“Day after
day! I get absolutely NOTHING accomplished!” I am embarrassed to admit those as
my own words. I was engulfed in utter selfishness. I rambled to my husband
about how I tried to dust a shelf, just ONE shelf and was able to get one
fourth of it done before I was needed in yet another matter. My husband
listened as usual and then he replied.
“Nothing accomplished? The children are
your greatest accomplishment each day!”
I couldn’t argue that, and I am sure I
blushed from my embarrassment because I knew that my attitude was so wrong.
The time is
going to come, all to quickly enough, when the dust will no longer be found
upon my shelves.
Today I might think how nice it would be to have a dust free
shelf, but “tomorrow”, when my children’s little voices are but a memory, I
will think about how wonderful it would be to see a tiny fingerprint on that
dust laden shelf.
My children
scatter themselves and their things all over the basement floor and my first
thought is to be irritated by the mess and to tell them to be sure to get it
all cleaned up, just as it was before, when they are done, but I have to stop
myself.
Someday I will miss their chitter chatter and the literal maze upon the floor and I will want to bid them to come back to sprawl themselves out and play awhile. But they will not.
This time is but a moment that is passing and
when it is gone nothing will ever bring it back again.
Somedays being a cheerful mother will come easily and naturally. Somedays having a cheerful heart and countenance is based solely on the choice to do so! Somedays the blessings are obvious, shining brightly right in front of us. Somedays we need to have the self- discipline to look for them!
This
Christmas I was blessed with a precious unexpected gift, at just the time I
needed it the most. One of my husband’s aunts handed me a book with hopes that
it would bless me. Bless me indeed. The title of this book is “Prayers and
Peanut Butter-The Mother Book” by Barbara Classen. In the reading of this book
, the Lord has given me a renewed vision and a plan for those moments when I
let my “feelings” get a hold of me.
"Do we think
of our children as bothers instead of blessings? Our outlook makes the
difference. Have we caught God’s plan in the verse about being a joyful mother
of children? It’s morning; if I’m grouchy, I can guarantee that in thirty
minutes the whole family will be grouching and grousing. If I’m cheerful, the
morning sparkles with sunny words. We
need to toss feeling out the window and be civil even when we don’t feel cheerful,
” she writes.
Gather the
children, Mother,
The little
heads close to your knee
In the hush
of the beautiful twilight,
And talk to
them tenderly.
When the
bright eyes grow tired and restless
And gaze at
you wistfully
And the
sweet lips beg for a story,
Then gather
them close to your knee.
Not long
will your little ones linger
So talk to
them while you may.
A world may
be better tomorrow
For the
story you’re telling today.
So tell them
the story of Jesus,
For the
child’s heart is tender and true;
And not all
the teachers and preachers
Can guide
them, oh Mother, like you.
-Author
Unknown
God will
lead me one step at a time and I will make the most of each one. I know these
truly ARE the best days of my life!