I'm a Boxwood and Pine

The title (Un)Natural Mom by Hettie Brittz is a little mis-leading (for me) in that I believe this book is for ANY PARENT, GRANDPARENT.The subtitle, however, hits the nail on the head. Why You Are the Perfect Mom for Your Kids. During the past decade, I have had my nose in books, sought counsel from olders and wisers, joined classes on parenting, but possibly the most learning has taken place after I've made mistakes and sought my kids' forgiveness. I've learned much ABOUT MYSELF on this mom shindig. "Teach me and I forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I learn", right? Ah how the Lord has revealed my need for HIM in this process of mom-hood. The author shares with us four personalities and relates them to trees. Boxwood, Palm, Rosebush, and Pine. I took the freebie test online and scored Box-Pine. Because I am a Boxwood, I ordered this book after hearing the author on Focus on the Family, and read it in one sitting. Because that is what we boxwood's do. We can teach ourselves just about anything, ha! Is this good or bad? Read the book and you'll find out. Because I am a Pine, I related to the part about the mom who kept her children home from school about once a year if they were especially sad or stressed. The author (a Rosebush) remembers this because she "thought is was profound to realize that sometimes a broken heart is a better reason to take a day off than a fever." I also relate to feeling like maybe I've been dealt my exact opposite, "a feisty one, dramatic, on the stage, out there, loud." God is humorous. Purposeful. This book affirmed for me how I am hard wired. My kids are also hard wired. She encourages me that the One responsible for the hard-wiring intends to use all of me for His glory.

What I see as flaws can actually be strengths. Brittz writes, "God gives us a call, a vision and a dream by His Holy Spirit, a map in the form of a conscience, and a compass in the form of our temperaments. A fulfilling motherhood journey is somewhere close to our magnetic north, and by God's sovereign grace that journey can't be copied and pasted from a book or someone else's life." We don't need to wonder why God made me one way, and her another. In fact, its dangerous to do so. The questions at the end of each chapter help it make an option for group study. My favorite thing about the book is how encouraging it is. Although it does make me want to do better, it somehow does so without leaving me wanting to pick and choose personality traits, like some other books do. I get why God gave me, with my temperament, the kids He gave me, with their temperament. Not because we are just one happy family and we all get along all the time(NOPE), but because they are part of my sanctification process and I am part of theirs. God knew us all. His ways are perfect.