Books have always moved me. Good books have drawn me in. Great books have established their own corner in my life, where I can look back and say, "There. That's where I turned. That's where a cosmic shift occurred.
So I'm currently reading a new release, Spirit-Led Parenting. I hesitate to recommend a book before I've finished it, so I'm just sharing the corner it's given me to turn, the marker it put down in my life. I'll give it a full review when I'm through.
The cosmic shift is this thought: parenting is not just about who were helping our kids to become, it's about who WE are becoming.
If God created our kids to have an impact, to be a special someone, we are trying our best to help them become it. Even if you don't believe this, most people are still trying to help their children grow up into pleasant, kind, decent adults. Whatever your parenting method, the goal is some sort of nice person will result from your eighteen plus years of money, love and tears.
Perhaps we have forgotten that we're not completely grown up ourselves. That we are still becoming the person God created us to be. That being a parent is making US more selfless, kind, and patient. That while we cry and struggle to help a child through a tough season, be it twos or teens, they are not the only ones growing, changing, becoming. We too are becoming. We too are morphing into the precious person we were destined to be.
I used to be afraid that becoming a mom would make me lose myself. That I'd turn into this weird person who never wears makeup or clothes besides tee shirts (because in my old life fashion mattered to me a lot). A person who only talks about brands of diapers and ways to swaddle and whether to vaccinate or not (because I wanted to have dynamic, interesting conversations that don't involve paci's and baby poo). A person whose house is overrun with primary colors and toys and who knows every veggie tales song (because I like my decor and walking on a clean floor and good worship music).
I finally realized parenting hasn't made me lose myself, it's made me more of myself. More of who I'm supposed to be. A person who is peaceful, loves the simple things, likes some amount of predictability, wants to laugh, needs to be more patient and less hurried, and more.
I've found my fashion fun by making my tee shirts match my son's outfits every day. I've found my conversations with fellow moms full of mommy stuff, and my conversations with others centered on questions about them, to keep my world broad. I've found my house can handle some toys and others can get put away.
And I've had to become more flexible (I don't take unpredictability well) slower (I was always so busy), more patient (I was always in a hurry), and more selfless (I used to need more down time to myself).
I'm changing. So is my husband. Whether we like it or not, we cannot stay the same.
Part of God's plan for us is being fulfilled by what parenting helps us become.
