Anatomy of a Mama's Wrinkles

Wrinkles are a sign of age, right? A trophy to some, saying, "Look what I've been through! Years and years of it, and I'm still here!" I think most wrinkles are beautiful, like on the paper thin skin next to an old woman's eyes, or the back of a hand that has worked hard every day of its life.

But so far, the only wrinkles in my life are to be navigated, and they are mostly seen as annoyances, "hiccups" in my day. A stumble in my mothering, a failure in my parenting.

I rise early. Perhaps not as early as some, but 6:30 a.m. in my home still carries the dark of the night with it, deep breathing from my children's rooms, and a whiffling snore from the bed as I leave my husband behind. It is my quiet time, and more and more I find myself waking before the alarm goes off, my mind clear, my spirit anxious to hear.

I light the lantern at the kitchen table, so as not to brighten the house too early and wake my lightest sleeper, Corban. With my face turned towards the warm flame, I talk with the Lord, laying before Him my family, friends (many of you!) and begging his grace upon my day. Then I spread my Bible open before me, searching the pages for inspiration. For food that will fill the hours ahead.

This morning I concluded my reading of Isaiah. (Miriam, since we spoke of it, I have been reading this daily; how I long to yield and be good fruit!) And when I finished, I continued my feast with precious words from a magazine called Above Rubies. (If you don't receive this, you would be delighted to! From motherhood to nutrition, etiquette, loving your husband, scouring the Word, poetry, adoption, mission work... it is full of priceless wisdom.)

I was struck by an article entitled, "Gnitnerap: Parenting Backwards", and the author (Carey Keavey) spoke of raising our children as if reading a really good biography. Only we, as parents, should look ahead to a happy ending and work our way back to the first page, NOW. She went on to define our examples to our children, digging deep into topics such as Character Examples (Do we expect honesty of our children, only to promise something and go back on it? Now our integrity is at stake!) and Priority Example (minute by minute sacrifices).

I was so blessed by these words this morning. Daily, I am mindful of my role, and how it is a constantly growing, shifting place to be, this motherhood. And I was reminded of words that I read long ago, that sharpened me in my role. I somehow let the habit of reading them taper off, but I would like to begin again.

(Grab your Bibles, ladies!)

Commands for Fathers and Mothers from the Word:

· Availability – morning, noon, and night (Deuteronomy 6:6-7)

· Involvement – interacting, discussing, thinking and processing life together (Ephesians 6:4)

· Teaching – the Scriptures, a biblical world-view (Psalm 78:5-6, Deuteronomy 4:10, Ephesians 6:4)

· Training – helping a child develop skills and discover his strengths (Proverbs 22:6)

· Discipline – teaching the fear of the Lord, drawing the line consistently, lovingly, firmly (Ephesians 6:4, Hebrews 12:5-11, Proverbs 13:24, 19:18, 22:15, 23:13-14, 29:15-17)

· Nurture – providing an environment of constant verbal support, freedom to fail, acceptance, affection, unconditional love (Titus 2:4, 2 Timothy 1:7, Ephesians 4:29-32, 5:1-2, Galatians 5:22, 1 Peter 3:8-9)

· Modeling with Integrity – living what you say, being a model by which a child can learn by “catching” the essence of godly living (Deuteronomy 4:9, 15, 23; Proverbs 10:9, 11:3; Psalm 37:18, 37).

(Found here, in a moment of frustration that ended with the words "Christian Mother" being entered into my search engine - more than a year ago!)

Isn't it great to have a compass? Because as long as there are children and dirt in the world, there will be wrinkles to navigate.

Life gets fuzzy. Some days, there is a flurry of cheerio dust that clouds my eyes. And on other days, life is quiet, settled, but I still cannot hear Him. Searching the Word becomes difficult, and I find myself flipping through the thin pages, traveling back and forth too quickly for any seed to fall on my soil.

But armed with my commands as a mama and the Word it comes from, I hope to find my days separating into layers as I strip down to the essence of my role. It's early, though, and while I do not look forward to the failures (as I gloss over a command in my haste to be *right*, and thus bring those wrinkles into my day) it is the wringing of motherhood that begins to drain me of the "unimportant importants", and the sharpening of the iron follows.

And so I am being wrung. I'll let you know if the wrinkles come out. But personally, I don't think an ending is quite as happy without them, do you?

(I couldn't resist!)