Some Days Are Longer Than Others

This summer has been an interesting one so far. As we are about mid-way through I feel like we just started since June was so icky. I spent a lot of June being stuck inside for one of two reasons. 1. It was raining. Or 2. We did not have anything to do outside. Our swingset is still at the old house (being used as a selling point), our pool was not set up, we do not have a sand box, I did not have a double stroller to go on walks with, etc. When I would say to the older kids, "Why don't you go outside and play?" they would say, "Ok and do what?" thus, stumping the mother.

Now it's July and we have done a few things to remedy the situation. We grabbed the swings off the swing set at the old house and put them up under the deck here. We put up the pool and it has been so fun playing in there! And a friend of mine lent me her old double stroller. Now if I want to go on a walk with all three kids it's not Jonah way far ahead on his bike, Aphia way back behind stopping to look at every critter, tree branch or shadow, and me somewhere between the two with Isaiah.

One fabulous point that put things into perspective for me was something my friend Amy said at our Bible Study, two Mondays ago. We were talking about praying for wisdom and being wise. She said that for a while there would be days that she would just say, "Lord, please just let me survive this day. Just get me to bedtime, please!" when she realized that she was not utilizing her days in the way that the Lord would want her to. She shifted her prayer to, "Lord this is going to be a long day, please help me to be wise with the time you have given me today." WOW. I needed to hear this SO much! With three little kids home, all the time, not much on the calendar and looooooong days, I was just trying to survive, not the day, but the ENTIRE SUMMER! Where was the enjoyment? The fulfillment? The fun? I treasured the wise words of my wise friend and changed my daily prayer. Boy what a difference it has made! I have made more of an effort to be the fun mom, not always there just to train, punish, correct and control- blech! Who wants one of those?! Who wants to be one of those?! Not me! On either account! So while I know that it is still my role to "train up a child in the way that he should go," I'm doing it with a little bit of a wiser and lighter heart. And we have been having fun and it has been magnificent!

Each day I look at the posted reminder in my kitchen that says, "Lord help me to be wise with my days." And I remember the words that a MOPS speaker once said to us, "Don't just endure the moment, ENJOY it!"