A Privilege or Inconvenience?

 I felt very loved on Mother's Day.  My little kiddos were pumped about it 3 days in advance.  They could hardly wait to give me the cards they had made (and secretly hid in the bottom of the laundry basket?).  I also felt loved and appreciated by the 5 teenagers we have with us right now. 

And feeling appreciated by teenagers does not happen very often.

But I was showered with gifts, words of appreciation, and love.

I am disappointed in myself when I treat the children in my life like they are an inconvenience.  Someone who is in the way of what I want to selfishly accomplish.

Ugh.  I cringe with what I just wrote, but it is the sad, pathetic truth so I will leave it there.

But I also know another truth.  One that outweighs the lie that my kids are a nuisance to my already crazy day.

The truth that all of these children were placed in my life for a reason.  My three little kiddos were born to me because that is exactly where God wanted them to belong.

These teenagers were placed in our house for a reason.  Their young lives have been through some tumultuous stuff, but God brought them to this place and for this moment, this is where they belong.

And that is a privilege for me.

But lest I get too boastful about how I am here to raise them up to know Jesus and His sacrifice for them,  I remind myself that I am learning just as much from them as they are learning from me.

WHILE WE ARE BUSY TEACHING OUR CHILDREN ABOUT LIFE, 
OUR CHILDREN TEACH US WHAT LIFE IS ALL ABOUT.

None of these children are an inconvenience to my life.  I have the privilege of getting to know each one and to share this walk of life with each of them for a little while.  Some for 9 or so months, some for years.

There was something that happened recently that caused me to check my priorities, and where exactly my little kiddos landed on that list.

Owen, Hannah, and Madeline have been entrusted to me and Paul to love them and raise them up to know their Savior.  So that they can go on to glorify God through their lives and teach more people about the Saving Grace of Jesus.

These children are my high priority.

And that is a privilege.

From Hannah:  a house and a flower in a vase of water

From Owen: a flower in a vase of water (i think Hannah got her idea from him)

A card from one of our residents that just about made me cry: 

 "Thank you for everything you do, not for your kids, but for me"

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