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September 3, 2012 by Karin Leave a Comment

The Greatest Treasure Found…in the Packing Up of a Life

We walked into the room.  My friend and I.

A lifetime of stuff piled in front of our eyes.

We were here as an offering…

His hands… His feet

A timid offering in the very middle of this field of grief.

We came in service…

to honor a woman I had never known

to help a man… a friend to my warrior… a man I had just met

to serve a God my eyes have never seen

My friend and I, we stopped… breath gripped in our throats, hearts heavy… we prayed.

Help us to be like You

We looked at each other, having just wrapped arms around little ones… little ones who face this earth with a brave daddy… while a mama prepares a home in heaven.

this is hard

please guard our hearts… keep us focused… pour Your water through us

We went to task.  A mama’s work.  Sorting, cleaning, organizing, boxing, moving, trashing, saving…

The saving

She, a mama like us, saving her treasures.  Baby blankets, toddler shoes, tooth fairy secrets, photos, cards… the treasures we mamas save… the things we can’t bear to part with… fearing that parting with the things means parting with time.  This time… now.  Parting with the time of our little ones’ youth… the precious baby years… the years that our young ones run, love uninhibited, arms wide-open… to mama.

He guarded our hearts for a time.  Through hours, He pointed us to our work.

Then a memento… a smiling photograph… a joy-filled time… peeked through the piles.

It could be mine

The clothing, left on hangers, the gear of her warrior husband, the children’s clothes… in all imaginable sizes.  She, a warrior’s wife… a mother of six…

it could be my house

my stuff

my memories

These things we all love to save.  We packed her things… these memories we long to hold… into boxes.  The treasures left behind, we tucked away, to ease a heart-break at their mere sight.

I save all the same things.  I don’t know why really.  Perhaps a “pack rat” tendency inherited from parents who lost everything while a world was at war?  Life as a warrior’s wife requires the thinning of things… but, I save nonetheless.

I save every memory I can

in the hopes that I will somehow be able to come back

Come back to the same place in my mind… the place I am joyful, the place I love so much… this place of motherhood.

I save for my own.  The treasures I hope may trigger a childhood memory… tucked far beneath… only to be brought into the light… by one small trinket.

I sat on her floor… sifting through her prizes of motherhood.  I prayed for her children… for her husband.  I prayed that the memories never travel too far from their young minds… until they can see her loving mother eyes again.

I held her things… and felt my own mortality… I held it in my hands.

These things.  They do matter.  What I saw in this sifting and packing up a life…

The things stay here… the memories that they trigger are the treasure

The greatest treasure she left them?  The thing I have seen most of all… in their young eyes…

She taught them about Him.  She surrounded them with Him.  They know where mama is… where she waits for them… they know she waits with Him…

this is her greatest treasure

 

2 Corinthians 4:6-7

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.  But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

Filed Under: Faith, Friendship, Joy, Military, Motherhood Tagged With: faith, friendship, joy, military, motherhood

August 30, 2012 by Karin 2 Comments

How to Live Your Life Backwards

I’m standing at the end of the long road.

The road with twists and turns.  There were potholes along the way.  At times the road was straight… unremarkable.  There were hills… they sloped upwards to steep mountains.  Then, the road down… the exhilarating rush down… the side views but a blur.  This road well-travelled.

I’m standing at the end of this road.

He puts His hands on my shoulders and turns me gently around,

Look back

What do you see?

What if, when we get to the end of this life’s road… what if God asks us to turn around?  Turn around and look at it.

What would you do differently?

Would you give thanks for the potholes… because when you climbed out, you appreciated the flat road?  Would you work harder to climb the hills, knowing that the mountains they might become… would burn?  Would you slow down on the downhill glide… and pay attention to what was standing on the side of the road?

I’ve been thinking about this…

What if I could live my life backwards?

What if I could turn around at the end… change it… do it differently?

What would I do differently?

If I stood at the end of the road and looked back… what would I do differently?

  1. Call my mom more
  2. Run to the door and hug my husband every time he comes home
  3. Turn off the TV
  4. And the computer
  5. Play dolls and dress up with my little girls… regularly
  6. Play Legos… like I am 10 years old, and trains… like I am 5
  7. Go running… alone
  8. Take a walk… with my whole six pack
  9. Clean less
  10. Get a Facebook account… just to see what my brother is up to these days
  11. Tell more people how awesome Jesus is, no matter how awkward I feel… because He is… and it matters that much
  12. Rock my baby… just a little bit longer
  13. Stay in touch with old friends… better
  14. Buy less for Christmas… give more to those who can’t
  15. Show my kids that giving is WAY better than receiving
  16. Sponsor more children
  17. Write more letters… on real paper, with real pens
  18. Say “in just a second…” and mean “in just a second…”
  19. Go on more dates with my warrior
  20. Take my kids on a date… one. by. one.
  21. Pray more… on my knees
  22. Read the Bible… every single day… with my kids
  23. Assume less… ask more
  24. Forgive… just forgive
  25. Say “sorry” … and mean it
  26. Accept “sorry” … and let it go
  27. Ride a bike, with my little ones, while they are little
  28. Spend more time at the beach
  29. Play outside… instead of watching them through the window
  30. Play board games… every time they ask
  31. Have desert for dinner… on Fridays.  Because it’s Friday.
  32. Give thanks to Him… without ceasing
  33. Say I Love You… every chance I get
  34. Let my kids know that I don’t have all the answers… God does.
  35. Thank Him… that I can look back and still have time to do all this

What would you do differently?

