Lighting the Match and Letting it Fuel my Fire

Lighting the Match and Letting It Fuel My Fire

           Growing up my family loved to go camping. I wasn’t a huge fan of it but I did enjoy getting away from the house. My mother would have packing and to do lists before each trip and assign tasks for each of us to complete. For days we’d air out the tent, pack our clothes, clean up the equipment, and play the life game of Tetris trying to get it all in the camper. Then we’d drive out to the lake and set up camp just before sunset. The reward for all that hard work was the campfire. The family would gather around to roast marshmallows and watch the flames dance in the pit. This was the best part of camping.

            As an adult I’ve learned camping is a lot more work. It’s budgeting, saving, paying for all that equipment and gas, and more things than I can name. And there’s no one to do it for us. We have to get those lists together and it’s on us if we forget to add something. I’ll never forget the first year my husband and I went camping all on our own with the kids. I was so proud of all my lists and accomplishing each and every task only to get to sunset and realize I’d forgotten matches. Since neither of us are smokers we didn’t have a lighter either. I felt so bad. Here my little one’s sat with their metal rods ready to roast some smores and I couldn’t find a way to light the fire. My husband had to drive into town to the little station and get matches. Once we got the fire going though, everything was peachy keen.

            It’s the same way with my faith. When I was young my family provided me the tools to light the fire. They took me to church, sent me to youth camp, helped me get baptized, bought me a bible, and encouraged me to do God’s work. As an adult I became responsible for each of these and just like with the matches, I dropped the ball.  I got lazy and stopped going to church. There was always some excuse and over the last 15 years that fire got harder and harder to light. Eventually I didn’t have any matches and stood around wondering what I was going to do.  Luckily I had help. Some friends of ours invited me to church. While I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go, I knew I needed to. So I woke up early Sunday morning, pulled out the dress I hadn’t worn in a few years, dusted off the bible that had been on the shelf so long I’d put new books in front of it, and headed to service. One year later and my fire was lit again. It’s still small, but it’s lit and that’s what’s important.

            I think that brings us up to date. I’m excited for this new season in my life. For years I’ve tried having that fire without doing what’s necessary to fuel it. That’s all changing and I’m just getting going. One of the foremost items on my to do list is to relist my priorities. Next to my faith, my family is at the top of that list. And I’ve lost a grasp on that. So, I’ve let some things go, preparing to let some more go, and making sure everything I sign myself up for lies within the guidelines of ensuring my faith and my family are still at the top of my list. For now, I’m making my to do lists. I’m gathering my equipment. I’m cleaning out the tent and I’m packing those matches! My fire is going to rock this world and be everything God and my family needs from me.

            So why am I writing this post? To encourage you to do the same. I always hear of moms and women who have lost their drive. They want to be the very best mom they can be and can be overwhelmed or even discouraged by the ideal “pinterest” moms. I’m here to tell you, it doesn’t matter if you’re baking cupcakes for your sons entire 3^rd grade class for his birthday or you grab a half dozen from the grocery store on the way home from work and light one candle to celebrate. I love to check out Pinterest myself but I will be the first to admit about 95% of my pins go undone. My goal with this blog is to encourage you to be the best mom you can without feeling as though you’re not doing enough. I love to share. I love to give tips and ideas. You’ll find some already on this blog. Some of my favorites…

Meal Planning – If you are like me, you’re a very busy mom. Here I detailed my first meal prep day.

Favorite SVG Sites – I love my silhouette cameo and I’ve shared the best SVG file sites around.

I Mustache You to Say No To Drugs – My kids are always coming home with something new they have to dress up for. Theme this time? Mustaches!

And of course you can always cruise through the old posts and check out “I pinned it”!