Folding Laundry: Give Yourself Grace

Friday, February 20, 2015

Give Yourself Grace

This week has been so good. I'm still processing all that we learned at our couples retreat this past weekend, looking over my notes and thinking it over.

We had such a wonderful time, and in contrast to other years I came home with new goals that didn't really have anything to do with marriage; the goals had everything to do with marriage. We were given little golden nuggets of truth: loving God's Word, making prayer a priority, dying to self, walking in the spirit and doing it all with humility. Getting these down is pretty much the formula to the perfect marriage, right?! Of course, the last point I took away from it was "growing in grace" and allowing yourself leeway when you mess up. Which I inevitably will numerous times a day, because I'm human. So, while there are no expectations or plans to be a perfect wife/mom/woman, I'm aiming for higher ground--which is what we should always be doing anyway, right?

We as woman are so hard on ourselves. While being tender and gracious to others, we scrutinize everything about our own selves: weight, looks, hair and the inward "man of the heart" doesn't get a break either. We yell at the kids and we beat ourselves up for it. We get guilty because we didn't spend much time with the kids that day, or because we were sarcastic with our husband.

Listen, dear Mommy. You are doing the best you can. Allow yourself to grow in grace! God allows you too, so try treating yourself how Jesus treats you as his beautiful bride. You are the perfect mommy for your children, and they are the best little forgivers (just made that word up) ever. Give yourself some leeway while doing the best that you can. It is enough!

Favorite photos from this week:

If he were a girl, he wouldn't need mascara, that's for sure!

Love seeing him learn and explore more and more each day. This is his current favorite toy that lights up and sings. He loves pushing the buttons over and over :)