What You're Looking For is In Your Backyard

The gift of motherhood has proven to humble me more than any other single experience I have encountered up to this point in life (can I get an amen!? ;). That being said, I have naturally sought out wise counsel from godly seasoned mamas who have been down this road ahead of me. The light God has shed before them on his design for raising little ones has powerfully served to benefit my heart as well. I have a few favorite mama-authors, more of whom I'll mention in future posts, but one of my all-time faves is Sally Clarkson (thanks to Jen Sprayberry for introducing her to me!).

With the outburst of creative beauty swirling all around us during this Spring season, I cannot help but be confronted daily with the awesome majesty of God's vast grandeur and power. And since our primary goal as Christian parents is to, with fear and trembling and only through God's grace, teach our children the wonders of God (so that they, in turn, will learn to love and glorify him), it stands to reason that we should seek to surround our precious ones with as much of his natural creative works as possible - especially during this gorgeous time of year where every nook and cranny seems to be bursting with new life. As Sally Clarkson states in her book The Mission of Motherhood (pp.186-187),

"So many of us in our plastic, industrial world spend the bulk of our lives apart from any true natural beauty. We travel inside protected cars and feel the wind, rain, and snow on our faces only as we move from one enclosure to another. So many children in our industrial society grow up surrounded by glass, plastic, steel and asphalt. They spend most of their time with machines - televisions and stereos, game consoles and computers, and cars. They are rarely exposed to the natural elements that were meant to daily confront our soul with the greatness of God.

No wonder current generations seem to give in so easily to doubt and skepticism! They have had little opportunity to wonder at the greatness of God in the vast ocean or in the middle of a snowy blizzard or felt tiny when standing under the great canopy of stars. There is something about the direct experience of God's natural world that tends to put our human doubts and questions into perspective...That's why one of the greatest gifts we can give our children is exposure to this magnificent Creator through the wonderful things he has made. Their appetites for life need to be built on those things that reflect the image of God through the work of his fingers. Practically speaking, that means that one of the most important things I can do as a mother is get my children - and me! - outdoors as much as possible."

With this truth in mind, the next time my sweet 3-year old daughter asks for me to go outside with her to pick flowers in the yard, regardless of how full my sink is with dirty dishes or high my pile of laundry is on the living room floor, for the Lord's glory, I must go! Souls are eternal - dishes and laundry are temporary.