It’s the first Friday of 2014, which means it’s time for another wonderful link-up with Lisa-Jo Baker and the Five Minute Friday crew. If you’re new to this community, the assignment is simple. Write, for five minutes. No editing, no fluffing, no second-guessing. Then we link up, share our stories, and leave each other comments. It’s one of my favorite communities, and we’d love for you to join us!
Prompt: Fight
There are days when the needing and pulling and desperation of it all have my skin crawling, like I can’t stand to be..me…anymore, and I’m looking for a fight. Someone to yell at, argue with – a vessel for the pent up energy that makes me wish I were a runner so that I would have a reason to..flee. It’s not fight or flight. Sometimes it’s “and.”
I never knew it would happen more strongly when I became a mother. Maybe it’s because the fight in me is driven by my desire for justice, or maybe it’s the spunky black-Irish side of my family tree that has dug roots down so deep that I can never escape it. There were times in college where I would end up protecting my friends in rowdy, crowded venues when they or someone around them took offense to something. But the fight to keep friends safe is no match to what bubbles up when my toddler pushes my buttons just one too many times. The button labeled “disobedience.” Or “disrespect.” Or “whining.”
I fight it. I fight the fight. Because while my skin crawls and my hands itch and my ears ring, my heart sees. Somewhere beyond my selfishness I see it. The frustration, the testing, the learning, the growing. How it’s all part of how little ones learn and the one thing I want her to learn is to fight for her family, but not to fight with her family. I want to give her a family worth fighting for, one that stays and doesn’t run when skin burns and tempers flare.
STOP.
totally get this. wonderful post
I love this post!
Keep wrestling for the best. Keep falling and getting back up.
Keep fighting for grace to break through and for the wholeness God has in this for you.
With you sister, fighting the fight! xoxo
Grateful to stand beside you as we do this life and motherhood and blogging thing together 🙂
It’s all about the fight, isn’t it? Happy Friday, Crystal. My post will be up sometime today.
Happy Friday!
It’s so hard to stand there and take it, offering gentle correction instead of harsh words in anger. My post was of a similar the this week–those tiny tots and their huge emotions! You are fighting a good fight!
Gentleness is not my first reaction – but one I’m praying for this year!
Justice – or lack thereof… that will stir us up and spur us on and what an honor to pass that gently on down to our Littles! Loved this post with all it’s honesty and beauty! On the top of a Mama’s heart? A family worth fighting for indeed!
Thanks Karrilee!
Great post, Crystal. I remember the days as a single mom when I thought I couldn’t fight anymore and knew they just would never stop fighting!! Now if there’s any fighting, it is the three of us pulling together. Hang in there!
Oh what a blessing that must be Holly!
I remember those days oh so well. One of mine is still testing and pushing at the age of nine, when you’d think she might have moved on. Love the idea that family is worth fighting “for” not fighting “with”!
If our little one takes after either myself or my husband, she won’t ever stop testing 😉
Ah, Crystal, I can totally relate. I try to “fight the fight” but it doesn’t always work. Love this post!
I fail at it more than I’d care to admit, but those mercies are new every morning..and sometimes every hour…and minute 🙂
Just keep fighting. When she does push those buttons. When she forgets to say thank you. When her teenage hurt yells “I hate you”. Stand and fight not against her but against your own desires to give up. Against your inner voice telling you how and you messed her up. Just stand and fight when she is 20 something her own struggles are more than you can take. She needs you to fight because she is still learning how and what to fight for. Fight because someone’s son needs her to be a wife and a mother that in the years to come can fight.
Sorry I hijacked your comments but I am just now seeing the results of all my fighting and I promise it is worth more than you know.
I love this!
Beautiful post. I remember the trying times when mine were little. Now I have teens, and well, I think I have to fight just a little harder. Blessings for a beautiful weekend!
I’ve discovered that each stage just prepares me a little more for the next…isn’t God gracious like that?
” I want to give her a family worth fighting for, one that stays and doesn’t run when skin burns and tempers flare.” Oh, this is what I want for my family. I talked about this same thing. A family that is worth fighting for is a blessing indeed. I love this, Friend!
thank you 🙂
Beautiful! Yes, teaching them even when it’s hard, even when it hurts, is the most rewarding gift of our lives. God is good, even in the midst of frustration and learning. This is a sweet, sweet post!
I feel like I could start a whole series on “God is good, even…..” 🙂