If you are reading this…

you can.

 

Philippians 3:12-13

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead

 

Filed Under: Compassion, Faith, Friendship, Love, Motherhood Tagged With: compassion, faith, friendship, love, motherhood

August 21, 2012 by Karin 2 Comments

Seeing the Fruit

We must have gotten something right.

We must have figured something out in this parenting thing.

I had a moment that made this mama’s heart burst… and ache just a bit… all at the same time.

A week of sleep-overs for my 9-year-old daughter.  She was thrilled to have multiple invitations in one week and her beautiful, beaming face shone as she skipped off with her dear friends.

Happy, happy, joy, joy.

Then, the next day…

Mama, I stayed up ’til 2:30 in the morning!

She proudly announced this… certain that this would be a sure-fire sling shot toward adulthood.  (I’ve told her to enjoy the kid thing… such beauty and simplicity in that childhood place… to live a life backwards would be something…)

And I’m not even tired!

Yet.

The day rolls along… children mingling throughout the house… toys strewn… games played… battles fought.  A weekend day.  A daddy day.  The best kind.  Then, the golden carriage of our home ~ turns to a pumpkin.  Just.  Like.  That.  Poof.

This completely exhausted child… melts.

Why didn’t I get her to bed earlier?

I chastise myself (the mama-blame).

I knew this was going to happen…

She needs rest… sleep… peace… quiet

All the little ones are shuffled into their nests for the night… and my beautiful girl… the one who is contagiously cheerful, unquestioningly helpful… my little one with a servant’s heart.  She falls apart… completely.  This little one can withstand many things in this house full of children, siblings, and all things messy… but, sleep deprivation is not one of them (don’t know where she got this trait?  Sigh)

I wrap around this sobbing child, trying to soothe her, calm her, lull her into the dreamland.  No luck.  Daddy steps in… more calming, soothing.  Nope.  Patience wearing thin.

I can’t just let her cry…

Besides, she’ll wake the little ones.  Not an option.

Finally, I bring her into our room.  I hold her and sing to her… memories of a smaller version of this very face peek through the darkness.

I’m sorry, mama

I just can’t stop…

I know this feeling.  We women know this feeling.  That cry that overflows from the depth of all things contained… all things that have been carefully shoved and packed into a deeper place, in the hopes that they will simply dissipate.  We so often want it to all wash away… without actually doing the washing.

My daughter did the washing.  She flowed with every frustration, fear, and feeling… for an hour.

Now, she should be all better.

Ah, not so much.

You’ve got to be kidding me!?

This mom… at a loss.  Then, she asked it…

Can I go in and see them?

Our little ones have a nightly game of musical beds.  The ultimate treat?  Sharing a room with the big brother.

Can I go in and say good night again?

He always calms me down.

There it is.  The fruit of intentional relationships.  The gift of spending our days, our lives, our everything… intentionally together.  (We do have time apart… reference mom wanting to run).

Sure, go say good night.

She enters the room.  Two reading young ones lift weary eyes from bed-time books.

Are you ok?

The concern on their young faces… these faces that during the day sometimes long to aggravate one another.

I just wanted to say good night.

A little sister, only 7-years-old, climbs out of bed and wraps arms of love around big sister.  This little one lifts her sister from the ground in embrace.  Lifts her taller, bigger sister off of her feet.

A thought enters my mind.

He does that… He lifts us off of our own feet.  Picks up our burdens and carries them.  Lifts us in love… and squeezes.

Three young siblings gather on the bed.  Sharing stories, words, comfort between siblings beyond the frequency of mama’s understanding.

You always calm me down.

What?  Big brother demands.  My red-eyed, sleepy girl repeats it.

Oh!  I thought you said “You always call me dumb.”

Peels of laughter.

The pumpkin… a golden carriage again.

My heart fills with joy at the connection of these young hearts before me.  For a moment, I ache… but, for a flash, I think…

You didn’t need mama this time

I can see it.  The growing of this garden is meant to teach them to relate to each other… not just to me.  To lean into each other.  To find comfort in family.  In the family of their home.  In the family of Christ.

Philippians 2:2

then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.

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Filed Under: Brothers and Sisters, Faith, Love, Motherhood Tagged With: faith, love, motherhood, siblings

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Meet Karin

Hi! My name is Karin Madden. Writer. Warrior wife. Mom of six pack. Homeschooler. German-blooded southerner. Welcome to the place where I explore what it means to grow stronger - spirit, soul, and body. I write to inspire and encourage - to remind you we are not alone. By being bold with grace and speaking truth in love, we can become who we are meant to be. I'm glad you are here.

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