Grace with Love.

“Godliness,wisdom, graciousness, joy …
these are qualities we want to have, and they don’t happen by accident!
They must be cultivated intentionally.
We must develop habits that will help us build a foundation
in our own lives to receive and experience and pass along His grace in our lives.”
-Sally Clarkson

Thanking God for grace this week because I made too many mistakes, had my patience run out too quickly and my personal failures are always so very frustrating. Character training … it’s something that is highly encouraged in the homeschool world and something we daily work at … but how can I teach character training and not be a living, breathing example of patience, love,  gentleness and grace? Through the eyes of a child hypocrisy is not unnoticed.

 

So I genuinely work on allowing my life be an example to my own sweet daughters.

 

 

Tea time comes. The ice has frosted over the cold windows and covered the panes of glass with magnificence.

 

 

I would love to sit and have a cup of hot tea and some alone reading time …

 

… but instead, we pull out the paints, we craft, we spend time together instead of time apart.  I want to invest time into their lives and show them this form of love …

 

 

 

 

To me, there is nothing more wonderful that an afternoon around this beat up, scratched, well-used table … we have painted many ornaments on this table, held hands and prayed before many meals and have homeschooled many days together here …

 

our crafting time is usually messy and takes longer to clean up than it does to create … just like the mistakes I can make as a mother when my grace is not shown in my words or actions …

 

{Lucia making heart shaped soaps, dyed with beet juice}

 

 

 

 

but as the years pass, I truly hope my daughters will remember these afternoons together, while the babies slept, the time we made messes in the kitchen and in life and spilled paint and love on the this table together …

 

… that they will remember their mommy made mistakes but also made amends, asked for God’s grace and for their forgiveness.

because we’re not perfect, only striving daily to more Christ-like and grace filled.

 

And lovely.

 

Because, honestly, isn’t grace so much more lovely?