CLICK TO LISTEN to the Practically Speaking MOM podcast episode 18:
On my more tiring and hectic days of motherhood, I have described my day to my husband Rich, and said that I feel like a pinball being bounced from obstacle to obligation to squabble between kids.
Motherhood - I know it's not one giant pinball game, though it feels like it sometimes. We're definitely going to have days like that, no matter how well-planned we might be. At the same time, we don't want our mothering to only be reacting and bouncing from one issue to the next. Intentional motherhood means that we've got a long-term vision. We know where we're striving toward. We can see our goal in our mind, and we've set our feet on a particular path that leads to a particular place. What if we took our focused-vision to a whole new level and had clear, specific, personal goals in the "six main rooms of intentional mother's home": Front Porch (relationship with God), Marriage Suite (marriage matters), Family Room (parenting and family relationships), Kitchen (healthy mom, healthy family), Laundry (household management, budget, chores, organization), School Room (overseeing your child's education weaknesses, strengths, obstacles, and life-application of knowledge).
But, here's the thing, I don't want to be heading toward my own goals and agenda. I don't want my vision to have come from me. I want to be heading towards God's vision for my family.
His ways are
1. better than my ways
2. bigger than I could have imagined
3. more blessed than my own ways could have been
Isaiah 55:8 Says, “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord… “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.”
Mom Friend, I've got a question for you, and it's not meant to bring guilt, but it's meant to inspire you to ponder for just a minute.
Here's my question:
How much time have you spent at the beginning of this new year in prayer seeking God's direction for what the new year should look like for your family? Have you prayed for His guidance and His direction? Have you prayed for Him to show you His vision for your family for this next step?
If there's anything I've learned in life, it's that I don't want my vision for my family's future. My vision is skewed. My motives are often selfish and my imagination of what could be is often way too small.
I want clear vision, but I want it to be God's vision. Clear VISION is setting our face squarely in the direction of where we want to be headed. It gives us new hope and new motivation. It's like it's new gusto for mucking through the mundane while heading toward the exceptional. Now, if we're constructive with that vision and hope, and if we map out a game plan for getting there, then if you combine the vision and the hope and the plan that is very motivating to get us to move out of our comfort zone, to grow and do some hard things and to depend on God and grow some more.
If our vision and plan is solid enough, then we keep on going. Isn't that what being an intentional mom is? It's planned persevering because it's worth it and the difficult things give us opportunity for dependence on God. The deeper living comes the more we depend on him. Now, that deeper living doesn't come to those who only ping from one issue to the next issue. Of course, that's going to happen from day to day as moms, and I'm not here to make you think that I believe that motherhood can be some perfect venture step-by-step. It's not. It's going to full of unpredictable moments, unforeseen obstacles, and requires plenty of flexibility. But we definitely want to be grounded in God's specific vision for our family. He is the divine Way-Maker. He's the great Vision-Caster, truly the Master Artist of our family, if we allow Him to be.
Val Harrison, The Practically Speaking MOM, is a mom to seven plus three in-law kids and two grandchildren. If you would like more from Val, you can follow her blog and podcast or find her books and other resources at www.PracticallySpeakingMOM.com. Here's the direct link to her podcast.
If you'd like to journey together with lots of other intentional moms, join Val's Facebook group, "Intentional Mom, Strong Family"
