Insta-MAMA! A title that I hold with gratitude! It's the name I was given when I first became a foster mother and it became one of my all-time favorite nicknames! When we started foster care ten years ago, I began the journey with no experience, no skills, no knowledge, but LOTS of emotions.
I slowly learned however, that without experience, I could be the most powerful mom ever, because the less that I knew, the more clueless I felt, the more mistakes I made, the greater it made my ability to submit to the Lord. I quickly realized, that the more clueless I felt, the greater the opportunity to allow God to work through me and in me, as a mother to HIS children, for HIS glory! I began to develop what I call a legacy mindset.
One day years ago, I remember watching the kids play in the driveway as i listened to their joy and read a book with my feet up on a chair. At one point, I needed to get up to speak face to face with one of our sons. When I got up, to my surprise, while my back was turned, our other son started imitating me. He got into my chair, put his feet up, put on my sunglasses and pretended he was me reading the book that I had left behind there, just a minute ago. It was on that day that Psalm 19:14, became more real than ever.
Psalm 19:14
May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
I started to ask myself regularly, what am I saying and what am I doing, that I would be pleased to be hearing someday through my children and in my grandchildren? What actions are being shown to our children, that our father would be pleased in hearing, from later generations? Soon that verse even became posted on the wall for time-outs and discipline moments. I wanted to remind myself, even when I was upset, that when I approach the kiddos, it is with LOVE. It is through LOVE that guidance and consequences start, in order to teach them. And more than anything, it is LOVE that I hope to see through them, for others someday. That's where the legacy mindset began.
The truth is, that day I learned a valuable lesson, to have a legacy mindset in EVERYTHING that I do. What do I want my children to see in me, that I hope to see in them someday? How can I allow HIS children to see Christ in me, so that someday I can see Christ in them? Our kids are like sponges, being filled and absorbing whatever we put in them, until it overflows. As Christian women, what will we choose for that to be? What are they being filled with? What are we allowing them to be filled with? What do we hope to hear our children saying to our grandchildren someday? I believe it should ALL start with the word of God.
Ephesians 4:29
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
I pray that today starts the beginning of your personal LEGACY MINDSET! What would you hope to hear and see in the future generations of your own family? Maybe it's the way you say good morning, how you tuck the kids into bed, the words you pray before Thanksgiving dinner, or those special Christmas pjs, that bring to mind tradition, or a legacy. For us, it's buying at least one printed bible a year. Maybe this week could be a good time to explore personally with the Lord, what HE'S looking for in you, to instill as a legacy in future generations.
There has been no greater gift to me as a mother, than hearing our sons quote scripture and show one another LOVE. By having a legacy mindset, I believe that starts with me. It may feel like a tall order, and a lot of responsibility, but the best part of it is, we don't have to come up with all of the words on our own. It's all written in the book and after bedtime, my bible is the BEST place to look for instructions for tomorrow!