Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Mornings like this

"Crap happens. That's life.
Crap abounds everywhere.
But - the good thing is - that wherever crap abounds...grace abounds all the more.
go, Grace.
I know I need it. So maybe I shouldn't be perturbed when other people need it, too."

excerpted from Heather Jamison's blog post on Wed. March 7th, 8 Rules of Engagement.




We so know about crap right now. Miss MA has had diarrhea since we returned from oh, so beautiful Oregon, and although it is absolutely getting better, it still really sucks to have a baby sick that way. Miss K has had fever, and it seems another cold. And I found out yesterday that honey is leaving town tomorrow to go to a math teacher conference thing, and that means 4 fun-filled days all alone with my girlies. woo-hoo.

And I just got hired on at $7 an hour to babysit kids at the gym for a few hours each week...which means I got interviewed by a girl at least 10 years my junior who asked me, "So what's your worst characteristic?" What I wanted to say was "Seriously?? You can't actually want me to go into that..." But instead I told her that I'm not a morning person. SIGH.

So, I know that I'll be fine. Sickness & $7 an hour jobs are only for a season.... But I'm just having a REALLY super-hard time this morning with contentment.

So I read that quote from Heather Sunday night, and for some reason, I haven't been able to get it out of my head since. Father, help me to be a woman, a wife, a mother, a friend, characterized by grace, even in the midst of dealing with a broken world, a broken self, and a heart that's not content to rest in You. Forgive me for it; You know that I want You to just magically make my discontentment disappear, but I know full well that's not how things work. So help me to see and be grace in action today, to walk by the Spirit, and to have a thankful heart, because I know that grace is all around me, just sometimes I choose not to see it.

4 comments:

Lin said...

anytime i hear the word "crap," i hear max saying, "ummm...mommy, crap's not a nice word." :)

i'm so sorry both kids are sick, & you'll be without the man for 4 days. that's no fun. the last line of your quote really sticks out to me..."grace is all around me, just sometimes i choose not to see it." how true, how true.

Lin said...

btw..that pic of miss k is priceless!

Elizabeth said...

Thanks, Shannon for your realness.
Not that I want you to have bad days but it is sometimes nice to know I am normal. I will be praying for you while Chris is out of town. You can definitely take pride(the good kind) in your adorable kids-love that picture.

Shannon said...

Thanks, girls! Liz, sometimes I wonder if I'm over the top (too personal, too real, etc), but I think my goal is to help everybody know that this kind of stuff is normal; at least that's a help for me. My thought process is something like this: "Surely I'm not the only one feeling like this..." And it is comforting to know that we're not alone in our struggles...
Love you!