My life is very different from this blogger's, and therefore we do not always agree. But, I love her post today. This is how I am trying to approach our grocery shopping now. You can feel the place of peace and trust that she speaks from, even as you read her words.
She touches on something I've been pondering as I slowly read John Bevere's "Drawing Near." Many times when we are unhappy or restless, what we're craving is intimacy with God. But instead of seeking God for our fulfillment, it's easy to become disappointed with God in some way, and sometimes it's hard to believe we will find what we need there, or maybe we just don't want to slow down enough to spend the time. So instead, we fill our spirits with spiritual "junk food," and eat, or shop, or watch tv, or read away the desire. We've filled ourselves up, but it doesn't satisfy.
When Nick and I went away overnight, we had bought tickets to see a movie in a few minutes, but I was starving. We walked several blocks downtown, trying to find something relatively cheap that would be gluten-free. After having no luck, I settled on Taco Bell, because there are a couple of menu items with some protein that I know to be gluten free. I'm not used to eating that kind of food anymore, and as I ate it, I could totally sense that it was filling my stomach, but not nourishing me. I'm so used to nourishing food that I could tell the difference!
Being a mom is hard. Sometimes I'm tempted to do whatever it takes to survive. But I don't want to just survive - I want to thrive! I wonder if life will always be a struggle because I refuse to resign myself to "good enough." But I can't bring myself to believe that good enough, "junk food," is okay for us.
I was challenged by an email I got yesterday from a mom looking to join our mom's group. She said she was, "looking to get connected with other young moms in the area who are walking with the Lord in an intimate way and looking for other women to share life with." A simple statement, and yet it communicates so much. She doesn't just want to be with other women, she wants real deep connection with Godly women who will encourage her in her walk with God. Oh, that we can be that for each other!
What do you ladies think about this?
On our way home...Harvest Host
2 months ago
In regards to the note you got from the mom, this is where the cynic in me comes out. I think most women long for genuine connection with other women in theory, but never attempt to practice this. It seems to me that most women don't want to step out of their comfort zone to make true connections. For me I am at the point that I am not going to reach out to other women. If someone reaches out to me, I will respond, but I am not doing the reaching anymore. I am just exhausted from giving myself to others and never seeing anything from it. It doesn't seem worth it. I feel like I have my 2 good girlfriends and I'm just going to leave it at that.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to food--I think she is right. Wholesome simple foods seem to be more statisfy more than processed food. My favorite food is beans and brown rice. I could eat it everyday. We had taco bell today and I am nursing a stomach ache. Why do I do this to my body? It always sounds good and then I always regret it.
I know what you mean - I long to be reached out to. Lots of times it seems like friendships don't happen unless I make them happen. The other side of what you said is that for me it's hard to have more than a couple of good friends at a time. I just can't keep up with that many people in a meaningful way. But I really try to stay open to new people. I think it's really easy to give and give and then reach a point where you're just hurt because people don't love you the way you want/need to be loved. That seems like something we should avoid, but I have no idea how. I'm rambling now. Other thoughts?
ReplyDeleteI long for those deep connections too. My natural tendency is to keep a whole bunch of people a little bit of a distance away. I want so much to push past that and it takes a lot of effort for me, but I agree that you can only have a small handful of friends who are in the "inner circle." Time constraints and just life gets in the way, and I think that naturally the people you see most often are the ones you end up being closest to. I want to always be open to new connections though, because I know God brings us new and different things through the people He puts in our lives. My struggle is investing and nourishing those close relationships to a deeper level while still being open to new ones. My comfort zone is hunkering (is that a word?) down with my close friends and closing off to everyone else, but I know God has called me to reach out and people need others to reach out to them. Anyway I don't really know what my point is. Only that I don't want to miss out on nurturing relationships to a deeper level because I am focused on making new ones that I will continue to hold at the same level - not really arm's length, more like hand's length. If that makes any sense at all.
ReplyDeleteIt's a balancing act, I agree. I also think different seasons in life call for different approaches.
ReplyDelete