Every season of life has its own unique trials.
Babies have the incredibly difficult task of opening their mouths so that food can go in.
Children have to figure out how close they can get to “the line” before dessert privileges are taken away.
Teenagers have to look like everyone else but somehow still be totally unique.
Young adults have to stop being teenagers.
And parents, specifically us mommies, have to deal with the new realization that we are completely and utterly dependent on God for everything.
- For energy – don’t have that anymore
- For wisdom – never realized how little of that I have
- For patience – I am naturally the opposite
- For everything else…
🙂
I love the gift of my children, and I want to be a good mommy to them. But sometimes I just get so bogged down in the mess of it all that I forget to enjoy them!
My disappointment and frustration quickly takes over my attitude, and soon I am totally void of joy.
So I have come up with a little exercise.
I start in Habbakuk 3:17-19…
“Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
He makes my feet like the deer’s;
He makes me tread on my high places.”
Habakkuk, he had a great attitude.
Everything was going wrong for him…his crops weren’t producing, he was losing livestock…but it didn’t matter. His hope, his joy, his strength weren’t affected by circumstances.
He has the heart that I pray for myself. His heart is merry and his convictions are strong, even in the midst of frustration.
And his frustration, I might add, is a little more deserved than my own. His livelihood is at stake; while for me, my frustration stems from spilled milk (literally!) and Mt. Laundry.
So, for the exercise in thankfulness and joy I simply re-write the verse, taking out Habakkuk’s issues and replacing them with my own:
Though I can’t seem to keep up with the dishes,
nor does the laundry ever lessen,
it’s seven o’clock and dinner still isn’t ready
and I haven’t showered in who-knows-how-long,
my thighs aren’t quite how I’d like them to be
and I’ll never look pre-baby again,
YET I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord is my strength;
He makes my feet like the deer’s;
He makes me tread on my high places.
What absolute refreshing hope! The hardships and heartaches of life don’t hold a candle to the joy that is to be found in “the God of my salvation.”
For trials are momentary and afflictions are light compared to the glory of being loved by God.
So as I drag my weary, un-put-together self to bed, my steps can be light and my heart can be rested. There is much more joy to be found in my anticipation of eternity than there ever will be in my completion of a to-do list. 🙂
