Ok, I need to shout this mom victory from the roof-tops. Like with a speaker of some sorts, make it a public announcement, possibly even air it in place of the Bachelor.
My boys, oh my boys … they can be the dearest little creatures set this side of Heaven *they can, don’t laugh*. But, so often, they are … well, BOYS! They are loud, they fight with one another, they do things that would send a normal person to the hospital and put me in cardiac arrest until they shake it off. They get in the way, the make messes, they burp and fart instead of saying I love you, and they push my every last button.
Today, today … my goodness, it was a day of victories, big and small. I was on fire with our new cleaning routine, I hand washed pots ad pans that had been piling up, removed the sheets from the bed and laundered those, I took out the recycling AND the trash, I made banana bread with man cub 3 without losing my cool. I was mom of the fricken year!
And then I was getting lunch ready…
It was quiet, I thought nothing of that … though, I mean, I am not some new naive mom << the quiet should have clued me in. But I was blissfully celebrating my many mom wins the morning had already afforded me when I finally snapped into reality and pondered for a fraction of a second why it might be so quiet. And, as long as it took me to think, “oh cr@p,” I looked outside on the deck and saw man cubs 2 & 3 entertaining themselves with a random jar of blue paint that had been “discovered” in the park the day before.
I’m talking on the table, the deck, the handrail, the spindles, the window, the dog, and between every.single.digit of their hands and feet.
Blue.
Bright BLUE.
Everywhere.
Now, normally I would yell, I would throw open that sliding door so fast that it threatened to shoot right off the tracks, and I would yell at the top of my lungs. I would be so full of mom-rage that and I wouldn’t think twice. I would scream about how much of a mess they made, about how inappropriate it was that they opened the paint *that I left on the deck as opposed to throwing away*, that they spread it everywhere, that they don’t KNOW how to behave like GOOD boys, and how mad I was that now I would have to clean it all up. I would *typically* storm back into the house, run the water, throw the towel or cloth or WHATEVER cleaning tool I could find, into a bucket and I would push past their tiny and terrified faces, muttering angrily under my breath how much this sucked, how dare they do this, why me …
And I would just fume.
I would be so caught in my own rage that I didn’t consider anything else. Not their tiny spirits, not the example of womanhood this was burning into their brains, not the expectation for how they should be treated by a wife in the future. I would be so angry that nothing else mattered.
I’ll be honest, I would probably also yank their tiny bodies up to the bathroom and hose them down as they screamed apologies, as the begged me to stop, as tears filled their eyes and my own because, by this point, I would start to realize what an overreaction it had been, I wouldn’t even apologize because the combination of my mom-guilt and my pride would cause me to just self-implode.
But today, today was different.
Today I reminded myself *early this morning* that I am patient, that I rejoice in motherhood, that I am capable of loving even when things are chaotic.
Today, I looked out the window at their painted fingers and toes, opened the door and let them know that lunch was ready. I gave them each some wipes to clean off and I asked them if they had fun.
Today I remembered that I am blessed to get the opportunity to be with them day in and day out, that they are only small once, and that *I* was the one who left the paint on the deck just begging to be opened.
It’s washable, it’s non-toxic, it is JUST a little paint.
As I took a moment to rejoice in my reaction and to watch them wash each others feet I was reminded of the verse in James 3:6
And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.
We all have the ability to change how we respond to the world around us, how we REACT to our children, and how we keep God at the focus of our routines. Today, I mom-winned HARD. I overcame some very dark tendencies and was able to find JOY in our journey … despite how {colourful} my deck now is.
This hits home hard and I’m so blessed to have such a REAL mom friend.. thank you for sharing … Just love your family
❤️ thank you for your love and support, it means a lot
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