YOU BE YOU.

at the start of another new year our thoughts begin to fill with goals, aspirations and the new adventures ahead of us. while i have plenty of goals for this coming year, another word seems more fitting for where my heart is at.

focus. "a central point, as of attraction, attention, or activity."

what is our central point? this little family.

this year i want our focus to be set inward. keeping our hearts focused on jesus and guiding our children's hearts toward jesus. there are many seasons in life, all of which carry a great importance, but this time with our children passes by so very quickly. i plan to pour all i can into these precious ones the lord has entrusted to us.

something has been in the forefront of my heart the past few weeks and i can't seem to think about much else.

how do our lives and the people around influence who we become and how do we preserve the identity god has given to each of us?

always, without exception, we are judged by others. that can make finding and accepting our own identities very difficult. our society promotes and encourages cookie cutter children, especially within the walls of school buildings. kids grow up trying to squeeze into the one size fits all mold, which most certainly was not created for them by their heavenly father. they are labeled, scrutinized, weighed and measured by those who carry the arrogance of "we know what's best for you". i'm sorry to say it, but many parents are guilty of this same disservice to their children, myself included. i will continue to pray that god would search my heart and keep it free from thoughts like that. i don't want to control my kids or force them to fit into some absurd identity that society deems as appropriate. i simply want to be a participant in their lives, sharing what wisdom i have with them while they develop their own character and identity.

so here is my view of these little beings that i am surround by day in and day out:

they were fearfully and wonderfully made by the lord. they were given their own hearts, their own minds, their own passions and desires. they were entrusted to me to nurture, love, cherish, honor, respect and guide. they are deserving of the opportunity to become who they choose to be and to exercise the free will god gave to them. they are unique and set apart to their very core. they are free to make their own choices in life and free to dismiss anyone that tells them otherwise. they are not required to live by the standards of another or to accept judgements placed on them by another. they are independent, eccentric, perfect. they are a treasure and a gift from god.

they are precisely who they were meant to be.



-bette


*a few similar posts i loved reading:

are homeschooled kids weird?
i don't care if my kids ever fit in.
in pursuit of the thing.
what kind of work do we value?
unsolicited evaluation is the enemy of creativity.
TED talk about how schools kill creativity.