Mulberry Street

Whether you live on Mulberry Street, Birch Avenue, or Holdrege Lane you will have discouragement at one time or another. No one is exempt.

I felt like a broken mother this month. Expecting our third child, I am tired and feel like the superpower of doing everything for everyone has left me.  My house is too messy and my meals are not adequate.  I’m sure my children aren’t learning enough or having enough adventures to stimulate their growing minds. These and other worries have bounced around in my head all hours of the day and night.

Then one day a very simple answer came like a great wave…”LOVE”!

Love will fill in the cracks right now. God loves my little family. The assurance that God loves His children can make darkness into light. I began recognizing the simple goodness that was happening around me. I love my husband and children. My children are happy and play together. They go on their own grand adventures without leaving our house. We sing, eat snacks, read books, and take naps. We love each other.

Everything I have learned this moth can be summed up in a simple math equation:

God’s Love + Good Imagination = Beautiful Life

God’s love filled my spirit and woke up my mind, and even though imagination is a noun, it became my action verb. With very limited amounts of energy, I made my children’s day from the couch. It is possible! Imagination by definition is the faculty or action of forming new ideas, images, or concepts of external objects not present to the senses. It is the ability of the mind to be creative or resourceful.

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” 1 Timothy 1:7

A sound mind does not fear; it is clear and resourceful. Heavenly Father is not a God of discouragement, but of encouragement. The hymn doesn’t read, “There is beauty all around ONLY WHEN the dishes are done.” I live in beautiful space. Within my home imagination soars and we treat each other with kindness. There is beauty in my home.

“There is beauty all around

When there’s love at home;

There is joy in ev’ry sound

When there’s love at home.

Peace and plenty here abide,

Smiling sweet on ev’ry side.

Time doth softly sweetly glide

When there’s love at home.

Kindly heaven smiles above

When there’s love at home;

All the world is filled with love

When there’s love at home.

Sweeter sings the brooklet by;

Brighter beams the azure sky.

Oh, there’s One who smiles on high

When there’s love at home.”

-John Hugh McNaughton