Hi Friends,

I hope you’ve had a great weekend. We have been at home since Friday evening except for brief outings for our usual long walk Saturday morning (Will runs some of it) and church this morning. I love being at home more than at any time in my entire life. Plus, we are living vicariously through our kids. The newlyweds were at the beach this weekend, and it brings us great joy to see the pictures and hear about what a lovely time they are having. The Georgia grad and the Alabama undergrad spent the weekend together in Tuscaloosa. The picture of them together outside Bryant-Denny brought us great joy too (they both went to the game but did NOT sit together). Since the boys’ schools play each other with fair frequency, my method of achieving objectivity has been to cheer for the home team. Last night didn’t go so well. That missed call was egregious! Will told our BAMA boy that I lost my mind more than Kalen DeBoer, as if that were even possible.

But loving someone means living vicariously, at least to an extent. The old saying that a mother can only be as happy as her unhappiest child rings true for me. My happiness is irrevocably tied up in theirs — even though they are all adults. The call to “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn” from Romans 12 is the default when it comes to motherhood. I feel like their victories are mine, their setbacks are mine, their challenges are mine — in some respects anyway. While only about half of my life has been marked by actual motherhood, I would say that the most meaningful aspects of my life have all been influenced by motherhood or mother-adjacent roles. It is tremendously fulfilling to invest in others.

I believe this is the way it should be. God Himself is known to us as Father. He is not a detached Creator who set the world in motion and is hands off. No, He knows how many hairs are on my head. He knows my every thought. He knows when I feel discouraged and when meager victories puff me up. He knows every insecurity and every time I feel a wave of imposter syndrome. He knows when I look down on others, or when I lack compassion and grace. He knows literally everything about me and yet He loves me with an unquenchable love. Loving a child as a fallen person gives us the tiniest glimpse of how we are perfectly loved by our Father in heaven, the Creator and Sustainer of all things.

I hope you too know the joy of living vicariously and the peace of knowing you are loved beyond measure by the Creator of heaven and earth.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
    and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings  and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
    you have put all things under his feet.

Psalm 8:3-6

With Love,

Kristie