No Drama Mama

Michelle Duggar from TLC's "19 Kids and Counting" is a No Drama Mama. At first I kind of wondered if she might just be acting calm while her TV crew is there(unlike another TLC mother who doesn't mind everyone watching her regular meltdowns).
Then I saw an episode where Michelle's birthday was celebrated with family and her sister-in-law talked about how she is always calm and collected - she said that she'd never seen Michelle yell at her kids in all of those years!


I've always wanted to be a No Drama Mama, but lets' face it, I'm a red-head and I've got all of the passion and zest that the legends are made of.

- And the propensity for over-reacting.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind having passion and zest....

It's the over-reacting that I could do without!

Sometimes I feel more like the comic strip character Cathy going "Aaack!" all of the time!

The MOPS word this week is "Calm" - - and boy do I wish that was a character quality that was firmly ingrained in me!

I want to be calm.

Serene.

Cool as a cucumber.

God has put 1 Peter 3:3-4 on my heart for the coming year:

"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight." NIV

It is my mission this year to make that verse live in me. There is only one way to accomplish that, though. John 15: 4-5 has the answer:

"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." NKJV

I saw part of an interview with Michelle in which she was asked what she does to decompress, where does she go to get a little "me" time. She said that she goes to her room and turns on a CD of scripture reading. Occasionally she falls asleep to the powerful Words of God. She said that the children know to turn away from her bedroom door if they hear the voice of that narrator.

THIS is abiding.

Clinging to that Vine and drawing life from Him.

Sometimes I think that it is not possible for me, a red-head, to be calm. It is one thing to say "God is in the business of changing lives" when you are talking about a former drug addict or someone who is saved from a life of grotesque sin, but I rarely think about it in reference to ME!

I forget that God is just as capable of changing ME.

That the God of infinite patience can create patience in me...

Or that He Who is the PRINCE OF PEACE can call peace into my heart.

But this year I am choosing to cling to this hope and Trust Him to create in me "a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."

What about you?

What do you need to trust God for in your life in the coming year?

Do You believe that He can do it?



photo credit

Becoming an Excellent Woman Matters of the Heart Motherhood My Journey