Grandparents... and the village.

 

Grandparents.  We have some really good ones.  I know, I'm a little bit biased, but really.  We have some really good ones.  About a year after the oldest little chief was born I had the opportunity to spend a week working in inner-city Memphis.  I left my oldest (and only at the time) with his grandparents.  I spent the whole week moaning and groaning to anyone who would listen- about how much I missed him.  And, make no mistake.  I did miss him.  However, during that week, the Lord spoke to me so clearly about a number of things.  Things I would not have heard had I been in my daily life, functioning the same as always.  One of those things came through a mother who lived in inner-city Memphis.  We were talking about mothering, schools, and children, life, and the Lord.  I had told her about my child, staying away for a week, getting spoiled by his grandparents.  She then told me something I will never forget.  "Grandparents are supposed to be spoiling the grandchildren.  It is NOT your job or mine to spoil our children, but it is the job of the grand.  They can build your child's self-esteem while you remember to put him in his place.  Both are very necessary."  I thought on it a while.  As a new mom, I hadn't had the chance to decide how I felt about the role of other people in our little family life.  Since then, I have looked back and realized what she said was profound in two ways.

First, it is not my job to spoil my child.  It is my job to love him unconditionally, to care for him, to consider his heart, train him up in the Word of God, live before him with a servant's heart, and obey the Savior as an example of life.  It is my job to correct him, to teach him what voices to listen to, and to remind him that He is also saved from death.  Being a parent is an incredible thing.  I love it and I take it very seriously.

However, it also planted something else in my heart that has become very central to my life.  I am not the only one meeting the needs of my children.  I have said for years (in jest) that it takes a village to raise a child and yet, I find myself suddenly aware of my own shortcomings.  I am fallen.  I am selfish.  I am tired.  I am only me.  So, at the end of the day, I am thrilled that when I fall short our grandparents will speak life over my children.  They will pray over them, they will love them, they will play with them.  And it is in those moments, when I can stop and hear the Lord, that He renews my heart.  He reminds me that I am their mother, that He can be strong in my weakness, and more than ever, He loves them more that I do.  And that's all that matters.

SO, for all of you who have been asking, I love our new blog title.  I love the fact that we desire real relationships with people, in real community.  Where we can support one another, love one another, and spur one another on towards the Lord.  My community is sometimes in my home, sometimes in Arkansas, and sometimes over skype (Go Egypt peeps) and facebook (shout out to my Seminary peeps!).  Whatever it looks like, I strive to live life with people who are longing for the same thing.  Wherever the village may take us and whatever it may look like.  Let's do it together instead of alone.  For we are all waiting for the same Savior to return, putting our hope that He will make all things right, and that He will judge and restore the earth.

"And so will it be with the resurrection of the dead.  The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;
it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power." 

1 Corinthians 15:42-43

"All the believers were together and had everything in common.  Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. . . . They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.  And the Lord added to their number daily 

those who were being saved."  

Acts 2:44-47