Whether your mother is loving or distant, caring or critical, this is a place to stop and reflect about the challenge of that maternal bond.
All daughters and mothers are welcome!



Sunday, October 17, 2010

It's in the Bag!

We give a "mixed bag" of experiences to our kids, don't we?
The best and the worst of us: sometimes heroic, sometimes dictatorial, often times self-absorbed.  Our children are witnesses to our lives...the public and private personas that are "us."


It was a delight for me to see my grown daughter (my 27 year old firstborn) using an eclectic suede bag that my father brought me from South America in the late 1960's.  It was a favored "purse" that I didn't use much and so I gave it to her decades ago.  Watching her carry it on errands, juggling her two little ones, made me wonder about what else she has "saved" from her upbringing and what is useful to her.

In and of myself, I had nothing notable to give to my kids.
Raised in a very dysfunctional family, wounded by conditional love and the hurts of alcoholic parents, I would have undoubtedly passed on the same to the next generation.
But GOD.

When JESUS came into my life in 1978, HE began an overhaul of the damaged parts of my soul...a transformation that continues through this day and until I meet HIM face-to-face.

Because of HIM, I know that the "bag" of behavior and tradition I handed off to my children contains eternally important things like: 
Faith, Hope and Love.


"Thank You Lord for your merciful work
in my life
and for your promises to be with my children
for generations to come!"

How about You...what's in your bag?

5 comments:

  1. Beautiful, Jess. PTL 4 His redemption! The blood of Jesus covers over everything in the "bag." Thank you, Lord, for replacing passed down, messed-up contents in our "bag" with legacy leavers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very nice post. I'm so glad God takes our baggage and can turn those weaknesses into strengths.

    ReplyDelete
  3. As always, love your writing! (and your thoughts :) God is good...all the time, He is good. He loves us unconditionally, just as we are. :) Love you, sister! --Michelle

    ReplyDelete
  4. I gotta figure out why I don't get the notices when you write a new post. I'm so non-techy it's pathetic. Just saw this one...beautiful Jess! Only eternity will tell us the whole story of how the grace of Jesus has covered so much for us. I depend on the promise that God will bless a thousand generations of those who love Him...Every earthly family has some degree of dysfunction...some much worse than others...but praise God for His amazing love and the grace He extends to us. I shudder to think of the effects of my own parenting missteps if not for the mercy of my great God! Hey that is a gorgeous suede bag! Love that your daughter is using it!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great post Mom. Loved it! I love you!

    ReplyDelete