Our baby girl, who isn’t so ‘baby’ anymore, turned one this month! How is that possible?!? Many people have told me children grow up so quickly, but I never realized what they meant until this month when my baby turned ONE. Wasn’t it just the other day that I was holding her in my arms at the hospital???
Some moms say they wish time would slow down or that their baby would quit growing up so quickly. But, ya know, I’ve thought about it, and I don’t want to have this mindset. I want to be intentional about enjoying every moment.
This child of mine was longed for and prayed for years before she was ever born. THIS is what I ‘wished’ for, why wish for something else? I want to embrace every moment. I want to spend quality time with her. I want to teach her things…new words, new tricks, new animal sounds, right from wrong, about Jesus and how much He loves her, how to serve, how to be polite, how to run and jump and climb, how to do a summersault, how to pray, how to read and write, how to share, how to give hugs and kisses and high fives and fist bumps. I want to watch her grow and learn and explore and share and interact. I want to do all of this!
Of course, there are challenging days. Days where I just want to sleep or retreat to my own little world and not give every ounce of energy to this tiny toddler who relentlessly empties out every kitchen cabinet day in and day out. Days where I’m READY for a break, for time alone, for a non-scarfing supper. Actually, never mind. Who am I kidding? I scarfed my food pre-baby!
On these more stressful days, I’m pretty horrible about putting the situation into perspective. I want to be better about stepping back to look at the big picture and to count it all as joy, pure joy (James 1:2). There was a season in my life where I wasn’t sure the Lord had a child in His plans for my husband and me. That was such a challenging season. I wanted so badly to have a toddler wandering around the house emptying out cabinets. Now I have this, and I’m complaining?? Wow, perspective check! Right?!?
Psalm 127:3 tells us, “Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him.” My baby girl is a GIFT. She is a REWARD. It’s all about perspective.
Whew, that was pretty much a stream of thoughts! Simply, I want to be an intentional mom, a mom who is different because of Jesus’ presence in my life, a mom who puts situations into perspective, a mom who counts it all as pure joy, a mom whose daughter learns to love and live for Jesus because she sees Jesus modeled in the way I live my life.
Here are previous posts about our journey:
