�Look how much they�ve grown!� It�s the typical comment from friends or relatives who only see our children every so often. It�s not an exaggeration � children, especially among the five-and-under crowd, really do develop at an intense speed in comparison to other stages of life.
Yet the strange and beautiful thing is that as a mother, when living day-to-day with my children, such growth slows down to a leisurely stroll, punctuated by small revelatory moments that are like sudden sparks that illuminate the reality of change. One example that comes to my mind is the first time my oldest child was able to articulate a whispered �I love you mommy� as I left his darkened bedroom, or the carefully hand-lettered note he left for his daddy when he was only a bit over four years old, spelling out words I never knew he could write.
What a gift our children are to us, to enable us to experience time in such an organic way. So many of us live without the constant contact with the earth, the seasons, the scale and the rhythms of nature that our ancestors of yesteryear experienced. They had no choice but to live at the pace of that which is living, at the pace of creation. We, on the other hand, can �opt out� of nature�s pace at every turn. We can air condition our summers, purchase food from any season at almost any time of the year, and hurtle our bodies through space at hundreds of miles per hour via any one of a number of mechanized vehicles. In contrast, children invite us to live at the pace of the living being, at the pace of the person, even if sometimes we might like to �opt out.�
Life with my two-year-old is teaching me this everyday, as he navigates the transition from baby to child. He has decided he is now the master of his own clothing, and although he cannot dress himself without frustration, he insists on trying. I know I must respect such moments and live with him in his time, at his pace. Of course there are times � sometimes out of necessity and sometimes out of my own impatience � that I try to submit him to my own pace and agenda. Those days are never the ones I look back on with satisfaction and joy.
I am a type-A person, a need-to-be-in-control type, and so motherhood provides me with endless opportunities for �letting go.� My children, by their very being and presence, give me the chance to live at a cadence that is different � and most often slower � from that which I might choose. Without constant, daily attention to Christ in prayer, I tend to botch this chance to slow down, responding with shortness of temper, impatience and inattention instead of love. John Paul II wrote to mothers and fathers in his �Letter to Families� that �in prayer the human �I� more easily perceives the depth of what it means to be a person.� While I might be tempted to like to speed through the day with an ever-tidy house and a well-oiled schedule, I would not be penetrating the depths of my motherhood or the children with whom I am entrusted. Each morning in prayer I beg for the grace to resist the temptation to just skim the surface of the relationships in which I am called to engage, and to instead have the heart, the will, and the understanding to truly live at the pace of the person.
Topics: Faith , Family , Motherhood , Personal Growth , Relationships
Yes, children are a gift, from God! We had 2 boys and 2 girls and as they grew we did too! My fondest memories is taking them to play-grounds, zoos, movies, the Worlds Fair, etc., all the things that we as a young married couple loved to do. I was a fanatic picture taker too and always carried a camera with us to shoot some pix of the kids. Thank you, dear Lord for these blessed children that you gave us. May we all be united in heaven with You some day!
Deacon John
