Editor’s Note: Today we are so blessed to share a guest post with you, written by Theresa Miller of Heavenly Glimpses.
She sits
in the crook of my arm for a good portion of the weekend as we read through
Anne of Green Gables. At five, she understands the highlights of the story and
may get lost in the details, but she asks for it, she sits through it, and we
bond through it.
These
days we connect through reading aloud together, the twinkle of an eye, and an
extra long hug.
And I
wonder when our relationship became so
sweet?
I
remember how we scheduled our first born child’s routines by the book and he
was so compliant that we took that method as the golden rule and set out to
schedule her routines, as well.
I
remember when she was two and her younger brother was born, and feeling that I
had not held her enough.
I
remember when she was two-and-a-half and we gave her crib to her baby brother,
moved her to a toddler bed, and battled her staying in bed for the next
year.
I recall
trying many of the tools for gaining compliance that worked for her older
brother, ignorantly attempting to mold her temperament into his, and she
demanding in a fit of tantrums that we see her for her own individual
likeness.
And
although we had countless lovable moments and loved the best we knew how
through the fits, I still recall those struggles more readily than I do the
tender moments.
Then just
over a year ago, I crept into her room after everyone was tucked into bed. I
didn’t care anymore that I could be forming a habit of dependency. We sat on
her bed and took turns braiding each other’s hair – she telling me stories and
singing lyrics she’d think up, spilling out evidences of her heart; then we’d
conclude with me rubbing her back, reading Letters to a Princess, and praying with her. It was no
less than forty-five minutes later that I would close the door to her room for
the night.
This
became our nightly ritual for the next several months.
Today, we
more naturally weave tender moments throughout the day. She doesn’t need
me for forty-five minutes at night anymore. But when I think about how
this tapestry of sweet relationship was formed, I can trace it back only as far
as just over a year ago when I crept into her room and we began braiding hair
and weaving hearts.
I didn’t
know it at the time how necessary this habit would be, but I pray with all of
my heart now that this dependency will continue to be a safe haven of treasured
moments interwoven throughout her growing years.
And I
pray that we will weave this bond strong and tight as I continue to release
what I think compliance should look like and study closer the threads of a heart.
Theresa is a wife and
mother of four wonderful children. She is a stay-at-home-mom, whose passions
are primarily with her family, writing, and in ministries that encourage
mothers in this generation. Theresa has been published in MOPS International,
MOMSnext e-zine and other on-line publications. Theresa authors Heavenly Glimpses blog, where she captures the heart of Christ
through glimpses into the life of her children, marriage, and a humbly inspired
heart.
