Home is what we carry with us
My worries come and go. But your joy remains.
Welcome to the Mothering Spirit newsletter! Each Saturday morning, you’ll receive a round-up of the week’s posts—perfect for your weekend reading.
This week on Mothering Spirit
Sarah Bahiraei shares how her husband’s experience as a refugee led her to redefine what home means: “Home is not only a building with a picket fence. It is not just a passport we carry or an identity forced upon us. Home is what we pour into each other, the little moments adding up to the big moments. It is what God promises us: to work all things for our good, to strengthen us with the power of the Holy Spirit until we arrive at our eternal home.”
Kimberly Iglesia offers a prayer (in both Spanish and English) to thank God for the joys of family life, right where we are: “Here, in the ebb and flow of this new season God has invited me into. Here, in the constant giving, learning and unlearning.”
In Friday’s resource round-up, we asked readers: How has parenting redefined what home means for you?
Share your answers here.
From our sponsors
This week’s writing is sponsored by Be A Heart, a modern Christian lifestyle brand that creates beautiful products for everyday life to remind you of God's presence in the little moments. Check out their latest offering to help families pray at home: the Holy Land Playmat.
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Readers respond
How did you experience God’s presence as you welcomed your children—through pregnancy, birth, fostering, or adoption?
It took a good part of three shift rotations under the watchful eyes of the nurses at our little hospital, but she was finally in our arms. Our firstborn, long awaited, gazed wide-eyed from her pink and blue striped swaddle. Though the hands of the clock had long ago passed 1:00 a.m., the astounding joy of her presence—finally, really here with us after hours of labor and a bit of peril—left us wide awake. Examinations were made, the first of so many nursings attempted, and a tray of late night cafeteria offerings was brought to nourish a weary new-mother body. Hours later, when the sun was still deep below the horizon and the stars still blinked in the dark sky, she lay in my arms, peacefully sleeping.
“It’s probably time for you to sleep, too,” my husband gently suggested. Though I knew his wise words were true, I couldn’t stop gazing at the miracle that was in front of me. It felt as though I might wake in the morning to find it was all a dream. Eventually though, my weary eyes closed, too.
Once we had returned home, I frequently found myself in a similar posture: holding a sleeping baby, contemplating her every detail, thanking her maker for this miraculous gift. There was a sacred, peaceful rhythm to these moments that reminded me of the prayer woven through the day of a monastic community.
As our family grew, the opportunities to gaze upon the face of a newborn did, too. To my chagrin, some days the mountains of laundry and piles of dishes seemed to grow even faster. All too often, my gaze would anxiously turn to the crumbs on the floor and the toys scattered about instead of the precious one in my arms. But as the noise and busyness of our life increased, the moments spent holding a child in my arms started to become a reprieve, instead of a burden.
If I could quiet my hurried spirit long enough, I would find that my child wasn’t the only one awaiting my attention. The Lord was abiding there in those moments. When my day held no peaceful prayer time alone, no careful journaling or moments of silent reflection, He was dwelling there in silence. Like an infant in my arms, He waited for me, asking for nothing but my loving gaze.
“Looking with Love” by Rachael Runde.
Want to share your story in a future Mothering Spirit newsletter? Send your response to this week’s question to newsletter@motheringspirit.com for possible inclusion in a future newsletter (400 words max).
A final word for reflection
“Washing dishes. Bathing a baby. Folding the laundry. Making dinner. Running errands. All can be sacramental moments if you open your eyes a bit wider to see them. So many saints discovered this secret to the spiritual life—that the mundane and even dirty work is shot through with the Holy Spirit. This paradox is part of the upside-down Kingdom of God.”
From The Extraordinary Ordinary Time, a new e-book now available from Mothering Spirit.