I was surprised by the violence in the book, and honestly read parts of it very fast hoping my preschooler would miss those details. We are doing a book study for our co-op, and have some fun activities planned to celebrate reading the book as a group. (ideas for character costumes anyone?) But us moms learned a lesson: Review the book before choosing it for our group book. I ended up listening to the rest of it, then telling my kiddo a summery of each chapter. I think we'll watch the movie before the party to gain a better picture of the whole story, without the violence and extensive details. The original version is very, very, very detailed and can get kind of long to read especially in the first couple chapters. That being said, it was interesting to note some things about human nature: most all of the characters longed for a mother to care for them (even if they were tough), we long to be needed, our pride gets in the way of good decisions, and we love adventures.
I've been trying to be more disciplined with reading my own books. Otherwise, I get to the end of a week and realize I'm still on the same page I was last week! :-) Life....it has a way of sneaking past us! One of the many habits I need to develop is taking a few moments each day for something life giving. In the Charlotte Mason educational philosophy world, it's called 'mother culture'. It's the idea of reading books, participating in hobbies, etc to feed your mind/heart.
On an airplane, the emergency instructions remind us to put on our own oxygen mask first before assisting others with theirs. If we don't have that supply going, we won't last long to help others. Admittedly, I have not done well in this area. It's so easy to run around busy, caring for everyone's needs while neglecting my own. Then I get to the end of the day, and feel wiped out and cranky. I have nothing left for them, because I spent it all without receiving any input. It's been so cold here, that I went outside to run my van for 10 minutes so the battery wouldn't die. When I came in, I commented to my husband that those 10 minutes were the most alone time I had experienced all day. :-)
Here's some life giving habits I'm trying to develop:
1. Read Bible/prayer time in morning: this habit has been my daily routine for years. But as my oldest likes to start the day between 6:30 and 7:15, I'm reminded that this must be FIRST in my day if I hope to have it be a quiet time (without preschool chatter in the background).
2. Drink more water: I'm not good at this. Do you have any tips for me? Today I'm trying out my new fruit infuser water bottle and hoping it's more motivating.
3. SIT DOWN to eat lunch with my kiddos, instead of snacking while I continue house projects. This calms my mind (pausing for a moment) and feeds my belly.
4. Choose something 'life-giving' as soon as the 3rd kiddo goes to sleep. The margin of time between getting the last kiddo to lay down for a nap, and when the 1st kiddo wakes up from their nap (also known as the 'magic hour'), can be short. So if I want to do anything 'life-giving' (write, read, organizational project, etc), I must be intentional with that time.
How about you? What personal habits or boundaries do you have to make sure you are not running on empty? Please share!
Sojourning together,
Felicia
No comments:
Post a Comment