Our Greatest Creations

We've already gone over the Boathouse "Rules" for a lack of better terminology, but I still can't sleep at night.  And neither can Lucy...which means that there is still more to uncover.  And as kids usually do, I guess we all need to start seeing and telling the Truth a little more. Yet again, my applause goes out to Ella Junebug for starting this whole sequence of blogs, and I give thanks for my Lucy Joy for picking up the baton for the next few rounds.

And credit they deserve---because this blog is about them.

If we're going to be a family and if we're going to respect our elders, then we need also love and nurture our kids. In addition to caring for them, it'd also be extremely wise if we started to listen to what they are saying.  These little prophets have much more to say than "goo goo" and "gaa gaa". In fact, most of the time when we think they're not being "obedient", they're really revealing to us what we're too busy and distracted to hear.  For example, let's take Lucy's sleep schedule. We've been working on developing her nap routine during the day. If I stray from this nap routine, she ends up being cranky and fussy. And then what happens? I get cranky and fussy.

Until I sit and listen to what she is telling me.

What she's saying is she needs some real Rest. And don't we all.

So instead of forcing my child into my over-scheduled day, I slow down. She has just taught her Mama a lesson. And instead of being offended because I didn't "know it all", I decide to suck up that delicious scoop of grace right now. Thank you, Lucy, for teaching me how to Live. I'm sorry for accidentally dragging you down to this world's way of doing things.

It's a picture that we desperately need to see for the love of our children and for the Hope of a future. Our kids don't need any more debt stacked up against them. To be quite frank (and perhaps so "over dramatic"), there isn't time for our kids to be digging themselves out of the holes we've made for them. They are worth more than that, and so are we. Oh, if we could humble ourselves and apologize to our kids every so often, this world would be in a better place. We need present fathers and rested mothers. Present Father's express love and wise discipline, rested Mother's nurture hearts and create life.

It has been my greatest pleasure in this Life to co-create two lives with the love of my life--and then have the privilege of stewarding their giftedness.  And that's exactly what they are, a gift. On loan, sent from Heaven. When I have to "teach" Ella to obey, it doesn't as much reflect her character as it does mine. What is she saying to me? About 90% of the time, her reactions are the result of my behavior. Am I stewarding her Life well by choosing to Live mine? It's definitely worth a glance. Kids are mimics and responders. They either react out of Love or out of Rebellion.

Somehow we've seemed to blame this entitled generation for their rebellion and yet haven't taken into account that they have never been shown any other way.  We over-schedule them, over-immunize them, take them to fifteen extra-curricular activities, then we make them take standarized tests so we can compare them with one another. What have we done? We've turned them into celebrities instead of into artists, and we've given them permission to be politicians instead of understanding the role of government.  Instead of complaining that our children have no role models on TV or in the White House, we need to look at the man in the mirror. The world doesn't have to go to hell in a handbasket.  Why not start the change in us? Let's give our kids the opportunity to be kids.

And while we're at it, let's teach them how to pray for those in high places that haven't gotten a childhood. The Lindsay Lohan's and the Barack Obama's. If you don't agree with their lifestyle choices, fine. I don't agree with all of them either. And we don't have to, but let's just remember that they are part of the fatherless club.  And no one deserves that.  We can either bridge the gap, or we can make a canyon. It's our choice. Let's teach our children to do right by the lives we live.   Let's give them a chance to be history makers because we took a good look at our own deficits.

Let's listen to what they're saying...because they're a lot smarter than we may think.  We aren't parents  primarily because kids need to learn how to obey, we're parents so we can access unseen grace for our own lives, and we can then joyfully steward the unique expressions of Love within them.

Thank you Ella Junebug and Lucy Joy.  I am forever transforming by your Love offering of Grace...