Seven times I heard the
door open, and walked down the hall to see my daughter standing at the top of
the stairs. I sighed heavily. Post 9pm is me- time.
-----
The house was quiet when I
slipped downstairs and turned on my tea kettle. Early mornings are rare
for me --but this morning was different. This morning I was awake,
energized, cheerful, ready. I buried myself under my favorite blanket and
opened the well-worn pages of my Bible. Two verses in and I heard it --
the sounds of awakening children. So much for my me-time.
-----
3am and I audibly groaned.
The cries down the hall pleaded for my attention. I didn't
particularly feel like rolling out of bed to hold a sick child. He'd get
another nap in the morning -- but me? This was my only chance to
sleep.
------
There's this thing that I
long for daily, hourly even, like it's an inalienable right - me-time.
I spend my days giving to children who demand more time, energy, and
patience that I feel like I have. The few moments I have each day to sit
and rest never feel long enough.
Every parenting magazine
will reaffirm, celebrate even, your longing for a break from your kids.
Every mom needs their
me-time.
And so we pine after it, search for it, guilt
husbands into granting it, escape to hobbies, Facebook, texting, and ignoring our children,
in an attempt to secure it.
But may I suggest that
perhaps you already have it?
In fact, you actually have
an entire 24 hours of it each day, 7 days a week.
Your time belongs to you.
No one else. It's your me-time, and no one else gets to decide how to use it.
I hear your brain rattling.
But what about my kids? The laundry? My job? I can't very well ignore those things, can I?
Now, I'm not advocating the neglect of your children or responsibilities. However, I am advocating a perspective change.
Now, I'm not advocating the neglect of your children or responsibilities. However, I am advocating a perspective change.
In motherhood, and in life,
we easily view ourselves as victims of others. We are a victim of the incessant needs of our children, who can't feed
themselves, dress themselves, teach themselves, or train themselves. We are the victim of our finances, forcing us to work a job for supplemental income. We victimize ourselves when our husbands, or friends, can do things that we must miss out on. We
victimize ourselves when we must get up in the middle of the night and deal with unique weaknesses in our
children.
But consider Jesus the
author of all of Creation and possessor of all authority on heaven and earth:
As men encircled him,
arrested him as a criminal, handed him over to an enemy, and led him to the
most brutal of deaths, Jesus' perspective was this:
"No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my
own accord... "
While Jesus was certainly speaking in this passage of
his divine authority, he's also highlighting a principle of ownership. He
owns his life. And he chooses to lay it down. At any moment, he
says he can call down legions of angels to save him. In doing this, Jesus
boldly declares: I am not a victim of others, I gladly choose to
give away the life which I own.
Or consider the perspective from
Hebrews:
"Jesus...who for the joy set before him,
endured the cross..."
Jesus chose to endure the
cross for the sake of joy. No one forced his hand or his will. He looked
at his beloved --us--and gladly, joyfully, surrendered that which belonged
entirely to Him.
-----
Those 24 hours in each day?
God's given them to you. And you alone will determine how to use
them. It's your time.
The next time you hear the
cries of your newborn, the needs of your toddler, the demands of your family,
remind yourself:
This is my me-time, but
I choose to give it away to the ones I love.
You can do it, because
Jesus did it for you.
Thank you :-)
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