receiving each moment for what it really is: holy, ordinary, amazing grace. A gift.”
– Selections From One Thousand Gifts, by Ann Voskamp
As a busy mom, there are days – a lot of days, if I’m honest with myself – that I get lost in the mundaneness of it all. It’s the same thing over and over – cooking, cleaning, teaching, correcting. I know that what I’m doing as a mom is the most important job on earth, but there are so many days that come to a close with the thoughts of “Isn’t there more to life than this? This plain repetition?”
A year and a half ago, I came upon the book, One Thousand Gifts, by Ann Voskamp. The book shook me to the core, brought me to tears and gave me hope. The answer to my struggle? Choosing gratitude. And more – choosing to see God’s hand in the little things, to see His blessings in those mundane things that I had grown so tired of.
And even though it has been a year and a half since then, I still struggle. Struggle to be thankful for those mundane things that fill most of my days.
Earlier I was thinking about my recent striving to set apart alone time at the start of each day. For the past couple of days I haven’t had that time. My two youngest have woken up with me, turning my devotional time into a juggling act and leaving all of us frustrated. I found myself being resentful of the time they took away from my morning “me time.”
And how am I supposed to meet with God if I can’t even see the biggest blessings He has given me as just that? This life that God had given me is an amazing gift that I am to treasure and cherish – even those everyday aspects of it. And as I choose to see God in the everyday-ness of it all, I believe that it will change my outlook on life and in turn my relationships with my children and my God.
So this is my personal challenge for this week: to choose again to see blessings in the mundane, choosing to see the annoyances as opportunities. To try to find balance between my need for alone time and my children’s need for me.
This is my challenge.
~ Judy
