cultivating breathing space – rest

{part of the intentional parenting series}

My planner is beyond full. Running here, running there, ballet, taekwondo, writing, reviews, cooking, cleaning, laundry {you really don’t want to see my laundry room right now}, speaking engagements, homeschooling, being a mom, and so much more.

It, at times, is exhausting.

Life races by. Faster, faster, and faster. Do this, do that, do more.

There’s not much room to breathe.

Then it hits me. They’re watching me. My children – Hannah, Chloe, Grace, Brennan, Caleb, Elijah, and Samuel – they’re all watching me race through life.

The out of breath mom.

Even Caleb will come up to me, and in his sweet six year old way he’ll tell me rest momma rest. He sees the busy, he sees the choices, he sees me the busy out of breath mom.

Enter Mother’s Day.

They, all of those wonderful children, want me to sit still, to rest, to enjoy, to be happy, to be joyful. They didn’t see my overworked to-do list or my ridiculously full inbox or those piles of laundry. They loved me and they wanted me to slow down. They didn’t care that we moms give ourselves these pats on our own backs for being busy and getting our list almost finished. They didn’t care that I’ll be behind in my mind. They wanted me to be rest in their celebration of motherhood.

That meant creating and embracing breathing space in a busy life.

It meant being willing to let go of the entire oversaturated scheduled life and instead meant truly resting – if just for a bit. There isn’t an award for the busiest mom or the one with the fullest color coded schedule or the one who doesn’t need to rest. Racing through life simply teaches our children to race through life.

We must cultivate intentional breathing space.

Otherwise we will create another generation of stressed overworked individuals. Rest is a gift – and we can bless our children with seeing us, the moms, actually rest.

So on Mother’s Day, I rested. I played games, sat and talked with my parents, and spent an hour in my dad’s garden with him planting tomatoes and peppers. There was no agenda during that time – it was him and I – enjoying each other’s company, working together, and it was lovely. Restful.

Keep working. Keep your schedule. But, know that it’s okay to rest.

Cultivate breathing space within your life, mothers. Do not allow guilt, schedules, routine, agendas, culture, and more to suffocate out moments of rest and quiet. Our children, our husbands, our families will be blessed if we allow ourselves the grace to be still, to create, and to breathe.

It is good, it is intentional, it cultivates joy when we allow space to be still.

*****

Several weeks ago I ran a series titled 10 Days of Intentional Parenting. This post is part of the continuation of that series. For those of who you followed that you’ll remember that I included several questions at the end and a journal page. Today, for this post on breathing space, here are several questions for you to ponder.

1} Do you rest? If so where and when?
2} How can you cultivate rest, breathing space into your family’s life?
3} Take some time today, with your children, and simply rest. Play games, read books, but be intentional to let the schedule be still.

What are your thoughts on rest? Are you intentional about it?

*****

Also, tonight, I’m so excited to share my heart in front of a local homeschool group. I’m talking about finishing the year well – so if you’d think of me later today I’d love some prayers.

Blessings on your Monday – and let it be a Monday filled with a list to do and many things accomplished but also sweet moments of intentionality with your children and times of rest.

Linking my thoughts on rest with my sweet friend Carissa.