"So much of a mother’s work – the laborious growing of a human, the nurturing of a soul, the quiet and gentle molding of a child – doesn’t seem to offer an obvious, fulsome harvest. But the fruit is there, nonetheless, and there’s often more of that fruit when there’s a certain dying to self and in the case of bed rest, a dying to busyness."
-Kate Wicker
What a great reminder this is! And not just for bed rest, for anytime. I'm not sure how much fruit will come of me vacuuming the stairs for the 3rd time this month, or washing the couch cushions yet again. But I do know that snuggling with my babies, taking the time to read them a story (or 6!) or dropping my "busyness" to color a picture with them will reap the only kind of harvest that I should be concerned with. Every day with my children is a gift. I am not promised this same gift tomorrow. When the day comes that I have all day to clean and mark things off my to-do list, this will also be the day when my gifts will no longer need Mommy. I am the queen of "busyness" and I can feel the Lord's hand on me asking me to be still. To rest and take time to live life, not fly through it. Thank you, Lord, for being so merciful, and showing in so many ways the past 5 days, your heart.
I'm, obviously (haha!), not on bed rest but I needed to read this... I've been worrying and feeling stressed over all the little things being messy that I just need to chill out with the kids, let them climb on me, and perhaps be on "bed rest" tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you're on bed rest but thank you for writing this...