If You Give A Mom a Day Off (In the tradition of mice and cookies...)

Today I have a day off! Yay!  April was a crazy (good) month with Work, Birthdays, Easter and the Youth Choir Tour so "me time" has been in very short supply.  This is not a new thing, all Moms know that Personal Time is not something we can count on.  I have been looking longingly at my backyard pool as the weather has become warmer, but I have yet to put on a bathing suit and sit myself down beside it.  I probably won't jump in for another month or two, but I do like that taboo tan..it covers a variety of desserts!  So..Will I make it to the pool today?

There sure is plenty to do around here and I seldom have the luxury of being at home to do it!  I think I'll just take out the chicken for dinner first.  When I take out the chicken, I want to grab the recipe to make sure I have all the ingredients.  As I look at the recipe and notice I am missing a couple of items, I start a grocery list (I can go on the way to pick up the kids..later).  While I am making a grocery list, I better check to see what staples we also need.  Now that i have my list made, I should go through my coupons to see if I have any I can use.  When I grab the coupon carrier out of the drawer I realize the drawer is a wreck!  It will only take a second to straighten it up!  Once the drawer is straight, I take the coupons to the kitchen table to look through them. Oh!  Look at that, there are no napkins in my awesome IKEA napkin holder, I'll just grab some from the pantry.  While in the pantry I see food, so naturally I must eat something!  I unwrap a "chewy bar" and bring the wrapper to the trash..Ugh!  The Trash can lid is gross!  Let me just get a clorox wipe from under the kitchen sink and clean that up.  While at the kitchen sink I see there are some dirty dishes in there.  There's just a few, I'll put them in the dishwasher.  When I open the dishwasher, guess what?  Yup, It's clean.  That's ok, it only takes ten minutes to get it all put away.  Now that the sink is empty, which NEVER happens, let me give it a good scrub.  Wow!  That looks great, but now the rest of the greasy messy kitchen looks awful!  Well, I'll just wipe down the counters, then I'm done!  Hey, this looks really good!  Except now the fingerprints on all the stainless are really obvious, well, I have a rag out so no biggie.  Kitchen looks great, but I still have to check out those coupons real quick, then I'm done!  Oh, but first the dogs need to go out.  while I let the dogs out, I walk by the pool..."almost there!" I say to my lounge chair.  When the dogs come back in I see a flea on one of them, ew!  I get out the flea comb and drown that bugger in some dish soap!  While I have out the comb, I'll just check the other animals, then I'm done!  A dozen fleas later I put away the comb in the laundry room and see that I have stuff that needs to go in the dryer, and guess what!?  Yup, there's already dry stuff in there.  No biggie, it will only take a few minutes to fold, put the wet stuff in the dryer, then I'M DONE!  I walk back to the coupons, grab the ones I need, attach them to the grocery list and realize I'm hungry again..look at that, it's 2:30, just enough time to grab a late lunch and go pick up the kids, great. Guess I'm done.

In reality I am forcing myself to go, with blinders on, to the pool and not move for at least two hours!  If you did not love on your Mom yesterday, even if you could only do it in your heart, take a minute to do it now!

I think I get it now.

All these years, especially these years since I have accepted Christ, I have been living under the assumption that I pretty much had a handle on things.  No, I never thought I was even close to perfect, but I admit that I did think I was pretty darn good most of the time.  Smart, Kind, Generous, even usually courteous.  Open to growth even.  I know that there's something about me that rubs some people the wrong way.  I figured it was an inhibition issue (usually tied to my mouth).  I prayed about it.  I asked God to help me know how to change.  I refer to myself as a work in progress... without actually making any progress.

I sit in judgement of unkind, impatient, unforgiving, rude, arrogant, selfish people while I should have been falling on my face from the pole in my own eye.  Yes, I even nod my head in agreement when that post/ speck story comes up, thinking of the "other guy" all the while.  

Scales have been falling from my eyes this week.  I am so grateful for a God who is the giver of infinity chances.  Who I know loves me even when I am unlovable and have been a sorry excuse for a lover of his children, especially those he has entrusted to me: My husband, my kids, my family, my friends.  Please join me in praying that those scales will not grow back.  That I really will stay open to growth.  That I will remain a workable lump of clay as long as I have a breath in me.  I have a lot to make up for as I go and I hope that I encounter grace as I do.  The beautiful thing is that, though I don't deserve it, I know I will encounter that grace because I have been so abundantly blessed with amazing people in my life.  

If you are one of those amazing people (and you probably are if you've cared enough to read this) then I hope you will be patient with me as I strive to grow, and to care for you as I should.  I am so grateful for you.