At Home With Sally

Today, I talked with my dear friend, Holly Packiam. Holly serves as the Pastor of Parenting Ministries at New Life Downtown, and brings her experience as a mother and her training as a counselor to the subject of loss. She shared how this season of being in isolation reminds her of when her kids were 7 and under and it felt impossible to go anywhere, get anything done, or see anyone outside of her family.

I hope you will enjoy the podcast today. Greatness is shaped in the hidden moments of life, the repeated rhythms over and over again that shape a life of memories and values in the hearts and minds of our children.

I hope you’ll enjoy our podcast today, as we discuss ways to find peace in the midst of stressful times!

Mothers are the keepers of lives entrusted by God in every generation. This week, I celebrate Mother’s day with some personal thoughts and some book giveaways that I hope will further inspire you.

Mama’s are my heroes who God uses to shape the destinies of little boys who become men. When a boy thinks his mama is for him, his mama sees a hero in his heart, prays for him, enjoys him, the messages last for life. Nathan, my son, is releasing a new book today that I think will help recapture the imagination of men all over the world to live into their capacity to become Good Men. But I think that mamas can be such an important part to working forward in creating this desire in the heart of her men.

I thought it would be fun to talk a bit about something light— what we like to do, when we need to blow off steam! And so our team gathered over Zoom this weekend to share some ideas. Our podcast is about what we’d do to have fun for ourselves, but here are some ideas for what to do when your kids need to have fun, too!

As I look to the needs of children of today, I am convinced they need the same things from their mothers that I needed—and received—from mine. They need not only the gentle touch of a mother's hands, but her focus and her attention on a daily basis. They need a champion and a cheerleader, someone who has the time and energy to give encouragement along life's way and comfort in dark times. They need a directive voice to show them how to live.

Whatever your personality, be sure you allow yourself the time to be refreshed in a way that is right for you. There is no single, one-size-fits--all formula for how and where that happens, but you need enough time with yourself to determine how and where it will happen for you. But when you take care of your personal needs and make time to invest in your own well-being through this marathon of life, you will live a more sustainable life.

When your children walk with you, are they walking with a wise person?  Can they look at your seasoned responses, your insightful understanding of people, your fortitude in difficult times as they walk the moments of your daily life? Children watch us, listen to us when we are talking to others, hear us behind closed doors as we talk to our husband, see us in public. Our lives are the walk that our children will imitate.

I hope you’ll enjoy today’s podcast as Misty Krasawski joins me to discuss parenting our children from toddlerhood through the teenage years!

Contemplating the hearts of my own children and seeking to teach them about the grace of God, I realize my love and service to them must come before any of my great words, my teaching and training. My time, my attention, my "soft-tickling"--even when I am tired or have other "important" things n my mind--is what builds our relationship and prepares them to listen to what I have to say. Only then, once the wells of their need are filled with the grace of being loved, will my words to them about God's grace finally make sense."

God ordained this friendship and we mark the time we met every year when we all attend Hutch Moot, hosted by Andrew Peterson, and finish our time together at the end of the weekend, eating too much, talking as fast as we can and enjoying the sweet fellowship of families that love one another without expectation or reserve. Sam and I talked about so many things in the podcast today and I hope it encourages you as it did me.

Today, Joy and I had fun talking and just comparing notes. We shared our restless thoughts, our comforts, our complaints and the funny things happening in our lives. I promised to try to keep podcasts going during this time and we had lots of fun recording this one for you.

Today, Nathan and I talk about what it looks like to be a good man and how to shape your boys’ hearts so that they will grow in their self-image to wanting to be a good man in their generation—a good man who is willing to be a part of bringing God’s goodness and light and morality back into a culture that longs to be led and taught.

This is a time for us to act in light of our hope, that He is preparing for us a place where all of life will be redeemed. A time to show others—our families, children, friends, that our hope is sure—not false. It is a time we can write the days of our sequestering as ones of growth, strength, love, beauty because He is “God with us,” and He is a rock, immovable, our refuge.

Over the years of our lives, our family hosted hundreds, if not thousands of people. Yet, to make sure each one felt welcomed and cared for meant that we had to prepare our children’s hearts, (and our own), to know what to expect, how to treat each who came through the door. It’s one thing to want to tell people about Christ. Yet, it is quite another to know how to reach out, start a conversation, put people at ease. Manners are the vehicles through which we act out honoring others, to grant them the respect they deserve as a fellow human being. Manners give the confidence to know how to act towards someone.

We can all move forward from where we are--with great hope, because of Him. So, I give you a part of my heart and how I have kept from staying in the mire of guilt and disappointment with myself over the years.

When a child learns to wait on his mama and on circumstances, he is practicing learning to wait on God--and that is just the person God uses--the one who looks to God and waits expectantly on Him.

We no longer live for ourselves, but for the glory of Jesus, who bought us with a price, that we might live for Him every moment, every day. I am "the mama," the one who helps right the wrongs, listens to hearts, prays, laughs, gives all of myself, even on a "stormy day" or "stormy season," because it is part of my learned role--to care for those in my charge as Jesus did--even in the midst of the unexpected storms of life like the one we all find ourselves in currently. This Good Friday, I pray you will know His grace, His love, His help as you join Him by laying your life down. Have a beautiful holy weekend, and a Happy Easter!

And then it dawned on me as. I was thinking about this. I would love to share in your disappointments. Tell me (in a comment, on Facebook, on Instagram messages) about what disappointment you have had this month. What was cancelled, how are your children disappointed, how have you born the loneliness.