Comfort Food for the Mother's Heart (By Sun and Candlelight)

I'm sure he meant well ...

Motherhood and Apple Pie*

Comfort Food for the Mother's Heart

February 12, 2008

I've started re-reading Mittenstrings for God for a mothers' book study which will commence one evening next week. I can hardly wait for it to start! I have loved this book for years and years and have longed to explore its beautiful message with friends. It's just sooo good; all I could think as I turned page after page is how it is very much like comfort food for a mother's heart. :) I am so looking forward to sharing my thoughts on the book's many topics with my friends - and then here with you, too!

I decided to make up a little notebook for myself in which I can jot down thoughts as I read, and then notes as we discuss. It's just another one of those plain composition books I like to dress up with pretty scrapbook paper. I am particularly fond of the quilt pattern shown above. As a final touch, I'll add a ribbon pagemarker - once I find just the right shade of ribbon. :)

If you're not familiar with MFG (as I'll call it, not meaning to sound flip, it's just easier this way), here's a snippet from the introduction:

"This book, then, is not about changing your life. It is about paying more attention to the life you already have, about taking your own life back as you protect your children from the pull of a world that is spinning too fast.

Ultimately, of course, we must each find our own way to be in the world. There are as many ways to live as there are ways to love, and each family has its particular rhythm, its own way of doing and of being. Yet I do believe that, as mothers, we all walk a common path, through a rugged and ineffable territory of love and fury, exhilaration and exhaustion, self-doubt and self-discovery. Every mother I know wishes for close, meaningful relationships with her children, yet none of us is immune to the daily press of obligations and events. We fall captive to the demands of our jobs and families, and to the insistent tug of our fast-paced culture. And most of us find it increasingly difficult, in the face of all this external pressure, to remember what we already know: True happiness is found within ourselves and in quiet harmony with others. Yet if we let this inner knowledge slip away, our children may never learn it themselves, for we are their first teachers. It is up to each of us to set the example, to show by our own actions our respect for intimacy, contemplation, and wonder. This is perhaps the greatest legacy we can bestow on our children: the capacity to be enchanted by the quiet gifts of everyday life.

Over the years I have been grateful to all the women who have gone this way before me and have been willing to shine a light upon the trail, that I might find my own way with a bit more confidence. I hope these pages will do the same for other mothers and their children."

Contents ~ 1. Dailiness 2. Morning 3. Peace 4. Quiet 5. Simplicity 6. TV 7. Play 8. Secret Paces 9. Wants and Needs 10. Stories 11. One-on-One Time 12. Surrender 13. Breathing 14. Healing 15. Listening 16. Nature 17. Enchantment 18. Grace 19. Rhythm 20. Truth 21. Helping 22. Discipline 23. Stretching 24. Nurturing 25. Sabbath 26. Spirit 27. Balance 28. Choices 29. Wingbeats

Stay tuned for my MFG Notes beginning later next week, and let me know if you'd be interested in joining us (virtually, of course). If there's enough interest, I can work up a schedule, and maybe a button too. :)

Posted at 01:36 PM in Books, Mittenstrings, Mothering | Permalink | Comments (32)

Comments

If you're not familiar with MFG (as I'll call it, not meaning to sound flip, it's just easier this way), here's a snippet from the introduction:

"This book, then, is not about changing your life. It is about paying more attention to the life you already have, about taking your own life back as you protect your children from the pull of a world that is spinning too fast.

Ultimately, of course, we must each find our own way to be in the world. There are as many ways to live as there are ways to love, and each family has its particular rhythm, its own way of doing and of being. Yet I do believe that, as mothers, we all walk a common path, through a rugged and ineffable territory of love and fury, exhilaration and exhaustion, self-doubt and self-discovery. Every mother I know wishes for close, meaningful relationships with her children, yet none of us is immune to the daily press of obligations and events. We fall captive to the demands of our jobs and families, and to the insistent tug of our fast-paced culture. And most of us find it increasingly difficult, in the face of all this external pressure, to remember what we already know: True happiness is found within ourselves and in quiet harmony with others. Yet if we let this inner knowledge slip away, our children may never learn it themselves, for we are their first teachers. It is up to each of us to set the example, to show by our own actions our respect for intimacy, contemplation, and wonder. This is perhaps the greatest legacy we can bestow on our children: the capacity to be enchanted by the quiet gifts of everyday life.

Over the years I have been grateful to all the women who have gone this way before me and have been willing to shine a light upon the trail, that I might find my own way with a bit more confidence. I hope these pages will do the same for other mothers and their children."