My husband and I had a babymoon of sorts over the weekend. Three full days away with no kids– the longest we’ve ever been without them.
We were at a conference in the mountains of North Carolina, enjoying the amazing Fall colors, strolling through the quaint town nearby, and listening to over a dozen sermons on the holiness of God.
It was a really wonderful time, despite still dealing with nausea and fatigue, and we have had a lot to process and think about since.
The main thrust of the conference focused on God’s holiness and the believer’s call to pursue holiness, loosely summed up by the words of Jonathan Edwards: “The heart of holiness is beauty and its chief manifestation is happiness.”
I hope to share more of the incredible messages we heard on the holiness of Christ and its practical applications. I have been mulling over and writing in my head (often inconveniently in the middle of the night) a post about the most important thing every Christian parent can do for their children. That’s coming soon, and I only hope my words can do it justice.
For now, I wanted to share something else I’ve been thinking about since this weekend.
There was a lot of preaching about the beauty of Christ and the dangers of elevating other things above God, whether intentionally or without any intention of all. Interestingly enough, this got me to thinking about the blog’s current series– kids in the kitchen.
When you write about the same topic everyday for a month, it is easy for it to seem much more important and weighty than it is. My goal in choosing the topic of cooking with our kids was simply to help parents get started and to find new ways to weave learning into the everyday moments of life.
However, never would I have wanted to paint a picture that cooking with your kids is essential or something to feel guilty about if you can’t do it often in your particular season of life. I wholeheartedly believe that “kids in the kitchen” is a GOOD thing, but it is not the only thing, and it is not even the BEST thing.
Maybe this has not been an issue at all and I am simply being melodramatic. I’ll admit, that happens.
But just in case, I wanted to make this point clear. There are only a handful of things which truly matter in the long run. All the other good things enrich our lives but remain nonessential nonetheless.
By all means, please invite your kids into the kitchen. But when you can’t cook with your kids, when the funds aren’t there for little league, when another year passes by without checking off anticipated goals, when life just needs to be bare-bones for a season– remember that your love and attention make up the foundation for the rest. And as long as that foundation stands, so will your kids.
I will continue to add to the kids in the kitchen series, but I am going to return to writing about it naturally. I miss writing about other things! I have some great new recipes to share and am SO excited about two of my favorite holidays quickly approaching. I hope you’ll stick around and join in on the conversation!
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Kimberly Johnson says
Great quote, my friend. So glad you included that. Such a good reminder to keep the central things central and trusting and enjoying God in all of it.
Lisa says
The quote was from the conference this past weekend. We need to chat so I can tell you about it. 🙂