Interesting Looks, Keeping Alert and -above all- Praying Our Way Through

Last month Jason, myself and all three kids were in Target looking for a few specific items.  We made it through 3 aisles and neither of the adults could think through our list for all the side comments made from the peanut gallery.  

We went around an aisle and I stopped both (yes, both) carts to take a minute to explain to the kids that Daddy and Mommy really needed to concentrate and if they thought of something to say or saw something interesting to comment on or wanted to tell someone something....to say it in their heads.  Not outloud, but silently in their head.  (yes, I was being overly optimistic to think this would happen but I was going to try)

Right when I told my children to not share their thoughts but, rather, keep them to themselves a woman rounded the corner.  She had, to say the least, an interesting look on her face.  It was obvious that she didn't necessarily agree with this Mommy's directive.

Sometimes you do just need the quiet.  You need to take a moment to think before making the decision.  So often, with the hectic life with children, you tend to make decisions in the moment.  This is sometimes good and sometimes bad.

Jason and I consider ourselves to be proactive in our parenting approach.  To do this, we talk - a lot - about our options, or decisions, our thoughts, our concerns, and our plan.  We have to have a plan to make it through this wild and crazy journey as parents...or we would feel even more out of control than we already do.

We are learning, through various hard lessons in our life right now, that we can do everything right, we can work as hard as possible, we can plan, we can be careful, we can take alone time to make thoughtful and right decisions...but it really doesn't matter if we aren't in constant prayer about our lives, about our children, about our finances, about our work situations, about our relationships, about our marriage, and about our journey as parents.

Not only praying together before we sleep at night, not only praying before meals, not only praying with the kids before bed....but truly bathing our circumstances, our concerns and our struggles in prayer.

Our alone time keeps us alert, keeps us fresh and keeps us centered on our goals.

Our prayer time keeps our relationship with the Lord fresh and renewed on a daily basis as we seek Him in our plans and goals.

Matthew 26:41  

Keep alert and pray.

Isaiah 61:3  

He will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair. 
For the Lord has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for HIS GLORY!