“I wish September would just get here already!”
One week in and it was safe to say the summer holidays were not going all that well. Despite my best intentions we had still spent much of the week in the same exhausting cycle. Fighting, tantrums, discipline, and a worn out, stressed out defeated mom at the end of the day. Not exactly the fairytale summer we had all been hoping for…
But if I’m being honest, it wasn’t so much their behavior that needed a reset, but mine. That is, my attitude. It wasn’t all that positive from the get go. Instead of embracing the possibility of a more flexible routine, i was anticipating a frustrating, difficult ten weeks, and dreading the months that lay ahead.
And then I saw the shoes. Two small pairs of water shoes drying outside on the front step.
Shoes still soaking from a spontaneous morning spent paddling in a stream. A morning full of giggles and excitement and childhood adventuring. A morning to treasure, certainly not wish away.
It was the jolt I needed to wake me up from my pity party and see the blessings right in front of me: Two happy, healthy, fun loving little girls to parent and love, and the health, the means and the opportunity to enjoy a long lazy summer with them.
Perspective really is everything, isn’t it.
“Do everything without grumbling or complaining” we are told in Philippians 2:14, choosing instead to give thanks, rejoice, and pray (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). Oh how might my summer be different if I followed this advice from Scripture!
One day these little shoes will no longer be drying on the front step. And I know, in spite of my new found flexibility and freedom, I will miss them. Miss the sticky, grimy, sunscreen soaked little bodies that once wore those shoes, and the long, lazy summer days I once wished away.
So today I will try again. To count my blessings and live in the moment. To look beyond the moments of frustration and exhaustion and choose joy. To be thankful for today—the day that the Lord has made, and the memories it will one day hold.