I had nothing to show for the day.
Nothing but a pail of wet nappies and some autumnal paintings drying on the porch.
Oh, and the fridge was emptier, and that basket of clothes that needed folding,
well, it sort of overflowed.
Outside the rain fell warm,
but we hadn’t seen a drop of sun all day,
and even the yellow trees, and the red, and the orange,
they all looked
just grey.
And it felt a cold place, a lonely place, to be doing battle.
And I’ve told myself a thousand times that it shouldn’t be so hard.
It should be nothing at all to
wash sticky hands and faces,
change nappies,
sweep floors.
Couldn’t anyone do it? Anyone at all?
But there’s a little more to it, always a little more.
Because they howl when you do it. When you wipe their hands and face.
And they howl when you change them, and they try to crawl away.
And the crumbs are never nice, dry crumbs that skid across the floor.
No, no.
They stick. Mashed peas and bread crusts. Cereal welded to the wood.
And you’d have to use a crowbar, or at least your nail, to pry them free.
And it wouldn’t be so bad if it were only once.
Not three times.
Every day.
Or if your baby had actually taken his nap,
or your toddler hadn’t been ill and bit hysterical at every little thing you asked him to do.
And there isn’t a room in the house (not one room) where they don’t come after you
with their quarrels and their tears and their demands for more food.
And so yes, it is a battle. And it’s hard.
And sometimes, it can leave you wondering what you’re worth.
Because you can’t help but feel that there are grander things you should be accomplishing.
And your husband, yes, he has to hear about it all, and you can’t help but feel that this is all
just a little bit his fault.
And part of the battle is taking it all—all the busyness, and the fights, and the tears
and turning it into something good.
Finding reason for us all to give thanks.
And there’s always a reason.
Or instead of shouting,
kneeling down to look your child in the eye
to find the cause for his tears.
Or forgetting about all the good things your spouse should be doing for you,
and finding something good to do for them.
Because souls, they live in people.
In your children. In your spouse.
And people are more important than things,
and being kind is more important than being right.
And when it all seems a bit of a mess, that’s what you’ve got to remember.
And as many times as you can remember in a day, you’ve got to tell it to your children
Tell them how very much they’re loved.
By God.
By you.
And when there’s no one there to tell it to you, you need to read it.
Read it till it sinks in deep.
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“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
Ephesians 3:17b-19
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Avonlea x
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Finding beauty in the everyday ❤
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