Relationships

“The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you.” John E. Southard

I love to watch the boys play and interact. It brings warm, fuzzy feelings to stand back and see the playful interactions…  although all too quickly those giggles of happiness flip into shrieks of, “NO!!!! THAT’S MY TOY!!!!”…. ahhhh yes, motherhood.  Sibling relations

Relationships can be like that too… mother-child, friends and lovers. Life is filled with challenges within those relationships… but how do we deal with them?

I believe all too often relationships can become toxic due to lack of proper communication. Feelings are bottled up. Lies are told and hidden for years. Trust is broken… never to be re-built. How we deal with these issues will determine the final outcome in a relationship.

Decisions.

Where do you draw the line?
Where do I draw the line?
What will you tolerate in a relationship?
What will I tolerate in a relationship?
… these are questions we’re all faced with everyday.

When you have a relationship that communication and honesty, along with God, are the foundations, it is one to be cherished.
One to be diligently worked on.
One to be appreciated.
… because I think it is rare.

As our interactions begin slowly and gradually build, we become comfortable with the familiarity of them.
This is when issues are more likely to arise…
But really… we saw the signs long before we believed them.
We felt the pain before we addressed it.
We hid behind our hopes believing the lies.

Step out.
Stop the noise.
Build faith.
Trust your gut…

Until next time,
Jean

The Finish Line

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Love-Warrior/122901604541959

I struggled with sharing this poem today because it hit so deep within my soul… yes this is me.

I wondered, “How can I share this… I’m always the one that everyone says they turn to for encouragement. I’m the one that always has the smile and cheery hello… how can I put myself out there like this? Raw and naked. ”

I think we all have moments where we feel just like this.

I think we all have days where the joy is overflowing and our cup is running over.

I think we all have struggles that we don’t want to let go… don’t want to unleash… don’t want to open up…

We live a façade. A life where we’re looked up to whether as a mother, a professional or … you fill in the blank.

I look at my children and I wish I could see into their hearts mind and know just what they need.
I want to know how their soul lives and how it thrives.
What their minds wonder and hunger after.
Where their feet have taken them…

I want to teach my children to have a hope and faith and trust even when they have days where they feel completely unearthed, overturned and utterly forlorn… there is hope.

A hope that as long as they turn to Him and trust… it’ll be OK.

I am desperately trying to set the example.  Trying to show them the way… Trying to let them see not only the sorrow, but more soundly the joy that will eventually come at the end of it.

Life is a race… one that I’m determined to win. Some day I will hear those words, ‘Well done my faithful servant… enter ye into my rest…”  as I cross the finish line.

Until next time,
Jean

No matter what….

You know when you have those heart to heart’s with one of your children… the tears flow… fears are shared… hugs are tight…

I said, “No mater what you do… no matter what you say, I will always forgive you… no matter what, because I love you so much.”

I don’t think that mothers can honestly say that to just anyone. I think that type of unconditional love has a place only for those whom we’ve suffered through childbirth for… That bond. That union. There’s a fierceness in mother that no one dares contend with where child is concerned.

Their battles are ours… their pain we feel… their joys we share… their life we try to guide… their tears we wipe… then secretly shed our own.

I look at my children snuggling in my arms in my minds eye… then all of a sudden they’re driving out the lane… it just happens so quickly. Time.

I am convinced that the only thing we can ever do is love them for who they are and trust them into His almighty hands.

Pray, pray, pray… when no one else is praying, mother is…
Until next time,
Jean

The Absense of Time

“I could not fail to be influenced by so good a mother.” Samuel Smiles

Time seems to keep moving on to what seems faster day after day…

When I look at my children and imagine tomorrow, sometimes fear wells up in my heart. Why? Where is my faith in believing that God is in control and as long as I put them in His unfailing hands, everything will be alright? Why do I doubt when the storms of life start to cover me?

I’m sure all mothers go through these times of doubt… times of dismay… times of unfaithfulness…

When I look into their eyes and see the trust that they have in me… I feel so unworthy… Though my heart is full of love for them I fail in so many ways. When I saw this quote by what appears to be a devoted son, I have to wonder if that is the legacy that I will leave with my children…

Will they remember me working with them… or working them? Will they remember these devotions or the stories I read to them? Will they remember the tender words and caresses or will they remember the hasty words when impatience settles in?

Some days being a mother holds so much joy, while at other times the grief involved is terribly hard to surrender too. May each one of us forever lay these cares and burden’s at the feet of the One who cares and keep pressing on.

Until next time,
Jean