Memoirs of a Moorings

We All Need A Dance

"The LORD your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”

~Zephaniah 3:17

Mommy giving baby Shayne a kiss & a twirl.

Parenting is hard work. It can stretch us to our breaking point leaving us wondering if we are capable of such a emotionally taxing task.

Sprinkled on top of the hard work are moments of joy. I often look at the boys after they stretched me to no end and my heart bubbles over with love for them. Crazy how that happens. When they were babies, I remember picking them up and twirling them, dancing with them, singing over them. Though picking them up now is harder, there's still opportunities to grab their hands and dance and sing over and with them.

Dancing is inherent in us as humans. We danced on chubby toddler feet when we saw our parents. We danced on teen toes when we found out the crush was mututal. We danced on our wedding day in celebration of love. We dance over our children...extensions of our hearts.

And as we dance over our babies, God is dancing over us. The book of Zephaniah opens with God angry at His children for their disobedience and rebellion. Then, suddenly, God's stomping gives way to joyful singing as the Father dances and sings over His children (Zeph. 3:17). I think He looked into the faces of His children and was overcome with love...He just couldn't help Himself.

What an awesome thought that God dances and sings over us....right where we are. Even after we've messed up. Even when we think we aren't all we need to be. His dancing is an act of delight.

My heart melts at the thought.

Even more so...my heart melts at the thought that we can share that same feeling with those in our lives. Who can you sing and dance over today? Your children? Spouse? A friend?

Go 'head, grab their hand and give them a twirl. Show your delight & appreciation in them. It just might be the very thing they need.

I know I did.

 

Three Spectacular Years

Our baby turned three on December 12...looking back over his little life..and smiling.

 

Three Years With Shayne from AntraciaLMoorings on Vimeo.

Dog Paddling Through Faith

"People wish to learn to swim and at the same time to keep one foot on the ground." ~Marcel Proust

He's learning to swim. He struggled a bit that first day. Hard for a momma to watch because I can't learn to swim for him. Day one included learning to blow bubbles under water and the dog paddle. Hardest thing about the dog paddle he said is that you have to lift your feet off the bottom of the pool. There's no other way to do the dog paddle than to get those feet off the ground. But finally he did it and he made his way across the width of the pool. A sweet little victory!

Feeling alot like this little guy lately. No other way to walk with God than to just jump in with both feet. It would be nice to walk with one foot in the world of faith and one foot firmly planted in the world of logic and reason. I find myself saying, "God, I'll follow you if you tell me where we're going." What kind of faith is that?

Hebews 8:11 in The Message Bible says: "By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God's call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going."

In Genesis 12, God told Abraham to uproot himself and his family from their familiar surroundings and move to a new land. It was a test of faith and obedience for a 75-year-old man. Abraham did as he was told.

It was by no means a perfect faith, but the fact the he got up and journeyed as God led Him speaks volumes. Would you be as willing given the same circumstances. Are you that willing now in our own journey of faith?

If my little six year old can get in a pool and dog paddle his way across the water, surely I can do the same in my faith! Can you?

Busy Hands, Prayerful Heart

“Every mother is like Moses. She does not enter the promised land. She prepares a world she will not see.”- Pope Paul VI

This little two year old has busy hands. While his big brother has a busy mouth. Makes for one busy household. There's always something to do. Always something to tend to. Fix. Pick up. Clean up. Mothering is a tiresome job--physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally. Even with all the busyness, I've been making myself carve out time for prayer for these boys. Not on-my-knees-quiet-time prayer only. I'm talking about out-loud, laying-on-of-hands praying. And a lot of times, I'm exhausted and just want to crawl into bed myself, but I do it because I know it will reap great rewards. Something about motherhood gives me supernatural strength. There's a quote that says, "The woman is weak, but the mother is strong." Absolutely true!

I've written out a series of prayers that I speak over them at various points throughout the day. There's so much to pray for that I don't want to forget. My big boy likes to look at the prayers and read them over. I really love that.

At night before they are tucked into bed, I gather them like little baby birds under my wings and I touch them and speak prayers and blessings over them. My 6-year-old especially likes it when I pray for warrior angels to stand watch over them as they sleep. I pray that they will hunger and thirst after the things of God. I pray that generational curses will not rest on their shoulders. I pray that they will be shining lights. I pray that God uses them as He sees fit. I pray that they will not conform to the pattern of this world. And then I take prayer requests (for sweet dreams or sometimes no dreams or for little boy fears to be soothed.) When I say amen and am told that my prayers work and see smiles on their little faces as they lay their heads down to sleep, it makes all the busyness and tiredness worth it. And I trust that I'm preparing them for their individual promised lands.

Do you have a prayer routine for your kids? I'd love to hear about it.

Just A Lil' Warning/Reminder

Don't walk away from your 2-year-old who is on the potty...nope, not even for a second.

Touching the Heart of God (And Mommy's Too)

"Children are the keys of Paradise. They alone are good and wise because their thoughts, their very lives are prayer." ~R. H. Stoddard

 

Found this note yesterday in my 6 year old's folder along with his school work. His little brother had been sick that morning--suffering with a fever. He took it upon himself to request prayer for his brother during the morning time devotion/prayer in his class.

