There is WONDER in today

There is wonder in the mundane.  I want all my mama friends to know that and live in that.  I know the days are long, but I don’t want us to miss the wonder of what it is that we are doing.  And I think I love when God helps me in this area because there are so many days that I do miss the wonder of it all and look around thinking surely there is something more I am supposed to be doing.

It reminds me a little bit of Eve in the Garden of Eden.  I wonder how long Eve was in the Garden of Eden before her eyes wandered and stayed on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?  The Bible doesn’t say how many days in a row they walked with God in the cool of the day before they hid in shame because of their disobedience.  I am baffled that Eve could have lost the wonder of what was The Garden of Eden…the perfect place to live, breath-takingly beautiful. She doubted God’s goodness and wanted in on something MORE, something she had yet to experience.  Or so she thought.

I remember like yesterday walking through the grocery aisle at Publix with a newborn, one year old and two year old; an older grandma-like lady stopped me and smiled and had the audacity to say, “These are some of the best days of your life, honey.”

Knowing that I couldn’t push an old lady down in the grocery store, I just smiled back at her and said, “Ok.”  I mean, what else was I supposed to say?  I was TIRED, exhausted really.  Not all the time, but most of the time.

The kids are much older now—8,9 and 11.  I’m not nearly as tired, and we’ve been diaper-free around here for many years.  They rarely come into our room to wake us up in the middle of the night either.

Honestly, I love this stage of life.  I love watching them mature into these little people with ideas and unique personalities.

Honestly, I would give anything to go back to re-live one of those days when they were babies.

Time is weird like that.

It’s fleeting and can’t be gained back.  No re-do’s in the sense of physically turning back the clock.  Which is why I think Satan uses his schemes to distract us and disillusion us into thinking that right here and right now is not good.

God is right here with us, the Master of Time.  He can open our eyes to see the wonder of where He has us.  Satan wants us to be discontent and distracted, wishing away our present for something MORE, something better.

Let’s not let him steal the present…right where we are.  Take a long look around at where you are in life.  Stare into the eyes of the people you call family.  Grab their little faces and tell them how you love them.  Squeeze them, hold them close and listen to their stories. Take it all in.

Frolic in the fields together, holding hands and listening to music playing softly in the background.

I’m kidding.  I am well aware that life does move quickly.  We can’t constantly sit in wonder at our sweet kids and handsome husband….first of all,the kids aren’t always sweet and Josh sometimes makes me mad.  Secondly, I am a realist.  I like to think that I just see how things how they are and can own up to whatever that is.  I joke with Josh about my funeral.  I tell him I want a closed casket because no one can do my hair right.  But also, I tell him that one day when I am in heaven, he will not be able to honestly stand in front of whoever comes and say that I was the most uplifting, positive, non-complaining wife in all the world.  He’d be lying through his teeth.  I’m not totally negative, but I am also not “Pollyanna Positive” either.

BUT, I am aware that if we don’t make ourselves look for the wonder in life, we will miss it.  We will get bogged down in the mundane and think that all of life is just a big list of things to do.  Laundry? Check!  Dinner? Check!  Sweeping? Mopping? Dusting? Check, check, check! Driving kids here and there? Check.

The mundane is what I am called to.  Those every day things that at first glance don’t seem exciting…but through God’s eyes, they are exactly what I am supposed to be doing!  I can be in wonder at my calling in life.  God can open my eyes to truly see the beauty in the everyday stuff.  He is with me.  Always.  That’s enough.  But He can also allow my routine to be precious again. He can clear up my perspective on what is truly important.  What success looks like to HIM.  He can magnify and put into focus the important and make blurry what isn’t.

I will still have subjects to teach to my kids, laundry to fold and put away, meals that need to be cooked, grocery store lists week after week, and more.  But I’m going to stop at least once a day, hopefully more, to take a picture in my mind of where I am, who I am with, and thank the Lord for using me in the ordinary, the mundane.

Let’s all ask God to help us SEE and HEAR and TOUCH as if He were walking with us each step of the way….because He is.  And we will never get this day back again…no matter what it brings our way.

Here’s a song and it’s lyrics that I think you will enjoy.  Great words. Important message. Click on the link and listen if you would like God to help you see your day to day life as PRECIOUS again.

Sunrise, sunset with no eyes to see it
Garnets and rubies ground up in the sand
Words from my children with no ears to hear it
Where is the wonder?

New tender mercies and infinite graces
Woven like threads in the cloth of my days
Deep wells of glory behind common faces
Where is the wonder? Where is the wonder?

Oh oh, I need a song that’s never old
Oh oh, I need a story never told
Promise that just when love grows cold
You’ll make it precious again

Friendship and goodwill, a sweet invitation
Kindred in spirit and eager to share
Love in familiar and long conversations
There is the wonder, there is the wonder

Oh oh, sing me the song that’s never old
Oh oh, tell me the story never told
Promise that just when love grows cold
You’ll make it precious

Press mud with holy fingers, light the ineffable
Fused in the ordinary, so much to wonder
Oh, what a wonder, wonder, wonder

Oh oh, sing me the song that’s never old
Oh oh, tell me the story never told
Promise that just when love grows cold
You’ll make it precious, oh, make it precious
You make it precious again