Many of you dear readers were followers of Eyes of Wonder back in the day (for those that don't know what I mean, my mama had a blog for a few years and documented our family). All of us children still have access to the blog (it's private now) and occasionally I go back to re-read her writings. I thought it might a be a nice treat for some of the long-time-ago readers to see one of her posts again.
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Rest On Sunday...
Sunday, March 25, 2007
"The true way to live is to enjoy every moment as it passes,
and surely it is in the everyday things around us
that the beauty of life lies.”
~~Laura Ingalls Wilder
The little things in life surely do matter.
The little things, the true foundational things that we may be tempted to forgo, for the seemingly greater, cannot really be forgone. They're the things that add up and make a difference, the immeasurable, magnificent difference, in the long run....in a life, in relationships, in a home.
Our little acts of kindness, our words of love spoken, written, throughout each day, even though seemingly passing unnoticed or even unappreciated, are *never* so, in the eyes and heart of Him who knows us and loves us best, and is a rewarder of even those things that are done, in secret. These seemingly small deeds, throughout the ordinary of each day--that add up, and make a difference, individually, generationally, eternally.
It's the small things, left unaddressed, that cause a heart to grow cold and hard, immovable, unloving. We make mistakes. We do things that we wish we hadn't. We don't do things that we wish we would, or even could.
Each night when I crawl into bed, I curl up like a child beneath the beauty, soft and luminous, of a starry summer night sky. I warm up, acutely aware of, yet strangely at leisure from, myself, beside God.
I let Him hold me, just as I am. My eyes may be open, they may be closed. All may seem silence, crystal clear, audibly. Though Life is within and without, beneath me, above me, before me, behind me, round about me--I am enveloped, cocooned, in Love.
In the freedom of His loving acceptance, I walk with Him through the events of the day. I pray for Big Papa, for my children, and ask God to search my heart, as only He can--seeing to the deepest recesses of my heart and mind, to my motives, intentions and desires, while all the while loving me, still, and desiring His very greatest good, for me, and for those I love--I ask Him to show me my mistakes, my shortcomings, my failures, my life lived that day, through His eyes.......and how to proceed in light of it all, that I may begin tomorrow, afresh--a new day, with no mistakes in it, free to begin again, in Love.
I find that the children learn far more by what I do, than by what I say. They will become what I model before them. In light of this, quick and humble apologies, sacrificially serving, gentle words of kindness, love, understanding, compassion, acceptance, praise--for even the smallest good I see-- far more praying for God to do inside of them, what He is likewise doing, inside of me--a fellow sheep-- rather than striving, or berating, and trying to bring about superficial growth and change outwardly. Bring about change Lord, in Your way, in Your time--and let it begin in me--make me the mother that each of these children needs.
Change *me* Lord, day-by-day, each day, anew. Humble me, melt me, mold me. Let my children walk in mercy and Truth, extending the grace and love that you extend to me, that I 'm thereby able to extend to them, to each precious one their lives touch, along life's way--both near and far.
It's the little things that matter, for they are the substance of the larger things, that grow and become, almost imperceptibly, moment-by-moment, day-by-day.
"The true way to live is to enjoy every moment as it passes,
and surely it is in the everyday things around us
that the beauty of life lies.”
~Laura Ingalls Wilder
Rest well, this lovely March day.
Jewels