To say this touched my heart is an understatement.

I'm sure it's prayers like this that reach the throne of God and touch His heart as well.

Skating Away From the Edge

As your faith is strengthened you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them, to your great delight and benefit.  ~Emmanuel

Saturday we went ice skating at the request of my big boy. He has visions of himself spinning and twirling. I tried to convince him that he’d have to take it slow. But he wanted to hear none of that—until he got on the ice and realized he had to take it slow. By the third go-round, he was ready to get off the wall and skate without help, without holding my hand. And I was nervous. There were teenagers whipping by and it was just no place for a six-year-old out on the ice for the first time. Yet, I let go. And he fell. And he cried. And my heart ached as I looked at his red hand and face full of tears.

But he got up, wiped those tears off and was ready to do it again. I loved that moment. Bittersweet for this momma. Watching him get hurt. Watching him muster up the courage to get up and keep skating.

Faith is a lot like that. Cling to the edge and you don’t really get what you want. Launch out into the deep and that’s where the waves get treacherous. You may get pulled under for a second. Real faith is no cake walk. It’s risky. Scary. You may fall. But God’s hand is right there to pull you up. Wipe away tears. And watch you launch into the deep all over again. It makes His heart happy.

Go ahead. Get away from the edge. Let go. Dive into the depths of faith and twirl. Spin. There’s so much beauty there.

God's Got You Pegged.

"Intimacy is being seen and known as the person you truly are."~ Amy Bloom

Disclaimer: No children were harmed in the shooting of this photo (or the shooting of that gun).

This little dude here does things that leave me gasping and grabbing for my chest. Like climbing up precariously perched items. Hiding silently in the house in overlooked corners and opening up bottles of vaseline and mouthwash. His older brother is quite the opposite. He's my nurturing, responsible, fairly obedient child with a memory that stretches back to before he was even born.

I've got these kids pegged and know how they'll react 95% of the time. They've been known to surprise me though. Knowing them inside out is just second nature for me.

Do you know somebody's got you pegged too? Not just your mother or your husband or your best friend. God's got you pegged. He's the One who created our innermost being and us knit together in our mother's womb. Unthinkable!

Oh to be known for who we really are. Isn't that what we all want? God knows us just like that. Take comfort in that thought.

Watching Him Grow Wings

"Labor Day is a glorious holiday because your child will be going back to school the next day.  It would have been called Independence Day, but that name was already taken."  ~Bill Dodds

First day of school got me all wound up and excited that I didn't pay attention to the settings on my camera so I ended up getting a bunch of over-exposed shots. Boo Mommy! Plus, all my big boy wanted to do was get out of the door. So all I really got was some fake smiles. Oh well. I have a bit of history.

My kid was not the one who was crying. No, he was the one at the front of the pack to get into the classroom, waving and yelling the teacher's name.

It's a weird place to be--watching your child growing wings right before your very eyes. If I wasn't so proud, I probably would have cried.

But probably the best part of the whole day is that he and his best daycare/preschool buddy (who also happens to be the daycare provider's daughter) are in the same class and will be sitting side by side. While waiting in line, they were holding hands supporting each other. Too cute!

Fruit and Legacies

"Your descendants shall gather your fruits." ~Virgil

It's so easy to be a parent when the boys are like this: sleeping sweetly. I snapped this picture during a recent trip to see family in the Bay Area.

Lately, I have not been able to shake the idea that everyday I am leaving a legacy for these two little boys. I try not to focus on it too much, but I often wonder what my children what say about me when I'm gone. Will they praise me as a good mother who was there and took time with them, got down on their level and entered their worlds or will their memories of me be dim and distant? Will the fruit they gather that I leave behind be sweet and nourishing or rotten and stinking? Will it be fruit that they will be proud to gather and hold in their hands?

I think of my own mother who, while still here, left us a solid spiritual legacy. She didn't just tell us about church or drop us off at church. She took us to church. We watched her live for Jesus. Pray for us. Speak about the Scriptures. That's what I want. To live out what I believe for my children--in every single area of my life. To walk in a path that I want them to follow. I always think: if my children were following right behind me in every step I take throughout life, would I be proud or ashamed of the places they would find themselves in? Or would I have to turn around and say to them, "I'm sorry, please don't follow me here. I don't want you to see what I'm doing or where I'm going." I can't say I'm always successful, but I'm yet striving.

Motivational speaker Jim Rohn wrote: "....we won't be around to watch our legacy. To build that which will last beyond us is selfless, and living with that in mind breaks the power of selfishness that tries so desperately to engrain itself in our lives.

It also keeps us focused on the big picture. Legacy building is "big picture." It keeps us focused on the long-term and gives us values that we can judge our actions by. When we are acting based on selfishness, personal expediency and the like, we are "small picture"--whatever is pragmatic right now. When we are building a life that will give for many years, we are "big picture." Ask yourself: How does this action affect my overall goals? How will this affect people in the years to come? Yes, your legacy is very important."

With that, I'm going to work on leaving footsteps that I wouldn't mind my children walking in. Heavy stuff--but I think I'm up for the challenge. How about you?