So Goes Life

Today, as I was sitting on the kitchen floor scraping up carrots that were embedded into my tile, I thought, "What a nice day I'm having". Now you might just think that I'm kidding when I said that, but really I wasn't! Really! It is a wonderful day! I really have so much to be thankful for and scraping carrot off the floor was just a way that the Lord reminded me of that. Maybe the Lord speaks to you through more eloquent and polished ways, but for me, its smashed carrots on the floor! He's speakin' my language, that's just part of my life. Someday I'll have the "manicured" life. That's what I call it when you're kids are grown up and away or stable enough to be within the home and not needy. OR you can call it "the after life", either way its the same idea. It will be the days that my parent are living now. As tired as I get some days, I often try to remind myself that these are the glory days, I will never get these moments back. Ten years from now.... I shouldn't have to patrol the kitchen garbage to make sure that my little dumpster diver doesn't dig in the trash for a snack. Titus should be able to go to the bathroom unsupervised. My sliding glass doors will not have lip and tongue prints on them. The lint trap will mostly catch lint instead of Lego man parts. (Even now as I sit at my desk in the kitchen I am staring at a Lego man laying next to his legs.) Someday there won't be a booster seat nestled up to the table with a few crunchies under the chair, or a high chair blocking the half of the kitchen that it seems to take up. I probably won't have to clean carrot from under my fingernails that I scraped up off the floor (I know, use a scrubby thing, but that's allll the way over by the sink! My fingernail is much closer!)

Sometimes as mothers we get so caught up in our being "Keepers at Home" that we forget all the parts that make up a home. I often become the Keeper at House Machine! Maybe this doesn't happen to you, and if not, please DO TELL your secret. I have to remind myself that if someday I want Proverbs 31:28 "Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.", to be said of me then I must remember that my children and my husband take priority over my house. Now I'm not saying that I neglect my children to go and scrub the toilets, no, not all. I guess, I'm mostly thinking of the times when I blow it and go into Freak Out Mode over things that need to be done around the house. It is such a balance, to prioritize the things that I want to do with the things I need to do. For example, I WANT to sit down at this computer and read a photography blog to improve my lacking skills. However, over my shoulder I see things that need to be done, such as scrape smooshed carrots off the tile floor (but I don't because really I did this already). If I neglect to do that and just continue "playing on the computer", then get up and go off to church, what will happen? Inevitably, my husband will spontaneously invite someone over after church! AND instead of thinking about how I can be a blessing to these people, I'll be thinking about how I have smooshed carrot on my kitchen floor and how can I get in the people get into the house?? Then to make up for my shortcoming, I will be handing out orders to the children all the way home at the speed of light, emphasizing the importance of doing things right and all the while being a hypocrite! Ahh! I hate that! And for that matter, so does God!

I am so thankful that the Lord gives us strength to do all the things that we are supposed to do. Did you ever notice how tired you get after a day that went bad because you were?! Somedays I beg God for self control and to have the desire to do things with all my might. A verse that I often share with the children is Ecclesiastes 9:10 "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might;". If I read that verse correctly, there is emphasis on how our hands should work. They should work with our might! That little word doesn't mean a half hearted effort, but it implies that we're exerting effort. When we quote that verse we always try to sort of grunt out the word "might" to help us remember what it means. Isn't it great how the Lord can help us teach our children while we teach ourselves?! Gods Word is all we need. All we need is Gods Word.

I'm thankful for these days that I live in and God's Word that helps me get through them victoriously. That doesn't mean that I've got all the answers, but I know where to get them!