Time is Fleeting & A Spring Reading Favorite

“Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back everything is different…” -C.S. Lewis

“Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow.” -Psalm 144:4

“So teach us to number our days so that we may get a heart of wisdom.” -Psalm 90:12

Time is Fleeting

Before having my son, the weather never really interested me that much.

I constantly wished I lived somewhere in the south (and maybe I secretly still do), but the weather was just another part of a busy day. The weather always seemed to be something that was just there. And occasionally an obstacle to my “planned” day.

But my son is fascinated by the weather and the changes outside. He wants to take the time to stare out the window and watch the rain fall. Not only that, he wants me to take him outside to feel the rain on his hands and face and watch it fall from the sky.

When it snowed, he wanted to go outside and see the glimmering white fall until it hit the snow covered ground. The texture and consistency fascinated him, and he just wanted to feel it, walk around in it, and experience it.

Today, as I write this, I reflect back on how he delighted in being outside on this beautiful spring day.

He walked around our yard and felt the trees. He walked between them, grabbed the bark, and felt the dirt around them. He wanted to walk in the grass, pick up leaves, and take in the sites of our backyard.

He wanted me to continually push him in the swing. He’d laugh and giggle, showing the eleven teeth that can now clearly be seen when he smiles.

The sense of wonder, newness, and appreciation is continually seen in his captivation with life.

My son’s experiences and sense of wonder has made me appreciate and take in the magnificence that comes with each new day. It’s continually reminding me to be thankful and to slow down, to stop thinking of what needs to happen next, and just be present.

 

I’m reminded that with the change in seasons, there is a change in my own life, and in my son’s life. Time is fleeting, and these moments only last so long.

It’s a new day where my baby, is now a toddler- running around our house and tackling our dog who is now smaller than my son.

It’s a new day where my son has figured out how to climb up on our couch and look out the window. (Which scares Mom!)

It’s a new day where he listens to what I say, and often understands what I’m asking, and he’ll be bring me his socks and shoes.

It’s a new day where he quietly sits and skims through the books in his room. Alone. Like a young boy who is just fine with entertaining himself without his mother present.

 

These God-ordained moments of time are precious and priceless. I’m reminded that time doesn’t stand still, and the days are moving forward and onward whether I’m paying attention or not.

Where is the urgency in my heart? And I don’t mean the urgency to get things done or finish my to-do list. But rather, where is the urgency to take advantage of the time I’ve been given?

I’ve only been given so many days with my son.

How will I use that time?

How will I direct his little heart to know of the love that is given to us through Jesus?

How will I live out my life so that he understands that love is more than just words, it’s actions, thoughts, and a committed daily sacrifice.

What time have I already wasted and could have used differently?

What time did I use in a way that pointed his little heart to a bigger Person than myself?

And how will I direct his little heart to one day understand that he, his parents, and everyone that he knows has a fallen nature (sin), and that Jesus is the only cure? (Rom. 7:18- 8:4)

 

Time is fleeting my dear child, and you must know the Truth.

 

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” -John 14:6

 

Spring Reading Favorite

I have just one spring favorite. I could add more, honestly, I could! But, this one was worth posting alone. It’s life changing, and I’m so glad I stumbled across this book thanks to Jaimie Kight’s vlog.

 

Book: Treasuring Christ When Your Hands Are Full: Gospel Meditations for Busy Moms by Gloria Furman

This book, this book, this book…oh, my! I will read it again and again. I had never read a Gloria Furman book, and with this being my first, I can honestly say it won’t be the last book I read from her.

Gloria Furman is an American who moved to the Middle East with her husband and four children. Her husband has certain debilitations that have limited his physical abilities to assist his wife with the needs of their family and home.

I love that Furman shares her own experiences throughout this book. She is honest and open about her family’s struggles and triumphs, and her beautiful writing continually points back to the One that matters and IS the bigger picture- Jesus.

This book truly brought me to tears. It’s what I needed to read, and what I continually need to be reminded of as a woman and as a mother.

I found myself wanting to underline, and highlight, and underline again on almost every single page. Furman is a marvelous writer. Each chapter was concise and to the point. Nothing else was needed. I found myself in awe of how real, honest, and direct she was with each chapter.

Furman clearly wants her readers to know that this isn’t a to-do list book for mothers or a book with Biblical advice for mothers. But rather, it’s a book that shares the gospel’s essential message of Jesus’ love so that we can better love ourselves and others because we have been set free from the weight of sin. (1 Pet. 1:18-19).

The Gospel is carried throughout her writing. She holds the message of Christ as sacred and clearly wants others to know the freedom that comes in Him despite one’s hands being full in the busyness, the mundane, the chaos, the repetition, the hardships, and the joys of motherhood.

She wants her readers to see the gift of motherhood for what it is, and to show how all the aspects that encompass motherhood point back to our Savior.

There isn’t anything more I can say about this book, other than directly quoting from it. Listed below, are some of my favorite quotes from the reading.

When I view motherhood not as a gift from God to make me holy, but rather as a role with tasks that get in the way, I am missing out on one of God’s ordained means of spiritual growth in my life. Not only that, but I am missing out on enjoying God. No amount of mommy angst can compare to the misery that comes from a life devoid of the comforting, encouraging, guarding, providing, satisfying presence of our holy God.

 

The image of God is most gloriously displayed in Christ Jesus, who is the exact image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15). By God’s common grace, a mother’s instinct to suffer, to love, to exercise patience, to endure pain, and to work for the good of her children is a reflection of the image of God. Through the grace shown to us in the gospel, there is something distinctly Christ-like about a mother’s love for her child.

 

In our noble efforts to practically raise our children to grow up to be adults, we often miss something. We miss the rising sun that signals another day of grace in which God has entrusted us with nurturing his little image bearers to love and honor him first and foremost and forever.

 

Sometimes God uses our children to remind us of the eternal perspective that we’ve forgotten.

 

When you discover that you are the unworthy recipient of God’s lavish grace, you cannot help but share it with others.

 

The Bible describes motherhood as neither a diminishing of a woman’s personhood nor the sum of her personhood. Womanhood, ultimately, is about a different Person altogether. Likewise, motherhood is about a different Person all together. The highest aim of womanhood is not motherhood; the highest aim of womanhood is being conformed to the image of Christ. The multifaceted goal of motherhood points us in the same direction. One of the gifts of motherhood is that God uses it to trace the image of his Son onto our lives.

 

Her writing is beautiful, and I’m looking forward to the next opportunity to re-read this book.

If you’re looking for a book for Mother’s Day to give to an expecting mom, a new mom, or a mom with young children, this would definitely be it.

Furman, Gloria. Treasuring Christ When Your Hands Are Full: Gospel Meditations for Busy Moms. Wheaton: Crossway, 2014. Kindle Edition.