7.1.14

I was driving down the road, I think to my MIL house, when someone tagged this talk by Shauna Niequist for me.  I love to listen to podcasts, talks, sermons, etc while I’m driving [obviously] and then make “notes” to myself when I can’t write them down.

and in case you didn’t know, Shauna is probably my most favorite writer.  ever.  I got to meet her back in March at Hope Spoken, and I felt like she was an old friend.  I love the way she’s able to tell a story, and I’m always interested in her own personal stories and upbringing.

her blog post called “what my mother taught me” is a personal fave, and she talks about that in this 17 minute talk at Q.

I love that she talks about her mother teaching her it’s ok to have TWO passions in ONE home.

Shauna says, “don’t let logistics stand in the way of calling” 

I think I love this so much, because it mirrors what Stephen and I are trying to do.  BOTH live out our passions.  I think the world and culture is changing so much, it’s certainly different from when our parents were raising small kids.  Sure, most of my “work” is inside the home, and most of Stephen’s work is outside the home.  but we both work for ourselves – and that leads to a lot of flexibility on both of our parts.

our callings and passions include more than just our “work”.  we want to see people set free.  to love the least of these.  to champion the orphan.  to bring clean water to those who have none.  to support missionaries and church planters.  to GO, be, and love.  to raise our kids to be missionally minded.  to write.  to speak.  to lead.

Our love and passion for Africa, and the people there, is a huge part of our calling.  I can admit I used to get so uptight when people would make comments about me going there so much [instead of staying home with my kids 24/7/365] there have been seasons, as a wife + a mother, where I’ve gone on back to back trips across the world to the land we hold so dear.  and there have been seasons when Stephen has done the same.  there have also been seasons of “stay” [we are currently in one].  sometimes we go together, and sometimes it works out that we go apart.

I used to assume when people made those comments, that it meant they thought I was a terrible mom.  that I should just stay home, and let Stephen live out his passions while I quietly work at home.  but now I know better.  FOR US.  for our family.  it works.  we both have passions.  callings.  passions to tell people about Jesus, to tell stories, to bring clean water, to remove jiggers, to bring hope to the hopeless, to provide a fatherly role in an orphans life, to bring economic opportunity to the vulnerable….they are different.  but they are the same.

we make it work because it’s important to us.  because we can’t put our passions off for “another day”.  because we want our kids to grow up watching mama + daddy going and serving and loving.  because we want them to be a part of it with us.  because we set the example.

because we have two passions, but one home.

because one day we want our kids to look back and say “what my mom and dad taught me…” was that this life wasn’t about them.  or us.  it was about reaching people for Jesus.  period.

does this resonate with you?