• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • The words
  • The writer
  • The work

Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

love

So much love to give

October 12, 2009

We’re expecting baby No. 2 in seven weeks or less, and I’m beginning to wonder if I will have enough love to give two children. Do you ever wonder if there’s a limit to your love?

As I “practice” raising two children under 2, I find myself at times unable to love someone else’s daughter as much as I love my own. Maybe that’s not required of me, but I can see a difference sometimes in how I treat them. And I worry that my love for Isabelle will grow less when a new baby enters our world or that I’ll find myself struggling to love them both equally.
How do you do it, parents with multiple children? Do I worry for nothing? Does love increase with the number of children in your house and you find yourself with more to give? Is this just pregnancy hormones and third trimester anxiety kicking in?
“For God so loved the world …” I read in John 3:16; how does He do it? I know He’s God, but the world, is well, big, to say the least, and growing bigger every day. I’m in awe of His infinite capacity to love, even those who don’t want anything to do with Him.
So, I pray to be more loving, to be full of God’s love because on my own, I haven’t enough. And I trust I’ll find a way to love my daughter as much as a new baby and vice versa.
Lord, I don’t have it in me to love the world as You do; all I ask is for enough love to give to those You give to me. Amen.

Filed Under: Children & motherhood Tagged With: children, love

  • « Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • …
  • Page 6
  • Page 7
  • Page 8

Primary Sidebar

Photo by Rachel Lynn Photography

Welcome

Hi. I’m Lisa, and I’m glad you’re here. If we were meeting in real life, I’d offer you something to eat or drink while we sat on the porch letting the conversation wander as it does. That’s a little bit what this space is like. We talk about books and family and travel and food and running, whatever I might encounter in world. I’m looking for the beauty in the midst of it all, even the tough stuff. (You’ll find a lot of that here, too.) Thanks for stopping by. Stay as long as you like.

When I wrote something

May 2025
M T W T F S S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031  
« Jun    

Recent posts

  • Still Life
  • A final round-up for 2022: What our December was like
  • Endings and beginnings … plus soup: A November wrap-up
  • A magical month of ordinary days: October round-up
  • Stuck in a shallow creek
  • Short and sweet September: a monthly round-up
  • Wrapping the end of summer: Our monthly round-up

Join the conversation

  • A magical month of ordinary days: October round-up on Stuck in a shallow creek
  • Stuck in a shallow creek on This is 40
  • July was all about vacation (and getting back to ordinary days after)–a monthly roundup on One very long week

Footer

What I write about

Looking for something?

Disclosure

Lisa Bartelt is a participant in the Bluehost Affiliate Program.

Occasionally, I review books in exchange for a free copy. Opinions are my own and are not guaranteed positive simply due to the receipt of a free copy.

Copyright © 2025 · Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in