16 Comments

You are a gem and I really enjoy your writing. It touches me in such a weird season I’m in. I always feel like I know you after reading your work. Such a sweet reminder that we all need about how God sees us and cares for us, lovingly.

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Thank you for these kind words, Julie! I'm so glad you've found connection and encouragement here! God DOES care for us, so much!

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UGHHH I LOVE EVERY SINGLE WORD OF THIS - beautifully written, painfully true, yet stunningly hopeful by the end. Thank you.

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Thank you!! That means so much!

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Thanks for the encouragement and laughter for this tired mama on a Friday night. Loved this piece !

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Anytime! We need all the laughs we can get :) Thank you so much!

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I’m late to the commenting, but this is beautiful, Elizabeth. I am much too familiar with editing each decision, with redlining a life, and I am so fearful my kids will be the same. It’s encouraging to be reminded that they are their own people.

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I can relate to your fears so much! My oldest is a lot like me; my middle....not so much. I cling to the fact that God has his own plan for them that He is accomplishing not despite but within my shortcomings as their mom!

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We have NO daylight savings time in South Africa. We live on the east coast and my toddlers wake with the sun at 430 am in the summer, and 630 am in the winter and IT IS GRAND.

love this image of God as a loving parent not a critic with a red pen! I think me & Elsa are inner kindred spirits (just DO IT!!) BUT becoming a parent has forced me into a responsibility mode which then makes me anxious/critical. Also, I'm not a perfectionist, I just want God to *like* me. Like, we bffs. What does that make me? 😳😊

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A definite Enneagram 7 is what that makes you lol. I feel the same way about my therapist - I want her to think of us as bffs, and there's nothing wrong with that, right? lol.

Cheers to no DST and to children who are nothing like us!

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Ohhhhh so good. “What would it be like to jump anyway.” I’m going to be thinking about this for a while. I see the red pen working overtime in my life. I just read a book: “Small Animals: Parenting in the Age of Fear” and it rocked my world a bit, showing me the ways I choose perceived safety or the appearance of “good parenting” over letting my children be free, try, fail, and keep going. In my mind it’s connected to what you’re saying. Love your reminder that God is delighting in us, not sitting back and expecting us to try harder/do better. 💛

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I love these kinds of connections between what we're reading and thinking about. I'm glad I could add to the internal conversation! I can so relate with choosing perceived safety in so many situations.

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So. Good. I loved every word of this. I am v familiar with the red pen, and I love the thought of it snapping in two right along with the veil/curtain. Very eager to check out that book on anxiety, also!

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Yes! The torn curtain has long been an image I've loved!

I'm eager to hear what you think about The Anatomy of Anxiety!

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Oh daylight savings... I console myself with the thought that the children will indeed sleep again sometime in the fall. I love the image of your daughter jumping - may we all be so willing to leap!

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May it be!

And may we also get more sleep, every one of us!

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