CWM Interview February 2009
Welcome
Blog/Online Bible Study
Prayer Partners
CWM Coaching Tips
Interview
Welcome
I hope everyone had a good Valentine’s
Day. I certainly enjoyed my chocolate. In
the world there are so many serious things
going on right now and it is easy to get anxious
or depressed. I encourage you to remember
to have fun with your children and laugh.
Have you ever noticed you don’t have
to teach children how to play? It comes naturally.
So, let us not forget to play.
Thanks Ashley for your willingness
to be interviewed this month.
If you are prone to anxiety
a great book to read is Calm My Anxious Heart
by Linda Dillow. To find out more about the
book, click
here.
Blog/Online Bible Study
The CWM Blog is a great place
for Moms to come and share with one another.
Make sure to visit the CWM Blog at http://christianworkingmoms.blogspot.com.
The Online Bible studies can be found at http://cwmbiblestudy.blogspot.com.
Due to other projects I have been working
on I have not added any new Bible Studies.
That is still a goal of mine to add more Bible
Studies.
Prayer Partners
Would you like another CWM praying
for you? We have many CWM prayer partners
who are matched with sisters in Christ from
all over the world. If you would like a prayer
partner send an email to Kimberly@kimberlychastain.com
and put prayer partner in the subject heading.
I will send you a prayer partner’s name
and you can begin praying for one another.
CWM Coaching Tips
Do you want to spend more time
in God’s Word and don’t know how
to start? Then, consider having an email devotional
mailed to you daily. To find out more go to:
http://www.kimberlychastain.com/cwmtips.htm.
Interview
Ashley is a married 38 year
old CWM who lives in the United States. She
has two children an 8 year old boy named Hudson
and a 4 year old boy named Porter.
She is the Vice President of
Business Development for SharedBook, Inc.
Ashley’s favorite Bible
Verse is: Mark 12: 30-31, from the King James
Version
“And thou salt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength:
this is the first commandment. And the second
is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment
greater than these.”
For me, these verses explain
what is important about being a Christian.
First, the acknowledgment that there is a
higher power; that my life is not mine alone,
and that there is something greater than ourselves
in the world. And second, that the person
standing next to you, no matter who they are,
is every bit as important as you are and deserves
your love simply because they are human. I
think what these verses tell us is that the
message Jesus brought to humanity is a directive
to look outside ourselves, and to do so with
love, which for me translates into compassion
and forgiveness.
Ashley shares the joys of being
a Christian Working Mom: The joys are when
my kids do and say those things that help
me to see I’m making at least a few
of the right choices in my parenting. When
Hudson, my eight-year-old, asks if there is
someone we know who needs a family for Christmas
and could we invite them over. Or Porter sits
on Santa’s lap and reports back to me,
“Mom, I told Santa thank you very much
and Merry Christmas!” I pray a prayer
of thanks that their hearts are right where
they should be.
And then there’s the day
not too long ago when we were in the car,
and a voice from the back seat pipes up with,
“Mom, tell me again, why did they kill
Jesus?” This prompted a long discussion
about people in power and how they will go
to great lengths to keep it. And more importantly
how often it is much harder to do the right
thing than the easier, wrong thing; how sometimes
when we choose to do the right thing, it angers
or frightens others who aren’t strong
enough to make the harder choice. Hudson’s
question tells me that my son has taken Christianity
as his own and that he has begun his unique
journey to discover what he believes. As a
parent, I think it is my job to teach, to
lead by example, and make available to my
children all that they need to make the best
decisions, but not to force by rote or to
offer them no room to question or explore.
If I encourage them to ponder and ask questions,
then I know that the faith they come to will
be stronger because they built it.
The struggles of any working
mom seem to be those of balance: how to find
enough time and energy for the children, the
husband, family and friends, volunteering
and outreach, and work. But particularly for
the Christian working mom, I wonder if there
isn’t the added burden of a need to
defend one’s life outside the home.
I adore my children. They opened a place of
joy in me that I didn’t know existed,
they healed wounds long scarred, and they
primed me to share in the grace of loving
another without bounds. All of that is still
true while I am at work. I have a need to
challenge my intellect, to express my creativity,
and to fight battles for what I believe in
outside the four walls of my family. Neither
my commitment to my faith nor my commitment
to my family is diminished because I value
my career. I think true Christianity has room
for many ways of mothering.
If I am listening carefully
and hearing correctly, I think God is teaching
me patience. I have high expectations of myself,
my children, and my world, and I am sometimes
frustrated when we don’t all live up
to them at my predetermined schedule. I think
God frequently bestows on me tiny moments
of pure grace that are meant to remind me
to value the journey, and not to focus quite
so much on the destination. One such moment
happened not long after the car ride where
we discussed the causes of the crucifixion.
The original question was Hudson’s,
but Porter’s little four-year-old ears
were soaking up every word. A few days later,
we were at church, standing in a long line
of families waiting to take part in the Christmas
hanging of the greens in our beautiful, turn-of-the-century
stone sanctuary. This was the first time our
family had been asked to participate, and
I was preoccupied with worry that my children
were dressed appropriately and that they would
perform admirably. To keep him from running
amok, I was holding Porter, even though he’s
heavy and I was in heels. Despite my admonishment
to keep quiet, he was babbling questions about
the proceedings. But one question stopped
me short of issuing another shhhh. “Mom,”
he asked, “is God dead?”
“No, of course not,”
I answered in shock. “God is alive and
his spirit is all around us.”
“Oh. Then is Jesus dead?”
Now it was clear. Obviously,
all that Porter had taken from that discussion
in the car was that SOMEBODY was dead. I tried
to make my answer one that Porter, my not-so-deep-thinker,
could accept and comprehend. “Jesus
did die. But he came back to us. So everything
is good.”
“Oh. Okay, Mom.”
And with that, he moved on to fighting with
his brother over what chrismon he would put
on the tree. And I allowed myself the release
of the worry over our clothes, my kids’
behavior, and our role in the service, and
embraced the peace that comes with accepting
that really, it’s all good.
Ashley shares that I suspect
God is much better at forgiving us than we
are at forgiving ourselves. What I would wish
for all of us is that we forgive our mistakes,
let go of the self-criticism, and that we
love ourselves as much as God loves us. What
we are doing is difficult, and we won’t
always do it well, but we will do it with
all our hearts, and that is enough.
In conclusion, Ashley states
I’ve enjoyed answering these questions
and taking the time to consider what it means
to be a Christian working mom. It helped me
to see how truly blessed I am, and for that
I am thankful. The exercise originally came
about to help me share with other CWMs one
of the products I’m proud to help bring
to our community, a personalized prayer book.
At www.yourdailyinspiringword.com you can
create a book of daily prayers customized
with your name and photograph or that of a
loved one, so every day brings you closer
to God. But in the end, I think I have learned
much more than I have shared.
Ashley thanks again for sharing
your words of wisdom. I especially appreciated
your point about answering our children’s
questions about faith and children making
their faith their own. Also, how much our
heavenly Father loves us.
Till next time,
Kimberly M. Chastain
