Clearer Vision

Today was one of those days. The kind that leave you standing in the kitchen damp dish towel in hand, toddler clinging to your leg (screaming), laundry piled in a heap right in the middle of the
hallway, upstairs toys being dragged downstairs, messes and chaotic noise stacking up until the only thing left to do is cry. Sometimes I forget that simply because our hearts and plans are in the right place doesn’t mean all circumstances surrounding them will pan out just peachy like. Trying to get out of the house seemed nearly impossible today. We intended to have a nice breakfast together and venture out to get a Christmas tree, I hadn’t thought much further into it than that.
Now things didn’t go completely wrong, we did have a lovely breakfast this morning (with a surprise visit from my dad with a dozen donuts and coffees to boot!) and we did find a lovely tree at Breezy Maples Farm. It was everything between Breakfast and tree hunting that left me frazzled and wondering if I was putting enough into this mothering thing.
I sure felt like I had been up half the night with a grumpy toddler, and I knew I had spent most of Friday afternoon curbing bad attitudes and coaxing veggies into a none veggie eater. So why was I questioning my contribution as a mother?  My head was spinning with questions concerning my involvement with the girls, some from honest conviction and some from comparison of other children. How dreadful it would be if I were to look my little girls in the eyes and say, “Just so you know I will be comparing you with every child I see today.” Of course I would never! But why do I do it in my own mind? Why do any of us, because lets be real here, we all do or have done before.

2:30 AM and I’m wide awake wishing I could run a quick test on the kids to be sure they were able to make a bed properly, finish a math lesson without getting up for a drink of water, knew how to wipe down a table properly or memorize a Psalm just to ease my anxious thoughts.  Ha. Good thing I didn’t do that! (And no I wasn’t ACTUALLY going to) Instead I flipped on the living room lamp and opened my bible. 2 Timothy 1:5 “I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.”
I stopped there. Stuck on those words. Knowing that if nothing else the importance of a mother giving her children sincere faith in Christ through example was more than all the memory verses, straighten bed sheets, focused math periods and crumbless tablecloths combined.
So maybe I hadn’t been completely diligent in all areas of the day, maybe I had even had moments of laziness. I understand now that all of those things can be changed with a simple reboot of vision, a fresh chore chart or stronger cup of coffee.
Genuine, honest, earnest, heartfelt, open, truthful (I just opened the Thesaurus), straight FAITH IN JESUS lasts a lifetime! Now THAT’S what I want to emphasize during the day and teach to my children.  And I want them to weigh their attitudes and behaviors to that of Jesus instead of others.
Is there anything more energizing than a fresh God vision for your family?   I don't think so.  It's just that sometimes it takes the crazy spinning thoughts, kitchen tears and questioning heart to draw an honest prayer out of an overwhelmed Mommy.

“ But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

Isaiah 40:31