I've had two different blog titles in draft, to serve as a reminder to post on that topic for a long time. One was "Truly Being Home" and the other was "Immersion Mothering". Both were related to the same topic, but added to my blog at different times. But this weekend, I've been compelled by a tragedy to finally post on them.
Saturday morning, my husband woke me up with the news that a friend of mine from our former homeschool co-op and La Leche League had been killed in a car accident, along with her 3 yo daughter. She leaves behind a 5 yo son (also injured in the accident), a 9 yo son, a 13 yo daughter, and her husband. Oh ... my heart just aches to think of their pain right now. And I grieve for my friend and her 3 yo daughter -- both so young and full of life. Gone so suddenly. I rejoice, however, that she was a Christian, and I pray that her family will be reunited with her in Heaven one day.
I am reminded, once again, of how fragile life is. We have no guarantees of a tomorrow. My husband could be snatched away from me, or me from him, in a car accident tomorrow. My child could die of cancer. My baby could die of SIDS. There are no guarantees.
As I hug my children and husband closer this weekend, I am reminded that I need to love them to the best of my ability while I still can. I am home with my children daily, but am I truly home? Or am I distracted by books, the phone, the computer, the TV? Am I truly involved with them, or am I just here supervising in a more distant way?
I confess! I am easily distracted. I can drift away to another place via the computer or a book. I can get grumpy when called back to the present and the needs of my family. But what am I missing out on when I do that? How many precious moments have I already lost through my own distraction?
When I was a younger Mom, and struggling to find my parenting style, I was reading many books on parenting. But one day God spoke to me that I needed to practice Immersion Mothering. More than any other rules, or methods, just being immersed in my role as mother, and involved with my children would make the biggest difference. Call it tomato staking, or apron string tying, or immersion mothering -- the results are the same. Relationships!! Lessons taught through sharing life with our children!!
Lord, please, help me not to take life for granted. Help me not to waste moments with my family. Help me to love my family whole-heartedly and faithfully. Help me to immerse myself in my God-given role as wife and mother. Help me to TRULY be home with them, and to love them as You would. Help me to live my life in a way that I would not have any regrets. Forgive me for letting other things come between me and You, and between me and my family. I pray that my children would all choose a relationship with You, Lord, and that we will one day worship You together in Heaven. Amen.
Titus 2:3-5 "Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God."
Blessings
April
