Have you been following Sarah Reinhard’s “Looking Closer at the Hail Mary” blog series? Well, have you? To be honest, I haven’t been following it very closely because I’ve really been trying to limit my computer time recently, even after my Lenten sacrifice is over. But I have been dipping in occasionally and discovered some really great posts and I do plan to sit down and read every post eventually.
Sarah was inspired by Jen Fulwiler’s series on The Our Father last year on her Conversion Diary blog. Sarah’s asked a bunch of top-notch writers to contribute a post on one word in the Hail Mary. I told Sarah I thought it was a wonderful idea and I was really looking forward to reading all the posts. She took my hint and invited me to contribute.
Today you can read my little contribution over at Sarah’s Snoring Scholar blog. It’s a humble little reflection on the humble little word ‘the’, as in ‘the fruit of your womb’.
Thank you for the lovely slice of family life.
Just one suggestion: if Bella wants to join in, you have an opportunity to point out to her that she should listen to what Sophie and Ben have to say. Playing their game can mean playing by their rules – a good lesson for an oldest child. As an alternative suggestion, she could include Ben in her games. He may not do precisely what she wants, but he’s unlikely to argue with her or feel commandeered.
When my third child was born, my older two fought over her as though she were a toy (“My turn with her!”). My oldest didn’t understand how her sister could choose her brother to play with. I pointed out that Brother would do what Little Sister wanted and adapt it to include his ideas, whereas Older Sister wanted Little Sister to fall in with her own plans without any alteration. A good lesson…
Now they are adults and I can see that the lesson “took.” Older Sister is extremely considerate and goes out of her way to accommodate Little Sister whenever she can.