Together -- Five-Minute Friday with Gypsy Mama

Today is 5-Minute Friday with Lysa-Jo over at The Gypsy Mama.  This is when we write for 5 minutes solid on a word or phrase -- great practice for those who love to write.  Today's word is together.  So, here I 

GO!

They're out there.  In warm homes bustling around getting kiddos ready for school.  Or maybe the kiddos are too young yet for school.  Preschoolers who need dressing and help brushing hair and their teeth.

Busy mamas already, they rush through their days hoping for a moment's relaxation.  Some have multiples -- plus singles -- making for truly hectic days and nights.

Some of them are new mamas just learning the ropes of motherhood.  When you see them, they look a little bleary-eyed, circles under their beautiful eyes.  And maybe lately, not so polished in their appearance.  They'll learn balance as time goes by.
 
But today they're moving quickly because it's Friday.  And it's the third Friday in April.  And the mamas I'm thinking of belong to our local chapter of Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS).  Some of them sit at the Patience Table, the table of eight moms I mentor.  They've been patiently waiting for this morning.

Table Group at one of our meetings

Connecting through group activities

It's where we come together to encourage and love each other in mothering.  Parenting isn't easy, but especially it's often lonesome and hard for mamas.  Some have chosen to be stay-at-home moms, a high calling in my opinion.  Staying at home can get lonely.  You can feel like an island in a land of little people.  Coming together is about building community and at MOPS we do that intentionally -- arranging moms' nights out, playdates on the weeks we don't meet, and gatherings of our table groups outside regularly scheduled meetings.

Still it is coming together -- just the way Jesus brought people together in a variety of ways as he taught them to love one another.  Togetherness is about loving one another.

STOP!

Images added after 5 minutes. 

Photo credits:
Top -- Green And Clean Mom 
Bottom -- For Catholic Educators