Fall is God’s way of saying, “Stop, breathe in, be refreshed and count your blessings.” That has absolutely nothing to do with this post, I just wanted to say it because this is such a perfect, beautiful day. 😉
I had a birthday last week–37. I still feel very young and so the creeping towards “40” really freaks me out a little. (Can I get a witness?)
I don’t know if it’s the birthday or not, but lately I’ve had a nagging, internal check that keeps asking, “Are you spending your life in a way that matters eternally? Are you giving Him everything?”
Bria is fast becoming a woman. Sometimes I look at my children and it takes my breath away to think how fleeting our time with them is. Have I invested all that I could? Have I done all I can to lead them to be followers of Christ?
I heard Lori Salierno explain a profound lesson from Scripture that was SO appropriate for those days when we just feel inadequate for everything.
When Jesus needed to feed the five thousand, he didn’t call down a miracle–which would have been easy. He looked around and asked what was available.
The boy…we still tell his story today–brought a measly, poor man’s lunch (barley was the bread of the poor). “It’s all I have”. The boy was smart enough to know his lunch wouldn’t do; he could have protested, “But it’s my lunch, and there’s no way it will even begin to feed all these, just let me eat it.”
But the Lord took what the little boy was WILLING to give….He took his obedience–“Do I have your lunch?”
“Yes, Lord, you have it. Don’t know what you’re going to do with it, but it’s yours.”
And Jesus chose to work through the weakest, puniest resources that day to teach us a powerful lesson:
It’s not our JOB to worry about whether we can do this or that, whether we are strong enough or smart enough or gifted enough or rich enough. It’s our job to obey and allow the power of God to turn our puny fish into a feast that glorifies Him.
God delights in showing forth His strength through weakness…
Man, that’s good stuff!
He asks only one question….
“Do I have your lunch?”
As some approach adulthood, others are just beginning….I hope I can remember again how quickly it will pass.
13 comments
That was a beautiful post, Kelly. Everybody will always tell you that you should enjoy your children because they grow up fast, and I can tell you from experience that they sure do. I’m enjoying them as adults, too, though. They are so much fun and so helpful to us.
Happy (belated) Birthday, Kelly!
Just as any other age, 40 is a blessing, I promise ;-).
What do they say, “age is just a number.”
Kelly, did you write this just for me?;-) Thank you, I know this, at least I thought I did. Why is it us mamas forget this message of giving only and all of what we have and trusting Him to do the work. What arrogance to think its us!
As many of my mothering abilities have been stripped away from me of late it is hard not to question if I am ‘a good mom’ I have been seriously meditating on what a ‘good mom’ is. If a woman was a “good mom” and suddenly was in a car accident and was paralyzed from the neck down, does she cease being a ‘good mom’?
Could it be, being a ‘good mom’ is the heart and willingness WITH all the weaknesses and inadequacies? Like you said,
It’s not our JOB to worry about whether we can do this or that, whether we are strong enough or smart enough or gifted enough or rich enough. It’s our job to obey and allow the power of God to turn our puny fish into a feast that glorifies Him.
God delights in showing forth His strength through weakness…
No matter how puny my particular fish is right now, it is all I can offer. Oh, sister, this helps me today, thank you.
“Are you spending your life in a way that matters eternally? Are you giving Him everything?”
It might be that your question is age related! I also turned 37 this year and am wondering the same things. It’s probably a built-in reflection/check-point in our lives to give us a “bigger picture” perspective!
Love reading your thoughts. Thanx
I agree that children grow up at lightning speed… but of course every age has its ups. I am in my 20s and now enjoying the best relationship I have ever had with my parents!
Hi Kelly,
So lovely to read this post and to see your littlies. As one with adult children I always encourage my younger friends to make the most of the short but precious time that God grants us with them. Your baby is so gorgeous! Pleased that your itch was not serious. Your older daughter is gorgeous as well….oh they all are!!!
I feel like that little boy too. Thank you for the encouragement.
I love the pictures; you all are beautiful!
Thank you for the wonderful encouragement. I really needed that today!
Mama to six, ages preborn (due in the next few weeks) to nearly 12, needed the reminder to redeem the time…
Oh, and I’m tickled, too, to see a more recent pic of your sweet newbie! So precious!
Those same questions have been on my mind as well. thank you for this post. Very encouraging! blessings, jen
*Flicka: Mother to four (one with Jesus) Grandmother to a dozen grandblessings. 4 in alabama. 2 in North Carolina. 6 in Michigan.*
Hello Kelly, we share the same birth day but not the same year. I am eager to be a great grandmother but must wait a couple of years…or so.
I am finding, in my elder years, that we must not fret about doing, doing, doing. The opposite is true and that it is the undoing that is more valuable. Undoing all the extra busy work and allowing relationships to be the main goal of life. Simplify and really live.
I use to think I had to do this and that job in order for me to be productive and pleasing to the Lord. Not so. We Martha’s are all about details. Mary did the better thing.
If I had a choice between gardening or listening to a troubled soul, I choose listening. The Lord supplies my food needs while I am listening. I prefer gardening but Mary chose the better thing. I must too.
The exceptions are when a troubled soul is avoiding their own family and home. They are busy bodies and a broom and mop would cure a lot of their troubles. There is always a balance in God’s plan. 🙂
Your friend Flicka
The Holy Supper is kept, indeed,
In whatso we share with another’s need;
Not what we give, but what we share,
For the gift without the giver is bare
~Sir Launfal
Flicka,
VERY insightful, and so true! I think for some of us it’s easier to be a Martha, and then *complain* how about all the busyness 😉 (I’m talking to myself.) Thank you.
Kelly, thank you so much for this reminder that my sufficiency is not in what I have or what I can do, but in my all-sufficient Provider. He is the One who has called us to the daunting tasks that we face daily- like looking into my beautiful almost-14 year-old’s eyes, and knowing I probably have only a few years left to help her prepare for the high calling of serving a husband and family. Or looking at my beautiful 20 year-old girl who yearns for her own husband and children, and wondering if I’ve really done what I should have to prepare her. Or looking at the big, beautiful blue eyes of my 6 year-old girl, and praying that I won’t grow too tired to continue this blessed task.
But the lunch is His anyway! He provided the lunch to begin with. All He asks for is a humble, willing heart. May He bless us as women to give Him just that, a humble, willing heart that can be used for His Kingdom.