Nostalgic Nights: Resting in God’s Goodness, Mama

Tonight we will talk about the nostalgia we experience as mamas. We will talk about seeing the goodness of God in our season of motherhood. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Good evening, mamas, and welcome back to Midlight, your light in the middle of the night. I want to talk to you tonight, mamas, about the nostalgia of being a mama, which some of you may have experienced by now, and some of you may not have experienced very much of, but it will come, mama. I think about even our days of pregnancy or finding out that we were going to be having our little one. Don't we hold that in our hearts as nostalgia? We'll never forget the moment we found out that we were having this little one. Or maybe for you it is remembering your labor and delivery and all that it took to bring that little one into this world and to bring both of you to this moment safely. The word nostalgia actually means to remember with fondness, and I think to myself about how we will look back on many moments in our motherhood with nostalgia, soaking it up, taking it in, looking at it and holding our eyes open a little bit longer. You know you'll hear this term that says, Don't blink, before you know it, they will be grown. It's true, but we will blink. It's just natural. But I also encourage you, mamas, to figuratively hold your eyes open a little longer sometimes. It's easy to get wrapped up in the dailies. There's so many things to do in one day as a mama, but there's going to be moments that I don't want you to miss. I want you to hold your eyes open a little bit longer, figuratively speaking, of course, so that you don't miss it. I'm asking you to pay attention to these little simple moments. Maybe it's washing your baby and washing their little hair and their little feet and soaking up the smell of them. It might be watching your baby do something new for the first time. It might be just simply in the middle of the night what it feels like for their hand to be wrapped around your finger, or what it feels like to hold their little body close to yours as you feed them. Mamas, there's going to be many things in life that are going to pull on you. You're going to feel the weight, but I would encourage you to hold your eyes open and pay attention and soak up those special moments that might just be disguised as ordinary. Maybe it's just another bath time. Maybe it's just another feeding. Maybe it's just another diaper change. But I would encourage you to look into their eyes, look at their little features, and thank God for this little human that God has created and entrusted to you. There is a beautiful place in scripture in Psalms 34 and verse 8 that simply says, O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in him. And I think about this when I think about nostalgia with our families, because it's an opportunity to taste and see the goodness of God in those around us. It's easy to focus on the things that we do not have, or it's easy to focus on the things that are different with others than with us. But when we really stop and we just think about the goodness of God in our lives as He maintains our lot and gives us these beautiful children, we can stop and we can taste and see that the Lord is good to us and He has given us a beautiful assignment within our homes. Tonight I sat beside my husband in a pretty big moment in our world and in our lives, and I looked at him and I shared with him the concept and the understanding that if we blink we might miss it, but we will blink because it's natural, but it's so important to take a moment to open our eyes, hold them open, and soak in what is happening. Mamas, I encourage you to do that with your babies, even if it's a middle of the night feeding and you're tired and you're up with that little one, and you just take a moment to soak in the features, soak in the sound of that baby, soak up the goodness of the Lord to entrust such a precious soul unto you, because God chose you, mama, handpicked for this particular baby, because he knew the mama that that baby needed. And it reminds me of a story in the Bible, and it comes from Luke, and it's an interesting story because it is actually Mary's cousin, Mary the mother of Jesus, it's her cousin, and Elizabeth is older in years when she finds out that she's going to have a baby, and it's a very precious gift to them. In fact, Elizabeth wasn't expecting it, and it was a gift that she never knew that she would receive, but the Lord saw fit, even though she was well advanced in years, to give her a son, and she named him John. And it's interesting because I think of this woman who comes to have this baby in a way that she wasn't expecting, even though she had longed for it, and I can't help but wonder, did Elizabeth also have these moments of marvel with baby John, where she just soaked it up and sat in the goodness of God in that moment with her baby? I bet she did. You see, mammas, we only sit in these moments for a short time, and before we know it, our children are grown, and they are leaving their own legacies behind. But what a gift it is to sit in this season and in this moment to be able to be the legacy leavers, the memory makers, the ones who hold on to those nostalgic moments, capture them with our eyes and hold them in our hearts, because this is a gifted time from the Lord, and it's a building time for you, Mama. It's a building time with your relationship with the Lord. As you are growing up these babies, the Lord is growing you up, and he is creating you to be a beautiful mother that he is using very intricately in the lives of these children because he has a plan for them. Remember Jeremiah 29, 11 that says, For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope in a future. Do you know, Mamas, that you are a part of that baby's plan? From the Lord, you were handpicked, and I'm so glad you were. So tonight, Mamas, I encourage you to open your eyes, to open your eyes to the blessings that the Lord has given you. I know the moments can be long. I know that the saying, the days are long, but the years are short, it's really true. But mamas, I would encourage you to soak up those moments. Pay attention to them. Use them well. Thank you for joining me tonight on Midlight, Mamas. I would like to leave you with a prayer from numbers 6, 24 through 26, a blessing for you. May the Lord bless you and keep you, make his face to shine upon you, be gracious unto you, and give you peace. Amen. Until next time, Mamas, just remember to taste and see that the Lord is good. Soak up those nostalgic moments with your children, and we'll talk again soon. Take care, mamas.