Meekness is one of virtues I’ve been guilty of underestimating. I’ve associated it with weakness, with appeasing and submitting. But I think at the heart of it, meekness is accepting and following the will of God no matter what the cost. As I’ve studied the scriptures and experimented with this in my own life, I’ve found that meekness is the opposite of weakness. In fact, it requires the utmost strength and courage, and it is the harbinger of the greatest grace.
Read MoreIn Matthew 18:3, Jesus tells us to “be as little children.”
As someone who has recently acquired a little child, I sometimes find this request puzzling. Like last week when Molly threw a fit because I wouldn’t let her wear her flamingo socks for the third day in a row. After twenty minutes of negotiating, I managed to distract her from the socks with a tutu.
But the other day, I was reading something else Jesus said, about coming to him when we are heavy laden, and the Psalm that asks us to go to Him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And I remember the time Molly was hurt after she shut her fingers in her drawer, and all the times she’s sad after her dad leaves for work, or when her mouth hurts from teething—every time, she turned straight to me. She comes up and grabs my legs or reaches up, and I hold her while she cries.
Read MoreIt’s a bit of a cliche, learning about God from parenting. God isn’t mad at us when it takes us time to learn, just as we’re not mad at babies when they fall down learning to walk. We don’t always understand why pain is necessary, just as babies don’t understand why we’re giving them shots.
It’s a cliche, but it’s what I find myself thinking about it a lot these days.
Read MoreOne day in Jerusalem the disciples forgot to wash their hands before they ate, and the Pharisees took this personally. (Always interesting, isn’t it, what thingswe decide to take personally?) They said to Jesus, “If you’re a prophet, why don’t your disciples follow our elders’ traditions?”
And Jesus said, “Mind your own business.”
Read MoreThis week was a bit rough. I’m not exactly sure why. I was tired, coming off a weekend in which I couldn’t remember what it felt like to not do homework, so maybe that was it.
I don’t think so, though. I think last week I just felt very, very small and afloat. Which is why finding information about pioneer women anointing each other during childbirth in one of my school books made me break down in tears in a school hallway.
Read MoreAustin says that he gets all the main benefits of div school because I come home and tell him all the best stuff—but I submit as evidence that time we were sitting on his couch and he kept not doing his homework so he could read mine (it was about gender among the ancient Greeks, and it was fascinating). So you should all go to div school, but here are the ideas that are lighting me up this week:
I’m in this class called “Encountering Motherhood: Sacred Histories,” and my professor is intensely motherly. She’s also quite hippy, which I associate that with motherliness, because my mom is also kind of a hippy. My professor wears long green velvet dresses, and the first day of class she assured us it was OK not to come because of family emergencies, and “family includes pets, I want to be clear. If your goldfish dies, and you’re very upset about that, I will absolutely understand.”
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