I saw this quote somewhere on Pinterest recently, and I have not been able to shake it from my head.
Everyone wants to leave a mark and to feel like they made a difference in the world.
When I think of my kids, when I think of life on this earth, and even when I think of my day-to-day life…I hope and pray that I am not average. Who dreams of being average, right!?
For us, we are in the middle of tackling our foster care paper work to get recertified. We started in January, but in reality it hasn’t been until the last two weeks have we really started going after it. There are so many forms and appointments needed to get this done. It’s consuming and draining. As I have finally started it, its had me thinking “why has it taken 5 months to get this done?” It is our heart beat. It is a part of our calling. We want to help. Why have we waited so long to get back into it?
The short of the answer is we moved, we lived with a friends for a while, and since then we have been setting up house. The deeper issue is that I wasn’t ready. I think our whole family needed time to heal.
I know for me, I left our last experience thinking my voice didn’t matter. Doing this ministry didn’t matter. We didn’t make a difference. No one cared what we thought.
It’s important to know the state of your heart. That may be how I felt, but it wasn’t the truth. My voice did matter. It mattered when I spoke truth to the hurting heart and those who had power of his/her future. What others did with given information was not my responsibility. It was just my job to love well.
It may not be foster care for you. It may just be your relationship with your own kids. It may be your job, your ministry, your neighborhood, etc. But, can you relate?
The days can be so long. The moments can feel like they don’t matter. It can seem like there are no roots growing. But what I know to be true is those are emotional responses. It takes the hard work of showing up every day, week, month doing the small things that may be considered average to produce change or become something powerful.
It is the commitment to the average everyday tasks and experiences done in truth and love that can be awesome. I made this little sign and printed it huge as an engineer print, and it now hangs in my kids bathroom to remind us all.
I first showed you this bathroom here, and I am excited to now have a print in it that I think can speak truth over my kids, our company, and any other hurting child that comes through our doors.
Mom life is hard. Foster care is hard, yet these two jobs may be the most important roles I ever play. May these average moments (like getting an afternoon snack handed out that all three agree on) matter.
There are moments when I see that they do matter. As we have tackled our paper work, gone to doctor visits and prepared for home visits. I have asked my kids…
“Do you want to do foster care again?”
“Why do you want to do this again?”
“Why do we do this?”
Their responses melt me, stop me in my tracks, and remind me: it’s not about me.
So, we can love on kids
So, we can help make their lives different
I want the kids to feel special
I want them to feel love
Hope their family will treat them better and learn good stuff
Hope their mom and dad can be good parents
Give them good food
Take good care of them
I can share my toys
I can be nice to them
Love it patient. Love is kind.
I’m excited to meet new people.
I hope they like to catch bugs.
These sweet kids are a huge part of my world. The way I talk and walk in my everyday moments are affecting the little hearts in my home…no matter if they are my biological, extended family, or in the foster care system. Words and actions have power.
So, all you tired, emotionally exhausted, have nothing left to give at the end of the day mamas out there know this…you aren’t average. Those dreams of being something awesome…are already true. Pick up your feet, wipe off the dust, ask for forgiveness, forgive yourself, pray for strength and keep on going. Just keep swimming.
**Please note: This print is now available as an automatic download purchase here, so you too can print it out.**
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