Children Are Not an Inconvenience…

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The longer I am a parent to a bustling brood of children, the more I am convinced that children provide parents with the opportunity to be less about themselves and more about someone else. For this reason, I truly believe that children are not an inconvenience, they are an opportunity to see the world in vibrant color. Children give us as their parents the ability to see the world with childlike wonder while at the same time being laced with the wisdom that seeing things in retrospect provides.

I have talked to numerous parents, mothers inparticular, who say time and time again that they wished they could have a “do-over” when it comes to certain aspects of their days with younger children. Oftentimes retrospect leaves them wishing they had spent less time worrying, yelling, and making mountains out of mole-hills. So often these moms wish they would have just spent more time in the nurturing, caring, and gracious mom role than they did in the authoratative, nagging, and slave-driving role.

I know I can even look back and say that about my older kids. Thankfully, they are still at home, at least for a few more years, and the things I do now and every day can still make a significant impact in their lives and on their hearts.

There are so many ridiculously funny things that we moms give up…things like going to the bathroom by ourselves, taking a shower that lasts more than two seconds, or being able to prepare a meal without crying kids hanging off our legs. I wrote about some of these things in You Know You’re a Mom When…And while these are the things that drive us crazy, they are also the kinds of things that make us a mom, aren’t they?

When looking back over their lives as a mom to young children, so often these moms wish they had spent less time being irritated by these things and more time just accepting, or even laughing at these things.

What if we did that now? What if we as moms spent less time muttering about answering the same questions for the 100th time in one day or having our liquid foundation poured all over the bathroom floor (I’ll have to tell you about this one sometime), and just lived in those moments? What if we only loved in those moments?

It is in this same vein that I have become convinced of this truth:

children are not an inconvenience

Sit with that for a moment. Linger there. Savor that thought. Isn’t it deep?

When we become moms, we are given the opportunity to see the world around us through new eyes. For example, I had been to Disney World several times while I was growing up, but nothing about all of those experiences combined compared with the experience I had when watching my seven year old daughter see Cinderella’s castle for the first time. In that moment, it was like I saw the world around me in 3D. Time stood still, and every little breath was magnified.

Experiences like these unfold every day, if we are watching for them. In this case, we must vigilantly watch with our hearts and not so much with our eyes in order to see.

It’s Monday. This week, in those moments when we want so badly to just have a moment of peace in the bathroom by ourselves only to see hands appear under the door, let’s remember this thought. Let’s remember that children are not an inconvenience, but an invitation to see the world through different eyes.

Let’s savor, let’s linger, let’s fully internalize every moment we are given with our kids this week – even the moments that threaten to break us. Let’s live with intention as moms this week.

Then, next Monday join me at The Intentional Mom on Facebook where we can share some of our experiences in seeing the world in vibrant color. If you have not already done so, like The Intentional Mom on Facebook to see some of what I post in your newsfeed. I generally share about 15 things a day…inspirational, funny, and yummy things.

Let’s try this starting today, and then next Monday let’s celebrate our victories and encourage one another.

Are you ready to see through different eyes?

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