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About mittonmusings

A Canadian, lifestyle blog with an inspirational twist!

Moms who Mop

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There is a poignant scene in Mel Gibson’s 2004 movie, The Passion of the Christ, where Jesus’s mother, Mary, is desperately wiping his blood from the cobble stone walkway where He was just brutally tortured moments before. It’s graphic and gruesome. Yet, to me, it is such a vibrant picture of motherhood. Here is a mom, who’s firstborn son has been wrongly accused, and is about to be crucified. Mary has watched Jesus grow from a tiny baby into this radical man who has had such an impact on His world, and although she doesn’t understand it all, she knows somewhere deep in her heart, that she must do something to support Him… something, anything… even to the point of wiping up bodily fluids.

From The Passion of the Christ 2004

I had a wonderful mother’s day weekend away with my own mom and daughters this year. We had fun together and enjoyed our time. I read the posts on social media about mothers everywhere… flowers and cards and beautiful Sunday brunches. Florists all over Canada just moved into the red based on their sales for this one day a year. But let’s be honest, moms. Motherhood is tough.

Children do not come with a set of instructions. There is no book, no podcast, no blog or youtube channel that will tell you how to mother your beloved. Because there is no one exactly like you… and no one exactly like your kid. God made each and everyone one of us special. Which makes mothering hard — and absolutely beautiful at the same time!

I am really quite amazed at how resilient God made us mothers. Our bodies take a beating and fight back. We survive sleepless nights and midnight feedings, we kiss skinned knees and manage the daily task of hair brushing and teeth flossing. God knew what He was doing when He made babies so cute… because despite all the paranoia, we often do it all again… and then a third and a forth and a tenth time! What were we thinking?!

And then! Then, we pray for soul mates and fret and worry when they leave the nest and fly away and become their own. And we get angry because it’s not how we wanted it to be. They deviate from our perfect mother-knows-best plans and we can no longer shelter them. We have to let them go — and let God. Or we don’t understand why God has given us this challenge, this extra need, this life curve that throws us off our plans for a future of flowers and rainbows. And we cry out “Why”?! Trust me, I’ve been there.

Or maybe you have to be the mom to your own mother now. Roles are reversed and you have to be the caregiver to the one who once cared for you. The vulnerability is still there. You have to make hard decisions, and be the one to fight for dignity, and be courageous and kind. You become like Mary in the movie. You don’t quite know what to do — but you have to do something! So, you mop the floor.

I have met many brave moms. Courageous mothers who fight like momma bears for the sake of their children. They advocate, protest, speak out and speak up. Still others who quietly, yet equally as bravely, support their children with every ounce of their being, through silent prayers whispered late at night. Parenting is hard. This is why God gives us families and communities and villages… and the internet! We need each other. Good grief, if even Mary didn’t know what to do in her crisis situation, we can consider ourselves in good company.

So, if your Happy Mother’s Day bouquets have now slightly wilted, and you are feeling a little frazzled by it all, remember that there is no magic wand. No fairy godmother to make it all go away, and no enchanted mice to clean up the messes. God has chosen each one of us for His specific plan, and the specific plans for each of our beloveds. We must learn to trust that God knows the why. We just have to bring along the mop buckets sometimes.

Just a cup o’ Joe

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I love a great cup of coffee. There’s just something about that rich, creamy goodness that soothes my soul. I have lots of friends and relatives that are “tea toters” — which I just discovered during this post — does not mean a tea lover!! I will have to find another name to label my friends with, as the phrase really has nothing to do with tea! It is actually spelled “teetotaler” which really means they abstain from alcoholic drinks — which isn’t really my friends…well some of them…oh my — where was I? See — ya’ll need to drink coffee!

Anyway… yes. Ahem. The soothing calm of a good cup of java. Just a cup o’ Joe, as they say. Why coffee? Well, there is a lot of chit chat about coffee and the “need” for it in the morning. That the caffeine in coffee is somehow required to wake us up. To fuel us in our daily tasks. Now, I do enjoy it with my breakfast, but I don’t often get the chance to linger over it. (Much as I would love to, but I am an on-the-go coffee girl). That’s what thermal mugs are for. I like mine with cream or milk — but have been skipping the sugar for years. I think I had my first taste of coffee during my last year of high school — pulling all nighters for exams and projects, and figuring I “needed” it to stay awake. More than likely not true, but I learned to like the taste from then on out. Pumpkin spice latte season? Don’t even get me started! Most people agree, they love the smell of roasting coffee beans…even if they don’t drink it. Hmmmn…yup, coffee is it.

We Canadians love our coffee! (Photo Credit Adi C.)

We Canadians especially love our coffee. According to the Coffee Business Intelligence Site (*giggle* who knew there was such a thing?!) we average about 2 and a half cups a day, and are in the top ten for consumption per capita. In 2014, Tim Horton’s sold 2 billion cups of coffee per day. That number, I am sure, has sky rocketed since roll up the rim started giving away its millions. If you are reading the blog from a place other than Canada… let’s just say Timmies is a Canuck thing and you have to live here to understand. But again, I digress.

the Canadian coffee consumption 2019

I recently watched a national geographic clip about coffee. The photographer traveled to interview farmers who have come back to their family farms to carry on the tradition of coffee farming. It was interesting — coffee is truly an artisan craft. There is still very little automation in the process… the ripe, red berries are always handpicked, and the drying and roasting is slow and time consuming.

