Bombardment Ball (or It's Time to Focus the Family)

Do you ever get the sense that life is just a series of random bits and pieces pelting you and pushing you along?  I go through stretches where I just feel so... reactive.  I get stuck in knee-jerk reaction mode, dealing with one urgent need after another.  I get so mindlessly, soullessly reactive that I almost become radio-active — stressed out by the bombardment ball of life to the point of being toxic.  Just picture that for a moment. 

Not pretty.


That's why I want so badly to be pro-active, intentional, focused.  I want to be centered in Christ so when the stuff of daily life tries to push me around, my feet and my faith still stand firm.

So I read my Bible and go to church and pray through the nooks and crannies of my day.  I feel pretty rooted.  Not perfect.  But better than the alternative.

And just when I'm about to pat myself on the back and high five the Holy Spirit...

...I see what I've been missing.

Yes, that's my daughter, the ball of stress and frustration and perfectionism and anger that I have spawned.  Hardly 8:00am on a Tuesday and she's in full-throttle radioactive reactionary mode.  Her only focus is on deflecting her inner yuck onto everyone in her midst.

Help me, help me, help me, Lord.  She needs some centering, too.

It's time to renew my efforts to help my kiddos find a kinder, gentler, more grace-filled focus to soften the sharp blows from this world's projectiles.

It's time to find time — between church choir and school work, gymnastics and basketball, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, making dinner and folding laundry — to slow down in God's love.  To fill up with God's grace.

And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. 

Luke 2:40 (NIV)

I have no idea how I'm going to do it.  All I know is I do not want this mission to become another bombardment ball, pelting me into a state of stress.

I think I'll start by putting my daughter's Bible on her bed, with an I've-been-there letter from Mom.  I'll leave her with a verse that calms my stormy soul.  

And for my son, I think the Lego men stuffed animal entourage may be lined up along his Bible tonight, inviting him in.

Another day we might pull out the markers and paper and dress up and doodle God's word, decorating our hearts and our bedroom walls with scripture verses.

by Stephanie Ackerman @ HomegrownHospitality.typepad.com

When they scream for screen time I'll give them Seeds Family Worship videos. 

Are there Veggie Tales for tweens?  If not, could somebody please get crackin' on that? 

And we need to get back to reading the Bible together and praying together REGULARLY.  Perhaps we'll move it to a wake-up-and-face-the-day snuggle time when this mom has a little more energy.

Oh, how I wish I had this family faith corner squared away.  I wish I had a list of proven strategies to share with you.  But instead of inspiration and tangible tactics, today you get this: an invitation to journey alongside me as I work to focus my family in faith. 

What do you do to center your family in God's grace?  I'd love to hear your ideas and borrow from your experiences.