A God Spa Day: Interview w/authors of Mommy Pick Me Ups

Authors Edna Ellison and Linda Gilden continue their interview today on CML. Today they talk about a God Spa and how all of us can benefit from our own "time out".

Suzie Eller: Linda, you shared an example on Friday of a Prayer Chair, a place where you can take all of your cares. You also mentioned a God Spa? What is that?

Linda Gilden: “Slow Down! Enjoy a God Spa” [from the book, Mommy Pick Me Ups] also illustrates how to give moms hope as they identify with the plight of a mom of a two-year-old. Hopefully, if a mom with a two-year-old reads this, she will try the God Spa idea. In fact, no matter how old our children are, we can benefit from a God Spa!

Slow Down! Enjoy a God Spa

“OK! Let’s go!” Patti grabbed two-year-old Kenny around the waist and hauled him to the car in a hurry. They were late to choir practice for two-year olds. A good mother, Patti had enrolled him in Sunday School, a percussion music class, an exercise class in the gym, and also this Toddler Choir.

“Come on, Kenny, let’s get into the car.”

“No!” he had said over and over again, just before she picked him up. He had been playing with his favorite red truck and began crying to stay at home with his truck.

“One day you’ll thank me for this,” Patti said aloud as she strapped Kenny in his car seat, talking mainly to herself. “Who can understand a two-year old?”

Driving up to the church, Kenny jumped out in a hurry. He seemed to have forgotten about the red truck, eagerly running to the children’s choir room. At choir practice, he said “No!” when “Miss Liz,” the teacher, called him. He wandered around, played with the triangles left from the percussion class, and kicked a drum, but when Miss Liz played the piano, he then settled down and listened to her, mumbling with the other children the words to “Jesus Loves Me.”

Afterwards, Patti apologized. Liz held her finger to her lips. “Oh, shh!” Liz said. “Forget it. All these children act like that from time to time. Remember, they are claiming their preferences for the first time, and ‘No’ is the favorite word of two-year-old language. They spread their wings at this age. They wander; they taste and try different things. I love them all.”

“How do you remain so cool with all this activity? Sometimes it drives me nuts.”

“I take time out for a God spa,” said Liz.

“What? A God spa?”

“That’s what I call it. You know, a few minutes in God’s word. . . . It reminds me to be content and count my blessings. I just take a moment for myself, sort of step aside, and thank God for the good position I’m in, you know, to relate to children and guide them. I’m deep-down content because God is really good to me.”

Patti thought about it: contentment. . . . reading God’s word. Stepping aside. Thanking Him for His blessings. Maybe she needed a God spa.

Message for Mommy: Godliness with contentment is great gain (1 Timothy 6:6).

Pick-Me-Up: Patti worked at being the ideal mom, filling her child’s day with character-building activities. God’s Word promises you can have godliness in your words and activities in your parenting and yet lack contentment on your journey. You know you are doing all the right things, but you’re spinning your wheels without any gain. The verse above sets a goal: seek godliness with contentment.

Creative Parenting: No matter how many hours you fill to please God by doing good works, he wants your heart to be filled with peace. How do you do that? By taking time out to build a relationship with God. By asking for a personal relationship with Him. Step aside from your busy day. Take a few moments to be still and listen to Him. Seek His face today and praise Him for great gain in your life through Him.

SE: Why do you think it is important to encourage busy moms spiritually?

Edna Ellison: I once read that everything is wrong until God sets it right! I love that idea! Once we get our hearts right, we can face the homework, the long hours with a sick child, the family friction, and the hectic schedule. We can feel deep joy in the midst of a busy day, without being discouraged. It’s important that we focus on God to set everything else right in our lives.

SE: I love that you offer creative parenting tips as well as stories and encouragement. Can you share your favorite creative parenting tip?

LG: My best tip would be to take your job as a parent very seriously but don’t take it too seriously to have fun with your children. Play lots of games even while doing chores. Let go of some of the household chores when your children need your attention. Put them first instead of “I’ll be right there as soon as I finish…” The job will be waiting when you are finished looking at a pretty bug or feeling how smooth a rock is!

SE: Hidden away like a treasure in the back of this book was "Creating Pick-me-up Moments for Mom"! We get so busy, don't we. I stopped reading and went out on the deck and let the wind blow through my hair. It made me STOP and appreciate the moment. Can you share a story from your own life where you needed to create a pick-me-up moment?

EE: Just this week, my adult daughter, Patsy, and I were in her kitchen when she asked me to hand her the dish detergent from below the sink so she could wash a glass. I picked up a small bottle and gave it to her.

“No, Mom,” she said, “give me the ‘green stuff.’”

I returned the yellow liquid, looked again, and passed her the bottle she wanted.

“You know, Mom,” she said, sniffing the green detergent as it fell into the water, “I always use this brand name. It brings back good memories of my childhood.”

Then she reminded me of one special day when she was a small child. I remembered that it was an especially hectic day. While I was busy feeding Patsy, her older brother, Jack, had marked the new living room rugs with a permanent marker to make roads for his small metal cars. Later I spent hours scrubbing the rugs, without success. As I looked around, I saw Patsy had spilled a large cola on our new white sofa, leaving large brown stains.

When my husband came in from work that night, I related a laundry list of things the children had done. He knew I was physically, mentally, and spiritually exhausted. He and I prayed together that night, and we decided to back off from the irritating issues at hand and make a new approach.

The next day, the children went with me to pick out new rugs (not as beautiful and expensive as the others had been, but actually a much better color to match our décor). I let Jack make some of the choices, since he was the older sibling. When we got home, he completed his job of dragging the old rugs into his room, where he could play on the “roads” as long as he wished. Then he helped me place the new ones in the living room.

While he played and Patsy took a nap, I sat in my favorite chair and read a daily devotion from a new Christian devotional book I’d never taken time to read. At times he sat in my lap and listened to the Bible verses.

Before Patsy woke up, Jack and I prepared two “fruit dolls” I’d seen in a recipe book, using a peach half for a face, raisins for brown eyes, and a sliver of pimento for a smiling mouth. Patsy always awakened in time to help us arrange tiny lines of sliced cheese around the peach for blond hair. Then we took a break and ate our fruit dolls, followed by a rerun of their favorite television show! Afterwards, Patsy and Jack washed their own plates (using the “green stuff”) and dried them.

We made this break a tradition. After I had my private time with God (Yes, some days longer than others!), we made the same fruit salad doll every day and enjoyed entertainment together. They never tired of that special snack! Even today, they remember the taste of the peaches, raisons and cheese—and especially the smell of the “green stuff” afterward. What a joy to have adult children who have happy childhood memories of their Christian development through our daily Pick-Me-Up time with God!

Backing off from life’s chores helped me to work smarter, not harder, at my God-given job of parenting precious children and showed me the value of a daily Pick Me Up and focus on God.

SE: Thanks ladies, for joining us! How can people find you or your books?

EE and LG: They can find our books at Amazon.com, Christianbook.com, Barnesandnoble.com, most Christian bookstores (ask them to order it if it's not on the shelves). Here are a list of our websites!

http://www.mommypickmeups.com

http://www.lindagilden.com

ednaE9@aol.com (Edna’s email)