Tending the Lamp

In all my years of being a mom, I've never put a thought to print before. I have six kids, the oldest is 21 now, the youngest is nine. And yet, the prospect of having something to say feels overwhelming to me. Maybe this is somewhat because, on my journey in life, I've been a storehouse of great ideas and opinions over the years... things that I have a softer, gentler view on now. Life teaches us. I'm learning to be more careful about what I state. Aside from scripture, most of what we have is simply story, or experience. Experience teaches us, and even leads us...but may not be the actual truth about life, or raising families.

Some things however, get tested, tried and re-tried, and just keep turning out to be true--these becomes jewels. So, here's one of mine. You are a lamp! (Well, that part's not mine-it's Jesus' metaphor actually). But I'd like to add; Take great care of your lamp--your soul, and its container! If you do this one thing, light (the life of Christ) will infuse, infect and radiate through everything else that you put effort into as a mom. We know this, but it's a challenge! Feeding the soul is not always practical when you're literally tripping over toys and laundry, or managing a teenager. We struggle with what this actually looks like in our homes on any given day of the week. I mean, our Father in heaven who created motherhood, with ALL of it's multifaceted undertakings, DOES know what we're in, and lovingly understands when your not up at six AM perky and praying and having a quiet time. He does. Really. He also knows that you always have time for what you love. I mean if you love a show on TV, you'll see it. If you love to cook, you'll create and cook. If you love to shop, or talk on the phone, or do play dates, you will. So this image of keeping my lamp has grown for me.

There are two aspects of keeping a lamp.
1. Care for your flame. Feed & fuel the life of Christ in you--what really feeds you? Don't make assumptions here...there are a lot of things we "do" that we think we're supposed to do, because we think or hear that everyone else does these things, that do not honestly fuel the Spirit of God in us. Ask God-sometime on your knees, and out loud (really, literally) -what He wants you, in your life, in your shoes, to do to feed your 'flame'.
2. Keep the glass clean. Even an old rusty or recycled lamp looks GREAT with good clean glass. The windows to our soul get dirty. We're exposed to a lot every day and we're pushed physically & emotionally. We need the washing of the spirit through frequent moments of honesty and confession, before God and before each other. The light, no matter it's brilliance is not well received, or even seen, if the glass is dirty. The words "I'm sorry" need to fall comfortably from our mouths, to our husbands, to our kids, to a neighbor, a sister in Christ...just do it! :0)

I love the image of taking a lamp and placing it on a table top or on a lamp post. It's beautiful! It attracts the eye. You're drawn to it...I think that's what Jesus had in mind. ( Matt. 5:15-16) There's so much I want my kids to know, to learn about life and about God. So much pain I want to spare them. So many GOOD paths to choose. It's easy to focus on what I want to say to one of our kids, or to my husband, and to miss the preparation--the how I say what I say. We can teach our kids until we're purple, but if the lamp isn't well kept, there may not be much motivation to follow it...never mind interest in becoming like it. Thoughts like these remind me to get time on my knees. And that's not a figure of speech. I'm learning to be quite literal about charging and changing this lamp.

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