The Season that Led to This

One Sunday morning about eighteen years ago, my friend Linda and I were taking care of little ones in the nursery during a worship service. We were both willing volunteers, and being moms, were happily comfortable holding babies, chasing toddlers and reading stories. Being women, we also had a conversation. It went something like this:

(I'm taking great liberty here and Linda will remember it differently, I'm sure!)

Me: (tired, holding my own infant while I'm sure I can hear my older three down the hall) Do you know how nice it is to have that one hour, just one hour, to enjoy worship? It's the best hour of my week!

Linda: We're giving our week in the nursery so that we can have our hour next week.

Me: Moms need the hour every week.

Linda: You're right. It's important for us to have that time of worship.

Me: Yet we're the ones in the nursery.

Linda: We need to remember this when we are older.

Me: We will work in the nursery, even when our kids our grown, so the younger moms can enjoy their hour of worship, every week.

This led us to a discussion (I remember it was brief...we were looking after little ones, after all) of Titus 2. This is one of the passages of the Bible where we are told exactly what to do. Exactly. Clearly. Don't you love that? I do! I mean, who doesn't want a perfectly clear answer to, "Lord, what am I supposed to do?" Titus 2:3-5 is a clear directive to women:

3 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4 Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.  NIV

Wow. This passage speaks directly to me now, in this season of life. I turned 50 last year. My youngest child turned 18 last year. Does that make me an older woman? Yep, I think it does. I once read somewhere that a woman who has gone through menopause is considered "wise". Well, I'm definitely past that season, so does that make me wise...or does that give me a push to become more responsible to listen and obey as an older woman? It has definitely made me think more about it.

As an older woman (golly day, I'm not ancient!) going through some changes in life (the last child leaving the nest does that to you), I've been praying a lot for God's leading into this new chapter, this new season in my life. If your youngest is heading off to college or the work world or a life of his/her own, you know what I mean. Not that I won't be able to stay busy all day. Busy is easy. I can knit, quilt, go out to lunch with friends, and work in my studio. But it's different. I'm no longer training up my children and making sure they're fed and ferried and all those meaningful daily things that happen when you're a busy mom. This new season of my life needs meaning, too.

And what meaning it has! God so specifically spoke to older women in this passage...I feel like I have more to do than ever!

And yes, I do volunteer in the nursery at church.

If you're an "older" woman, what are you doing to minister to the younger women in your life?

This is Where it Begins

Hi. My name is Sue Shimomura.

I'm a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend...and by God's grace, His child: forgiven, loved, corrected (sometimes...oftentimes...more than once...I'm stubborn), blessed, guided and living in the peaceful knowledge that one day I will meet Him at Heaven's gate.

In full disclosure, I am not perfect. I know that I can be a better wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend...and a better disciple of Christ.

I am not a good writer. I'm also not perfect with my words (spoken or written), always saying what I mean. But my husband tells me that I have many words to share, and, bless him, he is patient and listens to me. A lot.

Much of what I have to say, though, is for a female audience. My daughters, my friends, women I would like to befriend, women I haven't yet met.

Thoughts and practical ideas about how we live. Today. As daughters of Christ, living in His grace, becoming His disciples in all aspects of our lives. In this season of our lives.

And because I'm not sure who will be interested in what I have to say, rather than inflicting my words upon them unsolicited (which could end up with me with my foot in my mouth, or someone politely bored...), I'll post here, leaving the choice to read, or not, up to you, dear one.

I hope you will choose to read, and comment. So that we may have a conversation.

This is important stuff.