Mothers & Daughters:
We were Made for This
My little girls play with my makeup and shoes, make believing that they are older, fun loving and free.
If I blink, they will be daughters who I hold in my heart, rather than ones who still let me hold their hand. At 11 years old, mama’s shoes are just a bit too big, but very soon, oh so very soon, those heels will be clicking out the door towards new adventure and life.
With every glimpse I see the picture of the coming years. They age. They mature. It’s so beautiful, yet heart wrenching.
How do we really live full and heart filled lives?
The relationship between mothers and daughters is one of God’s growing plans. From the moment the pink bundle is placed in your arms, your heart grows with dreams.
All you want is to be a ceiling that her one day heeled feet will stand on. All you want is your own mama to help you stand.
It is God’s plan for us to never stop growing. To grow alongside our daughters and in the same breath, we continue to grow at our mothers side, too. It is how we are made and what we are made for.
I don’t want to miss this growing and living. I don’t want to miss any aspect of it.
I see my sister in love’s name pop on my phone and I answer. We chat some and she tells me about a death in her family. “Can we go somewhere, let’s plan a trip to New York,” she says. “We talk about going all the time and we never do it. Life’s too short, lets just go, let’s move forward and not just talk about it.”
Death has a way of making your heart open to real life living.
So we stop talking and we go. We plan a girls trip to New York City. My mom, my sister in love. my niece and I. Four different generations: sisters, mothers, daughters and friends.
From the moment we arrive at the airport, to our last meal before going home, we engage in loving well, living well and lots and lots of laughter. This trip becomes a sort of coming of age for all of us in a way.
The 20 something year old has so much living and life and growing ahead of her. She looks onto the years ahead with excitement and adventure. She is standing on shoulders and she inspires and ignites passion into our hearts.
The 30 something year old has lived a bit and learned even more. She has come to her own, after some years of wandering, she finally knows who she is and most importantly, she’s content with this version of herself, even if she does have to color her hair a bit more often. She too is standing on shoulders, more secure and ready to inspire those who have gone on before her, those alongside her and those coming behind her. She see’s the work ahead and embraces it.
The 40 something year old has loved and lived and learned. Her children have lifted off into the world and a contentment settles in. Life is funny isn’t it? One spends years growing babies to grown adults and in her heart, she wishes she could go back to the gone away days so full of purpose and pampers and tiny paper hand cut outs. She can finally breathe and yet, still remains breathless. The worries don’t ever stop, yet God in his grace fills her empty spaces even more so, and she recognize his goodness more and more.
The 50 something year old embraces yet another new season. Life is ever changing. Once again at this stage she has the drive and passion of the twenty year old, she’s as content as the 30 year old, she knows God continues to fill and fulfill, She has remained faithful, neither weary, but still somewhat tired. Her body doesn’t move in the same was as it once did. Yet, a new chapter of life is in front of her and the future is promising with so many promises still left to be fulfilled.
The streets of New York become hallowed, as we walk miles and talk and share. Our meals become holy communion, we break bread and eat delicious feasts at the tables.
Creamy risotto. fresh bread dipped in pure olive oil, Charcuterie with warm brie and peach preserves, grapes and walnuts, salty parmesan, bold coffees and espresso, rich hot chocolate, delicate desserts of custard and cannoli, lemon curd, and decadent chantilly creme.
We indulge after hours of walking and shopping and sightseeing.
Our conversations turn holy and are filled with warmth, love and encouragement. We tell our stories and share the highs and lows of each of our seasons.
“Communication becomes Communion.”
We discuss so much of what is good and hard of life and living. The good and hard of marriage and parenting, careers and futures, plans, relationships, friendship, community, church, Jesus and living well.
In these years of living, the hope for mothers and daughters is that they grow from a foundation of family to friendship. Moving from what is safe and familiar to what is certain and known.
“In these years of living, the hope for mothers and daughters is that they grow from a foundation of family to friendship. Moving from what is safe and familiar to what is certain and known. ”
I come home inspired. Full. Heart full and life full.
Inspired by the passion of my 20 something niece. Looking ahead with a bit more wisdom and encouragement from my sister who is a few seasons ahead of me. Full of solid truth and grace from my mother who has loved and lived faithfully for many years.
What a gift. Grace, friendship and sisterhood. We were made for community. We were made for friendship and family. We were made for real, heart full living.
Stop life for a moment and look around. Make time stand still and engage in the gift of life. Learn from those who have gone before you and those who come behind you.
“We’ve got to make time to stop and experience the best parts of life together; to rekindle the sisterhood, the friendship, the heart and the fullness of living. To stop and live for what we are made for.”
I hold onto my little girls, all of us missed and loved. I desire to inspire them, to give them wisdom and grace, to encourage and fill their living with love and faithfulness, sewing truths into their hearts daily. Praying and looking forward to the day when our hearts are sewn together, and a friendship forms.
I will be faithful to my daughters, to the hope of the future and the promise of friendship fulfilled, because this is how we live heart full; THIS is what we are made for.
