Thanksgiving is a chosen mindset of expression for receiving the differing dynamics of our life journey. One often chases after visions of what is to come with a fierceness of heart for the achievable. Places of accomplishment are received out of a journey of experiences and life lived and it is in perspective where thanksgiving lies. As I rest upon the teaching ground of this particular season, I am reminded that it is not in the highs and the lows of the journey that have tended my soul the deepest, but rather, it has been thru the slow lingering of the in-betweens that have tilled the growth of my heart with the ripest harvest.
Motherhood ushers one into a battlefield of heart as these places encircle mindset:
- Visions for a mother to see a child travel thru the milestones with strength and with integrity
- Building a tribe of community in friendship
- Developing strength from investment of child relationship
- Living in eyes wide open to the world
These dynamics take a tilling of patience and hard work as investments do not come with easy consistency. In order to battle against the pressed nature of relationship building, it is necessary to voice places of thanksgiving within the journey. With that focus, I wrote this letter of perspective to you:
Dear Mom on the journey,
Long before your child is in arms a lingering presence of anticipation for the future is deeply rooted within you. Dreams are written on your heart about what the motherhood road would look like and one can often wonder about all the possibilities of what is to come.
Thank you for pausing in the betweens of reaching for future achievements and allowing rest to become you even amidst the middle of the night feedings, hours of tableside homework, shuttle bus from activities, maintaining the flow of your home, and balancing all the rest. Those times that you took time to go for a walk, take a nap, rise early for quiet time, and retreated away on a date night or girls trip meant that you were filling up your cup in order to continue being an outpouring for others. Thank you for knowing that it is never selfish to invest in you as well.
Being a mother can be built on days of strength and togetherness while at the same time be distracted by isolation and comparative pulls. It is no easy task to pour into the tribe of community and wade thru the waters of different personalities merged together. Yet, its teaching ground is worth the support and the accountability granted when tilled with consistency.
Thank you for showing up to the play date time and again, even if you left feeling frustrated by a distance from participation because of children’s needs. Thank you for the ways that you reach out to other moms who understand this blessed chaos of motherhood and give you safe places to voice the hard places. Thank you for rising up and choosing to not do it alone, giving other people the gift of your brave vulnerability. Thank you for knowing that life is richer with community and for putting forth the efforts to let yourself be known as you reach out to know others.
One can often hold certain expectations of what a child will become and which qualities will rise up in their spirits, so it can be quite the surprise when we witness reality shifts from those visions.
Thank you for taking the time to learn your child for who they are and not for the expectations that you put on them. Thank you for looking up on the journey and seeing eyes fixated on yours and speaking voice of safety and presence to your loved ones. Thank you for allowing tender grace to teach you time and again in the moments where you falter and to know that you are enough even on those days where you feel an anchored attack besiege you. Thank you for taking moments to capture images of your littles opening their eyes, taking their first steps, walking into new transitions, and exploring the world around you for those are the moments that will breathe back into you once you celebrate their maturity entering adulthood knowing that you have loved them well toward their independence.
Distractible images of “bigger is better, busier is more engaged, and rest is often unseen” can fiercely chase after one’s mind. RISE ABOVE THAT dear friend and know that by balancing your role with “less is more, saying yes to the right places gives value, and reprieve is strength” will move mountains in your season. Thank you for being a journeyer and learning how to trek the highs and the lows, while giving thanksgiving in the in-betweens.
