You are special

   The other day I was reading the book " You are Special" by Max Lucado
(my new favorite book) and I was struck by the simplicity and yet complexity of the book. The book starts off my talking about these Wemmicks who are all different. It goes on to explain that the Wemmick start giving stars to the people that are talented and pretty and dots to the people that are not. The ones who had dots got more dots just for having dots. Well one day the main character sees a girl with no dots or stars and asks her why she doesn't have any. She says that she doesn't have any because she visited the woodcarver.So the boy decides to go see Eli ( the woodcarver) This is what he says:
 Eli picked him up and set him on his bench. "Looks like you have been given some bad marks," said the maker.
 " I didn't mean to, Eli. I tried really hard."
 " Punchinello, I don't care what other Wemmicks think."
 "you don't "
 " No, you shouldn't either, what they think doesn't matter . All that matters is what I think. And I think you are pretty special." Eli then goes on to say " The stickers only stick if they matter to you. The more you trust my love, the less you care about their stickers." "For now, come and see me every day and let me remind you how much I care."
 At the end of the book Eli says " You are special because I made you, and I don't make mistakes."
   This book really spoke to me, because in a society where we are taught from a very young age to care what others think. To dress because it looks good, to have a nice house to others will look fondly upon us, to drive nice cars. And to really be completely unsatisfied with all of it and want more. What are we striving for? We are striving for dots and stars from others when it all doesn't even matter. God calls us to only care about what he thinks. He gently reminds us to spend time with him daily, reading the bible and praying, basking in his Glory so that he can remind us how much we matter, and how much he loves us. He created us to live on this earth not to live in the riches of the world but to bring Glory to his name. He doesn't care if we have a Gucci bag or if we have grow out from a dye job. If we are so caught up in the day to day competition and want, where is their room for Christ?
   I often read this book, not because Kaleb likes it but because it is such a great, but simple reminder of where our focus should be as his sons and daughters.

Trust yourself

             I just read this wonderful blog from this mother about expectations on motherhood. What an eye opener and relief at the same time. I will post a link at the bottom. But it got me thinking, as they often do, about our expectations of ourselves. We think before we have kids that having them is going to be so easy and that we won't do this or that and we will know exactly what we are doing. That our child isn't " normal" if they don't sleep through the night (and mine still doesn't at 18 mo) or they are below the growth charts... the list could go on and on. We are constantly comparing our children to others, which in turn always makes us feel inadequate and that we aren't doing a good enough job... like we needed help in that department. Then to top it off other moms are always comparing out loud all the things that their kids can do that yours can't, I have been guilty of this as well. I don't think we always know when we are doing this. Anyway... thinking about this really made me reevaluate how I look at things. My Kaleb is his own person, he might not sleep through the night and only weight 19 lbs at 18 mo, and refuse to eat anything healthy but that doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with him or that I am doing anything wrong... it just means that Kaleb is Kaleb.
              We live in this society where we buy all these books that tell us how our child should be and what they should be doing and if you don't match up... dun, dun, dun your DOOMED! Not really, but sometimes it feels like that! God gave us instincts for a reason and in a society where the word "instinct" is looked down upon, it is often hard to rely on it much less trust it. What is your heart telling you? Is it telling you that its time to take the Binky away? To let them cry it out? To not feed them dairy? Who cares what other people think! This is your baby, you do what feels right to you not what is normal, because when it really comes down to it, what is normal anyway? There is no such thing. It is societies perception, often misguided on who they think we should be.
  So with that said... I will leave on this last little note.Trust yourself!
Here's that link! Great article!
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.conscienceparenting.com%2F2011%2F12%2F29%2Fthe-inconvenience-of-having-children%2F&h=gAQHH8V0oAQFPT1kxJoAK7R2bDoHNTEucpCiam8gZwSgQ1w