Don't These Things Come With A Manual?!??

How many times have I asked myself this question?!??  You get an owner's manual when you buy almost anything.  And you get instructions for assembling even the most intuitive items.  Warnings on the most natural products (almonds...  "these may contain nuts").  But people?  Nope, they don't come with any rules, suggestions or guidelines.  And there's a really big part of me that likes rules.

They make me feel sane in a daily life that so easily spins out of control.  They give me something concrete to organize around.  Makes me want to whip out my teacher markers and start making posters!!  Instead, I just get really excited when I happen across rules like these and these.  Good reminders.  Totally inspirational, and helpful in trying to make sure my intentions and my actions are in alignment.  But let's be real.  I can't even get my hair and teeth brushed in the same morning.  Trying to remember and follow even just a few of these rules with any consistency is darn near hopeless.

Still, it sure would make me feel better to have some instructions.  Because frankly, most of the time I feel like I'm choking in the exhaust fumes of the parenting bus as it zooms off ahead of me  With a "how to" list, I could pat myself on the back when I did a good job and strategize how to do better when I fail while curled up on the couch with my friend, Caffeine.  The rules would be black and white.  The manual would keep my life neat and tidy, and could be kept within reach for easy reference.  I wouldn't have to struggle so much figuring out what the bounds are.  But the thing is, it's not about me.

Real love is free.  I don't own these blessings any more than I own the sunshine after a rain.  And really, how much less would I enjoy the sun if I knew just when it would shine?  How long it would stay.  And how hot it would get?

I have decided.  We will all live life better when I get a little more authentic.  When I allow my kids to watch me dance with the day on my own terms.  To ebb and flow with their needs.  And to be open and real.  Unbound by someone else's ideas and free to learn what their little lives require of me.  To be motivated by love.  Above all else.  Because the kids and me... down deep, where it really counts... we've got a good thing going on : ) : )

When I look back on these precious years with Caden and Addison at home, I will not remember what our schedule was.  Or how exactly I taught them to take turns.  What I will remember, what will be burned into my soul forever, is the deep and abiding love that enveloped me when they graced my world with their being.  That is the love that I float on, when I don't remember how to swim.  The love that swallows up my failures and points me back to hope.  The love that carries me still, though every hour of every day with these babies.  And leads us on through a life I could never have dreamed for myself, before these blessings.

Manuals, directions, guidelines, safety warnings... those are for products.
For my children...  There is only love.