Searching for some mommy-peace

Day 5 – Searching for some mommy-peace

Peace is a word that seems to elude me. I love standing in the truth of peace in Christ, because on any given day, my world is not so peaceful. It is simply not my season.

The snapshot of my life looks like a lot of rushing, a lot of gathering, a lot of cajoling into socks and underwear small people who would rather streak naked through the church parking lot outside of my house, to get to the playground on the other side. It looks like hurried breakfasts and sneakers put on in the car. It looks like wading through papers to find the one I lost, and verbalizing my disgust that people use hardcopies made of paper anymore. It looks like worry over educational choices for my children, worry over whether my husband's message will be well received, and worry about whether we're weird enough to be cool weird, or just weird enough to be abnormal.

I can hear Jesus in my ear, His gentle voice laughingly telling me, “Why do you worry, precious one? Why so rushed? Why so unsettled?” For a time I can settle down. Sit in His Word at His feet. It's why Bible study is my lifeblood. It's like my I.V. of sanity in a world that feels so out of control.

And then I'm reminded, “this too shall pass.” These busy days won't be forever. As we near the end of our study of Ecclesiastes, and wrap up these verses marked “a time for this”, “a time for that”, I'm reminded of all the wise women who have sat next to me. Each of them at some time stated absently “These days won't last forever. Treasure them. Hold on to them tightly.”

You do not have to be in the middle of mommy-struggles to understand the truth of those words. Experience in this instance, however, is a good teacher. As you age – younglings, I'm talking to you - you become ever more aware that years happen more in blinks than as slow moving locomotives.

If there is something to be taken from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, let it be this: There is a time for everything. Which also means that there is a time for each thing...and that it will pass. We will spend our whole lives saying goodbye to things in whooshes as they snatch us for a moment and then pass us by.

Remember the day you started middle school and thought it would never be over? Remember the days of sorrow over a first love? Those days felt never ending, like you would never be happy again. Remember the summers of joy and freedom and star filled nights and crickets, when the clock moved too quickly and too slowly all at once. Maybe you remember college dorms, and cafeteria food, and discount tickets to ball games, and holing up in your cubby in the library until they kicked you out, and girl talk on someone's loft bed. Maybe you remember the first years of marriage, sweet dates of grilled cheese and Redbox on the living room floor. Buying a coffeemaker, just because that's what adults do, and finding out that not everyone makes their bed and you just committed your life to one of them. Are any of these memories speaking to you?

There is a time for all of it, and these are just a few examples. What times has God worked in your life? What great graces has He bestowed in the carefree days and the days saddled with responsibility? What precious days or memories and moments has he woven into the fabric of your story?

Oh, sweet girls! Embrace the miracle of time today. Thank Him for every single piece of it.

Breathe in and breathe out. Let His Spirit move in you and let it rise up to say, “You, God, are glorious! You send the sun to mark day, and the moon to mark each night. As each day passes, Lord, we praise You for Who You are and what you are doing in every moment of our lives. We open our hearts to what You would do in Your time. Let us rest in Your time, Lord. Let us find peace in Your time. Let us share the story of Your time with others, and one day, be caught up with you in timelessness.”

My mommy-self is so thankful for His time. In it things get done, and people are grown, my heart is spread wide, and He fills it – with His hope, His Life, and His peace.

I look forward to one more week of study with you all! Oh it will be fun, with topics like vocation, and eternity, and joy. All kinds of good stuff from His Word as we finish up Ecclesiastes 3. Hope to see you then, in His time.

Discussion questions:

What time of your life has felt the most hurried?

What time of your life do you feel sped by the fastest (in hindsight)? What time eeked by the slowest?

What gifts of grace can you identify in God giving us the passing of time?