This book is similar to "A Little Salty to Cut the Sweet" in that is a book written by a southern mom and full of wisdom. This book showed up on my Kindle recommended list after reading another one of Big Mama's books (Antelope in the Living Room). Oh yeah, Big Mama is Melanie Shankle... I hope I have a cool nickname like that sometime in this life of mine.
Anyways, this book is basically gold. It is chalk full of realism, wisdom, and hilarity. I know I am not a mother yet, but I think this book is just a little glimpse into the life of motherhood. I highlighted basically the whole book and journaled my favorite excerpts. I want to share those with you, who am I kidding I want to share these mostly with myself since I am the one who reads this jibber jabber.
"Real motherhood is different. It's better and its messier and it's more complicated. It will break your heart and make you laugh harder than you ever imagined. You find yourself alternating between feeling like your friends talked you into some pyramid scheme so you could share in their misery and thinking this is the most fulfilling thing you've ever done in your life."- Big Mama
Love those words. I hope I can remember them when I step into the season of motherhood. Life is messy, complicated, and awesome!
Just like Boo Mama, Big Mama has the ability to throw some words at you that really hit you in the gut...well at least they did for me.
1st world problem- Oh, we can't have a baby right now because we have to go to Colorado and ski, then to Italy to tour.... Hello it's not our plan! God is in control! God works on His timetable not ours!
Wow... those words were like a punch in the gut. I find myself saying that crap to not only myself but actually out loud to people sometimes. How incredibly selfish am I to think that I am going to plan when we actually have a baby when the only reason I am even here today is that its God's plan? Yep, Big Mama got it right when she said 1st world problem.
"God doesn't always answer prayers as we expect- - He answers better!"
Super thankful for that truth... God's plan is always immeasurably better than my plan! There's that phrase again, I just love it! I need to write it on my walls.
Big Mama also had a specific verse that she prayed over for her baby- Isaiah 44:3-5.
"He may take away the Earthly things we look to for comfort and security so that we can feel Him better and love Him more."
"He takes our disappointments, rejections, and hard times, and he makes something beautiful. He creates life and shows us what beauty looks like in places where we look and see nothing."
"He blesses us beyond our imaginations, in spite of all the broken roads we've walked. He reminds u that he sees us-nut just for who we are at any given moment, but for what we could be one day."
Woo wee... those three truths are huge!
Big Mama reminds us through the stories of her baby girl that the "days are long, but the years are short".
"Looking back the sweetest things are often the hardest."
Big Mama said that "having a child was the beginning of a glimpse into the kind of love Christ has for us. Sacrificial love. Love that doesn't keep score. Love that isn't dependent on whats in it for me. Love that is consuming and protective and unconditional."
Y'all, just a glimpse into the love Christ has for us, that is HUGE! I am not even a mom, but I know the kind of love my mom has for me and the kind of love my sister in laws have for their kids. That kind of love is fierce.
Big Mama shares her prayer for the future and I just couldn't and haven't been able to shake it. "I want to be home. I want to have time to bake cookies and haze lazy morning watching Bert & Ernie with a snuggle girl in pajamas who was;t going to be little forever". Yes and Amen are my thoughts on that.
"Kids- we like to believe they are better versions of us, but the truth is, they are us." If that statement doesn't make you want to be the best person you can be then I don't know what's wrong with you. I see that truth every time I am around my nieces and nephews and sister and brother in laws.
"God gives us these raw, little people, and we have to form them and mold them and teach them how to operate in society. And if we get a glimpse of all the ugliness that lies right beneath our own polished surface? Thats a humbling lesson."
"Having bad manners is worse than having no money"- Suzanne Sugerabaker, but maybe can take a cue from the toddlers and not filter out all the real parts.- Big Mama
--I told you this book was full of gold!-- more wisdom ahead!
"The kids aren't going to get it right every time, but neither are we. Our job as mothers is to do the best we can to teach our children that life is better and friendships are richer when we treat others with kindness, when we use nice words, and remember to share. To remember that people have a few cracks in their hearts even if we can't see them and that love is always the best response."
**Trust God... Jump into the deep end with Him!
"You will never be fully prepared. Only the reality of doing something every day prepares you for what it is really like."
Well if that isn't another shot in the gut I don't know what is... This truth is something I need taped to my forehead.
"You can't give your kids perfection- thats where the grace of God enters and he fills the gaps". - such a comforting statement
"God can't take us anywhere if we keep clinging to little bits of the past".
Big Mama stated that God's theme in her life tended to be "like ok you're in the comfort zone let's keep moving". I think we have all probably heard that God does most of his work in growing you when you are out of your comfort zone, but boy is it hard to listen sometimes. At least for me it is... if it's not for you I need to read your book.
"Sometimes the best families are the ones God builds using unexpected pieces of our hearts."
"Motherhood gives us the first true flips of how God loves us. The kind of love that is irrevocable, unrelenting, unconditional. It's the closest humans get to living out 1 Corinthians 13. Motherhood is a Holy Communion with goldfish crackers and juice boxes".
"Raising a child is a fleeting moment in time that sometimes gets swallowed up in the daily routine of car pools and soccer practice and it is the most important thing we will do. It's the daily balance of treasuring the moments even as we wish some of them away. It's treading water in a sea of imperfections. It's a delicate balance of guilt and joy."
Daniel 112:3 "...Shine bright." Prayer for the babies!
** When we loosen our grip he tightens His.
"He doesn't make mistakes. He loves unconditionally. His plans and purposes are perfect. He created her/him with a purpose and a plan for this time, this generation." - for the babies
"God is always there. Watching, catching, loving, and molding her into the person she was created to be. She's safer in His group than she'll ever be in mine."
ABSOLUTELY ... "God doesn't always answer prayers as we expect- - He answers better" Love that!!
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