Children are a blessing

I shared these thoughts with a friend and mentor today. She asked me if I had a blog, encouraging me to share the gifts of these insights. Admittedly, I loved being able to share my thoughts, feelings and insights, and used to do so on this blog with less reservation. Maybe sharing freely became too easy and I shared too much, opening myself up to criticism and exposing too much to the world. And then I said less, which turned into saying almost nothing at all. I want to take a stab at sharing my heart and thoughts again....

I found myself this week in a place where I had things I wanted to do, a task to be accomplished. I included my children in this task, as I do with most things I do. But due to some outside circumstances, and maybe an effort to do too much, these kids were getting tired. They were not cooperating. They were even beginning to whine about being there at all...

We were on day #2 at Grandma and Grandpa's house (guaranteed to wear them out) and we decided to go pick blueberries outside of town. My desired task was to fill every bucket that we had brought with us. But my kids were getting tired and bored. I found myself vacillating between encouraging them to hold out longer and being in total frustration with their lack of cooperation with MY desired task. And then, I had this thought...

Short of our Salvation in Christ, which is a free gift, blessings are rarely an easy gift to receive. God will bless us because he wants better for us, which will require us to change for the better, grow, generally through challenges. So yes, Children are a Blessing! God has intended that I would be blessed by how my heart is changed.

I LOVE the challenges of motherhood. I don't always LIKE the challenges in those moments, but I know that as I work through those challenges, and even make mistakes in my chosen response to those challenges, that I am changed and grown.