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| Photo Credit: Wisdom 4Winning |
Over these past couple weeks as we’ve transitioned back to the school routine and into yet another phase in this thing we call life, I’ve taken great notice in the responses of our kiddos.
Our sweet ‘n sassy trailblazer (#3) started kindergarten this year and as I watched the excitement continue to grow in the weeks before the first day of school, I was prepared for the enthusiasm she would take with her, but I could not have predicted just HOW MUCH this little girl had in her! As the Mr. captured one more picture of each one of the kiddos with the school bus fast approaching, he caught {in a single moment} every bit of happy that has ever run through this girl’s veins.
Without one ounce of hesitation, she raced off to the school bus and fearlessly boarded with her big sister and big brother; and in a blink of an eye they were off and the mom thoughts started racing … I wondered how it was going, I wished I could be a fly on the wall to take in every candid moment that was taking place {I love catching the moments when they are completely unaware that somebody is watching, it’s during these times you can see straight into their tender hearts :)}, and I hoped her excitement would last FOREVER!
All morning while #4 and I anxiously awaited for the bus to bring them home, I caught myself taking multiple glimpses at this moment of sheer excitement and pondering how this priceless image truly captured what it meant to be childlike. Maybe the saying should be everything you ever need to know in life can be learned from a kindergartener… heehee! Well, on that day in that moment, our 5 year old did remind me of everything that is good and true in this world around us.
The first day of school has since been more than a few weeks ago and even since that moment, I have taken notice in my own reactions and emotions. It has made me realize that as our kids have gotten older and I have seen (in them) some of the not so pleasant side-effects of the way I react to situations and that I really needed work on reigning some of these in, like over-reacting in frustration, worry, disgust, anxiousness, impatience, fear, judgement (I say over-reacting because all of these emotions are normal and we all deal with them on a daily basis, so I have been very cognitive not to discount any of these emotions in myself or our kiddos because it’s not about minimizing or ignoring these but instead working through them and knowing how to handle them).
Nonetheless, as I have worked hard to be “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger” (James 1:19) in order to set a better example for our kiddos in how to handle these more ‘negative’ emotions, there have been times when I have be slow to share in the joy, the happy, the fun, and the excitement when instead at times like this my reactions need to be immediate!
Seeing of our baby girl’s immediate reaction to her first day of school, hit my heart like a mother-load reminding me I need to make sure I never let go of the child within that is trusting, curious, natural, fearless, simple, resilient, forgiving, kind, guileless, happy, naïve, sincere, engaged, honest, frank, energetic, candid, fun-loving, innocent, artless, and unguarded. Of course, there will be times when life will try to stifle these, but in those moments be sure to let your child out and don’t hold back!
