Doing the Next Thing

Lather. Rinse. Repeat. We find those instructions on nearly every bottle of shampoo. I don’t know about you, but I rarely follow those instructions. It occurred to me recently, however, that it is a good description of motherhood. No matter how many times a day you nurse the baby, he will still need to be fed tomorrow. There is no such thing as a ‘once for all’ diaper change in which you wipe the bottom, clean up the mess, and poof! You’re done with that one. Check it off the list! As children grow up, it’s more of the same – disciplining for the same offense over and over, washing the same clothes, sweeping the same kitchen floor, teaching the same lessons to child number 4 that you’ve alre ady been through at least three times. And as the number of children increases, the tasks and challenges seem to increase exponentially along with them. Rachel Jankovic, in Loving the Little Years , calls this “Motherhood in the Trenches.” But while we’re in the trenches, let’s b...

"Must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays." - Arthur Dent in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. For some reason, that has been the case many a Thursday this school year. I think I'm still learning to adapt my homebody temperament to the day-school lifestyle, while still juggling two homeschoolers and one preschooler. By Thursday, the treadmill seems to speed up, just as my reserves feel depleted. This week is no different. But as end-of-year things begin to pile on, and my strength wavers, God, who is rich in mercy, sends a reminder that His "grace all-sufficient shall be my supply." Our solitary, neglected climbing rose bloomed this week, and the Little Ones delighted themselves by plucking nearly every bloom and presenting them to me. As I placed them in the kitchen window, my courage returned and I felt I had just enough in me to do the next thing. (The dirty window in the photo above provides humility and protection from the Mart...