Category: 366 days of novice motherhood

Place: home

Poison: water

Favorite things: little outfits!

It’s not until you unwrap little Max and see how tiny he is, that you truly come to terms with the meaning of the word vunerable.

His little head knocks back, his little arms flail and he has only three responses to anything, food, nappy change or sleep.

The vunerability of his beginnings of life is so palpable.

It truly reminds me of the vunerability of every human life. Without the basics we are all stuffed.

Yet society tries to make happiness and life about so much more than the basics.

Lenten reading (I have no idea what day we are up too, I have a less than one week old child, all I know is I have managed to write everyday which is a miracle in itself)

“Don’t let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that. You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates. Don’t set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do. No one else should carry the title of ‘Father’; you have only one Father, and he’s in heaven. And don’t let people maneuver you into taking charge of them. There is only one Life-Leader for you and them-Christ. “Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you’ll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you’re content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty. (Matthew 23:8-12 MSG)

There is so much in this one part of scripture, I don’t even know where to begin, but it makes me feel vunerable.

Humility is not an easy trait.

Servanthood is not pretty.

Life as we know it has changed so much this week, but the vunerability is staying sober to the reality of true happiness and life.

And they are found in the midst of following our Saviour on this Lenten journey and his life is marked by humility and Servanthood, which is a life marked by vunerability.

What makes you feel humble?

Ps- I’m so sorry if some of my posts don’t make sense, I’d so love someone to help me edit them. Last night was hilarious I’m breast feeding and writing a blog and falling asleep at the same time to wake up and write another sentence. One day soon I’ll go back and edit these posts.

Hope they inspire you somewhat, these Lenten reflections are helping me keep it real.

A

Place: home

Poison: water

Favorite things: my little mans nursery

Today we left hospital as a threesome. We drove so slowly, so aware of the special cargo we carried.

The responsibility and the excitement contributed to a feeling that we had both never experienced before.

As we drove home, Charl stopped by the little shopping centre on the way home to pick up milk and bread. I sat in the car with Max.

As I sat there watching people, I realized I was a different person. No longer could I look at people and just see a body with clothes, I was deeply aware of their story and the love that exudes from a creator who uniquely formed them.

I sat there in deep contemplation, with love for every stranger that walked past my car. Aware that one day their mother tentatively drove them home
From the hospital full of deep gratitude and love.

There is something so distilling about being in the presence of a newborn, they beg you to ask the big questions of life, the beg you to distill truth down to the little things, they beg that you take life a little more seriously and sift your priorities to a place of intensity.

Day 10- Then Lenten readings from Matthew.

Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.” (Matthew 22:37-40 MSG)

A group of Men stood around Jesus asking him to distill his faith down to one sentence. They were hoping to trip him up and judge him harshly for his heresy.

However Jesus had no problem distilling his truth into a couple of sentences. All focused around Loving one another as Christ loved you.

A truth full of grace, a truth however nearly impossible to understand.

It’s a truth that the religious around him tried to manipulate and speculate error.

However no error in Him could be found. As he was the Son of God.

The Lenten traditions of fasting, confession, sacrifice and reflection are all founded upon the essential spiritual command.

Love.

Today as my priorities were distilled
By this little vulnerable package in his car seat, the most overwhelming feeling I had was love for others. I can’t explain it, but it is so the foundation of everything that the Christian faith stands on.

If there is anything we should reflect on through this Lenten season, it is this…How is your love walk with others? Are you loving others more than anything else?

Change the way I see the world, change the way I see the unlovely, the disabled, the disobedient, the sinner and the saint.

I want to live different.

How about you?

Mrs V

Place: hospital

Poison: water

Favorite things: the opportunity of the next season that awaits

All day I have been so overwhelmed by gratitude and I’m not sure if I could ever be the same again.

A new born sleeping beside me, quality time with our closest friends and family, a health care system that provides the most amazing care from our government, a healthy baby, I could ago on and on…

We all have watershed moments in our life, that suddenly provide the opportunity for deep revelation but often these moments of inspiration are wiped away by the immediate and the urgent in our worlds.

