There are so many moments in mothering that are just hard, terrible, disgusting, stinky, and throw in a side of totally gross. I wrote about one such experience on my personal blog. It's been over two years, but I still remember the gory details like it was yesterday -- only my van doesn't smell like it just happened yesterday (thankfully).
That experience was especially gross. But normal life with small children brings enough havoc for every day to seem overwhelming. I was in the middle of some such horrible experience when I heard a song on the radio that made me snarl. Yes, snarl. Who knows what was contributing to my bad attitude at that given moment, but probably there were whining children involved, a messy house, cheerios stuck to the bottom of my foot, and/or it was raining for the 90th day in a row.
The singer sang beautifully,
You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this
I am NOT going to miss this, I said to myself and anyone who would listen. What's to miss? This is just hard, terrible, disgusting, stinky, and throw in a side of totally gross.
No, we won't miss the gross side of things. Who would volunteer to clean up projectile vomit and then projectile diarrhea? Mothering is a lot to handle.
What I find utterly fascinating is the group of mothers who are passed the small-kid stage and have moved on to what looks easy (grown children who call on Sundays) who say, "Enjoy it now, it goes by so fast?" Haven't you encountered them at the grocery store? When your kids are eating things out of the bulk bins, someone smashed an un-purchased loaf of bread, two kids are in a fist fight over who gets to stand on the left side of the cart, and some nice older woman looks on with a blissful sigh, "I miss those days."
Amazingly, time separated those mature mothers from the unpleasant sights and smells of life with small kids. What's left are the memories of the good times.
You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this
When I hear those lyrics now, I pray desperately that God shows me the things I will miss. I want to have the vision of those who lived through it and now sigh blissfully at the memories. I want to live in the beautiful blessings instead of intrenched in the ugliness of "this is SO hard!"
I will miss quick snuggles from a baby boy who doesn't stop, but his 3 second bear hugs restore my soul. I will miss my little girls' giggling over farts at the table. I will miss sitting on my tiny bathroom floor watching three dirty kids huddle, splash, and laugh in the bath until they are clean. I will miss hearing bedtime prayers that include, "Thank you for my mommy and that she didn't bite my head off today." I will miss watching my husband swoop little ones up onto his shoulders without missing a step.
There is such beauty mixed in with the chaos. Can you see it? Passed the hard, terrible, disgusting, stinky, and throw in a side of totally gross are delightful, beautiful, blessings. Blessings hidden like treasures in the rough. Let's search them out today. Let's dwell on the things we will miss and let everything else (that probably smells) be forgotten.
He has made everything beautiful in its time.
He has also set eternity in the human heart;
yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Ecclesiastes 3:11
Lyrics mentioned from You're Gonna Miss This, by Trace Adkins
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