those parents

we were all sitting around the other night, about ten of us girls. the conversation ranged all over the place, but several time it came back to the same thing: "what happens when we become those parents?" we asked each other.

you know.
the parents who didn't let you have a phone in your room.
who made you sit down to a family dinner every night.
who taught you to value others over yourself.
who composted.

we talked about how our kids will have it even rougher, will be further outside the norm.
no smart phones for kindergartners.
no computers in their rooms.
parents who know their email passwords and who communicate regularly to their friends' parents.
parents who compost.

and the reason we're asking these questions is because we all had those parents. as we sit around time after time and discuss how to reorient our lives to Jesus and the poor and how to embrace justice and love Creation and to live less for ourselves and more for others, we've all shared the amazing examples we've seen in our parents.

the seeds planted in our childhoods are coming to fruition in adulthood, just in time for us to turn around and start planting them in our own children.

so that got me thinking about obedience, and how i want cruz and baby girl to obey and be receptive to our guidance and leading. for sure in the small things like, "you better listen to mommy when i tell you that you aren't allowed to open the front door," but also in the big picture ways too. the only way i know how, truly, to lead them, is to plant the seeds with prayer, so i have started praying these verses over them:

oh Lord, help this small silly mama to be a wise teacher to the little ones you've given me. help me to be that parent that they may someday be those parents too.