Author: Mollie T. Cox

Memories, Parenting

Perhaps I Did Do My Best

May 3rd, 2025
Mollie T. Cox

Memory, my dear Cecily, is the diary we all carry about with us.

Miss Prism, The Importance Of Being Earnest

Yes, but it usually chronicles the things that have never happened and couldn’t possibly have happened.

Cecily, The Importance of Being Earnest

I don’t believe my memories are my imagination, but I do know that memories are tricky. Sometimes I forget the victories and remember the struggles. Sometimes the opposite.  As I think about raising my sons, my memories tell me I could have listened more or played more or many other things more.

Rarely does one get a chance to revisit past situations. Last month—as I cared nonstop for young children for days and days—I got that chance.

Through last month’s filter of sleep deprivation, constant action, fatigue, and rarely having solitude to think, the things I left unsaid and undone while raising my sons were not unreasonable. By reliving my circumstances when my own children were young, I now understand that the things that I wish I had made happen couldn’t possibly have happened.

Perhaps I did do my best. Like you.

Relationships

Sharing Our Experiences

April 26th, 2025
Mollie T. Cox

Tia, put down your phone and watch TV.

My 3-year-old Great-Nephew

I did, although I was texting updates to friends and family who were praying for the child’s father. My nephew was in ICU recovering from heart surgery. Or not recovering most days.

My great-nephew’s request was a funny story to tell until a friend observed that the child wanted me to be invested in his interests, Peppa the Pig. Or was it Paw Patrol that morning?

After consideration, I realized that my husband and I were doing the same. We were asking others to invest in our current interests, my nephew, his wife, and their sons.

After days of working puzzles, blowing bubbles, monitoring the sandbox, and inventing the silliest games, I understood how deeply God wired us to share experiences.

My great-nephews reciprocated. When my husband went for a 14-mile run, they tracked his progress on my app. It thrilled them to watch the dot on the screen that presented Tio’s progress as he ran around a local lake. They were absorbed with the photos on our phones that represented our activities at home.

May God bless you with people to share your experiences.

Book Recommendations, God's Faithfulness

Redeemed from Trouble

April 19th, 2025
Mollie T. Cox

Oh give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble.

Psalm 107:1-2 (ESV)

Forget being redeemed from trouble because I don’t want trouble to begin with. Especially as a child, I longed for happiness and perfection.

I was drawn to TV shows like The Waltons, Andy Griffith, and My Three Sons. I craved the comfort, hope and security they offered.  Books such as the All-of-a-Kind Family series, and the Judy Bolton Mystery Series met the same need.  They were a Sunday roast, mashed potatoes with gravy, and three fingerfuls of buttercream frosting all between well-worn pages.

Fiction proved I could grow up and have a different life.

Now, I’m wiser. I’m drawn to the fiction that shows redemption. No one gets happiness and perfection—except in rare, short bursts.  Hope and security come from the knowledge that we can be redeemed from trouble.

My current favorite authors—Gary Schmidt, Mary Amato, Katherine Paterson and Gordon Korman—show what a life redeemed from trouble looks like, and it is good.

Oh give thanks to the Lord for he is good.

Parenting

Advice From Another Mother

April 12th, 2025
Mollie T. Cox

… And since when is good advice criticism?”

“When it comes from your mother.“

For Better or Worse Comic July 9, 2024

Our children need a mother. As they age, they want a mother that doesn’t belong to them. They want the advice we would give—just not from our mouths.

When my children were younger, I found it odd that young adults seemed to be trading mothers. My cousin didn’t ask my aunt for advice. However, my cousin’s best friend did. My cousin turned to the mother of another friend.

Why?

My aunt listened sympathetically to the problems of her daughter’s peers—more sympathetically than she listened to my cousin.

Why?

Along the way, I learned that by the time my children really needed my counsel, baggage had accumulated on both sides. Even when baggage wasn’t an issue, as healthy adults who were finding their own identity, my sons wanted privacy. And a mother who wasn’t overly interested.

So, what’s a mother to do?

I pray that my children seek godly counsel. I pray that the right person is put in their path at the opportune time.

… But wisdom is with those who seek counsel.

Proverbs 13:10

Priorities

So, What Did You Do Today?

April 5th, 2025
Mollie T. Cox

I didn’t get anything done.

I may have had significant conversations, exercised, prayed, and attended a Bible Study, but if I hadn’t written, cleaned, or organized, I felt like I hadn’t gotten anything done.

Along the way, I learned that my and others’ priorities were revealed by whether we counted our activities as “getting something done.”

This discovery began with my husband. Many times, when I asked about his day he answered,

I didn’t get anything done today because …

My husband had accomplished much, and it was part of his job description, but I learned that his answer meant he hadn’t done the part of his job that mattered most to him.

I eventually realized a pattern in my assessments. To believe I had accomplished something, I needed proof: words on a page, objects in their place, or a clean room. Bible study, prayers and conversations were discounted because the results couldn’t be seen or touched. Their impact might not be revealed during my lifetime.

What counts on the days I don’t write?

The world doesn’t necessarily need more great artists. It needs more decent human beings.

Keep going by Austin Kleon

So, what did you do today?