Mitten Strings for God

Mitten Strings for God is the absolute perfect read for mothers at home with their kids during quarantine. All of our family’s activities are canceled. We can’t go out with friends. We can’t visit extended family. Our days have been spent entirely in each others company. I think I would have enjoyed the slower pace of life anyway, but this book has helped me to appreciate it even more deeply.

Title: Mitten Strings for God
Author: Katrina Kenison
Publication Year: 2000
Website: www.katrinakenison.com
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Review: Honestly, I heard about this book and tried to read it years ago. I was probably in a stage of my life when one of my four kids was an infant. This book is about living at slow pace, avoiding business, and appreciate all of our precious moments with our children. How was I supposed to appreciate doing the dishes when I was so sleep deprived I was basically a living zombie?

The ideal this book presented felt so unattainable at that moment that, ironically, I couldn’t sit still long enough to learn about how to be still.

Now we are in the middle of a global pandemic and our family has nothing if not time. We have each other and we have to learn how to live together and appreciate all this unlimited time we get to spend together. In an optimal situation, we would do this without ever wanting to rip each other’s throats out. With 6 people social distancing in a confined space, this is not always easy.

And yet. For the first time, I REALLY hear what the author is saying. I appreciate these moments. I have time to sit and observe my children play. I have time to snap pictures of them creating fantasy worlds and giggling with each other. I can read one-on-one with my kids cuddled beneath a blanket. I can bake bread with them and prepare their food lovingly not having to rush off to soccer practice. I want to savor these moments. I will cherish them forever even as I feel them slipping away.

This book begins with a letter the author found written by a woman who passed away from cancer. The woman reminds us all to appreciate the “dailiness” of our lives. I am so thankful to the author of this book for really helping this lesson sink in while my kids are still young. I finally understand. I can wash the dishes and really hear the birds singing outside and my children laughing in the next room and I feel the contentment that I was born to feel.

Even though time feels like it is standing still in this moment in which our lives are all on pause, the author reminds me that it is still moving. My kids are getting older and changing every day. I can’t stop the progression of time, but I can learn to take the time to appreciate each moment of my day. I can only hope that I remember these lessons even after quarantine ends. (Personal Rating: 8/10)

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