To the Rushed and Worn Out Mom
"Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the Word of God." Titus 2:3-5
I'd like to continue our devotions next week on the seasons of life with children. There has been something on my mind that I'd like to share with you all for it disturbs me. I find in this country the tendency to do everything faster and more efficient while not even enjoying the process at all. My uncle gave me a bunch of Prevention magazines. It was disturbing to read in the September 1997 issue these words:
"Life in the '90's. Work all day. Commute. Pick up the dry cleaning, the lawnmower, and maybe your kids. At last you're home, and you'd love a decent meal-but who feels like cooking? So what happens? We make pit stops at the fast-food restaurants. (In 1996, restaurant takeout business shot up 63%!) Which means tons of fat and near-zero fiber." The article then went on to describe how you could whip meals up in nine to fifteen minutes.
Of course they are referring to a healthy diet. I focused in on the harried mom rushing around. The empty home. The cold oven. Yet even though women are returning home from the work place to be full time homemakers, I find that their lives are very often just as harried. They try to do everything faster and better while missing out on all the enjoyment of being a stay home mom. Why? Because we live in a very fast paced culture with fast food, fast medicines, fast entertainment, and fast vehicles. If we have to stand in a line over 15 minutes, we are definitely irked as we're used to people rushing about getting us through in a matter of minutes. And even women of God can get sucked into this fast pace with all the well meaning books out there that encourage us to do it at a faster pace in less time so that we can be out of the kitchen. Out of the kitchen for what? For I find the kitchen to be the center of my home with all its warmth and sweet smelling promises of something good coming up. I spend more time in there than in any other room in my house. For that pleasantly occupied room will bring my kids( with grandkids in tow) wistfully back home to me time and time again once they're older...God willing. For the sweet smelling kitchen is the most important room in the house for children.
A few years back I started to notice the pace Jesus walked when He was on the earth. It was a much slower and more relaxed pace that had time for anyone who needed Him. I began to ask the LORD for His Pace in my life. Guess what? I slowed down! For God ordained His Son to live with His human family for 30 years... just living and growing and loving and serving in a family in a nondescript rough town as a carpenter. Think of that. They were certainly not wasted years, but obviously very valuable to God the Father. Days and days of working in carpentry, sleeping in the same bed, going to the temple, eating his mother's cooking, and talking with the local people and his family. For God's timing is perfect. He did not rush His Son into the ministry. Jesus began His High Priest leadership at the age of 30 (which was the age for the high priests to begin leading as transcribed in the law). Fascinating! God had His Son grow up very normally and pleasantly in an Israelite family. God was not in a rush. So I don't believe His Son was either. Nor His mother. Perfect redemptive work done at God's pace and in God's timing. Jesus could lean against His Father's will in everything: the very ordinary as well as the extraordinary.
I also learned that a man was not considered "a man" until he was twenty years of age as described in the law. Wow. In our country a man is a man at eighteen. That is two years of important growth swiped away. For the LORD would not allow the Israelites to go to war until they were at the age of twenty. God knows the body and the brain that He made and what is best for both. But here we are in our country rushing a man into adulthood and onto the battle field at the age of eigtheen. I love God's Word and to know what is The Truth!
For as I learned to walk at His Pace, I began to pray other "P" words. I asked that I might walk in His Power doing His Priorities for His Pleasure while Praising and Praying to Him by His Peace. I found that as I prayed to Him and praised Him I enjoyed my work so much more. And I was not rushing about trying to get things done and get ahead of the clock. Rather I began to enjoy all my homemaking immeasurably. I am so thankful to not be hurrying about as I use to do, snapping at my kids because inside I felt frustrated with my expectations not being met, while keeping one eye on the clock thinking how little I got done and how much I still had to do. If I find myself leaning that way in my day, I stop and pray "my P's" right away.
A dear Sister on this loop introduced me to the Miss Read books. I love Scotland and have had the privilege of going there twice. These books are set in a quiet village in England which gives you a glimpse of a much more slower and peaceful way of family life from the past. Here is a delightful excerpt from Friends At Thrush Green that spoke to me warmly:
"Percy was left alone in the kitchen. It was warm and tidy. A pile of newly-ironed pillow cases and sheets stood nearby, and something delicious sizzled in the oven. On the hob stood a freshly cooked rice pudding, with a nice brown crinkled top smelling of cinnamon. It reminded Percy sharply of the dinners his mother had cooked for them years ago, in that same kitchen along the Nidden road where his breakfast dishes still awaited attention in a scummy sink. It was a good thing, he thought, that his mother could not see it now."
We've traded this paragraph for the paragraph quoted out of Prevention magazine. What a sad switch. Many women go into marriage "bankrupt" as to how to manage a home with coziness as well as pleasant efficiency. I know I did. But the LORD in His Beauty has helped me so much. How I thank Him! And He continues to teach me to this day. I truly believe there is no better job on earth for a wife and a mother at His Pace for His Praise!
Love,
Laine
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