One hour. That’s all it takes for my living room to travel from the state of clean and peaceful… to the other side of disaster zone. In that journey it jumps over piles of cracker crumbs, climbs mountains of laundry (once folded but tipped again by adventurous toddlers), nearly trips over toys (that are much more enjoyable spread throughout the house then in their toy box-home), and crawls under a fort made with every chair we own. My poor, tired living room then arrives at the overwhelming state of “disaster zone.”

It’s in this state that weariness, frustration, anxiety all welcome me. Welcome me to take a look around and literally feel the stress under my feet rise up around my body.
I put my kids down for a nap and tell myself I need to muster up the energy to get back to “clean and peaceful,” but I allow myself to sit for just a few minutes. Then, in that moment of sitting, I see through Jesus’ eyes, and I thank God for a house that is full of laughter, sticky fingers, running, climbing and sometimes crying. A house that normally finds its way back to “clean and peaceful” (only to make the journey to disaster zone once again).
As much as this state of disaster (and the journey it takes to get us there) wears me out, I am thankful that I can have a moment of peace and gratitude as I search my living room for reminders of life lived here. I am thankful that Jesus gives me the strength to get up and take my living room back to peaceful once again.
I am learning that parenting is repetitive. Sometimes annoyingly repetitive. But, I’m learning that it’s in that faithful repetition that God chisels our hearts to be more like His. It’s in that faithful repetition that He speaks through us to our kids.
Lord, help me to find joy in the repetition.
Help me to give grace to my family in the repetition.
Help me to take a deep breath in the repetition.
Help me to be FAITHFUL in the repetition.