I don’t want to loose this revelation of gratitude ever, I don’t want to be a leap year type of inspiration groupie, that leaves its discover to once every 4 years, to catch up on lost time.

Today’s reading is from Luke

Jesus said, “Marriage is a major preoccupation here, but not there. Those who are included in the resurrection of the dead will no longer be concerned with marriage nor, of course, with death. They will have better things to think about, if you can believe it. All ecstasies and intimacies then will be with God. Even Moses exclaimed about resurrection at the burning bush, saying, ‘God: God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob!’ God isn’t the God of dead men, but of the living. To him all are alive.” Some of the religion scholars said, “Teacher, that’s a great answer!” For a while, anyway, no one dared put questions to him. (Luke 20:34-40 MSG)

What are you focused on this Lent?

Is it the urgent, is it the immediate? Or is it that which is eternal like gratitude, grace….

God help me to never loose this perception and revelation.

I have asked to go home tomorrow, as I’m desperate to be with my family and my amazing husband.

Grateful

Mummy V

Place: hospital

Poison: water

Favorite things: my husband holding my son.

I am pretty speechless. There is not much I can say when I sit here reflecting on the last few days and the amazing privilege of new life.

I think that is the long and short of Lent, Jesus Christ’s life was so precious, I can’t even begin to imagine Mary his mother watching the events of the Lenten season unfold as Jesus walked them.

Todays reading:

From Luke 20:
“Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘I know what I’ll do: I’ll send my beloved son. They’re bound to respect my son.’ (Luke 20:13 MSG)

The whole chapter is an allegory, a story told by Jesus about the State of the people’s hearts around him, that they were not open to truly hear about the kingdom of God.

Jesus also speaks to us about coming to the kingdom of God with the humility of a child. That we approach and understand his kingdom through a childlike mindset.

These last few days have showed me the vulnerability, the purity and the humility of new borns.

My heart is overwhelmed by gracefulness and an overwhelming presence of the kingdom of heaven.

How can we all find a way this Easter, to forget the cynicism of the Priests and the Pharisees and understand the keys of the kingdom through the eyes of a child?

I am overwhelmed with gratitude.

I am overwhelmed by the sense of purpose in our little mans short but delightful life.

I am simply overwhelmed.

Love

Mumma V

Place: hospital

Poison: water

Favorite things: early morning cuddles…

One of the reasons we named our so Maximus was because of this quote from the movie Gladiator.

I meet so many people whose lives are not shaped with a view to eternity. I’m not being critical but when life is hard, when days are impossible, I’m not sure how I’d survive without the opportunity to think eternally.

I truly believe life is not a dress rehearsal or as a midwife said to us yesterday the little boy seems wise I think he’s been here before… I don’t think Max has been here before because he is completely unique creation. His DNA, his fingerprints, his combination of Charl and I is completely fresh. Just one day and a half old…

Our Lenten reading for today.

Day 6: eternity

Jesus responded by telling still more stories. “God’s kingdom,” he said, “is like a king who threw a wedding banquet for his son. He sent out servants to call in all the invited guests. And they wouldn’t come! “He sent out another round of servants, instructing them to tell the guests, ‘Look, everything is on the table, the prime rib is ready for carving. Come to the feast!’ “They only shrugged their shoulders and went off, one to weed his garden, another to work in his shop. The rest, with nothing better to do, beat up on the messengers and then killed them. The king was outraged and sent his soldiers to destroy those thugs and level their city. “Then he told his servants, ‘We have a wedding banquet all prepared but no guests. The ones I invited weren’t up to it. Go out into the busiest intersections in town and invite anyone you find to the banquet.’ The servants went out on the streets and rounded up everyone they laid eyes on, good and bad, regardless. And so the banquet was on-every place filled. “When the king entered and looked over the scene, he spotted a man who wasn’t properly dressed. He said to him, ‘Friend, how dare you come in here looking like that!’ The man was speechless. Then the king told his servants, ‘Get him out of here-fast. Tie him up and ship him to hell. And make sure he doesn’t get back in.’ “That’s what I mean when I say, ‘Many get invited; only a few make it.'” (Matthew 22:1-14 MSG)

What is your response to the invitation today?

Mine is a huge yes…

Mummy V