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    Meditations for Mothers: Finding a Nest of Rest
    Meditations for Mothers: Finding a Nest of Rest
    Meditations for Mothers: Finding a Nest of Rest
    Ebook161 pages1 hour

    Meditations for Mothers: Finding a Nest of Rest

    By Elisa Morgan

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    About this ebook

    Ease the stress of motherhood and treat yourself to a spiritual and mental makeover with inspirational advice from the author of Mom to Mom.
     
    In Meditations for Mothers, Elisa Morgan offers new mothers short, simple, and upbeat devotions to offer encouragement for those overwhelmed with the responsibilities associated with being a new mom. This poignant, uplifting devotional encourages women to practice the presence of God in their daily routine. The brief meditations are short enough to read in those moments between baths, snacks, diapers, naps, and playtime. As they build their daily nest in God’s presence, moms will discover that although different seasons of motherhood come and go, God is always there.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateMar 8, 2017
    ISBN9781625391735
    Meditations for Mothers: Finding a Nest of Rest
    Author

    Elisa Morgan

    Elisa Morgan is President Emerita of MOPS International, Inc., based in Denver, Colorado. She is the author, editor, or coauthor of numerous books, including Twinkle, Naked Fruit; Mom, You Make a Difference! Mom’s Devotional Bible; What Every Mom Needs; What Every Child Needs; and Real Moms. Elisa has two children, and a grandchild, and lives with her husband, Evan, in Centennial , Colorado.

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      Book preview

      Meditations for Mothers - Elisa Morgan

      Meditations for Mothers

      Moments with God Amidst a Busy Nest

      Elisa Morgan

      Copyright

      Meditations for Mothers

      Copyright © 1999 by Elisa Morgan

      Cover art to the electronic edition copyright © 2012 by Bondfire Books, LLC.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

      Electronic edition published 2012 by Bondfire Books, LLC.

      Author is represented by Alive Communications, Inc., 7680 Goddard St., Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920.

      ISBN EPUB edition: 978-0-7953-2366-9

      To see more from Elisa Morgan, visit FullFill.org.

      To Munna

      Thank you for loving birds

      and for directing my gaze

      to follow yours in so much of life

      Contents

      Title Page

      Copyright Page

      Introduction: Longing for Time with God

      Part One—Nesting Instinct

      When You Need a Rest

      Admit Your Need

      Close to His Heart

      Safe Nests

      Losing Your Stress

      Part Two—Nest-building

      Just the Way You Are

      No Regrets

      Knowing When to Stop

      Put Yourself into Your Mothering

      Layering God’s Lessons in Your Life

      Part Three—Birds of a Feather

      When You’re Lonely

      Mommy Wars

      Love Birds

      Is Your Way the Only Way?

      Learn from Other Mothers

      Part Four—Bird Seed

      Are You Hungry for God?

      Developing a Taste for God

      When There’s Not Enough of You to Go Around

      Don’t Worry

      God Has Something for You—Every Day!

      Part Five—Songbirds

      Put a Song in Your Heart

      God Hears Your Cries

      Do You Have a Safe Spot to Sing?

      Silent Songs

      Songs from a Bird Cage

      Part Six—Thorns, Snares, and Storms

      Choosing Between Staying and Straying

      God Wants to Gather You Up

      When a Sparrow Falls to the Ground

      Free Yourself

      Make Room for God’s Plans

      Part Seven—The View from the Nest

      Teach Your Children Well

      Remember Your Goal as a Mom

      Practice Today for Tomorrow

      Migration Time

      The Impact of Today on Tomorrow

      Afterword

      Source Books

      REST IS NOT IDLENESS, AND TO LIE SOMETIMES ON THE GRASS UNDER THE TREES ON A SUMMER’S DAY LISTENING TO THE MURMUR OF WATER, OR WATCHING THE CLOUDS FLOAT ACROSS THE SKY, IS BY NO MEANS A WASTE OF TIME.

      —SIR T. LUBBOCK

      Introduction

      Longing for Time with God

      Shortly after we were married, Evan and I lived in a cozy little ranch-style house. My favorite part of the house was the kitchen—the kitchen window to be exact. In those days, before children, I often spent time at that kitchen window with God, gazing out at petunias in summer and golden aspen in fall. Unhurried and uninterrupted, these times with God fed my soul.

      The spring of my daughter’s birth brought the highlight view. While washing dishes one day, I looked up to find a bird building a nest on the roof beam of our covered patio. Twig after twig, branch after branch, she flew away and back until her messy makings revealed a cuplike wreath of safety. Home.

      Over the next few weeks, I watched her hunker down over her eggs, leaving only for the briefest moments. She received visits from another sparrow—Daddy, I presumed. One day, scrawny heads popped up over the edge of the nest and, with open-mouthed demands, welcomed themselves into the world. For weeks I’d climb up on my kitchen counter, watch the birds, and enjoy God’s creation.

      We have since moved from that house. Today the view from my kitchen sink has changed. As I wash dishes, I watch handstands and somersaults, not birds and nature. Instead of golden aspens, I gawk at the TV. I sort through my mental to-do list and often find prayer left untouched at the end of the day.

      Children have changed my freedom to spend time with God. Where once I had easy access to him, now noise and busyness and, well, children stand in my way.

      I suspect most moms share my struggle. Caught between the demands of sports activities, homework, church programs, and a desire to provide decent meals and family time, most of us have precious little left for God. When’s the last time you prayed without falling asleep? or journaled about God’s work in your life? or read your Bible without interruption?

      In Psalm 84:1–2, the psalmist writes of a similar plight:

      How lovely is your dwelling place,

      O LORD Almighty!

      My soul yearns, even faints,

      for the courts of the LORD;

      my heart and my flesh cry out

      for the living God.

      In this pilgrimage psalm, written to be sung by those traveling to the temple to make restitution for their sins and to worship God, the psalmist writes of a longing of the heart for God. Because the Old Testament required a high priest to make sacrifices for specific sins, worshipers longed for the temple and the priest so they could obtain forgiveness and access to God.

      Verse three goes on,

      Even the sparrow has found a home,

      and the swallow a nest for herself,

      where she may have her young—

      a place near your altar,

      O LORD Almighty, my King and my God.

      The psalmist envies the birds who nest daily in the temple and therefore enjoy a daily presence in God’s dwelling.

      Mothers are among today’s faint of heart who long for a time with God. While we no longer need a high priest to provide the forgiveness Christ offers through his death on the cross, we still long for the temple of time with God. Parent pilgrims grow weary and cry out for God.

      This book is about taking a tip from the swallow in the psalm. She built her nest in a place near God’s altar. She lived where God lived. We moms who long for God don’t have to go somewhere special to

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