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A Mother's Devotion
“Behold, I
will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not
be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19 (NAS)
Ahhhh,
springtime – the traditional symbol of new beginnings. We’ve now
been officially blessed with the first day of spring, and for me, it was
a particularly meaningful “new beginning”; it was the first time I’ve ever
grown anything from scratch. You see, I don’t have a green thumb – not even
a green knuckle or fingernail. I jokingly tell friends and family, when they
frown at my drooping houseplants, that I am good with people, not plants.
I cannot tell you the number of times that I have planted a seed of some
kind at the urging of one or both of my boys, in the hopes of growing something,
anything, and turning up nothing but brittle brown shoots that crumble and
blow away in the wind. It’s sad. Really. But this time, things were different.
My youngest,
Levi, recently announced to me that he needed to plant some bean seeds
for a school project, and record the various stages of growth. I must have
had that deer-in-the-headlights look on my face when he broke the news
to me, because he immediately put his hand on my shoulder, and in his seven-year-old
savvy, said, “don’t worry mom; I’ll water them.” Smart
kid – he knows my biggest downfall with foliage is that I forget to water
it. Hey, I remember to feed my kids, and water my dogs – two out of three
ain’t bad.
When Levi and
I read the instructions in his schoolbook, I was even more skeptical about
the success of these little seeds. We were to plant them in a plastic container
in-between layers of cotton, then keep them in a sunny spot in the house,
and water them everyday. That’s it.
That’s it? You’ve
got to be kidding, I mused. Plastic, cotton,
and seeds. How is that going to work? I wondered to myself. That
just seems too simple. Where’s the dirt, the hoeing, and the sweating
that is required to grow a garden? To Levi however, I smiled, and quipped, “this will be great!” Then, I prayed for a miracle. And that’s exactly
what I got. (If you knew my history with plants, you would agree that the
outcome was indeed divine intervention – or at least the fact that Levi
was in charge of the watering!)
Within five days, we had little green shoots emerging from the bed of cotton.
A few days later, stalks begin springing up out of the container, and a few
even donned tiny green beans! No way! I stared in wonder at the amazingly
healthy new life Levi was cultivating. Levi was so tickled, he smiled
for days, and doted over his beans, watering them, touching them gently,
talking to them, and staring at them in wonder daily (he was probably as
amazed as I that we actually grew something from scratch at our house!) Now,
a few weeks into this bean project, I smile in fascination at the 10-inch
stalks springing out of their bed of cotton. If God can make new life out
of a seed, some cotton, a little sunshine and water, how much more can he
make out of our lives?
This whole bean
thing has gotten me thinking; perhaps I’ve been going about
this parenting business all wrong – I can often make it too complicated.
Not just with the life of a bean, but with my life as well. Sometimes, I
make things too hard – I worry too much, or try too hard, or put my focus
on the wrong things, and then I get all tangled up inside and wither. When
I keep life simple, and parenting even simpler, I thrive, just like our beans.
When I forget about all of the complications that life brings, and simply
love my kids, they thrive. An environment rooted in God’s Word, watered with
the love and acceptance of family and friends, and fortified with the sunny
beams of faith in Christ, will produce an amazingly healthy life.
If
you enjoyed this week's excerpt from Laura Sabin Riley's book, "All
Mothers Are Working Mothers: A Devotional for Stay-at-Home Moms
and Those Who Would Like to Be," you can order it by clicking
here. In addition to her book, Laura is a contributing author
to a dozen compilation books, including the best-selling "God's
Vitamin C for the Spirit."
Laura
is also a popular conference speaker, and while she loves encouraging,
equipping, and empowering men and women around the country on a
variety of topics, her primary passion is her family; she is a single
mother of two boys.
Laura
is a graduate of CLASS (Christian Leaders Authors and Speakers Seminars)
and a member of AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association).
You can contact Laura by e-mail at: lauraspeaks@integrity.com
or visit her website, www.lauraspeaks.com
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