Over the past several weeks, when people have asked how I'm doing, I've said something like, "Well, we're good when we can stick to a routine. But then each week, we've had something major: a snow storm, the return of seizure for one kid, another snow storm, colds for three kids, followed by colds for two the next week and a cold for the last one the following week, and so on. Then the routine is lost, and I gain a couple pounds by stress eating until the next hopeful start to the week."
Every week, it's been something. And every week, I've started optimistically, until the something happens that dashes my hopes for the week.
But I've realized something this week that has changed my perspective.
I'm a mom of six.
Okay, I knew that, but here's the life changing part...
Being the mom of six, every week is GUARANTEED to have something come up.
All of those somethings aren't interruptions to our lives or inconveniences to our routine.
They are our lives.
They are our routine.
Especially given how young our kids are and how many have special needs, interruptions aren't the enemy of normal.
They are the normal.
Those pesky somethings that come up each week don't wreck the week, like I thought they did.
My response to each unexpected something is what makes the week - and the kids and my sanity - unravel.
Now that I expect those somethings to come, I can see them for what they are: opportunities.
Opportunities to show Christ's unconditional love to little ones who are hungry for it.
Opportunities to respond with grace to what the world sees as chaos.
Opportunities to declare the truth that each of our darlings are blessings and not burdens.
Opportunities to be reminded of how patiently God deals with me and to practice that patience to the ones closest to me.
Yes, it's hard. Yes, my plans always often fall apart. Yes, I'd really rather get the big girls to school on time than have to clean up a diaper blow-out and track down a lost jacket and console a little one who seems to constantly trip over her own feet and then end up pulling up to the school as the bell rang.
Yes, that last sentence was a description of this morning.
But I know a God who has done hard things - the hardest - for me.
When I view each hardship in the day as an expected opportunity rather than an unexpected interruption, I respond a whole lot more like the God I'd like to emulate as my children watch how I react and learn either wisdom or folly from my example.
I thought I was chasing normal and failing to grasp it, while all along I've been grumbling and missing the beauty of normal in each perceived inconvenience.
Yes, this new normal is beautiful.
Even in the midst of the "somethings" that crop up each week {or day}.
