Why Do You Look At One Another?

Gotta put in a cute story about the 4 year old...

Sometimes my older kids will help me out by taking all the younger kids to the library for an hour.  Then I can clean the house and prep for dinner.  When they were at the library last week, my 4 year old was waiting to use the computer while another little boy was being told to get off by his mom so my guy could get on.

"C'mon, let's get off the computer now and give this little boy a turn," the mom said to her son.

"My name is Jonas," my daughter heard him say very matter-of-factly.

"Oh, ok, uh, let's make sure we get off quickly because Jonas is waiting.  Do you go to school somewhere Jonas?"

"Yeah, kind of...my favourite subject is 'Explode the Code'," he explained.

"We have to go get our hair cut now so get off the computer," she kept trying to say to her son.

"I just got my hair cut today!" Jonas said to her.

"Were you brave?  My son doesn't like to get his hair cut."

"Of course I was brave.  My name is Jonas Valour."  And it's true.  He is very proud of his name.  We tell him all the time that we named him that because we knew he was going to be a man of courage and bravery.  The sweet thing is, every time he falls or trips or stubs his toe inside or out, he'll generally jump right up and say, "I'm fine!  I'm Jonas Valour!"

Normally, I don't include all the kids names in the blog, but this time I just had to.

Last week before we received the cheque, my husband and I were sitting on the couch feeling a little discouraged.  Often, that is when I share with him something I'm reading in the Bible and more often than not, I come across something that is just perfect.  Sure enough, still in Genesis, I read to him the verse in Ch. 42 where the famine has come upon the land and it is now affecting Jacob and his family.  I'm sure they were in dire straits and were all sitting on their "couches" feeling not only discouraged, but perhaps fear or panic.  Jacob said something profound that I hadn't noticed before, "Why do you look at one another?"  So true!  Why do we sit on the couch talking to one another about our discouragement!  Why not get up and go do something!  Jacob went on to tell his sons just that, "Behold, I have heard that their is grain for sale in Egypt.  Go down and buy grain for us there, that me may live and not die."  That's it!  Go and do something instead of navel-gazing!

We say that all the time now - "Why are we looking at each other!  Let's go buy some grain!  Let's go to Egypt!"  Sometimes the way it works out is that we actually go and try and do something that will make money instead of sitting on a couch or he'll list something on ebay or even just go to his office instead of sitting with me where it can turn to us grumbling.

For me, I was given an opportunity to go to an event my sister hosted.  At the time she asked us to go, I wasn't even sure I could afford the gas to get there, but by faith I said yes.  Then we were asked if we could make the cake pops for the event (our first order!)  Again, I had no money for groceries at the time, but I said, "Sure!"  The event was a mother/daughter book club where we would go through a book together and try to establish solid godly relationships with our daughters as a result of directed conversation, study and prayer.  She asked if my oldest daughter would take the younger ones aside and lead them in a discussion.  Once again, "Sure!"

It might seem like a small thing, but this was my way of "going to Egypt to buy grain".  It wasn't sitting at home feeling sorry for myself, though part of me thought perhaps I shouldn't go until I knew for sure we had the money.  I went ahead anyway and I admit, I did borrow money from my son for ingredients!  The cheque came in.  There was gas to drive up.  It ended up being a great night.  The cake pops were a hit.

Each mom and daughter who came was touched I think in some way.  It was a real challenge for all of us though as we were supposed to go through a series of questions with our daughters before we went.  I was to ask them questions that evaluated me and then they would ask me questions that would evaluate them as daughters.  Really hard questions.  Was I known for my affection, encouragement or correction?  Ouch.  Almost all the moms knew that we over-correct our children.  It was good to see what our children thought.  Had I sinned against them?  Please don't answer that honestly!  It was good to talk through a few things that I knew I had done and then apologize to them.  I found out a few things I didn't know they thought and vice versa.  So, that exercise alone was worthwhile.  It was great to hear the others moms openly admit their struggles. 

There were 3 older moms there, including my mom, and that was so special.  I loved hearing their insights.  They all kept saying how wonderful it was to have a group like that where you could share and encourage one another to be the best moms we could be.  When we stay in isolation, then all we do is slip into the pattern of guilt that says, "You are the worst mom in the world."  The night went way too fast.  No one wanted to leave.  My sister was very gracious.  Her husband and sons were also very gracious as they took off and left the women alone for a few hours.  It was clear we all longed for community, a community of women who understood how we all felt as moms.  There is nothing I love more than being with a group of like-minded women.