"This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. " Psalm 118:24

Monday, May 17, 2010

A 10 Point Manifesto for Joyful Mothering

From here....(can you tell I recently learned how to make links on the blog ;) )

1. Today, I will make our home a house of prayer. I will pray at set times. And I willinvite our children to come move into an interior space that lives with God.

2. Today, I will transfigure all things into beauty, and I will refuse to see anything else.

3. Today, I will not have any emergencies. There are no emergencies! Only amateurs hurry.

4. Today, when stress mounts, I pray to dismount it with gratitude. My stress management plan will be intervention with verbal thanks. I can only feel one feeling at a time, and I choose to give thanks at all times. Fight feeling with feeling!

5. Today, I will pray to speak words that are only STRONG words, words that make these children feel strong. Grace words. Grace is the only non-toxic air. All other words I breathe are death words.

6. Today, I will pray to be consistently consistent. I will create safe rhythms that our children can find security in. I will create daily ceremonies because everyday we are CELEBRATING the gift of now!

7. Today, the moment when I am most repelled by a child's behavior, that is my sign to draw the very closest to that child.

8. Today, I will hug each of my children as many times as I serve them meals -- because children's hearts feed on touch. I'll look for as many opportunities to touch my children today as possible --- the taller they are, the more so.

9. Today, my priorities will be all Things Unseen.

10. Today, I will laugh! And I will let the little children laugh! I will create a culture of JOY!


P.S. Thanks to my friend Sarah for pointing me towards these reminders today.

3 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness - these are incredible, life-changing words. I'm going to post them on my refrigerator for this summer when the kids are home all day. I can hardly wait!!

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  2. You're welcome. :) They have been on my fridge since last night and I have read them many times today. Failed on some of them before 9:00am, but it's a process, right?

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  3. i LOVE this! i am going to print it off. thanks so much for sharing!

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