My Greatest Treasurers….here on earth…..Happy Birthday! 

I am grateful….to be the mother of a daughter is a true blessing.  Daughters are treasures the heart wraps around all of your life giving you joy and light like only a daughter can. 

And, equally but differently, I am blessed to be the mother…of not just one, but two sons.  Sons are the gems in the heart of a mother which embolden her to be strong and courageous and brave.

My sons, while coming as twins do….within minutes of one another are so very different in ways only my mother’s heart can see.  While others claim a likeness which makes them hard to tell apart, I have never once had that problem.  Even in the womb, Baby A was quiet, reserved and strong while Baby B was active, busy and bounding.

God walked me through a very special journey to arrive at motherhood of sons.  He took me to places that, while painful and frightening at the time, caused me to grow in faith and trust and love as only God can. 

I am not special of person nor deserving of my children.  I think, rather, God knew that in my weakness, I would grow stronger with my children, because of my children.  I think God, in His infinite and tender mercy and wisdom knew that I needed my children to grow me into the person God intended…

I love my children….deeply….”as only their mother can”..

I love Madison more than all the sand on all of the beaches in all of the world.

I love Kenton more than all the stars in all the skies in all of the world.

I love Johnson more than all the blades of grass in all the fields in all of the world.

I love little baby Joseph more than all the dreams and wishes and prayers of childhood….

I am not only a mother, I am a grateful mother.  Today, May 31^st in the wee hours of the morning, I gave birth to two precious sons who would forever change my heart, my life, my personhood. 

My sons, while different, have some truths in common…some bonding seams of being which make them brothers…created together by father, by mother and knitted by God.

I noticed these things as I prepared a “Name Board” for each of my sons for their Seventeenth Birthday tomorrow.  I have grown to love this new tradition of “name boards” which Ian initiated a year ago for me.  You write the name of the person at the top and then list words to describe that person..one word for each year of life plus "God’s"…

These are not professionally crafted, perfectly made name boards…these are rough hewn wooden boards with names printed on white paper and cut out by hand, glued in place and lovingly- thought- through- boards.

As of tomorrow, all five of us Young-McKenzies will have a name board…with words like

“precious….selfless….expressive….rapper….honorable….athletic…warrior……sweetheart” written on them.

Ian initiated this “work board” tradition in an attempt to give me a more positive view of myself.  He posted the board on the wall of my bathroom so that each morning as I ready myself for work, I am able to view how he sees me….how he believes God sees me.

It works.

It works very well.

Such a smallish, little gift…

Such a large, impactive gift…

And so, as I ready our family for Seventeenth Birthday Celebrations….for the lives of my sons….I sit at my desk and pray God gives me the words to describe my sons…who they are now and who God will grow them into in the future.

I ask their Ladder, their sister and their Grandparents for input….it is a joint effort.

Words are powerful….just like sons and daughter.

And, the words we surround our children with will mold and shape and form their hearts.

Let them be loving..let them be kind...let them be truthful...

Let them be God's...

Blessed to be the mother of K and J.....and M.

Especially today,

Lesa

Listen Less to Your Own Thoughts and More to God's Thoughts....

Listen less to your own thoughts and more to God's thoughts
-- François Fénelon

When there are five of you in a medium sized home, it can be difficult to find quiet.  Don’t get me wrong, I love to hear the voices of my children and husband.  I love our early am chatter as we shuffle about in hushed voices and quiet slippers (well, most of us).  I love our “home from school/work” talks which are full of laughter and light and smiles (well, most times).  I enjoy the dusk conversations after dinner has been eaten and the dishes are washed (well, when we get to eat together).  Conversation is a constant in our home.

We are not perfect.  I will never ever again strive to provide the image that we are  perfect.  We have our moments of raised voices and mean words, but they are the exception rather than the rule and are substantially less and less all the time than in the past. We have our moments of highly charged opinions, stubborn refusal to share the remote and not wanting to do our chores.  But, they occur less and less.

We have a lot of “our words”, thankfully, mostly good words….but, they are mostly “ours”.

And, what bothers me most….what we are trying to work on…what we strive to grow in is listening less to our own thoughts and more to God’s.

How does a family go about doing that?  Good question.

When my children were young and I was their sole entertainment director, our lives were filled with K-love, Barney, Bible Men Two and Veggie Tales.  Those years have to be some of the sweetest years of our lives.  They started in 1992 and ended in 2002.  Yes, I can date them.

The reason I can date them is that in 2002, we started listening less to God and more to ourselves, our tv, our radios then Ipods.  We heard more game whistles, more cracks of bats, and less Bible story movies, Bible story tales and prayers of our children.

You cannot do that.

Well, you CAN do that but it will be at great cost.

And, once you replace the voice of God in your home with the voice of the world, it is hard to go back…hard to shut that door….hard to start over.

I love the saying from Oprah, “once you know better you should do better”.  That is where we are in our lives.  Quietly, methodically, carefully trying to lover the volume on the world’s voices and increase the voice of God.

It is a sweet, sweet sound.

But, it comes with great effort.

I envy those friends of mine whose children are smallish and whose influence of their children is primary.  To be able to go back then and understand what I do now, would be a great blessing.

But, I cannot do that.

So, I must carry on with where we are....praying God will remind my children of the foundation of their youth and will forgive the season of lapse.

And, I believe He will.

I think one of the things I most love about God, other than the fact He is God, is that He sees the very very best in us.  He believes the best in us.  He grows the best in us if we but ask.  No matter what. All the time.  Regardless.

He provides in us hope of change......and, because of Him, we are able to do so.

And, so I have great confidence that in this world where we are working to lower the volume of the world in our home and increase the volume of Him...that we will make progress....

We have to.

Our lives, our legacy and our little-ones-yet-to-come depend on it.

So, we try.  Against the odds, we try.

Against the television, cable, Ipod, Ipad, bored teenaged children, poorly versed adults, mean-spirited broadcasters, cell phones, and general public, we strive...

to take back our words....

and, instead....

listen more to God's.

“Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children will be many in the land of the Lord…”  Deuteronomy 11: 18-21

Blessings,

Lesa