This morning we had our final MOPs meeting of the year (Mothers of Pre-schoolers). It has been an interesting time for me. I joined for Becky - her Moppetts teacher is my dear friend Mari, and I thought it would be a great way to get her used to be separated from me. I found that I was really there for me - to be stretched a little in who I considered "my peers", to learn from my great mentor mom and to make some new friends.

One of the speakers read this today - it really spoke to me. Too often, I am focused on things other than truly being WITH my children - I am worried about the pile of laundry in the laundry room, the toys strewn about, the dog fur on the floor, what's in my email in box or who's doing what on Facebook! Jesus won't ask me how clean my house was or what others think about me...these moments with my pre-schoolers are so precious...I think I'll go enjoy a few right now!!

1 CORINTHIANS 13 FOR MOTHERS

If I live in a house of spotless beauty with everything in its place, but have not love, I am a housekeeper - not a homemaker.

If I have time for waxing, polishing, and decorative achievements, but have not love, my children learn cleanliness - not godliness.

If I scream at my children for every infraction, and fault them for every mess they make, but have not love, my children become people-pleasers - not obedient children.

Love leaves the dust in search of a child’s laugh. Love smiles at the tiny fingerprints on a newly cleaned window. Love wipes away the tears before it wipes up the spilled milk. Love picks up the child before it picks up the toys.

Love accepts the fact that I am the ever-present “mommy,” the taxi-driver to every childhood event, the counselor when my children fail or are hurt.

Love crawls with the baby, walks with the toddler, and runs with the child, then stands aside to let the youth walk into adulthood.

Before I became a mother I took glory in my house of perfection. Now I glory in God’s perfection of my child. All the projections I had for my house and my children have faded away into insignificance, And what remain are the memories of my kids.

Now there abides in my home scratches on most of the furniture, dishes with missing place settings, and bedroom walls full of stickers, posters and markings, But the greatest of all is the Love that permeates my relationships with my children.

(Adapted from an anonymous source by Jim Fowler)