Our hearts are made for justice

Help us run toward Your mercy

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

Karianna Frey writes about the journey of learning to forgive her own mother: “Forgiving someone is never easy. Acknowledging the pain in your past or in your family of origin hurts. But forgiveness, freely given, is one small step toward freedom of self.”

Rakhi McCormick prays for God’s mercy to transform the shadowlands of our hearts: “Release us from the shame of our betrayals and our perceived failures. Help us run toward Your mercy.”

In Friday’s resource round-up, we asked readers: How has forgiveness changed your parenting?

Share your answers here.

From our sponsors

This week's sponsor of Mothering Spirit is Brazos Press, publisher of Choosing Us by Gail Song Bantum and Brian Bantum. In Choosing Us, Gail Song Bantum and Brian Bantum, a multiracial Christian couple, reveal the lessons, mistakes, and secrets that have helped them navigate race, family history, and gender dynamics to inspire other couples to pursue mutual flourishing in their marriage partnership.

Readers respond

What have your children taught you about being a neighbor?

Having a child with a disability will bring out the very best and reveal the worst in you. They say that necessity is the mother of invention; I know this to be true. My fear of Noah being alone or left out (FOMOFYC, fear of missing out for your child) is real! Having a diagnosis of Down Syndrome is an odd thing: everyone would come to anything and everything I planned and hosted, but invitations were few and far between. 

Since my mom and I are both teachers by trade, I proposed to her the idea of creating a schoolhouse for Noah. One where we could gather his friends once a week and offer friendship, learning, and exploration. We painted the walls a sea foam green color and put big colored circles on the wall. The doors were painted with chalkboard paint so the kids could draw on the walls. Easels were bought, bins were filled with puppets and crayons. It was a true labor of love. 

Since Noah and his friends varied in age from 3-6 the first year, I knew I wanted to minimize the gap in learning abilities as much as possible. The best way to do that was through song, rhyme, and play. Most children with Down Syndrome have issues with speech. Hypotonia and differences in the mouth and tongue are a big reason why. When Noah would share his ideas and interact, all his friends quickly developed an understanding of his language. 

We would then “teach speech” by introducing nursery rhymes. The cadence and tempo of these century-old verses have proved reliable in helping children with memorization, singing and pronunciation. We would snack together while playing a myriad of beautiful music. Letters were learned, art was created. We had a tire swing, a trampoline, goats, four horses and chickens. There was no end to the mayhem we found ourselves in. 

My oldest daughter Zoe, now has two little girls of her own, and she has recreated our schoolroom in her playroom in Florida. I see the play cash register, the plastic bowling pins that we used, the cradle we rocked countless dolls in, and the books that line her shelves that hold a thousand memories. 

We built the schoolroom so that Noah would be surrounded by love and acceptance. Little did I know that a whole different generation would receive the blessings we created a decade and a half earlier. Each story, game, song, and craft I do with my granddaughters reminds me of stepping out in faith years ago….trusting if we built it, they would come! 

(From Kristen McGinnis)

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).

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A final word for reflection

“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” (Ursula K. LeGuin)