Gloriously Mundane…revistited

Last year I was asked to share a post for a friends blog (http://echoesofmyheartcd.blogspot.com) - and this is what I submitted. I realize as I am rereading it today - God needed to remind me today of how glorious the MUNDANE is.
So incase you missed it - here you go. Incase your momma heart needs to be encouraged today and you need to be reminded that the little things are really glorious - here you go. And just maybe for the mom who is wanting to just know she is valued…here you go.

how I long for this day today and no more cold!

As I awake up, the first thing I see is light. Somedays warm sunlight, somedays just daylight but light nonetheless. It shines on a picture I made for my husband, "You have my whole heart for my whole life" it says, but I realize more with each passing day this isn't just for my husband, but for me - to remind me of my love for my Savior and even greater His love for me. His deep, unconditional, grace filled love that I am not even close to understanding.  Every day I wake to this and I'm thankful for the breath I have for another day. I see Him in the sun.

My eyes open to the voice of Bitty calling every name of "Mom" she can possibly think of. "Momma, Mommy, Mom, Mom!" pause, then again, "Mom, Mom, Mommy, Mooommmmaaa!" and this repeats until I walk through her door. Some mornings this is a welcomed greeting. Other mornings, I will admit I might roll over and pretend I didn't hear her for awhile and maybe even a pillow pushed to my face. Especially with a newborn that has graced our lives (UPDATE : our newborn just turned 1) - the morning calls of this crazy, sunny-colored, rats-nest haired girl may go on for awhile. Each day one thing remains true - I am thankful I am the one who answers to her calls of "Momma". I see Him in these moments. His fingerprints are here.

I put RJ in my arms, feel his quick newborn breaths, smell his sweet baby smells and we go get Bitty from her almost too small bed. I see Him in this small baby and every amazingly intricate detail he holds - his finger nails, his lashes, little bits of hair, his sweet pouty lips and I could go on and on. (A newborn makes the Psalmists words, "fearfully & wonderfully made" come to life)

As we get Bitty the first thing she's says is "Good morning baby!" It melts me like the kids sticky popsicles on a hot summer day and I see Him here.

We take steps to go downstairs, get breakfast with siblings that have been awake since the crack of dawn. Breakfast is a bit chaotic with one who can have dairy, one who can't; one who can't have gluten, 4 others who can and not to mention we have some who like cereal and some who don't - needless to say I try to simplify and have very few options to choose from. Most mornings I am asking myself, how can I see HIM in this? Somedays are harder than others until we stop, pray and listen to worship... Ahhh, breathe...I see Him now. I see Him in their smiles and in their daddy's deep blue eyes and I have to stop and say thanks that their little beating hearts are here, that we have food gracing our table and a pantry full and for the Sun beaming in our window so blinding it is hard to see,  HE. IS. HERE.

Now our day truly begins. Getting dressed - I am so grateful for each one who can dress themselves and I have stop and say thanks realizing this is a gift (even when they come down in crazy, unmatched outfits). Now I am Changing diapers and the crazy mom in me is giving thanks for the poopy diaper because our baby hadn't pooped in 3 days...you know the newborn "poop delay" so they call it. And with every child I worry with this delay thinking surely there is something wrong and then it comes and I cannot help but be thankful that it came and is everywhere including up their back...I relax - nothing is wrong. He is here and I see Him in the poop, literally.  I am thankful!

It is now time for school - getting the older two started - Bible, math, handwriting, history, geography, latin and our science projects. All the while, laundry and more laundry and never ending laundry is going and then on to picking up, and cleaning up and then picking up some more with a break to wipe a few tears every so often. It is then usually followed somewhere with the breaking up of brotherly fights and the stopping of everything for the teachable moments that I too often miss. Teaching them to speak with kinds words, loving words or at least when not to speak - every day it's a battle, a fight. I have to remind myself, too, sometimes I shouldn't let words pour out of my mouth like they do only to be left as a puddle at my children's feet. Now what do they do with those muddy words?  I have to stop to breathe in between the good moments and not so good reminding myself to choose joy, keep smiling - they are watching. He is here in the every day - what we call life.  My oldest, almost a lady, says, "Mom, I like it when you smile." Ohhhh - smile, that's right. I have to do that....they are watching. They see me not smile and if she took the time to tell me she likes it when I smile, I must not be doing this very thing enough.

I see Him in all of these moments and try often to remember to write down His finger prints in utter "thanks" because these moments, they are fleeting. These days, they are going by and and once they go by I cannot get them back no matter how hard my feeble self may try. I want Him in these moments because when He is with me, when I invite Him into the mundane - it is then that mundane becomes Glorious! It is then I can say "thank you" for each fight and argument, for each kiss and hug, for each time they say "I love you", for each toilet that needs to be cleaned, bottom wiped, diaper changed. "Thank you" for each article of clothing that must be washed and rewashed and folded and folded again and finally put away because one or two couldn't decide what to wear in the morning so they periodically changed during the day and put clean clothes in the dirty laundry - after all isn't that 'putting them away'? For each meal gone wrong, spilled cup of milk, dropped plate of food. For each crazy bed headed child, the tears while pulling through those very tangles and each cry for help. For each lego stepped on, toilet paper roll unrolled, and popcorn kernel found. I have to invite Him into every moment so it will become Glorious. I want my mundane to become Glorious. I have to say "thank you" so I see the gifts of every day life. And when I do, it changes ME and I see a little clearer. My view hasn't changed, but how I see has. This is where I find complete joy in the gift of motherhood.

 Invite the Glorious into the mundane and let Him change not what you see, but how you see. This is joy and life full of joy. This is what counts and what makes this walk as a mom so amazing!