Feeding My Family: Kindness

On the second and fourth Tuesday mornings of the month from 9:30am-10:30am, I host a small Moms Group at our home.  It’s open to everyone, and over the past year and a half I’ve had the chance to build up some great relationships with the women that come.  It’s pretty informal and we don’t have childcare, though children are always welcome to come.  Most of us have kids who are in school, so it all seems to work out okay.

I’d like to say that my house is always sparking clean and ready to go on those two Tuesdays a month.  But in reality, it’s not.  I try to tidy up but many mornings, like this morning, I only get so far.  I would have gotten to these dishes, but ran out to pick up bagels and pastries at Pete’s Bagels instead.  Thankfully, the moms who come don’t seem to mind all that much.

We sit around my dining room table.  Some weeks, we have to add a card table extension, but this week, the five of us fit around it quite comfortably.

We always have coffee and tea and hot chocolate.  I usually run out for bagels, because they are delicious and this week, Deirdre brought donuts to go with them.

And as we sit and talk the same beautiful thing always happens.  We have this opportunity to encourage each other as we share and build each other up.  Our theme for the year is Feeding My Family: The Fruits of the Spirit.  We’re working our way through Galatians 5:22-23, picking a different topic for each month to discuss.  This month’s topic is Kindness/Gentleness.  I don’t know how things go in your family, but lately, this has been a tough one for me.  It’s really, really hard to want to show kindness to an irritable and moody teenager, or to kids who are arguing over literally nothing.  And speaking honestly, my normal response to these issues could probably never be described at “gentle.”  It’s usually more like harsh words and yelling out of irritation and frustration.

Our goal for each Moms Group is to share, but also to find encouragement from the Bible.  Today it came from Romans 2:4, where it talked about God’s kindness, leading to our repentance.  When our kids’ behavior is bad, the last thing I feel like doing is being kind.  But if I look at the example that God gives, I’ve learned that kindness, rather than yelling, does indeed lead to repentance.  Often times for our family, it’s kindness, paired with grace and forgiveness and peace.  I always need these reminders and always this encouragement from what God says in the Bible.

And finally, as I’m sitting with the moms that come to my group, I’m reminded that I’m not alone.  That most other families got through the things that my family goes through.  There are times when ideas are shared that I hadn’t thought of and other times that it just helps to know that someone is listening.  Being a mom is hard.  Harder than I had ever thought of before I became one.  But taking time to be encouraged and loved is one of the main reasons for why we meet together every couple of weeks.

If you’re a local mom who needs encouragement and you’re looking for a group to be a part of, please feel free to come anytime.  You can message or email me for more information (lauraherr8@gmail.com).  We are by no means a group of perfect moms, but we are moms working our hardest to do our best and encouraging each other along the way.  It’s a great group that I look forward to every two weeks and we are always open for anyone who needs  it.