Some people are camera shy, but not my niece. She is camera rebellious. She is the most adorable human who has ever lived and does the cutest things you have ever seen, but most of the time she completely stops acting cute when a camera is pointed her way. Because she simply exudes cuteness, my family and I have been able to capture it on camera a few times, but it is rare. We have learned not to pull out the phone to record her, lest she stop doing whatever we are trying to capture.
I spent the whole day with her today, and, including the times she was napping and being a sassy toddler, there was not a single moment she was not being cute. We sang songs together ("The Wheels on the Bus", "Ring Around the Rosie" and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" - and both did all the motions), played patty-cake, went for a walk, ran around inside and outside, read books, watched "Emmo" (Sesame Street), made silly faces at each other, had tickle fights, reminisced all our inside jokes, colored, practiced colors and letters, blew bubbles and played ball.
There were so many moments I wanted to capture her cuteness and silliness for the whole world to appreciate. I want everyone to see how wonderful and silly and smart she is. But I knew taking my phone out would end the moment. So instead I just remained in each moment with her, for as long as her attention span would keep us there.
A few times it was tempting to check the time, go over the details of the rest of the weekend, think about what was next. But she was fully present our moments, unaware of time or a schedule or anything next. So I tried to meet her there.
It's hard with little ones not to get bored in some of those moments. How long can a 20-month-old blow bubbles until they're bored of it? A long time. Playing with a baby is very repetitive, and there's not much conversation to accompany time together.
But what a good reminder that we can aim to be present in each moment of our lives, fully taking in the space and time and people around us. I don't have to think about what's next or check the time, and I will enjoy more if I instead check in 100% to whatever I'm currently doing. I can give someone else my full attention and meet them in the moment we're sharing.
My niece has no choice right now but to be fully present in her moments, but I am thankful for the reminder of what a gift that can be.
So thank you for being silly with me, lovey. Thank you for running in for a hug when I come over to play and for laughing at our jokes and for gushing your cuteness all over my life. You're a stinker pot, and I wish you would let me take more pictures and videos of you to remember all these cute things you do (your giggle, your dancing, when you make that face at me like I'm crazy and you have no idea what I'm talking about, when you tell someone to "ssshhh") and cute words you say ("gampa", "namma", "pees stah" (please stop?), "opry" (how you say your name), "omagah" (oh my gosh?), "ishta" (we have no idea), "boo" (the only color anything is right now) and all your babbly-singing) and smart ways you impress me (spelling your name, recognizing letters, pointing to the correct thing when we ask you to). But for now I will do my best to be content simply existing in and enjoying each moment with you. Thank you for the reminder, baby, and I'm so glad for every moment we get to embrace together.
Saturday, April 30, 2016
Saturday, April 23, 2016
Saturday Shout Out: Thanks for Mentoring
Tonight I heard a group of three men speak to a large group of international leaders about the need for them to be mentors and pass their wisdom, experience, care, vulnerability and love to younger generations of leaders.
Each of them spoke extremely well, eloquently and persuasively about this need. They told stories about their lack of guidance in their youth, how their fathers didn't speak truth or affirmation to them, how their role models were all negative examples, how no one poured into them and how they missed out on the relationships that could have helped them along the way.
I have a different story.
Besides my parents, who have both been great examples and friends to me throughout my life, I think I need two hands to count the people who have poured into me and cared for me.
The first real mentor I can think of in my life was a coach in my youth group. She was a college student that spent her free time hanging out with awkward 12 to 14-year-olds like me. She was so fun and cool. I wanted to be her. But she wasn't some far off idol; she was accessible to me. She got to know me, asked me about my life, cared about whether I showed up to events and whether I was growing. She shared of herself, stories about her life and lessons she'd learned. She inserted herself into my friend group, playing games with us and pranks on us and laughing in fun when we joked with her or tried to get her back. She lived life with us, at camp and at church and those special times when she would pick us up for school and take us out to ice cream. She came to our level.
