Nurturing Babies as an Eternal Mission

As a teenager I painted “What is one life in light of eternity” onto my wall. Each morning when I opened my eyes I would see those words and be reminded the goal for my life. My life purpose isn’t to build more things or experiences to make my own life richer, but to pour out and to make the world a more beautiful place. To pour onto others the light that Christ has put into my own heart. With this heart mission I moved 600 miles away to helps start up an after school program to tutor inner city children. That year seemed to be the most fulfilling of my life.

After I got married and we had our first baby, I struggled to feel that the work of mothering was as great as what I had once done. I felt as the though the one candle of life I had been given was burning lower and lower with out touching off any change that I could see.

One night as I rocked a sad baby, when I all I longed for was to be laying in my bed. It dawned on me that the sacrificial love that I was showing them every day, was exposing them to the flame of love. Sometimes brief moments ignite a difference in others, but often it takes long exposure to consistent flame to set something on fire. The work I had done before had spread a little love among many. Love that combined with that of others could make a difference, but on its own would most likely do just a little. But this all consuming focus was allowing me to set two small people ablaze with a burning love that could be strong enough to spread from them into others.

Since then, my whole goal has been to love so strongly and fully that I can show them how to make the world more beautiful rather than to pour things and experiences onto themselves. Every day as we choose to invite others into our home, talk to people at the library, pack meals into back packs or even just read them a story that invites them into the life of another, we are showing them how to use their own flame to light another. To spread and share the light they have been given with the people who are around them even if that just looks like a tiny touch of difference.