Who is my neighbour?

How is it three months since I last posted?! Crazy. This week has seen both my little cherubs heading off into higher places of learning, and so I had one hallowed (unlike the previous four harrowing) morning of peacefulness when I actually looked around my house rather than rushing through it, and I noticed something chalked up on the top of our blackboard. It occurred to me that this was the perfect quotation to read this week – I have been introduced to a whole new myriad of actual neighbours whilst hovering anxiously in the playground – and my holey brain has retained a sum total of two of their names (never mind all their kids names!). Who is my neighbour indeed.

Happy Friday!

p.s if you’re looking for a spiritual boost, this blackboard quotation writing has been working really well for us as a family. Jon chooses a different quote for each week, and not only does it give me inspiration for the day, it also provides an insight into what Jon has been thinking about spiritually this week. Not always easy to find the time to sit and talk about those things.

What about you mums and dads? How have you been finding these going back to school weeks? Has it made life easier or harder? Has it raised any spiritual questions? Let me know, so we can all share any tips or answer questions.

 

Covet

Dear mums (and dads, and others!),

I’ve been meaning to write a follow up to the last post about praying with children (note to self: write blog post about finding time to write blog posts), but haven’t managed it yet in between all of the sicknesses (mine), tantrums (not all mine) and general life chaos (definitely mine). And so here’s a post about that very thought. I want to do 2 things; firstly, to draw your attention to this article http://www.raisinggodlychildren.org/2013/01/dear-moms-jesus-wants-you-to-chill-out.html,

and secondly, to think super-quickly about a little point from said article, “don’t make homemade bread simply because you see other moms posting pictures of their homemade bread on Facebook.”

We all know that to covet is a sin. But think how easily we slip into it – more so than, let’s say, stealing, which we would perhaps have stronger guilty feelings about. This is something that I see creeping into my own behaviour. If you’re a stay-at-home mum, then it’s easy to look at Facebook, Pinterest (this one perhaps more than others) and blogs without being called into question for doing it. We don’t have a boss looking over our shoulder, or someone who goes through our internet history. Perhaps we’re looking at other houses, decorating, parenting styles. Or going to a play-date at a friend’s house and thinking ‘that’s a great toy/playroom/puzzle/craft idea…I need to do that’. It seems harmless enough – almost like we’re complimenting the other mum on their choices. But actually it’s generating a feeling of not having enough or doing enough. I’m not sure that it’s particularly easy to feel content with what you have. It seems like it should be an active feeling that requires a bit of work, rather than a passive feeling that we’re born with. Let’s work hard this week to register all of our many blessings.

lots of love and relaxing thoughts to you all x

p.s what do you think? do mums find it harder to resist coveting than everyone else? Are you a working mum and find it a similar problem?

p.p.s praying with children part 2 coming up next…see here for part 1

Blogs and other media

This week’s post is some recommendations for Christian blogs written by women, brought to us by Emma Neate. Do you have any favourites that you can share?

“Here are some suggestions to begin with…

1. Rachel Held Evans is a Christian writer and blogger who quite often has a fresh, Christ-centred perspective on current issues. I don’t necessarily agree with everything she puts out there, but her humility makes me warm to her, and the content certainly gives me food for thought: http://rachelheldevans.com/blog/

This is a good example of a post in response to women being told that they belong at home: http://rachelheldevans.com/blog/men-titus-2-treatment?rq=Sweating

2. Kat Lee has a website which hosts regular podcast interviews about Christian motherhood, mostly interviews with people who have written parenting books (she’s interviewing them partly so they can promote their book) but they normally make a few good points: http://inspiredtoaction.com

3. Christian radio. This is been a recent discovery, but I love it! Ucb is the name of the station, which, if you’ve got digital radio you can find under ‘u’. Lots of practical lifestyle anecdotes, nice music, and NO ADVERTS! I put it on in the kitchen when I’m cooking and that way I’m having a spriritual recharge whilst also feeding my family – gotta love killing two birds with one stone!”

Image credit: both images are snapshots from the recommended websites