The Hard Days

Mothering is not easy.

I don't think it was meant to be.

I thought on this today, a rather difficult parenting day.

I thought about how maybe it would just be easier to send Piper to preschool.

Or to put on movies all day.

Or even to put them in a room and lock the door.

Yes, it was that kind of hard day.

But I am learning something about hard days.

They are the ones in which I learn the most.

And as I thought about all this, I considered how much less patient of a person I would be if I were not home day in and day out with my little ones. 

I am learning to love in spite of the chaos and the attitudes and the meltdowns.

I am realizing that the hard days are refining me in ways so few other roles could.

I have been stunned to discover that in the midst of the turmoil of an unruly day I am made to depend on my God more fully, to run to Him in the same way that my children run to me.
(Because really, we're not all that different from our kids.)

And I have been surprised to find that peace is found in embracing my kids rather than pushing them away from me.

A nap with the fussy baby on my chest.

A storytime with little girl heads resting on each shoulder.
A random, unsolicited kiss on the cheek from a passing child.

For a moment, the crazy day ceases enough to gather myself and see
That in the midst of the snotty noses, the poopy diapers, the terrible twos, the whiney voices and juice spills
There is so much to be gained.
We can do the hard days because we delight in the good ones.
We can endure the difficult because together we are being shaped into more than could be imagined.
We won't despise the days gone awry because we treasure the beautiful ones.

And maybe the dreadful days are beautiful, too.

Love is patient.

Parenting’s this gentle way of bending over in humility to help the scraped child up because we intimately know it takes a lifetime to learn how to walk with Him.

Patience.

Love always begins with patience.

~Ann Voskamp