 6)
“…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23 Full self-disclosure? (It's a blog, ain't it?) I struggle with generosity. If this virtue is a fruit of the Spirit, then it's the luscious fruit I've always envied. I admire people who are naturally generous, whose souls leap immediately to give of themselves, whose thoughts turn instinctively towards the needs of others. I try (at least I think I try) to train my heart to stretch beyond its selfish rhythms. But still I struggle with my knee-jerk reactions: me, mine, my nearest and dearest. Motherhood made me simultaneously more and less generous. Pregnancy and childbirth and nursing are certainly sacrifices of love, and I know I have given of myself generously to my children in these ways. To say nothing of trying to stay present to these sweet small souls in the midst of the daily rush. But parenting young ones also exhausts me, and I find … [Read more...] about 9 weeks for 9 months: prayers for pregnancy (month 6)
