I'm the mama! Revisiting imagination in parenting and in ministry.


We have an iPod, and iPad, and iPhone, and HTC Droid, a Macbook, and a Kindle with us on our little vacation to the West Coast. Some of these things I need to in order to write and communicate but most of these things are for one sole purpose...

...entertaining our young children.

Traveling with a two-year-old and a five-year-old is nothing short of spontaneous, sometimes spiraling, sporadic, and spastic adventure.

Today when our afternoon flight home was cancelled after a long meltdown through security, I really thought I might just lose my last nerve to the toddler underworld.

But that's when something magical happened. My five year old had an epiphany. "Let's let Mya (our 2 year old) be the mama" So that's what we did and what we are doing for the rest of the day.

Mya is the momma. She has to hold our hand and lead us where we need to go.
She has to let us hold the things we want to hold.
If we are sad we show it and she has to calm us down.
We are the babies and she is the mama.
We are over acting and reacting like a toddler so she can act like a grown up is genius.

So, here we are sitting quietly in an airport while both girls are occupied
watching some shows--giving us just a few moments to read, blog, or just breath....ahhh.

Why didn't we think of that before? Creative parenting comes and goes but it's always a blessing
when one of your kids shows you how.

Thankful. In process. Excited to translate this into ministry.
What if we put a middle schooler or high schooler in charge?
I think about how our friends at the Refinery let their students "Own the Weekend". What a concept.
Teaching them how to mature....lead others...practice their faith...by letting them do just that.

They may not do it how we would do it, but trying and even failing helps them along and can probably give us some new insights into their worlds as well.

In the future, I think imagining and role-play will have a much larger role in my personal approach to ministry.
Mainly, because I've seen it work so well in my family.

Good thoughts. Feels good to think them. Feels good to have space to think them.
I owe it to my kid, who owned the moment and led the way. Good job Kirra. You rock.
You give me life and I appreciate the ways you teach and lead me!

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