THE AWKWARD MOM

because uncomfortable conversations are the ones worth having

Tag: perseverance

Practice Makes Powerful: How Your Kids’ Today Matters Tomorrow

Reading Time: 3 minutes

My parents, bless their slim pocketbooks, paid for a lot of piano and voice lessons over the years on my behalf. I took piano for 12 years–and to be honest, should be able to play better than I do…

There was the female teacher with the faint mustache and house that smelled like a casserole. The redhead who glared at teenaged-me for not practicing. Sally with her center-parted long hair and laminated flashcards. There was the pianist with astonishingly long fingers who also taught my voice lessons with a broad repertoire of Broadway hits, easing into a few Latin and German numbers. read more

An Open Letter: When You’re Tired of Doing the Right Thing

Reading Time: 3 minutes

faithfulness tired of doing the right thingHey.

I was there just this past Saturday, too. Felt like it had been a year of keeping my head down, doing the right thing with a hopeful smile. Or maybe some tears. I’ve mentioned this last year my struggles with feeling powerless; with the tension of not living some dreams.

I may have even scrawled the phrase tired of a “Yes, sir” life in my journal this past weekend.

A Christmas Question: What are You Waiting For?

Reading Time: 4 minutes

It’s an interesting question. Maybe I could add it to the list of questions to deepen your relationships. Because it’s applicable to pretty much every homo sapien on the planet.

What’s one thing you are waiting for? read more

For the Day You Feel Powerless, Part III: On Hope and Longing

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Missed the first two parts? Grab I and II here.

When my husband and I were dating, he had this (irritating!) habit of asking what I wanted. Example: read more

Serving in Your Sweet Spot?

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Read an interesting quote yesterday. So tell me: Do you agree or disagree?

The place where God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet. (Frederick Buechner)

So at first glance, I’m like, Yes. Yes! Yes with a smiley-face-with-heart-eyes emoji! Especially when it comes to my kids (which you saw in Tuesday’s post on ideas for teaching kids the spiritual discipline of service). I want them to not just drag themselves through service, like our stick-shift doing 45 MPH in second gear. I long for them to find that burbling well inside of them: their part of the Body of Christ. read more

Guest post: On Giving our Kids the Gift of Hard Work

Reading Time: < 1 minute

The idea bubbled up not long after my kids’ grandpa helped them each weave their own survival bracelets: eight feet of 500 paracord specially plaited and buckled around their wrists. The idea is that if you were in an emergency situation, you could use it, say, for a tent; a tourniquet; a climbing aid.

But even those neon colors couldn’t outshine the sparkle in my nine-year-old daughter’s eyes when she realized she could start a business with those little bracelets.

Her little business she started recently tumbled our family into a (lovely, really) domino effect of initiative, knowledge, community, work ethic, and perseverance. I love the dynamic it continues to create among my kids! read more

Friday quotables #1: For the day when you’re beyond your capacity

Reading Time: < 1 minute

friday quotables

“[The disciples in the storm in Mark 5:45-52] are in a situation that seems impossible, exhausting, frustrating, and potentially dangerous. They are far beyond their strength and ability. As you read the passage, you have to ask yourself why Jesus would ever want his disciples in this kind of difficulty. It’s clear that they’re not in this mess because they’ve been disobedient, arrogant or unwise, but because they have obeyed Jesus….

“[Jesus] takes the walk [on water] because He is not after the difficulty. He is after the men in the middle of the difficulty. He is working to change everything they think about themselves and about their lives…he says: ‘it is I’…He is actually taking one of the names of God. He is saying the ‘I AM’ is with them, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the One on whom all the covenant promises rest. It is impossible for them to be alone…. read more

Waiting for rain

Reading Time: 3 minutes

I have been waiting.

The dust, fine and red, coats the plants lining our roads. Sweat beads on my upper lip. Last night as my children lay awake in bed, I stuck my head in and reminded them to keep guzzling plenty of water, after a friend of theirs landed in the clinic for dehydration. Cooking in the warm afternoons in my kitchen, with my hair twisted off my neck, I’ve been praying, coaxing the weather. C’mon, rainy season.

waiting for rain

© 2024 THE AWKWARD MOM

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑

Show Buttons
Hide Buttons