Five Minute Friday} "Listen"

With the beginning of summer break I am relieved that i can chill a bit more.   Then the anxiety slowly creeps in.  

I still feel it, the anxiety that stems from getting everything just right!  

From the way I parent, to the way I organize my life at home. 

I catch myself trying too hard to connect with my ever growing children, in a way that feels special to all 3 on an individualized basis.  

I want to know them equally, I want to be a piece in their life that has allowed them to be the best they can be, their encourager,  their go getter, atta boy, atta girl mom.   

It's hard- they are all so different, how can I stretch myself as a Mom to meet all their needs?  How can one person help her children thrive, when they are all 3 in completely different places, with completely different personalities?

Then I feel the peace of Summer slowly seep away into a little island called stress.  

It is here God finds me, and whispers just one word ... 

"Listen".  

He is so right, the anxiety will cease when I stop worrying how I'm gonna make all this work with each one of my very specially unique God sent children.

He says simply "listen".  

This is my summer to get on my raft, paddle away from the island of stress- the one that keeps me from others, the one where I listen to only myself- the one where I stress myself out about getting it all just right.  

Paddle away from that lonely place into a place where I allow my children to share openly like I share with God.  

A place where I listen to my unique children,

find joy in parenting, 

and prayerfully guide them along the path they were each chosen for. 

Find that place to be interested in the things I'm not naturally interested in, all because it is a part of them, and oh how I love them so. 

Just this past week when I paddled into the island of stress God had placed one word on my heart.....

Listen.

And after this week its the Five Minute Friday prompt!

He's placed this word on my heart for a reason.

When she talks about her friends, how she can't wait to learn to drive, music, and fashion, and gives her grand ideas for her future- listen to her.

When he talks about sports players, their standings, the latest scores,  his motocross lingo, his favorite race tracks, and the new kid next door-  listen to him.

When he talks about how every Lego in the universe fits together, and what it can do, the way things are built, and every small detail about his favorite sci- fi movies, and the girl he has a crush on from school, even though he's only 8-  listen to him.

I realize all I can do is listen,

instead of constantly trying to figure it all out before they even get a chance to speak. 

I take comfort in His direction, and

I row back to the island of Peace, that He so lovingly provides. 

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