Today wasn't one of my best days. With the kids out of school for the summer and Craig traveling for the next couple weeks, I've been finding myself, uh, "lacking" patience with the kids. I'm not sure if there's something in the air, but Jacob and Sophia seem even more energetic than normal...and requiring...no, DEMANDING my non-stop attention! They felt no need for quiet time, even though by lunch time, I was in the fetal position under my bed. And without the focus of school to keep their minds sharp, they turned on one another, with the poking and the teasing and the aggressive wrestling which only meant tears throughout the day.
With Jack down for his afternoon nap, Jacob & Sophia begging to go outside to play, I sighed heavily and sluggishly walked out to the front porch. I grabbed the Better Homes & Gardens magazine that had just arrived and started aimlessly thumbing through the pages. Nothing exciting. No recipes worth trying. And then a light breeze blew across the yard and the faint smell of lilacs wafted through the air. I looked up, only to discover a lilac bush 5 feet from me. How have we lived in this house for 6 months and this was the first time I had noticed we had a lilac bush!?! So, as the wind blew and the kids yelled in the background, I closed my eyes and drank in the delicious smell of lilac. The stress of the day vanished for that moment and that Gary Allen song came to my mind..."Life ain't always beautiful, but it's a beautiful life."
God can't always take away the stresses in our lives. He can't remove the demands we put on ourselves. The expectations we have for our kids, our spouses, our life. But He can send a light breeze and the smell of lilacs to remind us that this life He's given us is beautiful.
No comments:
Post a Comment