FMF prompt: "Wait"

1/29/2015

"Wait a sec," I tell my 5 year old son. But is it really a second? I'm trying to concentrate on reading our church doctrine and all I'm hearing is, "Mommy, mommy, look at the star I drew!" After about 5 minutes of desperately trying to read and digest what I am reading, I gave up. But, I realized that saying, "wait a sec," was just wrong. How am I supposed to expect my child to learn the value of time if he think a "sec" is 5 minutes? Most importantly, how does he know I was actually paying attention to him as I am nodding and saying, "Good job buddy."? When we focus on everything else besides our children-do they think they really matter? I find myself in this predicament from time to time. I lose focus of my family because I have a mental "to-do" list that's a mile long. My mind is constantly thinking, contemplating, drinking in all of my surroundings, and thinking some more. Why is so hard to just stop... wait....look...hear...feel
Our world is full of distractions. I fight it constantly and yet I take on more and more as each day passes.
Our prompt for this week sparked a particular scripture that I've read last night and it seems pretty appropriate for our prompt:

James 5:7-8 Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lords return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen. You, too, must be patient. Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near. NLT

The scripture tells us to wait and be patient because of Lord is coming again. It also talks about the farmer who waits for the rains to grow their crop eagerly looking for the valuable crop to harvest. That hit home tonight- Yes, our Lord will soon come again. But the farmer reminded me of myself; you see I have a crop-two actually. I'm the rain that they desperately need to grow, to ripen, to love, to nurture. Those children are my responsibility to help build a foundation in their hearts for Christ. I'm to teach them the lessons, the wisdom I have obtained, the values and morals that Christ teaches us. And when it's time to harvest, our Lord will gather them in his arms because of the seeds I've planted. So, I take a step back, put down my doctrine, and look Joe in the eyes- "Good job Joe-I'm so proud of you! Show me again..." There's no more "wait a second", the time is now, in the moment, devoting myself to him because he is someone who matters- not some "to-do" list.

6 Comments

Mollie Hardman link

1/29/2015 02:44:42 pm

I find myself getting irritated at my kids interupting my (put less important activity here) at times, more times than I care to admit, as well. It always brings to mind a friend of mine who, no matter what he was doing, would stop and bend down to listen to one of his children when they approached him. He said he never wanted them to feel like they couldn't come to him at any time with anything. After all, God is always there to listen to us when we call on Him.

I love this! --But the farmer reminded me of myself; you see I have a crop-two actually. I'm the rain that they desperately need to grow, to ripen, to love, to nurture. Those children are my responsibility to help build a foundation in their hearts for Christ.
Well said friend!

Shannon Bibby link

1/30/2015 12:35:27 pm

Thank you for stopping by Mollie! You know, I reflect back to when I only had my daughter...I was different then-especially as a parent. A mother. Once we had our son, I don't know what happened. I had less time and two little ones to try and divide my attention to. Then work, a home to take care of, a husband to love... it all got really out of hand for a while. I'm so thankful God got me through that time in my life! Unfortunately, there are still times of chaos and "oh my goodness WHY is the bathtub green?!" moments and then I realize I simply wasn't paying attention and said yes to something I should't have. Face palm....

Andrew Budek-Schmeisser link

1/29/2015 03:57:41 pm

I used to do a lot of welding, and your post today reminded me of the need to wait until the steel gets up to the right temperature to melt into the joint.

It can't really be rushed; a bigger and hotter flame from the torch will just oxidize the metal, and make it brittle when the weld's done.

So one waits, and then follows the molten bead as it makes its unhurried way along the joint, a patient glowing mole-path creating unity from separateness.

Shannon Bibby link

1/30/2015 12:43:13 pm

Hi Andrew & thanks for stopping by. Your comment brings a smile to my face... my brother in law is a welder so I am familiar with the process (I like to know a little bit about everything). Anyhow, when I read what you wrote, I couldn't help but correlate that as a parent to a child. It is a slow process that takes patience, endurance, love, faith, & well.. too many other things to list. But, just like that piece of metal that's been welded...made into a "new" whole, so will my children. I supply the "beads", God supplies the "new wholeness".

Marisa Slusarcyk link

1/30/2015 02:26:15 pm

Hey! So happy to see you linked up! I love how you realize that we need to be honest with what we tell our children so that they can trust us fully. If they think a minute is really 20 or a second is 5 etc this gives them no sense of time and will eventually bite us in the behinds when it comes to trusting us on the bigger things in life. Many blessings to you and your family! Keep up to good work Mama!!

Shannon Bibby

1/31/2015 03:50:26 pm

Hey Marisa nice to see ya on here! Thanks for your encouraging words :) They mean a lot. Hoping all is well with you and your family-blessings to you too!

FMF prompt: "Wait"

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