When I was in college, I became a youth coach because of her. She had helped me discover my gifts and strengths and pointed out to me that I was a leader among my peers, so I pursued leadership.
A handful of strong, wonderful, loving women cared about me, invested in me and helped me grow personally throughout high school and college. One mentor relationship that sticks out began in the summer before college. My friends and I were getting "kicked out" of youth group (as 17 and 18-year-olds, that's how we dramatically described it). Though we were in the phase of life that we thought we knew everything, we somehow had enough wisdom to seek out someone to lead us through the transition between high school and college. We asked her to lead a Bible study for us, but she did and has done so much more. She shepherded the beginning of our transition into adulthood and continues to check in on us, guide us, care for us, cheer us on, invest in us, lead us and ask us the hard questions.
I now work at a place that is intentional about leading and investing in younger leaders. I continue to be mentored professionally and personally. I've always known I was lucky to have these people in my life, but I hadn't realized how unique my situation was.
I recently invited a group of friends over to my apartment. When most everyone left, one friend pointed out to me that "there were a lot of older women over." I am sad for the young people who don't have the gift of older, wiser folks looking out for them, having their backs, guiding them, caring about them, asking hard questions, being vulnerable with them, living life with them, imparting wisdom, affirming them and more.
In the end, the men I heard share tonight talked about what changed when a mentor finally stepped in. I can say the same thing: my life is different because people who didn't have to took an interest in me and poured into me for my good. May fewer young people have to wait and pray and beg for a mentor. May more of us share and pass on the things we have learned and care for those who come after us.
Each of them spoke extremely well, eloquently and persuasively about this need. They told stories about their lack of guidance in their youth, how their fathers didn't speak truth or affirmation to them, how their role models were all negative examples, how no one poured into them and how they missed out on the relationships that could have helped them along the way.
I have a different story.
Besides my parents, who have both been great examples and friends to me throughout my life, I think I need two hands to count the people who have poured into me and cared for me.
The first real mentor I can think of in my life was a coach in my youth group. She was a college student that spent her free time hanging out with awkward 12 to 14-year-olds like me. She was so fun and cool. I wanted to be her. But she wasn't some far off idol; she was accessible to me. She got to know me, asked me about my life, cared about whether I showed up to events and whether I was growing. She shared of herself, stories about her life and lessons she'd learned. She inserted herself into my friend group, playing games with us and pranks on us and laughing in fun when we joked with her or tried to get her back. She lived life with us, at camp and at church and those special times when she would pick us up for school and take us out to ice cream. She came to our level.
When I was in college, I became a youth coach because of her. She had helped me discover my gifts and strengths and pointed out to me that I was a leader among my peers, so I pursued leadership.
A handful of strong, wonderful, loving women cared about me, invested in me and helped me grow personally throughout high school and college. One mentor relationship that sticks out began in the summer before college. My friends and I were getting "kicked out" of youth group (as 17 and 18-year-olds, that's how we dramatically described it). Though we were in the phase of life that we thought we knew everything, we somehow had enough wisdom to seek out someone to lead us through the transition between high school and college. We asked her to lead a Bible study for us, but she did and has done so much more. She shepherded the beginning of our transition into adulthood and continues to check in on us, guide us, care for us, cheer us on, invest in us, lead us and ask us the hard questions.
I now work at a place that is intentional about leading and investing in younger leaders. I continue to be mentored professionally and personally. I've always known I was lucky to have these people in my life, but I hadn't realized how unique my situation was.
I recently invited a group of friends over to my apartment. When most everyone left, one friend pointed out to me that "there were a lot of older women over." I am sad for the young people who don't have the gift of older, wiser folks looking out for them, having their backs, guiding them, caring about them, asking hard questions, being vulnerable with them, living life with them, imparting wisdom, affirming them and more.
In the end, the men I heard share tonight talked about what changed when a mentor finally stepped in. I can say the same thing: my life is different because people who didn't have to took an interest in me and poured into me for my good. May fewer young people have to wait and pray and beg for a mentor. May more of us share and pass on the things we have learned and care for those who come after us.
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