Perspective

Things are a little dicey at my house. No one is sick, per se, but I just have a funny feeling K & R are teetering right on the edge. R had a fever last night and is coughing for the second day. K has complained of a tummy ache. We have been remarkably healthy this Winter, so it is probably our turn for the junk.

It is frigid outside and we Southerners have thin skin. I have frittered my morning away with HVAC repairmen (since our downstairs furnace went on the blink this weekend leading to temperatures below 50 degrees on the first floor of our home) and a gas guy who might be able to help me get a roaring fire in our family room for a low price. I am debating whether to get the children out of the house or not, seeing as illness and another wintry mix may both be on their way. As a result we've been indoors for 7 hours, playing every game imaginable and watching a few videos. We have cooked, cleaned and colored. Now we are bored.

Anyway, as I was pondering all this and how it certainly wasn't anything to write about, I was reminded that all this normalcy is real life. This got me thinking about how misleading it can be to only see a 45 second slice of someone's day. I write almost daily about one tiny portion of our life. There is so much more that, depending on the slice I recorded, would give a very different perspective. I could come here to complain or vent (sometimes I do). I could only write about the chaos, or the humor, or the difficult things. I could write only about the things I do well--or only about my failures.

I choose to use this blog as a place to chronicle the stuff I really want to remember. A place to reframe my perspective--to encourage myself, and maybe, encourage someone else that they are normal and not alone, in the process

Life is full of the inevitable, that is frequently not sweet, glamorous, meaningful or special. It is just real life. It is the life Sovereign God put us in and commanded us to live. I picked Grace-Based Parenting by Tim Kimmel up again last night. I admit I never read past the first chapter on my previous attempt. I still am only about 30 pages in, but loved the verse he chose as a Christian parent's commissioning:

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life...
Philippians 2:12-16

A worthy aspiration for me AND for my children. As we work out our salvation, even in the most mundane of circumstances, we are teaching our children. May we model for them how to "shine like stars."

Today is dull and boring. It is also a day the Lord has made. I will work hard to avoid complaining. I will rejoice and be glad in it. I resolve to look for the lessons and the joy in today (while praying tomorrow is warmer, healthier and more fun.)