That familiar I should be doing more guilty feeling pulled at me a bit today, like a child pulls on a shirt hem. The tension held in these months of June and July and August used to challenge me as a mama—in my feed, those summer bucket lists and ideas for screen time limits and organized chore lists waved for my attention.
My self-imposed summer angst told me I should be spending all the minutes planning fun things with my boys (and never feel frustrated or annoyed!), OR I should be snatching windows of productivity with less on the calendar (Perform! Strive! Do all the things!).
This year, I see those tempting ‘shoulds’ and hold my ground. This year, I’m setting aside that angsty feeling. Because, while there is goodness in those things, God doesn’t call us to Pinterest or bucket lists or perfectly scheduled weeks.
He calls us to hearts.
When I keep my family’s hearts as the focus, I can better see the truth that there isn’t one right way. There exists no absolutes for how we live this season. There isn’t an award for the perfect Pinterest summer, and there isn’t a prize for productivity in the midst of finding trunks and sunscreen. I can stop letting social media or what others are doing or what I used to think I should be doing boss my family around.
This year, we’re gonna sleep in (yay, older kids!), eat cereal and popsicles at mostly any hour, have the friends over whenever, and just keep on drying the wet towels.
Mama, let’s just love Jesus with our kids this summer. That’s enough.
3 comments
Marnie, this helped me take a deep sigh of relief. Thanks for reminding me of this beautiful truth!
I will join you in the sigh of relief! And I needed it again myself, truthfully. Those “should’s” are sneaky. So very thankful Jesus doesn’t “should” us… Thanks for being in it with me, my friend!
My youngest wouldn’t stop tugging on my shirt hem today, and neither would the angst. Thank you for this breath of fresh air and the permission to say whatever I am doing is enough.