Things Learned from
the Fire
Because of the multiple fires burning in our state, it’s
smokier now than when the fire was a mile away. I’ll never complain about smoke
again. I have a house. Five hundred of my neighbors don’t. Smoke is a good
reminder to pray for them and the firefighters who are still at war with blazes
all over the state. Bless you, firefighters.
Things Learned from
the Fire about the Kind of Mom I Want to Be
A friend of mine left her house to take her son to a music
lesson, leaving her three daughters at home. The Black Forest fire broke out
while she was away. Because it ignited in the middle of the day, this was the
case for a lot of families with teenage children. My friend’s girls were
fine—they were amazing under pressure, actually—but I resolved not to leave my
kids at home alone at all while the fire was burning. And guess what? I
actually enjoyed hauling them to Walmart and the bank and on all my other
errands. It’s a long stretch from infants to teenagers, and like everyone else,
I’m loving the new freedom I have to leave my kids at home without me
sometimes. But I also don’t want to get into the easy habit of leaving them at
home in their own world while I go off into mine all the time. I want them to
be part of my world. It’s good for them to learn how to compare prices and make
returns at Walmart. And with their help, I was able to complete my shopping in
about half the time. When my nest is empty, I’ll have plenty of time to zip
around in my cute little car running errands by myself. For now, I want to be
with these awesome kids. Usually.
Things Learned from
Sending My Daughter to Camp
Five years ago I agonized over sending my little boy to
camp. I had visions of him sunburned, stinky, filled with head lice, and eating
nothing but hot dogs and sugar for five days. Totally different sending my
daughter off for five days. I know I can trust her to operate a tube of
sunscreen and brush her teeth every day, but oh how I worried about her heart.
Would she feel included? Would other girls be kind to her sensitive little
heart? Would her counselor love on her? Would she speak up if she were sad, or
would she just pull way and isolate herself? These concerns kept me praying a
lot more this week than when I was just hoping my boy child would change his
socks. Addison came home yesterday, happy, healthy, and with some newly
acquired emotional strength that made it worth every penny we spent on camp.
And Finally, Things
Learned from the Internet This Week
My struggle to balance God’s commands to help the poor with
my nice, cozy life rages unceasingly in my mind. I read far too many books and
articles that leave me feeling guilty while doing nothing to equip me with a
practical response. This article on Compassion was a balm for my
anxious soul. This I can do. And I can change several lives in the process.
