helping women connect with their world
Mother’s Day may not be celebrated at your overseas post. But Peter’s Wife would like to take this opportunity to honor mothers.
Being a mother is a full-time job. Yet when we are living overseas we may have one or two other full-time jobs. Mother’s Day is a good time to remember the importance of mothering.
Our children are only with us for a few brief years. Our time of character formation and influence is very short. We want to use those years to the best advantage.
Living and working in a culture other than our own provides opportunities and challenges in our childrearing. I was reminded recently about the importance of seeing all the ways our children can excel. Sometimes we focus so much on their academic achievements that we miss opportunities to reward them for other areas of strength.
Dr. Howard Gardner wrote Frames of Mind in which he says everyone actually possesses all seven intelligences, but we are each unique and special in the way that the seven intelligences express themselves in our lives. Most of us naturally have a couple and then develop a few more to a high degree. Only the rare individual has all seven to a high degree.
Grief. We don’t choose it, but we will all have to face it. Two precious PWs have recently shared their experiences of grief with me. I want to pass on some of what they wrote and lessons we can all learn from them.
Louise lost her son, Jedediah, on Christmas Eve just 52 days after his birth. She said,” When I had slept through the night and I woke at the first light, I knew. I knew that something was horribly wrong. I went to his bed and he was not there; only his shell remained. My son had gone on before me. I felt that I had abandoned my baby. My intellect would tell my heart that this was not true. SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) deaths happen all over the world, living in Mongolia had nothing to do with it. Jed was healthy. He had a full checkup by an American doctor just a week before he died. Still, my heart was not listening. When a blow this devastating comes to a heart, it shuts down
It was a dark, rainy morning. You know, the kind that makes you want to pull the covers over your head and go back to sleep. But it was too hot to have the covers over her head!
She remembered her son’s whine last night that he didn’t have any friends here and he used to have so many “back home.” It reminded her that she could say the same thing about herself.
The next thought that slipped in was that all she had ever really wanted was a home of her own with nice neighbors, a minivan to get the kids to Little League and ballet lessons, and money enough to go to a Tupperware party occasionally. Now she had a rented home in the tropics, neighbors that don’t speak her language, a 15 year old car, no Little League or ballet lessons for the kids to go to, and no Tupperware parties within 5,000 miles!
Women all over the world are longing for Valentine’s Day to be a romantic and special event. But Valentine’s Day is just once a year! Why not make your marriage relationship so special that you won’t have to wait all year to experience those cherished loving moments? Here is a simple acrostic …making it easy to memorize the pointers that will make every day Valentine’s Day in your life. The LORD will help you with this project…it is of special interest to Him!
| V | Value your husband …don’t take him for granted. |
| A | Admire his manliness. |
| L | Love him unconditionally…the way GOD loves…and the way that you want to be loved. |
| E | Enjoy the time you get to share together… |
| N | never, ever say, “divorce.” |
| T | Take time to really listen to what he is saying. |
| I | Intimacy is just for the two of you, created by GOD to richly enjoy. |
| N | Nestle in his arms whenever possible. |
| E | Each and every day say and do one thing you know pleases him… |
by Gail Dunbar...February 3, 2001
Thank you, Gail, for sharing your acrostic with us for Valentine’s Day. When we are living in a different culture than our own, it is easy to forget the simple things that make for a good, strong marriage.
Gail has a web site you should visit at: www.joythatlasts.com
