I’ve always loved a blank journal. Those new blank pages are full of mystery to me! Who knows what I’ll fill them with–prayers? new adventures? sorrow? When Lydia was born, I was given a journal. And instead of using it to chronicle my day-to-day life as a new mom, I used it to write letters to my little girl. Since she was my first, I wrote in it a lot–filling it with her birth story and sweet love letters. As she’s gotten older, it’s been written in less and less. Usually on birthday eves, after a milestone is hit or when we’ve had a particularly special day.
But one day, Lydia was particularly disobedient. In fact, it was probably the worst day in my parenting life. My little girl broke my heart that day. She hurt my feelings, gave me nightmares about the future and made me question my parenting. It was really my first parenting scar. After our big blow-up and she was finally asleep, I sat down and wrote a letter to her. I wrote all the things I couldn’t tell her as a 3 year old. About God and discipline and I-have-no-idea-what-I’m-doing. It was a letter full of pain and tears.
And you know what? I can’t wait to give it to her. Maybe when she’s an 18 year old questioning if I love her, or a new mom questioning if she can make it or a single girl who needs a special gift. I’m believing those words from the past will be a glimpse into my heart and into her early life. It may heal things that were accidentally hurt. It may just make her laugh at my inadequacies.
Writing to your kids isn’t a spiritual discipline. It’s not one of those things I’d equate with praying for your children or going to church. But to me, it seems like something God would do. After all, he gave us the Bible. He tells us he wrote every one of our days before one of them came to be, that he planned good works for us to do before the beginning of the world. He records every one of our sorrows and even bottles up our tears.
God’s words are written to us to tell us more about ourselves, to help us understand His plan and to bring encouragement and fulfillment. I’m not suggesting a journal or a few letters to your kids is going to do all that! But I think in our bumbling human way, it’s a gift we can give to our kids. A gift that won’t impress them now, but it may when they are adults.
So today, grab a blank journal or a piece of paper. And write a love letter to your kids!
Resources for you:
Mama & Me Journal by Mama Jenn {I am so doing this when my kids are old enough!}
Love Notes from Parents To Kids {a fun new tradition we’ve started}
photo source: thinklia
Thanks for sharing about our Mama & Me Journal!!!
Like your place, your posts, and your voice. Good little spot you have here in the blogosphere. Glad I found you throught the 31 days series.
Thank you so much! What a sweet compliment. 🙂
We gave each of our 3 kids a blank composition journal. I mod podged each one to fit their characteristcs and interests. Then gave to them so we can write back and forth. When I am proud I write to them and tuck the journal under their pillow. I write when I’m sorry, and I write when I just want them to know I love them. The best part is they write back! 🙂
I had THAT day yesterday. Or was it the day before? Oh, you know, it has been a long week, girl! I mean lay your head on the table and cry kind of week. It never occurred to me to write to her on that day. I have a journal of sorts, that I poorly keep for all my girls. I need to be better about it. Especially the baby – she turns 2 today and I don’t really have any notes to her! Ahhh! I’m rambling now, anyway, love the idea!
I’ll gonna take your advice and right to my kods love letter! it one of the greatest advice I have ever heard!!!
I love your blog. For the first four years as a parent I dug through every resource I could find to help. Since the birth of my younger twins, now three, I have turned to your blog for refreshers. I began keeping a prayer journal for my now seven year old years ago. It is different from our letters journal where we discuss the daily things. These are true prayers I write out for each of my children, and like you, I can’t wait to give it (or them) to each of my children. I think about a journal I kept for my husband loooonnnggg before we were engaged…just when I knew he was The One. It is priceless to us. All of the other journals through my spiritual walk are special too. I give a huge shout out to handwritten, old-fashioned letters. This mama loves the personal touch!
I love this one. My oldest is 3 now. She’s really really smart (yes, I know every mom says this, but she reads long books and talks about the skeletal structure and can show you the planets you can see with the naked eye at night), but beyond all this, she really loves Jesus. She loves watching me to my Bible study in the morning. I’m not a journal-er by nature – I have a very linear prayer journal that I keep that’s easy to look back through regularly, so instead, when I do Bible study I write it right there in the margins. She loves watching this and asking what I’m writing and reading. She also knows it’s hers. I don’t know when, but at some point when she’s older, I’ll hand it down. Probably when she goes to college. There are notes to her in there – what to look for in a husband, how to treat her brother well, my prayers for her struggles, etc…
I so love this! I’ve heard of adults saying what a gift it is to have their parents/grandparent’s Bible. How cool that you’re doing it for your daughter!
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