Today I have felt productive, accomplished, joyful, and enlightened!! You would think that I finished some tedious home remodeling project or figured out how to solve world hunger BUT it's the little things...
I can actually see my laundry room floor! I finished the laundry! If you know you know. This is a true feat in our home! Two teenagers that change clothes multiple times a day and put their clean clothes on the floor AND put their clean clothes back in their hamper with the assumption that they are dirty (even though they were folded on their bed 3 seconds prior) can REALLY add to Mount WashMore! <<<<see what I did there? No Moms and Dads, it's not just yours, it's all of ours. Still, what a free-ing moment to see my laundry room floor for only the second time this year!
Just as I walked down the hallway to bask in all of my heroic laundry glory, I looked in my kids' rooms...
Sigh. The laundry is never done.
This small moment is a teaching moment. We can stress, be overwhelmed, feel anxious, OCD-esque, and feel all of the emotions that go with life's undone tasks all of the time OR we can realize that we are not perfect, we can only accomplish so much in a day, and that joy and fulfillmet are just on the other side of all of that worry.
The laundry is never done.
Just when we think we have our schedule perfectly mapped out between work, sports, appointments, chores, and errands...we are asked to stay late, we forget that football helmet and have to drive 30 minutes back home to get it, we forget to coordinate that doctor's appointment in our phone and our day planner, we forget an ingredient at the store for dinner OR one of the kids has a school project due..DuhDuh DUHHHHH...the next morning. "Here is the list of supplies Mamma. I hope the store isn't closed!"
It is in these moments that it is okay to step back, breathe, and improvise. We have a neighbor wait at the bus stop, we remember to load the football equipment the night before, we reschedule instead of being stressed over time, and we use oil instead of butter or flour instead of cornstarch. No need to panic because God has given each of us the gift of patience and tranquility. We just have to tap in to that! It is there. Take 4 short breaths in, hold it, and exhale slowly. Do this for 5 minutes and it will completely reset any kid of frantic state, at least long enough to figure out a solution to those "undone" moments.
The laundry is never done.
Much like "permanent press", "cottons", or "delicates", life is always going in it's own cycle. I know my husband, Jordan, and I have had some extreme ups and downs together. In 2020, we were in one of our greatest upswings as a couple in our finances, with our new home, and with new opportunities while the whole world was being hit by the pandemic, but in 2016 we were in our lows. We didn't have furniture to sit on in the downstairs of our house the whole year we lived there before we were told we had to leave due to the home being sold and we were literally fighting over whether or not to spend gifts cards we were gifted on groceries or Christmas for the kids. That was when the Semper Fi Fund helped to pay our rent because things just kept getting further and further behind (God will always provide). Little did we know, in less than a year, abundant blessings were coming our way and life would be changing for us enough to stop struggling and change our entire family trajectory!
We cleanse, we rinse, we pick our selves up and dry ourselves off and eventually, we repeat.
This is the cycle of life, extreme ups and downs. In between those times there is hopefully some peace and joy for all of us.
"God doesn't promise us a life without struggle as we are called to pick up our crosses and follow Jesus" -Matthew 16:24
God does promise to be there with us during those struggles because the laundry is never done.
Blessings.
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