I love, love, love Little House on the Prairie. I watch reruns while I am busying around the house cooking and cleaning. Most episodes make me cry. The one I watched yesterday made me cry right at the beginning. Charles (Pa) comes home and excitedly tells Caroline (Ma) that they are going on a free trip to a Grange Convention in Chicago. She is overjoyed at the thought of a free trip alone with her husband (wouldn’t you be?).

It just so happens that Mary is engaged to a guy named John who had moved to Chicago to go to college. In his letter he expresses his wish that Mary could go with him to a dance at his school. Mary asks Caroline if she can stop by and see John and give him a present from Mary as well as see how he is doing. Caroline sees how much Mary would love to see John and makes a decision. Caroline gives up her trip with her husband so Mary can go instead and see her fiancé. When I saw this I just cried.

Would I be that selfless?

Would I give up the trip of a lifetime with my husband to make my child happy?

Am I a Caroline Ingalls kind of mom?

Some days I am. There are times I would give my left arm for my children if they said they needed it. There are other days, however, when I feel just plain resentful about what I do for my family. They don’t even notice that I scrubbed the sand out of the bottom of the bathtub for the 17th time this week. They don’t see the mountains of their toys I pick up and put away daily while they are at school. There are days I feel underappreciated and overburdened. On these days I am most decidedly not a Caroline Ingalls kind of mom.

So what is the difference?

How can I increase my Caroline Ingalls kind of days?

Spending time with God makes the difference. When I am close to Him, I find it much more difficult to be resentful. When I take Him along on my daily chores, I have too much company to need to sulk about those tasks. He is who makes me into the kind of mom I want to be, a Caroline Ingalls kind of mom.

Our theme this year is: MomSense: Bold • Loving • Sensible – equips moms to embrace their mothering instincts and develop their own parenting style while navigating through the myriad of daily mom decisions.

 
Click to see the video of the One Flaw in Women. I think this flaw is especially true for mothers.  What do you think?
 

 
The One Flaw in Women
 

After Mr. Howard spoke at our last meeting about giving our children choices, I decided to try to implement his suggestions in our household.  I admit I didn’t have very high expectations because as I said in the meeting, my children ALWAYS come up with something that was not offered as a choice.  True to my word, the first choice I gave Taye was an A or B choice and he choose C.  I stuck to my guns, though, and made him choose either A or B.  After the first few times of this battle, he has mostly decided to go ahead and do one of the choices I give him.

The second battle we tackled was with him taking forever to deliberate on a decision.  So I implemented the 10 second time limit.  It also worked after the first few times.  Things were looking up.

Now the battle I face is coming up with two choices that I am equally thrilled with.  I didn’t realize just how much I bossed my children around until I tried to give them more options on what to do, how to do it, or in what order it needs to be done in.  I was prescribing their entire life for them.  “Brush your teeth then put on your shoes.”  After trying out the choice theory for a few days I can honestly say that Taye is so much more compliant when I ask “Which would you like to do first, put on your shoes or brush your teeth?”  To my utter delight he chooses one then gets the other one done too!  I am trying to learn to be quick on my feet and come up with choices that I can live with.

One thing that has amazed me through this experiment is that when given choices, he will frequently choose the better option.  I have been asking him, “Would you like to gather up your laundry now or finish your game first and then gather it up for me?”  To my astonishment he chooses to pause his game and get the chore over with.  That is what I wanted him to do all along, but it is so wonderful to see it become his decision.

This experiment has gone quite well in our household.  Of course, I am sure the new will wear off soon and I will have to add some more strategies to my parenting arsenal.  But for now, I am loving the choice theory!  Now…do I want to take my shower now or get started baking my dessert for tonight?  (Let’s see how choices work on me!)

I have to admit, I am a little self-centered when it comes to a lot of things.

I sometimes cook for dinner what I’m hungry for.

I tend to want my way–alright, I almost always want my way.

I assume, after careful persuasion, that most, if not all, folks will come around to my way of thinking.

I am child-like in my focus on myself.  But then again, so are some of you.  Am I right?

I have always tended to believe a relationship with God was a deeply personal matter.  We choose to accept or reject Him.  We make choices on a daily basis that draw us closer to Him or push Him farther away.  We are responsible for our Christian walks, and our walks only.

And then He asks me to re-read this verse.

“And I will give them one heart and mind to worship me forever, for their own good and for the good of all their descendants.”  Jeremiah 32:39 NLT

I don’t guess I ever thought about my journey with Jesus as being as much generational as it is personal.  And yet, I am who I am because of that generational blessing He has bestowed on those following in His steps.

I have been influenced by great-grandparents who believed in God.  I have been molded by grandparents whose faith I greatly admired.  I have been introduced to Jesus as my Savior by parents who knew Him personally.

And now?  Now, I serve God wholeheartedly–for my good and for the good of those that will follow!

By Malinda Edgell

I ran an errand with a friend of mine the other day, and we took our children with us.  As we were chatting in the front seat, we caught a snippet of the boys’ conversation in the back.  Her son and mine are best friends and they are 5 years old.  When we heard what they were talking about, our conversation stopped so we could discreetly listen.  Her son was sharing with my son how to be saved.  He even walked him through the most precious sinner’s prayer.  Now there are a couple of theological points that I will have to correct with my son later like how you have to wait two days after you pray the prayer before you can become a Christian.  (I am not aware of any mandatory waiting period for salvation) J

But no matter the small inaccuracies, it was such a blessing to see these 5 year olds unashamedly proclaiming the gospel message to each other.  They weren’t worried that their friend would be offended if they talked about Jesus.  They didn’t care that they may sound pushy or condescending by talking about the need for a savior.  They weren’t concerned that they might not have all the answers to the questions their friend might ask about God.  They had some good news to share and wanted their closest friend to know about it.

If only we adults could have the same faith.  If only we could put aside our concerns and self-consciousness about sharing Jesus.  Imagine the impact we could have.  Imagine what it would be like to see a group mobilized to share Jesus with those we meet confidently and unabashedly like the children do.  The world would be a different place.

I guess that is why Jesus said in Matthew 11:25 “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.”  When it comes to sharing the gospel, we could learn a thing or two from the children.

If you haven’t already RSVP’d for the MOPS April Meeting, you can do so by clicking this link.

April meeting evite