This morning we dropped Sid off at the airport, so that he could catch a plane to Texas for a tattoo convention. On our way home Jonny, Aveline, June and I stopped off at one of our favorite places Cream Pan, a Japanese bakery in Tustin. There were four pretty Asian women together at a table behind us and at one point I overheard one woman explaining to her friend beside her, how she had nursed her little babies in the night, that they slept beside her and she would barely wake up to roll over and nurse them! I couldn’t help myself, I turned around and apologized for overhearing, then I said, “That’s exactly what I’ve done with all of my babies!” She went on to tell me that her friend hasn’t been getting any sleep since she’s been waking up so often to get out of bed to go to the baby’s room to nurse him back to sleep. She went on to describe her family’s “family bed” which was comprised of two king-size beds pushed together, I told her I dream of that much sleeping space for us! In their bed(s), she and her husband and their three children had all shared sleep. Later, she said, her children all together shared one of the beds in another room. She told me about their unusually close relationships to one another, now that they are older, and how she feels that her children fight with each other less often than other siblings she knows. She said, “It’s an investment, it’s the whole Dr. Sears thing.” I said that that’s the way I see it and that I am shooting for quality relationships like the ones she is now enjoying with her children, and her children are enjoying with one another. She told me “Good job, keep going, it’ll be wonderful, you’ll see.” Sweet!
We came home and I started our homeschooling day by reading a spirit blessing from a handy little pamphlet entitled Daily Spirit Blessings; With the Blessings of Your Father and the Names of God by Arthur Burk and Sylvia Gunter. Here’s the one we read:
Day 3 – I bless you with life-giving relationships.
Spirit, your Father designed you to receive life-giving and be spiritually life-giving. He will bring you people who will cause you to leap for joy. I bless you with people who minister to you, spirit. I bless you with divine appointments where God connects you for a moment or an hour with mighty men and women of God. I bless you with drawing life-giving strength from their spirits. I bless you with God bringing joyful people, with companionship with those who know the joy of the Lord. I bless you with being mutually life-giving. I bless you in the name of the Ultimate Life-giver.
For me, my experience with the mother at Cream Pan was an encounter with a life-giving spirit! I had left there feeling uplifted, validated and joyful to go forward with my philosophy and convictions when I wasn’t especially needing it, and definitely not looking for it. This woman was an unexpected source, too! She was strikingly beautiful and glamorous, she wore impeccable makeup and stylish clothing. I thanked God for that encounter and then came home to be surprised and blessed by this blessing I would pray for my children’s spirits. It confirmed the gift of my encounter, in my heart, as a true gift from God. He knows I’ve been trying to notice them more, so He gave me a freebie today!
After I read the blessing, I explained to Jonny and Aveline (and June, as she scribbled and showed me her drawing of “A, A, A, A,” as she called it!) that I felt that blessing was for me too because of the woman I had spoken with at Cream Pan. Then I went on to our Bible reading for the day from The Golden Children’s Bible. This is what I read:
THE GRAIN OF MUSTARD SEED
He put forth another parable to them, saying:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in the field. It is indeed the least of all seeds, but when it is grown it is the greatest among plants, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and build nests in its branches.”
I told the kids that I thought that meant that if our lowly little hearts are planted in Jesus, then we can be like the mustard plant that becomes a tree. That our spirits will become strong and steady as they grow, and will have so much to offer to other people. And that we will be mutually life-giving to those who are life-giving to us.
And I just thought I’d share that. Thank you for reading : )
