Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Just another day...

Ah, I do enjoy the life the Lord has blessed me with. It can get messy. It has been really difficult and I'm sure it will be again. But, man, is it full of sweet surprises and joy. I'm always learning and growing and changing!

I recently heard a "devotional" by Christy Nockles on inviting the Glorious into the mundane (you can check Heather's blog for the clips, since I can't find them on my own!). Things can get very monotonous as a mom. The same things day in and day out. She encouraged mom's to invite the beauty and holiness and purity of Jesus into the everyday things - doing the laundry,washing the dishes, changing diapers, wiping away tears and cleaning up messes. All of these things are an opportunity to bring glory to God and share His love with our babies!

Although it can be hard, I constantly remind myself that motherhood is a sweet blessing and a gift to me. It was so hard getting pregnant and the road seemed never-ending. But here I am, almost 7 months into being a momma! I never want to forget that I could still, very easily, be barren and have no babies at all. It's so easy to get caught up in the everyday and forget that my ministry right now is to love my husband and my baby and to live out the gospel.

I've been struggling recently with doing things in my own strength. On my own, I'm unsuccessful and fail easily at doing simple everyday things that I want to do. But, by God's strength, I'm capable of doing all that He has called me to do. I'm so grateful that He has been teaching this and revealing this truth to me over and over again. Clearly, I need reminded often :)

So, with all of that said, it's just another day around here. Story time at the library, quick stop at the mall, toss in some laughing and playing, a fussy, teething baby who won't eat solid foods, a few little naps and some chores and that's our day! The funny thing, I made an effort at inviting the Lord into all of those (these) things and He met me! I've had an incredible, random conversation about God's kindness, I've prayed for my baby a lot and I've been mindful to be patient and loving more than I usually would. Lord, help me to be mindful to invite You to be apart of every little thing, everyday!

Oh, also - here are some "everyday" pictures:

Playing with toys. He loves those drums because they make all kinds of noise when you hit them. And this boy loves to hit things!
Obviously, the face says it all...
Playing in the kitchen while momma cooks dinner. Is it too early for fake smiles?!?!! :)
New fall/winter hat! And his really adorable Gymboree outfit that I scored for 3 dollars!!!

4 comments:

mama cindy said...

Ash, I'm so proud of you. You have the most amazing way of putting your thoughts into words.

And, I love the picture of Benjamin in the hat! Too Cute!!!

Courtney said...

We have that drum! Austin still likes it. We can get together and sing its songs sometime.

Morgan said...

he is starting to look like you! so cute! can't believe he is in long sleeves, while we are still sweating it out here in texas!

Al said...

How good it is to encourage one another. I do not, nearly, do that enough.

Thank you for the post and I miss you. We shall chat. :)