Imparting a Sense of Place to Your Children
The lilacs on the lilac bush are out in these last days of April. The smell unlocks a strong memory of me being five years old in Dubuque, Iowa and an elderly neighbor who had lilacs. I don’t remember much from that place, but this memory is still clear. But it is somehow deeper than “clear”; the memory has multiple veiled layers that include smells, and feelings, and a sense of place, all rolled into one.
Will your children have memories with that depth, that sense of place?
Thriving – No Matter Whether Good Times or Bad
…give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise, I may have too much and may disown you
and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.
Proverbs 30:7-9
Notice that this lives in the moment. You live Today, in this Place. Instead of next week for payday, next month for vacation, or next season for whatever else you are waiting for.
Embrace the Sense of Place
Be content with what you have. (how un-American that sounds!)
Don’t wear yourself out to be rich. What you gain doesn’t make up for what you lose in the process.
Leave space for the small things in life. This is especially important with children, for every moment is fleeting and you will never have that moment of their childhood back again.
Get off that screen and look around. Be in the moment; this moment.
Embrace a sense of place. There are things in your community and area that are unique to that place. Share those events and seasons with your children. It helps them to be rooted and have a place in the world.
Even just pausing and looking across the front yard or pasture – that same pasture you have seen a thousand times. The sunset. The seasonality – the lilacs that only appear for a couple of weeks.
My driveway in Kansas
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