Momastery

Dolphins Are Church

May 252014

Yesterday was one of those days. All five of us played in the Gulf of Mexico while the sun beamed down, the breeze whispered by, and the sand warmed our feet. We felt held by all of it. Right after I took this picture, six dolphins glided by our family. They were so close that we could see their blow holes. We could have reached down and touched them. We didn’t, though, because each of us felt paralyzed by reverence. After the dolphins swam out of our sight- Tish squinted up at me and said, “Mom, God is FLIRTING with us today!”

Oh, yes. YES. Please hold onto that truth, baby.

Please, please continue to feel yourself so madly and deeply loved by the God of the Universe that you experience everything beautiful and wonderful as a personal gift from The One determined to win you.

If you can hold onto that wonder and amazement – if you can maintain those schoolgirl tummy butterflies every time creation shows off for you – your life will be a beautiful adventure in getting to know and deepening your relationship with your Truest Love- Your Maker. That’s a good life, sweetheart. Remember to let yourself be known, too. It takes two.

God’s trying to get your attention. Keep NOTICING God’s relentless flirtation. Allow yourself to be wooed, friends. You still got it. That’s what God’s trying to tell you. God’s a match maker between you and creation.

Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.

- Mary Oliver

Happy Sunday,

Love- G

Author of the New York Times Bestselling Memoir CARRY ON, WARRIOR
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What Not To Do At Your Kid’s End of The Year Performance

May 232014

There were 150 kids at the concert today- but I could only see a few of them. This was my view most of the morning.

Please don’t do this. There is no stadium seating in school cafeterias. And so when you do this – when you sit in a chair and hold your device above your head for the entire performance- you are blocking the view of many, many parents behind you.

What you are saying to every parent behind you when you do this is:

MY RIGHT TO SEE AND RECORD MY KID IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR RIGHT TO SEE YOUR KID AT ALL.

What you are saying is:

MY LATER IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR RIGHT NOW.

We can’t have it all at these end of the year concerts and plays – but we can each have one important thing. If we are each respectful – we can each see the kids perform. That can happen. Unless you decide that this one important thing is not enough for you because you want THREE THINGS: 1. To see your kid perform 2. To record the entire event and 3. To remain sitting comfortably in the audience.

I just don’t think you can have all three of those things without stealing part of the experience from everyone behind you.

I know you love your kid, but the thing to remember is that everyone in that audience loves their kid exactly as much as you love yours.

Listen – this goes deep- I know. I know this is all so hard. They are growing up. It’s awful, really -this time of year when all of our hearts break open because another year is ending and those babies we used to hold in our arms are growing relentlessly and time is flying by and we just want to grab today and hold it tight and keep everything exactly as it is forever. We want the power to freeze time and we get these devices and we think they are the answer. But they aren’t. You can’t freeze time. Not even with that device.

What’s happening is that you are not stopping time- you’re missing it. You’re missing them NOW. Look at them. Feel it all. BE HERE WITH US. Take some pictures, record special moments, sure – but also trust that you don’t need to freeze every moment of today’s bruty because tomorrow will have its share as well. These little people are still going to be excruciatingly brutiful tomorrow. They will be a different kind of beautiful, sure – but beautiful nonetheless. And that’s why you HAVE TO BE HERE NOW because today’s beauty- how they are TODAY- will never happen again. And the only way to MISS them growing up is to be so busy saving today for tomorrow that you don’t sink into TODAY AT ALL.

I know you don’t want to miss a thing – and nobody behind you wants to miss a thing either. We came to see TODAY’S BEAUTY. So just be here with us today. Remember the rest of us- behind you- doing the best we can to honor time and love our babies and watch them grow up and away with just a teeny little seedling of grace.

We’re in this together.

Author of the New York Times Bestselling Memoir CARRY ON, WARRIOR
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Throwback Thursday: Got Chase?

May 222014

Originally published October 5, 2009.

Last night at dinner, Chase asked for a glass of milk. I, of course, said no because we don’t drink milk in our house since when it spills, it stinks. And we already stink badly enough. But he whined and begged and I started thinking about his last well check, and how our pediatrician kept harping on “the dangers of Vitamin D deficiency, Glennon” even after I explained again how the milk is all the way in the back of the grocery store which is really much too far for us to walk. And how she stood up very straight and said sternly, “Glennon. It’s really not that far. People walk to the milk all the time.” And how I said “Well. That’s probably very easy for someone who gets all her vitamins to say …but my poor, vitamin deficient family is very tired.”

And how she said victoriously,“Exactly.”

To which I responded, “I know. Exactly.”

At which point she wrapped her hands around her stethoscope, squeezed hard, and then sat down and sighed. Probably wishing she’d gone to law school.

Perhaps these circular conversations are the reason our family is charged twice what other families pay for well checks. Seems fair.

Anyway, while I was remembering all of this Chase was STILL whining for milk so I sighed at him and said “FINE. But I want you to swear on your baby sister’s life that you won’t spill it. Do you SWEAR?” And he said yes, he swore. Even though he thought we weren’t supposed to swear. And I said it’s okay to swear when it’s about spilling milk and mommy’s really tired. And I poured him a glass of milk and put it on the table. As I turned to put away the gallon that Craig had heroically retrieved from the store, I immediately heard a crash and a waterfall sound followed by terrified silence from the children and husband. I whipped around and studied the pool of milk on the table which was rapidly transferring itself into Chase’s lap and the floor. The rest of the family stared at me, waiting to discover whether this was going to be one of those times when Mommy suddenly leaves the house for awhile. For a good fifteen seconds, all we heard was the drip, drip, drip of milk hitting the floor. Chase nervously watched the baby, visibly grateful that she hadn’t keeled over yet in response to his swear-gone-wrong. Then he looked at the milk mess and said:

“WELL. THIS IS UDDERLY UNBELIEVABLE. “

“Get it mom? Get it? Because of the cow?”

His face turned up toward me like hope incarnate.

I have no idea where the boy learned to use humor to distract people from his mistakes but I wholeheartedly approve.

No more milk. And sippy cups till college.

Author of the New York Times Bestselling Memoir CARRY ON, WARRIOR
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2009 var d=new Date(); yr=d.getFullYear(); if (yr!=2010) document.write("- "+yr); Glennon Doyle Melton. All Rights Reserved. Republication or redistribution of content, text or image, in part or in whole is strictly prohibited without prior written consent from the author.

2009 Glennon Doyle Melton. All Rights Reserved.
Republication or redistribution of content, text or image, in part or in whole is strictly prohibited without prior written consent from the author.