Hey Friend,
I've been busy lately getting estimates on more than several projects to fix up my home. My house is sixteen years old. My kids (ages 24 and 20) have done most of their growing up inside these walls. For both my daughter and son, our home was always the place to gather. Most friends knew our door was always open and the welcome mat was well worn.
I survey the upstairs' hallways. There are scuffs, streaks and dents from endless games of hallway baseball. The bonus room rug is well worn from knee hockey and the blinds are bent from wayward pucks. There are nail polish spills in my daughter's room from countless sleepovers and her door still has tacky tape spots from pictures of cute boys and rainbow marker notes passed from friends at school.
The most gaping repair will be where my son put his fist through his wall in teenaged angst over a break up with a girl. The list of projects grows, but in retrospect, I wouldn't change a minute of it. Life was lived here! Even stains from the family dog (that shampooing wouldn't erase) hold a place in my heart for four legged unconditional love that has since passed away.
There's nothing a little spackle won't fix. Fresh paint, new carpets, hardwoods refinished - all hold a price, but the love lived and shared here is priceless.
When I would tuck my children in at night, I would pray silently to God that He would fill in (spackle) the places in my children's hearts where I messed up or fell short that day. God is great at filling in the cracks our humanness leaves behind.
In fact, His grace is sufficient for all our needs and our children's needs.
My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9)
Learn to love these days knowing His mercies are new every morning.
Your mercies are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:23)
These mornings and days will pass all too quickly, though at times they may seem endless. So Carpe Diem and if the Diem is crazy, seize it anyway. Yes, learn to love these days!
My son, Steven (20), recently wrote in a card to me, "Mom, thank you for being a Godly roll model for me and for spending time with me. I loved the days when we would sit in our chairs and talk and 'watch the world go by'.... Love, Steven."
Yes, a little spackle will do the trick.
I want to wish all mothers out there a very Happy Early Mother's Day. You may not be perfect, but you are God's perfect choice for your children. Put down the laundry and pick up a little (or big hand) and share this priceless time with your children.
Love,
Bev
