Happy Mother’s Day!
I am so honored I had the chance to speak at my mom’s church for her Mother’s Day Tea! The youngest girl there was 4 1/2 and the oldest woman there was 93 years old. It was an amazing day!
Wishing all the moms out there many, many blessings!
©2013 Sue Bidstrup, Great Big Yes™ All Rights Reserved
Friends, we need to talk.
I was slapped into reality this morning when my friend called to tell me what happened to her son.
He was hit by a car yesterday on his way to school. He’s okay. Praise God.
The really weird and crazy thing is that her other son was hit by a car a year ago. Same situation. By the grace of God, he’s okay too.
She called me wondering why this happened twice to the same family. She wondered all day yesterday if she should tell people about it just as a reminder to be aware, go slow, drive carefully. She questioned out loud if this was God, with a message. She drove her son to school today and was struck by all of the people driving while texting or looking at their email or talking on the phone in a school zone.
Here’s where this gets tricky. I have done that. No wait…I do that. UGH. I’m sitting here with my heart beating fast thinking…I could have hit her son. That could have been me.
I think of the poor woman who was pulling out of her driveway and couldn’t see maybe because of the fence, maybe because we live so close to each other, maybe her baby was crying in the back, maybe she was in a hurry…there are so many maybes. But here’s the sure thing…NONE OF US WANTS TO HURT A CHILD.
This is not a condemnation of moms or dads or big cars or cell phones. This is a reminder for all of us to WAKE UP and LOOK UP and SLOW DOWN.
This is a reminder for me.
Remember when Oprah asked us to sign a petition not to text while driving? I was so gung ho at the time…all in…stoked…responsible. But as time has gone on, I have been careless…in a hurry…selfish…self important…forgetful…distracted. My kids have yelled at me to put the phone down. Let me repeat that because it’s so awful but it’s the truth and I need to bring it to light…my kids have yelled at me in the car while I was driving to put the cell phone down.
I’m mortified and embarrassed and so, so sorry.
The last thing I would ever want to do is hurt a child. Not the kids outside the car and not the kids inside the car. I think of the kids walking and riding bikes and skateboarding and laughing and playing and trusting the adults in their lives to make good choices and keep them safe.
Let’s not disappoint them.
©2013 Sue Bidstrup, Great Big Yes™ All Rights Reserved
I picked up my son from Religious Education class (that sounds really formal but here are the other choices…CCD, YC, Sunday school (but not on a Sunday), RE, Catechism…you get the point…no one knows what we are even talking about anymore!)
He gets in the car and hands me this:
The question is “What is the most important thing you have learned about prayer in your life so far?” So I asked him what his answer is (we may need to work on sentence structure and punctuation) and he said, “It (prayer) is good to do to be friends with God.”
It was about 7:30 pm when this happened and all I could think was that I better get to bed quick on this MOUNTAINTOP MOMENT OF MOTHERHOOD so we can call the day a major success! Let’s not tempt fate…in fact, I came home and announced I was going to bed, rushing past my other two children who let’s be honest, at this point seemed like heathens compared to my son…no sense in risking a major turn around…who knows, there could be fighting, doubting, shouting, sassing, demanding…we have tomorrow for that. This night was about my little guy and his KNOWING that prayer is the pathway to friendship with God.
I shouldn’t be surprised. Kids know it. Kids feel Him everywhere. Kids sense that friendship with God is there for the taking…freely offered…open hands…open hearts…stunning love in its purest form. They get it.
When is it exactly that we stop “getting this” as adults?
We make it so difficult.
I read this today and wept.
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:28 (The Message)
That’s the invitation. He offers Freedom. Rest. Grace. Friendship.
What do you say? Are you in?
It’s good to be friends with God.
©2013 Sue Bidstrup, Great Big Yes™ All Rights Reserved