Coffee drinking is generally associated with a slow process as well. A lingering. We meet “over coffee”. Coffee is about the social and about relaxing and enjoying one another’s company. We laugh. We hug a mug to feel it’s warmth radiate through us on a cool, crisp morning. It does awaken our senses and help us appreciate the world around us. There is no etiquette to coffee drinking. No pinkies up, no china saucers, no formal attire. It’s pajamas and wool socks with our frothy goodness-es.

Even if you think of coffee drinkers around the world, it reverberates the relational — espressos in Italy with lovers chatting at bistros, Turkish men debating over strong brews, African or Colombian farmers sampling wares and fine tuning their trade with thick skinned, weathered handshakes and smiles. Moms at Starbucks taking a break to reconnect with girlfriends. Business partners making big plans over coffee breaks (with donuts!) Sorry tea drinkers — coffee brings us together. It gets real with coffee.

My friends, have you “had coffee” lately? I don’t really mean the drink, of course, I mean have you taken the time to be with someone? To nurture a friendship? To chat? To linger and catch up? Or taken the time to wake up your senses to the world around you? To breathe in the aroma of God’s world and let Him wrap you in the warmth of His love? I’m pretty sure Jesus is a coffee drinker…the Bible does say “He brews” (groan). I bet he can make those cute little frothy milk pictures on the tops of lattes too… just to make us smile.

I hope you get the chance to sit and sip awhile today. To savour the warmth and drink in the people of your little world. To enjoy the richness of your relationships and the spice of life with the people who mean much to you. As for me, I smell a campfire brewing in our backyard as I type, so maybe I need to bring a few mugs out. Bottoms up, my beloveds!

The Cross

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It’s been a busy week here, as Easter celebrations are completed, chocolate has been consumed, and we’ve enjoyed having the whole Mitton crew around for a long weekend. In this week’s blog, I want to continue our thoughts from last week, and examine the way that images can spark so many emotions for us. (In case you are a new visitor to the the blog and missed that great read… you can check it out here).

Specifically, I want us to focus on the image of the cross. The cross design has taken many forms: from the simple wooden “t” — to very ornate and beautiful beacons encrusted with jewels and gold. Jesus follower or not, most people are familiar with the image of a cross and it’s association to the crucifix, or depiction of Jesus’ death on Good Friday. It certainly sparks emotion for people… one way or the other! History has presented us with burning crosses of protest, crucifixes to ward off evil, and rows of white crosses amidst blood red poppies. It seems an appropriate image to look at since we are in the throwbacks of Easter and have seen some powerful images from the recent Notre Dame cathedral fire from April 15th. I watched, along with many others in the world, as the spire collapsed and the roof of this beautiful, old building was engulfed in flames. Many of my social media sights were dotted with the images of personal photos of Paris visits before the destruction, but one news image in particular caught my eye:

Mandatory Credit: Photo by CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON/POOL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock (10205506cs) A view of the cross and the sculpture ‘Pieta’ by Nicholas Coustou behind debris inside the Notre-Dame de Paris in the aftermath of a fire that devastated the cathedral, in Paris, France, 16 April 2019. The fire started in the late afternoon on 15 April in one of the most visited monuments of the French capital. Cathedral of Notre-Dame of Paris fire aftermath, France – 16 Apr 2019

It was hailed as a “glimmer of hope” or a “miracle” that the cross within the Notre Dame Basilica still stood – despite the destruction all around it. And so I muse: what is so special about the cross? This simple shape is immediately associated with Christianity. Our graves are marked by it, our churches are adorned with it, we tattoo it on our bodies and wear it around out necks. But if we take a moment to really think about it, does it seem odd to hold such a device of torture in such revere? Seriously. Do we wear guillotines on our sleeves? Little electric chairs around our wrists? Skulls and crossbones? (okay, maybe that one gets tattooed a lot …) But you get the picture.

Crucifixion was reserved for the vilest of criminals. The hanging on a cross was proposed to be a political show of guilt, as a way to shame the criminals as they hung from stakes or crossbeams along public walkways. Displayed as spectacles for all good citizens to take note of. The victims essentially were asphyxiated as they hung, and their bodies were often left to be eaten by the buzzards and wild dogs as the ground was considered “too sacred” to allow criminals of such stature to desecrate it. The death itself is painful and slow. It is where we get our word “excruciating” from… not the prettiest of images to admire. It’s no wonder we fluff up Easter with yellow flowers and cute bunnies.

So, why a cross then? I’m going to propose that the cross has been allowed to stand as a symbol of Christianity, because our Creator embedded the ability to see past our sinful natures (and all it’s desires for pain and torture) into the spark of hope that occurred on Easter Sunday; when Jesus defeated that painful death, and rose again to give us the victory over our sin. The news stations were right when they declared the remaining cross in Notre Dame as a “glimmer of hope”. It has become a reverse icon… not promoting pain, but seen as the ability to move beyond destruction to the deliverance from the evils of this world — through Christ.

It’s important for us to see two sides to every story. One cannot see light unless you’ve been exposed to the darkness. One cannot experience true joy unless you’ve felt the pain of grief. Perhaps we embellish our symbols a tad too much. The golden cross left standing in Notre Dame didn’t do so by it’s own miraculous merit. Hunks of metal and clay statues do not save our sins. We must remember that the cross is not the saving grace itself, but the one who overcame this vilest form of death. It’s true. Images can spark such deep emotion within us. And symbolism is simply one way to elicit those responses. So, yes, feel free to wear that shiny gold and silver cross around your neck. Light it a top your church frame for all the world to see… but not as a magic icon, but as a conversation starter. As an image to add insight to a much, much deeper story of hope, compassion and love. The love of a Saviour for a dark and desolate world.