Listen

This world is full of noise. Voices. Music. Sirens. Sounds. The hardest thing to do sometimes is listen. I implore you my loves, please listen.

Listen when your grandma tells you a story about when she was eight, or when she asks you to stay a few minutes more. Listen and tuck it deep in your heart because it can stay there forever and ever but she won’t, and you’ll miss her voice and stories terribly.

 Listen to the summer bugs in the trees holding on tight to August, and the snow falling deep in winter, and the rain falling in the spring. Every season has a beautiful gift for our ears but we can easily miss it if we are hurrying, or yearning for a different season, or grumpy.

Listen to the story of the stranger, the one you assumed you knew all about. Don’t wince when the story gets painful, only nod and offer an encouraging, gentle smile. Listen carefully in order to know their heart, people are hurting and want to be heard.

Listen for what your children are saying when they have something to tell you. They often won’t come right out with where the ache is, or the worry. We are equipped as mothers to hear past the words into the pain, listen so closely for it and then assure them however you can.

Be You Bravely

from etsy

For a while you’ll wonder who “you” are. You’ll feel the tug of what your dad and I want “you” to be. And you’ll become aware of what a host of other people seem to want “you” to be, too. You’ll see so many options, the buffet of life, with anything possible but only enough time for a few of the best. You’ll watch friends make their choices and you’ll wonder if you should follow. You’ll start down a path and find it daunting or unfulfilling or foreboding and you’ll decide to turn back. Eventually you’ll get to wrestling with who God wants “you” to be. You’ll sit for a long while with your hands out for an answer and he’ll reach out and hold them while you both wait. And after a long time and all that difficult wondering, you’ll start to settle down and you’ll start to know.

As you sink into who “you” are, be you bravely. Whether your path takes you to new places or leaves you right where you are, be you bravely. When others find success and happiness in places that are not yours, be you bravely. When you are alone in your you-ness, be you bravely. When you catch a sneer or scorn being thrown your way, be you bravely. When you feel ordinary, be you bravely. When you are lucky enough to be truly “you”, be you bravely.