The Blessing of This Mess

It’s never fun to wake up in the morning and see your house messy. Especially on a Monday morning after a Sunday night in which you didn’t get much sleep.

Sometimes things like this make me frustrated and have even made me lose my cool.

Let’s take a closer look at the picture above. It reads similar to “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie.”

Saturday I did two loads of laundry and what you see is the last bit I was putting up when I got distracted by the argument my boys were having over how to play pretend Star Wars. There was whining and screaming which is like nails to a chalkboard for this momma!

So I make them stop, give them a good talking, apologies are given and a compromise was made. On my way back to the laundry my two year made a huge mess by trying to get her cup off the dining table and cereal with milk left from breakfast spilled all over the floor.

After I cleaned it up I realized we needed to start getting ready for a wedding and there the laundry sat nicely folded and ready to be put away whenever we got home. It was a lovely wedding and we had so much fun we all crashed in my bed and watched a movie til dinner.

Of course dinner came and went and by Sunday morning the laundry was still there. I told myself I’d get it later and it’s definitely later and the clothes are definitely still there. However, they’re not nicely folded anymore. They’ve been sat on, moved around, and some are now on my floor and partially under the couch.

Ooooooh…the floor.

What you can see in the picture is blocks everywhere. I’m assuming that happened yesterday when I was at a meeting. There’s also crumbs telling me my kiddos broke the rule of no eating in the living room. Plus there’s yucky dust bunnies because let’s face it, I don’t often dust under my couch.

If you were to see the rest of my living room you’d see the end table covered in children’s books, an iron, a Paw Patrol cup, and some random Legos.

The chair and other couch would show signs of more laundry that was washed and dried yesterday sitting in a basket, light sabers, water bottles that have been donated for me to take to Haiti, and a big garbage bag full of clothes ready to be given to a friend.

Waking up on a Monday morning after a busy weekend to this doesn’t make me feel calm or ready to start my day. It makes me feel overwhelmed and ten steps behind. #LivelyHome Click To Tweet

Waking up on a Monday morning after a busy weekend to this doesn’t make me feel calm or ready to start my day. It makes me feel overwhelmed and ten steps behind. But as I looked at this mess and thought about why it was here, I didn’t feel those normal feelings of being overwhelmed or frustrated. I felt blessed.

Do everything without complaining and arguing,

Philippians 2:14

I started to think about a mom I read about on Facebook who buried her two year old daughter on Saturday. I thought about the mom whose little boy is battling cancer for third time. Then I remembered two different moms whose babies each had to have some kind of heart surgery recently.

I bet they would love to wake up in their own homes to the mess of their kids. I’m sure they’d prefer to be groggy on a Monday morning because their children slept in their bed with them, not in a hospital where it took multiple tries to get an IV started and certainly not because they were up all night crying trying to figure out how they’re going to live knowing their child is gone.

These moms have real messes. I call these deep water issues. My living room mess isn’t even in the shallow end. It’s just a drop on the ground that will soon evaporate.

Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:18

After I finish this post I’m going to clean up my mess while I thank the Lord for the blessing it is. I’m going to thank Him for all these books on my table because they’re from my seven year old who has found a love for reading. I’m going to thank Him for the abundance of clothes we have to wear and the others we can pass along. I’m going to thank Him for all these blocks because it’s a sign of how my children love to build and create. And maybe I will actually read If You Give A Mouse A Cookie (afflink) to them.

This Monday morning I’m not going to complain about a drop of water. I’m going to hug my kids and play blocks with them. I’m going to pray for these mommas who are in the deep waters while I finally finish up my laundry.

When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown.

Isaiah 43:2a

Are you going through deep waters today? I would be honored to pray with and for you!

Have you ever wanted to complain about something and the Lord totally changed your perspective? I’d love to hear from you too!

Please feel free to leave a comment below!

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