Too busy? Need to slow down? TSG Gem 6-27-13

Watch Them Sleeping

By Pennie Rumsey

Do you ever get so busy and running so fast that you forget to slow down? While doing all of the “to-do” lists things that come with the pressure of life, it often gets me in a place where I forget to slow down and I forget to really look in my child’s eyes. It is one of our common struggles in life, that we forget the fastest the things that we need to remember the most. For me this is a tendency – much like the current of a river that is always pulling me downstream. I have to continue to work against it. To me life is like that river and we have to constantly (on purpose and deliberately) choose to swim upstream.

I was at a Sunday organized meeting last week when I heard a story of a father who was watching his children sleeping. It reminded me of when I did this last month. I remember standing there in their dark bedroom holding a flashlight trying not to wake them up. I reviewed in my mind how I had done that day as a parent. I had had a hard day and I wasn’t as calm as I would have liked. I remember as I watched them sleep, all of the hardness of the day just washed away. I was then able to remember my love and concern for each of them.

Wanting to reconnect, I deliberately did this again last night. I thought about how I could be a better mom and what I needed to do right now to make a difference. I looked at each of my kids and asked myself a couple questions about them, one by one:

What does Saria need from me?
What do I need to do tomorrow with her so I can be a better mom?

As I listened there was one thing that came into my mind about each of my children.

So as you look to life and all of the things that you need to do, remember that being a parent is your most important mission. As Nicholeen reminds us in this Gem, your power to live your mission outside of your home comes from living your mission in your home.

Audio Gem for this week:

[swf file=”https://s3.amazonaws.com/TSG-SupportGroup-BronzeMemberGEMS/6-27-13Gem-WatchThemSleep.mp3″]

When I was in High School, I went to a lot of leadership training ropes-course type events. Once there was a group of about 12 of us that were supposed to climb a 12 foot vertical wall. The wall didn’t have any grabbing holds like a rock climbing wall but was very flat. We were all supposed to climb the wall together. Well, it obviously took a lot of teamwork. There had to be some planning, strategy, and we had to figure out how each of us would get up over that wall. After working through some rough spots, we each eventually got over the wall.

I think about that often with my parenting that it’s like, as a family, that we have to get up over that wall together. As a parent it’s my job to be able to help my family and help each of them get up and over that wall. So it takes some planning, and some strategy to be able to work together as a team to be able to win our victory.

Your challenge assignment this week is to deliberately watch your children sleep. You might need to grab a small little flashlight like I did. Go in their room after they are asleep and watch them. Allow yourself to remember your tender feeling for them; remember what your purpose and your role is in their life. Then ask yourself what you need to do tomorrow to be able to be a better parent. So when they wake up in the morning, you’ll be refreshed and focused and know what you do ‘today’. We can’t do everything all at once, but we CAN do one thing at a time.

As you watch them ask what questions come into your heart or these questions: