I Am Blessed With a Beautiful Mess

Every day I face mountains.

Mountains of laundry.

Mountains of dishes.

Mountains of exhaustion, frustration, and confusion.

Motherhood is the hardest thing I have ever done.

Last night my husband took the kids out for a couple hours, and I had a quiet house to myself.  (Well, I had the baby with me, but she seems like no work at all when you're used to three other tornadoes in the house!)

You would think I would have enjoyed the quiet.  Having a chance to go to the bathroom without having to referee sibling bickering through the door should be blissful, right?

But you know who the happiest person was for those kids to get home?

Me!

I hardly knew what to do with myself while they were gone!  I was (dare I say it?) bored!

You see, while they are a challenge to face each day,  every one of those mountains in my home is beautiful.

Those mountains of laundry represent a little boy who is full of healthy curiosity about the world God made.  They represent siblings playing outside with one another, climbing trees, playing on the swing set, and picking honeysuckle together.

I want these to be the memories my kids have of home; not of how mom was always complaining about how hard they made her work.

Those mountains of dishes represent meals around the family table, talking and laughing together.  The discussions about how to read the clock on the kitchen wall will all too soon turn into discussions about how their college classes are going.  I don't want to waste precious memories that will pass too quickly by spending my time focusing on the dirty dishes.

The mountains of exhaustion, confusion, and frustration represent long days teaching children how to be kind, responsible, honest, and obedient, even when they are not the most cooperative students.

But each “Yes, ma’am” that I hear brings a renewed energy and determination to work diligently so that one day those “Yes, ma’am”s will turn to “Yes, Lord”s.

And one day when I see my grown children living a life for God’s glory, I will look back and reflect on this beautiful mess that defines my life as a young mother. And I will declare that every mountain I scaled was worth the effort ten times over.