I have to admit I've been a little hesitant to publish my first post.
Why?
I don't really know...
Maybe I was feeling like my first post should be something earth-shattering... or that I didn't really have anything significant to say... but then laying in bed last night, I realized that would totally defeat the purpose of this blog. This blog is supposed to be about the MUNDANE... and about how the mundane, average, beautiful days of life are completely AMAZING!
So here is my first post. Sorry it's late.
It is a story about a very average Sunday morning. A very hectic Sunday morning. A Sunday morning where hair is frantically being brushed in the car on the way to church, where kids are crying, but where we get to Church.... on time. barely.
Then sitting in the pew, the 3-year-old starts to squirm. We let him squirm as quietly as possible, and as long as possible before we give into the toys... We have to play our cards right to get through the whole hour without any major catastrophes.
Finally, I realize he is reaching the end of his rope, so I reach into my bag to pull out a tiny toy plane. Planes are our go-to toy for Church. They say "woosh" or "shhhhh," instead of "vroom vroom" and "Beep! Beep!" and "CRASH!"
Planes are a lifesaver... when they are there.
The main pocket of my bag is empty. No planes.
I search every pocket. Twice. Thrice. No planes!
No books, no finger puppets, no crayons, no snacks. Just a pen, some lip gloss, and a half sheet of paper. Panic begins to set in and I realize there is a good chance I will spend the rest of the hour in the hallway.
I try to engage my son in what is being said from the pulpit. "Oh! Did you hear that? He said 'boat!!' Let's listen and see if he says 'boat' again!" ...He doesn't. It bought me about 30 seconds.
I grab the pen and paper. My offers to draw a picture for my son are returned with a solemn head shake. (C'mon! Work with me here buddy!!)
Now I'm scrambling. What am I going to do????
(...as a side note, please feel free to share with your own ideas in the comments just in case I run into this crisis again, because there is 99.999999999% chance that I will).
Then suddenly, I have an idea!! (It was inspiration, I tell ya!)
I tell my son the give me his finger. I take the pen draw a tiny car on his finger nail. "This is your car," I tell him, "It doesn't make ANY noise." He nods (this is a good sign). Then I draw a line across the half sheet of paper. "This is your race track." I don't have to say anything else. He spends the next 5 minutes tracing the line with his finger, and smiling.
Eventually, the novelty wears off. I knew it would, but I'm grateful I got a WHOLE 5 MINUTES!
"It's your turn." I tell him, and hand him the pen, watching him closely. He draws a curvy track and hands me back the pen. Next comes a circle track, and a loopy track. Finally, near the end of the hour, he wants me to "drive" on the track with my finger. I oblige.
The hour is up. Miracle of miracles, I was actually able to listen a little bit. I wish I could say that my family is 100% calm, peaceful, and happy. We aren't. But we definitely feel different than the stressed mess that walked through the Church doors an hour before.
Especially me.
I'm grateful. Grateful that a simple idea saved my Sunday. Grateful that we spent a whole hour together on the same pew without any hall time. Grateful for the beautiful words I heard that helped me feel like I could make it through another week of craziness. Grateful that Sundays have a way of changing things. A grateful heart really, really is a happy heart.
Deficits: Unprepared and behind schedule! :( Keep working on this!!
Deposits: GOOO creativity!!! (it is the mother of invention, after all). And gratitude... it's lovely! Put more of this in every day!
Balance: Richly Blessed!
No comments:
Post a Comment