Today has been one of those Mondays. You know, the ones where you fight with your spouse, your kids stopped listening to you as soon as they woke up, you slept funny and have a horrible pain in your neck, your to-do list has 20 things on it, you keep remembering more things to put on the list that HAVE to be done today and honestly can’t wait til tomorrow, and your dog emptied her bladder all over the carpet while you were at the grocery store picking up yet another thing you forgot.
It’s been a day of hurried phone calls and feeling anxious and getting my feelings hurt. It’s been a day of feeling defeated and overwhelmed.
BUT (don’t you love it when there’s a “but” on these days) it’s also been a day where my kids put on a ridiculous play for us involving the Star Wars theme song, a knight, a pirate, some dragons, and a hilarious fight between the pirate and knight. It’s been a day of pausing and remembering how faithful God is. (I may or may not have listened to “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” four times in a row to remind myself of this fact.) It’s been a day of hot chocolate and Yahtzee.
At church yesterday, my pastor read the story of the woman at the well. She’s a Samaritan, she’s a woman, she’s had five husbands, and the guy she’s currently living with isn’t her husband at all. And when the disciples saw Jesus speaking to her, they “marveled” at it. I’m thinking “marveled” is a nice biblical way to say they freaked out. Next thing you know, they’re telling Jesus it’s time to leave and get something to eat. Jesus replied by telling them that while they have a saying about the harvest coming in four months, in fact the harvest is ready and waiting. In other words, they’re so wrapped up in their idea of what’s right that they’ve missed this beautiful chance to speak truth and love into the Samaritan woman they scorn.
Man I have identified with those disciples today. I have brushed off my husband and my kids and put my to-do list first. I have allowed myself to get worked up and man have I “marveled” at the demands of this day.
I had to run by a coffee shop to pick up some gift cards today. I was hurrying the kids into the car, we were all miserable, and my focus was on all the stuff I had to do. And then I felt like God was telling me what an opportunity this was to slow down and let Him in. To focus on what He wanted to do, not what my to-do list said. So while we were there, I bought the kids some hot chocolate and a wedge of some incredible cinnamon roll concoction that was bigger than Noah’s head.
We sat down and played Yahtzee. It was beautiful. I’m a stay at home mom, and you’d think all my time is devoted to spending time with my kids and developing our relationship. That’s what I thought it would look like before I became a stay at home mom, anyway. But so very often I’m focused on things that just aren’t as important, and I’m grateful for the times when I stop, take a deep breath, and say, “God what do you want right now?”
I still have a lot of things to do today. I’ll probably be up late getting it all done. But I’m not feeling ragged and angry anymore, my kids are happier, and I’ve let God put things into perspective.
Here’s to hot chocolate and Jesus. ❤ May I always take the time to let Him still my heart and show me what I’m missing.